Twilight Realm/Afterlife?

[HerosDescendant]

I have come to speculate that the Twilight Realm is in fact the spirit world, or afterlife. A hint towards this can be found in the beginning of TP.

Rusl: "Do you ever feel a strange sadness as dusk falls. They say its the only time when our world intersects with theirs. The only time we can feel the lingering regrets of spirits who have left our world. That is why loneliness always pervades the hour of twilight."

Also, creatures from the light world become spirits when in Twilight, so it would make sense for the Twilight Realm to be the afterlife.

 

[basement24]

I first assumed when I was playing through the game that when the twilight decended on Hyrule, the people trapped within it were lost forever and were now dead. There was some line that Midna said about the soldiers in Hyrule castle that made me think this. I don't remember the line specifically though.

At any rate, if it is an afterlife, it plays by different rules than our own because people can be rescued from the twilight as Link did throughout the game.

I was never quite sure what Rusl meant by that line though in terms of the grand scheme of things, because the hour of twilight is different that the Twilight Realm and Twilight (capital T) itself. I thought he was just generalizing, and wasn't referring to the realm run by Zant.

 

[RupeeBlue]

Did you just forget that the game explained to you what the Twilight Realm actually was?

Then again, I can see your point. It's like Hyrule's equivalent of hell, you could say.

 

[Erimgard]

The Hylians/Hyruleans believe the Twilight Realm to be the afterlife, but that doesn't mean it is.

And you can understand the confusion. Evil-doers were banished there, and the one entrance to it (the Mirror of Twilight) is in a prison for criminals sentenced to death.

 

[dur.i.am]

It is not the after life, I am pretty sure that in TP it is explained that the Twilight Realm is where (I think, Not sure though) criminals were sent.

It is not an afterlife though as you can get back to the Light Realm (Hyrule ) so that would mean you would have to be ressurected to live again

 

[Zemen]

I was never quite sure what Rusl meant by that line though in terms of the grand scheme of things, because the hour of twilight is different that the Twilight Realm and Twilight (capital T) itself. I thought he was just generalizing, and wasn't referring to the realm run by Zant.

Well, it appears that there are very few people that actually know of the Twilight Realm. I don't think Rusl actually knew of the Twilight Realm. I think it was more of him making an observation of his "feelings" during the hour of Twilight rather than the realm, itself.

Also, creatures from the light world become spirits when in Twilight, so it would make sense for the Twilight Realm to be the afterlife.

They don't necessarily become spirits, they are still in the normal world, alive, but they appear as spirits because you can't interact with them. As stated by someone else, you can save those "spirits" from the monsters that are invisible to them. You also can kill the Twilight Creatures. Why would you be able to kill something that is already dead? If they are in Hylian Hell, then where do they go once you kill them? Super Hell?

The Twilight Realm is more of a prison than anything. It's like a super prison for those who have committed unthinkable deeds. Also, if it was an after life, then why would they have tried to execute Ganondorf in the first place? Why not just throw him in there to begin with? It makes no sense for them to try and kill him, fail, and then easily kill him by tossing him into a mirror that is supposed to be the after life.

 

[HerosDescendant]

They don't necessarily become spirits, they are still in the normal world, alive, but they appear as spirits because you can't interact with them. As stated by someone else, you can save those "spirits" from the monsters that are invisible to them. You also can kill the Twilight Creatures. Why would you be able to kill something that is already dead? If they are in Hylian Hell, then where do they go once you kill them? Super Hell?

The Twilight Realm is more of a prison than anything. It's like a super prison for those who have committed unthinkable deeds. Also, if it was an after life, then why would they have tried to execute Ganondorf in the first place? Why not just throw him in there to begin with? It makes no sense for them to try and kill him, fail, and then easily kill him by tossing him into a mirror that is supposed to be the after life.

Super hell???!!! Your kidding right?


Anyways, I do not think of the Twilight Realm as just a hellish place, I also think of it as a heavenly place. Midna does state the Twilight Realm as a peaceful place, but I think she's only referring to the floating islands, like the one the Palace is built on. We haven't seen the actual world the Twilight Realm encompasses. I believe the "land" of the Twilight Realm to be the hellish place, a burning wasteland of sorrow and misery. The godesses banished the ancestors of the Twili into the heavenly area because they were giving them a second chance, a chance to start over.

And the "Twilight" in Hyrule is what is happening when Hyrule loses it's light. It slowly starts to turn into a spirit world, with good creatures becoming spirits, and evil creatures becoming dark monsters, like it would be like in the afterlife of the Twilight Realm. It is not completely a spirit realm, so if the light is returned the spirits can be revived by the light of the light spirits, like how Link got back to normal after the light was restored. And the dark monsters are in a state of half-death, cursed to live inbetween life and death, and cannot die from aging or by their own means. Once another being kills them, the become completely dead, turning into a spirit.

In the hellish part of the Twilight Realm, the dark monsters are tortured, but are not killed, and cannot be killed by other dark monsters.

This is just theory, mind you, but I find it to make sense.

 

[basement24]

Well, it appears that there are very few people that actually know of the Twilight Realm. I don't think Rusl actually knew of the Twilight Realm. I think it was more of him making an observation of his "feelings" during the hour of Twilight rather than the realm, itself.

Thank you, that's a better way of stating what I was trying to get at.

I think I've got it more clear now in looking at it again. He's defiknitely referring to the hour of twilight akin to the one we have in the real-world. He's not talking about the specific "Twilight Realm". I don't think it really helps in the idea of what exactly the Twilight Realm could be a metaphor for.

 

[Zemen]

Super hell???!!! Your kidding right?


Anyways, I do not think of the Twilight Realm as just a hellish place, I also think of it as a heavenly place. Midna does state the Twilight Realm as a peaceful place, but I think she's only referring to the floating islands, like the one the Palace is built on. We haven't seen the actual world the Twilight Realm encompasses. I believe the "land" of the Twilight Realm to be the hellish place, a burning wasteland of sorrow and misery. The godesses banished the ancestors of the Twili into the heavenly area because they were giving them a second chance, a chance to start over.

And the "Twilight" in Hyrule is what is happening when Hyrule loses it's light. It slowly starts to turn into a spirit world, with good creatures becoming spirits, and evil creatures becoming dark monsters, like it would be like in the afterlife of the Twilight Realm. It is not completely a spirit realm, so if the light is returned the spirits can be revived by the light of the light spirits, like how Link got back to normal after the light was restored. And the dark monsters are in a state of half-death, cursed to live inbetween life and death, and cannot die from aging or by their own means. Once another being kills them, the become completely dead, turning into a spirit.

In the hellish part of the Twilight Realm, the dark monsters are tortured, but are not killed, and cannot be killed by other dark monsters.

This is just theory, mind you, but I find it to make sense.

The magic wielding tribe wasn't sent to the Twilight Realm to be given a second chance... That is never stated in the game or hinted at. It is said they are sent there for punishment. It's probably a lot like the Gerudo getting pushed into the desert except this group was pushed into a different realm altogether. And this still makes no sense with the whole Ganondorf execution thing. Why try and execute Ganondorf if they could just send him straight to the after life to begin with? This is the same argument as whether or not Termina is the after life. It's not the after life. it makes no sense for ANYONE to be able to travel freely between the two worlds if it is the after life.

 

[Zeruda]

I don't think the Twilight Realm is TLoZ's version of a "hell", nor do I believe it is a place of afterlife. And just because people became spirits when Twilight came, it doesn't imply that the term "spirits" refers to "ghosts" or something similar. The term "spirit" has many different meanings, and I doubt that in this case that it has anything to do with death or the afterlife.

The Twilight Realm is basically like the opposite of Hyrule (the Light Realm). As Zelda says: "Shadow and light are two sides of the same coin..." Usually, the term "shadow" indicates that the subject is a negative place, somewhere that people would not want to be. Perhaps this is why that area was chosen for their banishment. So, it's not really much like hell, but it is a prison of some sort, or at least that is what it was used for. However, it's not so bad that those banished there are to suffer for eternity. Although that certain tribe was banished, they still grew to love their new home as time went on, and they even learned from their mistakes.

Perhaps the Twilight Realm is more like a place of second chances. Those banished there may lose their place in the Light Realm, but they are given an opportunity to make a new life.


....or maybe I'm just ********. :/

 

[Erimgard]

^
I think you're spot-on actually.

People don't naturally wind up there upon death. It's just a place where a tribe was originally banished for punishment, but as you said, they made it their home.

Also, if you want to throw in some confusion about the afterlife in Zelda, there are two conflicting quotes in OoT and the Oracles linked ending. In OoT, when sealing Ganon away, Zelda's Japanese text says the realm of evil where they are sealing him is "even beyond the world of the dead".

The "world of the dead" here is roughly equal to the conept of hades; a neutral afterlife where all go. Not hell, not heaven, just afterlife. The concept being that Ganon being sealed in the corrupted Sacred Realm is even worse than death.

However, in the Oracles, the Japanese kids got a lovely little line that didn't make it through the American cencorship. Twinrova threatens to "personally send you to hell" when you battle them in the linked ending. Touching.

So we have Zelda and the Sages saying that the afterlife in Zelda is strictly neutral, and Twinrova saying there's a hell.

 

[ChargewithSword]

I don't believe that the Twilight Realm is a spirit realm so to speak. The Twilight Realm is like the world between worlds to me. It's where only darkness lives and when the Dark Tribe had been banished there, they used their magic to twist the world to fit them.

The Twilight Realm links to every world in my opinion, if used properly you could go to Hyrule, Termina and many other places.

It's like the Sacred Realm's couterpart to me. While the Sacred Realm is a place of bountiful and extreme light, however the Twilight Realm has darkness. They give the balance between all the worlds.

The Twilight Realm gifts all worlds with the shadow of the night, while the Sacred Realm gives the day.
That is my theory on what the realms really are.
---------
And the Spirit thing is supposed to be how creatures of light cannot survive in utter darkness, and vice versa for the creatures of darkness.

 

[Erimgard]

Just a thought....Ganondorf threatens to banish Phantom Ganon to "the gap between dimensions" or something of that sort. Perhaps the Twilight Realm is something like that.

 

[Immortal_One]

Did you just forget that the game explained to you what the Twilight Realm actually was?

Then again, I can see your point. It's like Hyrule's equivalent of hell, you could say.

You could say that, but I think it's safer to say that it is just a parallel universe to Hyrule. The seven sages banished Ganon here at the end of Ocarina of Time, not knowing that a suggestible Zant was clear in the path of Ganon upon his arrival.

I like to think the afterlife of Hyrulians is a little nook in the sacred realm designated for the do-gooders of Hyrule

 

[zzRICHzz]

ok so i'm kinda in the middle of playing TP again and i just played the part where Lanayru introduces the triforce...

so according the Lanayru... when the goddesses had finished creating the world and life, they were actually creating the Sacred Realm and that is where life began... it seemed as though they left the Triforce in the Sacred Realm and after a certain amount of time the people there became greedy for the Triforce...

so there was this tribe or clan of people who had learned to use magic and used this magic to claim the triforce... at this point the goddesses intervened and sealed the Sacred Realm away with these people in it making it... then after that it gets kinda hard to understan but your lead to believe that the Sacred Realm becomes the Twilight Realm...

well it was earlier today when i played so maybe i'm missing something... i think i'll youtube it and get to you guys