The Hyrulian Pantheon: Guardians
Posted on June 10 2012 by Mases Hagopian
It is in the Guardian category that Hyrulian culture really shines. There is a god for some things, some spirits and demi-gods scattered through the world, and of course the Three Goddesses, but the guardians of the land are everywhere. They are in everyone’s business, and chances are if you live in this world you have met one of them at some time. If not, you must live under a rock, never leave your house, and are of no importance to existence at all. This is probably the influence of Japanese culture on the games, no doubt, but the effect in an otherwise traditional western pantheon is wonderful.
Guardians are not really evident in Norse mythology. They have creatures that would be considered guardians, like the creatures mentioned on the tree that unites the world talked about in the cosmology article, but nothing quite like Hyrule. In Greek mythology, however, there is a whole classification of gods referred to most often by scholars as personifications. Every river has a guardian deity, for example. It’s not that the river is important really, just that if it’s a river the Greek thought it should have a guardian.
To return to our example of sea gods in Greek mythology, we have Glaucus, the Fisherman’s Sea God. He is more like a guardian of fishermen than a real god, though he is immortal. An even better example is Landon, a hundred-headed sea serpent who guarded the western reaches of the sea, and the island and golden apples of the Hesperides. He is an immortal creature that exists specifically to guard a certain place.
Hyrulian mythology has many guardians like Landon. Some of them are personifications or called gods, but at the end of the day they all exist to guard or watch over something or some group of people. Below are a list and brief discussion of each guardian in Hyrule.
Deku/Maku Tree
The Deku Tree, or Maku Tree, has been seen in 4 games. Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Oracle of Ages, and Oracle of Seasons. In the Oracle games, it was called the Maku Tree, and it was male in one game and female in the other. For our purposes, I will treat all of these as one being with several different incarnations depending on which myth he is appearing in.
His first appearance, Ocarina of Time, calls him the guardian of the forest, and of the Kokiri. The Kokiri are a race that will be discussed in more depth in the spirits chapter. The Deku Tree watches over the Hero of Time in his youth, and then sends him on his way to start his destiny. The Deku Tree is infested by Ganondorf’s creature Gohma and dies. Seven years later, the Deku Tree sprout is born and maintains the consciousness of the elder Deku Tree. In this way, although the Deku Tree is not bodily immortal, his consciousness lives on in his seedlings as if the seedling were the same being.
A century or so later, in the Wind Waker, the Deku Tree sprout has grown to a full-blown Deku Tree. The forest is reduced to nothing but an island on the sea, so he is solely the guardian of the Koroks, who are this legend’s version of the shape-shifting Kokiri. He helps Link obtain Farore’s Pearl, and his Koroks plant Deku seedlings all over the great sea in hopes of one day creating a new continent with them.
Labrynna and Holodrum have very Deku Tree-like guardians called Maku Trees who are the guardians of each land. The one in Labrynna is female and the one in Holodrum is male. It is possible that these are two of the Deku Tree sprouts planted by the Koroks in the Wind Waker, since we know that each sprout maintains the consciousness of the Deku Tree it was taken from. Labrynna and Holodrum, guarded by the Maku Trees who are central to each country, could be the very continents whose creation were intended by the planting of the Deku seeds by the Koroks in Wind Waker.
Jabu Jabu/Jabun
I have combined both of the great Fish Gods in this category, as I believe that they are the same creature. We see Jabu Jabu (otherwise called Jabun) in three games.
The first is Ocarina of Time, where he is the guardian deity of the Zora People. He lives in the spring behind King Zora’s throne, and the Zora Princess feeds him (and goes inside him) on a regular basis. Following an old note in a bottle, Link travels into Jabu Jabu’s belly thinking that the princess is in danger. He defeats the creature contaminating the Fish God, and is rewarded with the last spiritual stone for his courage. In the future, Zora’s domain is frozen and Jabu Jabu is gone, either killed or abandoning his frozen people.
We see Jabun hiding in a cave on Outset Island after his own island was destroyed. The Zora people are no more, and follow a new flying deity, so Jabun is without worshipers. The King of Red Lions convinces Jabun to give Link Nayru’s Pearl. I theorize that the Zora, having lost their guardian deity, turn to a new way of life in order to survive. Somehow they find Valoo, who gives them the ability to fly, and Jabu Jabu must find a new home and new worshipers.
Oracle of Ages also has an appearance of Jabu Jabu. He has found new worshipers, peaceful Sea Zoras, and is their guardian deity. In the present time, Link must enter Jabu Jabu again to retrieve the Rolling Sea, one of the essences of time. It is possible that this Jabu Jabu is a descendant of the one in Ocarina of Time, because in the past in OoA he is shown as being too small to enter and must grow up.
Kaepora Gaebora
I felt that the Owl Guardian deserved a brief mention here for his role in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask as guardian of young heroes. Note that when Link is an adult, the owl never shows up. Only when we go back in time will he talk to young Link and congratulate him on his heroics. Even if the owl is just a sentient being in these two games, or a single reincarnation of the Headmaster in Skyward Sword, he is still an important figure presented on the same level as the other guardians discussed in this article.
Valoo
The third guardian deity in the Wind Waker is the great dragon Valoo, guardian of the Rito people. He is associated with Din’s Pearl, though not in possession of it, and gives the Rito the ability to fly when they come of age. He and the Rito save Link from Ganondorf when they discover that the Master Sword does not have the ability to repel evil.
Ordona
Ordona is a light spirit in the shape of a goat in Twilight Princess. He is the guardian of Ordona Province, and one of the younger light spirits in the land of Hyrule due to Ordon’s late addition to the country. Possibly named after an ancient, unknown Ordon God.
Faron
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Faron is a light spirit in the shape of a monkey in Twilight Princess, guardian of Faron Province. Named after the goddess Farore, Faron gives Link the hero’s tunic, signifying some special connection with the heroes. This is fitting, considering the hero is Farore’s champion.
Faron is also the name of one of the dragons in Skyward Sword. The dragon Faron guards one of the sacred flames and keeps a part of the Song of Hero.
Eldin
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Eldin is a Light Spirit in the shape of a butterfly in Twilight Princess, guardian of Eldin Province. Eldin is named after the goddess Din.
Eldin is also the name of one of the dragons in Skyward Sword. The dragon Eldin guards one of the sacred flames and keeps a part of the Song of Hero.
Lanayru
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Lanayru is a Light Spirit in the shape of a giant snake in Twilight Princess. Lanayru reveals the spiritual history of the world to Link mid-adventure, including the creation story and entrance of death into the world story, and cautions him about the evil objects he sought to use and is named after the goddess Nayru, which is very fitting considering his spreading of knowledge.
Lanayru is also the name of one of the dragons in Skyward Sword. The dragon guards one of the sacred flames and keeps a part of the Song of Hero.
The Four Giants
The four giant guardians of the realm of Termina are immortal. They used to be among the people and had a close friend who was an imp. One day the giants said that they had to leave and go to the four corners, and all the people had to do was call them. The imp was very sad and caused all sorts of trouble in Termina because he was lonely. The giants stepped in to intervene and, although they didn’t want to hurt their friend, they banished him from the land of Termina forever.
The giants help Link stop the moon from falling in Majora’s Mask. The people of Termina seem to worship the giants as their primary gods more than the goddesses, and suffer consequences because of it. See Hylian Dan’s article “The Message of Majora’s Mask” for more information.
The Giant Turtle
The sleeping guardian of Great Bay, the Giant Turtle, is forced into a slumber by the Goddesses. Not much information is known about him, although he seems to be the guardian of the sea, or at least of the Great Bay Zoras. The goddesses have forced him to be in an eternal slumber. See Hylian Dan’s article “The Message of Majora’s Mask” for more information.
The Lokomo
The Lokomo are the guardians of the rails in Spirit Tracks. They are tasked by the Spirits of Good to guard New Hyrule and watch the chains binding Malladus in their absence. When Malladus is destroyed, they leave New Hyrule forever.
The Great Fairies
I thought that the easiest way to classify the Great Faires is as guardians. They are in almost every Zelda game and generally watch over a specific area of the world. If a person goes to see them at their fountain, they may grant that person an item or ability if the person earns their favor in some way.
The Sheikah
I hesitated to include the Sheikah. The Sheikah are not immortal like almost everyone else on this list, but they are guardians of a specific place and people group. The Sheikah watch over Hyrule Castle Town, and exist almost solely to guard the royal family and its interests. One of my favorite articles is called “Exposing the Sheikah”.
In this article, the author takes all known references to and images of the Sheikah in the games up to that point (Twilight Princess being the last released consol game at that time) and pieces together one of the most convincing and well formulated articles I’ve read for a history of the Sheikah. The article explores the purposes of the Shadow Temple and the Bottom of the Well in the unification wars and the effects of those actions on the Sheikah Tribe. It’s a fantastic read and I highly recommend it if you’re interested in these guardians.
***SKYWARD SWORD SPOILER WARNING***
In Skyward Sword, we discover a few very interesting facts. First, that the Sheikah do indeed live very long life spans. Impa in the present time is over 1000 years old in her wait for the Hero to arrive and complete his mission. Some Zelda Fans speculate that her long life was due to the blue stones she wore around her neck, which they think could be timeshift stones.
What is most interesting about the role of the Sheikah Tribe in Skyward Sword is that we discover that their original purpose was to serve and guard the Goddess Hylia. When she was reincarnated as a Hylian named Zelda, their purpose continued to be to guard her. In this way, when the royal family of Hyrule developed from Hylia’s blood line, the Sheikah became the guardians of the royal family to continue to guard the bloodline of Hylia.
So, even though I hesitate to include them here, their long life and timeless, important role in guarding the goddess’s blood line earns the Sheikah Tribe a place on the list of guardians of Hyrulian mythology.
Nameless Guardians of the Silent Realm
Also a spoiler if you have not completed the game, the nameless guardians of the Silent Realm earn themselves a mention on this list. They are the guards of the Sacred Realm, called the Silent Realm in the time of Skyward Sword. When the Hero passes the trials laid out for him by the Goddess Hylia, he earns four rewards: one, the scale that allows him to swim underwater for long periods, two, the Claw Shots which allow him to latch onto distant objects, almost like flying, and three, the fire earrings which allow him to enter spaces so hot he would normally burst into flames. The last trial area gives Link the key to reveal the entrance to the temple of the final trial, where he will obtain each piece of the Triforce one at a time. This is assumedly before the Triforce had ever been obtained by anyone, and before anyone knew it even existed.
Their existence was forgotten in later mythologies, and therefore they do not appear in any representation of the Sacred Realm outside of the Skyward Sword myth.
**END SPOILERS**
Spoilers and speculation aside, there are many guardians throughout the Hyrulian pantheon directly interacting with the people of Hyrule. Though they interact with their chosen charges most often, they interact with others as well. They are living forces in the world, some immortal and some merely gifted with long life. It is in this category that the Hyrulian pantheon truly shines.
PREVIEW OF ARTICLE 7:
We take a look at the last real tier of the Hyrulian Pantheon—the spirits and creatures of Hyrule, often watched over by the guardians.
Author: The Wolfess
Jennie Marie, also called The Wolfess, is getting her Masters of Fine Arts in Poetry at Eastern Washington University. She is the author of a three-book Zelda fan fiction, The Doppelganger Trilogy and does freelance articles for Zelda websites. The Wolfess has written such articles as Zelda Wii Needs An Anti-Hero, Skyward Sword’s Art Style: Straddling the Line or Walking a New Path, and a ten-part series on The Hyrulian Pantheon currently running at ZeldaDungeon.net.
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