#LoZ encyclopedia

[hurdy-girly]

LETS GOOOOOOOO

I haven’t had a chance to read through this yet but I am SO EXCITED!! For someone who has only played 2 LoZ games and finished neither (I’m procrastinating on BoTW but I’ve finished most of it and I’ve played some of the start of Link to the Past) I am extremely immersed in the lore of the franchise and now I can learn more!! I really wish I could just. Play all of the games. But they’re spread across so many consoles and emulators can only take you so far and I do not have the money to buy a single console of any sort let alone several so this is wonderful!! I can finally figure out the Actual Canon Lore!!!!! I really enjoyed reading through the BoTW creating the champion book thing so I’m hoping this will spark the same joy!

[lennsart]

Ok ok ok so

I've bought the Zelda Encyclopedia because I am in a hyperfixated rampage about LoZ. And on one hand it's the best thing ever, because special interest is going brrrr.

But ! But.

I've bought in french. Because I... Am french.

And I don't know if the english version has troubles, alright ? But THE FRENCH VERSION IS A BADLY TRANSLATED HELL and I need to rant.

Keep in mind that I didn't study the book. I've skimmed through. And I'm already holding my head in my hands in a dramatic 'losing my mind' posture.

But anyway ! Here's the defendant :

This is the book I'm talking about, and all the pictures that follow come from this book.

Follow me into translation hell !

Note : I actually usually prefer the french translation in Zelda ! They do a good job at translating things that make sense, leaving things as they are when it isn't needed, and I often find the translated characters' names prettier. (Example : Makar, the korok from Wind Waker, is called Dumoria. I have NO IDEA why it changes so much but it sound so much better in my opinion !) So this is not VF hate. This is genuine uncomprehension as to WHY IS THE BOOK LIKE THIS.

Now, you don't need to go far into the book to have a problem with it.

First few pages. Like literally before the actual content of the book. Presentation of the games. Easy enough, right ? Not hard to beta read, RIGHT ?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN "THE MINISHIP CAP". WHAT DO YOU MEAN. IT'S NOT LIKE THE TITLE IS WRITTEN ON THE PICTURE ABOVE. How did it happen ?? The name doesn't even change in french, help

"Miniship cap" I already want to quit and it's my INTRODUCTION to this book.

We can divide the mistakes of this book in three categories :

- Lore mistake

- Translation mistake

- Wtf mistakes

I would place "Miniship cap" in the WTF category, for obvious reasons. (HOW???)

The first two categories are easily justified : they asked someone to reread the book and the person wasn't very interested/didn't know Zelda well. But it makes the book LIE

Example of lore mistake :

The title here is " The Ancient Temple, marked by the loftwings".

THE L O F T W I N G S.

This is the ancient temple in Twilight Princess. This is supposed to read OCCAS ! SKYWARD SWORD WASN'T EVEN RELEASED YET !! LOFTWINGS DIDN'T EXIST !

Why did this happen ? Well, in french, Loftwings are called "Célestriers" (mix of the words "céleste", celestial, and "destrier", which is apparently the same in english but I've never seen it before, it's a horse usually or an animal you ride). And Occas ? Are called "Célestiens". People that lives in the sky, basically.

So yeah, Célestriers, Célestiens, I SEE the mistake, ok ?

But still. Uncool. Boo.

Now, example of translation mistake :

The first sentence here is a description of a picture, it reads "Aryll is abducted by Helmaroc King on Ganondorf's orders".

Why isn't this shocking to you, english reader ? Because Helmaroc King is the ENGLISH name of the big bird. In french, there are no "roi Helmaroc" ("roi" means king). It has been translated.

But maybe the book doesn't know, right ? IT'S NOT LIKE THE NAME IS WRITTEN ON THE NEXT PAGE, RIGHT ?

THERE. LE ROI CUIRASSE. THIS IS THE BITCH I KNOW ABOUT. I'M LOSING MY MIND

But again, alright, I guess someone didn't think to translate the name. Some characters's names aren't translated (example : french Skull kid is called... Skull kid. I am thankful for that), so maybe they just didn't THINK to check if there was a translation.

Even though. It was on the next page.

AND I WAS GOING TO LET ROI HELMAROC SLIDE. I WAS.

AND THEN I LOOKED AT THE SAME FUCKING PICTURE I TOOK OF THE BOOK.

First thing I underlined, "Mélodie", is a typo of Medli's name in french, which is "Médolie". I get it, it's an anagram, I've read it Mélodie my whole childhood, OK French Zelda Encyclopedia. OK.

BUT "ÉPÉE MAÎTRESSE" ?? NO.

THE MASTER SWORD IS NOT FUCKING CALLED "ÉPÉE MAÎTRESSE". MAÎTRESSE IS WHAT YOU CALL YOUR TEACHER WHEN SHE'S A WOMAN AND YOU'RE TEN, OK ?

(Actually, "maître" and its feminization "maîtresse" do mean master. But it's. It feels wrong. It's not the in-game name, and it feels wrong.)

THE MASTER SWORD IS "ÉPÉE DE LÉGENDE", OK ? LEGENDARY SWORD. THERE IS NO ÉPÉE MAÎTRESSE.

AT LEAST I HOPE.

Breathing in, breathing out... Ok. A not so important one :

"Les oiseaux" means "the birds", and yes, in english, those cuties are called "little birds" which would be literally "petits oiseaux" in french. (I know, too much vowels, I'm not here to defend my birth language BEAR WITH ME)

But in the VF ? They aren't 'birds'. They are PIOUPS. (Pronounced pyoop, it doesn't mean anything, just mimic the bird's noise)

THEY ARE 'PETITS PIOUPS' ALRIGHT ? AND I LOVE THEM. I'm just. Sad that their name isn't in the book. This is petits pioups erasure.

(After checking, the item they drop is called "plume d'oiseau", so "bird feather". The word "pioup" is just in the description of the item, so... Maybe it's just me. BUT STILL. LET ME CALL THEM PIOUPS IT'S ADORABLE)

And we're not even in my favorite category ! May I introduce :

The what the fuck mistakes

Aka : I can't understand how they let it slide.

Here I want you to read the description of the picture 6.

"Playing the Song of Healing, Link gets his normal appearance back".

Ok, this is probably a description of when Link goes from Deku Scrub back to Hylian, so I am expecting a picture of Link !

Image 6 : WHY IS IT THE CREEPY LINK STATUE.

DID THEY KNOW ABOUT BEN DROWNED ?? WHY IS THE WORST POSSIBLE REPRESENTATION OF LINK IS DESCRIBED WITH "LINK GOES BACK TO NORMAL". NO. NO I AM CALLING MY LAWYER, BOOK, YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO ME.

You know, in a book, there can be translating errors... And, apparently, there also can be "we forgot to fucking translate" errors.

Plural.

IN THE GODDAMN TITLES.

And I studied graphic design, alright. I know, TRUST ME, I know your eyes can get used to the titles and make you miss 'obvious' mistakes.

BUT THIS IS WHY YOU GET SOMEONE TO RE-READ. This is a fucking official book ! That has been published by probably very official publishers, I don't know, I haven't checked !

POURQUOI LE LIVRE EST NUL ? POURQUOI EST-CE QU'IL Y A AUTANT D'ERREURS ? COMMENT EST-CE QUE "MINISHIP CAP" EST ARRIVÉ ? OÙ SONT LES PETITS PIOUPS ? ENGAGEZ-MOI POUR RELIRE LE LIVRE LA PROCHAINE FOIS C'EST PAS POSSIBLE !!

I at least hope some of you laughed watching me losing my mind in french ; I hit the ten images limit, but I'm sure I'll find enough for a part two. I've lost all faith in this book. I'll read it thoroughly just to scream about it on Tumblr.

[*holding a knife towards the book* I won't let anything slide, you hear me ?]

[breannasfluff]

If anyone wants to enjoy the food pages in the encyclopedia

[felkithecreator]

I was thinking about what you shared re the Twilight Realm being the "Shadow World" (影の世界) in Japanese and I have a niche language question if that's ok: my online Japanese dictionary is telling me that kage/影 means both shadow and reflection, whereas in English "shadow" is more closely associated with "dark". So now I'm wondering: is 影の世界 best understood as a dark world or as a mirror world? If that makes sense? Sorry to be a language nerd in your DMs lol

No worries!! It's fun to talk about this stuff so please please ask me more if you have more questions.

I don't know what dictionary you're using - and it probably depends on context too, but from what I'm aware, 「影」 definitely is just shadow. Reflection would be 「反射」, or hansha. I've never heard anyone ever use the word 「影」 to refer to reflection, like, ever? Like, when talking about one's shadow in a casual setting kage is the word we use.

So yeah, in this instance I think it's definitely not a mirror world, and more of a dark world or literally, "Shadow World."

If it were a mirror-world, they'd probably describe it more how they describe Lorule in the Encyclopedia: 「ハイラルの裏側」 (hairaru no uragawa), or "the backside of Hyrule." The word 「裏」 ura here is the same word we'd use to be like "turn your paper to the backside" during a test, or like, the tail-side of a coin. In other words, Lorule and Hyrule are two sides of the same coin, and Lorule is specifically referred to in that kind of manner.

So yeah! Twilight Realm is definitely a Dark World, of sorts, rather than a Mirror World.

[handbooktohyrule]

†Loftwing - Hyliava regius

[errorwarblesrr]

I was looking through old Wind Waker interviews and tossing them into Google translate (unfortunately it's the best I have </3) I kind of found this bit interesting

I guess I find it interesting because I feel like I see people describe Wind Waker as the opposite. Where it's a zelda world, but the main character isn't actually Link but happens to be a random guy. Here, Aonuma describes it as a non zelda world, but the main character happens to be Link.

Idk the translation could be wonky since well it is google translate so here's that original Japanese bit

[skyward-floored]

The way the master sword on the side of both the loz encyclopedia and Hyrule Hystoria are complete and whole while the one on the creating a champion book is rusted is making me feel things

[mememan93]

The best post-sksw human Fi designs are the ones with no arms

[void-tiger]

Link worked best when he wasn’t some reincarnated Chosen One, but just some guy who chose to do something. Because somebody should, and he’s chosen to do so.

Ganon worked best when he was just a boar demon fashioned after that one Journey to the West character, and allowed to be both brutal and clever. Not some guy doomed to be a petty dark god’s preferred reincarnated vessel, or a guy seeking vengeance for his tribe’s suffering in a desert (and things going horribly, horribly wrong the moment he achieved his goal.)

And Zelda…she’s so rarely been granted any autonomy. Sometimes she’s allowed to prepare. Sometimes she’s able to not wear a dress…but is captured or sidelined the moment she does. Sometimes she’s able to participate or assist in some way in the final climatic confrontation…but why was she denied that before. One Zelda is literally cursed to eternal slumber and becomes a classic Hero’s Reward when the curtain falls. (That game also introduces the idea of naming every girlchild in the royal bloodline “Zelda” to quite literally make them largely interchangable dolls.)

[youngtwissler]

someone come get him

hes built like a peice of cardboard

[lennsart]

Btw if anyone thought I forgot/became normal about the french Zelda encyclopedia

I'm just building up proofs, THE STICKY NOTES ARE IN

[waywardsalt]

obsessed with this guy on mercay. me too dude

[marinsawakening]

I have now played almost seven Zelda games to full and I still feel like people are talking in esoteric riddles when they're talking about LOZ canon. I'm starting to feel like in addition to playing the games you need to graduate from Nerd University with a specialization in LOZ Lore before anything anyone says might start making sense. "Oh yeah Link reincarnates over and over again, that's canon it's called the Hero's Spirit —" "Actually Link reincarnating is completely fanon and the Hero's Spirit it something else entirely —" "Actually the Hero's Spirit itself is fanon —" what are you guys even fucking TALKING about???

[shadowdashinyumbreon]

guess who just remembered that ravio from a link between worlds exists.

MY BOY HOW COULD I FORGET HIM WJSBSKSBAK DLAKS HHHHHHHH

[transgender-catboy]

I've done so much unpacking and repacking today, it feels like I'm doing lots and nothing at the same time