I always imagined that Zelda’s light force was the blood of Hylia being passed down by each incarnation of her.

I don't think it was ever meant to be an origin story for the triforce, considering in the exact same image of Zelda holding it, she's already wearing an emblem of the full triforce on her dress, implying that the full triforce has existed as a concept for some time already.

And, now we even have theories about the force from Minish Cap being a secret stone.

Now we just need to figure out how Tingle fits into all this.

i really love how you treat the lore like a historian would

80s/90s game devs: "Wait, fans want games to be connected? And lore? And no contradictions in the stories? Can't they just be happy with another game?"

Force gem theory is fun. She already had the blood of the goddess, the minish just went and put a magical super battery in her blood. No wonder she's capable pulling off some wild magic bs without help from the triforce.

Perhaps the Triforce are the 'force gems' of the Golden Goddesses and the Light Force is that of Hylia. It's a neat retcon if Fujibayashi ever inteded it.

having a video show up on your feed saying 22 seconds ago feels so wierd

Yeah, I just assume at this point that the Light Force is basically the power of Hylia, and any Zelda in the bloodline can manifest it as magic.

I have an idea on the whole "the origin of Link's Cap" in Minish Cap. The Hero of Men in the intro is without a cap, but in Skyward Sword it covers the origin of Link's outfit and cap. The story of the cap is that Skyward Sword Link has his cap as part of his uniform as well as what everyone else who graduated wears aside from the colors, the cap doesn't really have any specific meaning behind it by itself, which could explain why the Hero of Men doesn't wear a cap, its was irrelevant. Its wasn't until the Minish Cap that gave Link's cap a symbolic meaning (due to the cap literally becoming his companion), hence why every Link after has a cap as part of their outfit.

The sages having a hand in the creation of the Master Sword could still work with the events of Skyward Sword. Hylia could have tasked the ancient sages to forge the Goddess Sword.

I feel like it’s rare to see Zelda theory videos now from my favorite KZfaqrs

I have a migraine and I'm so grateful how you use dark mode screenshots of websites where possible and describe images/read off quotes shown on the screen so I can look away from the screen or close my eyes and still be able to enjoy this awesome video! I know you work hard on these visuals and I will absolutely rewatch this once the migraine has passed but it means a lot that your videos are so accessible and bring me a lot of comfort.

How many mystical sky-races in that now? Minish, Oocca, Zonai, the Wind Tribe, the Goddesses, and the Hylians in Skyward Sword.

In ALBW, we learn that the Triforce holds the universe together, and my headcanon is that it does so by giving off a specific energy- Force. Force then congeals into the various elements (which we see with the crystallized Elements/Royal Jewels), as well as Life Force and, by extension, souls. Wishing on the Triforce involves hijacking this "Force field" to reshape reality with it, hence why doing so properly involves having a strong, balanced will, and an improper user causes the Force field to essentially rebound on the Triforce, causing a Cataclysm. The Light Force, as I see it, was a creation of the ancient Minish that was essentially an attempt to replicate the function of the now-sealed Triforce. As suggested in the video, it's essentially an extremely powerful variant of Force Gem, hence why it can bend the background Force field somewhat to grant wishes.

Zonai and Sheikah technology using the force gems was a idea that I never thought about

Welcome back Don, awesome video! :D

Formulated my own theory while watching. I do agree that perhaps Capcom had originally intended for Minish Cap to be a sort of origin story, with the Light Force meant originally to be related to the Triforce in some way, but the rest of the canon later in the series retconned that, but I believe I have a lore-respecting way to explain what it is. What if the Light Force isn’t a physical thing at all, and is just a different way to refer to something we already know of? Vaati extracts the Light Force from Princess Zelda in a very similar way to how Ghirahim and Demise extract Hylia’s power from Zelda in Skyward Sword, what if the Light Force is just the power of the goddess the royal family, specifically Princesses, posses? Minish Cap, relatively speaking, takes place very early in Hyrule’s post-establishment history. The knowledge of the Triforce seems to be largely lost, but imagery still exists, as you said, in a similar fashion to how it does in the era of Breath of the Wild. Relatively speaking, Zelda and Link returning to the surface to eventually lead to Hyrule’s founding was recent news in the time of the Minish Cap. My theory is that the people of Hyrule, knowing that Zelda is related to the goddess Hylia in the early years of the kingdom, and also knowing of the Triforce, associated all godly powers with golden triangles. Over time, the Triforce itself is lost, as well as knowledge of the goddess Hylia and her relation to the Hyrulean Royal Family, however it’s still vaguely known that princesses in the family possess light powers, even if they don’t know how or why they have them. I’m essentially saying that the “Light Force” is just the power granted by Hylia’s blood in Hyrulean princesses, just known as a new name in a new era. After all, history is often told in different ways as information is lost and/or recovered across time, so it definitely would make sense.

Minish cap works well as a children's book giving the censored version of how the kingdom was formed.

Love seeing Minish Cap coverage, it's the best one out of the 2D Zelda games in my opinion. I will die on that hill! Hopefully, someday we'll get a proper explanation for the Light Force. Similar to the Zonai and their Secret Stones, which were said to be gifts from the gods themselves and were NOT created by the Zonai, I think the Picori and the Light Force are in the exact same boat. Beings from the heavens bringing the people of the surface gifts from the gods.

Can’t it be that the ancient sages forged the goddess sword for Hylia since we see the sages medallions on the ceiling of Hylia’s temple? That sword ultimately became the Master Sword when tempered with the three goddesses flames and given the benediction of Hylia.

I would love a theorie about the sky tribe and the zonai. Especially since their art is so similar

It would probably have made more sense for the Triforce as a single entity to have faded a bit from memory and people were just talking about individual forces at that point

I always interpreted the Golden Light to be primordial magic remnant from the creation of Hyrule focused by the Minish as a gift

Thank you for actually acknowledging that the games are just legends. So many people like to just ignore that and treat every game like fact. As someone who really loves mythology that has always been my favorite thing about this series and a big part of why I love theorizing about it, you have to look at the bigger picture and the more nebulous connections between things, because if you try to take everything at face value, nothing will line up, just like real mythos.

Love the work you put into these videos

I'm still wating for the game where we play as the Hero of Men.

I really like how you went back and looked at older theories about this stuff from when the games came out and before the official timeline. I fondly remember poking around in forums at the time & hearing this kind of stuff. Looking at the history of theories on a topic is a novel approach I’d like to see more of actually

Love the video. You always make great zelda content, whether it's Canon or not, and I like the idea of the force in your videos

If the Light Force is a different thing from the Triforce, it could explain a lot of what we're seeing in BotW/TotK. Zelda's sealing power is implied to be Rauru's purifying light power, passed down to Zelda through her bloodline. When Zelda uses the power you can see the Triforce on the back of her hand, and when Rauru uses it against the Molduga you can see briefly see golden triangles. People have taken this to mean the Triforce is within Zelda's bloodline, however we've never seen the Triforce passed on in this way. But Minish Cap directly tells us that the Light Force is passed along through Zelda's bloodline, and it's represented by a golden triangle. This Light Force could also be the purifying light power of the goddess Hylia, passed down in the bloodline from the very first Princess Zelda in SS. For some meta evidence of this, Fujibayashi was the director of Minish Cap, Skyward Sword, BotW, and TotK. In recent interviews he's claimed he's being very intentional with the lore depsite what fans may think, and it'd make sense if the powers presented in the games he directly made are the most closely related.

MINISH CAP VIDEO WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIOIIIIIIIOKOOOOOOOOOOOH

Ok, didn't expect a Minish cap theory great! the music of this game always makes me nostalgic even so I didn't play it when I was a child.

Love your vids,you are my favourite Zelda KZfaqr❤

At present, I think the Light Force as it is called in this game refers to Hylias divine power dormant in Zelda and by extent the royal bloodline. Being godly powers it makes sense a villain in search of power for his personal goals would search out ways to control or make use of the super natural power of the gods and goddesses.

A possible idea is that the light force is the physical representation of hylia's power inside of zelda's bloodline.

Amazing! Beautiful video.

I really like minish cap! I’ve never played it but from all I’ve seen I just love it! And as always: Great video Don!

I always assumed the Light Force to be related to Zelda's special powers (later revealed to be related to Hylia), like a special Force Gem because of her ancestry. Glad to see it's still somehow right.

i like to imagine the light force is part of Hylia's powers. ofcourse thats just me theorizing with hindsight

Since the minish come from another realm, it is possible the Golden Light is a Triforce equivalent from their dimention. We know other realities exist with their own triforce equivalents now so it's not too much of a leap that the Pikari world also has them. They travel over to the Hylian realm on a set schedule with a large gap between so it would make sense they bring one of their Triforce as protection. This explains why it's just the one triangle and why their realm doesn't collapse like in Lorule. While the golden light exist in Hyrule, the other two parts are still keeping the realm alive and thriving. It could even be possible that the Golden light part of their triforce is what is enabling the Dimention crossing. The Triforce has been long tied to time, space and reality with different dimensions, time travel and willful influences on dimentions. It was the Triforce that Gannon used to shape the Golden realm into his dark realm and was in the process of merging with the main realm in Link to the past. It is very possible that the Golden Light is the Triforce of the Pikari that holds control over interdimentional magics.

Great video 😊

A perfect video to drift away on a rainy day!

Yeay, a minish cap video, its criminaly underrated but such a wonderful game

I think a good rule of thumb is unless you explicitly SEE an event take place in game you should maintain some skepticism to any story you're told. That's why the master sword origin change never bothered me much. We got told a legend about how it came to be, legends are not firsthand accounts you're playing a millenia old game of telephone.

Thank you, warrior.

7:06 Sure, I'd love to go back to the 2000s lol. The world was (or rather, seemed) a lot less complicated than it is today. Its maybe my nostalgic feelings for my childhood talking, but the 2000s were a golden age for gaming and animation in my opinion.

Wow❤ Your videos inspire me! Could you mind making another documentary about monsters?

Excellent!

I think nayru created the goddess of Hylia when she created the law and order of the land. That's why the triforce of wisdom is so attracted to zelda as she is Hylia's reincarnation. Her light and time powers are Hylia's. These are the powers she needed to keep law and ordernin hyrule

Another thing interesting... In japanese, the Four Sword can be alternatively translated as "Force Sword", the pronounciation feel really the same actually.

Woa! I had no idea that the sword sealing a thing like a chest came from Minish Cap I just remember that being neat in Hyrule Warriors

The white colour of light is formed when red, blue, and green colours of light meet in equal proportion

Have you got to ask Loruleanhistorian to help you out with this video or maybe for future Zelda videos for translations?

I always wondered with the Triforce lore on why the Triforce split upon Ganondorf touching it, because it mentions imbalance, but how? Princess Zelda and basically-Queen Princess Zelda will rule more territory than the Gerudo, but he *outwitted* her *better judgement* just as he invaded the Sacred Realm, and doing all is pretty *gutsy* with his odds of being potentially executed if found out. (Which he would have been executed, because we know from TP)

Fun Fact: Fujibayashi (who worked on Minish Cap, Skyward Sword, BotW, and TotK) helped set the stage by introducing the concepts of the "Golden Light", the "Goddess Hylia", and their connection to the Triforce.

The Triforce IS different from the Light Force as the Light Force comes from the Goddess Hylia while the Triforce came from the other Goddesses (Din, Nayru, and Farore).

When I first started playing TotK I was hoping the past with Rauru and Sonia would have taken place a little after SS. It would have explained the Force in Zelda's princesses and tied it all together.

I really appreciate the approach of looking at the topic based on both now and the time it was released. As someone who used to do unhealthy amounts of research into topics like this, I feel very seen by this video! lol I've been in the camp that the light force was supposed to be an explanation for Zelda's powers back in the day, especially since the dialogue TMC ends on seems to set up the Light Force playing a part in the series from that point onward. But I wonder if it can still apply to an extent, maybe coexisting with her goddess powers. I don't know if it's said anywhere exactly which of her powers are definitively retroactively goddess powers, but I could be missing something. Part of me wants to say that maybe the light arrows specifically are derived from the Light Force... But yeah I better stop thinking about this before Zelda lore starts consuming my brain cells again.

Something that always bugged me with four swords adventures was how the dark world exists on he child timeline, where four swords adventures is situated, years after the events of twilight princess.

I like to think that the story at the beginning of minish cap is a scewed, retelling of the events of skyward sword, plus another adventure early on after skyward sword with the chest of monsters, the hero of men, and the picori blade.

Dang and I JUST started playing Minish Cap too, lol. I was under the assumption that Zelda's "Light Force" was either the Triforce of Wisdom or Hylia

Left field theory: The light force is a fourth force meant to fill the negative space triangle cutout of the triforce.

Hylia can get wisdom from sages long before the earliest games.

My take is that the golden light is a parallel legend that came about about the same time as the original legend as 2 different interpretations of the same event. While this contradicts the “they are separate forces” thing I feel like it’s the most fitting

Honestly, I don't think they had plans for it in the overall lore at the time. Maybe they had plans to use the triforce, but didn't get the green light to include it in Minish Cap. Making it fit with current lore, maybe it's like the 'essence of Hylia' or something. Something to represent Hylia's power in Zelda. Speaking of which, what's the deal with Hylia in the Switch games? In SS, it was revealed that she reincarnated into Zelda, but in BotW and TotK, she's talking to Link through Statues and Zelda is struggling to get in touch with her.

Maybe the Golden Goddesses left multiple pieces of Force in the world while they were making it, before all their remaining worldly power collapsed into the Triforce upon their departure. If that were the case, it would make some sense for Force to be especially prevalent in the sky (presumably somewhere the goddesses spent a lot of time) for the Picori (and maybe Zonai?) to have found it

Minish cap is one of my favourite zelda games, definitely my favourite 2d one... but I think it makes sense to just cut some games from the timeline.

I just assume the Light Force is Zelda’s Goddess power from Hylia as introduced in Skyward Sword and then somewhat expanded on in Breath of the Wild (where it even manifests as the Triforce). You’d assume a demon like Vaati wouldn’t be able to touch that kind of power considering what it does to Ganon but I mean even Girahim was able to do it in SS, and Vaati had the minish hat so.

Thanks for feeling like the only zelda lore channel still trying to put out edifying content despite ToTK's less than substantial contributions to the series' mythos, Maze.

In relation to what you said about how the games are "Legends", I believe that is the way they are being taken with the modern games, being Legends with the History being the same story but with different details. Many take the idea that Ganon has been "reborn" a few times, and the Ganondorf in TOTK is the latest, but I say that Ganon never reincarnated, and the wvents in the past are the History that OOT is the History to, or something. At least, I think that is the approach the Zelda team in Nintendo is taking with the new games, and while it isn't very satisfying for people trying to make a timeline, it was already convoluted and a stretch, at least for connecting them all in the same timeline. Maybe as separate timelines, like the original timeline, now considered the Fallen Timeline, has a flimy connection to the Ocarina branched timeline, and I believe it deserves to be considered seperate. The rest holds up, but with BOTW I believe they officially started a new timeline, maybe with a more solid connection from one to another.

We have assumed that there are only three golden triangles because of the creation myth of the three goddesses leaving their triangles behind… but if we treat the triangles like ancient godly versions of sacred stones, then there could have been far more than just three.

Tiny pieces of golden force found around the world powering it. Almost like a shattered piece of Triforce. Tetraforce confirmed??!!?! 😂

I find it interesting that the Minish bear a likeness to the Zonai even down to the large ears and were said the descend from the sky despite being largely underground in-game. Their ability to be able to resize themselves and were powerful magic users also fits.

W minish cap - first game i EVER played

I figured people lived in Skyloft *because* Hyrule below had been destroyed by Demise… he was already sealed away, right? So there must have been a fight. There could have been manifestations of Hylia and the Hero back then… it’s just, because of power creep, the Hero didn’t have the Master Sword until it became clear that he needed more than just any old blade.

7:32 don’t forget the best one, the Triumph Forks!

and then wind waker calls the triforce the triumph forks

I like to think that the Golden Force was actually a COMPLETED version of the Triforce. And when Vaati pulled MOST of the Golden Light Force out of Zelda this in turn created the TRIforce to begin with. That is my reality. lol

It's entirely possible that the Light Force being depicted as a golden triangle is just artistic license on the part of the stained glass makers. After all, the Triforce is already a commonly used symbol of power in TMC and it's not all that uncommon for such things to be conflated IRL even if they're not the same at all.

Pretty sure the golden power is the just hylia's Power being passed down to each incarnation of Zelda. simplest explanation that works extremely well

I just assumed that if it is a power that is similar to the triforce or Hylia's bloodline, but confirmed not to be, then it was likely something that came from another goddess outside of the named four.

wait why do you dislike that FSA has a new ganon? thats like one of my favorite details

Personally I think force is being in things including zelda is just a side effect of the triforce being the foundation of the world it's a majorly waterd down triforce essence that in zelda is extremely concentrated because of her being an incarnation of the goddess this would basically make the 4 sword a weponised shard of the triforce interestingly this could also fit in with how rupees work with magic as we know the triforce grants wishes magic is arguably a form of wish fulfilment so you can also argue rupees are a form of force built into a more physical object being such a small piece of force they are limited and once used they lose there colour you could also expand this out to include spirits in zelda poes could be made via the same process of wish granting somebody desperate to not die and the form of the spirit being dependent on how much force is in them hence some becoming poes and some becoming more what we think of as ghosts this could also explain (sorry I forget the name of the thing) the deer owl on top of the mountain in botw apparently once being a sage obviously it's a tribute but it to me makes sense that the sages would possess much higher amount of force than most and there wish at death turning into that going from that to totk we collect gems from the blupy frogs to give to the new monster shop guy (sorry forgot his name too) Grant his wish so that also could be a form of force then another thing that could be because of force is ww and the flooding it's stated that the people prayed to stop ganondorf now I don't think they themselves made the flood but I think when they prayed the gathered wish fulfilment got the goddesses attention the goddesses who up to this point and since that we know of have never intervined in what is going on not even the downfall timeline.... Yhea I am definitely over thinking this lol

My theory is that, while the Triforce represents the principal bond between the Goddesses and the Holy Land of Hyrule, other fragments of their power manifested in different ways in different corners of the Earth. This even works if we believe that the Three Dragons from BotW and TotK are the original creators of Hyrule.

Wait...why does the 3D stained glass show the Four Sword, while the in-game stained glass (from the 2004 game) shows the Piccori Blade with a purple hilt (kinda similar to the Master Sword)? Whoops...

Another AAA theory video. Bravo!

Minish Cap was my first experience with Legend of 5

"based on a true story" is the best way ive heard anyone justify the lore inconsistencies. the "true story" of what actually happened in the zelda world is the basis of what we see in the games, which is like an adaptation where the storyteller has taken creative liberties.

To be fair aonuma said that skyward sword isn't always the beginning of the timeline. And the The 7 sages making the master sword only told in the story of the imprisoning war on the downfall timeline. (Which they made for a future decendant of hylian knights) the whole imprisoning war story was retconed out of existence by OOT *buuuut* actually fits nicely with TOTK So if the dragon tears in TotK is actually the start of the downfall timeline, instead of SS... Both master sword origins can be equally true.

I always thought the golden light is the force that the triforce gives off and the picori used that force to forge the life the hat and the sword imbuing them with their aspects. The picori have three sacred trades forging, sewing, and growing the forged courage into a sword, sewn power into a hat, and imbued wisdom to a woman named Hylia. Then Hylia forged the goddess sword made the wish to save her people putting them into the sky befor sealing demise

One timeline theory I quite like, one that is able to deal with the discrepencies between Minish Cap and Skyward Sword, is that Skyward Sword created a split timeline similar to Ocarina of Time, from the two separate moments that Demise is defeated (in the present and in the past). In the past timeline, there'd have been no need for Link to retrieve the Master Sword, so the Picori Blade could have simply been the untempered Goddess Sword, alternatively turned into the Four Sword through the use of the four elements rather than the three fires. The Hero of Men tale as told in Minish Cap could have been a story of another Link and Zelda in the timeline where Demise was already defeated, and so the events of Skyward Sword never happened. This Link's quest was instead to banish the remaining demons from the overworld (sealing them in the bound chest). When it comes to the Light Force, however, my interpretation of it is that it is Hylia's Force. While the Triforce is the force of the goddesses (or the land, depending on your interpretation), force still exists within all beings. Force gems, as you pointed out, could simply be gratitude crystals, a solidified form of this light force (malice meanwhile being its opposite as a sort of dark force). Now, Minish Cap isn't the only place we find a distinct lone "light force" triangle like this. We also see it on the Fierce Deity's breastplate. A "god" (read: enlightened being) is symbolised by this lone triangle. With Majora's Mask being an allegory for enlightenment (the collection of masks representative of the positive karma Link earned), Link effectively earns a force triangle as he ascends as a fierce deity. I'd extend this to Hylia, in a similar manner. A being who became enlightened, and thus functionally a goddess, whose ascension created a triangle of light, not unlike the pieces of the triforce, but one wholly connected to her divinity. Given Hylia's decision to give up this divinity and reincarnate, her light force would have become severed. While in the original Skyward Sword story, this light force might have been scattered across the temples for Zelda to earn back, in the timeline where Demise has already been defeated, Hylia's plan was no longer necessary, and so the Picori may have granted the goddess sword and Hylia's light force to Link and Zelda directly, as the prologue of Minish Cap describes. It is to this extent that Ghirahim "chases" Zelda across Hyrule, so that she can restore Hylia's Force within her, and then using that Force to resurrect Demise. In this way, both Demise and Vaati seek Hylia's Force in order to become as gods themselves (while skipping the whole enlightenment part). Vaati, then, could be considered the first iteration of Demise's curse. Since Vaati was a Minish, he would naturally have known about Hylia's Force, but with later iterations of Demise's curse such as Ganondorf, knowledge of Hylia herself had pretty much vanished, along with any knowledge of what the "light" that was passed down through the queens of the royal line truly was.

Another piece of evidence not found in other games as to why the light force isn't the triforce; the three goddesses exist as living, breathing Hylians in Minish Cap and both Oracle games. This would seem to suggest that they reincarnated as Hylia did, rather than becoming the three pieces of the triforce. However, this would also suggest that the world in those games is completely separate from the rest of the timeline if you accept the story of the world's creation in Ocarina of Time, meaning Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures are also separate from that timeline.

I really hope what the Minish come back in the next game. Especially since they were almost in breath of the wild.

It wasn't Twilight Princess that said the sages made it first it was Ganondorf in Wind Waker telling the Hero of Winds to go back to the fools below who made the blade.

Now the question: What does Tingle want with the Force Gems? Is he an upstart villain?

I assumed that the light force was inherited into the royal family by way of Raru from tears of the Kingdom. The connection being that a people who are close to the God's, came to Hyrule and bestowed them with a gift.

Maybe the Picori were dimensional travelers and retrieved the metal from Lorule to make the sword imbued with Light.

Of course, the point at the end makes me wonder if Force Gems could be used to build another Triforce. Link Between Worlds proved that there can be more than one Triforce, but is this a hard "One Triforce per Hyrule" rule?

"This bravest of men used his wisdom and courage, his golden light, and his sword". Due to the punctuation, that sentence is talking about three separate articles, not equating wisdom and courage with the light and sword. In order for it to be the way River Zora interpreted it, it would need to have a colon like this - "This bravest of men used his wisdom and courage: his golden light, and his sword".