The abandonment of the cross insignia was part of a policy by Nintendo to remove all reference to religion from their games ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_controversy#Criticism_from_religious_organizations ). It was to avoid any possible controversies. Personally, I think the detachment from real-world religion helped add to the fantasy of Nintendo's games.

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Those are nice shields, but you are forgetting a lot of others... You should include them in it like the wooded shield or that reflective light one...

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Ken: that's a nice comment, but you are forgetting to read the text of the post.

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Twilight Princess shield FTW

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Perhaps I'm just imagining things, but doesn't the progression of the shields design seem to show signs of correlation with each respective titles entry in the stories vaster chronology? Could it be that Nintendo is waving a key component to comprehending the eventual cannonical story-line under our nose?

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Well, the shield from ocarina of time and the twilight princess are pretty much the same thing... So, Fabian, I don't see any correlation :P I don't see anything about the seasons or ages in the oracle games either. I think I do like the lobster though... not a very common symbol to use, which makes it awesome. The majority of the shields are kind of cliche and can be compared to games all the way back to Dragon Warrior 1, with Erdrick's bird symbol.

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@ lightbringer

While the real-world explanation of 3 pyramids representing orions belt may be true... the 3 "pyramids" on the sheild represent the 3 tri-forces in the game. I think that was their original goal and not to subliminally suggest a link to any real-world religions.

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@Fabian Bruno

That reminds me of the Shield of Achilles from Homer's Iliad. The shield was crafted by Hephaestus and was so detailed that it took on a life of its own. Check out the last paragraph at the following link:

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/trojanwarinlit/a/IliadXVIII.htm

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Wow. Nintendo did a good job with that considering triangles are symbols of other religions including in the symbol for Scientology.

One more of a million examples of where Christianity is singled out... *Sigh... And really, if removing a cross from a shield improved your enjoyment of fantasy adventure games, you're a frickin moron

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Now if someone can find the shield from Soul Caliber II, on the Game Cube...

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With reference to the religious symbols..true Christianity is taken out with the cross, but Egyptian symbols which were a religion are still there, the winged sun is Horus, and the three pyramids represent Orion's belt and the stargate.

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"One more of a million examples of where Christianity is singled out... *Sigh... And really, if removing a cross from a shield improved your enjoyment of fantasy adventure games, you're a frickin moron"

Can you blame them? I would leave Christianity alone, too, if I had something as popular as Zelda. If they stuck with the cross thing, how much longer would it have been before the Crazy Christian Right went ape-shit over it?

Don't forget, Christianity isn't exactly alone in getting ignored by Zelda.
http://www.zeldawiki.org/Fire_Temple#Trivia

Besides, like some one else said, Nintendo's getting away from established religion helped create a more immersive fantasy world.
As someone who isn't a Christian, seeing a bunch of Christian symbols and references to it's mythology would be something of a turn off for me. Whereas if it isn't there at all in the first place, neither you nor I would even take notice.

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My all-time favourite is the Hylian shield from Ocarina of time. And the one Twilight princess, of course, which is very similar but more realistic.

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funny, the shield in the wind waker and the shield in the minish cap are identical

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funny, the shield in the wind waker and the shield in the minish cap are identical

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Yet another reason that Link's Awakening is the best Zelda EVARR.

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@Arkloyd, the shield in Soul Calibur II for GCN is the same as Ocarina of Time, but props for remembering that.

See pic: http://news.softpedia.com/images/extra/large/soulcalibur2gc_001-large.jpg

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Its clearly not a lobster shape, its the same as the others but in a slightly different style, it has the winged beast, then above it is just the markings at the side not claws.

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Jeez, what's with all the religious undertones here? Remember this is a video game. IT'S NOT REAL nor did Nintendo mean to impose Christianity in the game. This is why video games come under fire, much like Christianity. Everyone has a different interpretation of what Christianity is and means. In the Legend of Zelda, the story is centered around the Trifore (the triangles on the shield), Link, Zelda, Gannon or Gannondorf, and Hyrule (with the exception of some games). I've been following the game since it came out when I was 6-7 years old, and in no way did I think it was a "Christian" game because of the cross on links shield or Triforce as a "pyramid". And most of the beastiary in Zelda games are based on mythical creatures. That's it really. It doesn't hold a secret like some people think the Mona Lisa or The Last Supper does. IT IS JUST A GAME AND IT'S ALL ABOUT HAVING FUN PRETENDING TO BE SOMEONE ELSE IN A WORLD THAT DOESN'T EXIST IN REAL LIFE. We need to stop thinking that video games represent real life or else those who oppose video games will find the fuel to over regulate or completely stop them. I don't know how it is in other countries, but in America, people are stupid and don't know fantasy from reality because parents here are too lazy to actually be parents to their children. If parents would just be parents this wouldn't be such a big problem.

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Shouldn't the Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask shields be exactly the same?

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