For once i'm in full agreement with you. It does seem as if Nintendo intended to have such content appear in the game only for unknown factors to force them to remove it from the base game entirely.
@@deepcanionstudio There are many amazing contents that wasn't in the game like murals that hit the history of Ganondorf (as seen in the Master Works and the 2019 teaser trailer). This is one of the reasons why we need a DLC expansion to help better the story of Tears of the Kingdom way before Fujibayashi and Aonuma decided 'No DLC'" for the game almost a year ago (which I find it bullshit).
I mean, this was a pretty easy conclusion to come to if you paid attention when playing the games, especially the Zonai tracing so far back. There's Zonai architecture/signs of their influence in just about every Zelda game. They aren't some new concept that came out of nowhere, it's a name given to a group we've known about for years in concept. The idea of BotW/TotK being a soft reboot and the Zonai suddenly showing up was always silly when we practically already knew that they were present for the entirety of the series.
No it's not lol, Zelda games have always been lore rich and most of the following explanations in later publications are things people already guessed like heros shade for example @@daniel8181
OH, TEARS OF THE DEAGON BEING THE OLD NAME MAKES SO MUCH SENSE, that’s what they meant when they said the name would’ve been a spoiler, makes sense since totk name spoils nothing about the game
It's rare to see a Zeldatuber's theory be proven exactly correct, but I'm very happy to see that Monster Maze's theory about the Depths being based on Yomi no Kuni be right on the ball. And on top of that, Gossip Geist was really close the mark guessing that the Temple of Light was at the bottom of the Depths below Hyrule Castle. Ah, let the lore discussions keep flowing. I can't wait for when this book gets an English print. I already know I'm going to by it.
A super recall is exactly what I said back when the game first came out. People acted like it was unknown and out of nowhere what saved her, but it felt pretty obvious to me that they used a massive recall with their combined power channeled through Link, so much so that it even recalled Links arm. Zelda and Links arm were recalled back to states before they were changed/lost. While it wasn’t flat out stated, I didn’t think it needed to be. Links arm even looked like it was using recall.
But Zelda remains but his memories before and during she has his dragon form,that makes me think that they used recall but Make Zelda remain with his memories.
Recall is completely inconsistent in this game. Sonia says you’re pulling the object back through it’s memories and where it was, which is supported by the mechanics of links recall. But then for some reason zelda just gets teleported way back in time where she never was, and then she gets transformed back from being a dragon without zipping all over the place like she logically would.
@@D3viant517 while true, I think those instances were always out of the norm. Zelda is the time sage and in a life or death situation, may have amplified/modified the “recall” ability. Same with when Rauru and Sonia combined their power with Link. Either way, it wasn’t a normal circumstance in both cases, but still pointed to recall, just amped versions. The normal rules of recall are limited and work as you described, but those special cases pushed its power beyond the norm
@@D3viant517 this is what confused me about it, tbh. Some type of Super Recall was what I first thought of after this scene, but we'd literally never seen Recall being used on a living thing before, and it was counter to how we'd seen it behave in the game AND in cutscenes up until then, but there was really no explanation for how Zelda was turned back into a human and how Link's arm was restored otherwise, so..."a miracle", I guess If I had to guess, it'd be that Zelda had been effectively sealed inside the dragon body, and Rauru was using his sealing power to undo that seal, Sonia was using her Time power to rewind time, and Link had the memories of how Zelda used to be as a human ("the object's memory"). All three together undid the "irreversible" draconification
The title "Tears of the Kingdom" makes even more sense when you realize that on top of the Dragon Tears, it was essentially Zelda's intense desire as the Light Dragon to protect Hyrule that allowed for the projections of her and the Sages to be created using her power. The title initially being "Tears of the Dragon" also kinda explains why they hesitated to reveal it due to spoilers.
Seeing the ancient Zonai surface ruins concept art makes me wondered why haven’t the development team behind TOTK didn’t put it in the actual game? Let alone Twinrova and the murals of Ganondorf? They could of help better the story itself or being saved for a Torna-esque DLC since many of us wanted more of the Imprisoning War as a playable Zelda.
It seems like they had quite a lot of great concepts that unfortunately didn't make it into the game. They weren't kidding when they said they had too many ideas. I do wish that a lot more of them were implemented though. There is a section that mentions about Koume and Kotake in the book actually, I'll see if I can find it
If the developers said "yes" to every idea, they would have to spend forever working on the game. It's sad that not every idea gets to see the light of day but that's just how it goes with development. You always gotta control the scope of the project and leave some stuff out so that you can have focus on other things and actually get the game finished before you go insane.
@@DerpaTure9503But they had 6 years to work on it and even delayed the game, and so much copy-pasted and superficial things were added into the game. Nintendo was saying one thing and doing another.
@@ACW-dn9wb No amount of time changes the fact that you have to get your priorities straight and say "no" to things during game development. It's very easy to just come up with ideas, anyone can do that. Pretty much every game ever made has tons of scrapped concepts for that very reason. Besides, a large portion of TotK's development time was spent playtesting, fixing bugs, and ensuring that the more complex features like Ultrahand always worked as intended. Making sure that the actually important parts of the game function is more important than just adding extra things for the sake of adding them.
@@DerpaTure9503 But they werent just saying "no" everything, they said it to things the game needed and by doing so, made the world empty and relatively unchanged. This game was playtested with the Zonai Runes, sure but for everything else just 5 minutes. The Arrow fuse ui is so atrociously long and makes yo uhave to reclick for EVERY SHOT. Fuse for materials takes so many pauses to fuse two things together jnstead of making it streamlined in the pause menu. Sages always get in the way or too far away and are always activated by the same A button, leading to so many instances of Tulin blowing crap off ledges. Sage abilities couldve had their own wheel under D-pad down since its for useless horses anyways. So many QOL fixes were needed for this game, and its been over a year in and Nintendo still has not fixed them. Not to mention lack of good swordplay like TP, lack of good dungeons, minimal enemy variety, and so many more problems. This game has glaring issues, the 6 years were spent in the wrong places.
I wish I didnt. I knew this book would take a dump on Zelda lore, but I didnt expect it to be this bad. No fault of the video uploaded himself, mind you, but Nintendo themselves for not adhering to canon or consistency for even 5 seconds. Smh
Now this is some great stuff, thanks for bringing it to us English speakers. Interesting to see the Zonai placed in the timeline alongside Skyward Sword. Part of me wonders if they built the automotons in the Lanaryu Desert, and the reason they're abandoned in SS is because the Zonai had already ascended to the heavens. I feel like they have a strong "zonai device" aesthetic.
that... actually makes a lot of sense... it would also link the spiral design found in various places in the desert to the notorious "zone swirl". then we would link the option of the Faron barbarian tribe being Zonai who refused to follow their more religious kin to the skies; continuing to grow ever more war like as they migrated to Faron. As a commenter on OSP's lonely skies detail diatribe put it: "where do the wise philosopher kings begin and the adrenaline-junkie dragon warriors end?".
Well, I'm not sure if they did. It seems as such, but they also had said this could be happening a lot of time after all the previous games, and if they're not including the rest of the games as a comparison, it's not fully confirmed this is happening alongside Skyward. 🤔
In fact,at the time of skyward that lanayru civilization would be the sheikah,but i wouldn't be surprise that in future media nintendo Will say that lanayru old civilization was zonai.
The geometric eye icons thought to be a stylized sheikah eye might be of zonai design as they have a lot of eye designs and fairy even has a third eye with a white teardrop tattoo marking underneath
0:24 that explains why they didn't want to reveal the game's title. They said it was for spoiler reasons, and tears of the dragon absolutly fits that description better than tears of the kingdom
Yeah that's what I thought too, they express in the interview that they were worried about that potentially happening which is why they settled with TotK and not TotD
Secret stones are still a mystery... I just want to know who was the first Zonai that thought "hmm, what if we eat it?" Almost like suggesting eating the broken pieces of the wisdom triforce with some cheddar.
Love that ending line haha, but in all aspects of mythical folklore angels/demons, it makes sense. Most depictions of holy and unholy beings are that they are beyond the regular inhabitants of the world, they are almost never garbed in anything. They would have no humiliation (a human aspect) or need to cover or accessorize their bodies, unless they are to disguise themselves as humans. So understanding that, Demon Ganondorf in a flesh suit is a power move and depicts the level of his godly might.
@@apieceofcoffee Nice point which ironically creates a very interesting parallel to the story of the _Garden of Eden_ where the first Man ever created by God had no sense of shame at the prospect of been naked due to been pure from Sin. In this context, Ganondorf could be seen as an "anti Adam" for having no sense of shame after achieving "purity" by filling himself with Gloom.
He’s still wearing the jewelry from his Gerudo form so I don’t think he’s totally in the nude. Just that the gloom kind of manifested and/or mutated his clothing too.
Thank you so much for translating this! I love hearing Zelda lore. There is something so cozy listening to all the trivia, lore, and fun facts in Zelda.
Some other lore bits from master works: 1. The Zonai first lived upon the surface of Hyrule, and then began exploring, mining and even settling in the depths (yes, some "ordinary" Zonai lived down there with the golems (constructs) and transported zonaite up to the surface and later, the sky. Some interesting observations can be made when it comes to society and culture in the depths: they had art in the form of the statues resembling the races of Hyrule and perhaps even the ordinary looking Zonai. It's even likely they had entertainment in the form of golem/construct battles in the colosseums scattered throughout. Yes, they had ROBOT WARS. Examples of homes or stores are scattered about, these being those structures where Link can find Zonai devices lying around. Zonai society made use of Zonai devices in day to day life. 2. The Great Sky Island: the emerging theory is that in the ancient past, it was the capital city of the Zonai tribe and served as a base of operations for cultivating the sky after the Zonai departed from the surface and the depths, and that it’s the land that went down onto the Great Plateau area on the occasion of the surface descent. In other words, it’s thought that the Great Sky Island has been launched into the sky twice through the eras. First when the Zonai ascended to the live in the sky and second, when the sages and other people of Hyrule raised it along with the original Temple of Time to help Link in TOTK. 3. The ‘Forgotten Temple’ existed at the time of the Sealing War, and it’s thought the goddess statue was already there. From that, it appears that the goddess statues existed during the time period when the Zonai tribe lived on the surface as Hylia's chosen guardians of the secret stones. It is plausible then that the Zonai worshipped or at least revered Hylia in a similar manner to the Hylians. 4. The Zonai, despite living in the sky during the Heavenly Period, still helped the tribes who lived on the surface. It’s thought that the land of Hyrule during the heavenly period was under a much harsher environment than it is today. Accordingly, the Zonai Tribe built structures with features to adjust the natural environment in each area of Hyrule, and provided those living in each region a favourable environment and abundant lifestyle. What are called temples today are not just relics of the past, but also serve an important role for the current people of Hyrule. The authenticity is still being studied, but it’s said that the Zonai tribe’s wisdom has upheld the natural environment of Hyrule until today, and people may have benefited without even knowing. It’s exactly like the deed of a god. e.g. the Lightning Temple is thought to have been built to control a perpetual sandstorm, the Fire Temple, also theorised to be the city of Gorondia, calmed a highly and consistently active Death Mountain etc... 5. Zonai Architecture: There are 2 Types of Zonai architecture. 'Type 1' is representative of the architecture found in the sky, and 'Type 2' is that which we first see scattered across Hyrule in BOTW. Now that orginal Zonai civilisation is starting to be unraveled, the mystery of when and who built these Type 2 ruins on the surface is all the more deepening, but it was likely by following faith/appreciation of the Zonai tribe after their extinction. 6. Exorcism pilgrimage and kingdom founding: This series of Rauru’s actions was known as the ‘exorcism pilgrimage’, and Sonia also accompanied him. Rauru presented Sonia with the secret stone of the Zonai, and Sonia aided Rauru with her multiplied power over time. Whether it was a thought or a deep seated grudge or an inhuman entity that could be the source of the monsters is unclear, but there was an ‘evil’ presence that harmed the people of the earth. Rauru and Sonia, who had thought about creating a kingdom where all people could live in peace, travelled to each place one by one where evil spirit and evil thoughts were strong and places with many monsters like ‘kimon’ and ‘long mai’ in order to exorcise the evil. When a certain amount of this evil had been purified, and people felt a sense of stability, Rauru proclaimed the establishment of the Kingdom, and the nation was founded. 7. Upon becoming the Demon King, Ganondorf sent his army of evil monsters to lay waste to all who supported the Kingdom of Hyrule. He even attacked the Gerudo, and it was then that they appointed a new Chieftan with the power of lightning. It is thought that the Gerudo made closer ties with Hyrule after Rauru decided to accept Ganondorf as vassal. Rauru's decision likely helped win the Gerudo's support by the time of the Imprisoning War. Ganondorf seized Hyrule Castle on the Great Plateau, and the Hyrulean army retreated north to the Forgotten Temple. The Hyruleans won back the castle at great cost, whlie Ganondorf went further south. In their last ditch effort to defeat the Demon King, Rauru, the Sages and his remaining army went north once again, this time to the sacred Temple of Light from legend - the place beneath modern day Hyrule Castle - where Rauru sacrificed himself to seal Ganon.
Strangely according to a Sidequest on top of the Zonai Temple of Time the Great Sky Island was a creation of the sages, they lifted the Temple and the entire landmass up to protect Zelda's Foretold Hero from the forces of the Demon King. Even Rauru himself said he didnt knew how this land got up there and that it eas on the surface below
@@Chris-gx1ei Yeah, in-game text also implies that Zelda had a hand in developing the floating blocks that allowed them to lift the Great Sky Island too.
Probably because Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are at first Legend of Zelda games. Not novels. The games are from Link's point of view. And the focus is on how the player guides him through the environment. Its been this way since Legend of Zelda in 1987. Its also why they put these extra lore bits into external sources, for the average player it would detract from the game itself, and lessen the gameplay experience. While I do like to read into extra lore myself, and consume it voraciously in many of my favorite franchises. I prefer my games to be played, not watched or read. If I want to watch something, I'll play a movie. If I want to read something I will open a book. But when I sit down with a controller or mouse and keyboard, I want to play. Not watch, not read. For those I have a streaming service and a Kindel.
@@taemien9219 as much as i do wish the story was better, im glad they focused on gameplay since they nailed it down, its straight up one of the most gorgeous looking and smooth playing games ever and its art/style is right up there next to skyward sword. people mainly hate this game bc the story subtracts alot, but as a game even then its a god damn masterpiece
If we take at face value the theory that in the Wild Era, all previous games are inaccurate legends passed down through generations; something interesting might happen. If the unknown statues in the depths are indeed another race that tried to seize the Secret Stones, they could be a remix of the Dark Interlopers, and the mirror found in BotW's Lurelin might indeed have some kind of connection to them, as the Twilight Mirror tied to the Twili.
I thought the Ancient Hero's race. Add a tail, and they're the same. Unless the Ancient Hero actually was a different type of Zonai after all. A sample size of 2 doesn't really show us much. Maybe he's the final remnant through some mixed lineage, and Rauru and Sonia are the final pure ones. But with what? A Lynel?
@@Kruegernator123: I disagree. Although I do agree more should be down there, I don’t think a whole other race is the answer. I think more evidence of said race being there though should have been there. Like ancient texts or architecture beyond copy and pastes of Zonai mining facilities.
There are so many questions. So many questions. Never has there been a moment where I wished I learned Japanese and have the capability to read that book.
I can't believe I was right about Rauru and Sonia being the reason Zelda could transform back! I knew it had to do with them both being back together... like Sonia had been freed from the stone when it was destroyed, at least is how I interpreted it at the time.
In one way I'm glad there's nothing that really was necessary to understand or enjoy Tears' story, but on the other hand I was kinda hoping for something that'd redeem the story for me
What's something that could redeem the story for you? I'm curious about what kind of information you'd be interested if it was available. Master Works is massive and there might be something related to what you're curious about
@@QuestWithAaron Honestly, I'm not sure anything really will, most of my criticisms come from the fact the storytelling in the actual game was IMO lackluster. The surrounding lore was okay, I liked the story of the flashbacks, but the actual story I was playing through was fairly eh and it was too open-ended. So a book wouldn't really redeem the story in that regard. But seeing more information tying TotK to the greater series would probably help me feel like Nintendo still cared about it. I saw a few hints of it in this video but I was hoping for stuff like confirmation that the Zonai built the Lanayru Desert Mining Facility and robots and temple of time from Skyward Sword, or were the Sky Tribe from Minish Cap, or that Hylia was a Zonai, or stuff like that
Man the 3 golden goddesses are kinda jerks. They make the tri force AND the stones, and then create Hylia and are like "but make sure nobody evil is allowed to use them lol." Then they just bounce and leave Hylia to deal with it.
The implications that the depths are simultaneously where the spirit of the dead go, and is also the origin of demons and gloom is very interesting. Makes me wonder if Demise is like some kind of super concentrated spirit of hatred and violence resulting from those with evil souls dying and going to the depths.
I've done a few videos on Demise, but I will have another that includes an exploration of specifically what the character is in the future as well. Demise itself IS evil, if that makes sense.
The Yomi iconography was not lost upon me. The moment I set foot in the Depths, I realized the nature of the inspiration. I even said to myself "I feel like Izanagi with his comb tooth lighting my way through. Hope I don't run into any Shikome"
I really appreciated the giant Frox in the Depths. It genuinely terrified me the first time I encountered one, especially when all I could see was its eye gazing at me from within the darkness. I would love to see more yokai-like entities in places like this if they do something like it again in the future.
So, SS happened while the Zonai were in Hyrule, and then after Link and Zelda came to stay the surface, they started the line of priestesses not the line of Hyrules rulers. Sonia could be SS Link and Zelda's descendant starting the royal family with Raru, making them the first rulers.
I kind of wish it was the case, though Fujibayashi's Statement about the Founding being a Refounding makes me wonder wether they simply put it at the end too
What confuses me about this is the outfits. Sonia wears outfits that match with classical antiquity robes while the Skyloftians seem to wear medieval casual clothing.
@@Droobie03 And yet, the Zonai were far more technologically advanced than anything seen in the Era of Hylia/Skyward Sword including the Lanayru Mining Facility. It's as if the usage of ancient clothing isn't a factor when addressing the chronology of certain races within the Zelda timeline.
@@javiervasquez625 far more advanced might be a stretch. They're going for different things. The -Sheikah- mystery Lanayru people went for combat, invisibility and time manipulation rather than the general sustaining and automation of daily life.
@@Droobie03 The Theory I have is that the Hyrulians at some point fell into Anarchy (Fujibayashi said that Rauru might have refounded Hyrule and that there might have been a Kingdom before with forgotten History) so basically the Hylians had no other choice but to fight for themselves until Rauru brought Peace and thus the Hylians Adapted to the Fashion of the Zonai
Regarding the last part, I always assumed that when he fights you in his normal Gerudo form, it's actually an illusion and not his actual body, because his real clothes are ripped to pieces and also because he can literally create illusions and phantoms
This is great! Keep the content coming my friend because now we're getting somewhere, This will add more context to TOK as well LOZ as a whole with these amazing details ❤🤘
Considering that the Zonai are indeed a Tribe of (minor) Kami, it is understandable that they had Close connections to Hylia - probably with Rauru even being one of her biological Descendants since he is using the same Powers of Holy Light that were passed dowm to Zelda. The Catastrophic Event that may have driven them to extinction might probably be another war between Gods and Demons - wouldnt be the first time this happens though
Possible yet doesn't explain why no such historical records would be preserved by Rauru's very own bloodline when they already had advanced _technology_ which could easily have allowed modern Zonai to know the specific circumstances responsible for their race's extinction. The fact that the people of Skyloft still knew about Hylia and the Demon War fought in the long forgotten past creates a plothole by not giving a jusfitied explanation for the Zonai's missing history as a fully technologically advanced civilization.
@@javiervasquez625 According to Fujibayashi and Aonuma the Zonai are probably not even connected to the era of Skyward Sword at all, they claim there is a Possibility that there was already a Kingdom before that got forgotten (basically written in the No DLC Interview, thus it has been overlooked by most simply because the No DLC Annoncement got too much attention, in a negative way mostly) Probably the Zonai Era is simply put at the very end again, though possibly not directly connecting to the remaining Timeline. (The Era of the Gods/Heavenly Era is placed after the "World Creation" though they are seperated by two wavery lines with nothing inbetween, meaning there might have been "something" inbetween)
@@Chris-gx1ei If Fujibayashi and Aonuma can rethink their DLC decision and reconsidered the contents we have seen so far, a fragment of Era of the Gods/Heavenly Era would be something I think Zelda would like to hear about during her time in the Era of Hyrule's Founding. Give TOTK an expansion where we can bounce around between two different time periods since the two itself is divided into two parts based on the perspectives of Link and Zelda. Fujibayashi himself said that this Zelda is the most powerful version out the past incarnations. So why haven't they bother to make up the lost opportunity Skyward Sword had left us way before we have Echoes of Wisdom? That is the part I do not get coming out of Nintendo. She would've been great with her Light/Time powers and her Bow of Light in a combat gameplay, and using the Purah Pad for puzzle solving. I hope this not the end of wild era since there is so much info that needs to be filled. Hopefully we may get a sequel to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (since it sets in a different timeline).
@@Chris-gx1ei I am aware of said interview by Aonuma where he made such statements regarding the Zonai and the "possibility" for them having shown up in the past so no worries. You're very much right on the Zonai appearing at the very _end_ of the timeline as the series is very explicit on the complete omission of the Zonai across the entire series for them to conveniently predate the Era of the Wild without as much as a hint of their existence. While i'm aware of the _possibility_ that Zonai could have appeared at an early point in the timeline, the current timeline as it currently stands shows us a very convoluted mess of events involving dozens of conflicts and "god races" to make sense of a scenario where goat people conveniently showed up in the forgotten past, disappeared completely without any trace of their existence, got replaced by new god races via the Minish and Oocca and then magically popped into existence again without logical explanation aside from Nintendo mamkng a game about them. It takes too much suspension of disbelief to take this scenario seriously before realizing the absurdity of it all, which is why i'm dead certain the Zonai did not appear back in the times of Skyward Sword.
@@a.jthomas6132 (sigh) Did you even see the official timeline page in Master Works...??? Let me brief you on it: AGE OF CALAMITY IS *NON CANON.* SWALLOW.
They really need to have a story update on both BOTW and TOTK on the Switch 1 and Switch 2, these story details makes these games acceptable, story wise
Thank you for this! I haven't seen anyone really talk about any Lore from the Master Works. I remember someone mentioning Sonia and Rauru channeling their power through Link on Reddit, but it actually is pretty obvious when you look at it. I remember a few huge Zelda Channels having meltdowns because they said it "broke lore" of it's own game but we only got bits and pieces of that lore so there was leeway for loopholes. I like the idea of there being other Zonai tribes and the thought of another Race attempting to steal the Secret Stones and wipe out the Zonai makes me wonder about the Demon Tribe, it wouldn't be the first time they've tried to go after something protected by a God or "Gods"(believed to be Gods in Zonai's case). Is it ever mentioned about what Gloom is or it's connection to Malice and is there an actually name for the green energy or is it just "Light Energy"? Also Ganondorf's "Gloom Clothing" reminds me of some of the chakra modes in Naruto, such as Madara Uchiha's which becomes "Chakra Clothing".
Regarding your question on "what Gloom is", i recommend you watch Aaron's video literally titled _"Gloom VS Malice: The Untold Secrets of Gloom in Tears of the Kingdom"_ where he goes in detail addressing the true nature of Gloom as explained in the japanese version of Tears of the Kingdom. That video is amazing as it goes into detail addressing key pieces of information which are sadly missing from the english localization courtesy of Nintendo of America's poor attempts at maintaining the context of the original game's narrative.
@@aster4jaden Yeah, me too but alas, Nintendo of Japan apparently doesn't see Gloom as much of a mystery delving into when its existence has been a given since A Link to the Past acknowledged its existence.
The concept of Light vs Dark powers is a topic that I've been collecting notes on for while. There is a name of the green energy, and as you can expect a lot of interesting nuances and underlying details to cover ^^ A video talking about it in detail will be coming :)
Consider: The 5th race (depths statues) is related to the miner armor set (animal like helm simililar to ancient divine helms) and the object in the statue's hand is a brightbloom seed
Ganondorf being naked in the second phase sounds funny yet cool. And I wonder what he’s thinking at that moment. Did he played some certain games to have the idea of fighting naked ?
Thanks for sharing this! I wish some of the info could have made it into the game. Even if said info was spread out as books or something. We would get at least an idea of what happened to the Zonai or what those mysterious statues in the depths were. This just breaks my heart to think we could've gotten more info about so many things that were left unanswered. I understand that they couldn't fit everything in, but still. We were robbed. What makes it even more sad is that we get no DLC from those ideas. Not even a Master Mode. Come on, Nintendo.
We still have 1 more unanswered question. What happened to the Zonai race? What made it so catastrophic wiping out all the race????? I wish I get to see their civilization
"The parts of his attire that appear as clothing are actually manifestations of Gloom that have taken on a flesh-like form, clinging to Ganon's body." GROSS
I'd like to imagine the secret stones were unwillingly created by the goddesess as residue after creating the triforce, like sawdust after creating a wood carving
7:45 the fact that some people somehow didn't understand this is what occurred, despite the game giving all the necessary clues to come to this conclusion still baffles me
Literacy rates are surprisingly low in the average population, and I am sure gamers are not an exception to this, so this does not surprise me. Besides, this happens with every story. There is always a large chunk of the fandom of a work of fiction who have literally no understanding of the actual story presented in the work.
It’s fairly obvious actually, not only was this the one and only time the game did not include the audio context cue that occurs when Recall is being used, but both the scene itself and the official explanation about how this was able to occur doesn’t adequately explain this event and how it was even possible. It’s a total desu ex machina for Rauru and Sonia’s ghosts to appear, particularly Sonia and she’s the one with time powers this entire “ultimate recall” relies upon. You could deduce Rauru’s presence being due to Link having his arm, but Sonia?? This is the first time she’s shown as a ghost, the game gives no indication as to how or why she only now appears. It’s all an unsatisfactory plot contrivance. People struggling to “understand” what happened were never struggling to comprehend the information the game presented in this scene, they were struggling to grasp all the game didn’t ever explain or justify, aka, all the things necessary to avoid this being a disappointing desu ex machina. There were a multitude of storytelling techniques that could’ve been implemented to avoid this ending being unsatisfying but unfortunately the TotK writers didn’t implement them.
@@Sanakudou So, you have hang ups over the lack of an auditory cue (due to the background music), but you completely ignore the fact that there multiple visual cues present making it clear that he was using Recall, such as the iconic yellow magic flowing out of Link's hand, and the fact he is using Rauru's arm, which is the only way by which he even has access to Recall to begin with. Your excuse falls flat on its face. It is silly. Also, there is nothing strange about Sonia's ghost appearing. Ghosts appearing is fairly normal in these games. Breath of the Wild did it with the King, and with the four Champions. There is established precedent, and as noted, Recall was originally Sonia's ability. Sonia is also Rauru's wife, so they have been together in the "afterlife." You are very adamant about calling this a "desu ex machina," but it comes off as you just having looked up the phrase on Google and not knowing what it means. You cannot even spell it correctly. And ultimately, calling it a deus ex machina just because you failed to process the multiple hints the game provided that the rest of us clearly saw does not actually make it one.
Probably. The Goddess may have created a lot of enchanted and divine tools, probably for their worshipers protect themselves agains the evil entities present in that place
Yes, the timeline in Master Works mentions that the Goddesses creating the world also manifested the secret stones into existence, and they they gave both the triforce and stones to Hylia to safeguard
It seems it's very likely that they were created around about the same time if not together in the same moment. If I had to put them in a sequence, I'd imagine that the Triforce would have been created first, given it's connection to reality.
Excellent video! So you suppose the "Creation of the Land and Skies" refers to the Goddesses creating the Land and then Hylia creating the "Skies" by dividing the Land? I had read the Zonai returning to the surface at threat of extinction referring to low population levels left on the surface, but there's actually a near-extinction event occurring in the SKIES that they flee from?? Thanks for your work.
I think it's interesting how at the end of Skyward Sword, part of Skyloft seemingly remains in the sky. I'm also pretty sure I read somewhere that they had played around with the idea of including Skyloft in TotK as well
@@QuestWithAaron That is definitely interesting. I remember seeing comparison pictures showing that Skyloft's shape fits into at least part of the Great Sky Island's quite well...
Pity that Nintendo couldn’t reuse some of these concepts as DLC. Seriously they said that they ran out of ideas for any potential DLC, yet they had lots of potential DLC ideas in the concepts they have in this book
The revelation that there is a commemoration festival in honor of Link contradicts the fact that the NPCs don’t remember or recognize him. He’s a cultural icon for the kingdom; how would they forget about him? I’m obsessed with this game but I did find myself a little disappointed about the lack (or omitting?) of lore and coherence in TOTK. If possible within the switch system, Nintendo should have included this in the game.
To be fair to the NPC's, you weren't necessarily a cultural icon ~when you first met them~. You were, in all likelihood, a naked mute wielding a tree branch and pot lid who showed up, solved a minor problem they had that day, and vanished into the wilderness. So later when they hear about this hero in blue wielding a magic sword who saved the kingdom (keyword being HEAR, because this is pre-photography times) they might not necessarily make the connection.
It doesn't mean they've met or seen him. Several NPCs tell Link that he shares the name of the "famous swordsman" but they laugh it off assuming they couldn't be the same person. Several others comment on the "legendary sword" and joke about Link's "replica" (once you have it). I think plenty of people know of the famous Link who saved them from the Calamity, but they just don't know WHO he is.
There sure is a lot of "May," "Maybe," multiple choice options, etc. A lot of this really feels like retroactive backfitting of lore for the sake of the book, filling in holes they didn't even think of during development, and like even the creators aren't sure of what the actual answer or thought process was.
That's because he's not actually saying the correct statements. He's leaving it ambiguous because it doesn't infer his opinion, it infers the entire opposite. For example, the Goddesses (not one, 3) entrusted the secret stones to the zonai, not the goddess. It also insinuates that the statue was never in the temple of time, but it somehow was located in this temple after, depicting it was there at a later date (insinuating that the hylia statues came far after the zonai, yet the access to this is questionable), etc etc. Even with the timeline, it definitively places skyward sword after the events of totk, yet it's being pushed now that it was before...for some insane reason. There was a few 'insinuation' points that you're suppose to figure out where they're at, but without context of the paragraphs before, you're sort of not understanding why they exist. All I'm going to say after is wait until this comes out in English because a lot of people are trying to justify their absurd beliefs because they were entirely wrong from the start.
I think that's because it is retroactive backfitting. The Zelda fans have always been more interested in connecting the timeline and filling in the lore than the Zelda creators.
@@itsJoshW Lol the english ver will also just be the translator's interpretation of Japanese. Learn Japanese if you are unwilling to believe people who can read it
The third section in the book titled "history" uses a lot of suggestive language and provides suggestions and speculation on particular things rather than anything definitive like in chapter 2 (which I also cover on the video). The second chapter that contains designer notes are more concrete information.
Hi Aaron, could you do a video explaining why both the twilight realm and the depth from TOTK are mirrors of Hyrule? Like is everything suppose to be a mirror of hyrule? Theres Lorule too
I've done a few videos on the twilight realm, Lorule and the sacred realm in particular, but I like the idea of exploring the realms in Zelda as a whole! There are still so many aspects that I've yet to talk about
My thoughts are in regard to the zonai extinction: maybe the act of draconification had other side effects, maybe not everyone who did the act could survive, or perhaps became psychotic. Also, since Ganondorf could be killed as a dragon, perhaps there wars between dragons.
There's a section in the book that describes the light vs demon dragon fight on the same scale as a 神 Kami (like Hylia) vs the epitome of 魔 (ma) which is what Demise is- pretty cool
15:42 thank god for that gloom bro 😭😭if i went to fight the embodiment of evil wielding my master sword, expecting a blade to clash with my own, only to face his ganondongle? it would be over i would have lost on sight
One thing I STILL dont understand is the timeline. Before people have suspected two possible placements for TOTK (specifically the time Zelda gets sent back to) A. after Skywards Sword or B. after all the other games when the 3 timelines merge together. So when Rauru says hes the first king of hyrule he talking about a refounding of hyrule. To me only option 2 made sense since Hyrule Castle (Botw & totk) was build on top of ganondorf to seal him away and to make sure the seal couldnt be broken. This wouldnt make sense if this happens right after Skywards Sword because we see part of Hyrule during Raurus reign and it look identical to BOTW. You couldnt convince me all the other games play out after since Hyrule constantly changes only to then revert back to look the way we see during the calamity. Also the rito, they only came in existence after Windwaker since the Zora had to adapt due to the flooding of hyrule. And another thing is the sages and what they represent. Some types are always there like water or fire but others change over the course of history so it would only make sense if Totk (past) would happen after all the other timelines. But this book seems to confirm option A! So Im beyond confused, maybe someone can clear things up for me.
i personally think that rauru's founding predated SS by quite a bit and the ruins in skyward sword was his kingdom, then present day totk takes place at the end of the timeline where i believe all timelines converged due to divine intervention from hyrule warriors, so im thinking ganondorf (totk) worked with demise to get the gloom power
There are so many potentials for the demise of an advanced people such as the Zonai. Economic depression. Disease. War. Heavenly punishment. Decadence.
Okay, so based on how the information is presented in this video, let me see if I understand the order of events properly: - Golden Goddesses create the world and everything in it, including the Secret Stones. They entrust the land to Hylia and leave behind the Triforce. - Demise shows up and Hylia sends humanity into the sky with the Triforce to protect both of them, before fighting Demise and his forces alongside all of the remaining surface tribes: the Gorons, Kikwis, Mogmas, Parella, and Ancient Robots. (note that the Zonai are distinctly NOT among these tribes) - Hylia defeats and seals away Demise, but is gravely wounded in the process and won't survive much longer, so she sets up the pieces of her plan as seen in Skyward Sword, before finally shedding her divinity to be reborn 1000 years later as the first Zelda in Skyloft. - Skyward Sword happens. In the end, Demise is defeated in both the present and past, even if Zelda got most of her leftover divine power drained in the process. My question is, at what point do the Zonai actually show up? If they were around since before Demise arrived, why weren't they present for Hylia's battle against him? If they were already in the sky by that point, why weren't they present during the events of Skyward Sword itself? Clearly they hadn't _already_ returned to the surface again yet either because Hyrule hasn't been founded, so the only option that makes sense chronologically is if the Zonai weren't a thing at all until AFTER Skyward Sword. But that presents a different problem... how the heck would they have gotten the Secret Stones and blessing from Hylia when she should be dead and gone by this point? She shed her divinity to become Zelda, and even Zelda's residual divine powers would have been greatly reduced after Ghirahim fed most of it to The Imprisoned to revive Demise. Sure, she and her descendants still have powers, but clearly aren't Hylia anymore. For any of this to make sense, Hylia in her full Goddess form would need to return post-Skyward Sword so that she could bestow the Secret Stones and blessing on the Zonai, though even that alone wouldn't explain why they were absent in every other game, including titles where we visit the sky like Minish Cap and Twilight Princess and find completely different, non-Zonai sky civilizations. Besides, outside of SS, BotW, and TotK, pretty much all worship (and even acknowledgement) of Hylia is scarce, getting a lake named after her at most. If anything, more people seem to know and worship the three Golden Goddesses because of their connection to the Triforce, which conversely, is barely acknowledged in BotW & TotK, as if nobody even knows it exists. However, I have an explanation for all of these issues: Remember how I said that Demise was first defeated in the present and then once more in the past? That's right, it's time for another _timeline split!_ You see, defeating Demise in the past after having already done so in the present raises a massive question... what happens to the Zelda who's in the crystal? Well, when you first follow Ghirahim to the past, the big doors leading to the back room of the temple are still closed as they should be, since there's still a crystallized Zelda back there reinforcing the seal. However, once Ghirahim uses present-day Zelda's energy to break the seal anyways and revive Demise, there would be no more seal to reinforce and the Zelda in the crystal would break out and subsequently open the doors to leave the room. This may sound like wild speculation at first, but it's not even a theory, it's objective fact that when you return to the temple after defeating Demise, the big doors are open and there's no crystal in the back room anymore. We also know that she didn't just poof out of existence when the timeline changed, because then who opened the doors? Impa would have no reason to open them and endanger the Zelda inside, but if the Zelda inside came out on her own, then Impa would see her and realize what happened. At this point, to avoid two Zeldas being in the same place, she'd have her leave via the side exit and wait outside until everything was over. Once Link, Groose, and present-day Zelda return to their own time, Impa would explain everything to past-Zelda, who unlike her future self, never got her divine energy drained by Ghirahim, or even spent 1000 years maintaining the seal, meaning she still has all of the energy she charged up. So what would she do at this point? Link is 1000 years in the future with another version of herself, and Demise is gone, so there's no need to use the Triforce to wish him away anymore, but the Triforce itself is still available to use, so what would be the best use for it? How about giving this land its lost goddess back? In fact, I wholly believe that the Triforce is the ONLY reasonable way that Hylia could somehow return, and make no mistake, Hylia _IS_ somehow fully back in BotW & TotK, you literally have multiple conversations with her throughout both games via the Goddess Statues. Once she's restored her godhood, it would be around this point where the Zonai would pop up, and seeing their potential, Hylia would entrust them with the Secret Stones and bestow them with the powers to use and protect them, which would allow the Zonai to flourish. Eventually they would move to the sky, and the surface would be colonized by the Hylians, Gerudo, Zora, Rito, and Gorons in the meantime, but once they were nearly wiped out by an (as of now) unknown cause, Rauru and Mineru (seemingly the last two living Zonai) would return to the surface and found the Kingdom of Hyrule seen in BotW/TotK. In the timeline where Demise WASN'T defeated in the past, I suspect that the Zonai tribe would still appear during that 1000-year span, but without the Secret Stones or the blessing from Hylia to help them really prosper, they don't last long and are already gone by the time Skyward Sword begins, having never even been to the sky. Perhaps they still found and tried to explore the depths, but without the Secret Stones or Hylia's blessing, it went so poorly that it led to their extinction in this timeline. Instead, a different Hyrule is founded without them, eventually leading to Minish Cap. And that's my take. While it's possible that the book might contain further information that says otherwise, based on the info showcased in this video, it seems to seriously back up the idea of a split in Skyward Sword being the only logical explanation for everything we've seen.
@@Luigifan305 That timeline split theory surrounding the ending of Skyward Sword is automatically disproven by Impa's _bracelet_ which she's already shown carrying in her right arm when Link first meets her BEFORE Zelda even handed it to her younger self at the end of the game. Neither the game or Nintendo has as much as hinted at any such split taking place, making your deduction hardly factual and completely detached from any official source of information that would event entertain the possibility for any such scenario as the one you propose has taken place. Regarding your mention of the Minish and Oocca also existing in the long past, it's very interesting to note that all three sky-faring races (the Zonai, Minish and Oocca) had direct connections to the Royal Family of Hyrule and were extremely important in the kingdom's history yet... they never _interacted_ with one another despite having plenty of reason to as sky races native to the heavens above the clouds. Since the Zonai were (supposedly) in the sky the entire time since the Era of Hylia without meeting either the Minish or the Oocca, that creates the unsolvable plothole regarding the lack of any evidence that the Zonai were ever living up there in sky while either of their fellow sky races were also living there simultaneously across the Eras. Either the Zonai were anti-socials who avoided any visual contact with both the Minish and Oocca or their race wasn't even around when either race was.
Nothing requires that the Zonai were around from early on, the Nascent Zonai period may be far into the future, "first king" and "Hyrule's founding" may be from the perspective of in-game biased knowledge.
@@javiervasquez625 Impa's bracelet is incapable of proving or disproving literally anything because that in and of itself is a blatant bootstrap paradox that breaks the rules of time travel regardless of which system you apply to Skyward Sword. If it were a causal loop (ie: EVERYTHING that happened in the past is predetermined, Prisoner of Azkaban style), then the Life Fruit Tree and the Master Sword in its pedestal would have already been in the temple since the start of the game, plus Demise would already be dead and there'd be no need for the whole quest. If it's instead a self-correcting single timeline, then the Crystalized Zelda in the back room _wouldn't_ be visible from the start, and Impa wouldn't have the bracelet, but again, Demise would be dead and there would have been no need to squash The Imprisoned with the Sky Keep, yet Link and co. return to what is seemingly the same present they just left, where the Keep is still on the surface. The whole situation is an absolute mess because the devs didn't put enough thought into it, so even if it wasn't their original intention for there to be a split there, they've written themselves into a corner to the point where the only feasible explanation for all of this is that there's a split there. It's not perfect, but every alternative has even MORE plot holes, and in places that are even harder to handwave away. As for the different sky tribes, the Minish are easy enough to explain since only children can even see them, and only once a century while the portal is open. The rest of the time it's entirely plausible that they COULD be interacting with other races undetected. That said, another reason to believe the split theory is that the Minish are responsible for hiding rupees and stuff in the tall grass in most games, but no such thing happens in BotW or TotK, you can't just mow the lawn and find a bunch of free cash like in other games. The only feasible explanation is that the Minish are gone, and while it could just be because so much time has passed, it could also point towards an inherent difference between the world these games take place in compared to all the rest. As for the Zonai "plot hole" it's obviously not a plot hole at all if there's a split in Skyward Sword, but for argument's sake let's assume that there isn't. We now have two options, either Rauru's Hyrule is the same one in every other game, or it was a new one that was re-founded way in the future. If it's the former, the Zonai would have already left the sky before Hyrule was ever founded, which doesn't conflict with MC's Wind Tribe (who moved up there AFTER Hyrule was founded), but would DEFINITELY clash with the Oocca, who have been living up there since the birth of the entire Hylian race. Furthermore, there's no Zonai architecture on the surface OR in the sky in ANY game outside of BotW & TotK, plus the map of Hyrule is exactly the same during the TotK flashbacks as it is during BotW/TotK proper, so the idea of the Zonai era being at the beginning of the main timeline and every other game in the series with their vastly different geography taking place in the interim, only for the map to somehow return to its exact original layout afterwards is just ridiculous. Also, that would mean multiple Ganondorfs existing at the same time, and even though Hyrule Castle gets destroyed in some branches, the supposed extra Ganondorf never breaks free. (Plus it's been stated that there were no male Gerudo after the man who became the Calamity) If instead it's the latter option, where the Zonai era doesn't even begin until after every other game in the series has already happened, and Rauru's Hyrule is a re-founding (which somehow has the exact same name, royal crest, ect., despite Rauru seemingly not being aware of any previous Hyrule's existence), that's slightly less problematic but still has big issues. For example, which timeline is it in? Child? Adult? Downfall? Or did they somehow merge? All of these options have countless contradictions that have been covered by countless videos, and on top of that, they STILL don't explain how Hylia's back. A fourth timeline, branching off from Skyward Sword, is the only option whose issues are only difficult to explain instead of outright impossible. At the end of the day, when you remove the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
@@Luigifan305 Please excuse this late reply, i've been busy with a lot of work as of late, hence why i haven't been able to indulge RUclips conversations to the extent of been able to properly address such an extensive piece of text as the reply you've concocted above. Hopefully this comment will make it past the RUclips algorithm so that you may recieve it in candor. Without further ado: _"Impa's bracelet is incapable of proving or disproving literally anything because that in and of itself is a blatant bootstrap paradox that breaks the rules of time travel regardless of which system you apply to Skyward Sword."_ What are you on...? When Link first meets the "Old woman" inside the Sealed Temple at the every start of the game, she is already wearing the exact same bracelet given to her by Zelda confirming that, yes, she very much gained that bracelet after she experienced all of the events her younger self took part on in a previous time loop (just like in the story of Tears of the Kingdom). Rant, ramble and deny it all you want, Nintendo is explicitly clear that the events of Skyward Sword revolved around a closed time loop as per the multitude of official sources which establish and corroborate one another's stance that no timeline splits of any kind exist following Demise's death across two different Eras. The Life Fruit and Master Sword changing places was an intentional oversight for *gameplay's* sake on Aonuma and Fujibayashi's part, as players aren't meant to know such plotpoints as saving Lanayru from his illness, Zelda's Crystal Seal been a major twist in the story and Demise's multiple deaths across different Eras until later in the narrative. You're taking the narrative way too seriously to realize their willing decision to bypass a convoluted and paradoxical scenario where Link is able to interact with future events which would make it impossible for him to carry them out in the present as part of the intended storyline set by Nintendo. You're also very misinformed as to what actually happens to Demise at the end of Skyward Sword, as he was NOT fully killed but rather his _soul_ was, leaving his lingering essence and hatred behind (eg: the Imprioned One) which would remain sealed away within the Master Sword where it would be destroyed once and for all. As you yourself beautifully (and ironically) laid down above: Nintendo didn't put enough effort in writing a coherent and consistent time travel storyline (like ever) because they're not storytellers but rather _game developers,_ hence why Skyward Sword is the inconsistent plot that it is and why the timeline has an entire adjacent branch dedicated to a "what if" timeline where the Hero of Time dies fighting Ganon despite no such event ever actually happening during the actual story of Ocarina of Time. In summary: Nintendo says NO TIME SPLIT EXISTS at the end of Skyward Sword = no such time split exists. If only children could see the Minish, there wouldn't be stained glass windows depicting the visage of the Minish handing the Four Sword and Light Force to the Hero of Men inside the Elemental Sanctuary, plus King Daphnes wouldn't tell Link that the Deepwood Shrine inside the Minish Woods was a place where _"Humans and Minish used to meet"._ Both aforementioned points point at the Minish having once been visible to adult humans in the long past, only for them to become invisible at a later point in time after the Hero of Time sealed away the Darkness which threathened Hyrule inside the Bound Chest. All of the above said, the Minish are a _divine race_ very much like the Zonai and Oocca are and so for them to be completely detached from a fellow sky race which also conveniently shares relationships with the mortals of the surface worlds takes gargantuan levels of suspension of disbelief without concluding that the Minish and Oocca came about at specific points where the Zonai weren't around. _"...in BotW and TotK, you can't just mow the lawn and find a bunch of free cash like in other games."_ Pretty sure you CAN albeit not in huge amounts like in prior titles where rupee farming was a breeze thanks to how plentiful the game was in giving you objects to cut, chop and break in order to amass free currency in a heartbeat. Can't see how you reached the conclusion that rupees in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom can't be gained from cutting down grass as i'm pretty sure they can. It's obviously a plot hole as i have already made it quite clear that no such time split exists and your stubborn refusal to acknowledge Nintendo's official stance on the matter shows a genuine lack of scrutiny and reason to admit your reliance on confirmation bias to explain away your own personal interpretation of the lore established across the series with zero regards for what the games actually have to say on the subject, plus the official words from the developers who's word is very much undeniable law no matter how much your confirmation bias makes it impossible for your grey matter to relent at using fanfiction and headcanon to indulge your dissatisfaction with Nintendo's writing of the Zelda franchise. The only plausible conclusion is that Rauru's Hyrule is a _refoundation_ thousands of years after the end of the three timelines as a soft reboot of the Zelda timeline as a whole. If it's the former option (it isn't), the Zonai wouldn't have been able to leave to the sky without _meeting_ the Minish, as the prologue of The Minish Cap literally shows the Minish descending from the Heavens carrying the Four Sword and Light Force, making it clear that the Minish have been living in the sky for millenia just like the Zonai have according to the Master Works book. This option would also clash with the Oocca as you so beautifully pointed out, as Shad from Twilight Princess affirms the Oocca ("Sky people" in Japan) were responsible for the *creation* of the land where Hyrule sits upon, creating a massive plot hole as to the timeline placement for the Oocca's direct involvement in the creation of the land where Hyrule stands on without contradicting the Zonai's pressence in the surface world predating the foundation of the kingdom. The lack of any Zonai architecture both on the surface and the sky across the entire timeline prior to the Era of the Wild only further corroborates the utter contradiction underlying the Master Works's information regarding the Zonai's pressence in the ancient past by blatantly dismissing the Minish, Wind Tribe and Oocca's pressence in the skies above the surface world without any interactions with the ancient Zonai who by all means should have interacted with either of these groups during the span in between the Zonai's departure from the surface world and their return. Thank you very much for pointing out the inconsistent geography of the many Hyrules across the series as it makes it ever more clear that the Hyrule founded by Rauru cannot be the very first one to have ever existed without making zero sense with the ever changing geography across every single title in the series. Thank you as well for pointing out the incoherence in having multiple living Ganondorfs at the same time, only for Breath of the Wild and Creating a Champion to firmly imply no Ganondorfs have been born ever since the one who created "Calamity Ganon", further corroborating the refoundation carried out by Rauru and Sonia. If instead it's the latter option (which it is), where the Zonai appear after many thousands of years after ALL the three timelines have ended and the events of all the games have been completely lost to the passage of time, the newly created *legends* and myths surrounding these many past games as seen all across the maps of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom would give Rauru the perfect opportunity to found a new incarnation of Hyrule, named after the legendary kingdom mentioned across these many myths spread across the maps of both games in the Wild duology. In summary: Nintendo has soft rebooted the franchise with a brand new kingdom of Hyrule thousands of years after _all_ three timelines ended and the events depicted in all these past games became forgotten, to become legends and myths spread across the Era of the Wild's Hyrule. As stated above, a fourth timeline which neither the games or Nintendo has ever as much as entertained in any capacity, is the most hilariously baseless tangent of headcanon and especulation that an idle mind with a huge dosage of free time and boredom could ever concieve. At the end of the day, when you stop indulging in headcanon and Reddit-branded diatribe, wathever remains, however it doesn't fit your fanfiction-ridden grey matter, must be the undeniable, objective, lore-accurate, Nintendo-sanctioned, truth.
@@Luigifan305 First of all just ignore the anti video game fanatic named javiervasquez625. Honestly the simple answer to Skyward sword's time travel is that Impa went to the FUTURE now let that sink in. So now that we have that out of the way where in time is Link?
I waited for this video keep up the great work as you inspire me to put true scholarship into my lore videos. I actually have a Gaming lab in NYC that I will begin a Detailed Curriculum on the principles and Lore of the series. I have been playing the Games with lore and The Physics that are applied to real world and the World of Zelda. It has been an extreme Run and puts Content in place of Gameplay and keeps from realizing game in an unrealistic fashion. I depend on your breakdowns as you don't just use this page to run your mouth you display true scholarship with your awareness on Japanese and how English standardization lacks the true luster of the meanings. I will be back to dive deep into lore with you on this and other of your works I have been analyzing. So stay on your game Cause you got me started 💯
Trying to reckon the timeline in this book with what we know about Hyrule's history already feels like an impossible task. Ultimately, it's just a game series, and we will have to accept the inconsistencies. However, I can't help but speculate a bit. With the lore about Null added in from Echoes of Wisdom, I have to wonder if that plays a part. What if Demise is one of the earliest attempts by Null to break out of its world-prison? Demise and Null have aligned goals of going after the Triforce. Demise is said to have emerged from beneath the earth, Null is literally imprisoned within the earth. Before TOTK came out, I was of the opinion that the Ganondorf sealed under the castle was the OG Ganondorf. That every version we saw in other games was really the Calamity manifesting through various points in time. That might not have been that far off. Thanks to Null being able to make Echoes that emulate the originals that they copy pretty well, that could be what's going on here. Since there's a period of 10k+ years between the Sealing War and TOTK, I look at it like how our own world played out. There isn't a set year that prehistory ends and recorded history starts, and there have been countless human cultures that came and went before recorded history began. Humans have a long tradition of filling in the gaps in our knowledge with fantastical tales. Europeans attributed the pyramids of the Maya to the Norse, to Jewish peoples, to anything but the Maya when they found them. Even to this day, there's all kinds of pseudoscience and pseudohistory slop that attributes the pyramids of Egypt, the Americas, and other sites (not just limited to pyramids) to the works of aliens or some other incredulous explanation. Our own history is full of examples of humans, in some cases deliberately, not understanding the past and filling in the gaps with wild speculation. Perhaps something similar is happening here. Null's various attempts at breaking out of its prison could have been mistaken for something else. To ancient peoples who didn't know any better, Null's appearances could have been explained away as an incredibly powerful demon emerged from beneath the earth, defeated by a brave hero, and then cursed the world with an unending cycle of attempts to break out only to be thwarted time and again. As pointed out in the second video about the Masterworks book, the knowledge of the sealed away Ganondorf became so suppressed and so hidden that nobody even knew he was down there anymore. And I think it's in Creating a Champion for BOTW that it's said that Hyrule has experienced so many periods of prosperity and decline that it's hard to tell what's myth and what's real. I think that's what we're dealing with here. The history of the world the Goddesses made is so long and so full of upheaval that any and all of Null's attempts to break free and return the world to a chaotic void can and have been explained as an endlessly reincarnating demon bent on taking power. One that has to be thwarted by endlessly reincarnating avatars of divine power. Thinking about it this way does kinda tie it all up nicely in the sense that it allows for the stories of the various games to unfold as we see them when we play them. But, it also allows for the addition of new entries to the story without really compromising anything. Think of the myth of Ragnarok. That's a story that's been retold in various forms several times in recent memory (AC Valhalla, God of War, to name a couple of examples from the last 5 years). Each retelling adds one more spin on the legend to the library but doesn't compromise anything that we know about history or compromise anything about the legend itself. Thinking about the Zelda timeline as Null's countless efforts to break free, happening time and again across incredibly long periods of history, combined with cycles of societal growth and destruction, it's a neat way to wrap it all up in my head.
You make some exciting points. My next video will be one dedicated to Null and the Japanese text surrounding its character. I've already finished the script for it and I'm really excited to get it out to you. The point you make about growth and destruction is also a very fascinating observation in my opinion. The concepts of rebirth and renewal are important in Japanese culture. With that it mind, I think what makes it particularly intriguing is that Null can be interpreted as essentially a representative of a force that eliminates even those concepts. To me, that is what makes Null even more terrifying. I'll be explaining my thoughts more clearly in the upcoming video ^^
@QuestWithAaron I can't wait! I'm absolutely fascinated by villains like Null. Ones that are more like forces of nature or just part of the universe itself. It's part of why I find concepts like Ragnarok so intriguing. It's a process of destruction and renewal that's not done consciously or with any evil intent. It's just a part of the universe. I'm stoked to find out what secrets about Null are hiding in the Japanese text!
@@xinpingdonohoe3978 Exactly. A lot of this reads like scrambling to "backfill" lore into the gaping holes in the game's world and plot. They outsourced the story to a third party company, Qualia Writers, and now they're dealing with the consequences.
12.7 inches long, 3.5 inches wide. Uncut. Curves to the left. Tip is e8afa2 pinkish brown, shaft is a deep olive green and glows with gloom. Four distinct veins with the longest raging from the base to the tip on the middle right side. Excretion is macaroon cream. Never shaved or trimmed in his life. And all of that hidden behind solidified gloom.
I can’t believe we were robbed by Nintendo for not putting in the Hyrule restoration festival into Tears of the Kingdom.
For once i'm in full agreement with you. It does seem as if Nintendo intended to have such content appear in the game only for unknown factors to force them to remove it from the base game entirely.
this is the first time since the game came out that i'm actually disappointed about something not being in the game
@@deepcanionstudio There are many amazing contents that wasn't in the game like murals that hit the history of Ganondorf (as seen in the Master Works and the 2019 teaser trailer).
This is one of the reasons why we need a DLC expansion to help better the story of Tears of the Kingdom way before Fujibayashi and Aonuma decided 'No DLC'" for the game almost a year ago (which I find it bullshit).
@@a.jthomas6132 We were INDEED ROBBED!
There can be no celebration while Princess Zelda is missing.
Ending the video on that note is a bold choice. Respect.
Great video as always Aaron. Thanks for always bringing the goods
Thought I'd try and end in a somewhat different way to usual haha - As always, I really really appreciate it my dude, thank you!
@@CaptBurgerson
Good thing they didn’t render Ganon’s loins under his gloom kilt, otherwise it might have raised TotK’s age rating.
@@chrispork1443 gloom pen lmao
honestly, prehistoric enemies down in the depths woulda been so much more interesting than what we ended up getting.
15:40 Ganondorf in his mind: oh no Link is going to defeat me, I have no other option, I need to take off my clothes
Suavemente just basically nude eh? I can never view it the same after that...
"So is that a costume?"
"Unfortunately for both of us, this is skin."
"Oookaaay..."
It distracts Link, which gives Ganondorf the advantage.
No that is not what he was thinking wtf is wrong with you?
@@Mage487 when I was a baby I fell from my mom's arms and hit my head.
That's a lot of lore exclusive to this book. I wish they would put it in-game though.
That's how it always is though.
I mean, this was a pretty easy conclusion to come to if you paid attention when playing the games, especially the Zonai tracing so far back.
There's Zonai architecture/signs of their influence in just about every Zelda game. They aren't some new concept that came out of nowhere, it's a name given to a group we've known about for years in concept. The idea of BotW/TotK being a soft reboot and the Zonai suddenly showing up was always silly when we practically already knew that they were present for the entirety of the series.
@@RenSako Lol...
There are a few things I would have appreciated at least some more hints of. Like the origin of the Secret Stones, for example.
No it's not lol, Zelda games have always been lore rich and most of the following explanations in later publications are things people already guessed like heros shade for example @@daniel8181
OH, TEARS OF THE DEAGON BEING THE OLD NAME MAKES SO MUCH SENSE, that’s what they meant when they said the name would’ve been a spoiler, makes sense since totk name spoils nothing about the game
It's rare to see a Zeldatuber's theory be proven exactly correct, but I'm very happy to see that Monster Maze's theory about the Depths being based on Yomi no Kuni be right on the ball. And on top of that, Gossip Geist was really close the mark guessing that the Temple of Light was at the bottom of the Depths below Hyrule Castle. Ah, let the lore discussions keep flowing.
I can't wait for when this book gets an English print. I already know I'm going to by it.
Monster Maze's video on Yomi no Kuni was excellent, you can tell how much care and thought went into it (as is the case with all his videos)
A super recall is exactly what I said back when the game first came out. People acted like it was unknown and out of nowhere what saved her, but it felt pretty obvious to me that they used a massive recall with their combined power channeled through Link, so much so that it even recalled Links arm. Zelda and Links arm were recalled back to states before they were changed/lost.
While it wasn’t flat out stated, I didn’t think it needed to be. Links arm even looked like it was using recall.
But Zelda remains but his memories before and during she has his dragon form,that makes me think that they used recall but Make Zelda remain with his memories.
Recall is completely inconsistent in this game. Sonia says you’re pulling the object back through it’s memories and where it was, which is supported by the mechanics of links recall. But then for some reason zelda just gets teleported way back in time where she never was, and then she gets transformed back from being a dragon without zipping all over the place like she logically would.
@@D3viant517Nintendo: Because dont think or ask questions, that's why. Buy our product, and get exited for next product.
@@D3viant517 while true, I think those instances were always out of the norm. Zelda is the time sage and in a life or death situation, may have amplified/modified the “recall” ability. Same with when Rauru and Sonia combined their power with Link. Either way, it wasn’t a normal circumstance in both cases, but still pointed to recall, just amped versions. The normal rules of recall are limited and work as you described, but those special cases pushed its power beyond the norm
@@D3viant517 this is what confused me about it, tbh. Some type of Super Recall was what I first thought of after this scene, but we'd literally never seen Recall being used on a living thing before, and it was counter to how we'd seen it behave in the game AND in cutscenes up until then, but there was really no explanation for how Zelda was turned back into a human and how Link's arm was restored otherwise, so..."a miracle", I guess
If I had to guess, it'd be that Zelda had been effectively sealed inside the dragon body, and Rauru was using his sealing power to undo that seal, Sonia was using her Time power to rewind time, and Link had the memories of how Zelda used to be as a human ("the object's memory"). All three together undid the "irreversible" draconification
The title "Tears of the Kingdom" makes even more sense when you realize that on top of the Dragon Tears, it was essentially Zelda's intense desire as the Light Dragon to protect Hyrule that allowed for the projections of her and the Sages to be created using her power. The title initially being "Tears of the Dragon" also kinda explains why they hesitated to reveal it due to spoilers.
Seeing the ancient Zonai surface ruins concept art makes me wondered why haven’t the development team behind TOTK didn’t put it in the actual game? Let alone Twinrova and the murals of Ganondorf? They could of help better the story itself or being saved for a Torna-esque DLC since many of us wanted more of the Imprisoning War as a playable Zelda.
It seems like they had quite a lot of great concepts that unfortunately didn't make it into the game. They weren't kidding when they said they had too many ideas. I do wish that a lot more of them were implemented though. There is a section that mentions about Koume and Kotake in the book actually, I'll see if I can find it
If the developers said "yes" to every idea, they would have to spend forever working on the game. It's sad that not every idea gets to see the light of day but that's just how it goes with development. You always gotta control the scope of the project and leave some stuff out so that you can have focus on other things and actually get the game finished before you go insane.
@@DerpaTure9503But they had 6 years to work on it and even delayed the game, and so much copy-pasted and superficial things were added into the game. Nintendo was saying one thing and doing another.
@@ACW-dn9wb No amount of time changes the fact that you have to get your priorities straight and say "no" to things during game development. It's very easy to just come up with ideas, anyone can do that. Pretty much every game ever made has tons of scrapped concepts for that very reason.
Besides, a large portion of TotK's development time was spent playtesting, fixing bugs, and ensuring that the more complex features like Ultrahand always worked as intended. Making sure that the actually important parts of the game function is more important than just adding extra things for the sake of adding them.
@@DerpaTure9503 But they werent just saying "no" everything, they said it to things the game needed and by doing so, made the world empty and relatively unchanged. This game was playtested with the Zonai Runes, sure but for everything else just 5 minutes. The Arrow fuse ui is so atrociously long and makes yo uhave to reclick for EVERY SHOT. Fuse for materials takes so many pauses to fuse two things together jnstead of making it streamlined in the pause menu. Sages always get in the way or too far away and are always activated by the same A button, leading to so many instances of Tulin blowing crap off ledges. Sage abilities couldve had their own wheel under D-pad down since its for useless horses anyways. So many QOL fixes were needed for this game, and its been over a year in and Nintendo still has not fixed them. Not to mention lack of good swordplay like TP, lack of good dungeons, minimal enemy variety, and so many more problems. This game has glaring issues, the 6 years were spent in the wrong places.
The Zelda lore video I didn’t know I needed
I wish I didnt. I knew this book would take a dump on Zelda lore, but I didnt expect it to be this bad. No fault of the video uploaded himself, mind you, but Nintendo themselves for not adhering to canon or consistency for even 5 seconds. Smh
Now this is some great stuff, thanks for bringing it to us English speakers. Interesting to see the Zonai placed in the timeline alongside Skyward Sword. Part of me wonders if they built the automotons in the Lanaryu Desert, and the reason they're abandoned in SS is because the Zonai had already ascended to the heavens. I feel like they have a strong "zonai device" aesthetic.
that... actually makes a lot of sense... it would also link the spiral design found in various places in the desert to the notorious "zone swirl".
then we would link the option of the Faron barbarian tribe being Zonai who refused to follow their more religious kin to the skies; continuing to grow ever more war like as they migrated to Faron. As a commenter on OSP's lonely skies detail diatribe put it: "where do the wise philosopher kings begin and the adrenaline-junkie dragon warriors end?".
Well, I'm not sure if they did. It seems as such, but they also had said this could be happening a lot of time after all the previous games, and if they're not including the rest of the games as a comparison, it's not fully confirmed this is happening alongside Skyward. 🤔
In fact,at the time of skyward that lanayru civilization would be the sheikah,but i wouldn't be surprise that in future media nintendo Will say that lanayru old civilization was zonai.
Yes. In SS, that's definitely Sheikah tech. Some may try to claim otherwise in the future, but the case at the present is clear.
The geometric eye icons thought to be a stylized sheikah eye might be of zonai design as they have a lot of eye designs and fairy even has a third eye with a white teardrop tattoo marking underneath
0:24 that explains why they didn't want to reveal the game's title. They said it was for spoiler reasons, and tears of the dragon absolutly fits that description better than tears of the kingdom
Yeah that's what I thought too, they express in the interview that they were worried about that potentially happening which is why they settled with TotK and not TotD
15:40 so that gloom club is really just swanging around every time we see him huh…
Damn, wish they made THAT dragon 3 times bigger
Secret stones are still a mystery...
I just want to know who was the first Zonai that thought "hmm, what if we eat it?"
Almost like suggesting eating the broken pieces of the wisdom triforce with some cheddar.
Maybe that's why the Triforce doesn't really make an appearance in the BotW era games.
I think the Amber Relics in SS are "depleted" secret stones.
Love that ending line haha, but in all aspects of mythical folklore angels/demons, it makes sense. Most depictions of holy and unholy beings are that they are beyond the regular inhabitants of the world, they are almost never garbed in anything. They would have no humiliation (a human aspect) or need to cover or accessorize their bodies, unless they are to disguise themselves as humans. So understanding that, Demon Ganondorf in a flesh suit is a power move and depicts the level of his godly might.
@@apieceofcoffee Nice point which ironically creates a very interesting parallel to the story of the _Garden of Eden_ where the first Man ever created by God had no sense of shame at the prospect of been naked due to been pure from Sin. In this context, Ganondorf could be seen as an "anti Adam" for having no sense of shame after achieving "purity" by filling himself with Gloom.
@@javiervasquez625 that's what I was thinking of as well! Excellent point.
He’s still wearing the jewelry from his Gerudo form so I don’t think he’s totally in the nude. Just that the gloom kind of manifested and/or mutated his clothing too.
Thank you so much for translating this! I love hearing Zelda lore. There is something so cozy listening to all the trivia, lore, and fun facts in Zelda.
Hey, I'm super happy you liked it! Thank you
Some other lore bits from master works:
1. The Zonai first lived upon the surface of Hyrule, and then began exploring, mining and even settling in the depths (yes, some "ordinary" Zonai lived down there with the golems (constructs) and transported zonaite up to the surface and later, the sky. Some interesting observations can be made when it comes to society and culture in the depths: they had art in the form of the statues resembling the races of Hyrule and perhaps even the ordinary looking Zonai. It's even likely they had entertainment in the form of golem/construct battles in the colosseums scattered throughout. Yes, they had ROBOT WARS. Examples of homes or stores are scattered about, these being those structures where Link can find Zonai devices lying around. Zonai society made use of Zonai devices in day to day life.
2. The Great Sky Island: the emerging theory is that in the ancient past, it was the capital city of the Zonai tribe and served as a base of operations for cultivating the sky after the Zonai departed from the surface and the depths, and that it’s the land that went down onto the Great Plateau area on the occasion of the surface descent. In other words, it’s thought that the Great Sky Island has been launched into the sky twice through the eras. First when the Zonai ascended to the live in the sky and second, when the sages and other people of Hyrule raised it along with the original Temple of Time to help Link in TOTK.
3. The ‘Forgotten Temple’ existed at the time of the Sealing War, and it’s thought the goddess statue was already there. From that, it appears that the goddess statues existed during the time period when the Zonai tribe lived on the surface as Hylia's chosen guardians of the secret stones. It is plausible then that the Zonai worshipped or at least revered Hylia in a similar manner to the Hylians.
4. The Zonai, despite living in the sky during the Heavenly Period, still helped the tribes who lived on the surface. It’s thought that the land of Hyrule during the heavenly period was under a much harsher environment than it is today. Accordingly, the Zonai Tribe built structures with features to adjust the natural environment in each area of Hyrule, and provided those living in each region a favourable environment and abundant lifestyle. What are called temples today are not just relics of the past, but also serve an important role for the current people of Hyrule. The authenticity is still being studied, but it’s said that the Zonai tribe’s wisdom has upheld the natural environment of Hyrule until today, and people may have benefited without even knowing. It’s exactly like the deed of a god. e.g. the Lightning Temple is thought to have been built to control a perpetual sandstorm, the Fire Temple, also theorised to be the city of Gorondia, calmed a highly and consistently active Death Mountain etc...
5. Zonai Architecture: There are 2 Types of Zonai architecture. 'Type 1' is representative of the architecture found in the sky, and 'Type 2' is that which we first see scattered across Hyrule in BOTW. Now that orginal Zonai civilisation is starting to be unraveled, the mystery of when and who built these Type 2 ruins on the surface is all the more deepening, but it was likely by following faith/appreciation of the Zonai tribe after their extinction.
6. Exorcism pilgrimage and kingdom founding: This series of Rauru’s actions was known as the ‘exorcism pilgrimage’, and Sonia also accompanied him. Rauru presented Sonia with the secret stone of the Zonai, and Sonia aided Rauru with her multiplied power over time. Whether it was a thought or a deep seated grudge or an inhuman entity that could be the source of the monsters is unclear, but there was an ‘evil’ presence that harmed the people of the earth. Rauru and Sonia, who had thought about creating a kingdom where all people could live in peace, travelled to each place one by one where evil spirit and evil thoughts were strong and places with many monsters like ‘kimon’ and ‘long mai’ in order to exorcise the evil. When a certain amount of this evil had been purified, and people felt a sense of stability, Rauru proclaimed the establishment of the Kingdom, and the nation was founded.
7. Upon becoming the Demon King, Ganondorf sent his army of evil monsters to lay waste to all who supported the Kingdom of Hyrule. He even attacked the Gerudo, and it was then that they appointed a new Chieftan with the power of lightning. It is thought that the Gerudo made closer ties with Hyrule after Rauru decided to accept Ganondorf as vassal. Rauru's decision likely helped win the Gerudo's support by the time of the Imprisoning War. Ganondorf seized Hyrule Castle on the Great Plateau, and the Hyrulean army retreated north to the Forgotten Temple. The Hyruleans won back the castle at great cost, whlie Ganondorf went further south. In their last ditch effort to defeat the Demon King, Rauru, the Sages and his remaining army went north once again, this time to the sacred Temple of Light from legend - the place beneath modern day Hyrule Castle - where Rauru sacrificed himself to seal Ganon.
Strangely according to a Sidequest on top of the Zonai Temple of Time the Great Sky Island was a creation of the sages, they lifted the Temple and the entire landmass up to protect Zelda's Foretold Hero from the forces of the Demon King.
Even Rauru himself said he didnt knew how this land got up there and that it eas on the surface below
@@Chris-gx1ei Yeah, in-game text also implies that Zelda had a hand in developing the floating blocks that allowed them to lift the Great Sky Island too.
Why didn’t they put this much effort into the story of the game?? This stuff is awesome!
Probably because Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are at first Legend of Zelda games. Not novels. The games are from Link's point of view. And the focus is on how the player guides him through the environment. Its been this way since Legend of Zelda in 1987. Its also why they put these extra lore bits into external sources, for the average player it would detract from the game itself, and lessen the gameplay experience.
While I do like to read into extra lore myself, and consume it voraciously in many of my favorite franchises. I prefer my games to be played, not watched or read. If I want to watch something, I'll play a movie. If I want to read something I will open a book. But when I sit down with a controller or mouse and keyboard, I want to play. Not watch, not read. For those I have a streaming service and a Kindel.
@@taemien9219 as much as i do wish the story was better, im glad they focused on gameplay since they nailed it down, its straight up one of the most gorgeous looking and smooth playing games ever and its art/style is right up there next to skyward sword. people mainly hate this game bc the story subtracts alot, but as a game even then its a god damn masterpiece
Not me, internally joy-screaming through this entire video, like Dipper finally listening to The Author’s backstory in Gravity Falls. 😅🤩
If we take at face value the theory that in the Wild Era, all previous games are inaccurate legends passed down through generations; something interesting might happen.
If the unknown statues in the depths are indeed another race that tried to seize the Secret Stones, they could be a remix of the Dark Interlopers, and the mirror found in BotW's Lurelin might indeed have some kind of connection to them, as the Twilight Mirror tied to the Twili.
I really like the idea that Zelda was returned to herself by the power of the triforce. Link being courage, Sonia wisdom, and Rauru power
I thought the mysterious race in the Depths was the Mogma from Skyward Sword.
There should've been different civilizations beneath the Depths. It's such a boring place after the initial reveal.
I also thought this! literally same body build and everything
I thought the Ancient Hero's race. Add a tail, and they're the same.
Unless the Ancient Hero actually was a different type of Zonai after all. A sample size of 2 doesn't really show us much. Maybe he's the final remnant through some mixed lineage, and Rauru and Sonia are the final pure ones. But with what? A Lynel?
@@Kruegernator123: I disagree. Although I do agree more should be down there, I don’t think a whole other race is the answer. I think more evidence of said race being there though should have been there. Like ancient texts or architecture beyond copy and pastes of Zonai mining facilities.
There are so many questions. So many questions. Never has there been a moment where I wished I learned Japanese and have the capability to read that book.
I'm sure an official English release will come out eventually ^^
I can't believe I was right about Rauru and Sonia being the reason Zelda could transform back! I knew it had to do with them both being back together... like Sonia had been freed from the stone when it was destroyed, at least is how I interpreted it at the time.
Are you telling me that Ganondorf is an exhibitionist? 🤨
Perhaps...
Well that’s a fun note to end on! 😂
Great stuff as always!
Thank you! I wasn't sure if it was going to work as the final detail in the video, so I'm glad you liked it!
In one way I'm glad there's nothing that really was necessary to understand or enjoy Tears' story, but on the other hand I was kinda hoping for something that'd redeem the story for me
What's something that could redeem the story for you? I'm curious about what kind of information you'd be interested if it was available. Master Works is massive and there might be something related to what you're curious about
@@QuestWithAaron Honestly, I'm not sure anything really will, most of my criticisms come from the fact the storytelling in the actual game was IMO lackluster. The surrounding lore was okay, I liked the story of the flashbacks, but the actual story I was playing through was fairly eh and it was too open-ended. So a book wouldn't really redeem the story in that regard.
But seeing more information tying TotK to the greater series would probably help me feel like Nintendo still cared about it. I saw a few hints of it in this video but I was hoping for stuff like confirmation that the Zonai built the Lanayru Desert Mining Facility and robots and temple of time from Skyward Sword, or were the Sky Tribe from Minish Cap, or that Hylia was a Zonai, or stuff like that
Yeah, we need to play these games with an accurate translation, otherwise we miss so much context.
Man the 3 golden goddesses are kinda jerks. They make the tri force AND the stones, and then create Hylia and are like "but make sure nobody evil is allowed to use them lol." Then they just bounce and leave Hylia to deal with it.
It's a sign of respecting free will, if that makes sense.
The implications that the depths are simultaneously where the spirit of the dead go, and is also the origin of demons and gloom is very interesting. Makes me wonder if Demise is like some kind of super concentrated spirit of hatred and violence resulting from those with evil souls dying and going to the depths.
I've done a few videos on Demise, but I will have another that includes an exploration of specifically what the character is in the future as well. Demise itself IS evil, if that makes sense.
The Yomi iconography was not lost upon me. The moment I set foot in the Depths, I realized the nature of the inspiration. I even said to myself "I feel like Izanagi with his comb tooth lighting my way through. Hope I don't run into any Shikome"
I really appreciated the giant Frox in the Depths. It genuinely terrified me the first time I encountered one, especially when all I could see was its eye gazing at me from within the darkness. I would love to see more yokai-like entities in places like this if they do something like it again in the future.
So, SS happened while the Zonai were in Hyrule, and then after Link and Zelda came to stay the surface, they started the line of priestesses not the line of Hyrules rulers. Sonia could be SS Link and Zelda's descendant starting the royal family with Raru, making them the first rulers.
I kind of wish it was the case, though Fujibayashi's Statement about the Founding being a Refounding makes me wonder wether they simply put it at the end too
What confuses me about this is the outfits. Sonia wears outfits that match with classical antiquity robes while the Skyloftians seem to wear medieval casual clothing.
@@Droobie03 And yet, the Zonai were far more technologically advanced than anything seen in the Era of Hylia/Skyward Sword including the Lanayru Mining Facility. It's as if the usage of ancient clothing isn't a factor when addressing the chronology of certain races within the Zelda timeline.
@@javiervasquez625 far more advanced might be a stretch. They're going for different things. The -Sheikah- mystery Lanayru people went for combat, invisibility and time manipulation rather than the general sustaining and automation of daily life.
@@Droobie03
The Theory I have is that the Hyrulians at some point fell into Anarchy (Fujibayashi said that Rauru might have refounded Hyrule and that there might have been a Kingdom before with forgotten History) so basically the Hylians had no other choice but to fight for themselves until Rauru brought Peace and thus the Hylians Adapted to the Fashion of the Zonai
Regarding the last part, I always assumed that when he fights you in his normal Gerudo form, it's actually an illusion and not his actual body, because his real clothes are ripped to pieces and also because he can literally create illusions and phantoms
He can materialize weapons out of Gloom, so it wouldn't surprise me if he can do the same with his clothes.
Such a convenient power indeed!
Wish some of this lore was in the game... and not in a book over a year later..
Let’s keep in mind that the game is the story they told, the lore is the story they didn’t. Thank you for sharing this!
I think we're all still wondering.
... How Link looses his shirt in the games climax.
Maybe it too got ultimate recalled to a time where it did not exist
Secretly hoping this book is released to prepare for a DLC
Same 😭
The moment I dropped into the depths I thought of Nauusica by studio ghibli
They put a lot of lore in this book. But they didnt do any DLC😢 I mean theres so much stuff I would have love to see in this game
Fascinating look I can't wait to get my hands on my own copy of the book. I hope the translation is good.
I'm sure you will enjoy it, it's a great book and the concept art is gorgeous to see in person
If the translation is anything like totk’s translation, it’s probably gonna be misinterpret and omit a lot of important stuff
Yes!!! The vidéo I was waiting for those last days! As always, thank you !!!
Thank you!!! ^^
when i saw the statues i thought they were mogmas that probably lived in the depths
That is exactly what I thought. They practically look identical
15:23 Why do they gotta add this detail? They could have said it's Gloom clothing. Ganondorf is covered in skin flaps?! 😭 💀
da man did the job
This is great! Keep the content coming my friend because now we're getting somewhere, This will add more context to TOK as well LOZ as a whole with these amazing details ❤🤘
You're a legend for this.
this is so cool! i cant wait for more videos!
Considering that the Zonai are indeed a Tribe of (minor) Kami, it is understandable that they had Close connections to Hylia - probably with Rauru even being one of her biological Descendants since he is using the same Powers of Holy Light that were passed dowm to Zelda.
The Catastrophic Event that may have driven them to extinction might probably be another war between Gods and Demons - wouldnt be the first time this happens though
Possible yet doesn't explain why no such historical records would be preserved by Rauru's very own bloodline when they already had advanced _technology_ which could easily have allowed modern Zonai to know the specific circumstances responsible for their race's extinction.
The fact that the people of Skyloft still knew about Hylia and the Demon War fought in the long forgotten past creates a plothole by not giving a jusfitied explanation for the Zonai's missing history as a fully technologically advanced civilization.
@@javiervasquez625
According to Fujibayashi and Aonuma the Zonai are probably not even connected to the era of Skyward Sword at all, they claim there is a Possibility that there was already a Kingdom before that got forgotten (basically written in the No DLC Interview, thus it has been overlooked by most simply because the No DLC Annoncement got too much attention, in a negative way mostly)
Probably the Zonai Era is simply put at the very end again, though possibly not directly connecting to the remaining Timeline.
(The Era of the Gods/Heavenly Era is placed after the "World Creation" though they are seperated by two wavery lines with nothing inbetween, meaning there might have been "something" inbetween)
@@Chris-gx1ei If Fujibayashi and Aonuma can rethink their DLC decision and reconsidered the contents we have seen so far, a fragment of Era of the Gods/Heavenly Era would be something I think Zelda would like to hear about during her time in the Era of Hyrule's Founding.
Give TOTK an expansion where we can bounce around between two different time periods since the two itself is divided into two parts based on the perspectives of Link and Zelda.
Fujibayashi himself said that this Zelda is the most powerful version out the past incarnations. So why haven't they bother to make up the lost opportunity Skyward Sword had left us way before we have Echoes of Wisdom? That is the part I do not get coming out of Nintendo. She would've been great with her Light/Time powers and her Bow of Light in a combat gameplay, and using the Purah Pad for puzzle solving.
I hope this not the end of wild era since there is so much info that needs to be filled. Hopefully we may get a sequel to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (since it sets in a different timeline).
@@Chris-gx1ei I am aware of said interview by Aonuma where he made such statements regarding the Zonai and the "possibility" for them having shown up in the past so no worries.
You're very much right on the Zonai appearing at the very _end_ of the timeline as the series is very explicit on the complete omission of the Zonai across the entire series for them to conveniently predate the Era of the Wild without as much as a hint of their existence.
While i'm aware of the _possibility_ that Zonai could have appeared at an early point in the timeline, the current timeline as it currently stands shows us a very convoluted mess of events involving dozens of conflicts and "god races" to make sense of a scenario where goat people conveniently showed up in the forgotten past, disappeared completely without any trace of their existence, got replaced by new god races via the Minish and Oocca and then magically popped into existence again without logical explanation aside from Nintendo mamkng a game about them. It takes too much suspension of disbelief to take this scenario seriously before realizing the absurdity of it all, which is why i'm dead certain the Zonai did not appear back in the times of Skyward Sword.
@@a.jthomas6132 (sigh) Did you even see the official timeline page in Master Works...??? Let me brief you on it: AGE OF CALAMITY IS *NON CANON.* SWALLOW.
They really need to have a story update on both BOTW and TOTK on the Switch 1 and Switch 2, these story details makes these games acceptable, story wise
Thank you for this! I haven't seen anyone really talk about any Lore from the Master Works.
I remember someone mentioning Sonia and Rauru channeling their power through Link on Reddit, but it actually is pretty obvious when you look at it. I remember a few huge Zelda Channels having meltdowns because they said it "broke lore" of it's own game but we only got bits and pieces of that lore so there was leeway for loopholes.
I like the idea of there being other Zonai tribes and the thought of another Race attempting to steal the Secret Stones and wipe out the Zonai makes me wonder about the Demon Tribe, it wouldn't be the first time they've tried to go after something protected by a God or "Gods"(believed to be Gods in Zonai's case).
Is it ever mentioned about what Gloom is or it's connection to Malice and is there an actually name for the green energy or is it just "Light Energy"?
Also Ganondorf's "Gloom Clothing" reminds me of some of the chakra modes in Naruto, such as Madara Uchiha's which becomes "Chakra Clothing".
Regarding your question on "what Gloom is", i recommend you watch Aaron's video literally titled _"Gloom VS Malice: The Untold Secrets of Gloom in Tears of the Kingdom"_ where he goes in detail addressing the true nature of Gloom as explained in the japanese version of Tears of the Kingdom. That video is amazing as it goes into detail addressing key pieces of information which are sadly missing from the english localization courtesy of Nintendo of America's poor attempts at maintaining the context of the original game's narrative.
@@javiervasquez625 I've watched sand I think it's great, but I was hoping Master Works might expand on it.
@@aster4jaden Yeah, me too but alas, Nintendo of Japan apparently doesn't see Gloom as much of a mystery delving into when its existence has been a given since A Link to the Past acknowledged its existence.
The concept of Light vs Dark powers is a topic that I've been collecting notes on for while. There is a name of the green energy, and as you can expect a lot of interesting nuances and underlying details to cover ^^ A video talking about it in detail will be coming :)
@@QuestWithAaron Thank you for confirming, I cannot wait for that video!
Great video as always Aaron!
Thank you as always! I really do appreciate it ^^
ganon's dragon not looking like a pig was a mistake imo
Consider: The 5th race (depths statues) is related to the miner armor set (animal like helm simililar to ancient divine helms) and the object in the statue's hand is a brightbloom seed
Fascinating stuff man.
15:35
What a great way to leave off the video 😌
Naked Ganondorf is WILD
Ganondorf being naked in the second phase sounds funny yet cool. And I wonder what he’s thinking at that moment.
Did he played some certain games to have the idea of fighting naked ?
Another great video, Aaron! Master Works would be source of much needed theories on these new Zelda games.
Thank you! There's more to come ^^
Thanks for sharing this! I wish some of the info could have made it into the game. Even if said info was spread out as books or something. We would get at least an idea of what happened to the Zonai or what those mysterious statues in the depths were.
This just breaks my heart to think we could've gotten more info about so many things that were left unanswered. I understand that they couldn't fit everything in, but still. We were robbed. What makes it even more sad is that we get no DLC from those ideas. Not even a Master Mode. Come on, Nintendo.
I'd actually love to see more readable books in the games- all those books in Hyrule Castle's library too, so much teasing!
We still have 1 more unanswered question. What happened to the Zonai race? What made it so catastrophic wiping out all the race????? I wish I get to see their civilization
It's a really good and important question that, so far, doesn't seem to be answered in the book
Probably something to do with the evil that rauru and Sonia got rid of with the shrines
"The parts of his attire that appear as clothing are actually manifestations of Gloom that have taken on a flesh-like form, clinging to Ganon's body." GROSS
Now you can really look at Ganondorf in a different way :)
I'd like to imagine the secret stones were unwillingly created by the goddesess as residue after creating the triforce, like sawdust after creating a wood carving
7:45 the fact that some people somehow didn't understand this is what occurred, despite the game giving all the necessary clues to come to this conclusion still baffles me
Literacy rates are surprisingly low in the average population, and I am sure gamers are not an exception to this, so this does not surprise me. Besides, this happens with every story. There is always a large chunk of the fandom of a work of fiction who have literally no understanding of the actual story presented in the work.
It was always my personal interpretation so I'm happy to see it confirmed.
It’s fairly obvious actually, not only was this the one and only time the game did not include the audio context cue that occurs when Recall is being used, but both the scene itself and the official explanation about how this was able to occur doesn’t adequately explain this event and how it was even possible.
It’s a total desu ex machina for Rauru and Sonia’s ghosts to appear, particularly Sonia and she’s the one with time powers this entire “ultimate recall” relies upon. You could deduce Rauru’s presence being due to Link having his arm, but Sonia?? This is the first time she’s shown as a ghost, the game gives no indication as to how or why she only now appears.
It’s all an unsatisfactory plot contrivance. People struggling to “understand” what happened were never struggling to comprehend the information the game presented in this scene, they were struggling to grasp all the game didn’t ever explain or justify, aka, all the things necessary to avoid this being a disappointing desu ex machina.
There were a multitude of storytelling techniques that could’ve been implemented to avoid this ending being unsatisfying but unfortunately the TotK writers didn’t implement them.
@@Sanakudou So, you have hang ups over the lack of an auditory cue (due to the background music), but you completely ignore the fact that there multiple visual cues present making it clear that he was using Recall, such as the iconic yellow magic flowing out of Link's hand, and the fact he is using Rauru's arm, which is the only way by which he even has access to Recall to begin with. Your excuse falls flat on its face. It is silly.
Also, there is nothing strange about Sonia's ghost appearing. Ghosts appearing is fairly normal in these games. Breath of the Wild did it with the King, and with the four Champions. There is established precedent, and as noted, Recall was originally Sonia's ability. Sonia is also Rauru's wife, so they have been together in the "afterlife."
You are very adamant about calling this a "desu ex machina," but it comes off as you just having looked up the phrase on Google and not knowing what it means. You cannot even spell it correctly. And ultimately, calling it a deus ex machina just because you failed to process the multiple hints the game provided that the rest of us clearly saw does not actually make it one.
@@angelmendez-rivera351 Agreed, Sonia showing up is no different from the other ghosts that aid Link, like King Rhoam, the Champions, Mineru, etc.
Makes me wonder, were the Triforce and Secret Stones created at the same time?
Probably. The Goddess may have created a lot of enchanted and divine tools, probably for their worshipers protect themselves agains the evil entities present in that place
Yes, the timeline in Master Works mentions that the Goddesses creating the world also manifested the secret stones into existence, and they they gave both the triforce and stones to Hylia to safeguard
It seems it's very likely that they were created around about the same time if not together in the same moment. If I had to put them in a sequence, I'd imagine that the Triforce would have been created first, given it's connection to reality.
@@QuestWithAaron It does give more value to Ganon's line "power of creation" when describing the power his dragon form would have.
Amazing amazing video. Thank you so much for it!
Glad you liked it ^^
0:45 Tell me EVERYTHING
Excellent video! So you suppose the "Creation of the Land and Skies" refers to the Goddesses creating the Land and then Hylia creating the "Skies" by dividing the Land? I had read the Zonai returning to the surface at threat of extinction referring to low population levels left on the surface, but there's actually a near-extinction event occurring in the SKIES that they flee from?? Thanks for your work.
I think it's interesting how at the end of Skyward Sword, part of Skyloft seemingly remains in the sky. I'm also pretty sure I read somewhere that they had played around with the idea of including Skyloft in TotK as well
@@QuestWithAaron That is definitely interesting. I remember seeing comparison pictures showing that Skyloft's shape fits into at least part of the Great Sky Island's quite well...
I really hope this book will get translated into English
It will.
Pity that Nintendo couldn’t reuse some of these concepts as DLC. Seriously they said that they ran out of ideas for any potential DLC, yet they had lots of potential DLC ideas in the concepts they have in this book
11:48 Hang on - those are called 'Purah Trees'? Since when? Did I miss something?
The revelation that there is a commemoration festival in honor of Link contradicts the fact that the NPCs don’t remember or recognize him. He’s a cultural icon for the kingdom; how would they forget about him?
I’m obsessed with this game but I did find myself a little disappointed about the lack (or omitting?) of lore and coherence in TOTK. If possible within the switch system, Nintendo should have included this in the game.
To be fair to the NPC's, you weren't necessarily a cultural icon ~when you first met them~. You were, in all likelihood, a naked mute wielding a tree branch and pot lid who showed up, solved a minor problem they had that day, and vanished into the wilderness. So later when they hear about this hero in blue wielding a magic sword who saved the kingdom (keyword being HEAR, because this is pre-photography times) they might not necessarily make the connection.
Could be translation error
It doesn't mean they've met or seen him. Several NPCs tell Link that he shares the name of the "famous swordsman" but they laugh it off assuming they couldn't be the same person. Several others comment on the "legendary sword" and joke about Link's "replica" (once you have it). I think plenty of people know of the famous Link who saved them from the Calamity, but they just don't know WHO he is.
If eating a sacred stone is irreversible, does that mean you never poop it out?
Like when you put too much cheese on your food?
There sure is a lot of "May," "Maybe," multiple choice options, etc. A lot of this really feels like retroactive backfitting of lore for the sake of the book, filling in holes they didn't even think of during development, and like even the creators aren't sure of what the actual answer or thought process was.
That's because he's not actually saying the correct statements. He's leaving it ambiguous because it doesn't infer his opinion, it infers the entire opposite.
For example, the Goddesses (not one, 3) entrusted the secret stones to the zonai, not the goddess. It also insinuates that the statue was never in the temple of time, but it somehow was located in this temple after, depicting it was there at a later date (insinuating that the hylia statues came far after the zonai, yet the access to this is questionable), etc etc.
Even with the timeline, it definitively places skyward sword after the events of totk, yet it's being pushed now that it was before...for some insane reason.
There was a few 'insinuation' points that you're suppose to figure out where they're at, but without context of the paragraphs before, you're sort of not understanding why they exist.
All I'm going to say after is wait until this comes out in English because a lot of people are trying to justify their absurd beliefs because they were entirely wrong from the start.
I think that's because it is retroactive backfitting. The Zelda fans have always been more interested in connecting the timeline and filling in the lore than the Zelda creators.
@@itsJoshW Lol the english ver will also just be the translator's interpretation of Japanese. Learn Japanese if you are unwilling to believe people who can read it
The third section in the book titled "history" uses a lot of suggestive language and provides suggestions and speculation on particular things rather than anything definitive like in chapter 2 (which I also cover on the video). The second chapter that contains designer notes are more concrete information.
Crazy demise went for the triforce and not the easily accessible secret stones. Even though hes jot mentioned in this tineline at all
Perhaps the existence of the Secret Stones was not as widely known at the time.
@@QuestWithAaron yet the triforce was when it's not even mentioned in this books timeline? Lol
Hi Aaron, could you do a video explaining why both the twilight realm and the depth from TOTK are mirrors of Hyrule? Like is everything suppose to be a mirror of hyrule? Theres Lorule too
I've done a few videos on the twilight realm, Lorule and the sacred realm in particular, but I like the idea of exploring the realms in Zelda as a whole! There are still so many aspects that I've yet to talk about
So developers are saying Ganondorf Demon King form has 2 EXTRA LEG GENITALS!?!?!?? LOOK AT IT FLAILING WHEN HE TRANSFORMS 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
That's insane
That was fascinating! Thank you!
If only we got The 3 Dragons and Dueling Peaks. I have a feeling they played a role of how the Zonai became the dragons
My thoughts are in regard to the zonai extinction: maybe the act of draconification had other side effects, maybe not everyone who did the act could survive, or perhaps became psychotic. Also, since Ganondorf could be killed as a dragon, perhaps there wars between dragons.
Zonai civil war that escalated into a dragon war perhaps.
There's a section in the book that describes the light vs demon dragon fight on the same scale as a 神 Kami (like Hylia) vs the epitome of 魔 (ma) which is what Demise is- pretty cool
Whelp, there goes my theory that the Zonai are actually moon rabbits, and that they’ve got some kind of link to the Blood Moon.
15:42 thank god for that gloom bro 😭😭if i went to fight the embodiment of evil wielding my master sword, expecting a blade to clash with my own, only to face his ganondongle? it would be over i would have lost on sight
One thing I STILL dont understand is the timeline. Before people have suspected two possible placements for TOTK (specifically the time Zelda gets sent back to)
A. after Skywards Sword
or
B. after all the other games when the 3 timelines merge together.
So when Rauru says hes the first king of hyrule he talking about a refounding of hyrule.
To me only option 2 made sense since Hyrule Castle (Botw & totk) was build on top of ganondorf to seal him away and to make sure the seal couldnt be broken. This wouldnt make sense if this happens right after Skywards Sword because we see part of Hyrule during Raurus reign and it look identical to BOTW. You couldnt convince me all the other games play out after since Hyrule constantly changes only to then revert back to look the way we see during the calamity.
Also the rito, they only came in existence after Windwaker since the Zora had to adapt due to the flooding of hyrule.
And another thing is the sages and what they represent. Some types are always there like water or fire but others change over the course of history so it would only make sense if Totk (past) would happen after all the other timelines.
But this book seems to confirm option A! So Im beyond confused, maybe someone can clear things up for me.
i personally think that rauru's founding predated SS by quite a bit and the ruins in skyward sword was his kingdom, then present day totk takes place at the end of the timeline where i believe all timelines converged due to divine intervention from hyrule warriors, so im thinking ganondorf (totk) worked with demise to get the gloom power
I think the only thing that makes sense is if the Zonai went extinct before SS
There are so many potentials for the demise of an advanced people such as the Zonai.
Economic depression.
Disease.
War.
Heavenly punishment.
Decadence.
Okay, so based on how the information is presented in this video, let me see if I understand the order of events properly:
- Golden Goddesses create the world and everything in it, including the Secret Stones. They entrust the land to Hylia and leave behind the Triforce.
- Demise shows up and Hylia sends humanity into the sky with the Triforce to protect both of them, before fighting Demise and his forces alongside all of the remaining surface tribes: the Gorons, Kikwis, Mogmas, Parella, and Ancient Robots. (note that the Zonai are distinctly NOT among these tribes)
- Hylia defeats and seals away Demise, but is gravely wounded in the process and won't survive much longer, so she sets up the pieces of her plan as seen in Skyward Sword, before finally shedding her divinity to be reborn 1000 years later as the first Zelda in Skyloft.
- Skyward Sword happens. In the end, Demise is defeated in both the present and past, even if Zelda got most of her leftover divine power drained in the process.
My question is, at what point do the Zonai actually show up? If they were around since before Demise arrived, why weren't they present for Hylia's battle against him? If they were already in the sky by that point, why weren't they present during the events of Skyward Sword itself? Clearly they hadn't _already_ returned to the surface again yet either because Hyrule hasn't been founded, so the only option that makes sense chronologically is if the Zonai weren't a thing at all until AFTER Skyward Sword. But that presents a different problem... how the heck would they have gotten the Secret Stones and blessing from Hylia when she should be dead and gone by this point? She shed her divinity to become Zelda, and even Zelda's residual divine powers would have been greatly reduced after Ghirahim fed most of it to The Imprisoned to revive Demise. Sure, she and her descendants still have powers, but clearly aren't Hylia anymore.
For any of this to make sense, Hylia in her full Goddess form would need to return post-Skyward Sword so that she could bestow the Secret Stones and blessing on the Zonai, though even that alone wouldn't explain why they were absent in every other game, including titles where we visit the sky like Minish Cap and Twilight Princess and find completely different, non-Zonai sky civilizations. Besides, outside of SS, BotW, and TotK, pretty much all worship (and even acknowledgement) of Hylia is scarce, getting a lake named after her at most. If anything, more people seem to know and worship the three Golden Goddesses because of their connection to the Triforce, which conversely, is barely acknowledged in BotW & TotK, as if nobody even knows it exists.
However, I have an explanation for all of these issues: Remember how I said that Demise was first defeated in the present and then once more in the past? That's right, it's time for another _timeline split!_
You see, defeating Demise in the past after having already done so in the present raises a massive question... what happens to the Zelda who's in the crystal? Well, when you first follow Ghirahim to the past, the big doors leading to the back room of the temple are still closed as they should be, since there's still a crystallized Zelda back there reinforcing the seal. However, once Ghirahim uses present-day Zelda's energy to break the seal anyways and revive Demise, there would be no more seal to reinforce and the Zelda in the crystal would break out and subsequently open the doors to leave the room. This may sound like wild speculation at first, but it's not even a theory, it's objective fact that when you return to the temple after defeating Demise, the big doors are open and there's no crystal in the back room anymore. We also know that she didn't just poof out of existence when the timeline changed, because then who opened the doors? Impa would have no reason to open them and endanger the Zelda inside, but if the Zelda inside came out on her own, then Impa would see her and realize what happened. At this point, to avoid two Zeldas being in the same place, she'd have her leave via the side exit and wait outside until everything was over.
Once Link, Groose, and present-day Zelda return to their own time, Impa would explain everything to past-Zelda, who unlike her future self, never got her divine energy drained by Ghirahim, or even spent 1000 years maintaining the seal, meaning she still has all of the energy she charged up. So what would she do at this point? Link is 1000 years in the future with another version of herself, and Demise is gone, so there's no need to use the Triforce to wish him away anymore, but the Triforce itself is still available to use, so what would be the best use for it? How about giving this land its lost goddess back? In fact, I wholly believe that the Triforce is the ONLY reasonable way that Hylia could somehow return, and make no mistake, Hylia _IS_ somehow fully back in BotW & TotK, you literally have multiple conversations with her throughout both games via the Goddess Statues.
Once she's restored her godhood, it would be around this point where the Zonai would pop up, and seeing their potential, Hylia would entrust them with the Secret Stones and bestow them with the powers to use and protect them, which would allow the Zonai to flourish. Eventually they would move to the sky, and the surface would be colonized by the Hylians, Gerudo, Zora, Rito, and Gorons in the meantime, but once they were nearly wiped out by an (as of now) unknown cause, Rauru and Mineru (seemingly the last two living Zonai) would return to the surface and found the Kingdom of Hyrule seen in BotW/TotK.
In the timeline where Demise WASN'T defeated in the past, I suspect that the Zonai tribe would still appear during that 1000-year span, but without the Secret Stones or the blessing from Hylia to help them really prosper, they don't last long and are already gone by the time Skyward Sword begins, having never even been to the sky. Perhaps they still found and tried to explore the depths, but without the Secret Stones or Hylia's blessing, it went so poorly that it led to their extinction in this timeline. Instead, a different Hyrule is founded without them, eventually leading to Minish Cap.
And that's my take. While it's possible that the book might contain further information that says otherwise, based on the info showcased in this video, it seems to seriously back up the idea of a split in Skyward Sword being the only logical explanation for everything we've seen.
@@Luigifan305 That timeline split theory surrounding the ending of Skyward Sword is automatically disproven by Impa's _bracelet_ which she's already shown carrying in her right arm when Link first meets her BEFORE Zelda even handed it to her younger self at the end of the game. Neither the game or Nintendo has as much as hinted at any such split taking place, making your deduction hardly factual and completely detached from any official source of information that would event entertain the possibility for any such scenario as the one you propose has taken place.
Regarding your mention of the Minish and Oocca also existing in the long past, it's very interesting to note that all three sky-faring races (the Zonai, Minish and Oocca) had direct connections to the Royal Family of Hyrule and were extremely important in the kingdom's history yet... they never _interacted_ with one another despite having plenty of reason to as sky races native to the heavens above the clouds. Since the Zonai were (supposedly) in the sky the entire time since the Era of Hylia without meeting either the Minish or the Oocca, that creates the unsolvable plothole regarding the lack of any evidence that the Zonai were ever living up there in sky while either of their fellow sky races were also living there simultaneously across the Eras. Either the Zonai were anti-socials who avoided any visual contact with both the Minish and Oocca or their race wasn't even around when either race was.
Nothing requires that the Zonai were around from early on, the Nascent Zonai period may be far into the future, "first king" and "Hyrule's founding" may be from the perspective of in-game biased knowledge.
@@javiervasquez625 Impa's bracelet is incapable of proving or disproving literally anything because that in and of itself is a blatant bootstrap paradox that breaks the rules of time travel regardless of which system you apply to Skyward Sword. If it were a causal loop (ie: EVERYTHING that happened in the past is predetermined, Prisoner of Azkaban style), then the Life Fruit Tree and the Master Sword in its pedestal would have already been in the temple since the start of the game, plus Demise would already be dead and there'd be no need for the whole quest. If it's instead a self-correcting single timeline, then the Crystalized Zelda in the back room _wouldn't_ be visible from the start, and Impa wouldn't have the bracelet, but again, Demise would be dead and there would have been no need to squash The Imprisoned with the Sky Keep, yet Link and co. return to what is seemingly the same present they just left, where the Keep is still on the surface. The whole situation is an absolute mess because the devs didn't put enough thought into it, so even if it wasn't their original intention for there to be a split there, they've written themselves into a corner to the point where the only feasible explanation for all of this is that there's a split there. It's not perfect, but every alternative has even MORE plot holes, and in places that are even harder to handwave away.
As for the different sky tribes, the Minish are easy enough to explain since only children can even see them, and only once a century while the portal is open. The rest of the time it's entirely plausible that they COULD be interacting with other races undetected. That said, another reason to believe the split theory is that the Minish are responsible for hiding rupees and stuff in the tall grass in most games, but no such thing happens in BotW or TotK, you can't just mow the lawn and find a bunch of free cash like in other games. The only feasible explanation is that the Minish are gone, and while it could just be because so much time has passed, it could also point towards an inherent difference between the world these games take place in compared to all the rest.
As for the Zonai "plot hole" it's obviously not a plot hole at all if there's a split in Skyward Sword, but for argument's sake let's assume that there isn't. We now have two options, either Rauru's Hyrule is the same one in every other game, or it was a new one that was re-founded way in the future.
If it's the former, the Zonai would have already left the sky before Hyrule was ever founded, which doesn't conflict with MC's Wind Tribe (who moved up there AFTER Hyrule was founded), but would DEFINITELY clash with the Oocca, who have been living up there since the birth of the entire Hylian race. Furthermore, there's no Zonai architecture on the surface OR in the sky in ANY game outside of BotW & TotK, plus the map of Hyrule is exactly the same during the TotK flashbacks as it is during BotW/TotK proper, so the idea of the Zonai era being at the beginning of the main timeline and every other game in the series with their vastly different geography taking place in the interim, only for the map to somehow return to its exact original layout afterwards is just ridiculous. Also, that would mean multiple Ganondorfs existing at the same time, and even though Hyrule Castle gets destroyed in some branches, the supposed extra Ganondorf never breaks free. (Plus it's been stated that there were no male Gerudo after the man who became the Calamity)
If instead it's the latter option, where the Zonai era doesn't even begin until after every other game in the series has already happened, and Rauru's Hyrule is a re-founding (which somehow has the exact same name, royal crest, ect., despite Rauru seemingly not being aware of any previous Hyrule's existence), that's slightly less problematic but still has big issues. For example, which timeline is it in? Child? Adult? Downfall? Or did they somehow merge? All of these options have countless contradictions that have been covered by countless videos, and on top of that, they STILL don't explain how Hylia's back.
A fourth timeline, branching off from Skyward Sword, is the only option whose issues are only difficult to explain instead of outright impossible. At the end of the day, when you remove the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
@@Luigifan305 Please excuse this late reply, i've been busy with a lot of work as of late, hence why i haven't been able to indulge RUclips conversations to the extent of been able to properly address such an extensive piece of text as the reply you've concocted above. Hopefully this comment will make it past the RUclips algorithm so that you may recieve it in candor. Without further ado:
_"Impa's bracelet is incapable of proving or disproving literally anything because that in and of itself is a blatant bootstrap paradox that breaks the rules of time travel regardless of which system you apply to Skyward Sword."_
What are you on...? When Link first meets the "Old woman" inside the Sealed Temple at the every start of the game, she is already wearing the exact same bracelet given to her by Zelda confirming that, yes, she very much gained that bracelet after she experienced all of the events her younger self took part on in a previous time loop (just like in the story of Tears of the Kingdom). Rant, ramble and deny it all you want, Nintendo is explicitly clear that the events of Skyward Sword revolved around a closed time loop as per the multitude of official sources which establish and corroborate one another's stance that no timeline splits of any kind exist following Demise's death across two different Eras. The Life Fruit and Master Sword changing places was an intentional oversight for *gameplay's* sake on Aonuma and Fujibayashi's part, as players aren't meant to know such plotpoints as saving Lanayru from his illness, Zelda's Crystal Seal been a major twist in the story and Demise's multiple deaths across different Eras until later in the narrative. You're taking the narrative way too seriously to realize their willing decision to bypass a convoluted and paradoxical scenario where Link is able to interact with future events which would make it impossible for him to carry them out in the present as part of the intended storyline set by Nintendo. You're also very misinformed as to what actually happens to Demise at the end of Skyward Sword, as he was NOT fully killed but rather his _soul_ was, leaving his lingering essence and hatred behind (eg: the Imprioned One) which would remain sealed away within the Master Sword where it would be destroyed once and for all. As you yourself beautifully (and ironically) laid down above: Nintendo didn't put enough effort in writing a coherent and consistent time travel storyline (like ever) because they're not storytellers but rather _game developers,_ hence why Skyward Sword is the inconsistent plot that it is and why the timeline has an entire adjacent branch dedicated to a "what if" timeline where the Hero of Time dies fighting Ganon despite no such event ever actually happening during the actual story of Ocarina of Time. In summary: Nintendo says NO TIME SPLIT EXISTS at the end of Skyward Sword = no such time split exists.
If only children could see the Minish, there wouldn't be stained glass windows depicting the visage of the Minish handing the Four Sword and Light Force to the Hero of Men inside the Elemental Sanctuary, plus King Daphnes wouldn't tell Link that the Deepwood Shrine inside the Minish Woods was a place where _"Humans and Minish used to meet"._ Both aforementioned points point at the Minish having once been visible to adult humans in the long past, only for them to become invisible at a later point in time after the Hero of Time sealed away the Darkness which threathened Hyrule inside the Bound Chest. All of the above said, the Minish are a _divine race_ very much like the Zonai and Oocca are and so for them to be completely detached from a fellow sky race which also conveniently shares relationships with the mortals of the surface worlds takes gargantuan levels of suspension of disbelief without concluding that the Minish and Oocca came about at specific points where the Zonai weren't around.
_"...in BotW and TotK, you can't just mow the lawn and find a bunch of free cash like in other games."_
Pretty sure you CAN albeit not in huge amounts like in prior titles where rupee farming was a breeze thanks to how plentiful the game was in giving you objects to cut, chop and break in order to amass free currency in a heartbeat. Can't see how you reached the conclusion that rupees in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom can't be gained from cutting down grass as i'm pretty sure they can.
It's obviously a plot hole as i have already made it quite clear that no such time split exists and your stubborn refusal to acknowledge Nintendo's official stance on the matter shows a genuine lack of scrutiny and reason to admit your reliance on confirmation bias to explain away your own personal interpretation of the lore established across the series with zero regards for what the games actually have to say on the subject, plus the official words from the developers who's word is very much undeniable law no matter how much your confirmation bias makes it impossible for your grey matter to relent at using fanfiction and headcanon to indulge your dissatisfaction with Nintendo's writing of the Zelda franchise. The only plausible conclusion is that Rauru's Hyrule is a _refoundation_ thousands of years after the end of the three timelines as a soft reboot of the Zelda timeline as a whole.
If it's the former option (it isn't), the Zonai wouldn't have been able to leave to the sky without _meeting_ the Minish, as the prologue of The Minish Cap literally shows the Minish descending from the Heavens carrying the Four Sword and Light Force, making it clear that the Minish have been living in the sky for millenia just like the Zonai have according to the Master Works book. This option would also clash with the Oocca as you so beautifully pointed out, as Shad from Twilight Princess affirms the Oocca ("Sky people" in Japan) were responsible for the *creation* of the land where Hyrule sits upon, creating a massive plot hole as to the timeline placement for the Oocca's direct involvement in the creation of the land where Hyrule stands on without contradicting the Zonai's pressence in the surface world predating the foundation of the kingdom. The lack of any Zonai architecture both on the surface and the sky across the entire timeline prior to the Era of the Wild only further corroborates the utter contradiction underlying the Master Works's information regarding the Zonai's pressence in the ancient past by blatantly dismissing the Minish, Wind Tribe and Oocca's pressence in the skies above the surface world without any interactions with the ancient Zonai who by all means should have interacted with either of these groups during the span in between the Zonai's departure from the surface world and their return. Thank you very much for pointing out the inconsistent geography of the many Hyrules across the series as it makes it ever more clear that the Hyrule founded by Rauru cannot be the very first one to have ever existed without making zero sense with the ever changing geography across every single title in the series. Thank you as well for pointing out the incoherence in having multiple living Ganondorfs at the same time, only for Breath of the Wild and Creating a Champion to firmly imply no Ganondorfs have been born ever since the one who created "Calamity Ganon", further corroborating the refoundation carried out by Rauru and Sonia.
If instead it's the latter option (which it is), where the Zonai appear after many thousands of years after ALL the three timelines have ended and the events of all the games have been completely lost to the passage of time, the newly created *legends* and myths surrounding these many past games as seen all across the maps of both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom would give Rauru the perfect opportunity to found a new incarnation of Hyrule, named after the legendary kingdom mentioned across these many myths spread across the maps of both games in the Wild duology. In summary: Nintendo has soft rebooted the franchise with a brand new kingdom of Hyrule thousands of years after _all_ three timelines ended and the events depicted in all these past games became forgotten, to become legends and myths spread across the Era of the Wild's Hyrule.
As stated above, a fourth timeline which neither the games or Nintendo has ever as much as entertained in any capacity, is the most hilariously baseless tangent of headcanon and especulation that an idle mind with a huge dosage of free time and boredom could ever concieve. At the end of the day, when you stop indulging in headcanon and Reddit-branded diatribe, wathever remains, however it doesn't fit your fanfiction-ridden grey matter, must be the undeniable, objective, lore-accurate, Nintendo-sanctioned, truth.
@@Luigifan305 First of all just ignore the anti video game fanatic named javiervasquez625.
Honestly the simple answer to Skyward sword's time travel is that Impa went to the FUTURE now let that sink in.
So now that we have that out of the way where in time is Link?
I hope they release this book in the west.
I think they will, eventually!
This is so cool! I really hope it gets an English translation someday.
It most probably will ^^
When will Masterworks be released in English? Will it be limited physicals or will there be an e-book? PLEASE I want to know ALL the Lore!
It'll probably end up getting an official English release eventually ^^
I would also like to know the lore and creative inspiration for the bargainer statues.
Love this channel 🙏
I waited for this video keep up the great work as you inspire me to put true scholarship into my lore videos. I actually have a Gaming lab in NYC that I will begin a Detailed Curriculum on the principles and Lore of the series. I have been playing the Games with lore and The Physics that are applied to real world and the World of Zelda. It has been an extreme Run and puts Content in place of Gameplay and keeps from realizing game in an unrealistic fashion. I depend on your breakdowns as you don't just use this page to run your mouth you display true scholarship with your awareness on Japanese and how English standardization lacks the true luster of the meanings. I will be back to dive deep into lore with you on this and other of your works I have been analyzing. So stay on your game Cause you got me started 💯
Hearing your kind words about how my videos inspires you really means a lot, thanks so much and I wish you all the best on your journey as well! ^^
Wow this lore is so interesting! I wish someone made a game about it😔
Trying to reckon the timeline in this book with what we know about Hyrule's history already feels like an impossible task. Ultimately, it's just a game series, and we will have to accept the inconsistencies.
However, I can't help but speculate a bit. With the lore about Null added in from Echoes of Wisdom, I have to wonder if that plays a part.
What if Demise is one of the earliest attempts by Null to break out of its world-prison? Demise and Null have aligned goals of going after the Triforce. Demise is said to have emerged from beneath the earth, Null is literally imprisoned within the earth.
Before TOTK came out, I was of the opinion that the Ganondorf sealed under the castle was the OG Ganondorf. That every version we saw in other games was really the Calamity manifesting through various points in time. That might not have been that far off. Thanks to Null being able to make Echoes that emulate the originals that they copy pretty well, that could be what's going on here.
Since there's a period of 10k+ years between the Sealing War and TOTK, I look at it like how our own world played out.
There isn't a set year that prehistory ends and recorded history starts, and there have been countless human cultures that came and went before recorded history began. Humans have a long tradition of filling in the gaps in our knowledge with fantastical tales. Europeans attributed the pyramids of the Maya to the Norse, to Jewish peoples, to anything but the Maya when they found them. Even to this day, there's all kinds of pseudoscience and pseudohistory slop that attributes the pyramids of Egypt, the Americas, and other sites (not just limited to pyramids) to the works of aliens or some other incredulous explanation.
Our own history is full of examples of humans, in some cases deliberately, not understanding the past and filling in the gaps with wild speculation.
Perhaps something similar is happening here. Null's various attempts at breaking out of its prison could have been mistaken for something else. To ancient peoples who didn't know any better, Null's appearances could have been explained away as an incredibly powerful demon emerged from beneath the earth, defeated by a brave hero, and then cursed the world with an unending cycle of attempts to break out only to be thwarted time and again.
As pointed out in the second video about the Masterworks book, the knowledge of the sealed away Ganondorf became so suppressed and so hidden that nobody even knew he was down there anymore. And I think it's in Creating a Champion for BOTW that it's said that Hyrule has experienced so many periods of prosperity and decline that it's hard to tell what's myth and what's real.
I think that's what we're dealing with here. The history of the world the Goddesses made is so long and so full of upheaval that any and all of Null's attempts to break free and return the world to a chaotic void can and have been explained as an endlessly reincarnating demon bent on taking power. One that has to be thwarted by endlessly reincarnating avatars of divine power.
Thinking about it this way does kinda tie it all up nicely in the sense that it allows for the stories of the various games to unfold as we see them when we play them. But, it also allows for the addition of new entries to the story without really compromising anything.
Think of the myth of Ragnarok. That's a story that's been retold in various forms several times in recent memory (AC Valhalla, God of War, to name a couple of examples from the last 5 years). Each retelling adds one more spin on the legend to the library but doesn't compromise anything that we know about history or compromise anything about the legend itself.
Thinking about the Zelda timeline as Null's countless efforts to break free, happening time and again across incredibly long periods of history, combined with cycles of societal growth and destruction, it's a neat way to wrap it all up in my head.
You make some exciting points. My next video will be one dedicated to Null and the Japanese text surrounding its character. I've already finished the script for it and I'm really excited to get it out to you. The point you make about growth and destruction is also a very fascinating observation in my opinion. The concepts of rebirth and renewal are important in Japanese culture. With that it mind, I think what makes it particularly intriguing is that Null can be interpreted as essentially a representative of a force that eliminates even those concepts. To me, that is what makes Null even more terrifying. I'll be explaining my thoughts more clearly in the upcoming video ^^
@QuestWithAaron I can't wait! I'm absolutely fascinated by villains like Null. Ones that are more like forces of nature or just part of the universe itself. It's part of why I find concepts like Ragnarok so intriguing. It's a process of destruction and renewal that's not done consciously or with any evil intent. It's just a part of the universe.
I'm stoked to find out what secrets about Null are hiding in the Japanese text!
Nice Video.
Your thumbnail is Nostalgiaic to me it gives of old school ben ten videos and easter egg hunter videos.
That's made me really happy to hear ^^
I have feeling BOTW/TotK
Is alternate reality in which the secret stones were created than the Tri Force
Dang nakey Ganondaddy took a big L at the end
IF ONLY we would have had link's arm act as a disembodied Rauru companion.
Nintendo low-key pisses me off sometimes
Like you wrote all this lore and story why not put it in the game bruh why hide it in a BOOK 😭😭😭
I think it's because they wrote this stuff after the game released.
@@xinpingdonohoe3978 Exactly. A lot of this reads like scrambling to "backfill" lore into the gaping holes in the game's world and plot. They outsourced the story to a third party company, Qualia Writers, and now they're dealing with the consequences.
@@xinpingdonohoe3978 true
12.7 inches long, 3.5 inches wide. Uncut. Curves to the left. Tip is e8afa2 pinkish brown, shaft is a deep olive green and glows with gloom. Four distinct veins with the longest raging from the base to the tip on the middle right side. Excretion is macaroon cream. Never shaved or trimmed in his life. And all of that hidden behind solidified gloom.