A Welding Link

 In my post from a couple days ago called "Zelda's Murals and the History of the Royal Family", we went full on Legend of Zelda in comparing the princess-heroine of one of Nintendo's best known video game franchises to Eowyn-Ilmare.

Specifically, I used the initial story setup in the most recent game "Tears of the Kingdom", combined with some imagery of a dream I had that included murals like that shown in the opening scenes of the game, to support this interesting notion I've developed and explored on this blog of Eowyn recording a Story with her Ithil Stone.

At the end of the post, I mentioned I saw some interesting things with Link, but would tackle some of that in another post.   Well, here we are.

I will first briefly mention a couple interesting general things with the character of Link across the video game franchise in general, and then focus the remained of my observations on the most recent game as I did with Zelda.

Since we have Eowyn-Ilmare represented as the Grey Fighting Maid Zelda, it is only natural, if our analogy holds, that we have Link represent Faramir- Gim Guru.  Or, at least, that is where we can start from, and see if it holds.  The stories in our minds obviously drive the meaning of the symbols we see, and those symbols in turn change and drive the story, so it is an iterative process, I think, and never definitive, but I do think there are some interesting things there.

First, and actually really interesting, what has become an important and consistent part of Link's character across all video games is that he does not speak.  In fact, Link has never uttered one audible word in any of the Zelda games.  In any dialogue, it is always people talking to him, with implied responses from Link, but we never actually hear them, or even read them in any long form (in the written dialogues) beyond very simple, short user prompts.  The latest game is no exception, with Link not saying or uttering a single word in dialogue outside of user prompts.

This is an interesting tie to our Seer from 2 Nephi 3.  That Seer, who I have guessed is Faramir due to the Rose Stone (Seers can be defined very simply as those who possess and use Seer Stones), was said by Joseph of Egypt that he would be not only like Joseph but like Moses as well.  Moses had not yet come around either at the time of Joseph's prophecy, but an important defining characteristic of Moses was that God would not "loose his tongue, that he should speak much".  Moses would write mighty things (apparently from which also came the Law of Moses), but he would not be mighty in speaking (for whatever reason) so much so that God provided a Spokesman for him who, in the bible, was Aaron).

Joseph goes on to say that the Seer would also have a Spokesman provided for him, just like Moses, implying the same situation would exist for the Seer (Faramir) in his role.  He would write, but he would not speak or declare what he wrote.  That job would fall to another person.

Thus, we have Link - a character who does not speak.

A minor detail at this point, and not, on its own, a real strong tie, but I think it becomes more relevant once we get into some additional details about the character in this particular game story.  Let's see how that shapes up and then we can see if this all makes sense as a symbol.

Another general detail is Link's Sword - the Master Sword.  I have made some references and ties to Orion or Menelmacar, the Swordsman of the Sky.  The Master Sword is a big Link thing, but then again, Swords kind of are for many characters in video games and movies.  In and of itself, not necessarily earth shattering, either.  It does become a bit more specific in its symbolism in the latest game (for example, Zelda's act in healing the Sword, which has broken), but I am not going to have time to mention that here without going into even more tangents.

Let's get into the storyline of this latest game, and similar to the Zelda-Eowyn story comparison, I am going to use a cut scene from the game to illustrate a few points.  Let's see if what I read into this makes sense.

The scene I will start with is with Link standing in front of the Temple of Time on the Great Sky Island (a floating island in the sky... sound familiar with how I interpret Lehi's comments regarding islands in the sea?).  He has been separated from Zelda in an earlier confrontation with Ganondorf, and is now trying to enter the Temple, before realizing he doesn't yet have the power to do so.

Let me show the clip, and point out some things afterward that I find really interesting relating to the character of Faramir Gim Guru, and which tie to content and guesses I have made before on this blog.  It is not long at 3 minutes - there are a few seconds of game play in addition to the cut scene, but I actually like it because it highlights a few things which I will also discuss.

In the clip, Link attempts to open the Door, but is informed by a Being that looks like an Angelic Goat, whose name is Rauru, that he lacks the "Power" to open the door.  That Door, by the way, is an image I used earlier to show the X marking the door, as well as the hexagon or Honeybee symbol that came up again.

So, Link lacks the Power, and he needs to go do something in order to gain that Power.  What is it?  He must visit 3 Shrines, and after doing so, he will be able to open the door.  Rauru specifically mentions that the Shrines (which are in the form of Stones, by the way) are "the Key".

Shrines as Keys of Power

OK, so let's look up the meaning of the word "Shrine".  Etymonline gives us:

repository in which a holy object or the relics of a saint are kept," from late Old English scrin "ark (of the covenant); chest, coffer; case for relics," from Latin scrinium "case or box for keeping papers," a word of unknown origin.

That is interesting, right?  I have guessed that it is to France and the House of Tom Bombadil that Faramir will go, because it is there that 'holy objects' and records, including the Brass Plates (which I have guessed is the Ark of the Covenant).  And he has to go there because that is where the objects and records exist that will give him the power to open that Door and go on his Moon Space Walk thing.

So, the Power to open the Door is at a Shrine - Tom's House.  Rauru specifically mentions 3, which for our purposes seems to sync up nicely with our 3 Chip Monks and whatever is meant by these Chips, Plates, and Stones.  The Three Disciples might also be alluded to.

This notion of Link being "powerless" and needing to gain some king of Power in order to open the Door aligns very nicely with the words I have quoted before relative to what is on the Rose Stone, in that Beings have arrived powerless on our world, but that on the Stone is Power:

March 7, 2021

The story on the stone is the story of our family. It is meant for our family, to cause them all to shine. It is a story of love, of our love undying and unending, even in a void. To bring forth, even in this nothing-place, love's power - our family's power.

You came powerless, as did others, with hope in a promise. The story is the promise, and the power.

And the void, now de-void it own power, recedes; what WAS NOT now becoming IS.

So we have this concept of Link gaining power from "Shrines" which are repositories of sacred objects and records in order to open the door to the Temple.

Lastly regarding the Shrines, as I called out earlier, they themselves are represented as Stones that Link will literally step into.  It is a curious representation, and it stood out to me based on some things I have written as to pertaining to the nature of these Stones.

The Arm of the Lord

Now, moving one, we have something interesting going on with Link, and Raura explains a little bit of this in the scene.  Link's arm was destroyed in his initial confrontation with Ganondorf, and so Rauru has given him his own arm with which to do things.  In the course of the game, it is this Arm that is a source of Power to Link, which includes as we see in the scene, the ability to open the Door, but also at the end, the power to Create (which I will get to towards the end of this post).

Specifically, it is Rauru's Right Arm that Link now wears in the story.

This is actually, to me, one of the more fascinating story elements.  In my own story, I have identified Faramir as Jah ni hah from Joseph Smith's GAEL, who has the following description:

one that with delegated and redeeming power, and second in authority; being a swift messenger going before, and having redeeming power, as second in authority: and stand next to or on the right hand of power.

So, we have an allusion to a "right hand of power", but in my own writing I have been even more specific about this Arm, suggesting that not only does this Being stand on the right hand, but he is, in actuality, the Arm of the Lord.

In a post from last August, almost a year ago, I wrote some fairly provocative things in relation to Faramir in that he was the "Sent one" from the creation account in the Book of Abraham.  In what I wrote there, I stated that he was the "Arm of the Lord" using some pretty specific language:

... I believe this Being - the sent one - is the Holy Ghost, who we see in multiple incarnations on this Earth. This Being is also referred to as 'the arm of the Lord' in various places, and this is why we see so many incarnations of this person. This 'arm' will be revealed in the Last Days, meaning that we will understand who this person is and the many incarnations they have had in representing Eru. It is at this revealing, I think, that you have the Holy Ghost fulfill the specific missions that Jesus said he would do as stated in my earlier post on John 14-16. Although the Holy Ghost was active on this Earth in various incarnations prior to Jesus' birth, he will not have incarnated again until it is time to wrap things up and transition to the next phase of this story. Jesus' return to Heaven was necessary, in part, to give further instruction, guidance, and advice to the Holy Ghost in preparation for this.

It was fascinating for me personally to go back to read this and other posts where I explored this idea of the "Arm of the Lord" being both a person, and specifically this Faramir character (see also the post on Moon Landings, "astronauts", and Neil Armstrong ).

So we have a person who is known as the "arm of the Lord" and who, as Jah ni hah and the Holy Ghost, would act in Jesus' name and with his power.

And here, in the Zelda video game, we have the character Link being given the Right Arm of Rauru, and even being given some instruction and guidance on what he is supposed to do.

Which means, I guess, if we carry our analogy through, that we should find some semblance of Jesus in Rauru, correct?  I mean, that is what I am saying, that Link receiving Rauru's Arm is analogous to Jesus giving authority to Gim Guru Faramir, and him becoming the "Arm of the Lord" as a result.  So, what do we have?

Well, a few things, actually, from the overall story arc outside of just this scene, but if we just focus here, let's take a look at the name first.  Rauru.

I had to look it up (though WanderingGondola may have already known) but the game developer's reason for using that name is it is because it was the name of a town in the earlier Zelda games.  I don't think it is more complicated than that.  Ah, but we know better!

It turns out that Rauru is a direct hit for an Elvish name, and a pretty relevant one at that - the word "Rauro".  I've indicated before (and it is actually something I learned from Doug), that when you have -o endings, it typically means an object, but with -u endings, you get proper names and nouns (sometimes).  Thus, Rauro potentially turns into a name if you were to make it Rauru, the name of this Being who gave Link his Right Arm (it actually cracks me up when the scene introduces him as "Rauru:  Source of the Right Arm".)

And what does Rauro mean in Elvish?  Lion (based on "The Roarer").  I know, we have lots of Lion names floating around right now and we've been attaching them to various people, but in this instance I am going to suggest that this belongs to The Lion - Jesus.  In Christianity, the Lion is a commonly accepted symbol for Jesus.  For example, in CS Lewis' Narnia books, Aslan, who is very much a symbol for Jesus, is portrayed as a Lion.  In the Bible, Revelation 5:5 speaks of the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah", and this is commonly understood to refer to Jesus.

And so because it works so well for my analogy, Rauru's name as The Lion indicates he represents Jesus here as a sketch.  Now, the animation is modeled after a Goat, not a Lion.  Anything here?  Well, all I can think of is not a Goat but the G.O.A.T... you know, Greatest of All Time.  That would be appropriate.   As Eru said when he taught Abraham as he laid out the order and power of Beings:

And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all.

Earlier, God had likened "Intelligence" to Greatness in comparing both Stars, Worlds, and Beings.  Jesus is who he is because he is the greatest of all.

 

If two things exist, and there be one above the other, there shall be greater things above them; therefore Kolob is the greatest of all the Kokaubeam that thou hast seen, because it is nearest unto me.

....

Howbeit that he made the greater star; as, also, if there be two spirits, and one shall be more intelligent than the other, yet these two spirits, notwithstanding one is more intelligent than the other, have no beginning; they existed before, they shall have no end, they shall exist after, for they are gnolaum, or eternal.

Moses would learn something similar from Jesus-Eru on the "Mountain" (perhaps a floating island in the sky like where he is represented in Zelda teaching Link?), so much so that after seeing Eru's glory, he declared that "Man is nothing".

So, it is kind of a joke in that way in terms of using G.O.A.T as a tie here, but it is also true.  Jesus is the Greatest, and anything we do is by his grace and power, and that includes the Being and characters I have been writing about here, which includes his Arm - Gim Guru Faramir.

Our analogy does, of course, break down with respect to Rauru appearing as a spirit and saying he no longer can appear in physical form.  Well, no analogy is perfect, and we aren't trying to match up everything, but even this can have some meaning for us if we are creative enough, and think of this less as the state of Jesus' body (he is resurrected, so wouldn't be a spirit) but more as his ability to appear to us on this Earth in that physical body (which he seems to be unable to do).

One more thing about the scene itself, and then I want to get to something that is alluded to in the title for this post.

Whoever filmed this for YouTube filmed themselves playing a brief part at the end where Link goes to a Shrine, steps into the Rock, and gains the Power to Create.  This was an interesting scene to include as I was thinking about analogies.

We've attached the name of Michael to Faramir-Link.  A fact about Michael that would only be known to those who have "done too much LDS", like Spock and gang, and have gone through the LDS Temple Endowment, is that Michael is representative as being a Co-Creator with Jesus (Jehovah).  When the Gods (Elohim) desire a world to be built, Jesus takes Michael with him, and together they perform the labor of building that world and placing living Beings on it.  In a real sense, Michael appears as one having the Power to Create, just as Link gains in this Shrine.  Perhaps part of Gim Guru-Faramir's own memory or mind re-gained through the Shrine-Stone will be knowledge of that earlier Creation and how it was done.

Recorders in Heaven and on Earth, and a Welding Link

So, let me close with this thought, which ties the Zelda and Link storyline elements I've highlighted back to something Joseph Smith made note of.

In Doctrine and Covenants 128, we get some fairly interesting, and cryptic, remarks regarding Recorders and Books in Heaven and on Earth.  Joseph is seeing something here, I think, and he is describing it in "Earthly" sorts of ways, in terms of having secretaries and people in various church settings and cities on Earth keeping records, but from the scriptures he is citing and the examples he is giving, it seems that something bigger is driving this feeling of importance he is attaching to his thoughts.

I mean, this is a letter that starts off with some simple statements about ensuring recorders are in place to make an accurate account of "baptisms for the dead", that ends with Joseph practically shouting Hallelujah through his pen as he recounts all sorts of glorious events and Beings, and declaring:

Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.

His mind is soaring, and he is sensing and writing about things that (in my opinion) he himself is still trying to get a full grasp on and his head around, but whatever it is he knows it is glorious, specifically this 'baptism for the dead', which includes the Recorders that are involved in it.

So, about these Recorders.

Joseph notes that there needs to be an account of things both in Heaven and on Earth - Books kept - and that there needs to be a Recorder in Heaven and a Recorder on Earth involved in this.  The Books that they create at their distinct locations must agree with each other, in order for things to be both 'bound' and sealed in Heaven and on Earth.  That which is in Heaven must agree with what is on Earth, in relation to these Books (and with respect to everything that is important to record), and it is the Recorders' job to ensure that this is so.

If you notice, this is the story of Eowyn and Faramir I have been painting here on this blog.  Eowyn is the recorder in Heaven, and it is through means of her Ithil Stone that she has "Recorded" her stories for what Joseph calls "The Book of Life".   Recall in my earlier post on Zelda, that in that video clip, Zelda's exact word that she used in describing what her "Purah Pad" did was Record.  She said "I'm glad I didn't leave it behind.  It's so easy to Record..."  Eowyn didn't leave her Ithil Stone behind - it went with her in her ascension to Heaven, and was the primary tool she used to compile her Record there.

But the missing piece(s) to the Record reside here on Earth, at Tom Bombadil's House, in the form of the Rose Stone, and the other plates and records apparently kept there (the Chips?).  That will be communicated to Heaven and added to the account there, while Heaven's account or record will be added to the Records on our Earth.   At least that is how I have been imagining it.  Eowyn and Faramir will act as the two Recorders in compiling and ensuring that what needs to be written in both Heaven and on our Earth is actually written, and that it is done so accurately, along with Witnesses who will ensure and testify to this accuracy.

And this will be part of the "Baptism for the Dead" which I suggest in our own go-around this time, involves not just symbolic or vicarious baptisms for deceased persons, but rather the Baptism that entails people quite literally going into the Waters of whatever separates our World from that one, entering on a quite literal path that Nephi speaks to in his own prophecies, and finding themselves at the White Tree in Tirion.  

I've suggested before that in a real way we are, in fact, the Dead, and can be considered also prisoners, in much the same way that Joseph is speaking of in this letter.  The Prisoners must go free, and it seems to be by means of what will be written and shared, and the Baptism that follows.

Again, I don't know what that really means, and can't really explain why it has to be that way, but there are enough of these story elements that seem to line up (even in Zelda), that make me think that, in general strokes at least, there is something here, even if I can't quite nail it down.