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brightknightie) wrote2026-01-05 08:29 am
brightknightie) wrote2026-01-05 08:29 am
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Hylia called Link by name in BotW!
Over the weekend, I finished all of the spirit-orb-bearing shrines in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (120 base game, 4 DLC).
When I had Link bring the final four orbs to a statue of the goddess Hylia, I knew it was the last time. I knew that you can't have both full stamina and full life, and that there are no more spirit orbs. Yet I didn't have a clue that Hylia, speaking to her chosen hero's spirit in his heart at a site of her worship, would finally, finally, finally address him by name. Not, "You who have conquered the shrines and claimed their spirit orbs" but "Link."
Oh! ♥ I have wondered about that. The fansites I'd consulted in the past listed only the usual response, not this very last response, with its tiny but profound difference. What a rich point for interpretation! It's something about having completely recovered his power, his spirit, that makes her use his name at last. It might be that Hylia actually didn't fully recognize or acknowledge this Link until he repossessed all of the hero's spirit. But I think I'd prefer to believe that she knew him and was waiting until he knew himself, as of course he begins the game fully amnesiac. (Or of course, in reality, it's the most mundane explanation of all, and the dialogue writer/translator for this last bit, or for the DLC if that's what made the difference, was different, and the editor didn't catch the discrepancy. That would seem to be how we get the variation between "Goddess Hylia" and "the goddess Hylia" from the monks, for example.)
Neat!
When I had Link bring the final four orbs to a statue of the goddess Hylia, I knew it was the last time. I knew that you can't have both full stamina and full life, and that there are no more spirit orbs. Yet I didn't have a clue that Hylia, speaking to her chosen hero's spirit in his heart at a site of her worship, would finally, finally, finally address him by name. Not, "You who have conquered the shrines and claimed their spirit orbs" but "Link."
Oh! ♥ I have wondered about that. The fansites I'd consulted in the past listed only the usual response, not this very last response, with its tiny but profound difference. What a rich point for interpretation! It's something about having completely recovered his power, his spirit, that makes her use his name at last. It might be that Hylia actually didn't fully recognize or acknowledge this Link until he repossessed all of the hero's spirit. But I think I'd prefer to believe that she knew him and was waiting until he knew himself, as of course he begins the game fully amnesiac. (Or of course, in reality, it's the most mundane explanation of all, and the dialogue writer/translator for this last bit, or for the DLC if that's what made the difference, was different, and the editor didn't catch the discrepancy. That would seem to be how we get the variation between "Goddess Hylia" and "the goddess Hylia" from the monks, for example.)
Neat!
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I surely cannot be the first person to notice this, but it doesn't seem to be documented anywhere I can easily search up. I suppose that most of the FAQs and Wikis were written before the DLC dropped. And of course not everyone bothers to complete all the shrines, regardless; it's not necessary to do so to beat the game or experience the full story. But what a wonderful lore tidbit I would have missed if I didn't!
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On the other hand, he does perceive his name when Zelda speaks to his mind, from the very first scene. That's how he learns what his name is. But while this Zelda is certainly a descendant of the goddess, whether she is an incarnation of the goddess is up for fannish debate (and I conclude no, she's not, for canon reasons; the Zelda in Skyward Sword , the first in the timeline, is! but not her descendants).
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