What's your favorite Watsonian explanation for the Christian symbolism in earlier games?

[RickKTish]

For some context:
""Watsonian" and "Doylist" are general terms in media analysis that allow one to specify the framework through which one is tackling a question: whether one is looking at a narrative conundrum through the lens of the author (Doylist) or in the context of the fictional world in which the narrative takes place (Watsonian). " (Source)

Some of my personal favorites:

• That's not a cross on Z1 Link's shield, it's a graphic depicting the Three Golden Goddesses in the heavens and Hylia coming down to incarnate as human
• the "magic book" (or "bible" pre-localization) is filled with stories/psalms to the Golden Goddesses and Hylia which strengthen your magic when read/recited/sung
• ALttP Link is 100% praying to Hylia when he needs that one entrance opened
• The "trophy" (Goddess statue pre-localization) is either an image of Farore or Hylia

Do you have any favorite explanations?

Edit:
example of a Doylist explanation: Link can carry 256 Rubies in Z1 because that's the limit to how many permutations a byte can hold
Example of a Watsonian explanation: Link can carry 256 rubies in Z1 because both his pockets and his hands are little and the Blue rupees are bigger than the Green ones, meaning he can't just take out one or two to squeeze in an extra blue to get 259 instead

 

[Daku Rinku]

Actually crosses appear in many religions, including Native American Spiritism. The Tau cross (captial T) for instance is to the god Tammuz. Is it possible The Romans were honoring that god? Or perhaps the Ankh of Egyptian mysticism & magic that is a cross with a loop. The Romans revered all ancient spiritualities, and we know Egypt and Rome interacted a lot; cough Marc Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Cesar (we need a love triangle Game of Thrones type show of them). Ergo Rome probably used the cross to honor spiritualities, and Jesus dying on it transformed it into a Christian symbol.

The rumor is Nintendo intended to have Christianity be in the earlier Zelda games, for instance the ALTAP concept art of Link in front of a crucifix. In Japanese games its said they are called monks rather than sages and that Nintendo America did not want overt religion.

In Japan there is even a game where you battle Satan as dinosaur demon collecting crosses and Bibles, that dinosaur is the prototype of Yoshi for Super Mario World:



That game was not released in America, which supports the blocking by Nintendo America of overtly religious games.

 

[ExLight]

Actually crosses appear in many religions, including Native American Spiritism. The Tau cross (captial T) for instance is to the god Tammuz. Is it possible The Romans were honoring that god? Or perhaps the Ankh of Egyptian mysticism & magic that is a cross with a loop. The Romans revered all ancient spiritualities, and we know Egypt and Rome interacted a lot; cough Marc Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Cesar (we need a love triangle Game of Thrones type show of them). Ergo Rome probably used the cross to honor spiritualities, and Jesus dying on it transformed it into a Christian symbol.

The rumor is Nintendo intended to have Christianity be in the earlier Zelda games, for instance the ALTAP concept art of Link in front of a crucifix. In Japanese games its said they are called monks rather than sages and that Nintendo America did not want overt religion.

In Japan there is even a game where you battle Satan as dinosaur demon collecting crosses and Bibles, that dinosaur is the prototype of Yoshi for Super Mario World:

View attachment 77862

That game was not released in America, which supports the blocking by Nintendo America of overtly religious games.

From what I remember reading the cross in the shield is mainly so the sprite is more readable, although they took the opportunity to appropriate and double the symbology down with the cross relic later on.

Btw, you gave a mini Doylist breakdown.
What OP is asking is more of, like, possible "in-game lore" explanations for this sort of symbology. Just some fun theories that might explain why those are a thing in the franchise's world.

 

[RickKTish]

The rumor is Nintendo intended to have Christianity be in the earlier Zelda games, for instance the ALTAP concept art of Link in front of a crucifix. In Japanese games its said they are called monks rather than sages and that Nintendo America did not want overt religion.

That's exactly my point. I'm not so sure about the Roman method of execution being designed to honor any particular god or system of beliefs, though I'm aware that crosses appear in many world historical and present religions; my understanding was that it's a very effective method of carrying out the death penalty, and that's why they were designed as they were. LoZ, however, was initially intended to be Christian specifically, and Nintendo of America was responsible for removing the textually clarifying statements which would have made that obvious to North American audiences. My question is what is your favorite way to explain that symbolism in-universe? Link hasn't been using crosses or bibles since ALttP, but those symbols still exist in that universe. Well, if Christianity doesn't exist in the world of Zelda, where do you imagine those symbols came from? What backstory do you think would lead to those symbols existing in that world, without the influence of the real-world religion that the creators were drawing on when they made it?

 

[Mikey the Gengar]

Maybe the shape of a cross does exert some anti attraction to evil, like how magnets are usually shaped like a horse shoe. The master sword has an overly wide cross guard to maximize its evil repelling power. The blade's cross guard increasing in size when infused with this power in wind waker supports this supposition

 

[Daku Rinku]

That's exactly my point. I'm not so sure about the Roman method of execution being designed to honor any particular god or system of beliefs, though I'm aware that crosses appear in many world historical and present religions; my understanding was that it's a very effective method of carrying out the death penalty, and that's why they were designed as they were. LoZ, however, was initially intended to be Christian specifically, and Nintendo of America was responsible for removing the textually clarifying statements which would have made that obvious to North American audiences. My question is what is your favorite way to explain that symbolism in-universe? Link hasn't been using crosses or bibles since ALttP, but those symbols still exist in that universe. Well, if Christianity doesn't exist in the world of Zelda, where do you imagine those symbols came from? What backstory do you think would lead to those symbols existing in that world, without the influence of the real-world religion that the creators were drawing on when they made it?

My theory is the cross like in our world in some cultures (New Mexico) represents the four winds or four corners of the earth, in this case what would become known to be Gerudo Valley (West), Eldin / Death Mountain (North), Hyrule (South), and Zora Domain (East).

Perhaps the Goddesses created the symbol to mean dominon over all the lands?

 

[TheGreatCthulhu]

Here's one that I think it could be.

Could be a depiction of the Master Sword, point down.

Lemme explain.

The Master Sword is based on double-edged cruciform swords from the Middle Ages.

The cross-guard on such swords does provide good protection, so it does have a functional purpose, but design isn't always about function.

Case in point, if all we cared about was protecting our hands, we'd just use a disc guard with a shield and call it a day.

When a knight kneels in prayer, the sword is point down, resembling Christ's cross.



In game, we discover the Master Sword point down in its pedestal, typically.

So the "cross" on the shield could simply be depicting the Master Sword.

And who knows? Maybe in Hyrulean culture, in the Hylian religion, knights might kneel in prayer in a similar fashion.

 

[Daku Rinku]

Could be the symbol of the Goddess of the Sand, and thus you can tie in the Ankh/cross symbolism for rebirth and ressurection.. ooh what if the cross means the cycle of rebirth that Link, Zelda, and Ganon keep having via reincarnation?

 

[RickKTish]

Could be the symbol of the Goddess of the Sand, and thus you can tie in the Ankh/cross symbolism for rebirth and ressurection.. ooh what if the cross means the cycle of rebirth that Link, Zelda, and Ganon keep having via reincarnation?

Which game is the sand goddess from? that sounds like a fascinating idea to explore!

 

[Daku Rinku]

Which game is the sand goddess from? that sounds like a fascinating idea to explore!

Its from Ocarina of Time, there is giant statue of the Goddess of Sand.