The Politics of Kokiri Village

Ocarina of Time my favorite video game, period. Isn’t just my favorite Zelda game, it is in my opinion, the best video game ever made. There are a lot of different reasons for that, a lot of which have to do with my original playing experience. Most of my theorizing and general Zelda discussion, one way or another, always come back to this game. You’d be surprised if I told you how much time I’ve devoted to just thinking about the subtle nuances of this game and reading between it’s lines. It’s reached the point where I have this strange sense of ownership over the game, even though I didn’t make it and other fans have very different ideas about it than me. It doesn’t help that, in order to learn how to screen write, I wrote a film adaptation of the game. So while, I’ll never be posting that here on Zelda Informer (not to say it isn’t good), but it’s given me an interesting perspective on the characters of the game. I really had to figure them out in order to get them work. What I’m talking about isn’t fan fiction; I’m talking about character studies.

Kokiri Village is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. When Ocarina of Time first came out, very few other games were stressing story. Since then story has become a vital part of the gamin experience, and with improved gaming technology, developers have been able to better deliver on this front. Looking at games like Twilight Princess we can compare Ordon Village to Kokiri and get an idea of what the Ocarina team envisioned for their game, but were unable to accomplish. The Ocarina team was still able to get a lot across to its audience, but there’s still a lot more find hidden beneath the surface.

We all know about Kokiri Village, but let’s refresh. The village is in the heart of the Kokiri Forest, which is under the protection of the guardian spirit, The Great Deku Tree. In the village are beings that appear as never-aging Hylian children. It’s safe to assume that before Link returned to the village that no Kokiri had ever seen an adult before.

First of all, I suspect that The Great Deku Tree is older than Kokiri Forest. I believe that he was the first tree, and that the forest grew around him. I also believe that the Deku Tree in Ocarina of Time is the first Deku Tree, and that the Deku Tree Sprout is the second. The Deku Tree Sprout is also probably the tree we see in Wind Waker.

As for Kokiri, it’s difficult to nail down exactly what they are. They are forest spirits, most likely created by the Deku Tree himself. There’s another theory that Kokiri used to be Hylian children that got lost and became spirits. Based on Wind Waker, the former is most likely.

While they look like Hylians in Ocarina of Time, we know that is just a chosen form for the spirits to manifest as, based on their new appearance in Wind Waker. We also know that whatever form they take, that form doesn’t age. In the case of Ocarina, the Kokiri take on the form of Hylian Children, both in looks and personality.

So for the most part the Kokiri in Ocarina act as children, they don’t seem to serve any other role than to just exist. In Wind Waker we see them, as Koroks, planting seeds on the other islands. Perhaps, in Ocarina, they naturally tend to the forest. Either way, the Kokiri all have a fairy companion while the Koroks do not. This may be because the Kokiri in Ocarina think like children and had to have some additional parental companionship. The fairies are also suppose to keep the Kokiri straying too far from the village, since, if they get lost in the outer reaches of their forest area, they become skull kids.

The Kokiri believe that they cannot leave the forest because they will die, but they are seen at outside of the forest at the end of Ocarina, which suggests they were told this for their own safety. Then there is the fact that Korok are apparently what became of the Kokiri once they left the forest, meaning that perhaps Kokiri begin to look like trees once they leave the forest? That idea is very similar to Skull Kid, who looks like a Kokiri with bark for skin.

Maybe the Deku Tree Sprout extended his protection over the Kokiri so they could celebrate with the rest of Hyrule after Ganondorf’s defeat? Maybe they don’t change form at all unless the Deku Tree recognizes a need to? Maybe they do die if they leave the forest, but only because they are mortal Hylians, who do age, outside of the forest?

As you can see, there are a lot of inconstancies and information holes when it comes to the Kokiri. Once of the more notable issues is Fado from Wind Waker. Fado was originally a blond female Kokiri, but was cut from the final version of Ocarina. Many fans theorize was Mido’s sister because of their shared musical names and some of the things she says regarding Mido. Her name was recycled for the male Kokiri character we see in Wind Waker, who is the Sage of Wind before he is replaced by Makar. We also know that Fado was a one of the Kokiri of the Ocarina era, and a personal friend of the Hero of Time, but we never see Fado in the game. This leads us to assume that we weren’t introduced to all the Kokiri within the time period of game. Perhaps the developers envisioned Kokiri containing more inhabitants, but were limited by the number of models they could use (hence the many identical twins and triplets inhabiting the village).

So while there are many things unclear about the Kokiri, we do know one thing, they think of themselves as children. Their entire society in Ocarina of Time is like children on recess. They are kept from spiraling into utter childhood chaos by the prescience of the Deku Tree and their fairies. So in some ways it’s like a classroom environment; I can totally imagine the Deku Tree having a weekly story time where he taught the Kokiri about the world.

But while the Deku Tree played a very large role in all of their lives, taking time to talk to individuals in addition to being a general guardian, he’s not physically present in the village. I’m sure that the Kokiri can see the top of him from the village, but he’s not in the midst of them. As such, the free-roaming children developed leaders within the group. These leaders were Saria and Mido.

While Saria is a leader in her own right, and becomes a sage on one side of the split timeline, she doesn’t act like a leader. She plays the role of a mother and best friend to Link, often talking on his behave to the Deku Tree. She plays her part on the sidelines, helping other Kokiri when she thinks they need her. Mido on the other hand is more aggressive. He actively takes on his role as the leader, to the point of being very bossy and annoying. However, he respects the Deku Tree’s authority, even if it takes a few tries to convince him of the Deku Tree’s orders. The other Kokiri generally like and agree with Mido, and usually follow what he says.

While Mido is a bully to Link, I think its safe to assume he isn’t to others in the village. No other Kokiri act as if Mido is being mean to them. In addition to that, if the Kokiri we see in Ocarina are all much older than they appear, Mido’s twelve year’s of being a bully would have passed by in a wink. And once again, they think like children, and are preoccupied by their child-hood games and short attention spans.

The relationship between Mido, Link and Saria is was drives the whole political dynamic that we see in Kokiri Village. Before Link came along Saria probably did give Mido more attention, but Saria was the natural choice to raise and help Link during his time in the forest. The Deku Tree’s decision to have Saria do this, as opposed to a fairy, is obvious; Link had to learn how interact with people, not fairies, if he was destined to one day leave the forest. But because of this, Link grew up being the only member of the village not to have a fairy, and while no one else seemed to mind, a jealous Mido latched onto that idea and used it to ridicule Link. It was a hopeless attempt to make Link look less desirable in Saria’s eyes. While the other Kokiri probably didn’t see Link as a failure, considering all the Kokiri were very open to Link, Link still felt like he didn’t belong there. He never sees the Deku Tree, let alone talks to him, until he is summoned by him to defeat Gohma. Because of Mido’s bullying, Link never felt he worthy to visit the Deku Tree the whole twelve years he lived in the forest. Link probably shied away from the other Kokiri and mainly hung out with just Saria. Because he felt like an outsider, I believe that this gave Link the desire to leave the forest long before he was presented with the opportunity to do so by the Deku Tree, so that when he finally got the two things he wanted most, to see the world outside the forest and to have the fairy, it came with a cost: the loss of the Deku Tree and exile from Kokiri Village by Mido.

It’s hard to say whether or not Mido knew that Link was a Hylian. I doubt he did, or he would have used this against Link as well. He also would have guessed sooner the identity of the blond-young man who visited the village seven years later.

Saria on the other hand, knew all along about Link’s Hylian heritage, with her foreknowledge concerning Link’s inevitable departure from the village and her instant recognition of Link’s nineteen-year-old self. Both her and the Deku Tree were preparing for Link’s inevitable departure from the forest, but, because of Ganondorf, that came sooner than either of them expected, despite the Deku Tree’ knowledge of the boy’s importance.

Link feelings of insecurity were all redirected towards not having a fairy. Because of Mido, the fact that Link believed he was a Kokiri, and the fact that every single inhabitant in the village had a fairy, Link believed that the secret to his happiness laid in him obtaining one. The day Navi came to him was the happiest day of his life, but also one of the worst because it was the day the Deku Tree died and day he left Saria behind for seven years. This is why Zelda is so special to Link; she is one of the first people Link meets when he leaves the forest. Zelda treats Link as a hero and she doesn’t even know about Gohma. It’s one of the first times he feels like he belongs. When he visits the Gorons he treated as brother, and with the Zoras a savior. So when he’s headed back to Zelda to give her the three spiritual stones, Link is at his emotional peak, after years of reticule, not only does he belong, but he is also wanted and praised. This of course all comes crashing down when Ganondorf uses him to get into the Sacred Realm. Both he and Zelda blamed themselves for this afterwards, and Link spends the rest of the game making up for his mistake.

When he returns to Kokiri Village and sees it dying (due to the state of the Forest Temple and the lack of a Deku Tree) and covered infested with dangerous plants, he feels guilty for abandoning it for seven years even though it wasn’t his fault. This guilt extends to Saria as well, as we can see from their parting words to each other. But in that moment in the Chamber of Sages they reconcile one enough, laying it all the table, and Link can move on and truly become an adult from this point on. He can let go of his childhood, which is metaphorically represented through his relationship with Saria. He says goodbye to her, but he’ll never forget her.

I’m not trying to say Link is sissy or anything, just a very human character. It’s not like he’s whining all time about his emotions, but just because you don’t talk about them all the time doesn’t man you don’t have them.

As for Mido, Link as an unrecognizable adult is able to start the relationship fresh. Mido doesn’t treat him like Link, but as he would anyone else. Actually, he treats with a little more respect than the average Joe because is an adult and so much bigger than him, not to mention that he somehow knows Saria’s song. It is in this meeting with Mido that Link finally realizes that Mido cares a great deal for Saria; he waited in the Lost Woods all night for her to come back from the Forest Temple. We also learn that Mido regrets how he treated Link, especially after the death of the Deku Tree, because it sent him away and made Saria sad. Mido’s problems weren’t fixed because Link went away. Saria became more distant and the forest declined. Mido learns that Saria became a Sage by the end of the game, and he probably eventfully guessed at Link’s identity (especially since he was a victory party where most could name the Hero of Time). The two found reconciliation, it just took nineteen years.

So while some will just write Mido off as a jerk he’s not, and while some will just think of Saria as some girl in the village, she’s much more than that. And Navi is for that matter too. She meant so much to Link because of what she symbolized for him, but it grew into something much more after all their shared experiences. The interactions between characters in Kokiri Village are a vital storytelling point in Ocarina of Time. They set the stage for Link’s character throughout the entire game.

Remember, that these are just my very wordy thoughts on the matter. I’m sure you all have your own interpretations on these characters, and I would love to hear about them down below.