Headscratchers / The Legend of Zelda CD-i Games

New entries on the bottom.

Names

• Where do the names of characters like Morshu, Fari and Gwonam come from? I would assume that they're from the enclosed instruction book, but I haven't found proof that a manual or guide even exists.
  • As it is written : Koridai has fallen to Ganon and his evil friends! The gentle islanders are being transformed into blood-thirsty warriors. As you speed towards Koridai on Gwonam's magic carpet, you have only one thought: find Ganon and defeat him. Restore the peace and liberate the citizens of Koridai!
  • The Hyrule Alphabet has never been published for research. Morshu, Fari, and Gwonam could easily be common names in Hylian.
  • Anyway, the names Gwonam and Morshu appear in the manual here [1]◊
  • Fari, at least, if memory serves, was created because of Youtube Poop, where the guy wanted to give the nameless character a name and therefore used some line by Gwonam backwards that sounded like "Fari", which then people that never played the games started to accept as his official name. At least I think that's how it went.
    • It's "Squadala, we're off!" > "ffo re" > Fari.
    • His actual name, according to the wikia, is "Lord Kiro". On that same note, the Baker, often referred to as "George", is actually named "Harbanno". And the wrinkly fisherman's name is Yokan.

Mah boi

• Why does everyone think The King says MAH BOI, when he clearly says My, and Boy & BOI are presumably pronounced the same?
  • Because its funnier, and different people hear things a bit differently.
  • Funetik Aksent, my friend.
  • The "Mah" part may be due to poor-quality recordings.

Barefoot

• Why was Zelda barefoot at the end of Faces of Evil? Did Ganon take them? Does he have a foot fetish?
  • In-universe answer: She was sleeping in a bed, most people are barefoot when they're in bed. The implication is that Ganon took her from her bed and she never woke up I think, so he wouldn't have had to take them off if she already had them off.
  • Meta answer: Takes less time to draw/animate?

Zelda as main character

• How come "only Link can defeat Ganon", but Zelda is the star of the other two?
  • Gwonam can't read. Alternatively, his secondary language is English Hylian, and he has studied it so much that he forgot whatever the Hell language "Squadala" is in, which is also the language the supposed prophecy is written in. The only word of his original language he remembers is "Squadala."
  • Maybe the prophecy was "only Link can defeat Ganon in Koridai."
  • Or maybe it's actually "only Link can kill Ganon" and he mistranslated it.
  • Considering that the scroll used by Gwonam only has gibberish on it, and he doesn't even look at it while he's reading, one could assume that was made up.
  • How come Zelda does it in Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure? Easy - the prophecy was only in reference to that one particular event. As it was written, Link would have to save Koredai, but only he could do that because it predicted that Zelda would be kidnapped. Ain't No Rule saying that, if Ganon decided to attack Duke Onkled, that someone could gather up weapons and take him on. Ain't No Rule saying that he couldn't be killed while in Tolemac by Link - maybe Ganon thought only Link could kill him but as it turns out, it's not.

Glutko

• If the Shrine of Koridai lies through Glutko's eye, why does Link kill him? Wouldn't killing Glutko destroy the Shrine of Koridai as well?
  • Gwonam wasn't being literal when he said that, he just meant that Glutko was guarding the way to the shrine.

How does Link know Zelda's been kidnapped?

• In Faces of Evil, Ganon kidnaps Zelda without anybody knowing about it. It's only revealed later on with a cutscene. Yet at the end of the Tutorial, Link says "Let's find Zelda!" What.
  • Gwonam does say "Look what has happened!", so perhaps he's showing the cutscene to Link.

Timing

• Wait. If there wasn't enough time for Link to bring anything but his sword, why was there enough time for Gwonam to let Link wander around until he found his house before he gave Link what he needed to reach Ganon's lair?
  • He's working for Ganon.
  • He likely had no items to imprison Ganon anyway, and the sword sucked at first. I doubt this one Link had Silver Arrows.

Zelda and Link

• Why did CD-i Zelda say that CD-i Link "did not" just save her from Ganon, despite irrefutable evidence that he did, in fact, save her from Ganon?
  • He kidnapped her IN THE DARKEST NIGHTMARE HOUR, while she was still asleep. She didn't wake up until after Link had already killed Ganon.
  • Because she's a Tsundere Excuse Me Princess.

Ganon skin

• Ganon is depicted with green skin instead of purple like in all games before this. After that this he was depicted with green. Does that mean it isn't completely discontinued by Nintendo, and actually inspired this aspect?
  • Here's an official poster released by Nintendo featuring "each version of Link from the original The Legend of Zelda game for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987 through The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS in system in 2007." See the CD-i games anywhere?
  • Also. Ganon is completely blue in Oracle of Seasons/Ages and Four Swords Adventures, thus rendering your statement false.
  • There is some official art and strategy guide art from the first game that shows a green Ganon, so it’s not like this was the first time. NES games often used color palettes that didn’t reflect a character’s canon appearance due to sprite limitations, so maybe whoever did the art for these games saw a picture of a green Ganon and assumed the blue pig in the first game was the wrong color.

Link in the mirror

• WHAT exactly was Link doing in that mirror?
  • Ganon imprisoned him there or something. Duh.
  • He fell into a Plot Hole.
  • King Harkinian took the Triforce of Courage to protect himself, leaving Link defenceless against Wizzrobe's spell.
  • When Zelda meets Lady Alma, the owner of the mirror, she claims that she exchanged Link's canteen for a kiss, to which Zelda reacts in surprise: "YOU kissed Link?" This could lead to two possibilities, Lady Alma could secretly be part of Ganon's minions and trapped Link in her magic mirror herself. Or, perhaps more likely considering Zelda and King Harkinian don't seem to take her very seriously after Zelda inadvertently frees link, because Link gave her his canteen, an item that in the cd-i games is used to hold Water of Life to heal you when injured, Link was unable to defeat Wizzrobe and was sealed in the mirror by him, done in by his Idiot Hero smooch seeking tendencies.

Gestures

• Can someone explain to me what was with the weird gestures the characters did when they talked? For instance, in the beginning cutscenes of Wand of Gamelon, Zelda says "A whole month gone, and still no word." As she says this, she makes a circle motion with her right fist in front of her eye and points to the top of the screen with her left. Um...WTF is all I can say.
  • Most people believe that she's crying, and she's rubbing her eye(s?).
  • She's putting on INVISIBLE MAKEUP.
  • The real (read: boring) answer is that the cutscenes were done by Animation Magic, who are almost completely incapable of NOT animating their characters like that (see also I.M Meen and Mutant Rampage Bodyslam). Call it their signature style, if you wish.

"Normal" people

• Why is it that the "normal" people in these games (like the shopkeeper in Wand of Gamelon and the crazy cloak lady) are the ones that are really creepy, while the villains look absolutely ridiculous?
  • TO put it into perspective: The people at Animation Magic failed at everything. Anything they do gets turned on its head. If they wanted to make a normal, average person, we'd get a wrinkled, hideous humanoid. When they try to make a villian, we get this
  • Ushrom and the cloak-lady are supposed to be crazy (look at those eyes!), though there are sane NPCs, like the librarian in Faces of Evil. Speaking about Ganon - this is the first Ganon, who is not a blue pig! In fact, he looks like Ganondorf's first form from Ocarina of Time: darkgreen skin, red-green=brown cape, sorcerer abilities. The developers were freaking prophets!
  • Unintentional Uncanny Valley. Failing at portraying a normal-looking person will naturally produce something far freakier than failing at portraying a non-human character.
  • You get what you pay for: When you only have a $600000 budget for one game, you really have little choice but to hire an entry-level animation studio with only 72 people. All of which are B-list talent and desperate to get any kind of contract work, even if it barely offers minimum wage. Effort? Somewhat. Consistency? Completely Absent.
  • That's just how they look, just because someone looks weird or ugly doesn't mean they can't be nice. Lika (the cloak lady) may have color changing eyes because she has magical powers but that doesn't make her evil in any way. This game may actually have done a good job at averting Beauty Equals Goodness which was a very common trope at the time, said trope is rather negative.

Credit

• Why couldn't Morshu give Link credit?
  • Jokes aside, Morshu, as well as most shopkeepers, care only about their wallet and not the good of the world. Of course he couldn't just loan bombs to every passing elf.
  • Or lamp oil, or rope...
  • Maybe the economy of Koridai is messed up since Ganon took control. Maybe Ganon's minions are stealing money which is why they drop rupees.

Protection

• Why didn't the Triforce of Courage protect the King?
  • Because his fat already does so.
  • It only works against guns.
  • The Triforce of Courage is rightfully Link's. The King had no right to take it, and the Triforce only protects people who rightfully have it.
  • But kings could apparently use the Triforce in the Golden Age after Link to the Past... are these... THINGS... canon after all?!
  • Protecting the King does not mean the Triforce makes him invincible which he never said it would.

Shrine of Koridai

• If the Shrine of Koridai lies through Glutko's eye, why does Link kill him? Wouldn't killing Glutko destroy the Shrine of Koridai as well?
  • I assume that Gwonam was either speaking metaphorically and saying that Glutko the monster was guarding the Shrine of Koridai (and thus it was in his vision) or referring to the statue of Glutko's head.
  • He's the magical old mentor guy. He's contractually obligated to say weird and vague things.
  • The island of Koridai is filled with giant statue heads that represent the bosses, one can assume Gwonam is refering the the eye of Glutko's statue, not the real Glutko's.

Cousin

• Where is it said Duke Onkled is The King's cousin?
  • The Enclosed Instruction Book
  • No ones found the cousin line yet, so it might be a mistake.

Daira

• Glutko eats a guy and says it "tastes just lika a daira". Dairas are humanoid alligators. Wouldn't it make more sense for him to say "tastes just like a cucco"?
  • My assumption was that it's a phrase. Like his equivalent of "tastes like chicken."
  • Well, have you ever eaten a Koridian? How do you know they don't taste like that?
  • Considering Glutko casually ate a Koridian, there is no reasons to think he never ate a daira.

Power glove

• How come Link's Power Glove is dyed fabric and Zelda's is plated armor? And why does the upgrade that lets Zelda's sword shoot beams turn the whole blade gold, while Link's upgrade gives him a tiny red decoration on the blade?
  • In both cases, said items were created using different items and different methods(Link's Power Glove was created using a potion while Zelda's was forged like a gauntlet. Link's sword had the fire diamond hammered into it while the fire diamond Zelda had was used to coat the blade). They have roughly the same functions, but look different because of it.

Going to Gamelon to aid him

• It was a nice gesture for King Harkinian to go to Gamelon to aid Duke Onkled, but... what exactly was he going to do? He doesn't have a sword, or Link's stuff, or any magic powers that we know of. Did he think wielding the Triforce of Courage, which belongs to Link, by himself would actually work?
  • There is absolutely no indications that the King does not have a sword. Just because we never saw him wield one in cutscenes doesn't mean he doesn't have one. Link even says that "Ganon is no match for the King" implying that the King is actually a competent fighter.

Gamelon's leadership

• Duke Onkled was the ruler of Gamelon, right? But he has been arrested and taken to Hyrule (and as stated elsewhere on our pages for this series, King Harkinian's punishment for Onkled might be an implicit death sentence), so who's going to lead Gamelon now?
  • Don't most rulers have heirs in case of death? Maybe it's an unknown heir or a high placed person like Mayor Cravendish until they find an other ruler.
  • Cravendish would be a good choice. He knows when something is illegal, you know.

Squadala! I am off!

• Why doesn't Gwonam appear in Wand of Gamelon? He was a very helpful character in The Faces of Evil, but in this game, he's just gone with no explanation.
  • Likely because he's a Koridian and wasn't aware of the attack on Gamelon, or Gamelon's problems aren't his business. Also we don't know whether Wand of Gamelon happened before or after The Faces of Evil so it's possible that the King and the others don't know about Gwonam's existence in this game.
    • While it may not have been the developer's intention evidence seems to point to Wand of Gamelon being a prequel to The Faces of Evil. When Ganon is defeated in Wand of Gamelon he says in an annoyed tone "The chains, no! You haven't seen the last of me!' Compare this to his defeat in The Faces of Evil. Ganon is panicking and BEGGING to not be trapped in the book as if he knows there's no hope for escape. In addition, it solves the issue of "Only Link, can defeat Ganon" what the prophecy really means is Link is the only one who can PERMANENTLY stop Ganon. As for Zelda's Adventure... best to assume it's an alternate continuity based on the massive Art Shift.

Faces of Evil and Koridai culture

• In the lighthouse in Faces of Evil, the NPC in there mentions that Droolik can be found around the side of Glutko. Considering he calls it by that name, that would suggest that Glutko’s Face of Evil has been there long enough for people to know the area by that name, instead of whatever it was called beforehand. It feels particularly odd since Ganon’s seizing of Koridai seems to be fairly recent, going by Link not knowing about it before Gwonam arrives.

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