The world has changed. Mountains tall have crumbled and oceans deep have dried. Great civilizations have diminished and all that remains of them are writings. They are told or written. And we who read these and adapt them are the ones who peak into the past through the window of time. What do you see through that window?
I look into the Third Age of Middle-Earth. There are great civilizations dwelling in this enchanted world where adventure lurks around every corner. There is strength, valor, honor, wisdom, prosperity and power. But also there is sorrow. And evil is growing in the East. And we travel now to the Far East. Beyond Eriador and Rhovannion and Mordor and Rhun. Here is where you find the Kingdoms of the Hylians.
They are noble people of great knowledge and wisdom and power. They have often been depicted as the halfway point between men and elves. This creates a perfect mixture of the courage and honor of men, and the beauty and magic of the elves. Though mortal, their lives are also significantly longer than that of men.
Also dwelling in this country are Gorons. They are strong and loyal and tough. They choose to dwell in caves and mountain caverns. They seem simple and, to no offense, they are. They mine and laugh and love life.
In the rivers, lakes and watery places in Hyrule dwell the Zoras. The Zoras are a heavily cultural people, sometimes self-centered. But they defiantly prefer the presence of their own people to strangers.
Then there are the Gerudos. Their society consists of almost all females. Every 100 years a male will be born who is awarded the leader of the people. They Gerudos generally appear to be a rat people and do not seem to like anyone except other Gerudos.
These are the known inhabitants of Hyrule. But legends of another people living deep in the thickest forests of Hyrule. They are known as the Kokiri Elves. It is said that they have threefold the power of the Hylians. Their first power is the power of the Royal Family of Hyrule, such as telepathy, prophecy and mind tricks. Their second power is of eternal youth, and their third, like any elf, is immortality. They say that there are two kinds of Kokiri. But there is much to understand of this.
Epilogue of The Kokiri
The Golden Realm of The Kokiri is the Empire of the Kokiri. Or so it was. It was a beautiful land of prosperity and peace. Only Kokiri inhabited it. No other people could find it though hard they tried. There were a few civilizations native to that land. And what a land it was! Nay, not a land, an entire world. Rugged, with endless frontier. Forests that sprawled thousands of miles. Mountains that rose higher and grander than any seen today. Rolling hills, great plateaus, great cities and small villages. Open plains and thick jungles. Vast lakes, flowing rivers that winded through a variety of different landforms and cultures. Kokiri worshiped this land, namely the forests which they inhabited, though their larger cities were on the borders. They worshiped these woods and for a good reason. Dotted through the thick, lush forests and jungles rose great tall tress. Tall, the word cannot describe such trees. These trees were massive. Taller than any skyscraper today and wider than 10 skyscrapers put together. Small cities could be built in the thick canopies of these trees. Great Deku Trees they were called. Kokiri were probably the most thriving civilization in that vast realm. Kokiri though, commonly traveled outside their borders so they were not completely unknown to the other races. But all good things come to an end. Many Ages ago it was besieged and ruined by a dark lord. It would never be known how the lord’s armies breeched the realm. But the war was close to success for the Kokiri though they had sustained considerable losses.
The Kokiri were playing out a nearly perfect tactical war, full of spectacular victories and infamous heroes. But through all this the enemy was slowly closing in on them. At first the Kokiri had been taking the Approach of: be patient and wait for the right moment to strike when the odds are in, some way, against them. Eventually the Kokiri’s generals and military when into panic as the enemy closed in about the great cities: Rond Tal, Vanima Tal, and Beleg Tal. Their approach changed: Bring in all of our forces from the forest, gain whatever income lies there, but don’t make it look like anything is there. Protect the great forests. These were the massive forest that spawned on almost endlessly.
It came down to one battle. The Kokiri were led by the three greatest leaders of the Kokiri Elves. Alanor, son of Athal, the leader of the Kokiri commanders was famed throughout the empire, for he had never lost a battle. Arunic, son of Aron, was a simple farmer, whom, in his time taken up arms to defend his people and soon became greatest among all warriors of his land. And then there was the dashing Thilinad, the most popular of the commanders, native of the beautiful city of Vanima Tal. It is passed down that the eldest descendants of those heroes when together would bear great powers, as their fathers did in the struggle to save the Mal Nor.
The enemy was tentative for it seemed the Kokiri always came up with another army when it was needed. The Kokiri were tentative for the enemy had ruined Vanima Tal and Beleg Tal, the other great cities of the Mal Nor. They had a huge army, staggeringly large. But the Kokiri did also. Though for the protection of the civilians they were evacuated outside the city to the south so that the enemy would have to get past the Rim Hosse Kokiri (Kokiri Grand Army) and Rond Tal, the great city.
The battle began, first by Alanor’s main host moving face to face with the enemy on the wide Elethiel Plain. On one front Alanor led his foot soldiers and archers against endless masses of foul orcs, Moblins and other evil creatures. On the east flank Arunic and his famed Hanona Cavalry tore through the Dark Elves branched formations in numerous charges. While the battle seemed to be going as planned the Kokiri lines were slowly deteriorating, and a growing evil waned on the edge of the battle, something terrible was ready to be unleashed.
In his final moment of domination, Arunic would be struck down by an enemy he caught only a fleeting glance of. Soon, half of the cavalry lay dead with him. Then it swept up into the sky and all the Kokiri host saw it. It swept down again and ripped another line off its feet, a dragon of Morgoth. From the city of Rond Tal Thilinad saw this beast sweeping above the plains. At that he called upon his flanking host to charge down the Plateau and to fight for the glory of the Kokiri that stood defiant against every evil. His warriors smashed into the enemy lines and they fought furiously trying to fight through to the main groups led by Alanor. Thilinad fell confronting a Balrog, though he was avenged by his son Alunad, whose fate would never be known.
Up until this dragon, Kuzul, had appeared, the battle seemed nearly in the Kokiris’ favor. But now, hope was slowly fading. Finally, Alanor stood face-to-face with the dragon. With his two closest companions dead, Alanor was eager for revenge. There proceeded a great dual between Alanor and Kazul and the brave Kokiri finally defeated the great serpent. But alas, a terrible evil, a great knight in dark armor believed to be the evil leader himself rose from the corpse of the dragon and slew the weary victor. The battle became more tense now than ever it was, and now so very emotional.
But back in Rond Tal, the Ohta Cora (War council) and Arcora (Council of elected nobles) and the Aran (King) were still advising the movements of their people and giving orders and organizing and debating the fate of their people that they didn’t think that they should leave the city for their safety. Realizing this, a young Kokiri warrior named Alagbor and a few of his close companions rushed up into the city to try to save the leaders. Alagbor’s father Alanor had advised him to save the nobles. In a desperate act to save the government and the remaining Kokiri elves, Alagbor, the new chief commander of the armies evacuated the nobles out of the Kokiris’ Golden Realm. Soon followed the remainder of the Rim Hosse, which for the most part was annihilated. The Golden Realm fell and the remaining Kokiri were now refugees in Middle-Earth. They knew they would be chased by the enemy hordes so they moved quickly into hiding. The survivors were split, some retreated to the forests under the protection of the Great Deku Trees. They were fortunate and would live in secluded happiness. Others would wander the mortal world in a constant emotional darkness. Lost with no home to return to. But determined not to allow other races to fall like they had. It is these Kokiri that you Zelda fans know nothing of. The strong, noble and fair ones, grave and bittersweet. Sorrowful too, for the long, bloody war between the Dark Lord and the Kokiri destroyed their sacred empire and claimed the lives of over three fourths of their population. The few of them who are left are on a mission to the death to see that peace shall not be broken, and that, perhaps, they may see their beautiful land again. It was sealed, and uninhabited, more abandoned than ruined.. the enemy targeted the Kokiri, not the Mal Nor.
Aganhim’s Plight
Now we unfold the plot. Of old a dark lord came out of seclusion and rose against the Hylians. He was known as Aganhim. It is not known exactly what happened. All of Hyrule was in chaos. Aganhim and a massive army came suddenly into the country, almost seeming to search for something… or someone. His armies ravaged and ransacked the lands, and yet not a soul but his own men knew what it was he was searching. When he learned that a strange figure known as Alagbor was supporting the king of Hyrule, Aganhim made war with the people. He was too powerful to be repelled by the Hylians and he was pushing back them back into a far corner of their land. At the same time though, the tactics of the Hylians seemed familiar to that of a general defeated long ago… in a world far away, that world that was sealed now.
Despite these brilliant strategies, the Hylians were failing, and the future looked bleak for the once prosperous land of Hyrule. It is said that Aganhim and his closest henchmen were wandering down a forest road one day, burning it as they went along. Writings from Aganhim’s closest henchman, the only survivor wrote this:
“We don’t know exactly what happened, first there was one blocking the road, standing in our way, sword drawn, very menacingly. We don’t know what happened. They came so quickly. I did not dare to look back. There could have been dozens… or for all I knew, the greatest host in Hyrule. They got Aganhim. They. The Kokiri Elves.”
The Kokiri, who had long been known to aid the people of Hylia, had become involved in the war against Aganhim. With a mere fifty soldiers they had captured the most powerful menace in the world save Sauron himself. Hiding in trees they unleashed a torrent of arrows, killing all of the officers and their guard save the one who wrote the passage above.
Their ambush strategy had worked many times before during the war. When Hyrule Castle Town was besieged the Kokiri formed and trained a Hylian militia to oppose Aganhim. In this case they had ambushed Aganhim himself, just as they attack his supply lines. It worked. Whatever happened they got Aganhim. With the help of an Istari by the name of Saruman, they sealed him in a dark realm that became known as Aganhim’s Seal. Saruman also created a ring. He said that it would be for the better to create a way into the realm for whatever purpose. Though it must not fall into foul hands, for they would intend to release Aganhim. He remarked that Sauron’s great power in Mordor was based around his ring. Saruman believed that this power could be used for a purpose such as this and guarantee safety. Consequently, Sauron fell into shadow shortly after these events, thus beginning the third age. People began growing suspicious as some of Aganhim’s evil still lingered and never died out with the rest of him. They believe that it may be because of the ring, which was lost somewhere in Hyrule near the end of the third age.
