Given what the Japanese version suggests I would almost argue that the Demons were a part of this world from the start and that the goddesses built their world over it. Note that in Ocarina of Time's backstory it states that the goddesses descended on the Chaos that was hyrule and created the land, life and the law that governs them. It's possible that the goddesses by bringing order into chaos prompted that chaos to manifest into demons that burst into the world to reclaim it as there own. The goddesses may have tried to defeat and imprison this chaos within the world they created which is what caused it to manifest as demons. It's also possible that this dimension or part of existence was the home of the Demon before it was transformed into a world for humans and other races to live.
Wow, your concept of the goddesses "taking" the world from the Demons and establishing their own laws, creating life, and their own land sounds amazing!
I also really like the theory that the GGs literally built the world around the source of demons to trap them within it. It would fit nicely with the Bringer's armies apparently coming from "deep within the earth", and explain why there's no permanent solution to stop demon attacks. It would also explain why the Triforce being destroyed causes the world to literally fall apart, but slowly over hundreds of years - the magic holding the world together ceases to exist, and the chaos energy literally rips the globe apart trying to bust out.
@@robocu4 I mean, since we only ever see Hyrule itself and some islands that's impossible to prove or disprove, but there's no reason NOT to assume it's a globe, since the real world is also a globe. Hyrule is also established as having miles upon miles of ruins and labyrinths and old temples buried deep beneath it, which would suggest the deep subterrain of a rounded planet. Plus, if they envisioned a plane world, wouldn't they have been unable to resist an edge-of-the-world waterfall scene in one of the THREE games where Link takes a long sailing journey?
As someone who's done translation and editing work, thank you SO MUCH for not going with the tepid take that "omg Nintendo censored the Japanese for the pea-brained west". Words are HARD, and words in two languages are REALLY HARD. Also, all of this gave me a ton to think about, as if my hype weren't high enough as is.
Translating a single word into another single word from one language to another is insanely challenging. That is why I truly don't believe they did it for the reason you mentioned. Sometimes you need to decide between two potential translations, one that may appear confusing for a player with minimal knowledge on the source language's culture, or one that is not confusing, but loses the culture element. It's without a doubt an extremely difficult decision.
I think some of the reason for the changes in translation is due to differences in how eastern and western cultures interpret the phrase 'Demon'. In Japan, demons were thought of more like a monsterous race of people. In the west the idea of a demon is more ephemeral, like a sentient, egomaniacal concept then a race of people.
It's not just Japanese, I've seen similar language in Chinese Xianxia fantasy novels where Phoenixes are called, "the phoenix tribe," or dragons called, "the dragon tribe." "Demon Tribe" (魔族) is common mythological language, in fact that there's even a wikipedia page for it. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazoku
The West has some "sensibilities" regarding content, especially in translations. This has been one of the things some Eastern video game companies like Nintendo had to navigate around, and some still do.
@@sarahclaasen4317to chalk it up to “sensibilities” is a bit improvident. Not saying that companies didn’t have to in the past or still do, but like op said, it’s a difference that can just inherently be attributed to difference in culture bcuz they *are* that different, and the fact that ppl don’t really look into the culture from where a game originates from.
In French, Demise is know as "l'Avatar du Néant", the Avatar of Oblivion and in Breath of the Wild, the entry on Malice (which is also "Malice" in French) links it to "bring into oblivion".
In German it is called "Der Todbringer" which translates to "The Bringer of Death" (However, since the phrase "Todbringer" in hystory is connected to destruction, oblivion or calamity it can also rougly be translated to "Bringer of Destruction" or in this case "Bringer of Demise") Important to note is that he also is refered here as a Bringer and has no actual known name. Ironically the English translation seems to be the only one giving the Final Boss a name which from my point of view should be seen as a severe translation error.
The fact that Zelda says both “hes given up on reincarnation ” and “hasn’t given up on reincarnation” frustrates me things like that that don’t require any additional information are pointless to change and straight up contradicts the other regions story
Since The Legend of Zelda was created in Japan and Nintendo is also a Japanese company Obviously the Japanese one is the canon one and the best source material. The English translation made by the NOA is bullshit.
It's kinda funny too, considering literally the first thing we learned of the sequel is that...yeah, that localization change is actually breaking everything, lol.
Thirded! Going into the original japanese gave some very interesting insight into the story that I'd honestly never heard before and I'm a giant Legend of Zelda dork(obviously).Great job and keep it up!
I always interpreted Demise as a title as in he is your demise, a nameless demon lord only known to bring death and looking at the Japanese version just kind of cemented that for me
I play the German version and always thought our translation is wrong, demise was called "todbringer" for example which translates to bringer of death so after seeing this video i realized that the translation is actually pretty faithful to the original.
In the Spanish version of Skyward Sword, Demise is known as "El Heraldo de la Muerte" which translates to "The Herald of Death" in English. "Herald" is another word for relaying a message so in a way, his name in Spanish translates to "The Bringer of Death" which is very close to his Japanese name of "The Bringer of Demise"
I mean was this something we didn't really know anyway? These guys call themselves demon kings and lords, but all that they rule over are monsters, so I always figured that they meant Bokoblins, Moblins, Lizalfos Keese, Vires Darknauts, Wizzrobe etc were what they meant by demons even though they are hardly demonic
But the actual context is lost. It changes from an eternal divine war with each game representing one more battle to just an evil egotistical wizard is at it again. And "demon" for the japanese is a diverse race of outcast and evil spirits, not necessarily big dudes with horns and tails.
Revival and reincarnation are similar but they're not actually the same thing Revival is to revive something reincarnation is to start a new in a new form
Interesting. I always wondered why the English and German version of Skyward Sword had so different dialogue. Now I realized that the German version seems to be much closer to the Japanese original at many parts.
It's worth mentioning that the kanji, interpreted as "Bringer of Demise" in the video," 終焉の者, uses 者 as the kanji for bringer-- this either ambiguously describes the character english speakers know as demise as a person (者, person) who literally IS the concept of demise (終焉, ending moments, one's demise), which could be why demise is named that in english (ala classical deities of abstractions being translated as fortune or fame, directly after the concepts they have dominion over), or 者 (do-er) is used in a way comparable to the -er suffix in english (bringer, singer, dancer), in that demise is an action the demon king performs (bringer of demise just making more sense than "demiser") someone else notes that the french version recognizes this as a title as well, with the german version similarly going with the "bringer" interpretation and labeling (NOT naming) him "Todbringer," literally "bringer of death"
Aaron, this was FANTASTIC, I'm so thrilled this video exists!! You hit EVERY important point about the Demon Tribe that I've been arguing about for YEARS with naysayers on forums - the fact that they exist at all, the possibility of complex internal politics, his name being "The Bringer" and NOT "Demise", the inherent absurdity in saying that the Bringer "ruins Ganon's origin", the intended emphasis on a Demon Lord/King's power being the command of monster armies and onnen manifestation... and you did so in your most slickly edited video yet. The last bridge of the Malice Ganon theme coming in right as you started talking about the sequel? Chef's kiss. Personally, I think the localizations have cut explicit references to the Tribes because it lets them play off the events as smaller-scale fantasy against one evil wizard with a few grunts and a personal grudge, when most games are actually meant to be battles in an endless, eternal war. It makes the core concept a little easier for general audiences in the west to digest, at the expense of losing a lot of the connective tissue between games. I'm hopeful that the popularity of both BOTW and Hyrule Warriors means the english releases will be braver about more explicitly acknowledging the WAR part, but we'll see
Your comment and kind words have literally blown me away. Thank you so very much! I'm overjoyed that you liked this video so much. I completely agree with you as to why they have erased all references to the Tribes existence. I feel as if they've committed to not mentioning them at all in English for so long to the extent where it may be better to retranslate the entire franchise at this point. However, I would really appreciate it if they began to introduce the Tribes and the war somehow in future games. There is just so much to the story and lore that's lost... It feels like they're trying to portray each villain in the Zelda series as someone who just does evil for the sake of it. Like, I understand how translating the word onnen can be difficult, but keeping it just as "hatred" in the localisation really takes the richness out of it. The localisation needs a little more flavour to subtly give hints to what it is that could be lurking in the shadows in my opinion.
@@hazeyclipshd1186 That one made me squirm in my chair with excitement. As a polytheist, I've found myself looking through what I know of the lore for years to try and find something richer than just the three Golden Goddesses, Hylia, and the Triforce being a replacement for the Christian holy trinity like the translations loosely imply. While I knew there were heavy Buddhist as well as Japanese cultural influences, for some reason I never thought to look into the native Japanese text. I'm so glad I stumbled over this video lol. Oh and in case anyone decides to nitpick, Christianity isn't that shallow either. So much history is lost when people stop paying attention while pretending they haven't.
@SuperNX64 Yes, the effort to censor explicit references to religious elements was definitely a big part of it. Evangelical moral panic was a big deal in American 90s media - "Pokemon teaches evolution!", etc - and more accurately translated Zelda games would probably have been accused of intending to convert children to paganism. The series probably wouldn't have been as successful. BUT, I do think we've been past that point ever since Skyward Sword, which finally gave us specific and deeply in-universe religious context for things like Hylia and the Skeikah that had previously been vague symbolism or subtext. That's part of what makes me hopeful that a way to tie it all together more accurately can be found - there's already proof that they're capable of getting better.
@@hazeyclipshd1186 I think we've probably already seen dozens of members of the God Tribe. The Japanese words used are probably "kami no buzoku", and while kami is usually transliterated as "god", it has its roots in Shintoism and often refers to what we might call a "nature spirit", a magical being inhabiting something like a spring or a tree. So powerful gods like Hylia are members of the Kami Tribe - but likely also the various Dragons, the Deku Trees and forest fairies, the Light Spirits, the Wind Fish, Levias, the Ocean King, the Great Fairies, the Lord of the Mountain, the Wind Waker frog gods, Jabun and Jabu-Jabu, etc, etc. Almost every single light-aligned spirit or fairy in the series is probably Kami, and Link is their hero chosen to fight where the Golden Gods forbade them from directly interfering. So they bless him and guide him (and perhaps Sages and Champions and Sheikah they also choose), like heroes in most classic mythological antiquity - and it wasn't just godhood that Hylia had to revoke in order to get involved, it was also her membership in the Tribe. Incidentally, most BOSSES that aren't hero trials are probably members of the Demon Tribe, too. Many are sent to corrupt or disable Sheikah creations or Kami by poisoning them - Gohma spinning webs inside the Deku Tree, the Blights killing the Champions and doing their namesake to the Beasts, Bilocyte posessing Levias, etc. Some of them are lesser demons serving greater demons and getting sent out for missions, like Ghirahim and the Helmaroc King and King Bulbin. Some of them are sealed in abandoned temples or facilities that became their tombs, either trapped there by heroes and sages and Sheikah - or CREATED there by the sin and dark magic committed by Hylians and Sheikah "protecting the Triforce" with torture and war the gods were forbidden to interfere with. Bosses like Bongo-Bongo, Stallord, Death Sword, and the many groups of Poes. The war has been happening right under our noses the whole time, and it's just never been translated as more than subtext!
Hope future Zelda theorists might take a look at this video and begin to change some of their theories based on the Japanese version, which is much much better and, obviously, in the native language the game was created. I was aware of these things since several years ago, but finally you brought this to the table.
Well considering Ganon was essentially building himself a new body in BOTW shows that he deemed his original one unusable or unsuitable. This even occurs in Age of Calamity he uses a guardian as a puppet body and eventually absorbs Astor in order to gain a new body to interact with the world again.
This and the changing from 1st to 3rd person in BotW quest log makes me question why the hell Nintendo of Japan approves these bad translations from Nintendo of America. EDIT: Excellent video BTW.
So, "He"is Harbinger of The End. He ends the Hyrule to let the Demon World consume it. Explains the upside down Triforce on Ghirahim. An Extension of The End's mission to corrupt the World. The World's "Demise".
None of this surprises me very much, but it is incredibly cool that the original Japanese version spells it out so well. I don't think any of it was mistranslated on purpose, though. I think it was translated the way it was so they wouldn't need to explain an entirely different systemic cultural bias everyone in Japan knows as a natural matter of course to a customer base in a much more systemically Cheistian culture where the english translations are much more easily understood without too much explanation. It gets a similar enough point across, but the cultural differences are lost in translation. This also confirms my theory that the force of Demise (I usually refer to it as Malice, but with your in-depth clarification of Malice being much closer to the concept of onnen, I'm switching it up for this comment) is closer to a force of nature than a creature of its origin, and the Bringer of Demise (english Demise) is closer to a creature who evolved in close alignment with the natural force of Demise. Demise, destruction, war, violence, hatred, etc... It does make me wonder, however, precisely how the Bringer of Demise was wronged, or if it was simply the fact that the morally neutral golden goddesses weren't there to babysit the other deities anymore. Or maybe his bitch was with the golden goddesses who didn't trust him enough to either guard the Triforce himself or help Hylia guard it. Or, maybe he was slighted later by possibly having been cheated out of a task that should have been his by Hylia (intentionally or not) that otherwise may not have had anything to do with the Triforce at first and he later went after it as revenge, which snowballed from there. Sorry for the text wall, but I find this way of looking at the Zelda lore extremely interesting, and I sincerely want to learn more about it lol. Oh, and regardless of the rest of your content, this video earned my sub lol. This is far too interesting for the rest of your stuff to be uninteresting lol. Real quick: the darker depths of the Ancient Cistern seems to be the only uh, natural source of the force of Demise in SS. What are your theories about why it is? Is it a natural bridge between the non-mortals' place of origin and uh, meat-space as it were? I'm wondering because we never see the remains of the earth-crack the demon tribe came through in the game, and we can't go exploring when we go back in time to save Zelda and defeat the Bringer of Demise so we can't see the aftermath of the war. I don't think the place where the imprisoned is sealed is that crack, because you'd think the uh, taint, would have been taken up to Skyloft, too.
Your thoughts here are absolutely fantastic! I completely agree that they did not purposely mistranslate any text. I feel that the elements of Japanese culture have been changed or watered down to be more understandable for the Western audience like you said. Things like the infinite Naraku for instance would be really difficult to "translate" into a mere two words. The theme of greed, war and destruction is quite prominent in Hyrule and throughout the series too, with people fighting amongst themselves to claim the power of the triforce. I really like your theory of Demise being an entity that has evolved from that, it fits really well. Personally, I would love to see a prequel to SS that explores what actually happened to the Bringer of Demise, and the Demon Tribe as a whole. It's possible that he is a manifestation of all of the malice or karma that has accumulated throughout the ages in the world, but that's a different theory! The Ancient Cistern is such a fascinating dungeon, I love it. It is jam packed with references to elements of Japanese culture and Buddhism. I've seen some Japanese people discuss how the depths of it are reminiscent of "infinite hell" in Buddhism. There are also signs of torture that has taken place there, and the fact that the enemies continue to "respawn" after being defeated also match that idea, as one would typically endure harsh punishment until they are completely cleansed of their karma. I'll look into it some more, as a connection to Demise and malice sounds exciting. I would have loved if we were able to explore even a tiny amount more of the ancient past in SS! They really teased us!
@@QuestWithAaron I'd be happy with a spinoff title that explores the time period and character further. A book, manga, or something else even. Speaking of manga, I had heard about one that described the shaping of the hero's spirit during the war before Hylia sent her people into the sky. I haven't went looking for it myself yet, but I've heard the mortal originally housing the hero's spirit was carefully groomed by Hylia and her servants by them having made his life hell without his knowing. I'm pretty sure none of that was canonized and I'm probably missing half of the context anyways. I brought it up, though, because if the Bringer of Demise is more a job title than a person's name, is the same individual who crosses swords with Link in SS the same one who initially led his armies through the earth-crack? The english translation says it is, but half of the information is missing from the english translation anyways. I'm going to need to do some more crawling around in Japanese and Buddhist mysticism and their take on the anatomy of a person if I can find non-westernized resources in english to flesh out this idea more. Edit: A quick google search later and I found the short answer of Buddhism not having the concept of an individual person's soul, and that trying to find what the cultural Japanese thought pattern regarding a person's soul gives me a headache lol. It's going to take me a while to find the specifics and learn them enough to talk about them without sounding like an idiot lol. Or is there a difference between a spirit and a soul in those worldviews?
My personal theory of the ancient cistern, created while wishing desperately for whistle sprinting as I ran from the zombie bokoblins, was that the cistern was created right after (or maybe even during) the original fight with demise, as a way to cleanse the water (and thus, eventually, the land) of the taint of malice. The word 'ancient' is always used in connection with the ancient robots, the ancient past, the ancient hero of the time - all of the 'ancient' things seem to be from around about the same time as each other, the time shift stones seem to lead back to the same time as the gate. Certainly, it would be an explanation for how... Intact the lands and its people are after suffering such a destruction. And for how close it is, on the map, to the sealed grounds (where the source of that malice is stuck). And for how the boss, koloktos, is some blessed guardian construct instead of the (rather more) organic monsters EVERYWHERE ELSE. Not even ancient robot land had a robot boss! Perhaps some of the bringer of demise's beef with the upper levels was because their creation of the triforce was one that COULD NOT BE WIELDED BY GODS. Maybe that meant that he, too, could not wield it? Maybe he was incensed that Hylia, one of those dieties, gave up her immortal form so that SHE could wield it? Or, perhaps, that the triforce was, very specifically, the tool that Hylia planned to use to destroy him utterly? Anyone would want the item that might be destined to kill them. Either to keep or destroy. Maybe - just maybe - he had a hand in creating that triforce, only to be rebuffed. After all, girahim, like fi, has a triforce carved onto his blade. Or maybe he's Hylia's opposite, from termina or lorule or some other reflected, warped world. (would certainly explain wtf is going on in those worlds). Or maybe he was just created by the Three as Hylia's balance, as her opposite, because didn't they specifically include that they'd made the laws and orders of the land? So demise did not be the one, with his demon tribes, to curse link, but rather tell him, explicitly, how the cycle would not stop, only begin anew, that he, in form or mind, Would rise again. Those are my theories!
Boy, you need more subscribers. This video shows again how the Demise we seen in Skyward Sword may not be the first ever iteration of the “evil” in the Zelda series, but instead “Demise” himself can be an incarnation of the “hatred”, as Ganondorf. Maybe Skyward Sword may not be 100% the beginning of the timeline, but just an arbitrary point that we are considering as the starting point, but which could easily be preceded by other events. No matter what we’ll get in the future, Zeldatubers should not discard theories that start from SS not being the first title, or “Demise” not being the first ever evil being, the one who cast the “curse”, but just one being who is actually originated from this curse. Keep up the good work, you earned a subscriber
I totally agree! BTW, I shared this video with Hyrule Gamer, sent him a DM to check out this channel, maybe that can help give this guy a good shot in the arm! Just watch, QuestWithAaron, you're going to explode just like Monster Maze did last year! The Zelda community is STARVING for new information like this!
Ocarina was described as the "origin story" once, too. Even within Skyward Sword, I'd argue that it's an origin story for the kingdom of Hyrule and the curse cycle specifically, not necessarily the origin of the hero and goddess. I actually think there's subtext to suggest that Skyward Link is the SECOND hero, and the first reincarnation, because we never really find out why Hylia chose him a thousand years before he was even born. I actually take the broad strokes of the short prequel manga in the Historia as canon, even if there are little discrepancies, because I really like its idea for a starting point for Link. His first and natural life was all the way back in Hylia's day, and she chose him to receive her vision of warning about the future war with the demons - but when he tried to warn everyone, the corrupt local lord jailed him for "inciting a panic" and he's imprisoned for YEARS until the invasion is happening and the townsfolk come crawling back to set him free. So he's bitter for a bit, decides to do the right thing for the sake of the innocents, and DIES fighting off monsters on the surface while everyone else escapes to the sky. Hylia is heartbroken by this. She did what she was "supposed to do", she didn't directly interfere and chose a purehearted hero to carry her message, and he only suffered and died for it. So she catches his soul and reincarnates it infused with a bit of her own divinity, and then begins her plan to abandon godhood and join him as a mortal friend and partner. It's implied to be why ZELDA gets most of the visions of the future and why she's the one publicly and historically seen as responsible for everything - she chose to take on the burden of being the "legend" and bearing the social consequences, so the hero could work quietly in secret and have life and free will outside his destiny. I think it works really well
Thank you so much for your kind words! I find it super interesting what you've said here, and it's something that I've thought about a lot recently too, especially during the making of this video. Skyward Sword is the first in the timeline that introduces us to the Legend of Zelda for sure, however, there is just so much more that could be explored beyond that. I feel like if there were to be a prequel to Skyward Sword made in the future, it would be called something like The Legend of Hylia, rather than The Legend of Zelda. Personally, I would love to see who or what came before the bringer of Demise explored in the games! And while they're doing so, I would also like to learn more about the one who came before the Hero of the Skies, and see how Hylia truly felt about everything. We learn that Link is destined to fulfil the role of the Hero in Skyward Sword, yet I strongly believe that there is a lot more to Hylia's thought process and her feelings.
@@QuestWithAaron yeah, I wouldn’t discard the possibility of games that happen BEFORE skyward sword. Ultimately Skyward Sword was presented as the game at the start of the timeline, but it’s better to say “of the timeline we knew at the time it was released”. BOTW was made after Skyward Sword, so we know nothing about its placement, we can only speculate. Many things suggests that it may take place at the end of either timeline, but no clear statement from the creators. And even if BOTW took place at the end of the timeline, we know nothing about when the first calamity of 10000 years prior to BOTW took place. For what we know it may have happened before BOTW. Yes, they say “Calamity Ganon”, but after so much time they may be referring to him as “Ganon” since year by year, the concept of Ganon overwrote in the history books the concept of “Calamity”, or “Bringer of Demise”. The sequel to BOTW also could say something about BOTW placement. So far we know nothing, only that it takes place after BOTW. If we were to see time travel to the first calamity then we could learn something new. Or a time loop ending in the events of goddess hylia that lead to Skyward Sword… who knows. Any option now can be possible and could be explained by some strange shenanigans. We’ll see
Skyward Sword is the origin story nobody asked for. It borrows heavily from the games before it. At best, it only explains those nightmare-fuel bird things from Twilight Princess. My big concern isn't with new origins stories before that game... My concern that this game should have introduced a NEW timeline split; one where Demise is sealed inside the Master Sword, one where he is trapped under the Goddess Statue and the Master Sword is lost, .... and probably one where Demise wins and everyone wears argyle pants. The OoT splits were bad enough. And people already don't know where to place BotW in any of those timelines. If it turns out that BotW is in a new splinter stream, I'll have lost all faith in Aonuma's leadership.
I keep seeing videos like this one comparing the the dialogue in different languages and it's amazing just how different some things are, and how much is added to the story by translating the Japanese versions. It gives more context to so many things and helps us better understand the story of these games
@@JariDawnchild He's named the 'Avatar du Néant' in French, wich mean Avatar of Nothingness, or Avatar of Oblivion or Avatar of the Void. I wondered the same thing when I played the game. It is fun to overthink stuff like this.
@@Rand0mPeon Oh nice. :-) So many interesting concepts to describe the same character. I might go look up his name in other languages, it seems like it'd give a greater insight into his function in the Zelda cosmology.
Ganon has already brought demise to Hyrule, back during the Calamity that Hyrule lost, decimating about two thirds of the population, if not more. Hopefully that means this part of the curse is over. But the Bringer of Demise said that it would repeat, so I don't think Hyrule will be that lucky.
Watch the ending of Skyward Sword, Demise''s body may have been killed, but his soul was sealed in the Master Sword. The Same Master Sword that will be destroyed in Tears of The Kingdom, possibly freeing him thus 17:22. Also according to the Japanese translations, it suggested he and his Demon tribe ruled the world before the Golden Goddesses went to war with them hence why his anger. It's at 13:27 & 13:50 notice "resentment".
Man... this video really shows how localization can make it so hard to determine the "true" lore of Zelda. I've already seen some comments showing that it even varies in other western languages like French and German etc. It's a shame that they continue to do away with references to the Demon Tribe, as they are perhaps one of the least explored parts of the lore. I get that language- and culture barriers sometimes require a slight alteration to be more comprehensible but.. I think they take it a step too far. Great video btw :). Very impressed with the research
Thank you so much! I think the whole Demon Tribe concept is really interesting, and I really hope they reference it directly in the English version of the games at some point. I would love to see more of it explored! Having slightly more "accurate" localisations of the Japanese game is certainly something I think we'd all appreciate. Some words are without a doubt challenging to translate and would require some alteration as you've said, however, there are a few instances where it's too obvious that a different set of words would have been a better choice. It's these sentences that can change how we all understand the story. I'm super happy you enjoyed the video, thanks again!
@@QuestWithAaron No problem! Do you actually speak japanese yourself, or is there a specific source you refer to? Because of this video, I'm much more interested in finding a way to get accurate translations for my own channel on specific subjects. But it's difficult to know if someone is making their own interpretations while translating, or if they are being 100% accurate. It is known to happen that people sometimes translate things from japanese to english with a certain bias to support a theory. And as devoted as I am to making Zelda videos... learning yet another language a bit much haha. Im already triligual, so.. that's enough for me right now. But your video clearly shows that we cannot always trust the english localization team to present the full picture. I knew things sometimes differ, like the sentence from Zelda about Dark Beast Ganon in Breath of the Wild.. but I honestly didn't know it was THIS bad. Especially since I only recently finished Skyward Sword myself. PS: Ive shared your video with other theorists and my own audience on twitter. But it seems you don't have a twitter account yourself correct? I don't know if you are considering creating one or not, but it can definitely help to spread your work around a bit further :)
@Monster Maze I do speak Japanese and all of the translations in the video were completed by me. I have tried to keep the translations as accurate and natural as possible. I think it's important to retain the essence of the Japanese culture that exists within the source text, without adding or altering anything "just because I think it would sound good". With that said, there are certainly times where it's impossible to keep that balance which is why I refrain from adding in my own interpretations, and instead just explain the true meaning in the video. It's a super fun process actually! Congratulations on finishing up Skyward Sword, I really enjoyed the HD version myself! You're trilingual? That's awesome! There are quite a few minor differences between the Japanese and English versions of Skyward Sword that I haven't included in this video, which I'm not even sure why they changed. Thank you so much for sharing my video, that really means so much to me! I have just created a Twitter account, as per your suggestion! @Qw_Aaron Thank you again, I would be more than delighted to work together with you on a project sometime, or help with anything.
@@QuestWithAaron Hey Aaron! I will follow you on Twitter. I would definitely be open for a collaboration some time. I think your content deserves the attention ^^. You put in the work and research!
Yes! I am glad you checked out this vid monster maze, I shared it with you on twitter! 😊 hopefully you 2 can work together. I can only imagine what the result would be! 👌🏾
About the fire sanctuary change, honestly "make your ears bleed from the sound of your own screams" sounds a lot more brutal than the generic "living hell" line
Great work! I think that this is also a part of the retcon of the Gerudo. I think they will separate Ganon from the Gerudo/Ganondorf. Then reveal Boar King Ganon as a part of the demon tribe.
I didn't cover this in the video, but both the Imprisoned in Skyward Sword and Calamity Ganon are referred to as "beasts". In English, the imprisoned is simply referred to as an abomination, I thought that was an interesting difference. It definitely links in with your thought process!
@@QuestWithAaron this is interesting, because in SS we know that the Imprisoned is just the shape of Demise's physical body while sealed by the sealing spike and sealing pattern, while we know that Calamity Ganon is a buildup of malice while Ganondorf himself is being sealed below Hyrule Castle.
This video is eye-opening. My entire life I've felt that the developers of Zelda have had a somewhat clear idea of the lore behind the games, but that they have failed to transmit it through the games. Well, this video might explain that feeling lol. The english translations have erased a very important piece of the worldbuilding, wtf
This was amazing. I was expecting it to be one of those clickbait videos that don't relate to the title whatsoever or make way too crazy of assumptions about the lore, but it is very clear you know what you are talking about. You delved into it with an interesting idea (looking at a 1:1 translation of the Japanese version), analyzed the specific vocabulary use, and came to some pretty convincing conclusions about what it all means. You also managed to teach me some really interesting stuff about my favorite series of all time. I love finding hidden gem videos like this.
This was a much needed video. Tons of people have speculated things without having translations of the Japanese versions of the games. It's always seemed like something was missing to me and this finally put all of that to rest. Great work man.
Great video. Gives me a whole new appreciation of the games. I wish they had been able to work more in between the two translations. It’s like we’re missing a whole thread of the storyline.
This video made the whole Legend of Zelda series have another meaning for me! The story connection between games is much more interesting than it looked like. Amazing job!
Ever since I learn that Sonic adventure 2 story was altered in English, any time I see a story not makes sense, I look into the orginal scripe. It makes things much easier to understand the story
Agreed and personally think that others needs to know this because Its cool that there seems to be a rising interest in what can be lost in localization. It's not cool to claim localizers are "hiding the truth" and "denying us author's intent." Language is very complicated, and near impossible to perfectly replicate meaning in another. There are also deadlines that prevent translators from taking however much time is needed to perfect the script, and additional restrictions from higher-ups. Others may rag on about certain localization changes and oversights, but it's very important to recognize the many factors that may prevent a script from being free of flaws, and to not blindly criticize localizers for things that very well may not be their fault.
I always found it weird how the main demonic figure in the murals during the intro looks basically nothing like Demise. Especially the lack of horns, and the fact the creature doesnt appear humanoid at all.
I believe it's stated that he appears differently depending on who lays eyes on him! The extent of the change isn't explained though, so I think what you bring up about how the demon figure in the murals looks nothing like the version of Demise that we see in SS is super interesting.
@The Cool show omg- what if DORF turned out to be a 90s cartoon dork and he is like. “Link, *sniffles long* I cUrSe you and ZELDA to play in my CYBER GAMES!! Filled with demons and- (MOM-!! I’m defeating my nemesis and his blond cheerleader girlfriend!! Leave me alone!!)
@@kingofevilganondorfdragmir3319 the king of evil everyone-!! *jimmy Kimble music plays* Greeting lord of darkness, how are you today? I have a line of products ready to go for you in a nice pig shaped basket. For your, DESPERATE skin care needs. How has it been in the screaming Micheal Jackson pose for what’s said 10 thousand years? That can NOT be good for your back sir I tell you what. Now- What are your plans for Hyrule and exactly who or what are you working with this time. Fans of yours hope it’s the Zonai- But I think it’s more the lesbian crowd because of your sexy nose.
i remember the prequel comic that was in Hyrule Historia. it told of the initial attack from the Demon Tribe, and Hylia's plan to raise Skyloft above the clouds. in it, the story had a knight riding a red loftwing, sacrificing himself to aid Hylia. the loftwing in this story could speak, and said he would wait for the knight to be reincarnated and assist him again. fast forward a few centuries, and then we see Link waking up with his red loftwing poking its head through the window, showing that the Link we play as in Skyward Sword is yet another reincarnation of a previous life, one that came before Demise's curse. even though SS is seen as the first game in the timeline, i'd like to have a game of the Demon Tribe assault era, expanding on this short manga oneshot
I like to think that if all the Nintendo games were connected in some way, that Demise is the brother of Hades from Kid Icarus, but the gods have their own realms they dwell in where time works differently. It explains how thousands of years can pass in Hyrule but maybe only a few for Mario, Samus, Fox's or Kirby's Realm. Also planetary years measured can be different.
Haha, I mean it's definitely possible! I have a few Japanese friends who weren't aware of the differences between the localisations at all until we started talking about it.
I really actually think this is quite possible, and the fact that Link fights a simple Oni created by The Bringer of Demise is very mind boggling, but way too cool to discount. I think this makes every monster a little more interesting, and gives information on a lot of lore... well done
While many things have been changed, i don't think the english translation has failed to get this narrative across like is being implied. I think decisions were made not to state the obvious/things made apparent within the games. - "The demon tribe", sure this is no longer given a name, but in SS Ghirahim refers to himself as "Demon Lord" and when summoning the Bokoblins at the end, he calls them "my hordes". In the Earth Spring scene Ghirahim also states that his underlings had captured Zelda, but she escaped. So we have this clear distinction of an organized "bad" team working against us. Zelda later talks about her descent at the beginning of the game and says she was "nearly captured by the demonic forces" before she was saved by old Impa. Then there's that Ganon is known to create monsters, later doubled down on in BotW by the Blood Moon and he's also known to command them all throughout the series. We also know there are tiers to this opposing side from Ghirahim stating he is a "Demon Lord" and coming across as though he is in charge of the lessers before showing yet another tier above himself when he calls Demise his master. That paired with other cases of particularly powerful demons such as Malladus or Vaati once he uses the Light Force to transform into a demon. All of this implies that "bad team" is probably comprised of demons, or at least ruled by them. So I'd say a "Demon Tribe" actually just does exist in the english version, it just isn't referenced by the name of the group like in the japanese. - "the demon tribe are returning throughout the series", this is seen throughout the series even without Demise's speech clarifying this. That's what the cursed bokoblins in SS were, or the cursed stal heads in BotW. Enemies respawn indefinitely or die and return themselves due to their grudge. The Blood Moon shows this happening, though you could argue that only happens when Ganon becomes Calamity Ganon, but then you'd need to explain why monsters burst into smoke when they die and respawn. - "onnen", we see this happen as early as ALTTP with Agahnim, but also in TP when he hosts "his power" in Zant and later Zelda and now we've seen it in BotW. We also see Malladus do this in ST. In all these cases their body is elsewhere or in Malladus's case gone entirely. The lore in the english version seems to call this puppetry and possession. I think that the narrative is still there, you're just hit over the head with it more in SS if you look at the japanese, which honestly is a trend with that game. Though i liked the bigger implication in WW that Ganondorf is Demise reincarnated by his dialogue calling the monsters in Hyrule Castle his "demon tribe". Though this is another instance where it doesn't really need spelled out... the monsters are obviously there under Ganondorf's orders.
Reading your observations on everything was really enjoyable! I completely agree with you, I think the English version does successfully introduce and showcase most of the things I discussed in the video. I definitely feel that the Japanese text spells it out much more clearly, whereas the English leaves it up to the player to essentially recognise and notice things themselves. I truly think that there are so many words are sentences in Japanese that are very challenging to translate into English. Sometimes it`s just impossible to translate a single word without providing a whole explanation. That said, I do like how the Japanese text includes words like onnen that don't have an English equivalent. It adds a degree of richness to the story in my opinion, and that's the kind of stuff that I want to share with you.
@@QuestWithAaron It was very well done by the way, and it's certainly interesting to look into the japanese text in this case. Others, not so much, since I've noticed that in a few cases the japanese doesn't specify things in the english localization, making the lore more vague at times. But SS and BotW are gold mines for japanese version lore.
I have my own theory. What if that dark malice filled place under the ancient cistern is the crack in the earth that Demise and his demon tribe emerged from? Like… after the war, the cistern was build on top of it to seal the demon tribe and prevent them and the malice from pouring out.
Sounds like a fun theory! Some similarities I can think of right this moment are: The Bringer of Demise's onnen, is a purple colour, the same as the colour of the "hell" in the Ancient Cistern. The monsters down there in SS also essentially "respawn" or "revive" after death, which is similar to the concept of Naraku I described in the video.
Man watching this series of videos is always so wild. It's always like "so this is a mistranslation because the English language doesn't have a word for when a ghost really needs to take a shit" 10x per video
Haha, I mean, language is really fascinating and complex like that. The kinds of words that possess those extra nuances and underlying implications are really interesting to analyse imo. It's my goal to share them and think about what they could ultimately mean for the Zelda series on this channel. Also, being able to explain the full depth of these words is also without a doubt a luxury the official translators did not have. Settling on a single translation for a word with so much complexity is such a challenging task.
Just beat the game about 30 minutes ago. This definitely cleared some things up. I literally had asked myself, but where did they originally come from. I guess other than out of the ground we don't really know still. maybe one day a legend of Zelda game will take the fight to the demon tribes.
Well, in the teasers for the sequel to BOTW we see someone buried deep beneath the ground, and when awakened he rises back to the surface. We are naming it Ganondorf, but… who knows. Maybe it will be a direct sequel and be placed in the end of the timeline, but if they somehow manage to put BOTW before SS, in a closed loop or something, I wouldn’t be blown away since it’s a possibility ;)
@Joe's corner I'm glad this video helped you understand a few things! I appreciate how there are unfortunately many elements that have been removed from the English version. Taking the fight to the Demon Tribes sounds like a fantastic idea!
In the spanish version (at least the one from Spain) Demise is called "Heraldo de la Muerte" (Bringer of Death) Not sure how to make this comment look less like just a fact insted of a.. well... a comment. Sorry about that
@@QuestWithAaron Unfortunately, The Imprisoned does not look like he had the same treatment... unless it was called something on the line of "The Sleeper" in the original version In the spanish version is called "El Durmiente", which in my opinion is kinda lame In the Latino America's version is called "El Cautivo" tho, which is a more accurate translation from the english name
In German he is called "Der Todbringer" which translates to The Bringer of Death. In the past I never liked how it sounded more like a title than a name and favored the English translation where Demise could be his actual name. But now knowing what he is called originally makes me appreciate the German translation much more.
This is Brilliant! I just stumbled on your channel. So amazing! I am an instant fan, please keep doing these localization/translation videos! This information should be bursting the seams of the Zelda theory channels! Today is my birthday, and this was awesome! Thank you!
@@QuestWithAaron I had a great birthday, thank you! I wanted to let you know that I PM'd the RU-vidr Hyrule Gamer and told him to check you out! I hope your channel explodes! You're doing the golden goddesses proud!
One thing I'd like to note on the topic of the Bringer of Demise is that, honestly, the way he phrases things, it seems entirely possible that the curse of the demon tribe he refers to was cast before now, that instead of him casting it, he was merely explaining a curse, one which he was the physical embodiment of, which makes sense. We've seen due to the Windwaker bit that Moblins, and presumably their Bokoblin cousins, are part of the Demon Tribe, and we have seen evidence implying ancient Hylians once tortured and experimented on Bokoblins until they became zombies fueled by a material that looks suspiciously similar to Malice, but a deeper purple. It is entirely possible that the members of the demon tribe, upon learning of this, banded together all members, as well as anyone willing to ally with them, with even a shred of magical talent, and cast a curse upon the Hylians for that injustice, which resulted in what amounts to a dark god capable of rivaling even a goddess sworn to protect the Triforce. In this case, the Bringer of Demise was an early incarnation of the curse, which later began taking a human form in hopes of securing the Triforce, since its earliest known incarnation was defeated using that relic. This became Ganondorf Dragmire of the Gerudo, who would survive, be sealed and unsealed, reincarnate, and come back in all manner of ways until, eventually, the same spoke in the wheel that is Hyrulian time came up, and one of Ganondorf's forms had finally matched the power of Demise once more, that being the Ganondorf who generated Calamity Ganon, the Ganondorf so dangerous their only option was to seal him away for millenia.
The more I see of Ganondorf, the more I like him! Also, those are some pretty significant differences. I'd thought Link woke up in time to face Calamity Ganon, but instead Calamity Ganon changed plans because he sensed Link waking up.
His Compendium entry actually emphasizes that Ganon was TERRIFIED of Link, and spent a hundred years desperately trying to make a new body out of scraps to fight him with. Anywhere BOTW could be on the timeline is a place where other Links have already killed him half a dozen times, so THIS Ganon is very well aware of what he can do.
Sooo, they've been setting up this demon tribe lore point since at least Wind Waker in the games' original scripts, and it has consistently been removed in the english localisations? If it only happened in one game, you could chalk that up to a single translation decision (or "error"), but for it to be so consistently removed... That's really weird.
Demon King/Demon Lord are probably both variations of the same Japanese phrase, so there's no real reason to think there can only be one at a time just because that's how "kings" typically work. It might just be the most powerful rank in Demon magic one can achieve. Malladus, Ganon, Vaati, and the Bringer could be equally powerful demons competing to be the one to defeat the gods and win political control of all demonkind.
Dude, this video is so good and makes so much sense and has so much good research behind it. I hope you make more videos like this and get a chance to work with the common wealth my other favorite Zelda theory show. This, has taken my excitement from 75% to a solid 90% for the new Zelda game. Good job my dude
@@elpopman2055 I legit thought Groose was going to turn into Ganondorf when I first played the original. I still think he's probably the precursor of the Gerudo tribe though. He's got the yellow eyes and red hair.
This is the exact fundamental misunderstanding of the lore that this video is an argument against! Ganondorf is not and has NEVER been "under Demise's control". He was a human thief and war criminal who turned himself into a demon out of a selfish wish for ultimate power, and killed possibly hundreds of people to be able to make that wish. He's evil all on his own, he's not possessed or whatever. And there's absolutely NOTHING that would EVER convince him to "team up" with Link and Zelda, unless it was a trick. Their permanent destruction and the utter desecration of their kingdom and people is literally his greatest obsessive desire - any and every force that seeks to destroy Hyrule is one he would consider allying with to use for his own end. Also, "Groose founds the Gerudo because he has red hair and yellow eyes" is pretty flimsy, given that he's a lightskinned Hylian male with pointed ears who spends all his time in the forest region. I think he was just meant to be a bit visually evocative of Ganondorf as a red herring for his role in the story.
@@smcb9979 that is not much of an argument considering Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Demise... you don't any reincarnation of Link or Zelda being evil.. please provide a real argument instead of just being skeptical
@@elpopman2055 If you want my "real argument", you could try watching the well-made video we're commenting on, which takes twenty minutes to explain why Ganon isn't Demise's reincarnation and how that belief is based in a mistranslated line. That's why I commented, I'm not tryna be mean - I'm confused that you're repeating as fact something this video thoroughly debunks.
In German Demises Name is deathbringer (todbringer) so its basically the Bringer of Demise Edit : i also think the Ending Theme of skyward sword Sounds alot Like the Theme in the 2. botw2 Trailer
I truly appreciated the way this video was done. Honestly, one of the better breakdowns of a Zelda video I’ve seen! It makes me want to replay all of these games using direct translations from the Japanese versions. Whether, we see “Demise” again or not, this concept make s me excited for another “Bringer of Demise” !
When you were describing onnen and the hatred and resentment... my mind went back to the story of the goddess’s creation of the world, way back from OoT. In the English version, the three goddesses are described as ‘descending upon the chaos’ that existed before the creation of the lands of Hyrule/world as we know it in the series... could it be that spirits lived in this primordial chaos before the three goddesses arrival, and their changing of the realm be a source of that onnen for the demon tribe? Nothing canonically to really support this, but it’s an interesting thought that I think could make more sense as the series goes on!
I've briefly looked into the "chaos" part before as I thought it could be interesting. The word used in Japanese is 混沌, which, I believe in this context refers to an "obscure" state where a division between heaven and earth has yet to be established, and everything as we know it is a kind of a "nothingness". I'm not entirely sure how to describe it better without doing further research myself, but it's possible that it could have some connection to the Demon Tribe. I think there's a possibility it could also be something to do with their "greed" of wanting to obtain power, a concept that arises frequently throughout the series!
I'm inclined to think the core of the Demon Tribe is hidden in the Bringer's line about "the joy of using my power" being one of his reasons for fighting the gods. Zelda has a long history with GREED being the primary driver of villains and their motivations, contrasted with Link usually having to humble himself and go out of his way for others in order to defeat those selfish evils. It ties into the pig imagery used for 'blin monsters and Ganon, and the Triforce impassively granting wishes on a first-come basis that outwardly reflects the wisher's inner heart. Demons aren't a random race that happen to exist. Games since LttP and up to SS provide evidence that demons are mortal creatures like humans TRANSFORMED into monsters, via exposure to Malice or demon worlds or magically corrupted by their own greed. So the Demon Tribe wouldn't be trying to find a nice land to live on. They're trying to drive out all the people who lived on that nice land first, and if they can't do that then they're going to DESTROY the nice land and everyone in it so NOBODY can have it, because it's joyous to them to take and break things.
@@smcb9979 I definetly agree. Maybe they were once outcasts like you said and were trying to fit in again and that wish transformed into hatred because of the rejection they received because the gods knew of their nature. They found out that they can use the hatred to fuel their power and the with of their leader to make his tribe happy turned into a wish to destroy the people that wronged his tribe. The only thing that makes him feel not lesser than the other tribes is by dominating them. That is why he enjoys the power without it they would be nothing. I think it is not just a greedy pig situation. That is why the Japanese original is so interesting because it adds more depth. They are resentful because they feel like the land belongs to them because the gods maybe wronged them in their perspective. (English is not my first language pls forgive)
@@chuckink3198 Aw, no worries, your language is fine! I actually think it IS a "greedy pig" thing, because I think the point is that some people don't need to be personally wronged to decide to take from others. That's why it's described as a "joy". Someone who's a good person can only imagine deciding to do bad things if they were hurt or wronged, but sometimes people are just plain bad, because they have lots of power and they think it's fun to hurt others with that power. Like, look at the world - all the dictators and evil leaders that have existed weren't all good people that were wronged. Some of them just liked to cause pain and suffering. And I think that's the point - evil and greed will always exist, and the fight against them will never end, so it's up to the people who want to be good to step up and do the fighting by protecting innocents from the ravages of the joyous powerful.
Demise is such a wonderfully designed villain. His look, his monologue, that Dark Master Sword-- He felt like a proper Origin to Ganon. I just beat this game for the first time last night and it was an excellent Final Boss encounter. P.S. when I first saw him I was all like, "This motha fucka looks like Akuma!!!...0_0" lmfao
When I played Hero Mode I decided to name my character Demise. It didn’t do anything, but things did get weird after a while. “Help us Demise! You must defeat the evil Demise and save the world!” 😂
German RU-vidr Roxtendo covered this exact theme a few months ago and i liked it so much, I badly wanted to make an english version of the video for everyone to watch, but you literally covered all this even better than i ever could! Great work!
Essentially Nintendo’s Western translators (the Tree House) changed the antagonist from a misguided but somehow sympathetic villain to a one dimensional cartoon villain. This is something that happens all the time with Nintendo games and being turned from serialized stories for everyone to Saturday morning cartoons. And it’s a huge disservice to the authors of those works. No wonder Nintendo can’t shake off the kiddie image. I’m not against translations, but I hate how their kid-friendly localizations erase context from games.
I'm glad to have found your channel, as I've often wondered what differences there might be between the Japanese and English versions of the series. It's amazing just how many little details can fall through the cracks, and how it all compounds over time. If you happen to know, is Termina's relation to Hyrule explained any better in Japanese? A personal headcanon I've been thinking up lately is that Termina might be a world born of Malice, essentially a demonic realm. And so all of its people and gods are actually demons, which is why everything is just a bit twisted and prone to misery.
Termina and it's connection to Hyrule and the Zelda series is something I'm excited to explore more of! I know that there are some details that have been lost in localisation, however, how major they are is something that I need to do a little more research on! Speaking of demons, I do believe there is definitely a deeper connection to them in Majora's Mask than the English text lets on. You can for sure expect a Majora's Mask dedicated video in the future!
A theory a friend of mine came up with is that since the Master Sword was so utterly demolished by Malice in Tears of The Kingdom, Demise's Essence could very well have escaped from it. Allowing the Ganondorfs body to be his new vessel, two souls in one body, with one common goal. To bring destruction, death and ruin to all of Hyrule and all of the people who call it home.
IF the body in BOTW2 is Indeed Ganondorf and not Demise then it will be the first time that essentially Ganon transforms into Ganondorf, and not the other way around. It bothers me that the hair is so long. Every depiction of Ganondorf so far has been short, it's only when he's transformed into Ganon that the hair sometimes becomes long. It might be something like it's Ganondorfs original body but it's resurrecting demise and slowly changing into him.
It seems that NoA has a history of doing weird translation. I have noticed that the non english translations of Nintendo games are more accurate to Japanese in most places. For example I know for sure that the demon tribe is kept in the french version of SS. I would argue that the changes were probably made because the US are more touchy about religion. France doesn't really care about religion in particular. Overall I was aware of most of the Japanese differences and it's the subjet of a lot of debates on theorist forums but it's good that the greater english community is finally starting to realize it. I have also noticed that it is something the Zelda community lags behind compared to other Nintendo communities. I am part of most of the theorist side of those communities and I have noticed that pretty much every Nintendo fanbase has realized that the english translation was butchered beyond reason and they have all been translating japanese text for almost a decade with every big theorist using those translations as references while Zelda is still stuck at a point where only a few know of how much was lost in translation and almost none of the big english theorist actually know what they are talking about. The Kirby community for example is looking for every scrap of badly translated text as soon as a new game comes out. It's kind of weird.
Thanks man. Quiet shocked they took these important pieces of lore away from us… this is something major. Like extremely major.. I have to process this..
They seriously need to stop watering down the story or COMPLETELY changing it for English audiences, it's bizarre. The original story is so much cooler too! What an awesome video. Thank you for all your research and work on this. Also (I think it's neat how you perfectly got the text box animations!) I don't know how you did that but I'm impressed. Looks very professional and cool.
EPIC VIDEO!!!! Please, please, PLEASE do a part 2 video considering the new info in the trailers to ToTK! Has the destruction of the Master Sword released the sealed original Bringer of the Demise??
I actually published a kind of follow up video with information from the new trailers recently! It's on my channel as "The Cycle of Demise: Ganondorf's Imprisonment in Tears of the Kingdom"
I don't understand why they changed the English version so much. Referring to the groups Demise and Hylia associate with as tribes implies there are other gods and entities. We need more. I really feel like they took away from Demise's character. Great video, though, so long as we have ppl in the zelda community to help clarify important translation differences like these.
Incredible video, full of facts that none of the famous Zelda theorists haven't explored so far. Happy to subscribe and very much looking forward to more great Zelda analysis!
It sucks that they removed mention of the demon tribe but, chances are they'll never go into detail outside of the art books. We don't know anything about majora or where the salesman got his mask.
I love it that this video was recommended after watching the last TotK trailer. You were spot on a year out from this game's release. Also, a little infuriating that the translations can be so far apart from one another.
so the Japanese version really did include more lore after all,i noticed it first when breath of the wild was shown in japanese and english during e3, and when i found that The japanese name for Ganon in that game diden t even mean anything like "calamity" at all, but much rather: Unfortune/Bad omen sort of stuff, so translating that Name would have been more accurate as "Ganon the curse" then "Calamity", wich Judging by your video it do actualy Make sense to call this version of Ganon a "curse" because that is what Demise said would hunt them, and it was never confirmed in-game up to that point that ganon was this curse, we simply assumed so based on demises words. so this would indeed be important lore confirmation on stuff from previous games. while still fitting with the hole idea of Onnen being a sort of energy while also having evil propertys because a curse can be described as such a thing by some schamans and other such lore. its really intressting how western versions basicaly changed the entire lore.
Mannnnnnnn, this is so interesting. I'm almost afraid now of the amount of depth I've been missing out on in these games. Japanese has so many cool words in it.
