What is Lore?
Lore is the collection of knowledge and traditions held by a group of people. In the fantasy genre, it's the building blocks of the world in which a story takes place. Lore plays a large role in the Legend of Zelda series because it connects the games to each other, and it drives the story elements in each game. It also provides fans like us to explore the games even deeper. Two excellent resources that Nintendo has released are Hyrule Historia and Zelda Encyclopedia, both of which are used frequently in this episode. Ocarina of Time has a straightforward lore structure, making it an ideal game to dig into for beginners and diehards alike.
The lore centers around the Triforce, the supreme power left behind by the three goddesses. It can grant the deepest desire of anyone worthy who places their hand on it. However, anyone who touches it and is found to be imbalanced between the three virtues of power, wisdom, and courage causes the Triforce to separate into three pieces. It is kept in the Sacred Realm, which has roots back to the earliest age of Hyrule. In Skyward Sword, Link must endure three trials in a place called the Silent Realm, a reflection of the physical world. It can be speculated that the Silent Realm is in fact the early Sacred Realm. The Triforce is also protected by sages, individuals chosen by the goddesses to guard the Sacred Relam. The ancient sage, Rauru, built the Temple of Time to act as a door to the Sacred Realm. The sages also represent an element of existence: light, forest, fire, water, shadow, and spirit. In Ocarina of Time, Link must awaken each sage, who gives him a medallion signifying their alliance in fighting against Ganondorf. They also collectively have the power to open the doors to the Sacred Realm from the inside, and they must use this power to seal Ganondorf away with the Triforce of Power.
Another mysterious lore piece in Zelda is the Sheikah tribe. In Ocarina of Time, Link learns of an inquisition conducted by the Sheikah tribe where enemies of the Royal Family were interrogated and tortured. Thus, the Shadow Temple stands as a taboo of Hyrule's dark and bloody history. The Sheikah are an ambiguous group of people whose purpose ranges from assassins to messengers to attendants to everything in between.
And finally, there's the timeline split. At the end of the game, Zelda chooses to send Link back in time to reclaim his childhood. This creates a time paradox: Zelda continues to exist in her timeline, but Link goes back and starts a new timeline. This paradox creates a sticky situation with the Triforce. When Link goes back in time having wielded the Triforce of Courage, it is as if he had touched the still-complete Triforce of the past. Since he is imbalanced (dominantly courageous), the Triforce inadvertently splits again, giving an unsuspecting Ganondorf the Triforce of Power as he's being executed in Twilight Princess. In Zelda's timeline, the Triforce of Courage is left suspended without a wielder, so it shatters into eight pieces which the Royal Family collects and hides all over Hyrule for the Hero of Winds to find in Wind Waker. Both Hyrule Historia and Zelda Encyclopedia cover this timeline split in detail.
This episode is rated Diehard. Discussion topics are very specific around certain aspects of the game, and references may not be familiar even to those who have played the game. There are also spoilers for those who haven’t played through the games. We recommend playing through the games from this episode completely before listening.
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