The Legend of Zelda and Theology

148 Pages·2011·0.94 MB·English

by  Jonathan L. Walls

The Legend of Zelda and Theology
Edited by
Jonathan L. Walls
Copyright

© 2011 Jonathan L. Walls

Edited by Joan Sanford
Emily Walls

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form by any means including but not limited to electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording,
scanning or other except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.

Published in U.S.A.

ISBN 978–0–9847790–3–1

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While all of our chapters explore meaningful, theological ideas, some are denser
and more in depth in their approach, while others are more topical and touch
multiple bases. I am confident that readers of all experience levels will find
every chapter rewarding and insightful, and hopefully these difficulty indicators
will help you approach this book in the way that fits you best.
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Introduction

Linking the Landscapes of Twilight Princess and Christian Theology
Kyle Blanchette

Trouble in the Golden Realm: Ganondorf and Hyrule’s Problem of Evil
in Ocarina of Time
Jonathan L. Walls
The Birth of Gaming from the Spirit of Fantasy: Video Games as
Secondary Worlds with Special Reference to The Legend of Zelda and
J. R. R. Tolkien
Philip Tallon

Freedom versus Destiny: A Hero’s Call
Josh and Rachel Rasmussen

The Mediation of Transcendence within The Legend of Zelda: The
Wind Waker
Mark Hayse

Take Your Time, Hurry Up, The Choice is Yours: Death and the
Afterlife in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
Josh Corman

On Hylian Virtues: Aristotle, Aquinas and the Hylian Cosmogenesis
Justus Hunter

High Rule? Vintage Virtue in The Legend of Zelda
Benjamin B. DeVan
Portals, Prophecy and Cuccos: Considerations of Power in A Link to the
Past
Jeremy Smith

The Necessity of the Triforce in the Defeat of Ganon
D.M. Burke

Bios
To my Dad.
Finally I get to dedicate one to you. May this inspire you to pick up the
controller and see the world through Link’s eyes for yourself.
A WORD OF THANKS

Special thanks to my dad for insights, suggestions, proofreading and
encouragement. Quite literally, this book could not have been done without you.
Thanks to my mom for buying me my first copy of Zelda. Thanks to David
Baggett, Elizabeth Glass-Turner, and Luke Van Horn for additional insights and
opinions. Thanks, as always, to my wife Emily for proofreading my
contributions, for valuable opinions and for being so attractive.
Introduction

I’ve been a video gamer all my life. The original Nintendo Entertainment
System and I were born the same year (it was released in America two years
later). Over the years, I spent countless hours absorbed in and enamored with
many classic game franchises in their infancy such as Mario, Star Fox, Street
Fighter and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to name just a few. As a gamer, I
was insatiable. Video games provided immersion, fantasy, challenge and, most
importantly, fun.
Little did I know as a child, however, the untapped adventures that still lay
beyond my limited gaming horizons. This was long before the Internet and I
hadn’t a concept of researching and educating myself on the best games
available, like I do now. I simply played what I had access to and, for one reason
or another, I’d never been exposed firsthand to Shigeru Miyamoto’s, The Legend
of Zelda. I didn’t have a clue that a series of games so rich in theme, adventure,
lively characters and puzzle solving existed.
In 1986 and 1987, The Legend of Zelda was released in Japan and
America/Europe, respectively, to an unknowing generation of gamers. Woefully
ignorant and unprepared for the bomb that was about to be dropped on their
fledgling, isolated community, gamers could not have known the Beatles-esque
impact this new game would have. To put it bluntly, everything changed.
The level of interactive adventure, exploration, immersion and storytelling
The Legend of Zelda brought to television screens across the world was unheard
of and it planted an integral seed in the garden that one day would grow into the
diverse gaming landscape we know today. Far from stopping there, The Legend
of Zelda series has continued to release top-shelf games adored by critics and
fans alike.
My first real encounter with Zelda was at an early age when the series itself
was relatively young. While at a friend’s house, I saw in his collection a Super
Nintendo game called, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I had heard of
Zelda in passing, and I think I even knew that there was some protagonist named
Link, so I got the pun. Upon further inspection, I saw that the face of the game
cartridge was crudely altered so that the words The Legend of Zelda had been
crossed out with a blue pen and the name “Jesus” written instead. Likely, one or
both of his parents were behind this and now my poor friend’s game cartridge
(sort of) read, Jesus: A Link to the Past. Amusing, perhaps, but this did little to
pique my interest in the game.
My love for Zelda began a few years later with the release of The Legend of
Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (the next installment in the series) in 1998. If The
Legend of Zelda is The Beatles of video games, then this installment was
Sergeant Pepper’s. I received the game and a Nintendo 64 unexpectedly for
Christmas. I immediately began to devour this new and unprecedented treat.
The game changed my life.
Anyone who played this masterpiece when it came out will know of what I
speak. Hyrule was positively massive. I could go anywhere I wanted and explore
at my own pace. I wasn’t just playing a game, I was living out an ancient
mythology, meeting new and unfamiliar people, discovering lost lands, solving
riddles, avoiding traps and wiping out evil. When I finally finished the game, I
experienced true, forceful nostalgia which, quite frankly, took me by surprise. It
wasn’t merely that I had never felt anything like that from a video game before;
it was that it kicked in before the credits even rolled. That meant this wasn’t
misplaced nostalgia for the period of my life connected with playing the game
(although that is a powerful emotion experienced by many Zelda players). No,
this was nostalgia for the game itself: for Hyrule, for Lake Hylia, for the
Temples, villages, caves and forests themselves. I had no idea a game was
capable of such potency and it stirred up new longings in my heart.
C.S. Lewis said, “I think that all things, in their way, reflect heavenly truth,
the imagination not least.”1 Through this finely articulated point, which (to
generalize) is based on the belief that all good things come from God, Lewis
maintained that all great myths and religions hold elements of truth in them, and
that all this partial truth finally was completed and perfected in the ultimate,
historically true myth, the story of Christ.
Can you find elements of truth in your favorite books, films, music and
games? Can one find truth in the works of Lennon and Cobain? How about in
Tyler Durden or in the Cantina on Mos Eisley? Dante, Steinbeck or Harry
Potter? I think so. This isn’t to say that everything is true, but that truth appears
in a lot of places we may not first suspect.
Before diving into the chapters of this book, let us clearly state what this book
is, and is not, trying to accomplish. For fans of the Zelda series, hopefully, this
will be a reminder of why you so adore these marvelous games. Perhaps you will
experience the same sort of nostalgia I mentioned as you read about and relive
the priceless gaming moments mentioned in these chapters. Maybe seeing the
rich Zelda mythology from a different angle will help you appreciate it in a fresh
way. For any of you who are not familiar with the Zelda series, maybe this book