TWO FACED: Zelda Tales of the Kingdom | ZELDA's Hidden SECRETS & LORE

Who is the Bargainer and what is the dark secret hidden in the depths of Zelda’s past? Unravel the mysteries, the lore and connections, in the first instalment of The Tales of the Kingdom.

Did you know the Bargainer has more than just 2 faces? Did you notice the clue about the Triforce mystery?

This video includes a heap of Easter Eggs and clues for fun and for the puzzle-solvers out there, including hints about upcoming content. One example - “The Many-Faced God” is referring to the multiple faces of the Bargainer and is also a ‘Game of Thrones’ reference.
Did you manage to find any?

#zelda #tloz #thelegendofzelda #totk #zeldatheory #botw #totk #bargainer #hylia #god #zeldalore #zonai s #theory #lore #story #talesofthekingdom

_TIMESTAMPS_
0:00 Secrets in the Dark
1:13 The Inverse Universe
3:58 The Nameless King
9:25 The Many-Faced God
15:35 Secrets of the Deep
23:57 The Janus Principle
35:08 Recall
39:20 The Bargainer Defined

_VIDEO DESCRIPTION_
Welcome to Tales of the Kingdom!
Expect the unexpected as this exploration into the Bargainer, and how it relates to the wider fiction of Zelda uncovers new insights ranging from other mysteries, such as the Demon Horned Statue, to the inverse nature of the Depths under Hyrule. Myths and Religions, development and innnovation - the Bargainer mystery helps to explain the connections between the past, the present and future, giving a new perspective on how this ‘Unfamiliar Hyrule’ might be part of a greater plan.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Please stay safe and keep being amazing.
💚 J @ GameSmiths.

SUBSCRIBE and click the bell to stay notified of new content. If you liked the video, a thumbs up or comment are always appreciated.

_THE APPROACH_
I hope you enjoy this video. Designed for the Zelda enthusiast, it’s the product of extensive research and care to provide a unique exploration into the undiscovered secrets, lore and storytelling within the Legend of Zelda Series. I hope this inspires others to question the world they are exploring and motivates others to craft their own story.

_FEATURED_

_YOU MIGHT LIKE_

_MUSIC_
Specific tracks in this video include:
Temple of Droplets, ハイラル王との別れ, Korok Forest, Oath to Order, Song of Healing, Gerudo Desert, Midna’s Lament, Feelings, Faron Woods, Determination

_ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS_
Heartfelt thanks to:
Ω The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo 2023 | Breath of The Wild, Nintendo 2017
Ω Hyrule HIstorIa - Published by Dark Horse Books, December 2011
Ω The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild - Creating A Champion was published by Dark Horse Books, December 2011.

[shabado]

The directors/creators of this series do genuinely have a strong understanding of subtext over plain text and the value in ambiguity as it relates to lore/legend which has been reflected in their work for decades. I want you to know that I really appreciate the thoughtful care and eloquence you bring to these topics. The bargainers in this game made me think a lot about your video relating to the fourth segment of the triforce created by the negative space of the other three. The bargainers all feel like some sort of abstraction of a potential fourth deity on the level of Farore, Din, and Nayru that has been omitted from the creation myth of the land but has always been an inevitable player in the overall balance of things, born out of the collaboration of the other three. How that all relates to cyclical happenings and curses is another thing, but I feel like the incarnation of Ganondorf we see in these sister games that form one massive sprawling LoZ epic channels and is aligned with energies/ideologies of the bargainers more than any triforce segment or simply ‘power’.

[RyuuKageDesu]

I enjoy your take. Far too many seem to think the statues are evil. I never liked that take, as you covered, based on how the central statue makes use of the Hylia statue. We see that Hylia, or the statues, are acutely aware of the other Hylia statues. It wouldn't track that Hylia would be so chill with an evil presence using her statue. And, for that mater, it does seem as though each Hylia statue has a separate awareness, much like the Bargainers.

[cato]

A note on ToTK Ganondorf and the snout-like nose: there's one instance where we do see it, that being the Demon Dragon. Another *potential* one would be his mummified form, where his flesh nose is shrunken to a familiar looking snout.

Absolute banger of a video!

[josephasbury]

If Hyrule was destroyed, then the most likely culprit for the destruction is all three timelines crashing together. The radical shift in landscape, which incarnation of a soul gets to stay behind (think Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, Tingle, Beedle, ect.), and how certain events are translated would have caused life to be impossible for the majority of souls. The sheer number of poes, and the fact that poes themselves are souls clinging on to life instead of choosing to pass on seem to support that the fact that something abnormal and immense in scale had to have occurred to seperate them from their former lives. The Bargainer Statue then seems to act as a balancing force, allowing souls who are too weak to find a new life to instead pass on in peace. The nature of the Depths as a "holding place" and also the only place that Zonaite is found doesn't seem to be a coincidence.

When the Shiekah Monks fulfill their mission and their spirits pass on, they leave behind green particles that breeze away. The Zonai and those blessed with their power seem to be able to use the same green energy, an energy I can best sum up thus far as "Nature" or "Natural Force". Zonaite then makes the most sense as being a by-product of the poes passing, being their natural life force that embedded itself into the surrounding stone. This would explain its novelty, how the Constructs are able to operate for so long (so long in fact that it surprises Rauru), and even why this form of Force has been hardly seen before. The eyes of the Bargainers seems to have been stolen by the servants of the Royal Family in order to give Poes more time to incarnate, something rather important seeing as the Spirit of the Hero had yet to manifest in the Distant Past. The fact that Shiekah Monks, who have resigned themselves to the practice of zen, are the only mortals seen producing Natural Force upon their passing seems tied to the idea that most souls moving onto the next world aren't fully at peace. They instead burn it in an effort to cling to life.

Given TOTK's role in fleshing out the forms of Force, we now know of the following natures: Light, Shadow, Time, Natural, Spirit, Fire, Water, Wind, Ice, and Lightning. It also seems that Force can manifest itself in a Pure state, as seen whenever Shiekah summon it for various techniques or when it's used in much great quantity in Ancient Technology.

[Knildragon]

My mind cannot handle this! Thank you, GS!

Update:

I totally agree that there's this layering of rebirth cycles, which I believe The Great Deku Tree being in the depths as well as the surface implies the world below maybe have been the surface in the past.

I feel like the bargainer is a diminished and weakened state of Demise. The same attitude of exaltation when describing others he feels are beneath him.

Demise didn't value human beings or their minds, similar to how The bargainer doesn't see good and evil, and thinks it's futile thinking.

Great video, thank you!

[Zeldatheoristb]

I like to believe the Bargainer Statues and Hylia "Goddess" Statues are interconnected.

One thing is prevalent is the use of technology, and the identity of magic.

When you speak to one of the Hylia Statues in ToTK, they said their "link" to the Mother Goddess Statue is severed! And the reason for this is that the upheaval knocked the Mother Goddess Statue to the ground, tipping it over.

Just from hearing from this, it sounds a lot like how Satellites, and Cable/Cellphone Towers being knocked down, and then no signal is displayed on our devices, which serves as a "link" to the main operating system which both the Towers and our devices are linked to.

If anything, this seems that perhaps the Statues of Hylia, and the Statues of the Bargainer are both connected to the same source.

That source sends variants through an interconnected channel, i.e. Statues, in order to communicate with.

It's unknown what is that source? But from my personal opinion? This source relates directly back to the Golden Goddesses.

Notice too, when we see the Golden Goddesses in The Great Deku Tree's backstory of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, the Golden Goddesses are depicted as "statutes". Golden female figured statues similar to an Oscar Award or a Grammy Award.

The use of statues has been used to describe the Gods of old ever since OOT. In fact, older than that, as in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is the first appearance of the Goddess Statue, which is called Goddess Statue in the Japanese Version of Zelda II, but in the English version, it's called "Trophy".

The Golden Goddesses are depicted as "Trophies/Awards/Grammys" in OOT.

Goddess Hylia is depicted as a Statue with angelic appearance of a female with wings.

The Bargainer Statues and the Goddess Statues, are directly connected to the Gods of Old, the ones who created Hyrule and everything in it.

They are possibly the "link" to the creator/creators, themselves.

[EvergreenSystems]

I love the mythology integration... That's really fascinating

[bamboozled_again]

i like such zelda videos but i have almost no idea what you were talking about for 40 minutes cuz your calm voice literally put me to metal sleep haha :D

[ArtemisWasHere]

I wish I found you sooner. Your ideas and interpretations of the lore given to us are so interesting and meticulously crafted, as well as your silky smooth voice.


Subscribed

[GroovusGoonicus-nbop]

Awesome exploration here! The way the bargainer spoke through the goddess statue was so striking to me. Suggesting they are just conduits to channel some type of spiritual energy, which begs the question: is the goddess's soul physically somewhere still? Id say the great goddess statue but we were still able to use smaller goddess statues when it was collapsed, yet the Spring statues spoke about it like a unique entity

[aurakshatriya]

You've got somw good scenes and great observations.

I think one thing that might help your narration is more deliberate pacing and intonation. At 4:10 for example you have several places where a pause or slowing down a bit would be organic, but you just keep at the same pace. This can make it feel like you're rushing a bit at times, reduce emphasis on certain parts, and also make it a littlw tricky to keep up. You've got a great narration voice so don't be afraid to slow down or vary your enphasis.

Very cool video though. The bargainer statues are my favourite TOTK mystery and not enough people talk about faust or the resemblance to the Poe Collectors.

[dantheman]

Absolutely amazing video GameSmiths! I loved watching it all the way through and even though I have come to expect incredible finds and connections, I'm still blown away. Janus, the dual faced, the reverse of the code, recall and all of the connections made between them were beautiful to see play out. The only thing I could truly add to this theory is a possible identity of "Janus" or the "Bargainer Statue". If this being is a being set out of time and space, it would make sense to be the Goddess of Time mentioned by Tatl in Majora's Mask. It would be a being outside of time and space by warping and controlling it, explaining why it hasn't yet appeared in the Hyrule that we are familiar with. Not only that, but it would explain why the golden goddesses and Hylia are mistaking it for evil and misunderstanding it as "Janus" could be disrupting the timeline in their perspectives but in "Janus"'s perspective, it is simply helping cross the spirits of individuals across realms and times into the collected afterlife. Thank you for the great theory GameSmiths.

[lunar]

This video is magnificent! I have no idea how a video this detailed hasn't blown up-

[basedsoldieroftheglorioust]

Boutta binge all your new videos, finally I’m not busy 😭😭😭

[tartnouveau]

I just want to say I appreciate your editing style and overall vibe of the channel and I subbed :) Also the other side of the depths statue also reminds me of Jahalla the Earth Temple boss in Wind Waker, I know it's more likely a boar/pig reference but I think its interesting that Jahalla is also called the leader of all poes when introduced in the boss fight.

[manaash]

Really love the connection to real world mythology. Im not sure i think the dev crew went this deep for it, but this is my headcanon now. Im glad the algorithm broight me to your channel. New subscriber 😊

[jasonblome]

Wow. That was deep…I loved it! Nice work!

[vman]

I didn't understand a single thing said in this video except that the Bargainer Statues kinda fit into that same moral neutral zone the Triforce does. Aside from that, all Latin to me. Still, great video!

[itzriotplayz]

Great video and i like learning about the TOTK hidden secrets and mysteries!

[Yukielia]

Thanks for this great video! I think that the bargaining statues are probably something akin to an inverted version of the Hylia statues, which has some sort of being living in to to help the balance of the world. It's not good or evil, it's just there to ensure that the balances to keep Hyrule's world are in check. Even them helping out poes to reach the afterlife, must be some kind of measure to ensure that there's a balance between spirits of the dead and the living.