Foreword: This is not a list. This is a collection of the insights, ideas, and theories I have on the Fierce Deity. The way he is portrayed here with be the same in all of my stories that he is featured in. This will attempt to explain the mysteries of the Fierce Deity, and will offer insights and explanations into the unexplained. I am offering this up to anyone who wishes to use it. If someone wants to base their perspective and explanation of the Fierce Deity after this, feel free to do so, but please mention this in the foreword or afterword so the reader has a chance to explore other insights as well. In order to understand most of the history here, it may be wise to read chapters 4 and 5 of the story that this was inspired by: Bodysnatcher.
Disclaimer: I do not own Zelda. I do not own the Fierce Deity. There is no reason to sue.
Insights on the Fierce Deity
Part 1: Creation of and Purpose
The Fierce Deity was created at the same time that the three goddesses left the world. The Triforce is depicted as three triangles, joined together to form one whole triangle: the nexus of force. In the center of the Triforce is an empty space in the form of an inverted triangle. This space is not empty.
The Triforce requires a bearer who is balanced in the three forces: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. The Triforce itself is not balanced. Power and Wisdom are able to stand alone without the addition of Courage. If balance is not maintained, however, the scale will tip and the plane of existence will go awry. So, to help balance the Triforce and keep it joined together as one, the Fierce Deity came into being.
On the breastplate of the body of the Fierce Deity there are the symbols of a crescent moon and an inverted triangle. The inverted triangle is symbolic of the Fierce Deity's origins: the center of the Triforce, the balance of all things. The crescent moon is symbolic of the tie the Fierce Deity has to the Triforce. If the crescent moon shape is superimposed over that of the Triforce, the two tips of the crescent are in the centers of the triangles of Power and Wisdom, while the bulk of the crescent is on the triangle of Courage. This is because Courage is balanced, unlike Power and Wisdom, which are easily swayed to one alignment or another.
Part 2: The Mask
Ages ago, the disciples of magic were experimenting with two particular types of magic: that of focuses and that of binding. An ancient Shiekah history text tells of this in detail, and also mentions the first known appearance of the Fierce Deity on the mortal plane of existence. The history texts say that in an accident of magic, mages discovered an entity that could not be explained. They had thought that this entity had been released from some unknown imprisonment via the spill of magical energy. It was written that it took the combined might of the Sages to imprison the Fierce Deity in a mask. What was not explained was why the Sages had imprisoned the Fierce Deity in a mask, and how, if it took the power of the Sages to entrap it, a spill of magic could undo whatever lock had kept the Fierce Deity from breaking out of imprisonment.
It is not often that Shiekah history is in any way distorted for any reason, but this is one of those times. The Fierce Deity had not been imprisoned, and thus did not break out of any such cage. Perhaps by using the power of the Triforce of Wisdom, the Fierce Deity foresaw a time when his powers would be needed to balance the world. The best way to do so was to imbue a chosen warrior with some of the essence of his being. This could not be done, however, so an alternate method was needed. This alternate was Masks. The following passage is taken from the diary of Impa, attendant to the Princess Zelda:
It has been said, in ancient legends, that if some outside force is brought into another's body, and the mind and body accept it, then the force may act upon the body of it's host, changing it to match the original body of the force. Legends say that this is not always a bad thing. Some adventurers of those time would allow their bodies to be changed for a short time, in order to use abilities that they would otherwise not posses. They could return to their original forms at any time that they wished, by simply removing whatever focus the spirit was concentrated in. If a malevolent spirit is used in such a way, it is entirely possible that it could try to take over the user.
Further explanations of the magical uses of masks can be found in Shiekah history texts, as shown below:
The most common focuses used were staves or gemstones, but other objects were occasionally used. One of the most debated focuses was Masks. Some Masks that had been imbued with a magical force had been known to bestow magical abilities on the wearer, provided that the wearer was compatible with the mask. It was theorized that if a spirit was focused into a Mask, then the wearer could be given the abilities that the spirit had possessed. Some mages thought that it might be possible that the Mask could even go so far as to change the body of the wearer. This, of course, could only be accomplished if the force bound to the mask was sentient, having had a mind and will of it's own at some point.
At some point the Fierce Deity created a body for him to use and appeared on this plane of existence. The Fierce Deity chose the exact moment to appear as the time a magical "accident" was being made. This caused the mages responsible for the mishap to believe that they had released some entity as a result. A fragment of one of the mages' diary was discovered and added into the history texts chronicling that particular era:
The being was that of a young man, but larger than any normal person should be. He stood at over seven feet tall, and carried a double helix shaped sword nearly as tall as he was. He wore black armor and gauntlets; both plated in some unknown metal. On the breastplate were two designs: a crescent moon and an inverted triangle. He wore a tunic of an iridescent white under the armor, and the color of his hair and eyes matched this. A skin-tight black material covered his arms and legs, leaving only his fingers and face to testify to the shade of his skin, which was unusually pale. On his face were blue and red markings, but weather these were tattoos or war paint was not determined. He called himself "The Fierce Deity…"
Once the Fierce Deity had created a body, complete with the powers he saw would be needed, the Fierce Deity asked the Sages to focus the body, powers and all, into a mask. This way, the Fierce Deity remained to balance the Triforce, but a part of his essence was contained in the mask.
Part 3: Alignment
The Fierce Deity is aligned neither to goodness nor to mavolence The part of the Fierce Deity contained in the mask, however, instinctively balances itself to balance the bearer. The mask's previous owner, Majora, was inherently evil, so the mask was forced to make a radical shift in alignment to Goodness. When the mask was passed to Link, however, it was forced to shift again, this time to a radical Mavloence. The sudden shifts in alignment caused the mask to develop a sentience all its own, which would act according to the current alignment of the mask.
Ideally, the Bearer of the Triforce of Courage is perfectly balanced, but due to the meddling of Gannondorf, the Bearer of Power, this was not so.
Link is not balanced. When Link was sealed in the Temple of Time, and after Gannondorf took control of Hyrule, he tried to destroy Link by separating his darker half from his lighter half. Darkness cannot exist without Light, so it was highly unusual for Link to have survived it. From then on, Link was aligned to Goodness, while his darker half was aligned to Mavolence.
Gannondorf had separated the two halves of Link, and instead of Dark Link being only a copy of Link, he developed a personality and feelings all his own. When Link defeated his darker half in the water temple, Dark Link was banished to another dimension. It was here that he found that Gannondorf, who was surprised to find Dark Link's sentience, had lied to him. He had told Dark Link that Link was the only person who could kill him, and that Dark Link would forever be weakened if Link was alive. But if Dark Link killed Link, then Link's powers would be his. Dark Link later learned that if Link died, he would die as well, and vice versa.
This is why the Fierce Deity's mask, when in Link's possession, is considered to be made of dark magic. If Link were to balance himself, the Fierce Deity's mask's task would be complete, and it would no longer be needed.