I am reminded of an old young-adult sci-fi novel by the name of Interstellar Pig, in which the titular MacGuffin is supposed to be an all-powerful doomsday device set to destroy all but whatever civilization happens to possess it when it goes off. When the protagonist finally gets hold of it, the device tells him that it's the other way around and will destroy humanity unless he gets rid of it ? at which point he realizes it's nothing more than a data recorder that seeks to be passed from one alien race to the next as often as possible.
Just What Exactly Does the Triforce in Zelda Do?
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
More troubling is the question of what happens to the Triforce AFTER the end of each game. Ok, Ganon's beaten, then Link and maybe Zelda get to party with the Triforce for a few minutes before everything goes back to normal.
And then what? Does the Triforce just float around for a while granting everyone's wishes? Does it explode and the pieces fly out into the world like the dragon balls? Does it re-embed itself back into Link, Zelda, and Ganon? Why?
And then what? Does the Triforce just float around for a while granting everyone's wishes? Does it explode and the pieces fly out into the world like the dragon balls? Does it re-embed itself back into Link, Zelda, and Ganon? Why?
I'm pretty sure Nintendo confirmed it previously. Wind Waker seems to act like that's the case.Invadergray said:
Am I the only one who actually wondered this in the past and did research? Yeah, the powers of the Triforce are vague at best, but it's not as if it actually does nothing at all. For one, it allowed Ganondorf to turn into the giant boar monster in so many games that he's in, such as OoT and Twilight Princess. It also allowed him to single-handedly take over Hyrule, so obviously that entails some sort of immense power along with the change in shape. The Triforce of Wisdom supposedly gives Zelda divine Wisdom and healing capabilities. The Triforce of Courage, however, seems to do the least of all three. At best, it's some sort of almighty shield, protecting against dark magic, such as in Twilight Princess, when Link turns into a wolf instead of a spirit. Not to mention that we've actually seen proof that it actually DOES serve a sort of purpose, just not in Wind Waker beyond the whole ocean thing. Yahtzee, I love your work. You're funny as hell, and damn if you don't have a way with words. But for the love of God, or whatever you believe in, at the very least look it up on Google and skim the results. Don't just assume that it does absolutely nothing.
The games that to me, contain the most sensible and interesting storylines without contradicting each other have always been OoT, WW, and TP. The Triforce's power is those pretty much makes sense. Keep in mind that Ganon hasn't always just sought the Triforce. In OoT he *got* it. And as soon as he touched it, it broke into pieces and bound itself to the Big Three. In my opinion, even though OoT wasn't the first game, that event resonated forward and backward in time to ensure that the three pieces were always bound to Link, Zelda, and Ganon. After all, Ganondorf is a mostly regular human with a basic origin in OoT--but in most other games he's always been around. Link and Zelda get reincarnated, Ganon just keeps coming back to life--even in continuities where he didn't actually get the Triforce. Twilight Princess takes place after young Link and young Zelda stop Ganondorf from ever seizing the Triforce--and when the court tries to execute him he somehow still has it and cannot be killed. Between that and the pig monster it's pretty apparent what Power does. Wisdom is a bit more ambiguous in those games--Zelda can shoot Light arrows, turn into Shiek, and....open doors to get out of Ganon's tower.
It's hard to say what Courage does because we only ever see Adult Link while he has it (in TP he's born with it). We take for granted video game stuff like hurling mighty rocks, surviving sword blows, and leaping great distances. But who knows if that's not the power of Courage? We certainly don't see a lot of NPC's pulling that kind of stuff--Link is the only one able to accomplish much of anything, so he's clearly more powerful than average humans.
As for why Ganon keeps seeking the other two pieces? He doesn't believe that he's not worthy--he thinks it's just a fluke that he broke it the first time. He'd never actually get the Triforce to properly serve him. The reason he has to be stopped is because of the destruction he wreaks in pursuing it.
It's hard to say what Courage does because we only ever see Adult Link while he has it (in TP he's born with it). We take for granted video game stuff like hurling mighty rocks, surviving sword blows, and leaping great distances. But who knows if that's not the power of Courage? We certainly don't see a lot of NPC's pulling that kind of stuff--Link is the only one able to accomplish much of anything, so he's clearly more powerful than average humans.
As for why Ganon keeps seeking the other two pieces? He doesn't believe that he's not worthy--he thinks it's just a fluke that he broke it the first time. He'd never actually get the Triforce to properly serve him. The reason he has to be stopped is because of the destruction he wreaks in pursuing it.
Wow, good question. I always assumed it had been answered in previous Zelda games. I mean my first was Ocarina, and since I was told its basically the same game as the previous ones, I assumed maybe content had been cut. Like maybe Mr. I am Error knows whats going on but he didn't make it into Ocarina. Or some little fairy dipshit explained the Triforce is actually the key to the bearer bonds lock-box and whomever holds it is the richest man in the kingdom.
Do none of the Zelda games really cover the triforce? Isn't that like figuring out Peach and Bowser have been in a relationship this whole time, and they merely roll-play the kidnapping to give their sex life a little more spice? And poor stupid Mario is the only one who doesn't know, but because Peach was his high school crush, no one has the heart to tell him she's moved on to big turtle monster dick...
Do none of the Zelda games really cover the triforce? Isn't that like figuring out Peach and Bowser have been in a relationship this whole time, and they merely roll-play the kidnapping to give their sex life a little more spice? And poor stupid Mario is the only one who doesn't know, but because Peach was his high school crush, no one has the heart to tell him she's moved on to big turtle monster dick...
I always thought that the goal of assembling the Triforce was to take away the power of the three individuals (Link, Zelda, Ganondorf) and amalgamate them into one source. i.e. Ganondorf is afraid of Zelda and Link stopping him so he attempts to gather the Triforce pieces together to stop the prophecy from fulfilling.
It really depend from one game to an other. It's either separated in shards and in this case get inherited from generation to generations, or it lays complete in the Sacred realm, or, before Skyward Sword, when the Sacred realm didn't exist yet, just secured in 3 separated shards in a safe place.Thanatos2k said:
If we take Hyrule Historia as a guideline, you can actually make yourself an idea of the Triforce's Journey.
-some time after the events of Skywayrd Sword, the Sacred Realm is created and the Triforce is sealed there to prevent evil doers from laying their hands on it. The Triforce remains full in the sacred realm up until...
-Ocarina Of time. There Ganondorf manages to enter the Sacred Realm, touch the Triforce who disperses between, Link, Zelda and Ganon. At the end of Ocarina of Time, in the Adult time line, Ganon is sealed in the sacred Realm, while still having the shard of power, while Zelda keep the the shard of wisdom. Link is send back in time, which create the child timeline, meaning the adult Timeline is without an hero to bear the shard of Courage. It results in the shard of courage of the adult timeline being shattered in several pieces.
1.In wind Waker, (adult timeline), as the hero's soul has been removed from that timeline, a new hero has to be found who will gather the pieces of the shard of Courage. Zelda's descendant, Tetra, has inherited of the Shard of Wisdom and Ganondorf, still in possession of his shard of power, managed to escape from the sacred realm, which lead to the submersion of Hyrule. At the end of Wind Waker, the Triforce is reunited, and in the games following in that timeline, the Triforce is no longer seen. It probably remained in old Hyrule when it was submerged and still lay there complete in that timeline.
2.in the childhood Timeline, the hero is sent back in time there as a child, just before Ganondorf put his hand on the triforce. Child Zelda and Link managed to make him be caught red handed by Hyrule's authorities, which lead to his failed execution and thus his banishment to the twilight world, because he still managed to get his hand on the triforce and get the Shard of power. Zelda thus got the shard of Wisdom and the Hero's soul got the shard of courage. Thus there is a Chosen one when the events of Twilight Princess happens.
-In Twilight Princess, the Hero is the chosen and thus inherited of the Shard of Courage and Zelda inherited of the shard of Wisdom. Ganon is still in possession of the shard of power and managed to escape from the twilight world. He is killed by Zant and thus has the shard of Power no more.
-It's worth noting that while the Triforce does not appear in Four Swords Adventures, it's not the same old ganondorf, but a new reincarnation of him that is the big bad and becomes powerful after acquiring the trident, an old powerful weapon of his previous namesake. While not mentioned, This new Ganon might have inherited of the Shard of Power, while Link and Zelda inherited of their own shard.
3. (watch out, this one is a bit more complex)in the defeated timeline, OOT Ganon defeat Adult Link and manage to have the 3 shards and the complete Triforce, but get sealed in the sacred realm by the seven sages. Ganon thus has entire dominion over the Sacred Realm and is in possession of the entire Triforce.
-In Link to the past, Ganon almost manages to escape but is stopped by Link in the Pyramid. There, in the room behind lies the completed Triforce, Link use it to wish all the wrong right and bring people back to life. The Triforce remains complete in the Sacred realm and Link get back to Hyrule and put the Master Sword to rest.
-In the Oracles, a new Link mange to find the Sacred realm where he find the triforce, still being there since A Link to the past. He touches it but thing goes south and he get teleported back in Hyrule. After defeating Ambi and Onox, it is revealed that the Twinrova sisters where trying to resurrect Ganon (after he was killed in Link to the past). Link stops the resurrection process, and Ganon is sealed has a ghost. Somehow, he is sealed with his Shard of Power, probably managed to get it back when Link screwed up with the triforce at the beginning of the game, making the attempt of his resurrection possible in the first place(this is a bit more of a speculation from my part, but it explains why he has his shard of Power in Link Between Worlds). the two other Shard probably went to Zelda and Link.
-In Link Between Worlds, Zelda and Link have inherited from the shard of Wisdom and Courage while the ghost of Ganon still has the shard of Power. Yuga unseals the Ghost of Ganon thanks to the descendants of the Seven Sage (lets note here that the paintings seen in the Castle in Link Between Worlds are a mix of the events of OOT and Link To the Past warped up in a single story, being that the telling of the actual full events might have been a tad too overconvoluted to tell to new players). Yuga manages to absorb the Ghost of Ganon (who was never much reactive anyway) and thus get the shard of Power, while also stealing the shards of Wisdom and Courage from Link and Zelda. Yuga is killed (with the ghost of Ganon as well), the Triforce reunited and brought back to the sacred realm where it is used to restore the triforce of Lorule. The Triforce of Hyrule remains in the sacred realm.
-in Zelda 1, a new reincarnation of Ganon manages to get The triforce of Power. Zelda, in possession of the shard of Wisdom, breaks it in 8 pieces Link will have to collect before defeating Ganon (playing game2 of Zelda 1 allows you to obtain the shard of Power on the end credit).
-In Zelda 2, it is revealed Link is a potential bearer of the Triforce and must take a journey to recover the 3rd shard of the Triforce, the shard of courage, to awoke a different Zelda from an eternal slumber. The back-story of Zelda 2 teach us that that Zelda, untrusty of her brother, took away the Triforce (possibly from the Sacred Realm where her brother could access it?), Wisdom and Power remaining in Hyrule (where later, Ganon from Zelda 1 and the Zelda from Zelda 1 managed to get their hand on respectively), while she hid the Triforce of Courage that Link must now recover, to awoke the princess who, because she refused to say where she had hidden it, was cursed for it. This mean this princess existed in a time set between Link Between World and Zelda 1 and she is far from being the first princess, despite being told to have started the tradition to name every Princess Zelda. At the end, Link get the Shard of Courage, reunite it with the shard of Power and Wisdom he already have and use its power to awoke the Princess and get smooched. No words, tough of what happened to the Zelda of Zelda 1.
(made corrections for Zelda 1 and 2 that I had completely wrong, graphologies. Thanks to Oskuro and CaitSeith for pointing that out)
And, this, people, is what happens to the Triforce in Zelda.
Uh? It doesn't. Quite on the contrary, the Stained glasses in Wind Waker clearly indicate that the event of Wind Waker took place AFTER OOT and thus can't possibly be the same story retell.Thanatos2k said:
Also, I don't think Nintendo made any confirmation of this. Especially as as early as Link to the Past, Shigeru said that third instalment took place before Zelda 1 and 2.
I think you misinterpreted my post. I meant that Nintendo confirmed the timeline continuity canon before Hyrule Historia.GUIGUI said:
Well, a long time ago (like 20 years ago) I read a comic book of Nintendo characters including Link from Legend of Zelda (the "excuuuuuse me princess one. Does that count?). In one event, he actually manages to get his hands on the triforce of power. He gains a number of powerful spells, and a following of monstrous minions, and completely dominates Ganon, but because he used it without the triforce of wisdom (power without wisdom) it corrupts him and nearly turns him into Ganon, to the point where he kidnaps Zelda and tries to force her to surrender the triforce of Wisdom. Even when she expresses her distress over his change in behavior by admitting that she loves him, he responds: "I don't want love. I want more POWER!"
So, I guess each of them gives you what their name implies. Power gives you power (see above), wisdom gives you boundless knowledge and wisdom (and some less-destructive spells), and courage gives you an unshakable resolve.
It makes sense since Link has the triforce of Courage, and never fears anything or gives up, and can counteract some of Ganon's spells through sheer force of will, while Zelda has the triforce of Wisdom and is always speaking cryptically and possesses arcane knowledge (she's basically Merlin in a dress), and Ganon is, well, Ganon. You've probably seen what he can do.
So, I guess each of them gives you what their name implies. Power gives you power (see above), wisdom gives you boundless knowledge and wisdom (and some less-destructive spells), and courage gives you an unshakable resolve.
It makes sense since Link has the triforce of Courage, and never fears anything or gives up, and can counteract some of Ganon's spells through sheer force of will, while Zelda has the triforce of Wisdom and is always speaking cryptically and possesses arcane knowledge (she's basically Merlin in a dress), and Ganon is, well, Ganon. You've probably seen what he can do.
The Zelda IP is what you get if you tried to string every Mario game ever made into a single continuity - messy and dissonant, to begin with.
I think I will be one of the few I would like this ending.Mcoffey said:
I wanted to bring an example an awesome RPG, but it is a giant spoiler, so let just say in one RPG the big twist is the Good God of the world was dead and only the Evil God had survived.
However in the whole game your mission was to seek help from the good God......oops XD
I could not agree more. However, I refuse to call it canon.Invadergray said:
I find myself at odds with other fans of Zelda who have eaten up the Hyrule Historia as gospel truth. It's an afterthought; a retcon. It unifies plots that were not intended nor written to be chronologically linked (a passing reference/homage to previous works is not an anchor from which you can link two stories), and trying to do so is to disrespect the previous works. The Hyrule Historia was an interesting read but it really bothers me that they retconned a bunch of details in and now every Zelda thereafter goes out if its way to reinforce the retcon. Spelling out the whole reincarnation thing is a particularly lazy approach, too. I always enjoyed the concept of the Zeldas as an evolving *Legend*: one story branching into many different variations with each retelling- one single event has been told and retold so many times over the ages that many variations evolved in parallel and have grown to reference each other. I like to imagine that, as I play each Zelda, the "Legend of Zelda" is a bona fide legend within the context of the world you're in and you discover that there is some truth to the legend, but you never find anything as droll as the specific number of times the legend repeated itself and the exact order everything happened in so that any shred of mystery is smothered to death. The end of Skyward Sword really hammered home that every single story is linked by reincarnation and that these exact events are doomed to repeat themselves forever.. I just found this to be really fan servicey and it completely undermined any mysterious "Legend"-ary feel Zelda once had. No actual Legend (Zelda included) holds up to undue scrutiny and it's far better enjoyed without connecting every single dot.
EDIT: As yahztee mentioned, just about every Zelda is so separated by time that it hardly matters if they're chronologically linked or not: each game is it's own story. The focus during development (before skyward sword) is on the game's world itself, not some continuity. If anything they threw in a few details as fanservice to try and get fans to come up with their own theories, but never designed the Zeldas in any actual contiguous fashion. Why do you all pay more attention to the details that supposedly Link the Zeldas together, than to the portrait of Mario in OoT, or the Mario mask in MM? I'm sure at the time, they sprinkled in all these little references for fun, and that's all the thought that went into that. Now, they tried to shoehorned in continuity where it was never intended and I for one do not appreciate it.
Read above. I could easily say that yes there are some direct continuities and the rest are variations of the same story, however it's perfectly reasonable to say that all of them have evolved from one single story. One story spread across the world, retold and evolved over the ages in different, isolated locations, and reunited centuries later in very different forms. Someone trying to make sense of all the incredibly different variations might think they were chronologically ordered events that actually occurred in all the different regions of the world. He might even come up with something as silly as the continuity from Hyrule Historia! Heh, I kid, I kid.GUIGUI said:
Yeah, I myself just ignore all the parts of WindWaker and the other games that treat the triforce like a trinket anyone can dig up with a boat and map. It's a symbolic representation of the virtues of three people, dammit! It has no physical form that can be thrown around like an empty beer can, or worse, broken into pieces (seriously wtf windwaker)! When the three people are in the same room I'll buy that it can manifest into an object that grants wishes, but as a manifestation of virtues within three people it cannot be *taken*. This would explain why it's in Ganondorf's interest to kidnap but not kill Zelda: to lure Link into the same room and with the three of them, allow the triforce to manifest into the wishmaking gizmo.Lvl 64 Klutz said:
Zelda just needs a new villain that isn't another fucking reincarnation of Ganon.
Hey, Nintendo? You know something is wrong when my favorite Zelda antagonist is a floating, sentient mask.
Oh and Yahtzee. If you could be bothered, I would eat up something by you that essentially parodies Zelda and/or JRPGs. Be it poetry, a novel, short story, or stage play ft. Gabriel.
Hey, Nintendo? You know something is wrong when my favorite Zelda antagonist is a floating, sentient mask.
Oh and Yahtzee. If you could be bothered, I would eat up something by you that essentially parodies Zelda and/or JRPGs. Be it poetry, a novel, short story, or stage play ft. Gabriel.
I like that interpretation; that the only power the Triforce has is everyone in the world believing it's powerful.Alpha Maeko said:
You could say, that, but there is so many elements you have to dismiss to consider that interpretation that it ends up being even more far fetched than what Hyrule Historia propose.Link Satonaka said:
Well, if you ignore all those parts, you definitely enter the realm of fanon. The triforce IS a tangible object and can be stolen. It usually lay in the sacred Realm or lay in the soul of those who inherit it (it then actually took an intangible form). But it has a solid manifestation when no one bear it.
Mind you when it is hidden in the soul of the hero (like in Between Worlds), the hero has to prove is worth for the shard of courage to reveal itself, but that's how it work when it is shared by bearers. When it is complete, it's solid.
Not really- I grant that this is a lazy argument but a retold story over an infinite amount of time can become anything. It is far simpler an explanation, more elegant, allows for infinite creative license within each Zelda game, and retains a legendary, ancient atmosphere that Zelda traditionally capitalize on so well. Hyrule Historia's interpretation is a mess of details with a lot of invented aspects created just to tie certain events together. Forgive me for not finding it enchanting.GUIGUI said:
OK, I turn to "fanfon" here. But you have to admit that the canon is just so overly, unnecessarily complicated that it was definitely created to serve gameplay rather than story. I choose to interpret those aspects as a design choice in a game that's meant to be played at the cost of a better story, and I simply play the segments and ignore whatever contorted form the story had to make to accommodate those segments.
Edit- I mean that's the whole point of Yahztee's article. The triforce behaves so differently across each game that you either have to think of it as something with incredibly intricate and specific reactions to various stimuli.... or my each story is merely a legend and as such what the triforce does or how it works changes from retelling to retelling. I suppose I didn't consider the ramifications of my own argument for a minute there
In OoT it could simply be what I described, virtues of each person manifested, and in the retelling of the same legend (WindWaker edition) the triforce is said to be a physical object. tl;dr each game is its own isolated retelling of the same story and how the triforce (or any object) works in each game does not have any impact on any other game. Trying to unite all the games under one universe is just too much of a mess.
The three pieces of the triforce are wisdom, power, and courage in their most pure forms. If you optain enough power, wisdom and courage, via the triforce you can reshape the world in whatever image you like. If you gain ultimate wisdom, ultimate courage, and ultimate power, you become god.