Q & A
Q:
Who are these BS-X mascottes? What do we know about them?
A:
The BS-X mascottes were avatars (one for boys, one for girls) for the user interface of the BS-X
which was in the form of a city through the buildings of which you could access different
services (games, minigames, settings, etc.). As such, these avatars were primarily meant to
represent the player. Therefore, by having them star in the BS Zelda games (and other less known
games) the programmers intended for these to be a "live your own adventure in Hyrule" sort of
experience (based on this, it could be said the avatars are from our world since they are meant
to be us, even though the BS-X city looks like a really crazy place).
You would interact through your avatar anytime you turned the BS-X on, so even before or after
playing a game, your character would continue to exist. As such, it would be possible for us to
regard this Hero (of Light, according to AST) character(s) as having had two different adventures
in the land of Hyrule in two different ages (in a later setting first, then an earlier one).
Then again BS The Legend of Zelda, unlike BS The Legend of Zelda Ancient Stone Tablets, doesn't
just add to the stories of existing Zelda games, but by having a hero from another world replace
Link actually rewrites one in part, and this is clearly not canon, so it isn't really of much
importance whether we assume the same hero appeared in two different ages or that it was two
(one per game) different but alike looking (as do all Links) heroes since to actually have the
avatar in BS LoZ requires to either consider it not canon or twist the facts presented by the
game a bit. Similarly, you may decide yourself whether they come from our world or a similar one.
Q:
There are crosses on Link's shield and tombs in the NES games; there also is a church
with a cross and a cross item in the second game and in the Japanese Hyrule Fantasy the Magic
Book is even called Bible. Is there Christianity in Hyrule?
Does any of this apply to BS Zelda also?
A:
Obviously when the first two games were made, the programmers were mainly inspired by European
middle ages epics among which, tales of the crusaders; so back then the answer would have been
yes. With the introduction of A Link to the Past though, they discontinued this conception and
created an all new mythology for the game.
Being a port of the NES game, BS Zelda mantains many of these instances. The small shield lost
its cross, but the Magic Shield retains it still, as do the tombstones and the book.
If you wish to find a justification for those crosses still, you may consider
that before Christianity the cross had been to many cultures a symbol of the sun (because of
the form of its corona during eclypses), fire, divine triumph and the cycles of life and
seasons.
It seems likely though that was the game to be released today, all crosses would be edited out,
as was the Magic Shield's in its redesign for Soul Calibur II as well as those no longer on the
tombstones in the Realm of Memories within the 25th Anniversary edition of Four Swords.
Q:
What is the Underworld? Why are there old men in there?
A:
Exactly what it appears to be: several underground mazes where the Triforce is hidden.
Most people assume that the Underworld (all of it) is Ganon's. And indeed, according to the voice
acting in BS Zelda they are "the evil king's labyrinths". But if they are Ganon's, why can't he
get the Triforce parts? That leaves two possibilities: either the guardians were placed there by
Zelda and/or the old men in the dungeons (but why put the Triforce parts in the enemy's
strongholds?) or the people who wrote this voice acting script didn't really think things
through... so let's disregard that line and assume the dungeons are not Ganon's
property (except the one he dwells in, of course)
So, regardless of whose dungeons these are, the lesser enemies may well be Ganon's minions
(trying to recover the Triforce) while the dungeon bosses have got to be some kind of guardians
to keep anybody from the treasure chamber. In this sense I suppose it could be said that
Ganon's minions took them over... minus the rooms that matter most!
If so then the old men within could be the dungeons' keepers (except they now holed up
themselves into certain rooms to escape the invading monsters) and they could even be the ones
that placed bosses to guard the Triforce (and this would explain why they know so much about
said bosses).
It's not so far out if you consider that at least the bosses (minus the fourth one?) and some
others (if not all) Temple enemies of AoL were chosen by the Just King who ruled with the
Triforce (and in TWW, the Tower of the Gods is filled with the same enemies that make up Ganon's
army, like Dark Nuts, etc.).
Still it'd be kind of odd that the enemies hold keys and are connected to the door triggers if
they're just meant to be Ganon's underlings who have infiltrated the dungeons... but I suppose
they want to get to the Triforce before you do. Furthermore, this doesn't explain the old men
that, in the NES game, are in Ganon's own final dungeon... maybe they sneaked in to help the hero with their
knowledge? Or pehraps they are prisoners.
Q:
Is the Master Sword sword in the original The Legend of Zelda (and therefore in the first BS Zelda)?
A:
Almost certainly not. While one may argue that the programmers could have thought of the third
sword of the first game when making the blade of evil's bane in A Link to the Past (nevermind
that it is said to sleep forever at the end of that game), when they made BS Zelda, much later,
they still called the second and third swords White and Magic Sword respectively; if they really
meant for one of them to be the Master Sword they would have said so, wouldn't they? However,
it is also true that the BS Zelda Magic Sword does resemble the Master Sword in its shape and
is gold as was the Master Sword at the top of its power in A Link to the Past. Nevertheless, in
Soul Calibur II, both the Master Sword and the Magic Sword were featured and made to look quite
different (the only thing in common being the color scheme). So it appears we have a final answer
at last.
Or not... now that the Magic Sword is out of the question, people are trying to find
similarities between the Master Sword and the second sword from LoZ, the White Sword. Honestly,
if the White Sword was really the almighty Master Sword, what would that make the Magic Sword?
The Fierce Deity's? While I may admit to some resemblance in the artworks for the two swords,
and while the Sacred Blade in MC (which bears some resemblance to the Master Sword in the GBA
port of ALttP), before becoming the Four Sword briefly takes the name of White Sword, I think
it's better we stop at that (a possible correspondence between White and Four Sword), lest we
all go crazy.
...but we can't do that, can we? Because then Nintendo had to label the intermediate form between
the Goddess Sword and Master Sword in Skyward Sword the White Sword, didn't they? So could then
the White Sword in the first Zelda game be a powered down Master Sword? Hell if I know at this point.
Q:
In ALttP people changed shape upon entering the Dark World (unless they had the Moon Pearl).
Why does this not happen in AST?
A:
AST is not the only game in which this is an issue, the change also doesn't occur in Oracles
and FSA. Some characters in ALttP claim it is the power of the Dark World or "magical air of
the Golden Land" that is responsible for it, others that it is the Power of Gold, the Triforce,
that transforms people in order to grant Ganon's wish for the world. The relation between the
wish and this side effect I can only try to guess. Perhaps it has something to do with evil
greedy men entering the Dark World to join Ganon's army; giving them the shape of monsters will
make them more dangerous, while those who are not evil may be hindered by the change (as Link
was). We know for a fact that those who wandered into the Dark World were eventually allowed to
return to the Light World and their shape once Link obtained the Triforce. So, in conclusion,
the only way to avoid conflicts, is to say that the Triforce, to grant Ganon's wish, made the air
of the Golden Land/Dark World change people who enter it, and seeing as Ganon does not have the
Triforce in AST, that's one problem solved.
Q:
But wait! If Link recovered the Triforce shouldn't Ganon's Dark World have vanished as seen at
the end of ALttP?
A:
This might be considered a plot hole... but AST never calls the dimension in which Ganon's Tower
stands the Dark World. It doesn't really name it at all. So the real question actually is: how
come the place still looks so dark? Wasn't Link's wish on the Triforce to change the Sacred Realm
into a paradise? Well we don't see much of the place, just the area around Ganon's Tower. Maybe
that's the only location that still looks like that, possibly because of the resurrected Ganon
filling it with his malice.
Q:
Where do the Stone Tablets come from? Who mad ethem and why?
A:
We don't really know, but my belief is it may have been the Sages. In the introduction of ALttP,
we are shown the Sages gathered around a portal to the Dark World. I believe that may be the
portal we unseal in AST. Naturally, since they knew the portal to lead to Ganon, they also
inscribed on the Tablets used to unseal it how to summon the weapon that can slay him.
Q:
I thought the Master Sword was supposed to sleep forever. What gives?
A:
Yeah, that's a plothole. There's really no working around this one. It's the same as in Oracles,
except in those games the sword is optional whereas here it's mandatory that you get it.
Q:
So Ganon's malicious essence could not be vanquished... is that how he comes back in in the
original Zelda on NES (and BS Zelda)?
A:
I don't see why not. It really is the only kind of explanation we were ever given in that sense.
And even if you don't consider Ancient Stone tablets canon, Skyward Sword more or less established
the same thing anyway (except it's hatred instead of malice, apparently).
