Hearts, What Are They?

[cucco002]

[WARNING! This post may contain some medium SPOILERS from TP and SS]

Hi everyone!

First, I know they are just part of gameplay, but we should be used to hear theories about everything, so, why not?

Uh..well, yeah..

Often, when we defeat a boss, the heart container seems to be part of them, but I don't think they really are, sometimes we even fight the same boss more than once (LoZ, AoL, ALTTP, SS...) and we only get a container when they are the dungeon main boss, and sometimes we don't always have to kill the boss to get a heart

We also get hearts in other circumstances, a good example is when we defeat Blizzeta, the heart seems to be created by the love of Yeto and Yeta. Also in TP, Madame Fanadi can help us to find heart containers if we ask for love fortune. Can they be produced by love? obviously there is not love coming from a death monster, maybe is a gift for Link from, lets say the Goddness? I am not sure.

And if they were love, how could they be materialized? its not until SS when this may have some answer, if you have played SS enough, you have seen the gratitude crystals, they are gratitude feelings crystallized, maybe the heart containers are created the same way with feeling of love and friendship?. But there is sill a problem, if I remember right, Batreaux says Link maybe able to see them because of his heart/courage/something I cant remember, but heart containers are seen by common people through the games, noted specially with the people who sells them, but no one seems to know what are they for.

As for the common hearts, I don't have any theory, it may be something similar, we have seen heart flowers, we have see them be produced by love, and we find them even in the grass! but that may be only the Minish

what its your theory? and again, the real answer is that they are just part of the gameplay, but it would be interesting to see how we can explain them.

 

[Pen]

The Recovery Hearts, Heart Pieces and Heart Containers might not necessarily be real hearts that are in bodies. You may receive a Recovery Heart after defeating an enemy, but you may as well receive one by cutting (defeating) the tall grass, hmm...

And there's also the fact that the heros (most of them at least) can only hold a maximum of 20 Heart Containers. It seems Link's body cannot hold an infinite number of hearts. Why...?

Also, I gotta say the comic was freaking hilarious!

 

[Wolf Sage]

They are a video game mechanic. :yes:

 

[TheGermanLegend]

I always thought they might be some kind of talisman that has live energy saved in it. When someone is hurt they give their life energy to their owner to heal his wounds. They can be refilled with love, the hearts hidden by the minish, the magic of a fairy and by the life energy of monsters. (you kill them, you get their life energy.) Usual Hylians are given 3 heartcontainers when they are born, which is enough to not die easily. But because Link has to save the world and fight giant monsters he will probably need more ;D

Bosses have heartcontainers with them because they were given to them by Ganon/Vaati/Girahim/any other villian so they have a chance fighting Link or because they just found them.


Well, that's what I belive.

 

[Staldra]

I have no idea, but the theory of the crystallized feelings the same way as the gratitude crystals is interesting and makes sense for something that doesn't have to

 

[Ilia]

They are a video game mechanic. :yes:

Bingo.
I don't think any other meaning at all is intended

 

[Shadsie]

I saw someone's theory on TV Tropes that they are "love" - literally the power of love. I like that idea.

As for the monsters - it could be "the love they were holding back from the world is now crystalized, the spirits of the area showing their happiness for having the area cleansed."

Or they could just be representative of life-energy. Link destroys a monster and survives - he gets stronger. It his an increase in his strength. I think things like the heart-plants in Skyward are fruits, fruits that bestow energy when eaten.

They're mostly a game mechanic that we aren't supposed to overthink, I think. I wrote a fan fiction once that was based upon a general plan for a game in which Ganondorf is the protagonist: I had him restore himself by taking ghostly "life energies" from his victims.

 

[SinkingBadges]

I felt tempted to say that they were a simple game mechanic and leave, but thinking about the Yeto/Yeta example -and the fun in trying to make sense of Nintendo’s logic- made me look a bit more for little intricacies. I must say, the logic behind the hearts starts to look pretty flexible and somewhat contrtadictory after that...

On one side, there’s the hearts being the power of love. I can’t quite say I like the sound of that one, since you get hearts from killing monsters and all that… I think it sounds kind of twisted, to be honest. The monsters might be sentient beings, but why would they leave love behind for their assassin to take it and heal himself from it? If anything, I think it’s more likely they’d drop something that represents hate and harms/kills him. :xd: Just saying.

I also like how Shadsie put it:

Or they could just be representative of life-energy. Link destroys a monster and survives - he gets stronger. It his an increase in his strength. I think things like the heart-plants in Skyward are fruits, fruits that bestow energy when eaten.

I’d probably go for the hearts being a representation of life energy or something along those lines. That makes a fair bit of sense to me, because it’d be like a force that counters the evil in the world being manifested physically. Then I saw the mention of heart pieces being sold in shops and… well, that means they can be used for self-gain purposes. They could also take a role as some really valuable material that many would be willing to pay a lot for, or at least that’s what I got. That would probably make heart pieces a potential product of dirty business. Not a nice thought, if you ask me.

As for the common hearts, I don't have any theory, it may be something similar, we have seen heart flowers, we have see them be produced by love, and we find them even in the grass! but that may be only the Minish

I think that could also symbolize the life that sprouts from the soil. But I didn’t take the Minish into that, now that you mention it.

Off-topic: Thanks to the OP for giving me nightmare fuel with that comic. I really appreciate it. (I'm just kidding, by the way)

 

[SNOlink]

Well, I first off think that all of the Bokoblins, Moblins, etc. are really creatures formed from dark magic. This would make bosses also dark magic creations, but much larger, obviously. Maybe heart containers are either some kind of light magic to counteract the darkness that was once there or an extra gift from the Goddess for overcoming this challenge. Heart pieces may be, going along with the first theory, random pieces of similar light magic that are not enough to create more health, but along wiht others can make one. Hearts as in the healing unit can either be natural remedies for injury symbolized as hearts or even smaller units of light magic only meant for healing.

 

[OHAI]

Well, a Potion is a liquid with magical properties (Guardian, Stamina, Heart, etc.) So I'd say, bought hearts would be for lack of a better term, heart potion pills. Where as enemy dropped ones, and Heart Plants would represent life force in some fashion.

 

[Satsy]

It's like asking why numbers come out of some MMO/RPG characters. Or why attributes to certain RPG characters are represented by numbers (MP - 90, WIS - 40, etc.). And why Megaman collects heads, or why 100 coins is a life-up for Mario.

The hearts are a representation of the growth and replenishment of Link that the player can see. Those little hearts, they are Link's food and sleep stops. The heart containers are his growth in character as he tackles each obstacle. But the hearts give us a representation that is visible, and not boring. They're one of those things that allows us to suspend the disbelief and at the same time embrace the nonsensical universe it all resides in.

Or I guess Skyward Sword has taken steps away from that, hasn't it? But I'm sure, once, it wouldn't have been anything more than this. Less, if you choose the 4 stock-answer words ("its a game mechanic").

 

[cucco002]

Quoting myself

First, I know they are just part of gameplay, but we should be used to hear theories about everything, so, why not?

I know they are just part of the game mechanic and there is no need to find an explanation, but I thought it would be fun to hear some way to explain the nintendo-logic (or games in general)

 

[Big Octo]

I know they are just part of the game mechanic and there is no need to find an explanation, but I thought it would be fun to hear some way to explain the nintendo-logic (or games in general)

If that's so, then this is in the wrong section. It should be in World of Zelda.

 

[Wolf Sage]

Quoting myself



I know they are just part of the game mechanic and there is no need to find an explanation, but I thought it would be fun to hear some way to explain the nintendo-logic (or games in general)

Please, don't use the term "Nintendo logic." I beseech you. There are tons of concepts, gameplay mechanics, and ideas, like hearts, that are not components unique to Zelda or Nintendo, for that matter. You can't say "Link falls in lava and loses one heart, but shouldn't he die? Nintendo logic *sigh*", because many other video games have very similar game mechanics. For example, there is no way a human being would be able to sustain so many shots from piercing ammo in Shooters like 007, they'd die after a few hits. But it works, because it makes the game fun and easy. Such mechanics are examples of aspects of realism being sacrificed for the sake of fun, accessibly, etc. With regards to Zelda, most fans who use the term have never played anything outside of Nintendo. I'm not saying you're doing this... Just thought I'd throw this out there...

With relation to the above: In conclusion, hearts are simply a gameplay mechanic and there's probably no story whatsoever behind them.

 

[PureLocke]

I consider hearts to be a simple gameplay feature. Unless I'm feeling particularly morbid. At which point I'll belt out the idea that Link uses necromantic magic to slave the life force of those he defeats to himself, so that his constitution is increased. Or they could be relics of some sort, once used to power the magical creations but now used to hold artificial bosses together. Alternately others were acquired naturally by creature bosses and were made more powerful than their brethren.