Written by the ancient Sheikah, the archives of creation have been lost to history, until now:
Transliterated from the ancient tongue, which is somewhat subjective in nature
[ ] indicates translator’s best effort at deciphering
( ) indicates translator’s addition for clarity
// // indicates translator’s personal thoughts on the subject
To know the history of the Hero and of [Demise] is to know the history of the world, of light and of shadow. Evil has no place in this most innocent [dichotomy]. Without shadow, there can be no light. Without light, there is no shadow. The “land of the gods” has been called such for [eons], but there are gods in all lands, light and dark. When life comes, death follows. There is no existence without [void]—no presence without absence. Long and long have the people of the land of light, (Hyrule and the surrounding baronies), worshipped the golden goddesses of the [Triforce]. These three in one become Hylia, for whom the holy land is named. But there is another. There has always been another. //remarkable, this lends itself to my theories regarding the ancient Sheikah tribe and the possible schism that caused the royal family to turn on them in the early days of the kingdom, before the “split”—more on that later//
No presence without absence. //such profundity in old writing is the very reason I got into this profession in the first place. My family hardly approves, but I’ve got so much to learn, it’s easy to forget their scorn!//
In the first days, when Din’s strong arms churned the soil, Farore’s living breath stirred the wind and life-giving rain, and Nayru’s heartbeat brought the [sun] up over the eastern horizon, the seeds of life came from these three golden goddesses and their companion, he of death and the void. It is said that his seed produced all [sentient] life. And so life and death danced, hand-in-hand, as must they always. //could this be the missing piece of our beloved Triforce?//
To accompany the fertile soil, the [Fierce Deity] made the deserts and stony mountains, where little grows. As a companion of Farore’s blessed breezes and rain, he brought about winter gales and times of drought. For Nayru’s gentle sun, he formed the [septic] moon, whose cold light gives rot where the sun [preserves]. When the gods created the beasts and people who even now walk the plains and mountains, who soar the skies and swim deep in the seas, they gave both life and death in one union. //”Fierce Deity” added, as I could think of no other name to call the fourth godhead in our false trinity. Thank the gods the old zealous ways have died out or I’d be lynched for this! Anyway, I spoke with a salesman recently, a purveyor of masks, of all things. He told me the tale of a particularly dangerous mask, one that was obtained by the Hero himself in a strange nothing-land (his words, not mine), in order to defeat a great evil. He referred to this mask as the Fierce Deity. Gives me goosebumps just considering it.//
And so the land of light was born.
The goddesses grew restless, disenchanted with the death brought by their necessary partner. They [conspired] to rid themselves of his presence, hoping this would allow that which they created to flourish, unhindered. One dark night, while the cold moon hung over everything, and the [Fierce Deity] slept, the three golden ones chained him and cast him out of the land of light. Because they were vain, the goddesses desired a way to see him and so the [Mirror of Twilight] was created, Din using her blazing arms to melt sand, Nayru, her view of the moon to set a frame for the structure, and Farore, the chilly breath of winter’s wind to cool the great glass. And so through this, the golden ones observed their cast off [mate]. //how cruel. A panopticon of godly proportions.//
Again, the three grew restless. They were bored without their [mate], and frustrated that the pieces //literal translation here, could mean chess pieces, or how the goddesses might have viewed the people of old Hyrule… scary// of their world, [sentient and otherwise], continued to die. What the gods put in motion, not even the gods can stop, especially the particular forces of life and death, the strongest [polarities]. Stubborn as they were, the golden ones refused to start over and give up, deciding amonst themselves to instead create a new companion. To make a [mate] for themselves, the three goddesses took from what which the [Fierce Deity] had contributed to their world, pulling sand and clay from the deserts for a strong body, moonlight to chill hot blood, and that pulled from the undrinkable oceans, made salty by the tears of betrayal. The golden ones thought to remake their [mate] with as much of him as was left in this world. //even knowing what I know, this doesn’t seem like the wisest choice at all!//
The being which rose from this had no name, and did not require one. He was a toy for the goddesses, to serve at their whim and pleasure. Time was created and [eons] passed with little disturbance. But the creation of the goddesses began to learn, grow, become strong, and with that, came curiosity and a genuine need to know why he had come to be. With knowledge came bitterness, fear, and rage. The one with no name sought to build (in secret, presumably) an army and a great power, to conquer the goddesses and usher the [Fierce Deity] back into the world of light.
Amused with their worshippers and the world below as they were, the nameless one’s plan almost succeeded. //Demise’s first incursion//
He marched his armies right up to the very gateway that led to the [Sacred Realm]. Unguarded as it was, due to the hubris of gods, this was not difficult. When the three golden ones emerged, however, the slaughter began and, for the first time in their eternal lives, they understood what it was to bring death. It gave them no pleasure and they sought to slay their creation. The nameless one escaped, barely, disappearing to a far off desert, unknowing what fate had been set before him. The golden ones understood, however, that they had created an immortal. Without the [Fierce Deity], there was no death. Their new plaything could not be killed! //I hate to say I told you so, but…//
Rather than admit their mistake and invite him (the Fierce Deity) back to the land of light, the goddesses once more conspired to create another immortal, with more care and consideration to the consequences. So many of their faithful had been killed in the incursion upon the [Sacred Realm], the golden ones were desperate to make certain such a thing never happened again. From the light of the sun, the warmth of summer breezes and life-giving rains, from the fertile soil and all the life it promised, the goddesses created the Hero, giving him the form of a gentle-eyed youth. Where their nameless [replacement] mate had been large and angular, and hard, the youth was small and soft. Within a gentle shroud, the heart of a warrior beat, however, hard and strong, pumping warm, living blood and filling eyes, blue as the sky, with the spark of wild, eternal life. //the author must have seen him, the Hero. I can’t imagine what that must have been like//
The nameless one gave himself a name which is unspeakable, but means the end. To write his true name is to defy him, to speak it is to summon, so it is written. [Demise] rose from the shadow of the goddesses, angry and unrepentant, jilted and [abused]. His evil grew and reached to all corners of the land of light. This was the first evil in the world, a need for destruction born of vengeance and hatred, undiscriminating and uncaring. Maddened by his wounds and enraged at his lost, [Demise] reached out to the land that would be Hyrule.
It was then that the goddesses became one, Hylia, and raised her favored people into the sky to save them. At the same time, they sent their Hero to fight the beast, [Demise] and seal him with the blade of evil’s bane (the fabled Master Sword). When the Hero returned to [the sky land] (the ancient kingdom of Skyloft), he was battered, close to death, but victorious. The people asked their beloved goddess, who now walked among them, if they could return to their land so far below. Hylia told them that the land was still tainted with evil and that her champion, the Hero, was as yet unprepared to finish [Demise].
What Hylia left the people with was hope and the seed of her power. The child would be named Zelda and so too every girlchild thereafter who also bore the [ichor] (blood of the gods) which flowed within the golden ones. With Zelda came a teaching, an instruction to be vigilant for the return of [Demise] and of the Hero. Time passed, as time does, and the goddesses wrought the chains of the Hero’s entanglement. Along with Zelda, each race was given a [totem of power], which would be passed to the one amongst them regarded as the [sage]. //the word directly translates as “vessel of the gods’ will”, so I’ve taken some liberties here// Together with Zelda, the [sages], with their scrying pools and far-reaching wisdom //a spy network, maybe? Could the Sheikah have been involved here? I have so many questions// kept close watch over the land below, knowing that the rise of evil would herald the coming of the Hero.
