Bird Mista is still best champion
TOPIC | Legend of Zelda Hub!
Age of Calamity hype aside, here’s my rough Shadow Temple theory, requested by @Cat7! I guess I should put a warning for images of (fake) blood, but it’s all stuff found in the game.
Alright, so right off the bat, I’m going to say that I doubt I will say anything that hasn’t been said before. Ocarina of Time has been out for over twenty years, so if there was something to be found in the details, it’s probably already been discovered. A lot of what I’m going to say here is compiled from various theories I’ve seen or read myself. That being said, I don’t really have a clear answer for what’s up with the temple, so most of this post will be a random array of observations that can lead to various conclusions.
Let’s start at the entrance to the temple, just to keep it simple. It’s found at the base of Death Mountain, in a graveyard behind Kakariko Village. The Bottom of the Well, which I’ll get to later, is in a well within the village itself. Moving to the temple itself, here’s a picture of the entrance from the N64/original version:
[center][img]https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/the-legend-of-zelda-ocarina-of-time-3d/2/21/Shadow_entrance.jpg[/img][/center]
There are three main things I took away from this: the symbol on the door, the symbol on the floor, and the amount of effort required to even make it inside the temple. I think the door explains itself, displaying what is clearly a sheikah eye in both the N64 and 3DS versions. We’ll discuss the sheikah more when we move out of observations and into theories, so hold tight for a second. The floor has a circular design on it with what appears to be Hylian text. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it says. However, it does look slightly familiar to me.
[center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fc/f0/a0/fcf0a000b82d6d9168d995b62b11deb6.jpg[/img][/center]
It’s pretty obvious that they aren’t exactly the same, but with the round shape, the triangles, and the hylian script (from different eras, mind you), you can’t deny that there’s at least some similarities. This could have a lot of implications, which I might talk about later, but I think the answer is actually quite simple. This is the Shadow Temple. The Twilight Realm is a world of shadows. I don’t think I need to explain the connection.
Finally, the last thing that I took from the entrance was how incredibly difficult it is to get inside. Did you know that the Shadow Temple is the only Temple in OoT that you physically can never reach without the warp song? Even if you do make it to the entrance, you need to use Din’s Fire to enter, a spell taught by a Great Fairy. Clearly, this wasn’t meant to be accessed by just anyone. So who all could get in? The only person I know of who has both the song and the spell is Link. However, Impa got in somehow, which begs the question of whether or not all sheikah are capable of entering. Better yet, what if [i]only[/i] sheikah can enter? More on this later.
Inside the temple itself, you’ll likely notice the bones, uh, [i]everywhere[/i]. There’s also some really strange depictions of various creatures all over the place, from demonic birds to unfamiliar monsters. Both the temple and the well have odd critters strewn about. In fact, other sage temples have images of creatures and characters not found anywhere in the game. Do they depict the same entity? I highly doubt it, but it’s still something worth noting.
[center][img]https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05/Walkthrough/12/011.jpg[/img]
[img]https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05/Walkthrough/11/024.jpg[/img]
[img]https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05/Walkthrough/08/050.jpg[/img][img]https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05/Walkthrough/10/026.jpg[/img][/center]
The layout of the temple, if memory serves, is incredibly straightforward. I can only remember going slightly off the path to grab an item, and then it was right back to the main corridors. Scattered about are oddities such as spinning reapers with scythes, guillotines, and other spiky traps. I am again basing this on memory, but I think most of the actual torture tools are found in the well. The temple doesn’t want you in pain; it wants you dead.
Almost all of the enemies are some form of undead. You’ve got gibdos, bubbles, stalfos, and Bongo Bongo himself appears to be missing his head. (Maybe he didn’t run past the guillotines fast enough.) Like I said before, there’s bones everywhere. At one point, you take a ferry over what might be the River Styx, complete with a skeletal masthead. You’d be hard pressed to find something actually alive in here.
The last main pieces of evidence that could be used for theories concerning the temple are a couple of quotes. The first time we ever hear of the temple, Sheik refers to it as “the house of the dead.” Later, once Bongo Bongo has been freed, he informs Link that Impa “had sealed the evil shadow spirit in the bottom of the well,” and that she had likely “gone to the Shadow Temple to seal it again.” A painting on the wall tells us, “Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred." The last quote, which I think is the most immediately intriguing, is from Hyrule Historia: “The Shadow Temple ... is a place where the Sheikah, entrusted with the lives of Hyrule's royal family, have historically taken enemies of the royal family to be interrogated or worse. Because it stands as a symbol of Hyrule's dark history, it is taboo for the royal family to speak of this temple and its horrific purpose."
[center][img]https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05/Walkthrough/12/001.jpg[/img][/center]
With all of this info, we might have more questions than answers, but I think I can stitch most of it together into a coherent theory. For starters, let’s look at the original purpose of the temple. It’s, to put it simply, a temple. Very descriptive, I know. Seriously, though; that was one of the main functions the shrine was originally built for. It’s one of the five or six temples for what I call the “sealing sages.” (The “sword sages” are the sages of earth and wind, for the record.) Impa was awakened as a sage here, although we don’t know for certain if she ever heard the “awakening voice” considering she originally entered the temple to defeat Bongo Bongo.
I believe the temple was also built to be the final resting place of the sheikah. Keep in mind that this is a “house of the dead” that is located in a graveyard. Catacombs have a tendency to look sketchy, so while the bones in the floor and ceiling matter are questionable, the overall design isn’t that outlandish. Like I said before, it’s very straightforward. I think the scythes and traps were added as extra protection from graverobbers. If this was a burial place for sheikah only, then it would make sense that only people of that race could enter, thanks to the song and the spell.
However, over the years, the temple began to be used for a much different purpose. Likely due to the fact that only sheikah could enter, the shadow folk began using it as their main hub for interrogations and other unsavory ordeals they subjected Hyrule’s undesirables to. I don’t think that it was the original location of interrogations, though. Which brings us to the well.
[center][img]https://www.architectureofzelda.com/uploads/3/7/1/2/37126503/published/3150944.jpg[/img][/center]
The Bottom of the Well is... yikes. What even is this place? Some sort of torture chamber, located in the village’s water supply? No wonder all the sheikah died by the time of Twilight Princess, if they were drinking that every day.
A fairly well known fact about the well is that it exists where the creator of the Lens of Truth once lived. This tidbit was likely added to the game to point players in the right direction to acquire the lens, because lore-wise, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. The guy who could see the truth died or moved out, a well was built in his place, and his creation was hidden within? I guess it’s not the weirdest thing I’ve heard of...
Regardless of who once lived there, I believe the well was originally created to be a place for the sheikah to imprison and interrogate enemies to the crown. No one would suspect the water supply of holding something like that. You can see prison cells and torture devices throughout. Again, this place is also populated by the undead, making one question what exactly they did to their prisoners. Chances are, they dumped them in that basement. Don’t look too closely at the water. Or the blue fire. Or the walls.
[center][img]https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05/Walkthrough/11/041.jpg[/img]
[img]https://www.zeldadungeon.net/Zelda05/Walkthrough/11/039.jpg[/img][/center]
Why do I think this was the original location where prisoners were held? Bongo Bongo. The phantom shadow beast was sealed down there by Impa, according to Sheik, and I imagine it’s hard to carry out interrogations when you’re sharing your space with a giant, uh... thing. Now that the well was occupied, the sheikah had to move their base of operations to the shadow temple, which was another hidden location that outsiders were unlikely to stumble upon. Since we know that there are multiple Impas who are quite possible reincarnations of each other, it’s possible that the Impa that sealed the shadow beast away was not the same Impa in OoT, because if it was, I can’t imagine how old she is.
With that, I believe I’ve summarized my ideas on what the temple and well were created and used for. If you have any questions or other theories you want to hear, or noticed that I left something out, just say so! I always enjoy ranting about Zelda.
Oh, and as for why Nintendo thought this would fit in a game rated E for Everyone... perhaps that’s the greatest mystery of all.
Age of Calamity hype aside, here’s my rough Shadow Temple theory, requested by @Cat7! I guess I should put a warning for images of (fake) blood, but it’s all stuff found in the game.
Alright, so right off the bat, I’m going to say that I doubt I will say anything that hasn’t been said before. Ocarina of Time has been out for over twenty years, so if there was something to be found in the details, it’s probably already been discovered. A lot of what I’m going to say here is compiled from various theories I’ve seen or read myself. That being said, I don’t really have a clear answer for what’s up with the temple, so most of this post will be a random array of observations that can lead to various conclusions.
Let’s start at the entrance to the temple, just to keep it simple. It’s found at the base of Death Mountain, in a graveyard behind Kakariko Village. The Bottom of the Well, which I’ll get to later, is in a well within the village itself. Moving to the temple itself, here’s a picture of the entrance from the N64/original version:
There are three main things I took away from this: the symbol on the door, the symbol on the floor, and the amount of effort required to even make it inside the temple. I think the door explains itself, displaying what is clearly a sheikah eye in both the N64 and 3DS versions. We’ll discuss the sheikah more when we move out of observations and into theories, so hold tight for a second. The floor has a circular design on it with what appears to be Hylian text. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it says. However, it does look slightly familiar to me.
It’s pretty obvious that they aren’t exactly the same, but with the round shape, the triangles, and the hylian script (from different eras, mind you), you can’t deny that there’s at least some similarities. This could have a lot of implications, which I might talk about later, but I think the answer is actually quite simple. This is the Shadow Temple. The Twilight Realm is a world of shadows. I don’t think I need to explain the connection.
Finally, the last thing that I took from the entrance was how incredibly difficult it is to get inside. Did you know that the Shadow Temple is the only Temple in OoT that you physically can never reach without the warp song? Even if you do make it to the entrance, you need to use Din’s Fire to enter, a spell taught by a Great Fairy. Clearly, this wasn’t meant to be accessed by just anyone. So who all could get in? The only person I know of who has both the song and the spell is Link. However, Impa got in somehow, which begs the question of whether or not all sheikah are capable of entering. Better yet, what if only sheikah can enter? More on this later.
Inside the temple itself, you’ll likely notice the bones, uh, everywhere. There’s also some really strange depictions of various creatures all over the place, from demonic birds to unfamiliar monsters. Both the temple and the well have odd critters strewn about. In fact, other sage temples have images of creatures and characters not found anywhere in the game. Do they depict the same entity? I highly doubt it, but it’s still something worth noting.
The layout of the temple, if memory serves, is incredibly straightforward. I can only remember going slightly off the path to grab an item, and then it was right back to the main corridors. Scattered about are oddities such as spinning reapers with scythes, guillotines, and other spiky traps. I am again basing this on memory, but I think most of the actual torture tools are found in the well. The temple doesn’t want you in pain; it wants you dead.
Almost all of the enemies are some form of undead. You’ve got gibdos, bubbles, stalfos, and Bongo Bongo himself appears to be missing his head. (Maybe he didn’t run past the guillotines fast enough.) Like I said before, there’s bones everywhere. At one point, you take a ferry over what might be the River Styx, complete with a skeletal masthead. You’d be hard pressed to find something actually alive in here.
The last main pieces of evidence that could be used for theories concerning the temple are a couple of quotes. The first time we ever hear of the temple, Sheik refers to it as “the house of the dead.” Later, once Bongo Bongo has been freed, he informs Link that Impa “had sealed the evil shadow spirit in the bottom of the well,” and that she had likely “gone to the Shadow Temple to seal it again.” A painting on the wall tells us, “Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred." The last quote, which I think is the most immediately intriguing, is from Hyrule Historia: “The Shadow Temple ... is a place where the Sheikah, entrusted with the lives of Hyrule's royal family, have historically taken enemies of the royal family to be interrogated or worse. Because it stands as a symbol of Hyrule's dark history, it is taboo for the royal family to speak of this temple and its horrific purpose."
With all of this info, we might have more questions than answers, but I think I can stitch most of it together into a coherent theory. For starters, let’s look at the original purpose of the temple. It’s, to put it simply, a temple. Very descriptive, I know. Seriously, though; that was one of the main functions the shrine was originally built for. It’s one of the five or six temples for what I call the “sealing sages.” (The “sword sages” are the sages of earth and wind, for the record.) Impa was awakened as a sage here, although we don’t know for certain if she ever heard the “awakening voice” considering she originally entered the temple to defeat Bongo Bongo.
I believe the temple was also built to be the final resting place of the sheikah. Keep in mind that this is a “house of the dead” that is located in a graveyard. Catacombs have a tendency to look sketchy, so while the bones in the floor and ceiling matter are questionable, the overall design isn’t that outlandish. Like I said before, it’s very straightforward. I think the scythes and traps were added as extra protection from graverobbers. If this was a burial place for sheikah only, then it would make sense that only people of that race could enter, thanks to the song and the spell.
However, over the years, the temple began to be used for a much different purpose. Likely due to the fact that only sheikah could enter, the shadow folk began using it as their main hub for interrogations and other unsavory ordeals they subjected Hyrule’s undesirables to. I don’t think that it was the original location of interrogations, though. Which brings us to the well.
The Bottom of the Well is... yikes. What even is this place? Some sort of torture chamber, located in the village’s water supply? No wonder all the sheikah died by the time of Twilight Princess, if they were drinking that every day.
A fairly well known fact about the well is that it exists where the creator of the Lens of Truth once lived. This tidbit was likely added to the game to point players in the right direction to acquire the lens, because lore-wise, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. The guy who could see the truth died or moved out, a well was built in his place, and his creation was hidden within? I guess it’s not the weirdest thing I’ve heard of...
Regardless of who once lived there, I believe the well was originally created to be a place for the sheikah to imprison and interrogate enemies to the crown. No one would suspect the water supply of holding something like that. You can see prison cells and torture devices throughout. Again, this place is also populated by the undead, making one question what exactly they did to their prisoners. Chances are, they dumped them in that basement. Don’t look too closely at the water. Or the blue fire. Or the walls.
Why do I think this was the original location where prisoners were held? Bongo Bongo. The phantom shadow beast was sealed down there by Impa, according to Sheik, and I imagine it’s hard to carry out interrogations when you’re sharing your space with a giant, uh... thing. Now that the well was occupied, the sheikah had to move their base of operations to the shadow temple, which was another hidden location that outsiders were unlikely to stumble upon. Since we know that there are multiple Impas who are quite possible reincarnations of each other, it’s possible that the Impa that sealed the shadow beast away was not the same Impa in OoT, because if it was, I can’t imagine how old she is.
With that, I believe I’ve summarized my ideas on what the temple and well were created and used for. If you have any questions or other theories you want to hear, or noticed that I left something out, just say so! I always enjoy ranting about Zelda.
Oh, and as for why Nintendo thought this would fit in a game rated E for Everyone... perhaps that’s the greatest mystery of all.
Alright, so right off the bat, I’m going to say that I doubt I will say anything that hasn’t been said before. Ocarina of Time has been out for over twenty years, so if there was something to be found in the details, it’s probably already been discovered. A lot of what I’m going to say here is compiled from various theories I’ve seen or read myself. That being said, I don’t really have a clear answer for what’s up with the temple, so most of this post will be a random array of observations that can lead to various conclusions.
Let’s start at the entrance to the temple, just to keep it simple. It’s found at the base of Death Mountain, in a graveyard behind Kakariko Village. The Bottom of the Well, which I’ll get to later, is in a well within the village itself. Moving to the temple itself, here’s a picture of the entrance from the N64/original version:
There are three main things I took away from this: the symbol on the door, the symbol on the floor, and the amount of effort required to even make it inside the temple. I think the door explains itself, displaying what is clearly a sheikah eye in both the N64 and 3DS versions. We’ll discuss the sheikah more when we move out of observations and into theories, so hold tight for a second. The floor has a circular design on it with what appears to be Hylian text. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it says. However, it does look slightly familiar to me.
It’s pretty obvious that they aren’t exactly the same, but with the round shape, the triangles, and the hylian script (from different eras, mind you), you can’t deny that there’s at least some similarities. This could have a lot of implications, which I might talk about later, but I think the answer is actually quite simple. This is the Shadow Temple. The Twilight Realm is a world of shadows. I don’t think I need to explain the connection.
Finally, the last thing that I took from the entrance was how incredibly difficult it is to get inside. Did you know that the Shadow Temple is the only Temple in OoT that you physically can never reach without the warp song? Even if you do make it to the entrance, you need to use Din’s Fire to enter, a spell taught by a Great Fairy. Clearly, this wasn’t meant to be accessed by just anyone. So who all could get in? The only person I know of who has both the song and the spell is Link. However, Impa got in somehow, which begs the question of whether or not all sheikah are capable of entering. Better yet, what if only sheikah can enter? More on this later.
Inside the temple itself, you’ll likely notice the bones, uh, everywhere. There’s also some really strange depictions of various creatures all over the place, from demonic birds to unfamiliar monsters. Both the temple and the well have odd critters strewn about. In fact, other sage temples have images of creatures and characters not found anywhere in the game. Do they depict the same entity? I highly doubt it, but it’s still something worth noting.
The layout of the temple, if memory serves, is incredibly straightforward. I can only remember going slightly off the path to grab an item, and then it was right back to the main corridors. Scattered about are oddities such as spinning reapers with scythes, guillotines, and other spiky traps. I am again basing this on memory, but I think most of the actual torture tools are found in the well. The temple doesn’t want you in pain; it wants you dead.
Almost all of the enemies are some form of undead. You’ve got gibdos, bubbles, stalfos, and Bongo Bongo himself appears to be missing his head. (Maybe he didn’t run past the guillotines fast enough.) Like I said before, there’s bones everywhere. At one point, you take a ferry over what might be the River Styx, complete with a skeletal masthead. You’d be hard pressed to find something actually alive in here.
The last main pieces of evidence that could be used for theories concerning the temple are a couple of quotes. The first time we ever hear of the temple, Sheik refers to it as “the house of the dead.” Later, once Bongo Bongo has been freed, he informs Link that Impa “had sealed the evil shadow spirit in the bottom of the well,” and that she had likely “gone to the Shadow Temple to seal it again.” A painting on the wall tells us, “Here is gathered Hyrule's bloody history of greed and hatred." The last quote, which I think is the most immediately intriguing, is from Hyrule Historia: “The Shadow Temple ... is a place where the Sheikah, entrusted with the lives of Hyrule's royal family, have historically taken enemies of the royal family to be interrogated or worse. Because it stands as a symbol of Hyrule's dark history, it is taboo for the royal family to speak of this temple and its horrific purpose."
With all of this info, we might have more questions than answers, but I think I can stitch most of it together into a coherent theory. For starters, let’s look at the original purpose of the temple. It’s, to put it simply, a temple. Very descriptive, I know. Seriously, though; that was one of the main functions the shrine was originally built for. It’s one of the five or six temples for what I call the “sealing sages.” (The “sword sages” are the sages of earth and wind, for the record.) Impa was awakened as a sage here, although we don’t know for certain if she ever heard the “awakening voice” considering she originally entered the temple to defeat Bongo Bongo.
I believe the temple was also built to be the final resting place of the sheikah. Keep in mind that this is a “house of the dead” that is located in a graveyard. Catacombs have a tendency to look sketchy, so while the bones in the floor and ceiling matter are questionable, the overall design isn’t that outlandish. Like I said before, it’s very straightforward. I think the scythes and traps were added as extra protection from graverobbers. If this was a burial place for sheikah only, then it would make sense that only people of that race could enter, thanks to the song and the spell.
However, over the years, the temple began to be used for a much different purpose. Likely due to the fact that only sheikah could enter, the shadow folk began using it as their main hub for interrogations and other unsavory ordeals they subjected Hyrule’s undesirables to. I don’t think that it was the original location of interrogations, though. Which brings us to the well.
The Bottom of the Well is... yikes. What even is this place? Some sort of torture chamber, located in the village’s water supply? No wonder all the sheikah died by the time of Twilight Princess, if they were drinking that every day.
A fairly well known fact about the well is that it exists where the creator of the Lens of Truth once lived. This tidbit was likely added to the game to point players in the right direction to acquire the lens, because lore-wise, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. The guy who could see the truth died or moved out, a well was built in his place, and his creation was hidden within? I guess it’s not the weirdest thing I’ve heard of...
Regardless of who once lived there, I believe the well was originally created to be a place for the sheikah to imprison and interrogate enemies to the crown. No one would suspect the water supply of holding something like that. You can see prison cells and torture devices throughout. Again, this place is also populated by the undead, making one question what exactly they did to their prisoners. Chances are, they dumped them in that basement. Don’t look too closely at the water. Or the blue fire. Or the walls.
Why do I think this was the original location where prisoners were held? Bongo Bongo. The phantom shadow beast was sealed down there by Impa, according to Sheik, and I imagine it’s hard to carry out interrogations when you’re sharing your space with a giant, uh... thing. Now that the well was occupied, the sheikah had to move their base of operations to the shadow temple, which was another hidden location that outsiders were unlikely to stumble upon. Since we know that there are multiple Impas who are quite possible reincarnations of each other, it’s possible that the Impa that sealed the shadow beast away was not the same Impa in OoT, because if it was, I can’t imagine how old she is.
With that, I believe I’ve summarized my ideas on what the temple and well were created and used for. If you have any questions or other theories you want to hear, or noticed that I left something out, just say so! I always enjoy ranting about Zelda.
Oh, and as for why Nintendo thought this would fit in a game rated E for Everyone... perhaps that’s the greatest mystery of all.
@Relics
Oh yes! Thank you so much for that, a wonderful collection of ideas and information. I think your theory is pretty much accurate, it makes sense and seems to be apart of other ideas I've seen.
Really, thanks for taking the time to rant! I know we've got all the hype on the new game in development, but sometimes it's nice to go back and appreciate the older games and lore. Especially a part of OoT (that has a lot of mysteries in itself) that's super weird and honestly creepy and off-setting.
P.S. as you can tell, I'm very much a fan of the old games :D
Oh yes! Thank you so much for that, a wonderful collection of ideas and information. I think your theory is pretty much accurate, it makes sense and seems to be apart of other ideas I've seen.
Really, thanks for taking the time to rant! I know we've got all the hype on the new game in development, but sometimes it's nice to go back and appreciate the older games and lore. Especially a part of OoT (that has a lot of mysteries in itself) that's super weird and honestly creepy and off-setting.
P.S. as you can tell, I'm very much a fan of the old games :D
@Relics
Oh yes! Thank you so much for that, a wonderful collection of ideas and information. I think your theory is pretty much accurate, it makes sense and seems to be apart of other ideas I've seen.
Really, thanks for taking the time to rant! I know we've got all the hype on the new game in development, but sometimes it's nice to go back and appreciate the older games and lore. Especially a part of OoT (that has a lot of mysteries in itself) that's super weird and honestly creepy and off-setting.
P.S. as you can tell, I'm very much a fan of the old games :D
Oh yes! Thank you so much for that, a wonderful collection of ideas and information. I think your theory is pretty much accurate, it makes sense and seems to be apart of other ideas I've seen.
Really, thanks for taking the time to rant! I know we've got all the hype on the new game in development, but sometimes it's nice to go back and appreciate the older games and lore. Especially a part of OoT (that has a lot of mysteries in itself) that's super weird and honestly creepy and off-setting.
P.S. as you can tell, I'm very much a fan of the old games :D
... |
She/Her +3 FR time Arcanite NIC - Cat |
@Cat7 Hey, thanks for asking! I’m always up for going on a tangent about basically any game, especially OoT, MM, and TP.
@Cat7 Hey, thanks for asking! I’m always up for going on a tangent about basically any game, especially OoT, MM, and TP.
Seeing the inside of the Shadow Temple again after so long, especially the statue at the beggining, kinda makes me believe in the Tetraforce theory a bit more
Seeing the inside of the Shadow Temple again after so long, especially the statue at the beggining, kinda makes me believe in the Tetraforce theory a bit more
@Hululuco I’m pretty sure the tetraforce theory has been disproven both by overwhelming evidence and by the developers themselves, but out of curiosity, what is it about the temple entrance that makes you say that?
@Hululuco I’m pretty sure the tetraforce theory has been disproven both by overwhelming evidence and by the developers themselves, but out of curiosity, what is it about the temple entrance that makes you say that?
@Relics yeah I'm pretty sure it's not real, but it's fun to think about.
Mostly the statue at the beggining, the bird, going by the theory there's an unknown deity that tends to represent itself as a bird who either guards or seeks the fourth piece of the Triforce, you can see it in the Hero's shield, and since the other three pieces are conisdered to be "good", and the fourth one being "bad" (hence it not being with the others to complete the whole Triforce), is not difficult to assume that it could be related to dark practices within Hylian mysticism, maybe a representation of death and/or their own version of the underworld maybe? It just seem apropiate to have that kind of imagery in a place like that. Wether that statue being always there and making Sheikah pretty goth about their funerary practices, or it being added later as a way to scare whoever they bought there for... "interrogating", maybe as a way of psycological torture seems pretty plausable to me, I know some places irl have done similar stuff.
But again it's just a theory and it's fun to think about it.
EDIT: Oh I forgot! The Shadow Medallion has an inverted triangle in the center, so mayyyyybe although a fourth piece might not be real, it could be that Hylians just represent evil/death/other dark forces with an inverted part of the Triforce, so maybe is purely symbolic?
Mostly the statue at the beggining, the bird, going by the theory there's an unknown deity that tends to represent itself as a bird who either guards or seeks the fourth piece of the Triforce, you can see it in the Hero's shield, and since the other three pieces are conisdered to be "good", and the fourth one being "bad" (hence it not being with the others to complete the whole Triforce), is not difficult to assume that it could be related to dark practices within Hylian mysticism, maybe a representation of death and/or their own version of the underworld maybe? It just seem apropiate to have that kind of imagery in a place like that. Wether that statue being always there and making Sheikah pretty goth about their funerary practices, or it being added later as a way to scare whoever they bought there for... "interrogating", maybe as a way of psycological torture seems pretty plausable to me, I know some places irl have done similar stuff.
But again it's just a theory and it's fun to think about it.
EDIT: Oh I forgot! The Shadow Medallion has an inverted triangle in the center, so mayyyyybe although a fourth piece might not be real, it could be that Hylians just represent evil/death/other dark forces with an inverted part of the Triforce, so maybe is purely symbolic?
@Relics yeah I'm pretty sure it's not real, but it's fun to think about.
Mostly the statue at the beggining, the bird, going by the theory there's an unknown deity that tends to represent itself as a bird who either guards or seeks the fourth piece of the Triforce, you can see it in the Hero's shield, and since the other three pieces are conisdered to be "good", and the fourth one being "bad" (hence it not being with the others to complete the whole Triforce), is not difficult to assume that it could be related to dark practices within Hylian mysticism, maybe a representation of death and/or their own version of the underworld maybe? It just seem apropiate to have that kind of imagery in a place like that. Wether that statue being always there and making Sheikah pretty goth about their funerary practices, or it being added later as a way to scare whoever they bought there for... "interrogating", maybe as a way of psycological torture seems pretty plausable to me, I know some places irl have done similar stuff.
But again it's just a theory and it's fun to think about it.
EDIT: Oh I forgot! The Shadow Medallion has an inverted triangle in the center, so mayyyyybe although a fourth piece might not be real, it could be that Hylians just represent evil/death/other dark forces with an inverted part of the Triforce, so maybe is purely symbolic?
Mostly the statue at the beggining, the bird, going by the theory there's an unknown deity that tends to represent itself as a bird who either guards or seeks the fourth piece of the Triforce, you can see it in the Hero's shield, and since the other three pieces are conisdered to be "good", and the fourth one being "bad" (hence it not being with the others to complete the whole Triforce), is not difficult to assume that it could be related to dark practices within Hylian mysticism, maybe a representation of death and/or their own version of the underworld maybe? It just seem apropiate to have that kind of imagery in a place like that. Wether that statue being always there and making Sheikah pretty goth about their funerary practices, or it being added later as a way to scare whoever they bought there for... "interrogating", maybe as a way of psycological torture seems pretty plausable to me, I know some places irl have done similar stuff.
But again it's just a theory and it's fun to think about it.
EDIT: Oh I forgot! The Shadow Medallion has an inverted triangle in the center, so mayyyyybe although a fourth piece might not be real, it could be that Hylians just represent evil/death/other dark forces with an inverted part of the Triforce, so maybe is purely symbolic?
@Hululuco
Yeah, I've heard of that theory, it's to-say-the-least interesting to think about. But, like both of you, I agree it's not canon.
The bird bit threw me off tho... The bird symbol on the Hylian Shield is the crest of the royal family. A design of the original Link's Loftwing. Sure, the statue in the Shadow temple doesn't necessarily look like a Loftwing, with that odd pointed beak and a head of spikes, so it's gotta be based of something else.
Maybe it has something to do with the Twilight Realm?
Yeah, I've heard of that theory, it's to-say-the-least interesting to think about. But, like both of you, I agree it's not canon.
The bird bit threw me off tho... The bird symbol on the Hylian Shield is the crest of the royal family. A design of the original Link's Loftwing. Sure, the statue in the Shadow temple doesn't necessarily look like a Loftwing, with that odd pointed beak and a head of spikes, so it's gotta be based of something else.
Maybe it has something to do with the Twilight Realm?
@Hululuco
Yeah, I've heard of that theory, it's to-say-the-least interesting to think about. But, like both of you, I agree it's not canon.
The bird bit threw me off tho... The bird symbol on the Hylian Shield is the crest of the royal family. A design of the original Link's Loftwing. Sure, the statue in the Shadow temple doesn't necessarily look like a Loftwing, with that odd pointed beak and a head of spikes, so it's gotta be based of something else.
Maybe it has something to do with the Twilight Realm?
Yeah, I've heard of that theory, it's to-say-the-least interesting to think about. But, like both of you, I agree it's not canon.
The bird bit threw me off tho... The bird symbol on the Hylian Shield is the crest of the royal family. A design of the original Link's Loftwing. Sure, the statue in the Shadow temple doesn't necessarily look like a Loftwing, with that odd pointed beak and a head of spikes, so it's gotta be based of something else.
Maybe it has something to do with the Twilight Realm?
... |
She/Her +3 FR time Arcanite NIC - Cat |
@Hululuco Like @Cat7 said, I’m pretty sure the bird on the shield is the crimson loftwing, which I often consider a sacred animal of Hylia based on the pre-SS manga (which I think was in Hyrule Historia, so does that make it canon?). I also think that even if there was a fourth piece, it wouldn’t be evil. The triforce is the embodiment of sacred magic, and having a relic of darkness associated with them doesn’t really make sense. It’s more likely that the fourth piece would be something like kindness.
I can’t really think of what the statue actually is modeled after, though. It seems to be a recurring theme in the temples to have images of monsters that never actually appear.
Also, shadow magic isn’t evil. Dark magic is. There is a distinct difference between the two, which you can really see in TP, and if shadow was evil, I doubt there would be a sage of shadow. I can explain that more if you want, but the shortened version of it is, dark magic is the complete opposite of sacred magic, while light and shadow are inverses of each other.
I can’t really think of what the statue actually is modeled after, though. It seems to be a recurring theme in the temples to have images of monsters that never actually appear.
Also, shadow magic isn’t evil. Dark magic is. There is a distinct difference between the two, which you can really see in TP, and if shadow was evil, I doubt there would be a sage of shadow. I can explain that more if you want, but the shortened version of it is, dark magic is the complete opposite of sacred magic, while light and shadow are inverses of each other.
@Hululuco Like @Cat7 said, I’m pretty sure the bird on the shield is the crimson loftwing, which I often consider a sacred animal of Hylia based on the pre-SS manga (which I think was in Hyrule Historia, so does that make it canon?). I also think that even if there was a fourth piece, it wouldn’t be evil. The triforce is the embodiment of sacred magic, and having a relic of darkness associated with them doesn’t really make sense. It’s more likely that the fourth piece would be something like kindness.
I can’t really think of what the statue actually is modeled after, though. It seems to be a recurring theme in the temples to have images of monsters that never actually appear.
Also, shadow magic isn’t evil. Dark magic is. There is a distinct difference between the two, which you can really see in TP, and if shadow was evil, I doubt there would be a sage of shadow. I can explain that more if you want, but the shortened version of it is, dark magic is the complete opposite of sacred magic, while light and shadow are inverses of each other.
I can’t really think of what the statue actually is modeled after, though. It seems to be a recurring theme in the temples to have images of monsters that never actually appear.
Also, shadow magic isn’t evil. Dark magic is. There is a distinct difference between the two, which you can really see in TP, and if shadow was evil, I doubt there would be a sage of shadow. I can explain that more if you want, but the shortened version of it is, dark magic is the complete opposite of sacred magic, while light and shadow are inverses of each other.