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Skyward Sword Is Hylia an Effective Part of the Lore?

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
Joined
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Akkala
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Hylian Champion
Throught Skyward Sword, the figurehead Hylia is constantly made to be a big deal. One will see words like "goddess" being highlighted in snazzy blue oftentimes, and the goddess-serving dog Impa will frequently address her with honorifics like Your Grace. We also get to see that cool opening that shows her fighting off Demeyes and the Demon Army. But...did she matter at all to the overarching Zelda series? What say you on Hylia's importance?
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
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On the midnight Spirit Train going anywhere
Eh, not really, but when has anything in Zelda lore ever been effective? I have to give her credit for explaining a few missing things, such as why Hylians are called what they are, but from a storytelling standpoint, she was standard Zelda fare.
 
Nah, she didnt mean anything to me, i wasn't surprised by the plot development which revealed Zelda to be the goddess reborn, nor did i think too much about the goddess herself; she failed to stop Akuma savaging the lands (which don't look too savaged at all) and lifted a few hundred rocks of varying sizes up into the air for safety, funny thing is, The Imprisoned can fly, if he had waddled out of his crater and was left alone, then he probably would have made it to skyloft for some Zelda noms anyway eventually.

At least Hylia was very much like the other gods throughout Zelda in that they are borderline useless and have terrible world saving ideas. Lifting a few rocks into the air (which must make for uncomfortable living) to protect the land, is seemingly just as dense as flooding the lands themselves so,.. cant really fault Hylia on the way she went about preserving life.

Problem is with revealing Zelda to be the goddess reborn is that it means nothing to the series overall, we've had 15 other games where Zelda sharing a godly bloodline (or whatever lines gods share with mortals) means absolutely nothing. It means something to SS, but nothing to the rest of the series, i guess you can say that is why most incarnations of Zelda appear to be magic? and that the Triforce of Wisdom means nothing other than being the inequivalent of wearing a sign addressed to Ganondorf around her neck in neon lights saying 'kidnap me G-Man'

So yeah,, Hylia meant nothing to me.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
Hylia = Princess Zelda, so OF COURSE, she's an important figure in the series. She's [Princess Zelda] the whole reason that Link exists. Not only that, but I consider her to be the most defining character in the whole series. If one were to write down all of her accomplishments, you'd catch my drift.

Also, Skyward Sword depicted her as so cool; I actually wished that her mortal form (Zelda) was as awesome as she and have the ability to fight on par with Ganondorf, invent neat stuff for Link, and think up strategies to help Link on his quest. Then again, each respective [P] Zelda had these qualities in one way or another. However, it'd be neat if one of them we're a carbon-copy of her immortal form, rhetorically speaking...
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Location
Inside the Moon
I feel it's a pretty good vessel for explanation and exposition. We get a real tie between our characters and the mythology. I like it. Zelda is now a link (he he he) between the gods and the Hylians. I enjoy how she's more involved in the story, but it definitely limits her ability turn into Sheik. Hylia Zelda is limited from that or any other form of combat. She's a more delicate character than Zelda in OoT, WW, and TP. I suppose either Zelda type can help a game. Maybe we need more exposition to try and bring order to our screwed up timeline. We definitely need issues cleared up. Maybe she can bring that to us with more expository dialogue.
 

Shadsie

Sage of Tales
I liked her, but in the end, I see her as something of a minor part of the lore, a minor Goddess, since the major-Trinity of the Golden Goddesses has been established. I think of Hylia as being one of the patron-gods, like the Great Deku Tree, or Jabu Jabu / Jabun or Valoo, or the Light Spirits. Much like the Great Deku Tree was the patron-god who was a specific protector of the Kokiri and Koroks and Valoo took care of the Rito and helped them to grow up, I see Hylia as this for the Hylians.

As far as lore goes, Hylia is great because the Hylians/humans didn't have this before. They didn't have a protector-deity specific to their people: and now we know why - that diety became one of them and is reborn contnually as their golden-age ruler. I think this is pretty neat.

As far as the the ur-lore, no, I don't think she really affected anything. Like many things in the Zelda games, she seems like she was created for one specific game without too much thought given to how it fits in with the others or plans to continue her involvement (as Goddess) in the story.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
I feel it's a pretty good vessel for explanation and exposition. We get a real tie between our characters and the mythology. I like it. Zelda is now a link (he he he) between the gods and the Hylians. I enjoy how she's more involved in the story, but it definitely limits her ability turn into Sheik. Hylia Zelda is limited from that or any other form of combat. She's a more delicate character than Zelda in OoT, WW, and TP. I suppose either Zelda type can help a game. Maybe we need more exposition to try and bring order to our screwed up timeline. We definitely need issues cleared up. Maybe she can bring that to us with more expository dialogue.

Wait, so we're not discussing the Hylia depicted to have battled Demise, invented Fi, and performed great feats of wisdom and ingenuity? If not, then I agree with Spirit's post, which I don't feel like quoting right now... ;j
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
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Well, that Hylia was reincarnated into a human. If there's some prequel with her, I don't know what would happen. I just find it unlikely we'll be seeing her. Hylia Zelda is what we have experienced, and that's what we'll most likely see in the future.
 
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
In short, yes. She does matter in the overarching theme of the Legend of Zelda. She is the protector of the Triforce and the Hylian people, battling against the wicked forces of the demons who intend to use it for malevolent purpose. She is the one who chose Link as the hero and made go through the her trials to prepare him for battle. She is the reason why Zelda and the Royal Family is important to the whole legend.

When looking back at lore and legends of each Zelda game, there's an overarching theme: The Legend of the Hero, the Princess, and the Demon. From the beginning, there was no really mythos or lore about the world of Hyrule. We've got bits here and there in the original Legend of Zelda and the Adventure of Link, but nothing really spectacular. The Triforce is a magical object that can grant wishes, Ganon is a generic evil demon that wants to rule the world, Zelda is the classical princess, and Link is your everyday hero. But the simple fairy tale of the NES era evolved into something deeper and more legendary in A Link to the Past. The Triforce is now an artificial of the gods, Ganon was once a greedy thief who became a demon pig when he touched the Triforce, Zelda is a descendant from the seven sages and Link is a descendant of the knights who battled Ganon's forces. The theme is developed further in Ocarina of Time, by having Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf inherit a piece of the Triforce, which will determine the fate of the world.

But somewhere along that time, Princess Zelda started to lose her relevance among the Triforce trio. It's now Link the Hero against the Ganon the Demon, the classic good vs evil. But where does Zelda fits in to all of this? What's her role, mentor to Link? If so, then she is easily replaceable with characters like Rauru or the King of Red Lions. Special powers? She does have magical abilities such as calling the spirits of the light or transforming into Shiek, but it's rarely emphasized on and often declared to be the result of the Triforce of Wisdom. And why is that important?

When adding Hylia and the Ancient Battle to the mix of the Triforce trio, Zelda's role is suddenly more prominent. As the incarnation (or descendant) of Hylia, Princess Zelda is essentially the protector of Hyrule and the Triforce that lay within. As such, she is usually the one who would prompt Link on a quest to save Hyrule, be it separating the Triforce of Wisdom into eight pieces or sending him to find the Master Sword. She is kind and forgiving, even to those that have shown no kindness to her, and would sacrifice herself to save her people and those she loves. And as the vessel of Hylia's powers and the protector of Hyrule and the Triforce, she is often a target for villains wanting to rule the world.
 
The issue is... Nintendo made a series prequel. The games that were made before Skyward Sword, especially the older ones, clearly didn't have room for a goddess named Hylia to be integrated into the plot and for it to make sense. Impulsively introducing a character/deity who is supposed to serve a great role in a prequel implies it would affect the entire timeline, is a foolish action on Nintendo's part, in my onion.

The games previously-made have clearly had none or very little thought about a possible fourth goddess. I figure they did not name her Hylia for the namesake of Hyrule to make sense; rather, that any plotholes in previous games could be filled in a feigned allusion toward "The Hylia":

2hiCb
[break][/break]
I look at Hylia as a synthesized implementation of a goddess just for the sake of pointless, meaningless story. Tell me why, then... the Golden Goddesses made Hyrule, and then Hylia just took over and everyone forgot about the Golden Goddesses? Oh, but after Skyward Sword, everyone just suddenly remembers them again! And no one remembers Hylia! *twitch*

I mean, I do like a fair share of juicy story in my Zelda games, but if it's going to be shallow, then don't bother. I was totally pleased with the amount of story provided in the first few Legend of Zelda games--overdoing it like Skyward Sword did normally backfires. The entire plot of Skyward Sword felt... fake. Inflated an insignificant part of Hyrule's history. It was said earlier that the sages forged the Master Sword. Does that mean... Skyward Sword is a lie? Hylia is a lie? If you want to give me a prequel, then give me [Hyrule's] creation--or its establishment, even! Not some puny in-between-thing that is going to confuse and split an entire fanbase.

Ah, started going off-topic a bit there, didn't I? But, it's somewhat relevant. Hylia didn't mean anything to me in regards to the story of Hyrule--other than she is just a miss goody-goody who is suddenly forgotten about like the rest of the perfect people. I don't blame Demise; I would have sought the Surface's destruction just to spite her.

/onion
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
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However, Hylia does tie in Zelda to the rest of the series. I like the idea of getting back to the creation of Hyrule. It prevents Nintendo from making any more prequels and forces them to move forward with the story.
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
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However, Hylia does tie in Zelda to the rest of the series. I like the idea of getting back to the creation of Hyrule. It prevents Nintendo from making any more prequels and forces them to move forward with the story.

What exactly does Hylia do to Zelda that makes Zelda suddenly relevant to the series? Nothing at all, I wager. In fact, all she does is needlessly complicate the series further, because now Zelda isn't her own character, rather some goddesses from a before-time.
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
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mandy, I think you misunderstand who Hylia is. She's not a fourth goddess. She's one of the lesser deities to the Golden Goddesses. She was given the role of watching over the Triforce and the humans by them. You also have forgotten that there's no way she could have been mentioned in past titles because she hadn't been thought of yet, just like the Golden Goddesses couldn't have been mentioned in the first two games because they hadn't been thought of yet. It's called a retcon, something the Zelda series is infamous for.

You also misunderstand what the quote in that image means. Hylia was a mistranslation for Hylians in A Link to the Past. It's pretty clear that's the case, considering it's only one letter off and she's talking about the people themselves (they're mentioned more than once in the game). I mean, come on, we're talking about the game where some guy said "That'll learn him!". The quote can also easily tie into Hylia herself. The Royal Family, at least as per Skyward Sword, are the Hylians, those with the blood of Hylia in them. Over time, that blood is going to get weaker and weaker due to the passing of generations.

Huh... Hylia is more important than I initially thought.

What exactly does Hylia do to Zelda that makes Zelda suddenly relevant to the series? Nothing at all, I wager. In fact, all she does is needlessly complicate the series further, because now Zelda isn't her own character, rather some goddesses from a before-time.

Only Zelda from Skyward Sword is. Every other Zelda is just her descendant.
 

Random Person

Just Some Random Person
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Well, SS's story in itself didn't really matter to the overall series. We got a few explanations like the reason the G-man keeps coming back, why Hylians exist(ed) in the sky and the origin of the Master Sword, but overall SS was a Personal story. Hylia herself was very important to this story, but considering the story does not pertain to the overall lore of Zelda, neither does she.
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2011
What exactly does Hylia do to Zelda that makes Zelda suddenly relevant to the series? Nothing at all, I wager. In fact, all she does is needlessly complicate the series further, because now Zelda isn't her own character, rather some goddesses from a before-time.

That makes very. Little. Sense. How is she "some random goddesses (sic) from a before-time" when she's present in every game to date (in spirit) and also the reason that Link exists? Hylia and Zelda are essentially one and the same; lots of games and other media use some form of reincarnation of its main hero/heroine as a plot device; The Legend of Zelda is no different. Is your hatred of Skyward Sword obfuscating your ability to think clearly and objectively? Lol.
 

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