Why Aren't Temples Places For Worship?

[Burnbull423]

I've started wondering why temples in the Legend Of Zelda aren't places for worship?, I mean temples are holy places right?, so why don't people worship the goddess or whatever they worship at the temples?.

 

[Jaywolf]

Because they'd be worshiping the evil villain of that specific temple.

 

[Burnbull423]

But before the evil villain came to the temple though.

 

[Big Octo]

I always thought that they were places of worship before the main villain of the game took over and sent his minions to occupy them. It would be kind of difficult to worship a diety in calmness and solitude with monsters roaming about that would kill on sight.

 

[Burnbull423]

Yeah but you never seem to hear anyone complain about not being able to pray and worship anymore.

 

[Dimooshky]

In Skyward Sword there are Goddess statues at the end of the Skyview and Earth temples. But I do see what you mean. It would be cool to see a temple in full force in a future game, before enemies have got in.

 

[Beauts]

I don't think that the word temple should be taken literally. From what I recall someone telling me, it's the fact that there is no exact translation from the Japanese word.

Anyway, in most of the games the main religion is the one that follows the three goddesses and the triforce and/or Hylia. So, it's kind of indicated that the only temple used for the religious purpose is probably OoT's Spirit Temple, which depicts the Goddess of the Sand, suggesting an entirely different religion for the Gerudo race, possibly explaining some of the cultural differences.

The others, I think they represent all sorts of different things, with different purposes. From what I understand, they seem to be places of sanctuary for the spirits of that particular area/element, and the monsters encroach either because they were placed there to protect some sacred item or thing, or because of the evil that has taken over the entire land, curses that have been placed upon them that must be broken in order to restore peace to the temple and surrounding area. So, my interpretation of this is that they are less places of worship and more strongholds of the element or area that they represent.

 

[Awesomehylian]

I think the temples are more of a type of holy sanctuary, not an every day place of worship. Plus, even without monsters, they are deuced hard to get to for normal people! To me it's like some kind of holy ground, meant to protect some sacred or famous item or, as someone suggested about the Shadow Temple in OOT a while back, that particular temple could be a trial of sorts. But that's getting overly complicated for the purposes of this question.

None of the races express any interest in strict religious practice except for the humans, and then only in a few games. The races have no reason to go to their respective temples because they believe that nobody should go, or they are trying to stop others from going.

 

[Ventus]

From what I recall someone telling me, it's the fact that there is no exact translation from the Japanese word.

But it IS the exact translation from the Japanese word. For example from OoT, We have the Shadow Temple, known in Japan as 闇の神殿 which transliterates to Yami no Shinden and translates to English as Dark Temple. There's no other way to take "Temple" than as "Temple". Then with SS,we have Skyview Temple, known in Japan as 天望の神殿 which transliterates to Tenbō no Shinden and translates to English as Prospect Temple. Again there's no other way to take "Temple" than as "Temple".

With that out of the way, I agree with everyone regarding the Sanctuary bit. Whether or not people prayed in the temples wouldn't be relevant considering they all look dangerous and tend to be inhabited (or run over) by monsters.

 

[bspurka]

The temple of time seems like a place for worship.

 

[Moonstone]

Perhaps the temples were, at some point, used for worship. But religions come and go, and it seems that the current belief is in the three goddesses. Perhaps people don't lament not getting to pray at those temples simply because they don't believe in what those temples stand for anymore. To them, those temples are merely ancient landmarks.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

Perhaps some of them still are places of worship, but the local monster infestations have driven temple-goers away. The Spirit Temple sure does seem that way to me, and the Temple of Time is a still-functioning temple. I could argue that the Fire and Water Temples could be like this too, though there isn't quite as much proof.

Other temples or sanctuaries seem to have once held spiritual meaning but have largely fallen into disuse due to abandonment; the temples and Fire Sanctuary in SS are this way (obviously, since no one's been there for thousands of years), as well as some of the other temples and shrines from later down the timeline.

Others, however, I find hard to justify as temples of actual worship. I mean the Great Bay Temple, what, are they worshiping the gods of the Industrial Revolution or something?

 

[Doc]

I have always imagined that most of these temples were not originally designed for the purpose of worship. Most of the dungeons that are branded "temple" often end with Link collecting some item that is related to divinity in any way. I believe that some people, under a goddess's or spirit's command, built these to protect the item or whatever item Link had ventured for

Going to the temples in Ocarina if Time awakens the sages, so I assume these were built by those who were following some divine order. The Forest Temple and Water Temple housed the Twilight shards (That may or may not be the correct name). The temples in Majoras Mask was where the giants were found. Etc. etc.

 

[Curmudgeon]

Most of the temples in the series seem ill-suited for worship (Temple of Time excluded). Unless avoiding traps, slaying monsters, and solving puzzles based on fantastically elaborate mechanical constructions is integrated as part of Hylian religious ceremony...

 

[Sir Quaffler]

Most of the temples in the series seem ill-suited for worship (Temple of Time excluded). Unless avoiding traps, slaying monsters, and solving puzzles based on fantastically elaborate mechanical constructions is integrated as part of Hylian religious ceremony...

Dude, if that's true then their religion is SUPER HARDCORE!