The Legend of Zelda

For my first post I shall do one of my favorite game series of all time: The Legend Of Zelda.  Because this is a series and each game has a different system of gameplay, I shall do the series one post at a time and label them accordingly. For those who do not know, Legend Of Zelda was made in 1986 by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tazuka. It chronicles a boy named Link (or whatever you typed in at the start.) who Journey's throughout the Hyrule Overworld.  He is tasked to gather eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom which was split by the title character, Princess Hylia Zelda.  Along the way Link must collect weapons an items he will need, rescue Zelda, and defeat Ganon a demonic Prince of Darkness, who wields the Triforce of Power. Now many items don't need defictionalization, because they do exist in real life as they do in the game. The Swords, Boomerang, Bow, Shields and candles all, serve the same purposes as they do in real life. However the other items have raised questions of "Are they real?" and "If so how do they work."

In March of 2012, Mathew Patrick, host of the hit Webvideo "Game Theory" Had Stated that the Blue Life potion; which in the game restores all your hearts, was based off of Collidal Silver. A so called "Miracle" all purpose cure that's supposed to cure what ails you, but turns your skin blue instead. While it was a great theory I strongly disagree and I'll say why.  When I first played this game, I had to get a letter to give to the old ladies in order to buy the blue and the red potions. The old man and the lady referred to the potions as medicine. When I used them time stops briefly, only resuming when the potion restores the hearts. Now what medicine, causes you to drop everything until you recover?  That's right, NyQuil.  NyQuil, is a cough syrup like medicine that is meant to make the drinker drowsy, allowing them to sleep so they could better recover from cold and flu. What cements this theory is that NyQuil, while known to be mostly green, also come in Red and Blue liquid. Ah NyQuil, the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, helping heroes when they need it, medicine. The con about this theory though, is that if it was NyQuil, Link was drinking, then his enemies would have the drop on him while he was sleeping.

The next Item on the list is the Power Bracelet. As mentioned before, Game Theory mentioned that a bracelet known as "Power Balance." A piece of plastic with a holographic sticker which supposedly gave a person super strength, better balance and more flexibility.  It was a scam, but what GT either didn't know or failed to mention was it wasn't the only bracelet.  There was the Q-Ray Ionized Magnetic bracelet. A metal band, with two magnetic bulbs on each end. The magnets were supposed to balance spiritual energy or chi, which in turn helps give you the above mentioned abilities. This company was sued not once, but twice for false advertising. I myself tried one, to see if it worked and it didn't make me feel any different than I did without one.  Now with personal experience and the numerous false advertising you guys are probably thinking: "If this is a defictionalization blog, wouldn't there be something based off the braclet that worked?" And the answer to that is yes.  When Q-Ray was all the rage, there have been rival companies, some that have had the same results Q had, and others that have actually created something along those lines. I am not quite sure what the name was, but a few years ago my mother received a bracelet of such similarity.  Unlike the Q-Ray; which had two magnets, her bracelet had a series of magnetic beads all around.  Before she tried it on she suffered from a bad case of Arthritis in her hand which caused her hand to hurt immensely. After she put it on it was like the Arthritis wasn't even there. I am not sure if it was placebo effect, or if the bracelet actually worked, but something happened.  Now this would get debunked in Zelda, because at the time Zelda took place their wouldn't be magnets. However I call BS on that for two reasons. 1. this series had Trains, Robots, and other futuristic mechanical devices, all before the original game took place (according to the timeline at least.). The second reason is that, with all that aside,  the first game has a watch that stops time. I am pretty sure there are some properties similar to a magnet.

Now that we got the science and chemistry out of the way, let's move on to the more supernatural aspects of the games. I won't go into detail on the Magic Rod and Books because it's too obvious.  We'll start with the sword beams. Whenever you start a new game the first item you get is the "Wooden Sword."  While the Sword itself is an obvious basis to the Japanese Bokken, it's no ordinary sword.  For at full power, it can send a blade shaped projectile of energy capable of obliterating everything it it's path. The only downside, is that you have to to be at full health.  How is this possible?  Well I believe that it goes down to the material.  The sword is made out of wood, what kind of wood is not spoken, but it could be Buckeye since according to Wizard Wood Guide: It's capable of Banishing spells. So long story short the Wooden Sword was just an overgrown magic wand. The White Sword that followed also used beams, but that can also be explained. In the game, The White Sword was often referred to by fans as a silver sword. Which makes sense, much like Buckeye, Silver is well known in many religions as to protect you from and banish Evil. Then there's the Magic Sword.   Before the concept of the Master Sword. (aka The Blade of Evil's Bane.) the sword you needed to get was buried in a cemetery. It required you to have 12 hearts to unlock it's full power and was one of the weapons needed to kill Ganon. Just the word "Magic Sword." explains it all in terms of using the beams. That plus the Silver Arrows is enough to ultimately defeat The Prince of Darkness.

Last but not least we have the characters. Could they exist in real life and if so what would the pros and cons be.  I can surely tell you that they do exist, but not in the way you think. Link is us, he is the everyman. The average ordinary person who lives his life peacefully, but when push comes to shove, he drops what he is doing and goes off to help in every way he can. He is the farmer that helps with food and livestock, he is the handyman that fix things that need fixing and in the end he is the soldier that fights wars so he can achieve the peace he started out with. Why else would we choose to type our own names in? The con though is that while their intentions are good, you can't rely on them to be perfect, or even succeed in their goal. Much like Link they are prone to screwing things up.  Zelda exists too, in the form of the wise politicians. The ones that dedicate their lives to looking after and governing over their respective countries. When the problem becomes to much for them to handle, they call the Links who would help them to no end. The con however is that any mistake they make, might cost lives and even their country.  Unfortunately Ganon also exists, he is every criminal, dictator and terrorist rolled into one and his goal is only summed up with one word: Power. The lengths he goes to and the lives he takes, are often nothing more than points on a scoreboard to him and that is a con all its on. The Pro though is like many before him, his downfall will come.

And that is my first. Comment on what you think and let me know if I missed anything.