The Mystery of Volvagia & The Fire Temple (Ocarina of Time) - Zelda Theory 

There are older and fouler things than Dodongos, in the deep places of the world...

Our deity is acting enraged Rito: Let's pray things get better Gorons: Fucking kill it

Just realized Darunia was so strong Ganondorf couldn't just snatch the stone from him so he tried to cut his food supply

My guess as to where Ganondorf got his information about Deku Tree, Lord Jabuu Jabuu and Volvagia are from Koume and Kotake. They where his adoptive parents and are like 380 years old so they would know alot about Hyrule’s history.

Theory: The Gorons were fed to Volvagia as a sacrifice by a different race. The Goron hero breaks free, defeats the jailers, and kills the dragon. It would explain why the temple was designed differently, why it was hidden, the cages, and the myth. The floods start happening and the Zora move their domain to Death mountain and join the dwindling Gorons. The Gorons have a newly hatch dragon that has been raised as a nicer guardian spirit and has a nice temple built around it. The Gorons die out, the Zoras take over and keep the little dragon long enough for him to bless them with wings as the seas rise.

The noises of ocarina of time are so satisfying/comforting to me.

I love how Darunia names his son Link. It really shows the bond Link(the hylian) and Darunia had.

My theory is that Volvagia was the guardian deity of an ancient and forgotten race that dwelt within the mountain. In order to keep it in a good mood they built the fire temple to worshipp it and feed it with whatever they imprisoned in the jail. However, everything went wrong as the gorons found the mountain. Probably both races battled for territory and in the end the ancient race was anhilated. Then the gorons found the temple of fire and stole their Spiritual Stone, now called Goron's Ruby, enraging Volvagia in the process. At the end of the story, Volvagia was murdered and the gorons finally made the mountain their home.

"You fear to go into those halls." "The Gorons delved too greedily and too deep." "You know what they awoke in the fires of Death Mountain." "Shadow and Flame." Those lines makes me think of the Balrog.

I was 10 when this game came out, and my dumbass never understood that I needed the Goron Tunic to pass the temple, so I just went ahead and got 3 bottled fairies and basically ran thru the temple before I burned to death. Took me 2 tries but I did it without the tunic. I was not a smart kid...

"From above, it looks like a pair of..." Me: giggles "... glasses" Me: oh.

I've been on a Zeltik binge lately, and I had remembered the OoT Manga where Volvagia and Link are actually fast friends as a baby Dragon and child. If I remember it correctly, Link finds him caged in a Castle market and proceeds to purchase then befriend him and their fight was actually quite heartbreaking. Though not quite canonical, I liked the idea that dragons were simply just a thing that exist (and we know they do, maybe not so out in the open as they tend to be revered beings) and Hylians just didn't particularly respect it other than, of course, Link which really drives home the sadness in their battle when Volvagia says Links name with a final breath.

The Lord of the Rings references are amazing. The intro is perfect

Volvagia in the game: I'mma eat all the Gorons. Volvagia in the manga: I don't feel so good Mr. Link.

i was today years old when i discovered that spectacle rock was the placement of the fire temple of OoT. Thanks Zeltik. Greetings from El Salvador.

I feel like Dinraal, Naydra and Farosh are all incarnations of the goddesses, Din, Nayru and Farore who just retired and live peacefully, flying over Hyrule or other respective places...

Zelda series is so amazing that sometimes it feels like an actual myth from real life ngl

_"The Gorons delved too greedily and too deep..."_ _"You know what they awoke in the darkness of Death Mountain... _*_shadow and flame..."_*

Y'all know about that manga where Volvagia was Link's pet in the child age, but used against him after 7 years by Ganondorf? Her final moments are heartbreaking.

In the manga Link actually befriends a friendlier version of Volvagnia, and even plays with him. However during the 7 year gap, Ganondorf curses Volvagnia. Forcing Link to kill his friend.

It's notable that in the Japanese version of Zelda II the boss Barba was called Volvagia. The bosses of Zelda II are called guardian deities in the Japanese version of the manual and were summoned/created by an ancient king of Hyrule through magic and the triforce similar to how Ganon used Volvagia in Oot.

Sounds like a goron restaurant: "Mine, Shrine and Dine", only at Death Mountain

Maybe the goran "hero" mentioned in OOT actually lied about slaying the dragon, and merely just sealed up the mountain so that the gorans coudnt go in the mountain which ended up calming the dragon, giving the illusion to the gorans that volvagia was actaully dead.

I thin it makes perfect sense that Volvagia could have been misunderstood by the Gorons who may have just seen it as an angry dragon keeping them from making a home and gathering food, and it's not hard to imagine that when Gannondorf resurrected Volvagia, he would have cursed it in a way that left it constantly suffering and enraged. So I think you're onto something on this one.

At 5:13 you can see a Gerudo symbol in the fire temple. Could the Gerudo have been the original inhabitants of Death Mountain and the tribe that built the fire temple? Volvagia could have been the deity of the Gerudo. It explains how Ganondorf knew about volvagia as it could have been a Gerudo legend as well as a Goron legend. The spirit temple shows a woman (the goddess of the Gerudo) and a *serpent* coiling up her body. Could this serpent be volvagia? Perhaps the reason volvagia was so hostile towards the Gorons was because the Gorons kicked the Gerudo out of Death Mountain. Ganondorf seems to have treated the Gorons more brutally than the other races, suggesting Ganondorf had a personal hatred for the Gorons for kicking out his ancestors into the desert. What's also interesting is that the Gerudo have long, fiery red hair. The Kokiri had green hair, representing plants, and the Zora are blue, representing water, so perhaps the Gerudo's red hair was supposed to represent fire.

I mean the zoras and kokiri don’t literally eat the home of their spirit, so that could be a thing

"They look like a pair of..." Me: Boobs "spectacles." Me: I mean do they though?

As you stated the Gorons were travelers that could have only recently settled. It's possible Volvagia was the guardian deity of a race that died out, angered by this fact and lack of tributes for years it immediately attacks the Gorons while in a rage brought on by being on the brink of starvation, the Gorons obviously fought back and won, never knowing what Volvagia really was

Looks like a pair of.......glasses.... Yes... Glasses that's what I thought you were going to say............... 🤔😳😂

Maybe Volvagia's temperament followed that of the mountain itself. Volcanoes are known to, for lack of a better word, "mellow" over time. Its first incarnation, wich was banished by the legendary Goron hero, may have been a raging inferno made flesh. Then, as Death Mountain cooled off, so did Volvagia. Note that the dragon wasn't out reaping gorons and munching on Hyrule. Valoo would be a countinuation of this trend. As for how they reproduce... Well, It could be like you said, and they have something like "respawn". Or it could be something more natural. The Fire Temple isn't all that small.

I love immersing myself in Zelda lore sometimes. Thank you for making these videos.

Perhaps Volvagia was the protector of the ancient race that inhabited Death Mountain and constructed the Fire Temple. As the video already stated, the Gorons aren't native to the volcano. Perhaps Volvagia attacked the Gorons because he thought they were invaders. As the original tribe is long gone, and Volvagia was asleep, he was awoken by the Goron mining activities and proceed to torment them, maybe he thought that the Gorons slayed the people the fire dragon protected. That's my theory, at least.

It would make sense, The Great Deku Tree passed on the Stone of the Forest to Link, and originally was its keeper, Jabu passed his stone on to the Royal Family of the Zora and thus to Ruto, So when the Goron Hero slayed the original incarnation of Volvagia, he was rewarded with the Spiritual Stone of fire which it had been charged to protect... Which would explain why Darunia has the stone in OOT, as it became a heirloom of the Goron people and was passed down as sacred from generation to generation That itself would support Volvagia being a Spritual Guardian more than anything.

Additional trivia: The serpentine dragon boss from Zelda 2 was called Volvagia in Japan, though it was translated as Barba in the West. Hyrule Warriors, though noncannon, also considered Volvagia to be the corrupted spirit of Death Mountain. Further, the character Volga was intended to be a human reincarnation of him.

In Japan, the line between Kami (“nature spirit”) and yo-kai (“evil spirit”) is extraordinarily thin. The spirit of a river that becomes polluted could turn from a pure, calm being into a malicious spreader of filth and disease.

3:05 "Two similarly sized peaks connected in middle so that from above it looks like a pair of..."

Zora: “We’re fish and we like water splash-splash.” *world floods* Zora: “Lets become the dominant race!” Valoo “Hey I gotta deal for you!”

What is Volvagia, Dragon of the Deep? I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Volvagia, Dragon of the Deep, is in fact, a Dragon that lived deep inside the volcano of Death Mountain.

This is super interesting! I love learning more about Zelda games. In-game, you don't really think about it. It's just 'oh, it's an evil dragon'. I love this connection!

The depth and connections you find in the lore of Zelda are amazing. Thank you very much for making these. I'm binging your videos as we speak.

Am I the only one who feels sad for Volvagia after reading the Ocarina of Time manga.

I've always found it eerie that Volvagia "ate" Gorons and was seen as evil but that both Jabu-Jabu and the Great Deku Tree "ate" link in order for him to help them..

just only recently discovered your channel right after I finished BOTW, love your content, and you've got a good voice to listen to without ever sounding monotone or boring. Keep up the good work man!

What if Volvagia thinks that Link is trying to hurt Gorons?!?!?

Something I noticed in two clips of the Fire Temple: The Gerudo Symbol. The Gerudo are associated with Din (and Din with Fire) much more than the Gorons seem to be, despite Darunia becoming the Fire Sage. Which, gorons also have no need for enchanted fire resistant garnments...but Gerudo acolytes and their sage would. Perhaps prior to being driven out into the desert by the Royal Family (...it’s a ghetto), the Gerudo first lived on Death Mountain and cultivated the rich, volcanic soil. They didn’t burrow and mine (which to Volvagia would seem pretty destructive and parasitic), but instead used the volatile mountain’s nature to produce Life-much like Din did in legend by forming the Land Fayore would layer inhabit with organisms. But when the king drove out the Gerudo and broke what might’ve been either peace or truce between the Sheikah and Gerudo, the balance with the dragon was broken. Also...rock aren’t exactly edible. So for Volvogia to even try it? They were starving without whatever food source the Gerudo previously cultivated. And perhaps the dragon wasn’t slain, just forced into hibernation. Ganondorf simply just woke them up and enacted revenge for the slight committed against the Spirit and his people eons ago. One thing I noticed-the Great Deku Tree and JabuJabu were in TERRIBLE shape, much more so than Ganondorf could’ve possibly done on his own. (He just got blamed for it/took credit. He’s content to let Link open the Sacred Realm for him, after all.) -The GDT is quite literally rotted out, and has been for centuries, and is quite literally having new forest growth eating him alive. Also, Spiders generally aren’t parasitic-they EAT parasites. If Ganondorf truly had anything to do with Gohma at all is...debatable. And the GDT still died. (He was already basically dead.) -JabuJabu is a whale in a freshwater fishbowl. Wrong ph, waaaaaayyyyyyy too small a “tank”, and is literally only fed a single fish daily...which would not even be enough to sustain a CHILD Zora. Screw a guy for being hungry! Also, stressed, undernourished, and cramped marine life get sick. Link fights a quite literal infection this time. JabuJabu survives the illness, but is presumably dead within 7 Years. *S H O C K E R* TL;DR Ganondorf knew about the Guardian Spirits because the Gerudo built the Fire Temple. He didn’t have anything to do with the torment and eventual deaths of the DekuTree and JabuJabu, but he DID revive Volvogia and helped them seek revenge for a past injustice.

MAN! The Fire Temple’s architecture matching the shape of Spectacle Rock... that is some astonishing attention to detail on part of the developers.

I always loved your videos Zeltik. Super informative and well narrated. It manages to hold my attention perfectly every time. Thank you

Well done with your scripting, your attention to detail and storytelling convinces me that your theories are actual lore! If no one has told you yet, you should turn your audio into podcasts, what a relaxing way to enjoy more Zelda content!

When I played this as a kid, I could not pronounce Volvagia, so I called her Virgina.

I always found it weird that the Gorons had no guardian spirit and that Gannondorf just knew about Volvagia.

Really need more of those dungeon theories. I love them.

Your videos make me feel grounded when my mind is racing. You have a very unique way of making familiar stories/characters (like the Gorons) feel like facts or documentaries. It’s very comforting. I doubt you’ll see this, but thank you for making these videos!

"Adult dungeon" gave me the completely wrong mental image.

Just a thought... Volvagia is an aggressive, fiery deity. The deity meant to guard Death Mountain. Zeltik pointed out that the Gorons (before oot) were depicted as travelers or vagabonds. Could we consider that Volvagia was so aggressive towards the Gorons because they invaded Death Mountain and began to mine the mountains resources? If you were a being meant to guard a specific landmark, would you also feel that an invasion on your landmark for resources was an invasion of you? Maybe that's why Volvagia was always so aggressive with the Gorons and needed to be slayed by the Gorons. He's not a deity of the Gorons, but a deity of Death Mountain.

Just from the beginning text alone, my immediate reaction is, so they awoke the balrog Lol.

rlly love this channel thanks for ur hard work and also u have a great voice for commentating

in the oot manga, volvaga is links pet that he got when he first left the forest and volvaga was possessed by ganon

Just a thought: the geometric designs on the Fire Temple in OoT are very reminiscent of the labyrinthine mazes in Breath of the Wilds. The image of a smiling face flanked by two flames also evokes an image of the original Old Man from the first Legend of Zelda. Perhaps it's a reference to that?

Superb writing in this one! Some amazing lines, very poetic!

Please do more temple theories and more OOT content in general. Your channel is awesome!

The background track of Dodongo's Cavern also plays inside the structures of Gerudo Fortress.

The Lord of The Rings reference at the beginning there was the greatest intro you have ever done! Great video overall!

This is an awesome theory!!! Nice job using all the lore scattered in the different games to support this 👏🏼

Surprised by how good of a video this is. Usually stuff like this just has a dude directly reading entries from fandom wiki pages for 15 minutes, but you clearly put a ton of work and thought into this, and it shows. Well done.

There might be another logic reason for his "evil" since Goron wasn't living here before, maybe he consider them as intruders, who mine his mountain, destroying it in some way.

Me seeing the title: "IS HE GOING TO TALK ABOUT THE OOT MANGA?" For anyone unaware, the Manga for OoT gave Volvagia a truly touching story... and an equally sad end.

I wish we would get more explanation for things that Ganondorf does other than “evil magic”

This is such a good video. It helped me to realize so many things about one of my favorite games.

Your videos take me back to the imagination of my childhood, when hyrule felt like it existed in my backyard and I was the hero, thanks man

Hyrule Encyclopedia says the Dragon Roost used to be Zora's Domain. >>Presses X to doubt heavily.

I like the idea of it being a guardian. So on that, what if the gorons are not the direct inhabitants of death mountain and are instead trespassing, and in doing so, angered the fire spirit. And the gorons, not knowing why, were forced to defend themselves.

I like your lore discussions, they are so nice and thematic

“Two identical peaks connected in the middle so that from above they like a pair of-“ Boobs “glasses” right glasses that’s what I said

3:04 "So that from above, it looks like a pair of spectacles." Right, spectacles...

Do more of these, these are some of my favorite videos of yours

Never noticed that the layout of the fire temple has two chambers on the top, connected by chambers underneath, just like the two peaks in the volcano. Really great little detail! Shows how much effort goes into so many of these games!

Things this video needs: 1: A deeper comparison of Volvagia with Eldin in particular 2: A look at Skyward Sword’s Fire Temple, and some comparison, with a look at whether OoT’s Fire Temple is the same structure, a different part of the same complex, or a different entity altogether 3: A look at how Volvagia (aka Barba because Japanese is hard) appears in Adventure of Link, specifically as a boss bound by the ancient king of Hyrule to guard one of his six designated palaces, and thus being among those charged with protecting the Triforce of Courage from evil - a role that stands in stark contrast to Volvagia’s role in myth, as well as a pawn of Ganon used to torment the Gorons upon the dragon’s return.

Haha good timing. I'm finally playing through Ocarina of Time after 20+ years of it's release. Good video man I enjoyed it a lot. It's safe to say you're probably the best Zelda Theorizer content wise. The videos show your passion for the franchise

Breathtaking labor and fantastic content as a result!

Love your theories, very Canon like! Keep up the good work!

Could the Fire Temple be the repurposed remains of the Fire Sanctuary from Skyward Sword? Someone, maybe the Mogma built over it to honor Volvagia but either left or disappeared and the Gorons took over. Also the Fire Sanctuary is totally of Sheikah origin, as it's littered with frog symbolism which BOTW confirms to be a Sheikah architecture trait.

I remember seeing Dinnral for the first time and thinking that it was volvagia.

I've watched a lot of these videos but this one is VERY convincing and impressive.

I would have to spend a LOT of time to learn all of this by myself. Glad we have a wonderful community!

Yes! I seriously hope you do every temple in OoT! WATER TEMPLE NEXT!!!

Gotta say, when you described the architecture of the fire temple it all clicked for me in another way. Follow me on this; stone carved temple, prayer chants and Ganon knew of it. What if the Gerudo where the original inhabitants of the mountain before being banished to the desert ages ago?

So first of all these videos are insanely cool and interesting. but can we appreciate how HARD that artwork with the ancient goron and volvagia goes, gawd damn

This was well done. Cheers mate

I notice how he refers to Volvagia as "Darunia's Bane" as if to draw connection back to "Durin's Bane" and the lotr themed opening.

Wait, is it just me, or does it look like "the smiling face surrounded by fire" in the fire temple look way to much like the face of Eldin from skyward sword. This would really support the theory since that would suggest volvagia is somehow related to Eldin

Something about this video. Maybe the combination of the slow Fire temple music and Zeltik’s admittedly calming voice... but this is a video I put on when I need to go to sleep. And I say that in the most praising way possible.

This is awesome keep them coming

Even as a kid i cried when i had to fight Volvagia. I still do to this day as i always felt something in my heart, even way back when, was wrong with killing her. I honestly think that Volvagia was wrongly killed the first time as the gorons were more than likely invaders to her home. The gorons probably killed or at least had disagreements with the natives of death mountain who worshiped her and perhaps in one of her hibernation cycles the Gorons invaded due to rising tensions and killed all her followers and settled the mountain thus enraging her and making the gorons attack. War between races in Hyrule is not a new concept. I always thought that after the fact of Link killing Volvagia when Darunia became a sage he learned of what really happened between Volvagia and his people and was able to send word to his son who then began to see Volvagia for who she really was as a guardian spirit and began to revere her as her old followers did.

This was perhaps your most professional video that was thought thoroughly through all the way to the end. You had researched examples, and treason examples from other games. This video was a masterpiece. Truly!

You're getting a sub for that reference at the beginning, my good dude

This potential twist is not just interesting, but backed enough to more easily be canon than unrelated. It's nice to have a mystery across a series that doesn't have to be solved with fanfiction!

"This is a myth from long ago, but it's true! I know because my dad is a descendant of the hero!" That's exactly what I told the other kids at the playground, but they didn't believe me. :(

Spectacle rock: "so when viewed from above it looks like a pair of breas- glasses"

Here’s a thought: the deku tree in return for his protection he became a parent like guardian and made the rules for the kokiri Lord jabu jabu offers his protection for food But what if in return for protection volvagia the spirit of *death* mountain required death AKA bloody sacrifice every 100 years or so The goron hero tired of his people being sacrificed leads a rebellion and destroyed the spirit with his mighty hammer. This is my head cannon and I think this makes sense and brings some more depth to the world of ocarina of time and helps the differentiate the races and guardian deities imo

Yesssssssss a channel dedicated to Zelda lore and theory?? Subscribed