Summary

• Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom celebrate the franchise's history, but ignore the important Golden Goddesses and their role in creating Hyrule and the Triforce.
• Hylia has become the primary deity in Hyrule, with statues and worship, while the Golden Goddesses are largely forgotten.
• The absence of the Golden Goddesses could be temporary, and future Zelda games may explore their mythology and bring them back into prominence.

Although The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has followed in Breath of the Wild’s footsteps to create another awe-inspiring adventure, both Zelda titles also seem to ignore a crucial aspect of the franchise’s lore. Over the course of its nearly forty-year history, The Legend of Zelda has gradually built up both the Kingdom of Hyrule and other related settings with tales of heroes, monsters, and magic. Of course, not every detail has remained consistent across every title, but certain omissions in the latest entries are more noticeable than most.

It is fair to say that Breath of the Wild was a celebration of every game to come before it, with references to all corners of the franchise. Tears of the Kingdom built on this, not only maintaining the world of BOTW but adding to it with new details and tributes to what had come before. boss fight this seemed to tease never occurs.

The Legend Of Zelda’s Creator Goddesses Have Vanished From The Series

A more glaring absence in BOTW and TOTK, however, is that of Hyrule’s three Golden Goddesses: Din, Nayru, and Farore. The three are incredibly important figures, having created Hyrule as well as The Legend of Zelda’s iconic Triforce, but neither game indicates their presence. The Triforce itself may be held by Zelda in TOTK, but if so, it seems to have fallen into obscurity. Moreover, its creators do not even merit a mention, even as the Demon Dragon threatens to destroy the kingdom. The Goddesses intervened when Ganondorf almost acquired the Triforce prior to The Wind Waker, burying him beneath the Great Sea, so their comparable inaction here is notable.

The Golden Goddesses were also responsible for sealing the Dark Interlopers in the Twilight Realm prior to Twilight Princess, leading to their descendants becoming the Twili.

Of course, given that Link and the draconic Zelda are able to defeat the Demon Dragon, it could be that the Golden trio simply foresaw this, and saw no need to interfere. However, putting this aside, the Golden Goddesses are still more notable for their lack of acknowledgment from the people of Hyrule. This is despite the incredible amount of worldbuilding which has given Hyrule more definition than ever before. It is clear that the Goddesses’ fading from prominence, and perhaps memory entirely, is no oversight; after all, the three dragons which roam Hyrule’s skies (in addition to the Light Dragon) are named after them - Dinraal, Naydra, and Farosh.

It is not precisely clear how these dragons are connected to the Goddesses, if they are at all. Nevertheless, each dragon clearly invokes a goddess in their design; Dinraal, for example, wields fire and flies around Death Mountain, both of which are things that Din herself is also associated with. Of course, the dragons are themselves unacknowledged by most of Hyrule, apparently considered a legend more than tangible entities, and only Link is provably able to even see them. This could be a reflection of the status of the Golden Goddesses in present-day Hyrule; still present to some degree, but for the most part their influence is unseen and forgotten.

Hylia Is Currently The Most Important Deity In Hyrule

In place of the Golden Goddesses, modern Hylians instead worship Hylia. First introduced in Skyward Sword, the relative newcomer to the Zelda series has nevertheless since firmly established herself as Hyrule’s primary deity. As the Kingdom’s patron goddess, and even the origin of the Royal family through her incarnation as Zelda, Hylia’s prominence is not surprising by itself. She is much closer to Hyrule, both literally and figuratively, than the Golden Goddesses, who retreated from Hyrule after its creation. Having her be the focus of worship for Hylians is an entirely natural consequence. But at the same time, this alone does not preclude the Golden Goddesses from also being acknowledged.

It is very clear that Hyrule is a land with multiple deities, even in BOTW and TOTK. In addition to the statues of Hylia found across Hyrule, Link can also meet the Horse God Malanya in person, as well as learn about the Gerudo’s worship of the Seven Heroines. Hylia and Malanya can both be interacted with to varying extents, with the former’s statues being crucial for Link increasing his Heart Containers and Stamina Vessels, while Malanya can revive horses in BOTW and improve their capabilities in TOTK. The Gerudo Heroines do not offer any aid to Link, but there are still side quests connected to them in both games.

The Golden Goddesses, meanwhile, seem to have no help to offer Link. Again, given their pattern of non-interference unless absolutely necessary, this is not uncharacteristic of the three. But between this and the Triforce’s lack of direct relevance, for the most part, the trio seem to be irrelevant in Hyrule. Of course, there are still some mysteries regarding Hyrule’s pantheon, such as who the Goddess of Time is, so it is still possible that the Goddesses are still known in Hyrule, and that the games simply do not depict this.

Zelda’s Golden Goddesses Could Return In The Future

On the other hand, it is worth noting that this state of affairs is not necessarily permanent. The Golden Goddesses (and the Triforce) could easily become the focus of a sequel to Tears of the Kingdom, or an entirely unrelated game. It would be intriguing for a game to dive deeply into Hyrule’s creation mythology, especially given how much of an impact the similar Skyward Sword has had on the franchise.

The golden Goddesses are hugely important to Hyrule’s background, and their lack of direct acknowledgment in the largest Legend of Zelda games to date is rather disappointing as a result. Both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom instead place great emphasis on Hylia’s role, alongside introducing other minor deities to expand the pantheon of Hyrule. However, as the Golden Goddesses could still return in a future The Legend of Zelda game, this trend is far from irreversible. In fact, given the extensive worldbuilding in the most recent titles, it would be natural for future games to continue in this trend and bring new detail to this part of Hylian culture.