Hyrilian Grammar

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The Hyrilian Grammar is a code mentioned in The Shadow Prince.[1]

Overview

Hyrilian Grammar is first introduced after the King of Hyrule says he wishes to show the Triforce of Wisdom to Charles.[2] Outraged by the king's decision, Link turns to Impa, who tells him to not act rashly and to think this through.[3] To help him make the decision on what he should, Impa hands the young hero a piece of paper that contains a one-word message written in the ancient number-letter code.[4]

According to the book, the Hyrulian Grammar works as follows: each letter of the alphabet has a number that matches it. A=0, B=1, and so forth; however, in old Hyrule, the number system was in base 2, or binary. Thus, each of the numbers in the message are the base 2 numbers that match the Hyrulian alphabet:

Letter Base 10 Base 2
A 0 0
B 1 1
C 2 10
D 3 11
E 4 100
F 5 101
G 6 110
H 7 111
I 8 1000
J 9 1001
K 10 1010
L 11 1011
M 12 1100
N 13 1101
O 14 1110
P 15 1111
Q 16 10000
R 17 10001
S 18 10010
T 19 10011
U 20 10100
V 21 10101
W 22 10110
X 23 10111
Y 24 11000
Z 25 11001

The message that Link must decipher contains the following numbers:

10010, 10011, 0, 1011, 100, 101, 1110, 10001, 1011

When translated, it advises Link to "FORESTALL," meaning to wait. Whether Link decides to forestall or act forthwith does not greatly affect the outcome of the book.

See Also

Sign Language of the Hyrulian Royal Guard

References

  1. "HYRILIAN GRAMMAR" (The Shadow Prince, Simon & Schuster, pg. 25)
  2. "Sir Charles looks into Zelda's eyes, then bows to the king. 'I'm honored. I'd very much like to see your Triforce.'" (The Shadow Prince, Simon & Schuster, pg. 23)
  3. "Impa grabs his arm. 'If you act rashly, you might ruin your own case.'" (The Shadow Prince, Simon & Schuster, pg. 23)
  4. "She presses a crumpled piece of paper into his hand. 'Let this guide your actions.' Link stares at the one-word message on the paper. It's written in an ancient Hyrulian number-letter code." (The Shadow Prince, Simon & Schuster, pg. 23)