The Legend of Zelda and Hinduism

[ironknuckle1]

I was remembering earlier about what in school i had learned about hinduism and how how people were kind of like spirits that would be reborn in a new body when they die.

Then i was thinking of how this could relate to the legend of zelda and i had an idea what if Link was like a spirit and the gods just would have him reborn in times of need? or maybe Link been reborn many times and in times of need the spirits awaken him so that he kind of has an idea of who he is. Such as times like in TP when Link first appears with the light spirit with the Hero's clothes on. Another idea would be the idea of the divine prank from TP and that after OOT on the childs timeline Link is reborn and maybe his spirit still has the piece of the triforce and since he still had his the others were given their pieces.

These are just some ideas that i had thought up.

 

[Ember Incubus]

I do not think the Links are reincarnated. Especialy the ones on the Adult Timeline. Ganon is technicaly Reincarnated in TWW and TP, but he was scealed, never killed, so technicaly he was still alive the whole time of OoT split. FSA Ganon is reborn when Twinrova revives him in OoX. And in AoL, this was the first time we heard about reincarnation in zelda.

 

[ironknuckle1]

I do not think the Links are reincarnated. Especialy the ones on the Adult Timeline. Ganon is technicaly Reincarnated in TWW and TP, but he was scealed, never killed, so technicaly he was still alive the whole time of OoT split. FSA Ganon is reborn when Twinrova revives him in OoX. And in AoL, this was the first time we heard about reincarnation in zelda.

it was just an idea i had that seemed interesting but i thought would explain why in some games even though Link is not a hero yet he is thought to by usually different dietys to be like a hero. Even before anything has happened. it was just an idea

 

[bradley]

Nintendo based Hyrule on Hinduism. This has always seemed obvious to me. However, Nintendo has been trying to remove religious references from the Zelda games, but they can't really completely do that without taking the backstory of Zelda and, along with that, the mystical feel. But why did they make the great fairies in WW look like the Hindu goddesses?

 

[Xinnamin]

I never really made a connection between LoZ and Hinduism specifically. I thought the idea of reincarnation of a spirit was present in multiple theologies, or even exists as a non-religiously-affiliated belief in itself. Hmm, at any rate, I do believe that the multiple Links undergo a spiritual reincarnation.

We know for a fact that not all the Links are related by blood, and I can't remember whether there are any confirmed blood relations between any of the Links anyways. Pretty much all of the Zeldas are blood related, so spiritual reincarnation isn't quite necessary. I also think Ganondorf is immortal and therefore spiritual reincarnation wouldn't really apply as he is usually physically reincarnated.

But Link's multiple incarnations would be very easily explained through spiritual reincarnation. The spirit/soul of the Hero being passed down from hero to hero, thus each incarnation always has the similar attributes of courage, often manifest in the ToC, and often access to a sacred blade of some kind. In TP, I've always thought the Hero's Shade existed only in Link's mind, like a part of TP Link's soul retained the memories of a previous hero because the two heroes' souls were one and the same, and the Golden Wolf was only an illusion Link alone could see. In WW, the KoRL recognized Link as the Hero of Winds, even though he confirmed WW Link was not related in any way to OoT Link. I think the theory of spiritual reincarnation makes a lot of sense.

 

[ZeldaHam]

Eh, sounds believeable. Although something tells me a religious argument may start. Oh well.

These are just some ideas that i had thought up.

That's what I said with my Majora's Mask theory, yet it still got locked and I recieved an infraction for it. Mods must hate me for being black. D:

 

[PhantomTriforce]

Lol. Hiduism...India... Rupees.

 

[nicktheslayer]

Itsa conspiracy i tell ya!

Also, theres been a lot of muslim references in the game. The star/moon symbol that was removedbfrombthe mirror shield, and the muslim chants from the 1.1 release of oot in the fire temple music

theres a lot of religion in zelda

 

[nintendo4ever]

I never really made a connection between LoZ and Hinduism specifically. I thought the idea of reincarnation of a spirit was present in multiple theologies, or even exists as a non-religiously-affiliated belief in itself. Hmm, at any rate, I do believe that the multiple Links undergo a spiritual reincarnation.

We know for a fact that not all the Links are related by blood, and I can't remember whether there are any confirmed blood relations between any of the Links anyways. Pretty much all of the Zeldas are blood related, so spiritual reincarnation isn't quite necessary. I also think Ganondorf is immortal and therefore spiritual reincarnation wouldn't really apply as he is usually physically reincarnated.

But Link's multiple incarnations would be very easily explained through spiritual reincarnation. The spirit/soul of the Hero being passed down from hero to hero, thus each incarnation always has the similar attributes of courage, often manifest in the ToC, and often access to a sacred blade of some kind. In TP, I've always thought the Hero's Shade existed only in Link's mind, like a part of TP Link's soul retained the memories of a previous hero because the two heroes' souls were one and the same, and the Golden Wolf was only an illusion Link alone could see. In WW, the KoRL recognized Link as the Hero of Winds, even though he confirmed WW Link was not related in any way to OoT Link. I think the theory of spiritual reincarnation makes a lot of sense.

yes. exactly what i believe. i like to think of all the links as the same legendary hero of hyrule who is born into the world and awakened in times of need.

 

[Nine-tailed Fox]

Interesting... I have noticed alot of religous issues in Nintendo. Pokemon, for example, takes place on Earth, yet is not created by God. But instead a Godlike Pokémon known as Arceus, with the world's inhabitants being created by Mew. And Zelda OoT and LttP have the most "No God" references in them. So I am not suprised to see threads like this one.

 

[Shadsie]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the Wind Waker great fairies look like Hindu dieties (Kali?) I don't know very much about Hinduism, so I'm never sure if I'm getting it right.

-- I do seem to remember something about the world being a dream of one of the gods (Shiva or Vishnu, forget which), inside a cosmic egg... I suppose you could relate that to Link's Awakening with the Windfish in a round about way.

However, I see The Legend of Zelda series as borrowing from lots of different cultures while doing its own thing. Little bits here and there... take the original Mirror Shield in Ocarina of Time - they actually *changed* it in latter releases of the game because people were getting up in arms over the symbol on it being a Muslim/Islamic symbol.

And, I've always seen some superficial similarities to Christianity. Christianity *is* actually something I know. I've been a serious Christian since I was 14. Started out being Baptist, then mellowed out and got liberal and am currently without a church but still a serious seeker and student within the faith, still, I think the thing that points out the Christian/Zelda similiarity best is this entry from the Crystal Dragon Jesus page of TVTropes:

The Legend Of Zelda, being sort of based on Arthurian legend, has a fictional religion with many parallels to Christianity; the Temple of Time resembles a Christian sanctuary, the young Zelda wears a wimple like a nun or passion bearer and the three goddesses and their Triforce can be seen as a parallel to Christianity's Holy Trinity.

• In Ocarina of Time,, Rauru, the Sage of Light, is dressed similar to a Franciscan monk.
• This was stronger earlier in the series. The "Book of Magic" in The Legend of Zelda is a "Bible" in Japan; Link's shield in the first two games bears a cross; in A Link to the Past (Triforce of the Gods in the original Japanese), Sanctuary is a Christian church, the kanji for the priest there are "holy father" (where Agathnim's kanji are "master of rituals"), and the artbook depicts Link in Sanctuary, kneeling before a crucifix.

I've been thinking about the Triforce thing a lot lately, because I've started writing a crossover fanfiction that puts Link and Zelda from Twilight Princess into the world of the anime Trigun. Trigun has a Christian priest (of undetermined denomination) as one of the main characters. One of the things I was planning on writing into the third chapter was a session where the priest character and Zelda are talking about religion and comparing the Trinity to the Triforce. -- Not meant for preaching, but just as an interesting cultural exchange.

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This is not to say that the culture of Hyrule is based upon any one thing. I was thinking of writing up an essay on Hyrulean Religion for ZD, but I'm lazy and need a kick in the pants on doing the research (and I'd still feel lost trying to compare Hinduism, Shinto and other things that I think were inspiration for the mythology being not a part of those religions and cultures). I think LoZ has a lot of cross-cultural inspirations.

 

[linkman8]

This is an interesting theory, but I'm not so sure if Nintendo would make that the official reasoning behind the Links. I mean, majority of their target audience wouldn't have a clue what that would mean anyway. Don't get me wrong, though, I've never really thought about it that way, so it's a new idea.