• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 420 0

a byproduct of the creation of an ancient world? Or was it left behind with a purpose—namely that of ensuring the world of the three goddesses remains unchanged. Maybe the Triforce is not only a relic that has both led to the destruction and saving of Hyrule, but is also a guide to our lives, a means of showing us what’s really important. More specifically, maybe the Triforce is a symbol for what virtues the goddesses wanted to show were the most important in their absence; courage, wisdom, and power weren’t accidental. They were specifically chosen and there was certainly a reason for it. What that reason is, however, has yet to be uncovered. Although the information in the games is limited, we can still analyze what is known to learn more about the true nature and intent of the Triforce.

Are courage, wisdom, and power equal characteristics, as the Triforce places them? Did the goddesses make a mistake by placing power with courage and wisdom? And finally, how should one actually use the Triforce, both individually and as a whole? With Plato, Aristotle, and Kant guiding our way, the path seems as bright as the Triforce itself.

The Good Will and the Triforce of Power

Nothing in the world—indeed nothing even beyond the world—can possibly be conceived which could be called good without qualification except a good will.

—Immanuel Kant71

Given the history of Ganondorf and his devastating effects on Hyrule, it would be a good starting point to ask why power should be included in the Triforce at all. Why was it necessary to group something that could very easily be abused with other seemingly good virtues such as wisdom and courage? Surely, given the fact that Ganondorf has nearly destroyed Hyrule on several different occasions, the goddesses would have known the danger involved in implanting this particular attribute with the other two. Before arguing that power has a rightful place in the Triforce, I first want to explain why courage and wisdom shouldn’t be given an automatic status as being better than power.

Courage and wisdom were entrusted to Link and Princess Zelda and they have utilized each effectively and accordingly. Let’s try a thought experiment. What would have happened if these two pieces fell to someone else? Because they are courage and wisdom, would they instinctively be used in the same way that Link and Zelda use them?

Or, could these two pieces of the Triforce be just as susceptible to evil as power, and through luck or fate or some reason unknown to us, the three pieces just happen to always fall into these three particular character’s hands. I would like to think the latter and maintain that the Triforce pieces are just as neutral as the Triforce as a whole. There is something pure about Link and Zelda, in the same way that there is something impure about Ganondorf.

The Triforce as a whole will grant its possessor their innermost desires. If held by someone corrupt, then Hyrule will be filled with darkness. If held by someone pure and balanced in courage, wisdom, and power, then Hyrule will become a paradise. Each piece could be used for good or evil, in the same way that the individual pieces can.

Immanuel Kant tells us that the only thing good without exception is a good will. In other words, everything except a good will could be used in a bad way. When we act only from a sense of duty and never treat someone merely as a stepping stone, we would be fulfilling his concept of the good will. In essence, we can deduce from this that everything else could be used for evil acts. Take something like charity that is always a seemingly good thing. If you were to give the beggar in the town square of Twilight Princess one hundred rupees, this could be construed in a negative way. What were your true intentions? Did you want to impress someone? Or build a résumé? Did you want recognition in some way? Kant words it like this:

Intelligence, wit, judgment, and the other talents of the mind, however they be named, or courage, resoluteness, and perseverance as qualities of temperament,