Just What Exactly Does the Triforce in Zelda Do?

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

Just What Exactly Does the Triforce in Zelda Do?

Yahtzee tackles the Zelda series of games and examines the mystical artifact Triforce to find out just exactly what its purpose is in the games.

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[Thunderous Cacophony]

Actually, secondary question -- what's the Triforce made from? It looks like a metal of some kind, so is it magical in the same way that isotopes are radioactive? And if so, does magic have a half-life?

I figured it was like the gold that the One Ring was forged out of; started out mundane, but was infused with magic and became something greater than it's mundane elements.

As for the powers of the Triforce itself, the Wisdom piece supercharges Zelda's spells, the Power piece supercharges Ganondorf (in Twilight Princess he used it to either come back from the dead or survive execution) and the Courage piece protected Link in TP from becoming a lost soul. That fits with the point of the Triforce; it doesn't grant you sudden miraculous powers, but it gives you greater ability to express what is already inherent within you. It's one of those things where you have to accept that isn't a placebo, because you're never going to get a scientific test saying that it gives you a 53% increase in mana.

 

[gadjo]

I could believe that Ganon needed the triforce if Hyrule ever seemed to have an army composed of more than like, 10 guys.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

"Futile exercise to critique Nintendo's tentpole franchises"? I'm pretty sure the fans of said franchises feel it's futile to try and explain their opinions to Yahtzee as well at this point. I imagine that's the real Batman-Joker dichotomy.

To be honest i haven't played many of the Zelda games that exist, but from Ocarina of Time isn't it stated that the Triforce is either the power left behind by the godesses who created the world?

Maybe they could take that spin on it: The Triforce used to have immense power, but as time has gone on only the legend persisted while its power dwindled and by the end of WindWaker it really could just be a hunk of shiny metal, or as Link uses it; just as a symbol to let him enter the sunken Hyrule.

 

[Invadergray]

Before the Hyrule Historia made the timeline continuity canon, there was an interesting fan theory that the Zelda games were all the same story told through the lens of different cultures. I agree that creating the official continuity detracted from many of the games.

 

[thiosk]

You know, I never played windwaker. Most of the zelda games I played actually seemed to have very little at all to do with the triforce. It was there, it was a thing, sometimes you had to collect parts of it, but I always remember the hard part being obtaining the silver arrows or the hammer or variously colored pajamas.

I guess it was at the end of link to the past, like, instead of the kickass orgy with the 8 lovely ladies, you get this stupid triangle thing.

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

Speaking of the Triforce, it is kind of jarring that some of the Zelda games treat the Triforce as some kind of ethereal power represented by magical emblems, while others treat it as a tangible object.

 

[Enlong]

Few spoilers:


Link to the Past has a wish made on the thing bring a few characters back from the dead, in addition to the rest of the "make things better" effects seen in the credits. It also vaporizes the Imprisoned in Skyward Sword. And A Link Between Worlds has it re-create its counterpart in the other world.

I figure the only one that could be hand waved away is maybe the Skyward Sword one. Then again, why didn't the island fall before then?

 

[Enlong]

Speaking of the Triforce, it is kind of jarring that some of the Zelda games treat the Triforce as some kind of ethereal power represented by magical emblems, while others treat it as a tangible object.

Not really? I mean, there's those pendants that represent the same virtues, but the gold triangles are still a thing.

Wait, you mean the hand crests? That means a particular piece resides in that person. So it's more of a tangible thing that can become ethereal.

 

[RJ Dalton]

The idea of the Triforce having a sort of magical radiation is interesting. Especially when you consider that in Link to the Past, it mutated everyone who entered the dark world into some other form.
Also, the idea of the Triforce having lost its power and now being useless would make for an interesting reveal in a Zelda game, but I doubt Nintendo would go there.

Before the Hyrule Historia made the timeline continuity canon, there was an interesting fan theory that the Zelda games were all the same story told through the lens of different cultures. I agree that creating the official continuity detracted from many of the games.

Totally agree. I always believed that the different games were different versions of the same basic legend myself (I've got a degree in folklore, so I actually came to that conclusion on my own and only found out there was a fan-theory floating around on the internet later, but whatever). It really does detract from the games to have them all in the same continuity because, A) it bogs you down in trying to figure out how each new game fits into the established timeline, and B) the games were obviously not created with an actual timeline in mind, so suddenly linking (no pun intended) them so many years after the fact creates a lot of plot holes.

 

[GUIGUI]

What did the Triforce ever do?

-In Link Between world, it restored a whole parallel world who was decaying and about to die.

-In Link to the past, it brought back dead people that Ganon's minions had killed to the life and undo all the evil Ganon had do.

-In Skyward Sword, it killed Demize (at least it killed its Imprisoned form in present times, the one where he look like a giant Scally Thumbs monster). Ghirahim had to go back in time before his master was killed by the triforce to sacrifice Zelda and reawoken Demize when he was not killed yet (don't ask about the time paradox that might have caused).

-in Zelda 2, it is used to break a spell and awake Zelda from her eternal slumber.

It's worth mentionning that Ganon almost never get the full triforce but only the shard of power, this shard alone is able to maintain him alive while other have to reincarnate to come back and kill him. (when a person of evil intention touch the Triforce for the first time he only get one shard and the two other go to the one it fit the most). To have the full Triforce, the one with evil intention has to hunt down and take the two other shards. This is what happens in wind Waker where he finally reunite the Triforce and its only after the reunification porcess that he can get his wish (the king outrun him while he was gloating).

The only time Ganon really get in full possession of the Triforce was before Link to the past and at this point the only way to stop him was to seal him in the sacred realm where the Triforce is usually stored when not possessed by bearers. This way he couldn't affect Hyrule's world.

 

[Enlong]

Well, Ganon was already sealed in the Sacred Realm at the time. Hilariously, when he (apparently) wished to rule the world, the Triforce gave him dominion of the world he was in at the time. Should've wished to be unsealed, mate.

He also gets the full thing in Hyrule Warriors, but doesn't seem to make any wishes.

 

[GUIGUI]

Before the Hyrule Historia made the timeline continuity canon, there was an interesting fan theory that the Zelda games were all the same story told through the lens of different cultures. I agree that creating the official continuity detracted from many of the games.

That theory never even held on a single legs. It couldn't even work with Zelda 2 who was a direct sequel and had Ganon dead already, killed in the first game.

Windwaker'shyrule castle and its stained glasses clearly indicate that it took place after the event of OOT. Same with Majora Mask, who can't in no way be a different take on OOT, but is a clear sequel and Twilight Princess, who required the banishement of Ganon in OOT for it to be able to happens.

Also, Link to the past is about Ganon getting free from his sealing while OOT is about how he was imprisoned in the frist place.

No one ever considered that "it's just the same story just retold differently" seriously

(...)

I figure the only one that could be hand waved away is maybe the Skyward Sword one. Then again, why didn't the island fall before then?

Why could it be hand-waved? Also, I don't think the Island could have killed the imprisoned by just falling on him. To land a deadly blow, it needed to have additional punch granted by the Triforce, but that's just my take on it.

Well, Ganon was already sealed in the Sacred Realm at the time. Hilariously, when he (apparently) wished to rule the world, the Triforce gave him dominion of the world he was in at the time. Should've wished to be unsealed, mate.
(...)

Never thought of it that way. I actually like that interpretation.

 

[GUIGUI]

How do I delete post?

 

[crypticracer]

Isn't it the thing that forces Link, Zelda and Ganon to repeat their battle over and over again throughout time? They should really try to destroy it at some point. So Zelda doesn't have to spend the majority of her lives captured, Link doesn't have to walk through endless corridors just to collect the same crap he's already collected several times over, and maybe Ganondorf doesn't have to keep being humiliated by a tights wearing elf kid who get's yelled at by fairies.

I too really liked the "a legend being told differently" theory.

 

[Mike Pothier]

Just coming from my years of observation, what I think:
The Triforce does grant wishes, but since it is made from the essence of the Goddesses, to wield its full potential, you need to be a god yourself.

Now Ganondorf might have delusions of godhood, but he isn't a god. That is why having possession of the Triforce couldn't get him out of the Dark World in a Link to the Past. Its like being an infant, banging away at the keyboard of a computer. You can't even comprehend what this object is capable of.

So yeah, it might grant the rudimentary wishes of the mortals holding it, as long as they are very simple wishes, but it won't give you omnipotence if you are just a mortal.

Just my two cents.

 

[GUIGUI]

Isn't it the thing that forces Link, Zelda and Ganon to repeat their battle over and over again throughout time? They should really try to destroy it at some point. So Zelda doesn't have to spend the majority of her lives captured, Link doesn't have to walk through endless corridors just to collect the same crap he's already collected several times over, and maybe Ganondorf doesn't have to keep being humiliated by a tights wearing elf kid who get's yelled at by fairies.

Lorule tried that (In Link Between world), it didn't turn for the best. Turn out the triforce is some kind of fundation without which the whole world fall apart and start to decay and slowly die.

I too really liked the "a legend being told differently" theory.

I really don't see how you could have made it work in the first place anyway. Even before Historia, there was many hint in each game of previous games having happened beforehands, making it just one story with different take just doesn't work.

 

[Alpha Maeko]

It would be an excellent twist if, at the end of a particularly brutal and epic Zelda adventure, the Triforce is assembled and didn't do anything and all that suffering was for nothing.

But Nintendo definitely doesn't have the balls to pull that off.

Hmm...

Ganon: "HAHAHA! The Triforce is mine!"

Nothing happens.

Ganon: "... c'mon. Glow or something. DO SOMETHIIIIIIII-"

Master sword intervention through skull.

 

[GUIGUI]

Just coming from my years of observation, what I think:
The Triforce does grant wishes, but since it is made from the essence of the Goddesses, to wield its full potential, you need to be a god yourself.

(...)

Interesting, but Skyward Sword state the exact opposite of that. Hylia turned into a mortal, Zelda, precisely because Gods can't use the power of the Triforce. The Triforce is an exclusive gift of the Goddesses to the mortals.