The Curse of the Lost Woods - Zelda Theory

"And why don't the Lost woods affect Link? He is Hylinan after all"
Hero's Shade: 'Sup

I had figured that leaving turned them in to kokroks

I always kinda thought the one who left and is still alive was the Happy Mask Salesman

I always thought the Forest loved link which is why it allows a hylian like himself to not cause him to be lost

I always assumed that the Kokori immortality was provided by the Deku Tree, and they could only maintain that immortality when in proximity to the tree. After the tree died, it no longer mattered if the Kokiri left in the adult timeline.

My guess for the Kokiri being unable to leave the woods is more akin to how dryads can't be away from their home tree for too long or they will wither and die. Leaving for a bit to celebrate with the rest of Hyrule that a great evil has been defeated is not going to have any lasting effect on them, if any at all, but going on a long adventure such as Link's might result in them losing their lives just from time itself. Saria is obviously one of the cases where she goes to a special place under special circumstances, if she is technically leaving at all, that prevents any negative effects.

It’s less of a curse and more so a protection enchantment- make sure the master sword, deku tree and other sacred areas/ objects stay protected from evil forces

Personally I think that the curse they refer to in OOT is the protection of the Great Deku tree. It would explain why Link was able to exist there without turning into a skull kid or a stalfos, the Deku Tree chose to take him in, so he would have put his protection on him, and it explains why it didn't really show up in other games. OOT is the only game, if I'm not mistaken, where the Kokiri are children and not koroks. The children I think would have been at a greater risk from outsiders (capture, slavery, etc...) than the small little woodland imps that are the koroks, so to me that would also explain why "the curse" doesn't show up in other games.

I don't like how literal everyone's getting with the Hyrule historia. That book wasn't made by Eiji Aonuma and he had no direct involvement with it. It's just an amazing interpretation through a manga writer

You said in the video that there were no stalfos outside of the forest but there is multiple in the shadow temple

Hylia is surprisingly hostile which I guess is just a byproduct of magic being freely strewn about the world. Still, it's a wonder how it's inhabitants have survived things like giant spiders and literal undead.

Ohhhhh man one of my favorite Zelda themes is from the LttP lost woods that started this video!

“Unguided” “adults” it’s the absence of a fairy guide

And it took the happymask guy how long to intercept clears throat or to be intercepted by a kokiri child in the woods?

The kokiri forest and such are a in place barrier if you will to prevent travelers from becoming lost instead of “being” lost

An old idea I had as a kid was that Link actually DOES end up lost in the woods without Navi, which is why we see the Heroes Shade as a "stalfoes" in Twilight Princess

I’m assuming the kokiri that was able to leave and live outside the forest is a previous sage of the forest or Saria due to being a sage.

In regards to the man-made structures in the Woods, I theorize that the Lost Woods isn't so much a physical place as it is a metaphysical one. That any sufficiently-dense forest can become "connected" to this realm that the Deku Tree (a forest deity) resides in. This is why it moves around so much, and why sometimes you find structures inside of them that really shouldn't be in a deep forest; the places became abandoned and were swallowed by the forest as nature reclaimed the area, and the forest became connected to the Deku Tree's domain.

I heard something about the boy who goes missing from Kakariko who stomps around the Graveyard during the day as child Link went to the forest and became a skull kid

Personally, I think the bit about them 'dying' if they go outside the forest was not a declartion that the act of doing so would cause death, but that they were protected inside the forest, and to leave it would be giving up that protection in a world filled with danger and strife.
It could also be something like that forest gives them longetivity, and to leave it entirely means they would eventually grow old and die, though my money is more on the warning above.

Zeldas version of Missing 411

Interesting

Suh-REE-ah

not.. Sar-EEah

I think the Kokiri not being able to leave is they won’t be under the protection of the Great Deku Tree. After Ganons defeat there wasn’t anymore danger so to speak and thus why Kokiri would be ok being out the forest.

I think the key phrase is "getting lost" in the lost woods. if you're just going through the lost woods l, know where you're going, you're comfortably in the lost woods, no curse. but lost? possible curse

I think I remember the explanation for Link being able to traverse the lost woods was because he was given a fairy, and the kokiri having fairies is what lets them survive traveling around the lost woods, without a fairy, the lost woods’ magic takes hold of you

It could also be that link is a resident of kakari village protecting him from being cursed in some way...

Adults get turned into Astolfos?
Escandalous.

Maybe the truth of the lost woods are lost to time.

I absolutely love the free cam shots you used for this video. The scenes are beautiful, per Nintendo's incredible work, and the framing is amazing on your part

Link’s mother brought him as an infant to Kokiri Forest and begged the Great Deku Tree to take care of him. She died there. Does that mean she became a Stalfos?

This brings up something i find interesting, and that is that fact that, while in real life legends and myths may be just that and the actual facts may go who knows where, 9 times out of 10 in videogames, if the simplest answer isn't the correct one, it's kinda bad writing...

Me: obviously the woods were cursed after the temple was built
MM: now you may be saying gives good reason why that doesn't make sense
Me: yeah well ur mom gay

Yes. The Deku tree saw the nonsense happening outside his door and said, "not in my house," then poofed his woods to be cursed to deter anybody from messing with his Kokiri and other spirits under his protection. Before or after Link was surrendered to him is w/e.

There's also the relatively short comic where Link's mother runs into the forest with him and then is turned into a tree once the Kokiri have taken possession of him. A tree which Mido hollows out and turns into his house. Makes you hate him even more doesn't it?

I think there are 2 interesting things I was surprised you didn't mention, and they both relate to Link at the beginning of Majora's Mask:
1. At the start of MM, Link is looking for Navi in the lost woods, but is clearly lost, despite never having been lost there before. However, this time he has no fairy, which strongly suggests fairies are indeed what protects people from being lost in the woods
2. Despite being lost in the lost woods, Link...doesn't turn into anything. Who knows what might've happened had the events of MM not transpired, but as far as transformation into a skull kid, why didn't that happen to Link then? Does it take a long time of being lost for it to take place?

The great deku tree can decide who enters and who does not make it through the lost woods. He bestows his power unto link who is not kokiri, because he knows link is the hero of time. The people who built the forrest temple likely did so with his blessing.

My first lost woods was ALBW’s lost woods. I entered early without the pendant of wisdom from the House of Gales. I found the road to the master sword’s resting place where I kept getting lost on the first room before seeing any poes. When I came back with the pendant the last set of poes was my bane. You have to follow three poes and then take the route they didn’t take. If you follow them, you get lost. If you don’t, you get to the master sword.

A personal headcanon of mine (that doesn't have evidence, i just like the idea) is that lost children become SkullKids because they're innocent. They got lost in the woods and died of hunger or exhaustion so the magic that is letting undead entities rise grants them mercy and turns them into a carefree spirit who spends their time playing in their new home, hence why they are friendly with the Kokiri.
On the other hands adults, even those with good intentions, always carry the possibility of being a threat and acting violently towards those who inhabit the woods. So when they die in the forest the magic makes use of them turning them into a defensive tool, an aggressive fighter who won't hesitate to attack Hylians. One who will scare away children and adults alike, thus reducing the amount of lost children and also warding of potential threats from ill-spirited people.

I think things are being taken TOO literally.

I think that a kokiri can absolutely get lost, and that the fairy leaves the kokiri to get help, and that is when the forest takes the child.

I think that people with knowledge of the forest and what it is about can traverse just like if nothing is there. the curse isn't literal, like some evil dust that will do this to you. no.

The curse is in a way a form of protection, that means if you don't know where you are going, you WILL get lost, and your soul will be separated from you self, or if a kokiri gets lost again and again, the curse finally gets them and they no longer remember how to get back. I also believe that anyone that knows how to traverse the forest shouldn't have any fear because you know how to get in and out. the warning is not for the kokiri, or for those that know of the forest, it is for everyone else.

thatrs how i take it because then everything can be explained. if you woke up on the floor with no memory, we can then have a conversation of it being more literal curse.

I like to think the reason for Kokiri believing they will die if they leave the forest is that they misunderstood what the Deku tree said about the outside world. It is probably a parallel to the adam and eve story where they are told that eating the forbidden will lead to their death, but misunderstood it as instant death.

How did Link not turn into a Skull Kid when his mom fled with him into the forest?

Escape the backrooms, but with a lost woods type of atmosphere.

Speculation doesn't belong on a wiki page. Wiki pages are for FACTS, not theories.

So are you saying the forest temple is equivalent to the eastern palace.?. Good point

I wonder if the curse isn’t something that specifically affects people who HARM the forest in some way, as opposed to just anybody who intrudes from outside.

That magazine prologue comic had a different take, but in-game dialogue implies that Link’s mother only died because she succumbed to preexisting injuries rather than anything to do with the forest, so I don’t think she’s supposed to have been affected by the curse in the game canon.

There isn’t really much evidence for this interpretation beyond the general trope of sacred or magical sites cursing those who besmirch them, but it’s a thought, I suppose.

What about the ordonians in twillight princesses. aren’t those an example of kokiri that have become mortal as they aren’t hylians

Synonyms: 2 or more words with the same meaning. One example forest and woods. The Kokiri Forest and Lost Woods are one and the same but are named differently to distinguish between where the Kokiri dwell and the rest of the forest. The Kokiri can go into the Lost Woods, but they usually know their way back, and their guardian fairies 🧚 will guide them back to the Kokiri Forest if they lose their way.