What is the Great Deku Tree? All Versions Explained (Zelda Lore)

What actually IS the Great Deku Tree? Let's take a closer look at the Guardian Spirit of the Forest.

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[mimxyz]

The sprout in oot being the deku tree in wind waker is one of my favourite bits of zelda lore tbh

[Bocchithepression]

Now i need the "Which Great Deku tree is the strongest" video

[coopsaf]

Fighting off the Phantom Ganon INSIDE of the Deku Tree in Tears of the Kingdom was such an awesome and well thought out call back to Ocarina of Time.

[animex]

It's my theory that, since the Deku Tree's a guardian deity of the forests, the Lost Woods isn't a physical location. I think that it's a metaphysical space that any deep forest can "connect" to, thus why it moves around in so many games, never has the same layout, and has a seemingly magical bending of space. It would make sense for a deity to have some control over their domain, after all.

[TheBreadPirate]

Genius idea for father's day and the new lego set!

[michaeltovah]

"The Great Deku tree is very much a real tree." I don't know why that made me laugh so much 🤣

[Drakull_Art]

poor deku sprout... aged like milk... i cant with the design of the deku tree in wind waker XD

[thelonelywriter]

I would have dropped over 1000 hours on OOT in my life and I NEVER knew you could turn butterflies into fairy's with a Deku Stick! Truly a magical game!

[mumboexeyeye]

A moment from TotK that will always stick with me, was that fight inside the Deku Tree. That was the first time I stood my ground against the Gloom hands and thus, the first time I saw the words Phantom Ganon appear on my screen. Beating Phantom Ganon and freeing the forest from its curse felt wonderfully familiar. I'm so glad my first Phantom Ganon wasn't in some random cave or field.

[Lnk]

I really love the idea of Twilight Princess' Faron Woods being made of hundreds of colossal trunks of dead Deku Trees. It would explain why the forest is so much darker and deeper than the ones in OoT and SS.

[kalligeneia]

I cannot believe nobody is talking about your artwork at the beginning (and end) of the video! Absolutely stunning. Your videos are consistently exceptional quality. Well done, mate!

[davisbowe]

One thing I've noticed is that many Zelda games have three primary "deities" of some form. You have the three dragons named Eldin, Faron, and Lanaryu in Skyward Sword (plus Levias), in Ocarina of Time you have the Guardian deities (Great Deku Tree, Volvagia, Jabu-Jabu), you have similar deities in Wind Waker (GDT, Valoo, Jabun), and in Twilight Princess you have the Light Spirits who are also named Eldin, Faron, and Lanayru (plus Ordona). These three also seem to be associated with one of the three Golden Goddesses: Farore (the two Great Deku Trees, Faron), Din (Volvagia, Valoo, Eldin), and Nayru (Jabu-Jabu, Jabun, Lanayru). I've often wondered if these "guardian spirits" are in fact the same beings who exist solely to assist the Hero and take on different forms when called on (Well, except Volvagia but I feel like if guardian deities can "die" then they can also be corrupted in some way). This could even explain why the two gigantic trees we see in Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess aren't alive, since the spirit who inhabited them in OoT and WW (Faron) was inhabiting a different being (a dragon in SS, and the light spirit in TP) at the time.

[Jhonny]

Fun fact:

In brazilian portuguese, saying "Deku tree" translates to "Ass tree". However, after the lego set revelation, the translation team decided to name it "Árvore sagrada" which means "Sacred tree"


Something similar also happened to Lord Dooku from Star wars

[fishnewt]

It’s interesting to see the personalities of these Deku Trees. In OoT, if you have Link refuse to listen to the Deku Tree after beating the dungeon, the tree brooks no nonsense and tells Link to listen anyway in a stern, yet calm demeanor. It demonstrates the Deku Tree’s experience dealing with petulant children, either from the Kokiri or Link himself, since it is one of Link’s choices of dialogue in OoT.

Contrastly, the Wild Era Deku Tree shows a sort of fondness for Princess Zelda and Link and a reverence to Hylia as he describes the mechanic of the Master Sword where it absorbs sacred light. Considering the Deku Tree is the one that bathes the Master Sword in energy, it could further connect Sheikah ancient energy to Rauru’s light magic.

[EvelynVioletEverlight]

We all ask “what is the Great Deku Tree” but no one asked “HOW is the Great Deku Tree” 😔

[tanya]

Mt personal HC for the Deku Tree in general relates to how trees in real-world forests. Forests are all connected via vast webs of roots and fungi. We’ve found that trees can, and do, share nutrients with each other via this system. And even seem to communicate with each other to share dangers (for example, an infestation of beetles might start killing trees in one part of the forest, but after a short while the rest of the forest starts producing alterations to their wood to prevent themselves from also being killed. It’s fascinating). This is also how albino trees exist and actually live.
So I HC that the Great Deku Tree is liked across the whole forest via a similar root web (Like the swamp in Avatar the Last Airbender). This is also how I imagine the new Deku Tree has lingering knowledge

[akhan]

Godly timing cause I was like “ man. I need a new Zelda video”😂

[crakercheese]

Found it really cool that the Deku Tree in BOTW/TOTK is a father figure of all Koroks.. Imagine having to memorize each one of them! xD

[octorok.]

I love your artwork in the beginning of the video!

[KulaMedli]

People say that Link and Zelda from SS founded hyrule, but nothing ever says they DID, the Deku tree could have been that one tree from Skyward sword, without it's spirit yet. And the sprout could still exist in all 3 timelines, since OOT Link didn't really up and leave after he saved hyrule in the adult stage, he just got sent to before he entered the sacred realm. 7 years later and the sprout could be in that time too.



Oh the pain of timelines :, ]