Posted 02 February 2010 - 09:11 PM
Okay, here's a spin for ya. The Triforce was supposed to be the great powers of the gods. Ganondorf, in OoT, tries to snag it, but only manages to get one because he's unworthy of the other two, and those pieces go to people who would be most likely to obtain it, thus sealing the link/zelda/ganondorf triangle for a general eternity. This appears to be the case in that each of them have the mark on their hands, and the respective triangles alight. This mark still exists in later games, even when the Triforce changed from power to powerful objects.
But at what point did the triforce change from a solid object of magical power, to merely the essence imbued into the entity? Let's use your timeline, shall we? I've already mentioned OoT, MajM doesn't really deal with the triforce, ganon, or zelda, so that's out of the way. Twilight Princess? Still an infusion of energy. Ganondorf sure likes showing off his glowy triangle on his hand. Minish cap? Ganon & Triforce not applicable. I've not played the four swords games, so it's hard to say for them...
Now Link to the Past. While it can't really be indicated whether the marks were on the hands, it's apparent the triforce (namely all three solid objects) were in Ganon's possession, as you retrieve them in the end. This begs the question: were they hidden in the 'golden realm' all along, and only their power touched the heroes/villains? Did Ganon somehow manage to capture the magical artifacts after all, through the sacrifices by Aghanim? Did his transferrance of Zelda and Link into the 'Dark World' separate them from the triforce's powers, thereby putting them in Ganon's grasp again?
Link's Awakening, no triforce or Ganon... not even Zelda. While I never got far in WindWaker, I'm certain I saw Ganondorf in his human form again, so that debunks my idea that depriving him of the triforce in LTTP made him permanently stuck in his 'warthog' state...unless your placement of WindWaker is off. Its possible that once the Triforce was brought 'out' of the golden realm (in LTTP), they remained physical objects of magic as opposed to magical essences, and only those 'chosen' (see: marks on the hand) could properly wield the Triforce. Since the power no longer made Ganondorf Immortal by LoZ, yes, that ensured his destruction was more permanent.
(At this point I'm grasping, but it makes sense in its own way) This would indicate that the triforce of Courage, which was supposedly either unheard-of (likely since the curse made known in AoL) or was merely out of Ganondorf's grasp, was hidden away on PURPOSE, because the power of all three objects wasn't meant to be wielded at once, and the 'Hero' never seemed to stay at the end of the games. The sword was almost always returned to its resting place, and he'd go 'home', wherever that was.
They also indicate several times in the series that no matter where Link is found, from, etc., he appears to have some royal line of his own, and doesn't belong where he is. (OoT: lives with the Kokiri, but not one of them. TP: Supposedly an Eldin child, but I don't think anyone knew his parents.) So does this mean the 'hero' is merely spawned to be necessary to the threat, and he vanishes after the fact? I wonder if this was actually the fate of those tied to the triforce... to vanish once the threat was gone, and reappear with no memories later, to combat the threat again? Was it also common to name one's descendants after the hero, or was it more likely that it was the same hero, over and over, just as immortal and ageless as his nemesis, waiting for his respawn? How, exactly, did Zelda sleep for so long without aging, or dying? Could it have been that those who wield the triforce all around are truly immortal, or was that merely an idea tossed around and applied as-necessary?
This would give leverage to the name 'The Hero of Time', as a warrior who would often appear to be the same all throughout the series... a green-clad, left-handed sword wielding youth who tends to meet the female royalty whenever she exists, and tends to fight the same villain over and over.
...geezus, where did all that come from? I gotta lay off the caffiene. Need a downer to balance meself out... where's my bourbon...?
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