The Legend of Zelda will always prioritize gameplay first and foremost, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a clear effort on Nintendo’s part to keep the lore of the franchise as rich and engaging as possible. While Nintendo kicked off the series’ mythology with Judeo-Christian imagery, A Link to the Past would recontextualize Zelda’s lore.
From there, Ocarina of Time would formally introduce the three Goddesses: Din, the Goddess of Power; Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom; and Farore, the Goddess of Courage. Of the three Goddesses, Farore stands out as the most mysterious— perhaps even deliberately. Shrouded in mystery, Farore might be the most interesting figure in Zelda’s pantheon.
10 The Goddess Of The Wind
While Din and Nayru are associated with fire and water respectively more by proxy or subtext, Farore is very explicitly the Goddess of the Wind. Given that she’s the Goddess of Courage, it’s only natural she play a role in The Wind Waker. It only makes sense that she’d also double as the Goddess of Wind in a game about the winds.
Her role as the Goddess of Wind also just helps better connect her to The Wind Waker. Link’s character arc sees him finding and proving his courage in the first game where he has a full arc. It’s about that Farore’s presence be felt in all ways as it lends more impact to the game’s finer moments.
9 Farore Is Still Worshipped After The Flood
While it’s implied that the Ruto worship some elements of Din’s being and that Nayru more or less has no worshipers, Farore is still specifically invoked and worshiped by the Korok. Of course, given that the Great Deku Tree would have intimate knowledge of Hyrule, it does make sense why he’d still invoke Farore.
This makes Farore the only Goddess in The Wind Waker who could presumably be worshiped by modern-day citizens of the Great Sea. Din and Nayru, on the other hand, will likely be lost to time unless Valoo and Jabun start preaching the Hylian good word.
8 The Minish Cap’s Farore
Interestingly, The Minish Cap might just shine light on how Farore augments her chosen champions with Courage. In the game, Link can receive bottled Charms from the Din, Nayru, or Farore. Din’s Charm turns Link’s tunic red and buffs his strength, Nayru’s turns Link’s tunic blue and buffs his defense, and Farore turns Link’s tunic purple and buffs both.
That said, while Farore buffs both strength and defense, it doesn’t do as good a job with either. Din’s Charm is stronger and Nayru’s Charm is sturdier. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Link is always depicted as a very balanced character in the series so it makes sense the Charm most associated with Courage would be similarly balanced.
7 Farore Is The Most Musical Goddess
While all three Goddesses are very much associated with music, Farore is by far the most musical Goddess. Her association with wind ties her rather neatly to instruments like the flute and ocarina. More importantly, Link in The Wind Waker literally conducts the wind with the titular Wind Waker.
It’s also worth noting that The Wind Waker was the last 3D Zelda to really place emphasis on the music playing aspect. Other games have elements of music— like Twilight Princess’ wolf howls— but they’re not quite the same. It’s nice that Farore got to be a part of the series’ brief tradition.
6 Farore’s Signature Green
One of Zelda’s better aspects as a franchise is how well it color codes things. Enemies, dungeons, and even the characters are nicely color-coded for fans to digest. The Goddesses are handled especially well in this regard. Din’s signature color is red, Nayru’s is blue, and Farore’s is green.
Like the other Goddesses, though, Farore doesn’t just wear green when she appears as a human. Her dress has blue and yellow accents & she has magenta tights to match. When she’s in her Goddess form, she usually visually mirrors her sisters while having a green aura.
5 The Goddess Most Associated With Link
As the Goddess of Power, Din is most associated with Ganon. As the Goddess of Wisdom, Nayru is most associated with Zelda. Naturally, as the Goddess of Courage, Farore is most associated with Link. As Link is The Legend of Zelda’s embodiment of courage, it’s not hard to see Farore’s influence on his character and the series.
It’s also possible that isn’t the case at all. Maybe Farore isn’t influencing Link at all and he just happens to embody her signature attributes. After all, Link doesn’t always begin a game with the Triforce (The Wind Waker.) Either way, though, it’s impossible to analyze Link’s courage and not immediately link it to Farore.
4 The Oracle Of Secrets
Where Din was the Oracle of Seasons and Nayru was the Oracle of Ages, Farore was the Oracle of Secrets. Farore is in charge of keeping track of the game’s secrets, serving as a password keeper, and kind of breaking the fourth wall. Either way, it’s rather interesting that she’s the Goddess best linked to the game’s Link Mode.
As the secret keeper, though, any players looking to collect all of the game’s secrets will end up hanging out with Farore quite a bit. It’s an interesting role to give her and one that potentially keeps her active in the player’s game despite being narratively irrelevant.
3 The Mystical Seed Of Courage, The Game That Never Was
Despite Farore’s role as the Oracle of Secrets, it might seem strange to fans that Nintendo decided to make games for only two of the three Goddesses. Interestingly enough, this wasn’t quite the case. Capcom fully intended to develop a third Oracle game— The Mystical Seed of Courage. It even had a proper logo and everything.
Unfortunately, Capcom struggled with the concept of linking three games together. The Mystical Seed of Courage would have focused on the franchise’s more puzzle-based elements, involving time travel puzzles as the main focus. With the game canceled, Capcom moved the time travel aspect over to Ages.
2 Nayru Adopted Farore’s Traits For Oracle Of Ages
Not just that, with Oracle of Ages inheriting such an important concept from The Mystical Seed of Courage, it perhaps goes without saying that Oracle of Ages also saw some other changes early in development. After all, Oracle of Seasons was once a Zelda 1 remake. It wouldn’t be out of the question to assume that Nayru adopted many of Farore’s traits.
Of the three Goddesses, Din is the one with the most definable personality. Farore and Nayru, however, are both a mix of bubbly and timid. It’s likely that Nayru was meant to be a timid Goddess primarily, but ended up taking on some of Farore’s chipperness following the cancellation of Seed of Courage.
1 Farore’s Courage Needs To Be Earned
The Wind Waker marked the first time in the series that Link really had to earn the Triforce. He doesn’t start the game with it because he isn’t chosen by the Goddesses. They do not want him. They probably don’t even know him. Through chance, however, Link proves himself worthy of the Goddesses
Near the end of the game, Link actually has to rebuild and assemble the Triforce of Courage himself. Through his act, Link ends up proving his genuine worth once again, this time as Farore’s Champion. This marks one of the few times in the series where a character needs to earn a Triforce piece.
NEXT: Zelda: 10 Things To Do After Beating The Main Story In Breath Of The Wild
