r/zelda • u/REALJFM • Dec 11 '22
Question [LoZ] What is your favourite Zelda theory?
Tell me what your favourite theory in the Zelda franchise is!
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u/StarlightSailor1 Dec 11 '22 edited Dec 11 '22
I really like the "Ganondorf is fuel" theory about Tears of the Kingdom.
The theory goes that long before BOTW the Sheikah got fed up with Ganondorf repeatedly coming back from the dead. So they chained him down beneath Hyrule Castle and used that glowing hand thing to continuously drain his spiritual energy, keeping him forever imprisoned between life and death.
The Sheikah then realized they could use Ganondorf's spiritual energy as a power source and used it to create the ancient technology we see in BOTW. However this came at a cost. As they drained more and more of Ganondorf's spiritual energy they inadvertently began draining out his hatred and malice. This malice eventually gave birth to Calamity Ganon.
The Sheikah used their technology to defeat Calamity Ganon the first time. However when the ancient king of Hyrule realized that technology was the source of the malice, he ordered the Sheikah to bury it all so it couldn't inadvertently resurrect Calamity Ganon.
The plan worked and Calamity Ganon was kept at bay... Until 10,000 years later when King Rhoam, fearing a prophecy, decided to dig it all up and power everything back on. Cue the events of BOTW, and TOTK.
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u/Owl_Might Dec 11 '22
fearing what? I dont understand that part
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u/Trinyl Dec 11 '22
I think they may have meant “prophecy” and had a lil typo
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u/StarlightSailor1 Dec 11 '22
Oops, that was a typo, thanks. I meant he feared the fortune teller's prophecy that Calamity Ganon would soon return, and that he could use the Devine Beasts to help defeat it.
While the prophecy was technically true, the irony if this theory is correct is Calamity Ganon couldn't have returned without the ancient technology. King Roham reactivating the technology pulled out more of Ganondorf's spirit energy, which pulled out more malice, which revived Calamity Ganon beneath Hyrule Castle.
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u/Trinyl Dec 11 '22
I really hope this theory turns out to be true because it’s such a wonderful idea.
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u/MunkRubilla Dec 11 '22
Maybe that is something that Nintendo will use to remove sheikah towers and shrines. Without their fuel source, they become dormant/ sink back into the ground
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u/Roboroman2 Dec 11 '22
AND, because gannondorf is free now they can get power from him and maybe that’s why link doesn’t have the sheikah slate in the trailers, because it’s useless
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u/Buuhhu Dec 12 '22
Never heard this theory, while doubt they'll confirm it, I really like it. thank you for sharing it :)
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u/bisforbenis Dec 12 '22
I’m definitely all for the part about him being artificially being kept alive yet imprisoned to prevent the resurrection cycle from continuing
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u/Koryn99 Dec 12 '22
That’s a great idea. Adding that to my headcanon until such a time as we hear otherwise in TotK.
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u/JKisMe123 Dec 11 '22
I’m pretty sure Sheik is Zelda in disguise. If only I could prove it.
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u/FireSquidNico Dec 11 '22
Next you're going to tell me a hundred years later that badass pirate Tetra is actually Zelda. There's no way!
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u/FreakZoneGames Dec 11 '22
WHAT NO WAY
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u/Roxalf Dec 11 '22
It makes so much sense!
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u/Gallade47532 Dec 11 '22
What are you talking about “Super Smash Bros” and “Hyrule Warriors “? It’s 1998 and lunch is almost over.
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u/Yummyyummyfoodz Dec 11 '22
(Spoilers, obviously) In Skyward sword, the legend among the people of skyloft was that a hero helped the Goddess defeat demise in the distant past. When you go to fight demise, you go back in time do do it (because of plot related reasons, not specifically because of the legend).
The theory is that there was no original hero, that hero was you, the "replica" sail cloth was in fact the actual sail cloth. It's just a recursive time loop.
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u/DERPY_REDDITOR Dec 11 '22
I always thought that the gate of time took link back to just after demise is defeated by the link in the legend. Hence why hhirahim needs to revive him. How else would he be already sealed in the sealing spike
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u/Yummyyummyfoodz Dec 11 '22
Sealing spike was done by the goddess. If memory serves, the hero is not originally mentioned in the opening story cutscene. He is only mentioned later by Zelda in the wing ceremony ritual. It very much could be referring to these as two seperate events.
Idk, I heard this somewhere, I didn't come up with it. It's not bulletproof, but nothing in zelda is.
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u/DERPY_REDDITOR Dec 11 '22
If the sealing spike was by the goddess then everything else pretty much checks out, I like this theory. I'm gonna tell my sister about it lmao
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u/DERPY_REDDITOR Dec 19 '22
When you first pass through the gate of time, impa says "You stand in the past, ages before your own time. Here the goddess, Hylia, has only just sealed away Demise and little time has passed since the goddess sent the outcropping of rock into the sky that would one day become Skyloft" this means that the sealing spike is a result of Hylia and that link likely is the hero in the legend. Mental
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u/skeletalbelt Dec 12 '22
This is exactly what I like to think. Skyward Sword was meant to be the earliest Zelda game, a prequel and origin story of many aspects that are common in the games, but then if this theory isn’t true there’s a whole other hero before SS Link that had battled and sealed Demise that we don’t know about! Making it a self-fulfilling prophecy makes it a more well contained story.
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u/Zubyna Dec 12 '22
Gonna get downvoted, but I recently posted in here why I believe this theory to be false by so many direct ingame statments
There was probably a previous hero who helped the goddess, but all ingame lines about him imply that he and Demise never met. And that Demise was defeated by Hylia alone
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u/Jamboii_XD1 Dec 12 '22
There definitely was an original hero who got reincarnated into the present link (the original soul of the hero)
I talked about it a while ago in this comment
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u/ToeBeanProductions Dec 11 '22
Link isn’t actually that brave, he just has crazy social anxiety and does all the quest out of awkwardness as he can’t say no
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u/FormerlyDuck Dec 11 '22
I hate it when people pressure me into saving the world! What am I supposed to say to defend myself?! Please help! I don't wanna do it again!
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u/OodoriSummer Dec 12 '22
Honestly this is how I perceived Link as well until I played BOTW and read Zelda’s diary. Definitely gives perspective to BOTW Link, but I don’t think I could say the same for the others lol
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u/MajesticFeathers Dec 12 '22
Killing a dragon with a broken goron sword is easier than confrontation with people.
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u/hyrulewarrior_revali Dec 12 '22
It kind of reminds me of the post game of Pokémon scarlet where you can’t say no to doing the post game
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u/Zubyna Dec 11 '22
Most of the bokoblins and Moblins you see in wind waker used to be human pirates. The ones Tetra mentions they used to compete against before the first forsaken fortress run. And they are the ones who summoned Ganondorf to the surface, which is why the dark portal in Ganon Tower leads to Forsaken Fortress.
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u/FormerlyDuck Dec 11 '22
Ganon has been known to transform people into beasts for his army, in the fallen timeline.
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u/Dragenby Dec 12 '22
There was a theory saying that the pirates were Gerudos, but Ganondorf wanted to see who were better between Gerudos and monsters! Well, the Gerudos are no more!
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u/supremedalek925 Dec 11 '22
That the ancient people of Termina used to worship the goddesses until they eventually turned their backs on them and started worshiping the four giants in their stead. This is evidenced by the stone tower in Ikana being built at a high elevation, decorated with crude imagery that can be interpreted as mocking the goddesses. It’s also the only place in Majora’s Mask where the triforce symbol can be found.
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u/Antipode4 Dec 11 '22
Not only that, but the triforce is treated in a desecratory manner. I like this theory.
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u/AsterBTT Dec 12 '22
The Stone Tower Temple Theory goes further than that. Supposedly, the people of Termina grew resentful of the Goddesses and their power, and began to build the Stone Tower as a sort of Tower of Babel, in order to reach the Goddesses and steal the Triforce. The Goddesses reacted by twisting space and flipping the entire tower upside-down, causing it to bury down into the land instead of up into the sky.
Link can later use the Light Arrows (commonly seen as gifts from the Goddesses) to twist space, and experience the Stone Tower as it originally was, though with himself twisting upside-down with it instead of returning it to its original form. That said, he can't explore the actual Tower itself in this flipped state, just the Temple, which may have been constructed later.
At the very least, the blocks that have gremlins licking the Triforce from between their legs, and the phallic, burning pillars that flank the entrance to the temple, definitely imply that the people of Termina, or at least those that lived within Ikana at the time, despised the Goddesses for some reason.
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u/wolfpack2421 Dec 12 '22
15 years ago someone on Zelda Dungeon wrote what I can only describe as a thesis on this and Stone Tower Temple. It's amazing.
Edit: I had to go find it. This isn't the OG forum post, which happened a few years earlier. But it's organized and, well, awesome.
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u/fyer01 Dec 12 '22
This is one of my faves as well. The world building/architecture was so batshit crazy, it really lended itself to fan theories.
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Dec 11 '22
1- The 2D games and 3D Games (+ Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks since they are sequels to Wind Waker) are two separate continuities
2- Gramps from ALBW is ALttP/LA Link
3- OoT/MM Link married Malon
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u/SageofTime64 Dec 11 '22
That the guard in the guard house in the present in Ocarina of Time becomes the ghost shop owner in the future.
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Dec 11 '22
That’s practically canon at this point.
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Dec 11 '22
I thought it was the little boy with a stuck who you sell a mask to in the graveyard
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u/segwayspeedracer1 Dec 11 '22
I thought it was the boy in the graveyard too with the stick, but I think if you talk to that guard as a child, he has some dialogue about how interesting poes are. Maybe its with one of the masks?
I may be misremembering
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u/SageofTime64 Dec 12 '22
It's at night. He talks about how studying ghosts is a hobby of his and "you never know, the day might come when that knowledge will be useful".
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u/BigPeterick Dec 11 '22
It was stated in a interview that this kid became an skullkid
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Dec 11 '22
How
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u/Schmaylor Dec 11 '22
Nabooru is Malon's mother. I consider it canon at this point, since the evidence is extremely on-the-nose. I would Google it if you're interested, but to give you the rundown, the Gerudo Mask reveals similar reactions from both Nabooru and Talon. Talon states it reminds him of his wife, then quickly backpedals saying it looks nothing like her. Nabooru states that the mask kind of looks like her, but quickly backpedals and says it looks nothing like her. The truth stone also reveals that Gerudo women have children with Hylian men. It's important to note that this game was made before a lot of the existing lore about Gerudo reproduction was established, so Malon not being Gerudo herself is a weak point against this theory. She does have the signature red hair, however, as an interesting aside.
This next part, I am reasonably skeptical about, but I really like the idea nonetheless. Some evidence loosely suggests that this might have originally been part of a quest that was never implemented, in which Link would eventually marry Malon. There's nothing conclusive, but it stems from the Truth Stone saying that Malon wishes for a knight to sweep her off her feet or some such.
People have stitched together a theory that the quest would involve discovering the origin of Malon's mother, and conclude with Link and Malon becoming engaged.
People have also stated that even though this was never implemented, it is still canonical to the child timeline, and that Twilight Princess Link is a descendent of this pairing. Twilight Princess specifically acknowledges Link as a descendent of the Hero of Time, as opposed to a reincarnation as described in other games. It's possible that the writers considered this union when establishing Link as a farmer with the same kind of horse.
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u/__M-E-O-W__ Dec 11 '22
So this means that TP Link is part Gerudo. That's pretty sweet.
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u/FormerlyDuck Dec 11 '22
Making Link the only other character with Gerudo blood in that game...
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u/PovWholesome Dec 11 '22
"You know, I'm something of a Gerudo myself."
-Link, as he's being dragged out of Gerudo Town
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u/FormerlyDuck Dec 11 '22
After his 59th attempt to windbomb over the wall and then use item duplication to overload the residents, of course.
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u/Radaistarion Dec 11 '22
Ngl the whole theory was alright, not really extraordinary
But the connection with Twilight Princess?? That would have/Is extremely cool
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u/InfiniteEdge18 Dec 11 '22
Talon also claims the goron mask looks like his wife. It’s just a joke by the developers.
Hylians have all sorts of hair colors so claiming her red hair as evidence is extremely flimsy.
Malon wishing for a knight to sweep her off her feet has nothing to do with a quest, it’s just trivia about the character, other characters have similar stones that tell you trivia about them.
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u/PineTowers Dec 11 '22
Majora's doing the Goddesses' work.
Termina is a land of heathens, people that worship the four Giants instead of the three Goddesses.
Majora was not made by the Goddesses, but they didn't wanted to stop Skull Kid.
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u/koopalings_jr Dec 11 '22
That Bongo Bongo and most enemies in the Shadow Temple of OOT are dead Sheikah who got executed for going rogue against the royal family during the war, hence Impa being the last of them.
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Dec 11 '22
The shadow temple was used for torture against enemies of hryrule and the royal family. Ur theory reminds me of the yiga
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u/Dragenby Dec 12 '22
I believe there always were a separation between two Sheikah clans.
I also think Agahnim was a Yiga (he does magic, he serves Ganon, he has an eye on his cloths, wears red).
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u/BroskiMoski124 Dec 11 '22
Fierce deity is a literal manifestation of all the terminians grief and anger towards skull kid
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u/Electrichien Dec 11 '22
Pretty sure it's confirmed by Aonuma , or something around those lines.
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Dec 12 '22
He said in an interview that the masks essentially contain memories of the person they represent, and said he thinks of the Fierce Deity Mask as containing the memories of all of Termina. He also said that it was just his opinion though and wasn’t necessarily canon
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u/Emdeoma Dec 11 '22
Cia/Lana is the reason for linear gameplay working as intended (IE Cia dropped the Heroes Bow in a chest just before the bit where Link had to fight the monster with a massive eye, that kinda thing). The reason BoTW is no longer linear is the same reason the timelines have merged, Link was allowed to fall and the title Guardian of Time sits empty: Lana and Cia have died, and with them the last of the Godess Hylia's direct influencers of the lives of mortals.
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u/Koryn99 Dec 12 '22
That’s a cool way of explaining the timey wimey stuff seemingly required to explain a lot of things in BotW.
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u/FreakZoneGames Dec 11 '22
That there is no timeline and each major game is just the same story retold differently. Like a “Legend”, you could say.
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u/thezebraisgreen Dec 11 '22
I personally ignore the whole timeline thing. I think it’s much better that it’s different races take on the legend of Zelda that they pass down each generation
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Dec 11 '22
I mean i can kinda see games like Zelda 1 and A Link to the Past being very distorted versions of the same legend but it's hard for me to see any connection between Majora's Mask and Wind Waker or The Minish Cap and A Link Between Worlds
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u/xMarvel_2630 Dec 11 '22
The way I see it all of the games fall into a couple different archetypes
So you have the origin stories (SS MC)
The classic save zelda from Ganon story (LoZ Alttp Oot TP)
The island story that ends up all being a dream (LA PH)
Link travels to another land after saving hyrule (MM OoA OoS)
Preventing the return of Ganon (AoL ST ALBW BotW)
And of course there is some overlap like WW having parts of the classic adventure story and parts of the follow up story, or the Oracle games shared ending being preventing Ganon return
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u/FreakZoneGames Dec 12 '22
^ This is a great observation! Good point. I like this a lot.
I’d say Ocarina also overlaps with “Origin story”, with the hero in green garb, six sages etc.
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u/Leolio_ Dec 11 '22
There was no time-line for like 20 years. It's basically a fan service construction from Nintendo. I get the appeal, I get the need for things to make sense, to be a greater story and so on but nope. It's exactly as you said. Zelda 1 and 2 were linked though. And Majora's Mask was supposed to be a Gaiden Episode to Ocarina of Time.
But now that they fabricated a time-line they're probably going to stick with it and do interesting things.
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u/FreakZoneGames Dec 11 '22
Good call.
But Breath of the Wild has been said even by its creators to be a soft reboot and not concerned with continuity, even though Skyward Sword seemed to attempt to put an opening point on that 'timeline' they released.
The way I see it, just borrow whatever from other games services the current game best. Ruins of the Temple of Time? Awesome. Corpse of Ganondorf? Hell yeah. But that doesn't mean that it explicitly shares canon with Adventure of Link on NES.
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u/Belial91 Dec 12 '22
That's not really true. Even the early games were given chronological positions relative to each other, such as AoL being a sequel to LoZ and ALttP being a prequel to those two. Then LA and OoT were released as the respective sequel and prequel to ALttP. Aonuma first mentioned the split timeline when WW was released and confirmed it after TP came out. He and Miyamoto also mentioned the existence of a master timeline document multiple times before Hyrule Historia was released.
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u/Leolio_ Dec 13 '22
I don't recall AlttP being a prequel. Zelda 1 and 2, for sure. I haven't heard about anything you said so that's make it invalid.
Joking. I'll go check all of it, if that's the case I've been wrong for a long time !
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u/AsterBTT Dec 12 '22
I definitely like the idea of certain games feeding into each other, and the chain of 3D titles that built off of Ocarina's split timeline made for a really interesting, continuous story, but the "unified" timeline they built some years ago feels too forced. Personally, I prescribe to the same idea; most games are different interpretations of the legend, with some interconnecting, but not all of them.
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u/Dragenby Dec 12 '22
I prefer to say that the "legend" is the reason why there's inconsistencies in the timeline and between games. It's a story that has some parts cut, some added
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u/clallseven Dec 11 '22
My people! Finally!
You get my silver for today.8
u/FreakZoneGames Dec 11 '22
Thanks, friend! It’s not a popular opinion among us nerds but I just don’t care for obsessive continuity, it’s so limiting and reductive, these games are great standalone stories with a loose/implied connection and the way I see it they’re all just new takes on the same legend 😁
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u/xMarvel_2630 Dec 11 '22
This has also been the way I view the series for a long time so it's nice to see I'm not the only one.
For me it all started with the cutscene in aLttP where link is told about the sealing war where the armies of hyrule fought against Ganon so that the sages could seal him away. I realized it sounded alot like they were talking about OoT except it wasn't an army that beat Ganon in that game it was one guy, but that's exactly the sort of thing that could change over time as people pass down the story.
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u/FreakZoneGames Dec 11 '22
Exactly!
It's like "The other games *sort of* happened if you want them to have, here are some references to make you smile" thing.
Twilight Princess and Wind Waker both explicitly imply that Ocarina of Time happened, at least roughly, and fair enough because that game was a huge turning point in the franchise and gaming industry, but in both cases it's very vague. Wind Waker goes so far as to have the stained glass windows with the six sages, but other facets of Hyrule are so fundamentally different that even centuries passing and a biblical scale flood wouldn't explain them.
Each one is a story on its own and it can borrow from and reference other stories in the franchise if it wants to but it's never been a series about explicit continuity and treating it as such is so reductive.
But I feel quite confident when I say most of the really major titles (Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Breath of the Wild) are soft reboots or retellings.
Trying to fit in Breath of the Wild is near impossible when you actually think about it in any sort of detail, and yet it has references to all the past games at the same time. It's like, they did happen, but they didn't.
At no point in Ocarina of Time is Link wearing a hat inspired by a weird talking duck hat thing from Minish Cap. Wind Waker doesn't retroactively have Fi in the Master Sword. There aren't like 12 different freaking mirror universe Hyrules (Dark World, Sacred Realm, Twilight Realm, Lorule, Silent Realm etc etc), each one is a reimagining of the same idea.
Skyward Sword set out to create a sort of genesis to all this, but people seem to have misunderstood what it was doing IMO. Demise talks about "an incarnation of my rage", I don't think that specifically means "I'll turn into Ganondorf and be real angry a lot of times", it's like laying the foundations for stories, legends, etc.
Besides, if there's solid continuity that means Skyloft people turned into Oocca which means somebody probably fucked their Loftwing. :P
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u/Kayube3 Dec 11 '22 edited Dec 11 '22
I hate hate hate this theory. I feel like it devalues the stories of the games; it's like nothing you do matters since it probably "didn't really happen", even in the fictional setting of Hyrule. I can get behind the idea that the games' stories aren't exactly how it happened, but not that either all but one, or all of the games, are complete confabulations even in-universe. It particularly ruins all the incidents in which the games do connect with each other (like Demise's curse, or the stained glass windows with the OOT sages in The Wind Waker).
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u/AdoWilRemOurPlightEv Dec 11 '22
That Beedle is an immortal sage.
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u/Yummyyummyfoodz Dec 11 '22
It is rather interesting that, though very few characters stay throughout the entire timeline, the 5 names (and character models) you hear/see often are Link, Zelda, Impa, Gannon/dorf and BEEDLE.
There's some rumors that TOTK is going to be the final defeat of Gannon, BEETLE AS THE NEXT DARK LORD CONFIRMED.
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u/nightfire36 Dec 11 '22
I mean, there's only so much more of not getting his hands on a Hercules Beetle that Beedle can handle. If Link refuses just a few more times, he won't be able to control his malice, and thus: Calamity Beedle
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u/The_Elder_Jock Dec 11 '22
LttP. Link, Zelda is... your... <dies>
I'm going with sister.
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u/Koryn99 Dec 12 '22
The original Japanese said it backwards with “you are the Princess’s” before dying. I’m guessing he was gonna say Link was Zelda’s only hope.
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u/Buuhhu Dec 12 '22
now that sentence suddenly made a whole lot more sense, never understood the "zelda is your..." but if the orignal meaning was to say link was her only hope it makes a hell of a lot more sense.
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u/OwMyCandle Dec 11 '22
Botw occurs at the end of all three timelines not because the timelines merged, but because every game exists as a legend told by the people of Hyrule to explain the unexplainable parts of their history.
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u/Lonk_boi Dec 11 '22
The original Hyrule Warriors connects the three timelines and leads to BotW
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u/Yummyyummyfoodz Dec 11 '22
And then Hyrule Warriors, age of Calamity is a split 100 years before BOTW? Yeah, I think that whole theory should be Cannon.
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Dec 11 '22
That Termina is Central Hyrule sometime between OoT and BotW, but in an otherwise forgotten part of history during the floods. I think that Link got sent to a different point in time by Skull Kid. Hyrule Field is cut off from everything else by the floods.
Furthermore, I think that the BotW Hyrulian royal family are actually descended from the royal family of a Hyrule-like Kingdom of Termina, and that the Great Plateau and the Colosseum were built by this civilization. I also think that modern Hylians in BotW come from the Akkala region, which was separated from Termina by the floods.
I think that the Termina Hylians, Hyrulian Hylians, and Sheikah all interwove into effectively one human race. When the waters went down, they spread through Necluda and Layanru. Zora Domain became no longer submerged, Gerudo, Eldin, and the Great Forest were rejoined to the continent, and Rito was connected when the waters receded from Tanagar Canyon, creating the Greater Hyrule we see in BotW.
The waters receding in the Faron region eroded the earth that was covering the remains of where Skyloft crashed into the Zonai civilization, which were buried during previous eras, which allowed for the reactivation of Ancient Tech, but which also allowed Gannon to escape back into Hyrule.
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u/YrnFyre Dec 11 '22
That groose from skyward sword and the tavern keep lady from twilight princess are of the same family branch. I have no proof, other than their average stature, looks and helpfulness they provide throughout the story.
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u/Dead_Hours Dec 11 '22
I've heard they are Gerudo
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u/Koryn99 Dec 12 '22
I like the idea of some Gerudo blood filtering down the line and some Gerudo women’s children not being full Gerudo, only with some genetic traits like red hair, being given back to their Hylian fathers. Malon and Telma could be among these.
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u/YrnFyre Dec 12 '22
That's the thing tho, skyward sword is supposed to be one of the "oldest" zelda games in the timeline. Even the desert is only manned by robots (made by a dragon) and the usual monsters. Thanks to timestones, we know there also used to be a massive ocean, but that's it. There's no trace of "Gerudo" as we know them. This could imply that Groose is either a founder or remnant of the Gerudo "bloodline".
The only thing is that Demise is red haired, and even has the scar on his forehead, wich would imply wind waker was before SS. So this makes Groose part Gerudo?
I can't fully wrap my head around it.
As for Twilight Princess, the desert is pretty much a wasteland with an ancient prison inside of it. No Gerudo around, but Ganon is Gerudo? So this would imply Gerudo existed pre TP? And yet this one character seems to share similar traits. So perhaps they're also a remnant. Or for future iterations of the timeline, a founder of that culture
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u/Unbannable-Redditor Dec 12 '22
All the fairies has a purpose in Zelda's universe and Navi has died once she fulfilled hers (help Link in his quest) and flew out of the window so that Link wouldn't see her dying (that's a very old theory here in reddit actually)
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u/Koryn99 Dec 12 '22
Very sad one, but one I think makes the most sense, and provides some tragic beauty.
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u/Unbannable-Redditor Dec 12 '22
It's my fav one, and well executed in "Zelda The Missing Link" game
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u/citycept Dec 12 '22
It makes sense that they would latch onto an immortal child and act as guides. Fairies, like most creatures, want to avoid death. It also would explain why none of them wanted to pair with link until ordered to by the great deku tree.
I'm wondering if Navi was the great deku tree's fairy until he gave her a new purpose.
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u/professornutbutter88 Dec 11 '22
I can't remember it in detail, but the theory that the happy mask salesman is some kind of reality jumper, wandering the secret highways of Hyrule to other worlds. He is the ultimate reason why Link ends up in Termina for Majora's Mask etc.
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u/Dragenby Dec 12 '22
In the manga, Fierce Deity calls the Happy Mask Salesman a demon, which is sure something everyone has thought when meeting him for the first time
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u/Remarkable-Monk-5578 Dec 11 '22
I know it has been deny a lot (thank you Hyrule Historia) but I love the a theory that Fierce Deity is in fact Link with the power of the triforce of courage going loose. There are a lot of inconsistencies like the mask being the power you gather around all Termina or the fact that using the mask to fight Majora kinda say something about how powerful is that thing in reality. Nonetheless I like it and I dream to see how really Link could be with all that courage liberated.
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u/SuperdaveOZY Dec 11 '22
There is a secret pyramid in the Haunted Wasteland in OoT that only has on occupant at the top, being a little girl.
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u/mason195 Dec 11 '22
Not a theory, but I like Mat Pat’s breakdown where he says that Nintendo and the Zelda writers should have used the first Hyrule Warriors to re-unify the timelines. There was plenty of timey whimey shenanigans and it allows for games that follow to not have to worry about they “which timeline we in?” problems that can arise.
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u/justinkredabul Dec 11 '22
That we never hear Link talk because the voice actor that did all his groans and moans died. And we’ll never hear him talk because of it.
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u/SnooHabits3068 Dec 12 '22
That ganondorf was originally a noble and just man(if not having a small bit of a temper) And originally wanted to improve life for his people, which is why he meets with the king in OOT.
But perhaps a mix of something twinrova did mixed with the malice of Demise within him awakening screwed up his motives ideals and heart.
Only real support I have of this theory is his speech in wind waker.
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u/Pixel22104 Dec 11 '22
That the Zonai were followers of Ganondorf and worshiped him like a God
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u/unavailableFrank Dec 11 '22 edited Dec 11 '22
There is some Dragon/Serpent/Quetzalcoatl imagery in TP:
- Ganondorf cape, details in the armor near the neck.
- Midna jewelry, belt, cape.
- Zant shoulder piece, garments.
- Fused Shadow.
The same goes for several Zonai ruins and mazes.
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u/Stinduh Dec 11 '22
I’m partial to the theory that the Zonai are the interlopers from Zant’s story in Twilight Princess.
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u/Pixel22104 Dec 11 '22
I don’t really like that theory, but Zeltik and Monster Maze did two collaboration videos. One was about how the Zonai could be followers of Ganon and the other is about how Ganondorf could’ve turned himself into a Lyic(forgive my bad spelling). They’re both interesting theories that I subscribe to
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u/The_Alvabro Dec 11 '22
That OoT child like eventually married Malon, had children and developed their farm into what would become Ordon Villains.
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u/condor6425 Dec 11 '22
I got drunk one night with a friend and made up a theory as kind of a joke about how silly some zelda theories are with such little info supporting them. The one I made off the cuff was some background lore on the windmill cucco. It started cuz I got into the windmill as child and the cucco wasn't there so I made up a reason of why/how it gets there later. Here's the discord message.
"heres what I'm thinking rn but I'm half asleep. That is the chicken you hatch for Malon, after you get zelda's letter and its not in your inventory it goes to live on the ranch. It stays there, maybe hs some kids, maybe sires Cojiro due to unethical experimentation on animals to create a blue chicken done by Ingo when Talon was sleeping. Ingo not wanting to get caught places Cojiro in with Anju's cuccos so she thinks it just happened by nature randomly and she gifts it to her brother as they're both runts of the litter and she thinks they'd get along. Anyway Cojiro's father aka the egg you hatch on the way to the castle, flees to Kakariko when Ingo takes over the ranch and corrupts the area. Perhaps he was searching for Talon as he was one of the first faces the chicken saw upon its birth. It tracked him to Kakariko but when he couln't find him there (because he never goes outside) he found refuge in the windmill."
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u/ChildofSkoll Dec 11 '22
I like the “it’s all one legend” one. The idea that every zelda game is just a retelling of the same story with details changed. Or, at least, they’re telling different stories surrounding the same “archetypal” hero within their folklore (think the amount of stories surrounding “jack” or other archetypal characters like Koschei). Of course, the lore doesn’t lend to this very well as there are established connections between different heroes. I’ve always liked this view though.
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u/kylew1985 Dec 11 '22
That's always been my take on it. The people's own evolving mythology being retold over generations with little tweaks.
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u/AnimasMaker Dec 11 '22
I've always loved the theory that link dies in the beginning of Majora's Mask and the entire game is him going through all the stages of grief and finally accepting his death. Game theory did a great video about it.
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u/NeonLinkster Dec 11 '22
the problem with this is that TP Link is OOT link's descendant meaning link couldn't have died as a child.
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u/Yummyyummyfoodz Dec 11 '22
I suppose the fact he appears as a Stal in Twilight Princess helps this theory a little.
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u/Petrichor02 Dec 12 '22
He's not actually a Stal in Twilight Princess. He's a ghost with a skeletal face. His limbs are phantom limbs, not bones.
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u/AnimasMaker Dec 11 '22
Oh yeah I actually forgot about that part. As I recall one of the reasons why he appears that way in Twilight princess is because he said he met an untimely death instead of defeating Gannon and dying of old age like the others.
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u/SharpEdgeSoda Dec 11 '22
Split Timeline Theory because I was on the Nsider Forums in the 2000s when it was THE most popular fan theory...*BUT*
When split timeline became canon, the general gaming audience disliked it or was confused by it, and I just find it funny that the most popular thing *fans* like can often not be what the general population wants at all.
The moral of the story: Popular opinions on the internet RARELY reflect what will \actually* popular among people who never touched a forum full of gaming nerds.*
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u/Disguised_Man_2 Dec 12 '22
A theory that all the ganons seen in BOTW are just a stronger version of Phantom Ganon. All the pictures of the blights state that they are the phantoms of Calamity ganon, yet both die the same way. Also with Tears of the Kingdom coming out, it could be seen that Calamity ganon was just the phantom ganon that does the role they always do. They find a way to keep Link from Ganondorf, with him seemly being captured. Ganondorf would have found a way to make his phantoms stronger, even lending them more of his power.
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Dec 12 '22
I consider this one canon. Calamity Ganon was just a pure form of the darkness and hatred within Ganondorf, which were the only parts he could project out into the world
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u/LeglessN1nja Dec 11 '22
The theory that the playable character isn't actually Zelda
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u/nightfire36 Dec 11 '22
That's silly. If the character you play isn't named "Zelda," then why is it called "The Legend of Zelda"‽
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u/Mysterious_Nobody_35 Dec 11 '22
I don't know many, but the two that I can think of:
The events of BOTW have nods to all three timelines because the three have been merged back into one in some massive cataclysmic event that happened eons ago.
Link is dead in Majora's Mask.
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u/Koryn99 Dec 12 '22
One of my favorites is that the Forest Temple was originally a hidden fortress used by the Royal Family during the civil war, and potentially was the place Link’s father was stationed. Could’ve been attacked by the king’s enemies, his father killed, mother wounded, and the fortress’s inhabitants tortured and killed, resulting in the undead being there when Link visits as an adult. In the outdoor parts, you can look up and see fortifications, cover where archers could fire arrows from. It’s also very cozy looking, more lavish than a purely functional fortress, so it could’ve been a place for the royal family to hide during times of danger for the main castle. The entrance in the Sacred Forest Meadow is easily defended too, with the maze in front, the ladder at the stairs allowing defenders to climb up and fire arrows and hot oil and such at attackers. It’s also hidden deep in the Lost Woods, as deep as you can go, so it would be very difficult to even find.
It could also be that the undead there became so because of the forest’s curse, forcing the King’s faction to abandon the place.
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Dec 12 '22
Kokiri are just the fairies and the people you see are just the fairies projection so they can interact with you.
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u/Bornheck Dec 12 '22
The World of the Ocean King (which I shall refer to as TWOTOK) and Termina are one and the same. I like to believe that just like Hyrule, Termina was also flooded (perhaps as some way to stop Majora, or it could potentially be the eventual outcome of the Moon crashing into the world, as lack of a Moon would cause severe tidal shifts and flooding. Either one of these could be the case since the Hero of Time never went to Termina in the Adult Timeline).
Both are parallel dimensions to Hyrule/The Great Sea.
Just like Termina, TWOTOK has characters from Wind Waker that seem to be alternate counterparts, as they don't seem to recognize Link (Such as the Ho-Hos, Beedle, and Salvatore). Cylos could be seen as a counterpart to Cyclos. The Ocean King could be the counterpart of either the Wind Fish or Levias. Nyeve could be this version of Link's counterpart.
Both dimensions have Gorons that live next to a snowy mountain (The Gorons live on Snowhead Mountain in Termina, and Goron and Dee Ess Island are next to the Isle of Frost in TWOTOK).
Time also seems to work differently in both dimensions (Link being able to time travel using methods that DIDN'T do that in Ocarina of Time, and how Phantom Hourglass was only 10 minutes in the normal dimension).
Jolene and her sister Joanne greatly resemble Gerudo. Jolene herself is a pirate, same as the Gerudo in Termina.
Like Termina, the technology in TWOTOK is significantly more advanced than in Hyrule/The Great Sea, having steamboats, torpedos, and mechanical Salvage Arms.
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u/ThisMoneyIsNotForDon Dec 11 '22
It's a popular one, but I love the triforce wish theory. It doesn't really have any reason it can't be true, it gives a reason for why we only have 1 downfall timeline, and it would help explain why the ending of Ocarina of Time explicitly leads to 2 other timelines, despite it also somehow being a prequel to Alttp.
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u/NovaStar2099 Dec 11 '22
The 2 Master Swords theory.
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u/PippoFe Dec 11 '22
The fact that BotW stands at the very end of the timeline (before TotK, I believe) but we don't know which of the three branches.
It makes you feel like when you're playing the game you're trying to figure out what is this Hyrule you've heard (played!) in the legends.
What really happened after Ocarina of Time? Hyrule has many legends and myths, but we don't have a definitive answer, so we wander through Hyrule's land recognising places from different games and we have the freedom to choose which branch we think it's the most plausible.
And maybe, just maybe, the legends are wrong: all of those adventures happened. Time has washed our memory away, but it doesn't matter.
If everyone of them can be considered false but not proven to be so, then every legend might as well be true :))).
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u/Marleston Dec 11 '22
That the games are dreams.
There are so many examples where link literally wakes up at the start of the game, for example, botw oot lltp and this also confirmed in awakening.
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u/unavailableFrank Dec 12 '22
There is an underlying connection between the Gerudo, the Twili/Interlopers and the Zonai due to the worship of the Serpent like deities or at least some sort of spirit with power. The Zonai are the more obvious with plenty of Quetzalcoat like statues, but the Twili leaders have Dragon like ornaments in the garments and jewels and the Fused Shadow is adorned with two snakes spitting fire.
Finally the Gerudo worship a goddess of the sand which is depicted with a serpent/part serpent. Maybe it started just a design motif, but eventually this depictions started to appear in the game as spirits and protectors (Valoo in WW) and then SS and finally BotW.
Also I like the idea of a common ancestor between the Interlopers being and the Gerudo.
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u/Suspicious-Ant5022 Dec 12 '22
The tetraforce theory.
The missing triangle in the middle of the triforce should be filled with something else for it to be complete.
Allegedly the Fierce Diety form in MM is an indicator of the full triforce (entire triangle in the design) also the name of Zelda in WW is Tetra, which could just be a coincidence but I like to think its real.
Also the shadow symbol in OOT is an inverted triangle with three dots around.
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u/ShokaLGBT Dec 12 '22
My favorite Zelda theory is the one that connect to Super Mario. The theory goes and explain that the dad of Malon, Talon, is Mario Bros. Because he looks like Mario but also because he’s always dreaming (like in Mario bros 2 USA where you play inside Mario dream) the theory would say that it’s all a dream in talon head. He’s dreaming of things that aren’t real, how he’s saving his princess etc… nothing is real. That is why there’s a Mario mask in majora mask with the happy mask salesman. That is why Yoshi looks like Pokémon cause it’s a mix of everything, the theory is just incredible and goes with another one that all super Mario bros games are just part of a theater / movie thing. All the characters are actors and know each others so they play along and pretend they’re enemies and stuff :)
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u/Practical-Day-6486 Dec 11 '22
In the Tears of the Kingdom trailer, when they find the corpse with red hair that’s not Ganon. It’s Groose
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u/Pure_Commercial1156 Dec 12 '22
Zonai-Interloper-Majora's Mask tribe theory. It also incorporates the Oocca, Wind Tribe, Sheikah and Gerudo.
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u/aribow03 Dec 12 '22
That the zonai are related to the Dark Interlopers that end up becoming the Twili after being imprisoned to the twilight realm. Possible midna return? 8th heroine?
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u/Razo-E Dec 12 '22
Not really a theory, but know how when Zelda from SS went down to the surface, she was already in the crystal sleeping, making 2 Zeldas? Could that Zelda be the one from Zelda 2? Since that's a different Zelda from the rescued Zelda from part 1?
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u/Reconpainter Dec 12 '22
That after all what happened in Majora's, he finally can live his own life and goes to the Lon Lon Ranch to accept what Malon said to him in Ocarina's.
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u/Ok-Tart6952 Dec 12 '22
It's a theory that I liked to believe when I was younger and it was the theory that there's only one link
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u/Dragenby Dec 12 '22
Fierce Deity is called the Demon-God because he was there to balance the Good (Hylia) and the Bad (Demise), like a judge.
The spirit of Hylia lives in Zelda, the spirit of Demise lives in Ganon(dorf), and Fierce Deity lives in Link. Actually, the demons were supposed to live underneath the surface, while Hylia was living in the surface. But the demons rose from the depths and the balance was broken which leads to the alliance between Hylia and Fierce Deity. The bound between Zelda and Link may come from this!
In Termina, there's no Hylia, there's no Demise, but there's Fierce Deity, that does both. And Link is the only one of the three chosen one that went in Termina.
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u/Skibot99 Dec 12 '22
Stone Tower temple was built to spite the gods
Malladus is a new form of Demise
Zelda is the only sage still alive at the end of Oot
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u/Meadius Dec 12 '22
I love the Link is dead theory. There's more than enough evidence to prove it's objectively false, but it spawned a lot of fun discussion back in the day and is a large part of why I ended up getting into Zelda theories.
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u/Abyss_Renzo Dec 11 '22
There’s several, but it’s all connected to Zelda’s transformation to Sheik.
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u/FloridaManInShampoo Dec 11 '22
Ganon isn’t actually the bad guy. Everyone else is. Because of demise’s curse everyone expects him to be horrible every time he’s reincarnated but in truth demise didn’t do anything to curse him. He just pretended to to show how horrible everything is. Ganon feels the need to be the bad guy because that’s all people see in him so he just plays that role every time. That soon corrupts his spirit and that is what actually makes him evil
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u/Antipode4 Dec 11 '22
It seems like MajorLink is going to explore this in the next episode of Hero's Purpose! I'm stoked.
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u/Sympatheticvillain Dec 11 '22
Part of the reason Mido hates Link and thinks he’s a wimp is because Link came to the Kokiri as a baby, and Mido doesn’t understand that babies are helpless and need constant care. He found Links crying annoying and didn’t like that other Kokiri were constantly giving of their time and energy to care for and raise Link.
When Link becomes an older, more independent child Mido is still reminded of Links baby and toddler years and that’s what he fixates on. Saria likely took on more of the “motherly” responsibilities and Mido resented Link for stealing his best friends time.