This is my moderately lame
attempt to post my research and findings on the
examples of the Hylian script.
I can be contacted at:
pipian@mindspring.com
ICQ (I don't pay to much attention to it, and it's not often on):
44389064
AIM: PipianJ
This will eventually be archived somewhere... But I haven't
decided where
yet.
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(The FAQ on all of the instances of it in OoT
and LttP)
Table of Contents:
|----------------------
| I. Basic Questions
| 1. What is a script?
| 2. What is
transliterating?
| 3. What are the
Hylia? Where can I find them?
| 4. OK, then what is
Zelda?
| 5. What is the Hylian
Script?
| 6. What? There's
possibly two? Maybe three?
| 7. Why did you go to
all this trouble for some stupid *SCRIPT*?
| 8. Why am I reading
this?
|
| II. A Link to the Past
| 1. What's one of the
main examples in A Link to the Past?
| 2. What are some
other examples in A Link to the Past?
| 3. What do they
mean? Do they actually mean anything literally?
|
| III. The Ocarina of Time
| 1. Is this the same
stuff that's found in A Link to the Past?
| 2. What are some
examples in The Ocarina of Time?
| 3. What's the third
script?
| 4. What do they
transliterate into?
| 5. OK, what do those
mean?
|
| IV. Miscellaneous
| 1. How'd you discover
and decipher these?
| 2. Zelda Gaiden and
the Mysterious Acorn.
| 3. I have some script
you didn't get! How can I get it to you?
|----------------------
Part I. Basic Questions
1. What is a script?
In the Webster's Dictionary, a script is
defined as "a style of printed
letters that resembles handwriting; written characters;
alphabet." That's
essentially what it is, an alphabet. It does not have to be
our own,
however.
2. What is transliterating?
Webster's defines this as "to represent
or spell in the characters of
another alphabet." Basically, this is taking the
characters in one alphabet
and turning them into another. This is the same as changing
katakana and
hiragana to Romaji.
3. What are the Hylia? Where can I find them?
The Hylia are a fictional people that
inhabited Hyrule long ago. They
originally came from the area around Lake Hylia. These
places are featured
in various Zelda games.
4. OK, then what is Zelda?
Zelda games are 5 games on various Nintendo
systems. The first was the
Legend of Zelda, released for the NES. The second was The
Legend of Zelda:
The Adventure of Link, also released for the NES. The third
was The Legend
of Zelda: A Link to the Past, released for the SNES. The
fourth was The
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, released for the Game Boy and
re-released
for the Game Boy Color as The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
DX. The
fifth was The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, released for
the
Nintendo 64. There are several Zelda titles currently in
production, namely
The Legend of Zelda: The Mysterious Acorn for the Game Boy Color
and Zelda
Gaiden, for the Nintendo 64/64DD.
5. What is the Hylian Script?
The Hylian script is the script of the
Hylians, and others in Hyrule.
Though there are possibly one or two more scripts in Hyrule not
from the
Hylians, I still consider them as Hylian scripts.
6. What? There's possibly two? Maybe three? Even four?
Yes. One is exclusively in A Link to the
Past. Another (The main
Hylian script), is featured prominently in The Ocarina of Time
and is
featured once in A Link to the Past. And a possible third
is featured only
in The Ocarina of Time. The third could be the same as the
A Link to the
Past script. The fourth could be the lone example of the
'first script' in
A Link to the Past. The main Ocarina of Time script is a
syllabary. The
others may be syllabarys as well.
7. Why did you go to all this trouble for some stupid *SCRIPT*?
Because I had nothing better to do after I
finished The Ocarina of Time.
Plus, I found it interesting.
8. Why am I reading this?
If you're complaining a lot about this, don't
read this. But I do hope
you read it.
Part II. A Link to the Past
1. What's one of the main examples in A Link to the Past?
One of them is on the entrance to Kakariko
Village in the Light World.
The characters there are from the main Hylian script.
Another major example
is on the podium that holds the Master Sword in the Light
World. Those
characters are from the A Link to the Past-only script. All
of the
characters in that script are visible on that. The
characters are a circle
with a cross under it, a backwards 'S', and three curved lines.
2. What are some other examples in A Link to the Past?
The other examples availible (that I know
of... I've only done about a
25-30% check in the game) are west of Hera's Tower where you
recieve the
Ether Medallion and to the north side of the entrance to the
desert. Both
are in the Light World.
3. What do they mean? Do they mean anything literally?
The Kakariko Village sign presumably says
"Kakariko Village". The other
texts I'll get later. They don't transliterate directly
into anything.
Part III. The Ocarina of Time
1. Is this the same stuff in A Link to the Past?
Possibly. The Kakariko Village sign
could be using the same script as
most of the script in The Ocarina of Time. Also, the podium
and medalion
points could be using the same script as found in one area of the
Ocarina of
Time.
2. What are some examples in The Ocarina of Time?
Everywhere. In the graveyard, the
entrance to Kakariko Village, in
graves, in the Temple of Time, on Lon Lon Milk, on Lon Lon boxes,
at the
entrance of Lon Lon Ranch, inside and outside of shops... I
have a near
full list of examples and translations that you can e-mail me
for. I may
post them on this eventually.
3. What's the third script?
It is possible that the script on the cobra
heads when you enter the
Spirit Temple is either another script or of the Master Sword
script. It
would be a Gerudo script.
4. What do they transliterate into?
The most notable one when exiting Kakariko to
Hyrule Field says
"Kakariko Mura," and in most graves lies the Rosetta
Stone with two lines
that say:
ma mi mu me mo ya yu yo ra ri ru re ro wa o
a i u e o ka ki ku ke ko sa shi su se so
On Lon Lon Milk boxes, it says "Ron Ron Miruku"
No others have been
completely translated.
5. OK, what do those mean?
"Kakariko Mura" means Kakariko
Village. The two line transliteration is
just the Japanese kana's order (starting with aiueo.)
"Ron Ron Miruku" says
Lon Lon Milk. As you can see, the main characters missing
are the t, n, h
series, with g, z, d, b, and p also missing.
Part IV. Miscellaneous
1. How'd you discover and decipher these?
I was just fooling around with The Ocarina of
Time when I noticed how
the first two characters on the sign exiting Kakariko were the
same. I
therefore thought that it was possible that this was actually a
secret in
the game, that said "Kakariko" whatever. I then
looked up the word for
village in Japanese, "Mura" which is, luckily enough,
the two characters
that fill up the rest of the sign. I then looked at other
places and
noticed the same two characters repeating on Lon Lon stuff (In
Japanese, Ron
Ron) and deduced these as Ro and n. I also noted that in
the graves, the
transliterated characters became:
? ? mu ? ? ? ? ? ? ra ri ? ? ro ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ka ? ? ? ko ? ? ? ? ?
I noted that the vowel pattern was like that in Japan: a i u e
o. I also
noticed that the order of the series was that of Japanese, which
led me to
the full rosetta stone, which matches with some of the other
examples I've
found. I have noted that this script can be mirrored,
reversed and read in
practically every direction. The direction on the Rosetta
stone is the true
direction from left to right.
2. Zelda Gaiden and the Mysterious Acorn
These two games I hope will help in the
decipherment of these scripts.
I'm not sure about the Mysterious Acorn, but Zelda Gaiden will
probably have
the same script as in The Ocarina of Time.
3. I have some script or info that you didn't get or was
wrong! How can I
get it to you?
If you have some script in one of the Zelda
games, *PLEASE* try to send
me a screenshot with it. If that is not possible, at least
tell me its
location. If I have some wrong info, please e-mail me the
info at
pipian@mindspring.com
Well, this was my first attempt at this FAQ. I'm sure it'll
get better.
Pipian