Why Aren't Temples Places For Worship?

[DragonEleven]

Has anyone considered that worshippers may not have needed to venture past the entrance of the temples?
It's not unheard of for worship to be done outside of a building of spiritual significance, rather than inside it.
The inside may be considered particularly sacred, to the point where entry is forbidden to all but a select few... which would explain the need for defences throughout the temples... punishment for anyone who was not supposed to be there.

 

[Cartoonmaniac]

Has anyone considered that worshippers may not have needed to venture past the entrance of the temples?
It's not unheard of for worship to be done outside of a building of spiritual significance, rather than inside it.
The inside may be considered particularly sacred, to the point where entry is forbidden to all but a select few... which would explain the need for defences throughout the temples... punishment for anyone who was not supposed to be there.

That actually makes a lot of sense!

 

[Fiery Klongo]

I've wondered this myself. I can only assume that these places were at one time places of worship, but as the world gets thrown into chaos so do the temples. Because of the special vibes coming from the temples monsters would come on by and infest the once holy areas. So basically nobody sane would go to a monster infested temple. Just think about some random zora walking into the water temple and then gets stomped by a tektite.

In a peaceful setting, namely before or after any zelda game, you would see plenty of traffic in and out. But during a zelda game it is generally known by the people that bad things happen at the temples. They pretty much say it directly.

But yeah, I've kinda wondered what kind of things that they do to worship. Music seems like it would be an important tool but what else? I suppose we will never know.

 

[Scoopapa]

I've noticed that the temples are often set against each other in opposing pairs.
In SS and WW:
Sky and Earth temples

In OoT:
Fire - Water
Light - Shadow
Forest - Spirit (this one could be interpreted as: Forest - Desert or Birth - Death or Life - Afterlife

In MM:
Snowfall Temple is freezing, Great Bay Temple is too warm.
Woodfall Temple is poisoned and dying, the dead have risen at Stone Tower Temple

 

[DragonEleven]

In SS and WW:
Sky and Earth temples

These are typically seen in a group of three... earth, sea and sky... in WW the whole game is set on the ocean, which technically completes the set, and I suspect there was supposed to be a third temple in SS that was cut during development (likely the home of the third spring found in BotW).

In OoT:
Fire - Water
Light - Shadow
Forest - Spirit (this one could be interpreted as: Forest - Desert or Birth - Death or Life - Afterlife

I think these are two sets of three as well...
Fire - Water - Forest (a common rock-paper-scissors style grouping)
Light - Shadow - Spirit (neutral/balanced... the spirit symbol is based on the yin-yang symbol)