Hero's Shade
from Zeldapedia, the Legend of Zelda wiki
| Hero's Shade | |
|---|---|
.png) The Hero's Shade in his skeletal form | |
| First appearance | Twilight Princess (2006) |
| Sex | Male |
| Homeland | Hyrule |
- "Let teachings of old pass to you... Take sword in hand and find me..."
- — Hero's Shade
The Hero's Shade is a character from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Once a famed swordsman of Hyrule, he died with the eternal regret of never having passed on his knowledge of the art of the sword. The Hero's Shade manifests itself as a red-eyed, golden wolf in the world of the living. He misses his right eye in both humanoid and ghostly form, according to the GameCube version (which is considered canonical). As a wolf, the left eye is bright red while the right eye is closed and appears scarred. As a ghostly warrior, the left eye is a bright red sphere, while the right is unlit and transparent. The Hero's Shade is immortal and cannot be damaged during training sessions.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
- "A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage. You may be fated to become the hero of legend...but your current power would disgrace the proud green tunic of the hero's tunic you wear. You must use your courage to seek power...and find it you must. Only then will you become the hero for whom this world despairs. If you do find true courage, and you wish to save Hyrule from the horrors it now faces...Then you will be worthy to receive the secrets I hold!"
- — Hero's Shade
When Link, a young man from Ordon Village, is pointed out as the one destined to overcome the evils of the King of Twilight, the Hero's Shade sees the potential to be a master swordsman within him, and approaches him on his way to the Forest Temple. Link is taken into another world, the realm of the Hero's Shade.
The Hero's Shade offers Link his knowledge of the sword. After teaching him the first skill, the Ending Blow, he tells Link that in order to meet him again, he must, in wolf form, approach a Howling Stone and howl the notes that the stone echoes. When Link successfully performs this, the golden wolf manifestation of the Hero's Shade will appear somewhere in the land of Hyrule. Link, in his normal form can then approach the wolf to once again enter the other world and learn a new skill. However, before he can learn a new one, he has to prove his mastery of the previously learned skill by utilizing it against the Hero's Shade. He seems to grow frustrated with Link when he forgets or has a hard time mastering a skill.
When Link has learned six of the skills, he makes his final appearance in front of Hyrule Castle and teaches him the Great Spin Attack. His destiny fulfilled, the Hero's Shade then passes on to the world of spirits. Interestingly, even though Link seemingly blacks out during his sessions with the Hero's Shade, Midna never says anything of it nor seems to even notice anything amiss.
Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.
[edit] Theories
Theory warning: This section contains theoretical information based on the viewpoints or research of one or several other users. It has not been officially verified by Nintendo and its factual accuracy is disputed.
[edit] Relation to Link
- "You have at last mastered all of the Hidden Skills. Although I accepted life as the hero, I could not convey the lessons of that life to those who came after. At last, I have eased my regrets. You who have marched through countless foes, each mightier than the last...You, who now gaze to the future with vision unclouded...Surely you can restore Hyrule to its stature of yore as the chosen land of the gods...Farewell!...Go and do not falter, my child!"
- — Hero's Shade
One of the small pieces of his backstory that the Shade reveals to Link are "I accepted life as the hero," which has led many to believe he is the spirit of the Hero of Time, who is famous for his deeds against Ganondorf during the Imprisoning War, and for saving the land of Termina from destruction at the hands of Majora. It should also be noted that four of the six songs used to summon the Golden Wolf are songs from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. In the GameCube version of Twilight Princess (the one considered to be canon), the Hero's Shade is left-handed, just as the Hero of Time is. The way he shifts his feet when advancing on Link is exactly the same as the way the Hero of Time moved his feet when targeting an enemy. If looked at carefully, the hilt on the Hero's Shade's sword closely resembles the Great Fairy's Sword. Additionally, his shield looks like a worn version of the Mirror Shield from Majora's Mask (it's the only round shield ever equipped by a Link in any other Zelda game). The sword could also be said to resemble various other beginner's swords throughout the Legend of Zelda series.
Even the character's name further supports this theory: "Hero" could refer to Hero of Time, and a shade is a kind of spirit or ghost — one who leaves behind a ghostly imprint of themselves in the world when they die. His final words to Link, "Go and do not falter, my child", may signify some blood relation between him and Link — perhaps even a direct parentage (plausible, given the fate of Twilight Princess Link's parents is never ascertained.) This could simply be a term of familiarity or even endearment. However, similar words are spoken earlier when he teaches Link certain skills: after learning the Ending Blow, the Shade states:
- "There are still six hidden skills for you to learn. Those are only for one who carries the blood of the hero...the one whose spirit is that of the sublime beast."
- — Hero's Shade
This could simply be metaphorical: an indication that Link has become the successor to the fighter's lost art. Adding to the blood-relation theory, however, is the fact that the Shade takes the form of a wolf in the world of light — the same as Link. The quote could be interpreted as validation of various theories: that the Shade is a blood relative of the Link of Twilight Princess, who in turn is a blood-descendant of the Hero of Time, and that the the Shade is, if not the Hero of Time, then at least a heroic descendant of him and ancestor of the Link of Twilight Princess. Since the game makes no mention of any other Heroes between Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, it would seem safe to assume the former.
If the Hero's Shade is in truth the ghost of the Hero of Time, then he was an exceedingly tall man: the top of the head of Link of Twilight Princess is just about at mid-chest to the ghostly warrior. While it is true the Link is shorter than nearly every character in Twilight Princess (including the female cast, of which only Ilia and the younger girls are shorter), this still put the ghostly warrior at an impressive height — just shy of seven feet tall — unless the Link of Twilight Princess is intended to be less than five feet tall.
The Hero's Shade's appearance, in his ghostly warrior form, is very similar to that of a Stalfos, suggesting that he might a similar creature. Even the round shield and simple t-shaped sword resonate with classic Stalfos design. According to Fado, people who venture into the Lost Woods without a fairy will inevitably become lost and in the end, transform into a Stalfos. Supposedly, after the events of Majora's Mask, the Hero of Time returned to Hyrule without Navi or Tatl, only to become lost in the Lost Woods some time after, thus becoming one of these skeleton creatures.
Also, if the Shade is the Hero of Time, he has learned not only new sword skills since the games last saw him off, but also new magic skills. Case in point, the ball of magic with which he lets Link practice reflecting projectiles, while learning the Shield Attack, and the multiple copies he uses when teaching both the Jump Strike and the Great Spin (perhaps inspired by the battle against Phantom Ganon).
[edit] Sheikah
The Hero's Shade could also be a Sheikah, or at least have a connection with them, as the Howling Stones used to summon him are adorned with what appears to be the Sheikah symbol. Further, all but one of the Wind Stone songs is a warp song from Ocarina of Time. However, if the Howling Stones are connected to the Gossip Stones, as their appearance would suggest, it's not implausible that the Hero of Time, who learned to interact with these just as he learned to use other Sheikah artifacts, could be associated with them despite the lack of Sheikah descent. Similarly, the songs echoed by the Wind Stones, which the Golden Wolf howls alongside Wolf Link, are part of the Hero of Time's repertoire. Further discrediting this theory is the distinctly UN-Sheikah-like style of fighting the Hero's Shade uses, and the bulky armor he wears: much more like a knight than any sort of ninja.
Theory warning: Theories end here.
