Tribes of Skyward Sword: What About the Kokiri Tunic?
Posted on July 31 2011 by Alex Plant
Origin tales. They’re everywhere in the Zelda series. From the tale of the first generation Princess Zelda in Adventure of Link to the story of the Triforce, the Master Sword, and the rise of Ganon in A Link to the Past, to the retelling of many of these elements in Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and now Skyward Sword, they’re definitely one of the most popular ways the creators connect the games together.
Ocarina of Time explained the origins of one of the most special components of the entire series: Link and his funny green tunic. In that game, Link was raised as an adopted member of the Kokiri tribe of forest children, all of whom “grow up” wearing green clothes. When he became a legendary hero, his tale was passed down through the generations, and young lads took up swords and donned green tunics themselves to emulate his example. But in Skyward Sword we see a Link who predates the one from Ocarina of Time – and he’s wearing the same green tunic.
Unfortunately, it seems like Nintendo is turning its back on the Kokiri Tunic origin laid down in Ocarina of Time. I just can’t see any way around it – there’s no real reason for the Skyloft people to have some kind of special relationship to an old forest tribe, especially not after living up there for long enough to have forgotten the world below. If it were some kind of sky tribe like the Oocca – maybe. It’s inevitable, really – we couldn’t really expect them to deviate from the traditional Link character template just because this game is set before Ocarina, and despite the canonical confusion I’m glad they didn’t. It does leave people like me who try to figure out how the series works with a real headache though.
How do I think Nintendo’s going to introduce the tunic in Skyward Sword? I think we’ve already seen how! Aonuma dropped some details about Link’s boarding school up in Skyloft in a recent interview that I think explain the situation. For those too lazy to go track down the quote in context, I’ll slide out the relevant bit so you can see:
Who are the characters with Link at the start of the bird race? Not just the competitors, but also the older guy.
The people you saw in the opening scene are part of – we don’t have an official name for it yet – a sort of academy, a knight academy, that Link is a part of and [they] oversee the school, and [the people are] also his classmates. So in that sense, this is a game that really puts Link in a different context and a different environment.
We can see that in this society, young men are trained to fly around on birds and defend the realm as knights. Link is one of them, which seems to be why he carries around a sword and is competing against those other guys in the birdriding demo. But a short clip from the opening to the flying demo shows off something really interesting (I apologize for the image quality in advance, but there just isn’t direct feed footage of this particular scene):
Just look at these guys! They’re wearing Link-style tunics and pointy hats! And on top of that, they’re donned in the three traditional tunic colors: red, green, and blue. Clearly the tunic’s origins in Skyward Sword come from this knight tradition, not from the Kokiri. Now, it could be that the clothes draw their inspiration from some cultural elements that existed on the surface world before the two lands became fully separated, but it’s clear that this is an all-encompassing origin story that serves to explain the whole of hero tunic tradition – not just the green clothes but the red and blue ones also. And I’ve got to say, I’m more than satisfied with that.
What about the Kokiri, though? Does Skyward Sword leave room for them to make a reappearance? Honestly, though I’ll never say never, I don’t think they’ll show up. Not just because of the hero tunic bit, mind you, but because the whole “fairy child” story just doesn’t seem like it’ll be a priority given what we know about Skyward Sword‘s storyline environment. Now, I obviously have no real idea what Nintendo’s thinking, and it could very well be that they think that the Kokiri are an element from Ocarina of Time that will do well to serve the scenario for this game. But if this is the case, we certainly haven’t seen it yet.
I feel kind of guilty for thinking this. The Deku Tree was a great Hyrule deity character and it’d be great to have the whole reason why the Kokiri shouldn’t leave the forest explained (assuming there is one). And that guilt is only intensified by the fact that this is Kokiri day, a day for celebrating one of the most beloved races in Hyrule’s history. But I have to be realistic and true to my gut, and I just have a feeling they won’t appear. Sorry, Kokiri fans.
The Skyward Sword Speculation Series is a column that focuses on speculated possibilities for Skyward Sword‘s gameplay and storyline. The idea came from a general speculation article we published in the wake of E3 2010, and I’m bringing it back in the wake of E3 and Comic Con 2011! While I try to make my guesses based on confirmed or suggested facts, bear in mind that they are still just that – guesses – and may or may not prove to be true, or even at all accurate. I’ll be dealing with all kinds of other possibilities in future articles, so stay tuned for upcoming installments!
