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Currency...

Dizzi

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Playing MM i was thinking surely the races would have different currency in Hyrule and Termina and other Zelda related games... why not?? And try making your own...
 
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Well, they frequently share large land boarders, trade routes, and waterways. Plus, multiple games allude to them all being part of the same kingdom despite having their own rulers, so it makes sense to share a currency. That being said, they frequently have a much stronger identity in barter and trade commodities, like ores, produce, and livestock/game.
 

Castle

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Yeah the principles of Hylian economy are largely unknown. But their economy appears to be relatively simple. I think the degree to which the rupee is a standard currency could vary from game to game. In the first LoZ the rupee appears to me to simply be a precious stone known to have intrinsic value and therefore makes for a convenient trade medium. In Twilight Princess the rupee is much more common place, and that game features Hyrule's most advanced trade economy in the series. In TP the rupee seems to be a much more officially recognized standard currency. The rupee must have some intrinsic value, given that they appear to be precious stones. It is unknown whether or not they can be manufactured, so they're unlikely to be bank notes.

The nintendo strategy guide for OoT mentions that the Hylians mine Dodongos cavern for rupees and then give the excavated rocks to the Gorons, but that all seems awfully fancy to me and the strategy guide is hardly a source of canonical material. There is zero indication in game that the Hylians have anything to do with Dodongos cavern.


The Hylian economy must be small enough that no standard currency or bank note is necessary. It's still odd though for there to be no form of coin currency since coin currency is one of the first things a society adopts once it is advanced enough to have even a basic trade economy. Somehow the rupee must suffice on its own.

The weirdest thing about the rupee is that it is a virtually limitless resource. Economic inflation has to be carefully managed even in simple economies and it isn't known if whatever the source of the rupee is can be regulated. A sudden appearance of many high valued rupees would cause rampant inflation. A sudden lack of rupees would lead to an economic recession. But the royal family seems to think that the flow of rupees into the economy is stable even if they're not the ones managing it.

The Minish Cap establishes that the Minish are responsible for rupees and bombs and arrows n' stuff appearing out of cut grass and bushes and rocks. So perhaps the Minish are the regulators of Hyrule's economy?

The Hylians might even consider their economy in a sort of divine light if they place their faith in the source of the rupee to keep the kingdom prosperous. This is very similar to how the Japanese view fortune as a divine thing. But the Hylians would have to be awfully dogmatic to completely forgo establishing their own currency and put all their personal wellbeing and prosperity in the hands of a divine source, and nowhere in the games is it ever even eluded to that the Hylains view the rupee this way. The only evidence I can think of to back this up is the trend of greedy individuals getting beset with divine curses throughout the series - from the Skultulla family to Jiovani to the conflict over the Sacred Realm and Ganondorf himself. Perhaps the constant historical conflict caused by greed is the reason why the Hylians don't establish their own currency.
 

Spiritual Mask Salesman

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Well, they frequently share large land boarders, trade routes, and waterways. Plus, multiple games allude to them all being part of the same kingdom despite having their own rulers, so it makes sense to share a currency. That being said, they frequently have a much stronger identity in barter and trade commodities, like ores, produce, and livestock/game.
Uhhh, what? I mean this is the case with like the Oracle games and Tri Force Heroes I suppose. However, I don't subscribe to Termina being merely a nearby land to Hyrule. I always liked the parallel world interpretation of Termina. In that case, the reason it has Rupees would have to be the same reason there are Rupees in Lorule, what that reason is a mystery. I've always felt the idea that the same gods that created Hyrule also made Lorule and Termina, and that would explain why there are similarities (especially in the case of Lorule). However, if we simply view MM as Zelda Encyclopedia wants us to, Termina is a dream world anyway much like Koholint Island is. In that case, there are Rupees in these dream worlds because a portion of Link's consciousness is inside and influencing the dreamscape, I suppose. Skull Kid was also from Hyrule so he'd be familar with Rupees too.
 
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Uhhh, what? I mean this is the case with like the Oracle games and Tri Force Heroes I suppose. However, I don't subscribe to Termina being merely a nearby land to Hyrule. I always liked the parallel world interpretation of Termina. In that case, the reason it has Rupees would have to be the same reason there are Rupees in Lorule, what that reason is a mystery. I've always felt the idea that the same gods that created Hyrule also made Lorule and Termina, and that would explain why there are similarities (especially in the case of Lorule). However, if we simply view MM as Zelda Encyclopedia wants us to, Termina is a dream world anyway much like Koholint Island is. In that case, there are Rupees in these dream worlds because a portion of Link's consciousness is inside and influencing the dreamscape, I suppose. Skull Kid was also from Hyrule so he'd be familar with Rupees too.
They're not talking about Hyrule's relationship to Termina, they're talking about the various races within both regions, relating to each other. Like Gorons and Zoras and Hylians and Gerudo, in both of these places.
 

Spiritual Mask Salesman

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They're not talking about Hyrule's relationship to Termina, they're talking about the various races within both regions, relating to each other. Like Gorons and Zoras and Hylians and Gerudo, in both of these places.
Oh, well in that case your post was correct. The Rupee is a commonplace currency apparently. Still, don't you think it's odd that the Rupee is used in completely different worlds?
 

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