The Legend of Zelda by Angela Mercado

The Origins:

Long ago from the heavens came three goddesses into the chaos of the universe.

• Din, Goddess of Power and creator of the material realm
• Farore, Goddess of Courage and creator of life
• Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom and creator of order

After creating the world, the Golden Goddesses made the Triforce, an omnipotent relic whose power could be harnessed by any mortal, good or evil. 

The Triforce is made of three smaller segments, each containing the essence of its corresponding goddess: 

• the Triforce of Power
• the Triforce of Wisdom
• the Triforce of Courage

Even though the power of the Triforce can be accessed regardless of intention, an ancient prophecy states that if the holder of the Triforce has malicious intent a Hero is destined to defeat them.

The Triforce can only be used by someone with a perfect balance of power, wisdom, and courage. If the heart of whoever attempts to wield its power is not in balance, the Triforce will split into its three parts. 

Only the part representing their strongest trait will remain, leaving them unable to use the Triforce until they have found and collected the other Triforces.

“If that one seeks the True Force, that one must acquire the two lost parts. Those two parts will be held within others chosen by destiny, who will bear the Triforce mark on the backs of their hands.“

The Triforce was placed in the Sacred Realm, a parallel dimension created by the Goddesses through which they first entered, and later left Hyrule. The state of the Sacred Realm mirrors the intentions of those who enter it seeking the Triforce.

Before returning to their home, the Triforce was left in the care of the goddess Hylia, warden of the new land and its inhabitants.

• The world created by the Goddesses was called Hyrule, named by the race of humans living there
• The humans named themselves Hylians, after the goddess Hylia that they worshipped

Other non-human species living in Hyrule include the Kokiri, Rito, Gorons, and Zora.

There are three main ethnic/cultural groups within the Hylian race.

• Hylians
• The Sheikah Tribe
• The Gerudo

The Era of Hylia:

After several years of peace and prosperity under the care of the Goddess Hylia, the Demon King Demise, an eternal entity and source of all monsters and malice, emerged through a crack in the earth in search of the Triforce. 

To save her people from his demon army, the Goddess of Light gathered any surviving Hylians onto the section of land surrounding her temple and used her power to send part of the outcrop into the sky. She created a magical cloud barrier to seal off the Sky from the Surface and protect the Hylians from Demise. 

Hylia created the Sky Keep underneath her temple, a chamber containing a gate to the Sacred Realm (the Triforce), her sacred harp, and the Goddess Sword. The gate to the Sacred Realm was designed to be opened with the Song of the Hero, a melody that could only be learned and played by the Chosen Hero on Hylia’s harp.

• The Chosen Hero is a Hylian destined to help Hylia serve and protect Hyrule during times of need. The Goddess Sword was forged by Hylia to help arm her Hero.

After securing the safety of the humans and the Triforce, Hylia and her Hero joined the rest of the beings on the Surface to fight Demise and his army. After a long battle, the Goddess was able to overpower Demise and trap his soul in a prison she created in the ruins of her temple where the Goddess Statue once stood. The rest of the survivors spread out across Hyrule and established their own domains. 

Now gravely injured after the battle, Hylia knew that her seal on Demise couldn’t last forever and feared the catastrophe his powers would unleash on the world when he escaped. 

To prevent this, Hylia created a guardian spirit called Fi that would be bound to the Goddess Sword and aid the Chosen Heroes of the future. She also renounced her divinity so that her soul could later be reborn as a mortal, allowing her to use the Triforce and finally stop Demise when he was later freed. In her final moments, Hylia appointed a dragon to watch over each of the regions of Hyrule in her absence. 

• Faron, Eldin, Lanayru

She gave the sky spirit Levias the task of protecting the skies, and taught a portion of the Song of the Hero to each of them, instructing them to await the Chosen Hero and pass on the song when the time came.

The Era of the Sky:

Thousands of years later, Hylia is reborn as Zelda, a teenager living in Skyloft. After Zelda is kidnapped by Ghirahim, a demon lord that rules over the Surface, in order to attempt to free Demise.

• Hylia sends Impa, her Sheikah advisor, through time to rescue Zelda from Ghirahim. They travel to the Temple of Time, an ancient monument on the Surface that protects the Gate of Time, a portal created by Hylia before her death that leads to the time just after Demise’s imprisonment. After using the Gate of Time to return to the past, the Gate of Time is destroyed.

Zelda regains her memories as the goddess Hylia.

Meanwhile, on Skyloft, Zelda’s childhood friend Link is lead by Fi to find and pull the Goddess Sword from where it was hidden by Hylia, and is revealed to be the next Chosen Hero. With the help of Fi, Link travels down to the Surface and seeks out the three sacred flames to forge the Goddess Sword into the Master Sword. He uses the sword to activate a second Gate of Time in the original location of Hylia’s temple, the place where Demise was trapped.

Link travels back to the Era of Hylia to find Zelda and Impa, where Zelda had just placed herself in a 1,000 year long sleep to preserve the breaking seal on Demise. Link goes back to his present, collects the Song of the Hero, unlocks the Sacred Realm, and uses the Triforce to destroy Demise.

• Back in the past, Zelda awakens from her sleep, and is kidnapped (again) by Ghirahim. He takes her even farther into the past, and uses her soul (the soul of Hylia) to revive Demise and bring him back into the present after Link had killed him.

Demise’s Curse:

Link fights and defeats the resurrected Demise, sealing him away inside of the Master Sword. With his last words, Demise swears that reincarnations of his evil will follow “those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero” in an eternal cycle. 

The Master Sword is placed in a pedestal inside of the remains of Hylia’s temple on the Surface, which is now called the Sealed Temple. Fi becomes dormant inside of the sword. Zelda and Link return to their present, while Impa remains in the past (her present) to guard the sword.

Back in their time, Zelda and the other humans leave Skyloft and repopulate the Surface.

The Aftermath:

Zelda’s descendants later established the Kingdom of Hyrule and became the Royal Family. The Princesses were all named Zelda, after the original mortal incarnation of Hylia, and carried on the blood of the Goddess. The Sheikah, who once served the Goddess herself, became the right-hand of the Royal Family. The name Impa became common among the Sheikah, and is the name that the personal advisors to the Princess shared. Link is often a member of the Royal Guard or is Zelda’s personal knight. 

Most Zelda games follow a Princess Zelda, and incarnation of Demise, and a Hero called Link as they carry out their destinies of conflict. Though the condition and location of the Triforce varies, it is generally considered that the essence and powers of the Triforces of Wisdom, Courage, and Power are within Zelda, Link, and Demise respectively (though not always active).

Discussion Questions:

1. What makes a series like this work better as video games over other mediums like books or movies? 

2. Does the complexity of a world like this (time travel, reincarnations, alternate timelines, etc.) work for the story or against it?

3. Is Zelda’s role in the series fitting considering that it’s named after her?

4. How do the ages of Link and Zelda affect the story and how it’s received by players?

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Worldbuilding Presentation by Elissa Parker Alexander

Summary:

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is a young adult fantasy novel written by Ransom Riggs. The book begins with the main character, Jacob, recounting his experiences from a future perspective. He focuses on the stories his grandfather used to tell him about gifted (peculiar children) who lived with him on an island during WW2, and the monsters he fought with them. He also showed various pictures that Jacob now sees as “cleverly edited.” Jacob is very clear about the fact that he no longer believes his grandfather’s stories.

The inciting incident of the novel is when Jacob goes to check on his grandfather, as their entire family thinks he’s suffering from PTSD after the war. As Jacob drives into the neighborhood, he sees a “blind” man with white eyes supposedly staring at him. When Jacob arrives, the screen door is scratched, leading Jacob to investigate the forests behind the house. Lying the grass outside, bleeding out, is Jacob’s grandfather, who tells him to go to the island, and gives him some cryptic information about Emerson, a bird and September 3rd, 1940, before dying. Jacob sees some sort of tentacle mouthed creature in the woods and proceeds to have vivid nightmares where he wakes up screaming.

After the nightmares continue despite treatment, Jacob’s psychiatrist suggests that he should go visit the island to confront his trauma. Once arriving on the island, Jacob discovers that the house his grandfather lived in was blown up by German planes, and that his grandfather was the only survivor. Despite this, he explores the house and meets some mysterious characters, and perseus them into a cairn tunnel. When he emerges from the tunnel, Jacob finds himself in 1940 on exactly September 3rd, the day the house was bombed. This is where he meets the peculiars his grandfather described: Millard, the invisible boy, Bronwyn the brute, Enoch, who can bring the dead back to life, Hugh, whose body is able to house bees, his (unmentioned?) ex-girlfriend Emma, who can control fire, and more. This half of the novel is spent exploring the new world without much conflict.

The second half of the novel is where conflict begins to emerge. Miss Peregrine is revealed to be hiding big elements of peculiar life, specifically the antagonists: hollows and wights. Hollows are former peculiars turned into tentacle-mouthed creatures in an immortality experiment gone wrong. Wights, on the other hand, are former hollowgasts who have consumed enough peculiar souls to regain a human form. Their only defining feature are white eyes without pupils. Jacob’s peculiar ability is being able to see hollows, while others can only see their shadows. Emma and Jacob begin to fall in love. The group soon discovers that a hollow has come to the island with a wight in the present to find Jacob. The wight reveals themselves to be Jacob’s psychiatrist who encouraged him to come to the island.

His “psychiatrist” has also posed as Jacob’s bus driver and his family’s lawn worker in order to keep tabs on him, hoping to be lead to the loop. Jacob and Emma are separated from the group when Dr. Golan sics his hollow on them. Once the two recover and return, they find that the other children have been locked in the house and Miss Peregrine has been taken. Millard, the invisible boy, managed to follow Dr. Golan and leave a trail for the rest to follow. The ending scuffle ends with Dr. Golan dead, and Miss Peregrine safe, but she is trapped in her bird form, causing the loop to collapse without her to reset it, leaving the house destroyed by the bombs. Jacob decides to live in the peculiar world rather than returning to his old one, leaving a note for his father (and bringing Emma to visit :/) The group takes a boat to the mainland, guided by Horace’s prophetic dream, in hopes of finding salvation.

Analysis:

The fantastical element found in this world is obviously the peculiar children and their society. They have a very specific way of life, centered around ymbrynes, who create the time loops. Since the main characters all never age (except to their death), their entire lives focus around their one day in the loop. They are also all trapped in the same time period, only able to travel into current times for a few moments. While peculiars manage to escape persecution this way, they also trap themselves in an immortal Groundhog day hell they can’t leave if they stay too long, which, while worth the trade-off for some (Jacob and Abe), just can’t work out for others. (Like Horace or Hugh.) A lot of the peculiars that Jacob meets have been given up or abused by their parents/ authority figures. Despite being immortal, they still haven’t overcome their past traumas.

Real-World Connection:

The main thread that connects the world of the peculiar children to our world is the feeling of not belonging, or being looked down upon/ cast out just for being yourself. The books go further than just being seen this way by outsiders, but also by those within your group, who may just as easily try to hurt you. The book also tackles the typical teenage “coming of age” experience with Jacob’s need to leave the normal world behind mostly because of his romance with Emma. The main attraction of his life changing choice is a whirlwind romance with his grandfather’s ex-girlfriend…anyway. Another way the peculiar world connects with ours is the found footage. All of the photos used to provide visuals for characters and places were found by the author at flea markets, and some of the characters were mainly inspired by the photos, giving the impression that peculiarity really lives in our world.

Discussion Questions:

1. How much do you think the found photos contributes to the worldbuilding of the story? How different would the book be without them?
2. Who do you think Jacob represents in the world? Is he always an outsider or does he become a real peculiar by the end of the book? What makes a peculiar child?
3. Are loops the best solution to the peculiars’ problems, or is there a better way for them to live?
4. Do you think the strange nature of Emma and Jacob was an intentional narrative choice or supposed to be a real romance?

The World of “Honored Ancestors” by Isobel Perez

Summary:

“Honored Ancestors,” also called “My Dear Ancestors” is a chapter from Junji Ito’s collection of short stories titled Shiver. The story opens with Makita bringing Risa, the protagonist, home after she’s mysteriously lost her memory. He claims to have found her wandering around on his way home from school only to realize that she can’t remember who he is. Risa doesn’t remember her way home or who her parents are. 

After taking Risa to the doctors, the doctor states that he believes that her memory loss may be the result of some sort of psychological shock and that they’ll carefully consider their treatment. Makita promises that they can “start over again” and that they’ll be able to experience everything they’ve done together again and that it will be exciting.

Later, Risa sees a giant caterpillar crawl into her room as she’s lying in bed trying to sleep. The caterpillar tries to crawl into bed with her and she screams, waking her parents and causing them to rush to her room where they find her alone. The next day, Risa tells Makita about this experience, worried that the caterpillar may come for her again. Makita tries to comfort Risa by inviting her out where he later confesses that he likes her and that prior to Risa losing her memory, he had already confessed this to her. Risa doesn’t remember this, and Makita replies that he couldn’t imagine losing his memory. 

Makita invites Risa to his house which she’s apparently visited before. She eventually meets Makita’s ill father who was once a writer but who’s now unable to do much as a result of his illness. Risa has met Makita’s father in the past, but she doesn’t remember this either. Makita’s father eventually comes out of his room, scootching across the floor on his back where he then reveals that Risa was previously engaged to Makita. Risa’s anxiety continues to grow as she returns home. Risa begins to wonder if Makita’s house has something to do with her losing her memory. 

Makita eventually returns to Risa’s house, panicked because his father is dying and he’s requesting Risa’s presence. They rush to his room where Risa sees that Makita’s father has a long line of skulls attached to his head. These skulls are the skulls of their ancestors. Risa lost her memory because of her shock when she first went to Makita’s house and met his father. The skulls resemble a large caterpillar which explains her hallucination. 

These skulls contain the memories and thoughts of all Makita’s previous ancestors and have been draining Makita’s father’s energy. Now it’s time for Makita to become attached to the skulls. Makita’s father and the skulls demand that Makita produce an child and continue the family line. With this, Risa regains her memory, but she doesn’t want to marry Makita or have. a child with him. She runs and Makita chases after her, spurred on by the cries of his ancestors and his father. However, he eventually collapses, sensing that his father has died, and he stumbles back into the bedroom where the skulls attach to him. Risa sees this and runs again while Makita continues to chase after her, crawling with the skulls trailing behind him. Risa reverts to her memory-less state and collapses on the floor. The skulls begin to plan a wedding for Risa and Makita, proclaiming that the family is safe for another generation. 

The Real-World Horror of “Honored Ancestors:”

Most of Junji Ito’s worlds are set in realistic settings with characters that experience little development throughout the procession of his stories. This reflects the real horror of Ito’s stories: his stories could happen to anyone, anywhere. His undeveloped characters allow the reader to easily insert themselves into the narrative and immerse themselves in a horrifying experience.

Specifically, with Ito’s “Honored Ancestors,” the undeveloped characters and the unspecified setting allow for Ito to comment on societal pressures and expectations. “Honored Ancestors” focuses on the pressure older family members place on younger generations to get married, have children, and “continue the bloodline.” Ito takes the fear and anxiety that can arise from having this pressure placed on you and creates the image of a long stretch of skulls living off of Makita’s father and, by the end of the story, Makita, himself. 

One motif that I’ve found in a lot of Ito’s stories and that I found particularly terrifying in “Honored Ancestors” is the loss of control experienced by the characters in his stories. I think this idea is especially interesting in “Honored Ancestors” because it reflects how younger generations can feel a loss of control over their own lives. When Makita’s father dies, he falls in pain then has to wobble over to the room to attach the heads to himself. He’s lost his autonomy and now has to listen to the thoughts and opinions of his ancestors for the rest of his life.  

The scene where Risa is running from Makita and collapses, having lost her memory, was another horrifying/disheartening moment of this story. Risa has lost control of her life and her body and must now live a life and have a child that she didn’t want. Both characters are victims to societal/generational pressures and expectations. 

What value/meaning does “Honored Ancestors” have for our real world?

Like I said, “Honored Ancestors” shows how creating a world that mirrors real-world allows writers to comment on social norms. Through the use of exaggeration and absurd details contrasting the banality of our real-world, writers can truly showcase the horrors of whatever subject their commenting on.

Discussion questions:

• How do you think “Honored Ancestors” being created as a manga contributed to the worldbuilding of the story? Do you think there would have been more/less/equal impact if the story were created as a written short story?
• Do you think Makita’s family of skulls is an isolated incident or that there are other families out there in like this Ito’s world?