Deku Tree’s Tummy Troubles
The Great Deku Tree reminds us all exactly why we hate Navi with a passion that burns stronger than a Goron’s need for rock sandwich. Since this is basically the intro dungeon, there are very little traps here to confuse or bewilder the audience. However, that doesn’t stop Navi from floating around us pointing out every little detail as if she were an English professor critiquing one of my essays. Yes, I was not spared from the lecturing ruler on this adventure, as Navi popped in every five or so minutes to tell me how to do something that an ameba could figure out how to perform. But I suppose Shigeru Miyamoto made this level easy so we wouldn’t give up hopelessly like we all did in the last home console game, A Link to the Past.
But in the end there is tragedy, as the Great Deku Tree is killed despite Link’s best efforts. Now, one must wonder why the Great Deku Tree dies, but I prefer to think that the Tree’s death is a metaphor for the end of Link’s childhood. Once it passes away, Link gives up the life of play and happiness that he once knew for the legacy that he must later assume as the Hero of Time. Plus, the Great Deku Tree can also be interpreted as an elderly mentor stereotype, and we all know what happens to them most of the time.
Hint: they die frequently.
Not all old men in OoT are mentors. Some are just there to stand still and look pretty.
