In my last article, I mentioned that sometimes two sources can contradict one another, and when such an occasion arises, it is important to know where sources stand relative to one another. This article is meant to be a guide to determining your own ranking system
The first thing to remember is that there are four main types of sources:
Nintendo-made games
This category encompasses the pure, undoubtable information that we get from the main Zelda lineage. It should rank at the top of any list in terms of validity.
Nintendo-made sources which are not games
The big ones here are instruction manuals, NintendoPower and developer interviews, thought it includes anything made by Nintendo employees that isn't a game.
Third-party sources which are officially endorsed by Nintendo
This includes the Capcom Zelda titles (Oracle series, Four Swords, Minish Cap), the Zelda cartoon, and the official manga. It does NOT include the CD-I games, which are no longer endorsed by Nintendo.
Unofficial sources
Stuff like fanfiction, CD-I games, fanart, etc. Not really good for much besides inspiration and laughs.
Other Considerations:
Dreams
Link's Awakening and Phantom Hourglass both end with Link waking up and realising it was a dream, and as such, excluding the brief sequences at the start and end of each game where Link is awake, these games are not necessarily usable. We would still generally take most of the information as canon, but should a contradiction arise, these dreams would be considered false information.
Chronology
The developers' conception of the timeline has changed dramatically over time, and thus old information is generally trumped by newer information. We still hold on to the belief that all in-game information still holds true, but older instruction manuals and interviews directly conflict with the newer games, and as such we consider them discredited.
That's all for now. If our conception of the Zelda canon changes, we'll post an update.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
How To Do What We Do
We here at The Gossip Stone get thousands of emails every day asking the same thing: "How do you guys know so much about Zelda?". Well, it's quite simple, we just follow a couple QUICK tips.
Question everything
I am a strong believer in the merits of inquiry-based learning, and as such, me and Flat like to start with a question that needs answering. Zelda is full to the brim with such questions, such as "What caused the Divine Prank?" or "Why aren't there doubles of the Kokiri in Majora's Mask?". By starting this way, you establish a clear and completable goal, and it perfectly frames the remainder of the process. Nothing is beyond question.
Use your instincts
Perhaps the most underrated tip, and yet by far one of the most important. There have been plenty of leads that we followed simply because "We had a feeling", and more often than not, those leads turn up some fresh information that we never would have found otherwise. So follow up on your hunches thouroughly, and you might be suprised how much you learn.
Identify contradictions
So you've asked a question and followed your hunch and, unsuprisingly, you've turned up something new. But wait, thinking back, it doesn't quite fit with something you found a few weeks ago, does it? Hmm. Firstly, you have to look at the sources you are looking at, and determine if both are of equal validity. Developer interviews and instruction manuals, for example, have been known to contradict firsthand information from the games, and in these cases we simply deem one of the sources of information invalid, and this is mostly a judgement call. If this is the case, you should start over with a question like "What no longer stands if we consider this manual to be invalid?" or something to that effect, and see what turns up. However, if both sources are valid, you have to...
Come up with a new theory
Over the years, a lot of our major theories have met with the tiniest of problems which eventually cause them to come crashing down. While tragic and irritating, this is a time of celebration, as every false assumption we abandon brings us one step closer to the truth. When new information contradicts an old theory, it's time to come up with a newer, better one. Then, of course, you must start again with questions like "What changes with my new theory?" or "What ius no longer explained without the old theory?". You'll find that a fresh take on things can lead to a huge burst in new discoveries.
Kindly share your findings with The Gossip Stone
By sharing your ideas, you'll get feedback to help you tweak your theories, and we'll get new information to help move the community forwards. Plus, you owe us for these tips. So there.
Well, now you know how Sharp and Flat manage to be so brilliant. Stay tuned for more!
Question everything
I am a strong believer in the merits of inquiry-based learning, and as such, me and Flat like to start with a question that needs answering. Zelda is full to the brim with such questions, such as "What caused the Divine Prank?" or "Why aren't there doubles of the Kokiri in Majora's Mask?". By starting this way, you establish a clear and completable goal, and it perfectly frames the remainder of the process. Nothing is beyond question.
Use your instincts
Perhaps the most underrated tip, and yet by far one of the most important. There have been plenty of leads that we followed simply because "We had a feeling", and more often than not, those leads turn up some fresh information that we never would have found otherwise. So follow up on your hunches thouroughly, and you might be suprised how much you learn.
Identify contradictions
So you've asked a question and followed your hunch and, unsuprisingly, you've turned up something new. But wait, thinking back, it doesn't quite fit with something you found a few weeks ago, does it? Hmm. Firstly, you have to look at the sources you are looking at, and determine if both are of equal validity. Developer interviews and instruction manuals, for example, have been known to contradict firsthand information from the games, and in these cases we simply deem one of the sources of information invalid, and this is mostly a judgement call. If this is the case, you should start over with a question like "What no longer stands if we consider this manual to be invalid?" or something to that effect, and see what turns up. However, if both sources are valid, you have to...
Come up with a new theory
Over the years, a lot of our major theories have met with the tiniest of problems which eventually cause them to come crashing down. While tragic and irritating, this is a time of celebration, as every false assumption we abandon brings us one step closer to the truth. When new information contradicts an old theory, it's time to come up with a newer, better one. Then, of course, you must start again with questions like "What changes with my new theory?" or "What ius no longer explained without the old theory?". You'll find that a fresh take on things can lead to a huge burst in new discoveries.
Kindly share your findings with The Gossip Stone
By sharing your ideas, you'll get feedback to help you tweak your theories, and we'll get new information to help move the community forwards. Plus, you owe us for these tips. So there.
Well, now you know how Sharp and Flat manage to be so brilliant. Stay tuned for more!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Plots of games, for use in timeline messery (part 1: the first three)
This is the first of a few articles talking about what happens in games, focusing on the beginning and ending situations such that they can be easily compared for placement in timelines. This article will cover the first three games, the next one will cover OoT, MM, and TP, the third one will cover LA and the Oracle games, the fourth will cover WW, PH, and ST, and finally the last one will cover the Four Swords titles, as well as Link's Awakening. It should be noted that there was some fairly public discussion of the timeline of these titles early on. The developer-canon order is that Ocarina of Time comes before Link to the Past and Link's Awakening which come before Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link. However, this is "obscured by history" and very well might not be true with the approach of split timelines in Ocarina of Time. Much about the first two games lend themselves to being at the very start of the timeline. I digress, hopefully these articles will be of some use to timeline theorists. Feel free to correct me on anything that I am jumping to too large of conclusions on...
Note: This article assumes that the manuals are useless, and does not include any plot elements only revealed by them. The reasoning behind this choice is that they generally contradict other information in a way that is very hard to resolve cleanly. More will be said about them in the future, hopefully.
The Legend of Zelda
Situation at beginning:
The area south of Death Mountain, where this takes place, appears to be uninhabited except for a few hermits. This likely happens at a period in history where urban Hyrule is north of Death Mountain. Ganon is a pig monster, and never referred to as Ganondorf. He already has the Triforce of Power, but only that. Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom and Link has no Triforce as far as can be reckoned. Zelda splits up the Triforce of Wisdom into 8 pieces, and is captured by Ganon. Link sets out to get both Triforces and save Zelda from Ganon. The Master Sword is nowhere to be found, and Link uses the "Sword" (a wooden sword), the "White Sword", and the "Magical Sword". There is a graveyard to the west, just in the shadow of Death Mountain, but no settlements nearby. River Zoras are a common occurrence, and there is a coast on the East side.
Situation at end:
Pig Ganon is defeated with the Silver Arrows, in his hideout under Spectacle Rock, and is turned into a pile of dust. Link is seen with Zelda, each hold a Triforce, Zelda says that Link is the hero of Hyrule, and that peace has returned to Hyrule now. Good end!
The Adventure of Link
Situation at beginning:
Ganon has been destroyed, Impa has told Link about a sleeping spell cast on Princess Zelda which can only be broken by the power of a third Triforce (The Triforce of Courage), sealed in a palace in Hyrule. To access this Triforce, Link must place 6 crystals in other palaces throughout Hyrule, so he sets out to find this Triforce and save Princess Zelda from sleeping. This is almost always assumed to happen right after The Legend of Zelda because he already has two Triforces and is looking for the third, a rare situation to be sure. What is unclear is exactly how long Princess Zelda has been asleep. The manual makes it seem like a loooong time, which makes no sense. It is most likely that Princess Zelda was attacked with the sleeping spell soon after the conclusion of The Legend of Zelda, probably in part of an attempt to bring Ganon back to life, since after all, when Link dies that is "RETURN OF GANON". This game takes place in a weird location, one not seen in any other game. The Legend of Zelda's map, a large area south of and including Death Mountain, roughly equivalent to the top-right corner of A Link to the Past's map, is a tiny little south-west corner in this game. This is north and east of Death Mountain, in a huge world including a bunch of towns named mostly after sages and also after Mido. Hyrule's coast is on the east side, and also the North, and there are four more islands off east. Two small ones, a boot one, and a maze one. Intriguing. The name of Link's sword and shield are not given in game, but are presumed to be Magical Sword and Shield from The Legend of Zelda, so the Master Sword is still absent. In each town there is an old man with a daughter, who will teach you magic. Volvagia makes an apperance as one of the palace guardians, which is not that surprising. Volvagia is a good choice for a benevolent boss monster.
Situation at end:
Link saves Hyrule and is a real hero! The last boss is, confusingly, Dark Link. He jumps out of Link when he sees the Triforce of Courage, and Link fights him and then takes it and saves Zelda, receiving a kiss in return. Dark Link might represent Link debating with himself over whether to use his wish on saving Zelda or whether to rule the world as a pig demon, or he might be a literal enemy meant to guard the Triforce. Anyways, everything is fine.
A Link to the Past
Situation at beginning:
The Triforce used to rest in the Sacred Realm. Many people fought over it, but eventually someone got in and took it, and since then the Sacred Realm has radiated evil. The Seven Wise Men were ordered by the King to seal the entrance to the Sacred Realm from Hyrule, and did so. Anyways, Ganon was in there. Aghanim has killed the King and opened the seal, and has started kidnapping the Seven Maidens, descendants of the Men. Hyrule is a kingdom surrounded by mountains and forests in this game, with no coast in sight. The geography is all south and west of Death Mountain, with a Lost Woods in the upper left-hand corner and Kakariko village just south of the Woods. Lake Hylia is in the Southeast corner of the map, the Sanctuary and the Graveyard are south of Death Mountain, and the Castle is somewhat in the middle of this area. Link's house is near the Castle, where he lived with his Uncle, a Knight of Hyrule. Ganon is in the Sacred Realm, with the entire Triforce, and has made his wish to rule the entire world, which has only been partially granted to him. He rules the Dark Realm (his corrupted Sacred Realm), and has apparently become a hideous pig demon, but maybe only because he's in the Dark Realm, which corrupts the form of all who enter. His hideout is in a tower he has built in the Dark Realm, replacing the Tower of Hera, named Ganon's Tower. Link starts out with some crappy equipment from his Uncle, but gains the Master Sword (in the Lost Woods) and the Mirror Shield. He then makes the Master Sword twice as awesome by getting some dwarves and then a very fat fairy to improve it. The only place people live, other than still living Wise Men who hide in caves, is Kakariko Village.
Situation at end:
Link kills Aghanim, and then Ganon the pig, using Silver Arrows and the Master Sword. It appears that Aghanim turns into Ganon, which is strange. Perhaps Aghanim was the embodiment of Ganon? Anyways Link gets the Triforce (yeah, the whole thing) who explains a bunch of stuff about it, because apparently it can talk. Link makes a wish to set everything back to normal peace, and then puts the Master Sword back in its pedestal where it "sleeps forever". The Sacred Realm theoretically goes completely back to normal as well, but not definitely, nothing is said about it specifically.
Note: This article assumes that the manuals are useless, and does not include any plot elements only revealed by them. The reasoning behind this choice is that they generally contradict other information in a way that is very hard to resolve cleanly. More will be said about them in the future, hopefully.
The Legend of Zelda
Situation at beginning:
The area south of Death Mountain, where this takes place, appears to be uninhabited except for a few hermits. This likely happens at a period in history where urban Hyrule is north of Death Mountain. Ganon is a pig monster, and never referred to as Ganondorf. He already has the Triforce of Power, but only that. Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom and Link has no Triforce as far as can be reckoned. Zelda splits up the Triforce of Wisdom into 8 pieces, and is captured by Ganon. Link sets out to get both Triforces and save Zelda from Ganon. The Master Sword is nowhere to be found, and Link uses the "Sword" (a wooden sword), the "White Sword", and the "Magical Sword". There is a graveyard to the west, just in the shadow of Death Mountain, but no settlements nearby. River Zoras are a common occurrence, and there is a coast on the East side.
Situation at end:
Pig Ganon is defeated with the Silver Arrows, in his hideout under Spectacle Rock, and is turned into a pile of dust. Link is seen with Zelda, each hold a Triforce, Zelda says that Link is the hero of Hyrule, and that peace has returned to Hyrule now. Good end!
The Adventure of Link
Situation at beginning:
Ganon has been destroyed, Impa has told Link about a sleeping spell cast on Princess Zelda which can only be broken by the power of a third Triforce (The Triforce of Courage), sealed in a palace in Hyrule. To access this Triforce, Link must place 6 crystals in other palaces throughout Hyrule, so he sets out to find this Triforce and save Princess Zelda from sleeping. This is almost always assumed to happen right after The Legend of Zelda because he already has two Triforces and is looking for the third, a rare situation to be sure. What is unclear is exactly how long Princess Zelda has been asleep. The manual makes it seem like a loooong time, which makes no sense. It is most likely that Princess Zelda was attacked with the sleeping spell soon after the conclusion of The Legend of Zelda, probably in part of an attempt to bring Ganon back to life, since after all, when Link dies that is "RETURN OF GANON". This game takes place in a weird location, one not seen in any other game. The Legend of Zelda's map, a large area south of and including Death Mountain, roughly equivalent to the top-right corner of A Link to the Past's map, is a tiny little south-west corner in this game. This is north and east of Death Mountain, in a huge world including a bunch of towns named mostly after sages and also after Mido. Hyrule's coast is on the east side, and also the North, and there are four more islands off east. Two small ones, a boot one, and a maze one. Intriguing. The name of Link's sword and shield are not given in game, but are presumed to be Magical Sword and Shield from The Legend of Zelda, so the Master Sword is still absent. In each town there is an old man with a daughter, who will teach you magic. Volvagia makes an apperance as one of the palace guardians, which is not that surprising. Volvagia is a good choice for a benevolent boss monster.
Situation at end:
Link saves Hyrule and is a real hero! The last boss is, confusingly, Dark Link. He jumps out of Link when he sees the Triforce of Courage, and Link fights him and then takes it and saves Zelda, receiving a kiss in return. Dark Link might represent Link debating with himself over whether to use his wish on saving Zelda or whether to rule the world as a pig demon, or he might be a literal enemy meant to guard the Triforce. Anyways, everything is fine.
A Link to the Past
Situation at beginning:
The Triforce used to rest in the Sacred Realm. Many people fought over it, but eventually someone got in and took it, and since then the Sacred Realm has radiated evil. The Seven Wise Men were ordered by the King to seal the entrance to the Sacred Realm from Hyrule, and did so. Anyways, Ganon was in there. Aghanim has killed the King and opened the seal, and has started kidnapping the Seven Maidens, descendants of the Men. Hyrule is a kingdom surrounded by mountains and forests in this game, with no coast in sight. The geography is all south and west of Death Mountain, with a Lost Woods in the upper left-hand corner and Kakariko village just south of the Woods. Lake Hylia is in the Southeast corner of the map, the Sanctuary and the Graveyard are south of Death Mountain, and the Castle is somewhat in the middle of this area. Link's house is near the Castle, where he lived with his Uncle, a Knight of Hyrule. Ganon is in the Sacred Realm, with the entire Triforce, and has made his wish to rule the entire world, which has only been partially granted to him. He rules the Dark Realm (his corrupted Sacred Realm), and has apparently become a hideous pig demon, but maybe only because he's in the Dark Realm, which corrupts the form of all who enter. His hideout is in a tower he has built in the Dark Realm, replacing the Tower of Hera, named Ganon's Tower. Link starts out with some crappy equipment from his Uncle, but gains the Master Sword (in the Lost Woods) and the Mirror Shield. He then makes the Master Sword twice as awesome by getting some dwarves and then a very fat fairy to improve it. The only place people live, other than still living Wise Men who hide in caves, is Kakariko Village.
Situation at end:
Link kills Aghanim, and then Ganon the pig, using Silver Arrows and the Master Sword. It appears that Aghanim turns into Ganon, which is strange. Perhaps Aghanim was the embodiment of Ganon? Anyways Link gets the Triforce (yeah, the whole thing) who explains a bunch of stuff about it, because apparently it can talk. Link makes a wish to set everything back to normal peace, and then puts the Master Sword back in its pedestal where it "sleeps forever". The Sacred Realm theoretically goes completely back to normal as well, but not definitely, nothing is said about it specifically.
Friday, July 2, 2010
OOT-TP: The Great Migration
At the end of Ocarina of Time, Link and Zelda realise what a grand mistake they had made in opening the Sacred Realm as children, and Zelda sends Link back in time with explicit instructions not to make the same mistake again, beginning what me and Flat affectionately refer to as the Child-Timeline. More than a century later, the events of Twilight Princess take place in a new and different Hyrule, one so changed that we are barely able to recognise it. What happened in these years to transform this land so completely? Read on and find out!
What changed in Child-Timeline Ocarina of Time
When Link gets sent back, the important thing to remember is that he does NOT open the Sacred Realm. Ganondorf continues in his plan to acquire the spiritual stones, and as a result, Barinade kills Jabu-Jabu, explaining why he isn't present in Twilight Princess. Additionally, the Dodongo's Cavern remains unusable to the Gorons, leading them to search for rock sirloin in the depths of the mountain, via the Goron Mines. However, when Ganondorf discovers that even with the stones he is unable to open the Sacred Realm, he adopts the brute-force approach, leading an army of Gerudo and monsters on Castle Town. After sacking the town and destroying the castle without obtaining the Ocarina of Time (Which was most likely taken north with the escaping royalty and populous) , Ganondorf finally just destroys the Temple of Time, but finds he is unable to lift the Master Sword. Thus, Castle Town and the Temple of Time are left in the decrepit state we find them in in Twilight Princess. Eventually, Ganondorf's army is beaten back (Most likely by an army of Sheikah from the Hidden Village), and most of his Gerudo are killed in the process, explaining their lack of presence in Twilight Princess.
(Disclaimer: Ganondorf is not necessarily the one who attacks Castle Town and there is plenty of evidence against his doing so. However, an attack was obviously made, and Ganondorf is still the best theory we have so far. Other ideas are welcomed and appreciated.)
What changed in Child-Timeline Ocarina of Time
When Link gets sent back, the important thing to remember is that he does NOT open the Sacred Realm. Ganondorf continues in his plan to acquire the spiritual stones, and as a result, Barinade kills Jabu-Jabu, explaining why he isn't present in Twilight Princess. Additionally, the Dodongo's Cavern remains unusable to the Gorons, leading them to search for rock sirloin in the depths of the mountain, via the Goron Mines. However, when Ganondorf discovers that even with the stones he is unable to open the Sacred Realm, he adopts the brute-force approach, leading an army of Gerudo and monsters on Castle Town. After sacking the town and destroying the castle without obtaining the Ocarina of Time (Which was most likely taken north with the escaping royalty and populous) , Ganondorf finally just destroys the Temple of Time, but finds he is unable to lift the Master Sword. Thus, Castle Town and the Temple of Time are left in the decrepit state we find them in in Twilight Princess. Eventually, Ganondorf's army is beaten back (Most likely by an army of Sheikah from the Hidden Village), and most of his Gerudo are killed in the process, explaining their lack of presence in Twilight Princess.
(Disclaimer: Ganondorf is not necessarily the one who attacks Castle Town and there is plenty of evidence against his doing so. However, an attack was obviously made, and Ganondorf is still the best theory we have so far. Other ideas are welcomed and appreciated.)
Sages in Child-Timeline
The sages in Child-Timeline are all spiritual beings similar to Rauru. Inhabiting the five temples, these spirits were killed off by the boss monsters Ganondorf sent to the temples in Adult-Timeline, with one unique and relevant exception: the Sage of Spirit. Even as a child in Ocarina of Time, Nabooru has already been called to the Spirit Temple, and Twinrova is already living there, leading us to believe that the original Sage of Spirit dies before or during Link's childhood in OOT, and therefore the Sage of Spirit in TP is most likely Nabooru.
The Lost Woods, Kokiri and the Great Deku Tree
The southern landscape of Hyrule is drastically changed during the years between Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, and a large portion of this stems from the expansion of the Lost Woods over much of what is eventually referred to as the Ordon and Faron provinces. The other noticeable change is that the Kokiri are no longer present, having either died out or, as I would prefer to believe, transformed into the monkeys seen in Twilight Princess (Thus, the Kokiri lack doubles in Majora's Mask because the monkeys are in fact their doubles). Gohma remains inside the Great Deku Tree long after his death and is able to locate and kill the Deku Tree Sprout, preventing a new tree from growing. Without his magic, the Kokiri are transformed back into forest creatures (Monkeys) and escape into the Lost Woods (Or die, if you really prefer). No longer kept in check by the Great Deku Tree, and with a nearly uninhabited expanse of land at their disposal, the Deku Scrubs (Or perhaps even the trees themselves) convert the majority of Hyrule Field and Castle Town into dense forest, eventually being referred to as the Faron Woods.
Ordon Village and Lon Lon Ranch
After completing the Cucco game at Lon Lon Ranch as a kid, Talon jokingly asks Link if he would like to marry his daughter, Malon. While it may have seemed like nothing at the time, we believe that Link does indeed marry Malon, and that their descendants, along with the descendants of Ingo and whoever else decided to stay behind, become the inhabitants of Ordon Village. While we have yet to agree on true lineages, a couple can be assumed with acceptable certainty. The pairing of Link and Malon most likely becomes the descendants of either Link or Ilia in TP (But hopefully not both!). Also, the goat ranch that Fado runs in TP may in fact be the very pasture that forms the center of Lon Lon Ranch in OOT, implying that he may be descended from Ingo, who takes care of the cows in OOT.
Well, that pretty much leaves us at the Divine Prank and, therefore, the end of the period known as The Great Migration. Stay tuned for more!
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