OCARINA OF TIME - A Masterclass In Subtext

I don’t remember paying for Youtube premium.

Was searching for a speedrun. Then had my heart broken as I realized my childhood was the speedrun.

Something I noticed after watching this... After destroying the evil in the Forest Temple and restoring Link's childhood home, you can learn the Song of Storms and return to the past to retrieve the Lens of Truth, which is intended to be used to beat the Shadow Temple. If the childhood Hyrule is meant to be lighthearted and fun, then the contrasting darkness we find at the bottom well is very intentional; the darkness of the world was always there, just under the surface, even as a child. As you get older and begin to bear more responsibility, that darkness just becomes more apparent. So we use this acknowledgment of darkness always being there, as our Lens of Truth. We use it to help us navigate into the heart of darkness within man, the Shadow Temple.

"Banished from his childhood, destined to roam a world that doesn't remember him" that gets me to tear up every time....

Anju: Wow, you're so mature for you age. Link: Thanks, it's the trauma.

This is better than most documentaries in Netflix

Isn't it ironic that we could only understand the subtext of a game from our childhood when we ourselves grew up.

I always thought it was incredibly sad that Link loses 7 years of his life. It's like Frodo who saves the Shire for everyone else but not himself.

When the video ends and you just sit there in silence for a while, reflecting. That's when you know you just watched something good.

On the topic of Ganondorf representing adulthood and Navi representing Link's lingering childhood: During the first fight with Ganondorf, he pushes Navi away with sheer power, leaving Link to confront Ganondorf as only the man he has become. Without Navi, Link can't focus (z-target) and he doesn't have Navi's insight. This is representative of Miyamoto's ability to use the memories of his childhood in his own work. Without it, he lacks focus, and insight, and something is missing. The final conflict occurs and Navi returns, for one last fight, only to leave once all is said and done. Link's childhood is now elusive. But he pursues it, seeking out that feeling again. Which is where Majora's Mask picks up, where Link finds another fairy, but it isn't his, it belongs to someone else. This is a metaphor for how Miyamoto was able to rediscover his elusive childhood through the games he makes. He relives his childhood through the eyes of those who are still children. And in doing so, has a unique drive and childlike wonder that will never go away. I hope this shed some more light on the wonderful parallel that was so artfully described in the video.

this man really dropped two of the best video essays of all time and then dipped

The fact that barely anyone noticed that Ocarina of Time is the saddest zelda game makes me think there a lot of sad people we never notice in life, because it isn't obvious.

incredible.

"Destined to roam a world that doesn't remember him" That hit me HARD in the feels...

I've only ever finished Ocarina of Time once. I must have been no older than 11 when I did. Ever since then, I've replayed it again and again and again but I would always stop at the exact same point: after beating the Forest Temple. I never understood why, I just somehow felt that at that point of the game I I've seen what I wanted to. But after watching this video, I tried to think about it. I couldn't explain it to myself as a kid, but I knew deep down somewhere that I wasn't happy after I finished the game. I was happy to beat the game, of course, but I couldn't be happy for Link. Even child-me could see he had no more friends and no more home... so I started a New Game. I collected the stones again, pulled the Master Sword, cleansed the Forest Temple, watched the New Deku Tree sprout... and then stopped before I moved on with my Life. Every couple of years since then, I would replay Ocarina of Time to that same point. Part of me was certainly just enjoying the Childhood adventure. The mood was happier, more naive, more magical. The Bombs and Slingshots were cute, and fighting your way out of the belly of a beast was enchanting. But when I got to the Forest Temple, I must have realised the adventure had stopped. It was no longer just an adventure, it was a job and a responsibility - and having just rescued those I felt closest with in the Kokiri forest, I felt like I needed to stop. I didn't want a job, I wanted a game of magic and fantasy. I'm 25 now, and I still haven't played the game to the end for a second time. Maybe I should. As an adult with my own set of responsibilities and a job, perhaps I'll see the game in a much different light than I did before - and maybe for once I can finally move on past the Forest Temple.

What surprised me the most watching this is how much Link actually loses in the game. It's not even sugar-coated. But Ocarina of Time is such an overall delightful experience that it just flew over my head all these years. A hero with strength enough to save the world, but powerless to save those closest to him.

I came for a video game.... I ended up with a philosophy degree, depression and questioning my life

This video made me sad and appreciate the game even more. I was thinking about it for a while and then I noticed something else: If you load the game as child Link, you always start in your home in Kokiri forest (with the exception of when you saved in a dungeon). I interpret this as you always wake up in your protected home with all your toys and a playground just outside. While as an adult, you start at the temple of time - a cold environment reminding you of the tasks that lie ahead of you. As an adult you wake up to go to work, do chores, tax returns or whatever. There’s no time, no place and no toys to play with.

You know, this was really the same thing that I felt growing up while playing the game. My family was moving around so much, I felt like I had missed out on so much of my childhood even when I was a child. Everybody seemed to have known each other forever but I had to remake all my friends every few years. I was very lonely, and I suppose that is why the Hero of Time really spoke to me - caught in between, not really a child and not really an adult. Maybe we are all Heroes of Time just for coping with the profound sense of loss and pain that comes with maturation.

As someone with childhood trauma, losing your connection to childhood and not having been allowed to be a child- craving that which was taken away and what couldve been. The guilt and the sadness- being forced to go nowhere but forward. Its all too touching, OoT has a special place in my heart.