Reconciling the Master Sword backstories in ALttP, TP and SS

[Moblinking5000]

The Master Sword has seemingly conflicting backstories, but can they be reconciled?

SS says that Hylia created the Goddess Sword, which as we know is forged in the MS in the game due to the Sacred Flames and Zelda's blessing.

In TP, Zelda says that it was ''crafted by the wisdom of the Ancient Sages''.

The Japanese manual for ALttP says that the people of Hyrule were informed by an ''divine oracle'' to create it.

Now, in SS, in the Sealed Temple[ which was the Temple of Hylia [who is said to have created the Goddess Sword]], you may notice that the mural contains the sage medallions, meaning the Ancient Sages may have been around to help Hylia craft the Goddess Sword, which would make the SS and TP backstories true, since the Goddess Sword and Master Sword are the same blade in different states.

Here's a picture: http://zeldawiki.org/File:Sealed_Temple_mural.png

The Divine Oracle in the ALttP manual could be Fi; it says that the Divine Oracle commanded the people of Hyrule to forge the MS, and Fi instructs Link to forge the GS into the MS. The only difference is ''Link'' vs ''The people of Hyrule'', which could be chalked up to legends changing over time since the Kingdom of Hyrule didn't exist yet in SS, And Zelda and Link live there after SS.

So, it seems as if each backstory just provides more details rather than contradicting eachother.

Thoughts?

 

[Devon Thurgood]

I never noticed those sage medallions! Id always just assumed the legends of the master sword faded and changed over time, but this is way cooler.

 

[Moblinking5000]

Yeah, not to mention that you don't have to ignore as much either.

 

[magnann]

Well it's obvious that the canon backstory is what took place in SS. We actually saw Link physically forge the Master Sword. The rest I just figured was retconned, and explained through "the story was passed down so much it had lost its validity". Since OoT the sages have had a strong connection to the Temple of Time and the Master Sword, so the people could've misconceived their role in how the Master Sword was created. Though what you said about the Goddess Sword could also be true but it's all speculation. This is what happens when Nintendo tries to connect every standalone game in a series 30 years old.

 

[hwrdjacob]

I just wanna point out none of this is needed.

I just did a translation redux, and it is obvious there were some translation errors in the older fanslation of the ALttP manual.

However, those worthy of the Triforce are not limited solely to good people.
For that reason, people of Hyrule were told by a divine voice to make something that would repulse any evil that may kidnap the Triforce: the blade of evil's bane. It came to be called the Master Sword, and it is said that only a true hero could use it.

This is my translation of the Japanese manual, and seems to be a perfectly valid translation as far as I know. It's extremely important to note it's implied the Goddess's Sword (yes, there's an 's in the Japanese version that NoA nixed like a jackass, but that's to be expected with them) either was always called the Master Sword, or didn't have a name until Impa christened it the Master Sword. Anyway, this makes it pretty damn obvious they're referring to Hylia ordering an unknown number of people from "Hyrule" to forge what would become called the Master Sword to protect the Triforce from Demise.

The issue here then becomes TP's assertion that the sages made the Master Sword, but it's strongly implied throughout the series and even in BotW that Hylia was the first seventh sage- and then we can safely quantify the number of people from "Hyrule" (which could be a roundabout way to say Hylian, or "Land of Hylia's Rule", which would make that true even if Hyrule wasn't a country yet, but I won't put words in the translation's mouth) she ordered at 6.

Ergo, it's literally the same story across these three games; SS was written with previous games in mind, that's pretty clear.

 

[MrPsychoSlayer]

Link is also technically the "people of Hyrule." The legend isn't exactly wrong.