Spoiler Hero's Clothes, Hero's Bow, and Statue in the Courtyard- Allusions to Skyward Sword?

[Heros Temporis]

Short notice: I haven't played Skyward Sword yet, so if any of this was confirmed in any way, I wouldn't know yet. My apologies if this is something that's been confirmed. I'd also appreciate the discussion to be free of any signifigant spoilers, as I haven't played the game yet.

Anyway, since I'm getting Skyward Sword (most likely) very soon, I decided to replay my two current favorite Zelda games, Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess. Throughout the two games, with my thoughts focused on Skyward Sword, I happened to notice some things I haven't before. Basically, what I noticed is that these two games have alluded to the hero in Skyward Sword (or at least a previous hero, given the near-infinite possibilty of prequels to anything that occurs after Skyward Sword) in a couple of ways. This may not be the way that Nintendo intended it to be, given that Ocarina of Time came out in 1998 and Skyward Sword in 2011, but... still. Anyway, here are the things I noticed:


The Hero's Bow in Twilight Princess

Given the name of the bow, and the item's description, "This Goron treasure once belonged to a hero of legend." People often assume that it's the Hero's Bow from Majora's Mask. However, a quick glance between the two shows two dissimilarities:

1. Aesthetically, they are quite different in color and design.
2. The Hero's Bow from Twilight Princess is a long bow, while the one from Majora's Mask is a short bow.

Obviously, they cannot be the same bow, unless it is a wild inconsistency between the two games. That said, looking at the Skyward Sword bow, you will notice two things similiar:

1. It and the bow from Twilight Princess are a near match visually.
2. It, too, appears to be a long bow, just like that of Twilight Princess.
So, what I think is that these two bows are one and the same, and that the "hero" referred to in the Hero's Bow's description refers to the hero of Skyward Sword.





2. The Hero's Clothes, and the adult-size Kokiri Tunic

In Ocarina of Time, after Link sleeps for seven years, he obviously grows up. Much of the items he used in the past are too small for him now, and, obviously, he has to be in bigger clothes. What I didn't notice before is that it's quite convenient that Rauru simply had an adult-sized Kokiri Tunic lying around. Since OoT occurs very early in the timeline, and there are no known adult-aged heroes other than that of Skyward Sword that occur before Ocarina of Time, the garb that Link wears in OoT must be that of the Link in Skyward Sword.
On a similiar note, when you are awakened as the hero after returning light to the Faron province in Twilight Princess, you are given The Hero's Clothes, said to have been worn by "an ancient hero that long ago saved Hyrule from danger." I had previously always assumed that these clothes were Link's from OoT, but given that TP occurs in the child timeline while the adult section of OoT occurs in the adult timeline, they can't be the same piece of clothing. The child timeline doesn't have many heroes, and none of those few have been adults other than in TP, so it would have to have been the clothes of a different hero before the split occured: Skyward Sword.

3. The statue in the Castle Courtyard

In Ocarina of Time, you may recall the statue that was in the castle courtyard, which the second set of guards walked around. In previous playthroughs, I was more interested in the movement of the guards in order to progress; but this time I took a little more interest in what this statue is actually of. At first glance, it appears to be just a simple statue, but if you look closer, you'll notice a couple things:
1. He appears to be a Hylian.
2. He has a tunic on.
3. He has a sword in his left hand, and something unclear in his right.



Of course, this could be anybody, but the left-handedness and the tunic point to an older incarnation of Link. And, as we all know, the Hylians are fond of making statues of those that are heroes, as shown in The Wind Waker, with the statue of the Hero of Time in Hyrule Castle.

Sorry for the long read.

Thoughts/Comments?

 

[Heros Temporis]

I'm with you on the clothes and hadn't actually noticed there had never been an adult hero apart from SS Link on the Child Timeline. Nice spot!

I too had noticed the statue in the courtyard however for a long time I have assumed it to be the Hero of the Gorons spoken of around the time of the Fire Temple. From what I can discern he appears to be holding a (megaton?) hammer and a bomb bag. However this theory of mine was knocked down a peg or two as it is heavily hinted (if not confirmed) that such hero was a Goron himself. Perhaps it is SS Link, but I doubt it was intended to be at the time of OoT's original release. If I remember correctly there are two figures on either side of the main statue. No idea what they could be hinting at.

It very well could be, given that it's the N64, and because of the graphics, what it depicts is not entirely clear. Though, you're right; it does look like whatever he is, he's got a bag of bombs with him. And about the hammer, could be too. Perhaps I just saw something in his left hand and was too quick to assume it's a sword. Still, the statue looks too thin to be a Goron. The humanoid in the picture resembles a Hylian, or at least some kind of human.
I guess we just can't really say.

 

[Libk]

Well, and I know this was done for right handed players, but in skyward sword link is right handed. I think that the statue in that courtyard couldn't skyward sword link just for that reason. The theory of it being the hero for the grooms is interesting, but I'm not sure why that would be at hyrule castle and not death mountain. I guess to keep the Gorons from accidentally eating it?
Nice find on the tunic though. Lol

 

[S. Mario]

I've always wondered about the tunic myself. I joked about it being elastic at one point. It could be the same tunic as SS Link, but I always thought that Rauru made the child tunic larger using magic. He is a sage, so it is within reason. I think the bow could be either from SS of MM. I think Hyrule Hystoria said something about the bow, but I can't remember what it was.

 

[DeletedUser9]

There's basically absolutely no way that they had Skyward Sword or any plot points relating to it in mind when they made that statue in Ocarina of Time, and same for the clothing change. A better example is actually the majority of allusions to Link in Twilight Princess. The Hero's Bow and the Hero's Clothes (which are called by that exact name only in TP) and the grave in the Hyrule Castle Graveyard.

As TheBlueReptile said, calling out differences between the appearances of things between two games doesn't mean a lot, but I still think I'm agreeing with you that the Hero's Bow seems like it has more in common with Skyward Sword Link than the Hero of Time. The Hero's Clothes are also clearly something that predates Ocarina of Time since Skyward Sword comes first on the timeline now (although its explanation for the origin of the clothes is likely mostly unique to the game and may be contradicted in a later prequel). At this point I definitely agree with you that both of these refer to Skyward Sword.

The grave in the Hyrule Castle Graveyard is slightly less clear, but I think it's also possible that it refers to the Link from Skyward Sword. The quote on the special grave reads:

"The cursed swordsman...sleeps before...the sacred tree."

This was previously taken to apply to the Hero's Shade (confirmed in Hyrule Historia to be the Hero of Time), but it can also apply to Skyward Sword Link; just because the Hero's Shade is in Twilight Princess doesn't mean that everything in the game is only discussing the Hero's Shade. And Twilight Princess came out just before Skyward Sword and had numerous things that implied they had Skyward Sword in mind when they made it; it's completely reasonable they were intending this for the gravestone. Even if they didn't, it's a workable theory. Honestly, the "cursed" part works better for Skyward Sword Link, because...

Spoiler

He's actually cursed by Demise.

Whereas the Hero's Shade doesn't really have much resembling a curse... just unfulfilled duty. Standard unfinished business ghost stuff. It's not something the people of Hyrule Castle would, logically, have had any knowledge of, whereas it makes complete sense that SS Link would be immortalized in Hyrule Castle considering he probably helped found it after Skyward Sword, or at least helped save the founders or ancestors of the founders.

The theory of it being the hero for the grooms is interesting, but I'm not sure why that would be at hyrule castle and not death mountain.

Why do you assume that only Gorons dealt with Volvagia? Before defeating Volvagia it was stated that he was a threat to all of Hyrule, because he could break out and burn the whole land, so I don't see why it would have been different when Volvagia originally lived. In all probability, Volvagia was a threat to everyone, and the hero may have still been praised by someone other than a Goron, especially the Royal Family of Hyrule.

 

[Cfrock]

I think the bow is most likely the same one from Skyward Sword and the clothes too.
I'd never really considered that statue before but this thread has given me a lot to think about.

 

[Libk]

Wait, Volvagia was defeated by a Goron. So the statue probably isn't the person who killed Volvagia. Lol. Oh well I wonder who it is though.

 

[dragon]

hmmmmm i wonder......

 

[Wcaton25]

With the bow, I think it could go either way, as somebody else said, visual differences aren't much of a reference. I blame that on different animation styles. As for the tunic, that seems the only real option unless you were to bring in a different Link. I'm afraid that I never paid much attention to the statue, which makes me feel bad, but I wouldn't be surprised. It makes me wonder though why people don't just call out anybody wearing a green tunic and expect something really bad, then really great is going to happen. Also, with all of these theories, Nintendo has proven that they can fit in a game just about anywhere, so it could be any incarnation of Link. There are a lot of Heroes referenced here and there.

 

[Wisdom Triforce]

To be honest I think that Nintendo just might not care about the item being from which of the many reoccurring Links. Only because the simple fact of the matter is it doesn't matter. Nintendo would spend more time working on the key aspects then worrying about whether there bow looks like a previous Link's. And on a second note bows can be modified skyward swords upgrade system is living proof of that.

 

[ocarina hero]

interesting indeed i wonder.................