The Thunderbird

[Linebeck1000]

I was playing Adventure of Link today and I had finally came to Thunderbird. When I saw this creature I thought it looked oddly familiar, and then an idea struck me. I searched Google to see if someone had come up with this theory before, and surprisingly they have, but there doesn't seem to be a thread here at ZD that explains it in depth.



Take note of the red color and especially the shape of the wings. Now some quotes.

The Thunderbird is the primary guardian of the Great Palace and the second to last boss in The Adventure of Link. It is a bird-like creature that was placed there as one of the many tests prepared for the hero seeking to acquire the Triforce of Courage by the ancient King of Hyrule that once ruled over the entire kingdom with the united triforce.

~Zelda Wiki

So this bird creature has served Hyrule for many generations by protecting the Triforce, or at least a piece of it. Now let's see a picture of the Hylian Crest...



You see the familiar bird with its wings surrounding the Triforce, as if it's protecting it. Notice how the wings look similar to those of the Thunderbird. The version of the crest on the Hylian shield is also the same color as the Thunderbird. When Skyward Sword is released it will probably end up retconning this anyway, but do you think the original intent was that the Hylian Crest was meant to portray the Thunderbird? OoT took other elements from AoL such as the town names, after all.

There's one glaring problem I see though, and that's that the Hylian Crest has been around since at least OoT, where the Triforce is safely in the Sacred Realm, whereas AoL obviously takes place far after that. Buuuuut... Who's to say that the Thunderbird didn't also play some role in protecting the Triforce at some point before OoT? Maybe the Thunderbird will appear in Skyward Sword? Unlikely, but SS already seems to be taking some elements from earlier games, so who knows.

Anyway, do you think the Hylian Crest was originally designed to portray the Thunderbird? I think it's highly possible, although it may be retconned.

 

[DuckNoises]

It may have originally been intended to be that way, but by now it's probably just one of those things that is there to be an easter egg or homage to an earlier game. Plus, they can't just go around changing one of the most common crests in the Zelda universe, as that would probably be unnecessarily confusing. Not that Nintendo would ever do something like that, of course.
Neat observation.

 

[hylianbeast]

I think the Thunderbird will be in SS mostly b/c of the sky thing. Bit maybe you have to protect him or something.

 

[Linebeck1000]

they can't just go around changing one of the most common crests in the Zelda universe, as that would probably be unnecessarily confusing. Not that Nintendo would ever do something like that, of course.
Neat observation.

I didn't mean that they would retcon the crest in Skyward Sword. It's obvious that they're keeping it the same just by looking at the title art. I meant that they are probably going to retcon the meaning behind the crest. SS seems like it's going to explain its origin--which is probably the sword girl now--but, while the franchise was still young, they probably got the idea of the crest from AoL.

Every shield design since AoL has depicted a bird or phoenix-like creature.
AoL was the first and only game that we see Hyrule being being served by phoenix-like entities. Not just Thunderbird, but all inside the Great Palace are lesser phoenix-like enemies. The only place these enemies are seen in the game is here in Great Palace, and we know from the instruction booklet that the king sent them there to protect the triforce (they're not affiliated with Ganon like the other enemies in the game). So it would make sense that Hyrule would honor these entities somehow.

I don't think this is a coincidence.

 

[Chancellor Cole]

Well this was a very interesting theory!!
I have noticed the bird on the Hylian Crest before, and I have been thinking of which the original bird was.
The Thunderbird looks quite similar to the Hylian Crest, AND it is guarding the triforce, this must be right!!
:triforce:

 

[Djinn]

This is very interesting, in another thread I was commenting on how the bird crest on the Hylian shield evolved from the familiar bird to a winged humanoid.

And it seems to resemble the Thunderbird of AoL. Which I think was the actual guardian of the Triforce of Courage. Now I am really wondering if Thunderbird was the actual name of the creature in he original Japanese game or if it was called something else entirely. But this definitely makes me think there is some sort of connection.

 

[Oni Cucco]

VERY NICE THEORY :O

but now I feel bad for the thunderbird

 

[Alex Arbiter]

The Thunder Bird might be the crest bird, but most think its a Phoenix when you look at it you have to that the wings are expansive and not closed together like the thunder bird, a phoenix on the other hand it is known to have a wide wing spand. Lastly, why would the thunder bird be put on the hylian shield when it is a boss and not a guardian like a Phoenix.

 

[TheHeroOfLime]

Wow, I'm wearing a hat right now with the crest on it, creepy. Anyway good theory and I agree with your idea Skyward Sword is going to explain it. I hope they don't explain everything though, because they have to leave some things to the imagination. But was the crest in ALttP?

Edit:

I just watched the Skyward Sword Trailer (it wasn't the first time but still,) and I noticed the symbol on Link's Shield:

The symbol here looks a lot more like the thunderbird than I thought it would, it's even the same shade of red. The part I'm talking about is at 0:30 when the shield is right in front of your face. It almost seems like Nintendo is shoving the evidence in my face.
I also found this:

Looks like a possible Thunderbird reference to me. What do you guys think?

 

[Hylian Knight]

The Wooden Shield portrays Thunderbird much better than the Hylian.

I do think that it portrays the Thunderbird for 1 reason maybe the Thunderbird was sealed by Ganon(dorf) before Link woke up in the Sacred Realm in OoT. The crest look like if the Thunderbird spread his wings.