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Zelda's Apocryphal Texts: A Fun Way To Look At Canon and Lore

Joined
Sep 21, 2014
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Michigan
First, to get this out of the way just in case it's needed...

"Apocryphal" means that something, usually a text or memoir but not always, is of questionable veracity. It basically means [citation needed].

Anyway, while I am not usually one for diving deep into Zelda lore, I think one interesting lens of interpretation can be to treat the games with very dated graphics as if the origin of that particular legend in the anthology has very bare-bones or sketchy source material to draw from. Perhaps it was found only mentioned once in a great tome of many stories, or exists only as a series of hieroglyphs in a long corridor of some abandoned temple (I am particularly fond of applying this outlook to the Zelda I and II). Basically you just treat the graphical fidelity of the game as the amount of verified information contained in any particular legend. If you view the games from this perspective it can be fun to think of what major events can be presented as truth but in fact be quite wrong, being made largely of extrapolated material or authorial embellishment. This happens in our own real-world history as well, especially when dealing with larger-than-life historical figures. Fame gets inflated and personalities become twisted or caricatured to fit the narrative of those retelling the stories. Accounts get mixed up. And even when accurate records are kept, for instance when generals and officers have detailed records of how a battle went, the sheer scope of such events makes it impossible for everything to be truly captured. This is true ten times over when truly mythical figures wielding powerful magics come into play.

Anyway, that's just my fun take on things.
 

Spiritual Mask Salesman

CHIMer Dragonborn
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This is potentially possible, maybe some events are skewed, but there are a few things that seem solid.

The Three Goddesses created Hyrule and the Triforce. Skyward Sword really happened in some capacity, judging by the ruins of the Springs of Power and Courage and Hylia's lasting influence throughout Hyrule. Ocarina of Time also happened in some way, on the timelines where the OoT sages were awoken, we see either towns named after them, or paintings of them. In BotW, one of the Zora Monuments contains text about Ruto awakening as a sage, and the Divine Beast Vah Ruta being named after her. By extension, it appears that some of the other Divine Beasts were named after OoT Sages, Nabooris obviously referencing Nabooru, and Rudania being a butchered version of Durania. As for Vah Medoh, since it is the Divine Beast for the Rito it's maybe likely that it referenced Medli, but I've also wondered if it's associated with Mido, afterall, in Zelda 2 he had a town named after him alongside the towns named after sages (it's a long shot though).

It could also be that legends were built around geographic locations. For example, there is a place called Tornobo Beach and Koholint Rock. So long ago, a Hero washed up on Koholint Island... and then the story takes off.

It's worth pointing out though, is this the point BotW is trying to make? That a lot of Zelda Canon might not be fully true?
 
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MapelSerup

not actually Canadian
Joined
Feb 19, 2020
I’ve always felt kind of iffy about previous Zelda games being just “legends.” In the context of future games, it makes since- OoT is most certainly a legend in BotW’s time. The opening scene in many Zelda games is a legend, often talking about a past game. I don’t feel, however, that we are playing through the legends. I don’t want to be playing through some oral telling of Link’s adventure, I’m on Link’s adventure. Whether or not it’s a legend in the future, it’s real right now.
Anyways, though, cool theory. The days of Hyrule in the first two games’ period are quite mysterious, and it does make some sense.
 

Goroganos

My top 3: TP, MM, SS
Joined
Jun 4, 2020
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Twilight Realm
This would explain why the temple of time in OoT is near Hyrule Castle, and in TP it's in a secret part of Faron Woods, or why some species where completely erased from existence, sometimes then coming back, or why every dungeon seems to disappear as the era ends, and new ones just materialize
 

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