Farore (Goddess)

Farore is the Goddess of Courage, one of the three Golden Goddesses who created the realm of Hyrule (along with parallel realms, such as the Sacred Realm). She is the source of all life that exists within the Hyrulean realm. Farore's essence, as well as the essence of her two sisters Din and Nayru, is the source of the Golden Power within the omnipotent sacred relic, the Triforce. Her crest is the Mark of Farore.

At the dawn of time, Farore, along with her sisters, Din and Nayru, descended upon the chaos that was to become the land of Hyrule, each of them creating a different facet of the realm. According to Ocarina of Time, Farore, "with her rich soul, produced all life forms who would uphold the law." Upon departure, they created the Triforce, the essence of their power, and left it within the Sacred Realm.

Farore's divine essence is what constitutes the Triforce of Courage, which affords Link his great courage and mystical abilities. To a much smaller extent, Farore's essence can also be invoked by a powerful sorcerer. Farore's essence is often represented by wind as exemplified in the spell Farore's Wind.

Attributes
Farore is the creator of all life that exists within the Hyrulean realm. Because of her role in creating all life, Farore is associated with regions that flourish with life, namely forests, such as the Lost Woods. She also is worshiped as the Goddess of the Winds as referred to in The Wind Waker, and her essence is represented by the winds.

Although Farore is the creator of all of the races in the Hyrulean realm, Farore is most closely associated with forest-dwellers such as the Kokiri and the Deku due to the fact that she has a "rich soul"; children are said to be innocent caring beings with high inner awareness. Fittingly for the Goddess of the Wind, Farore is commonly associated with wind instruments, such as the ocarina or flute.

A Link to the Past
Although never mentioned in-game, the A Link to the Past manual describes how the three Golden Goddesses descended to the world and created life and order. Farore, referred to by the manual as the "God of Courage", created the life that would inhabit the world. Despite Farore being referred to as a "god" instead of a "goddess" like in later Zelda games, the A Link to the Past/Four Swords manual changed it to a more ambiguous word: "deity." As such, it can be safely assumed that the God of Courage described in the manual is Farore, the Goddess of Courage.

Ocarina of Time
In her first in-game appearance in Ocarina of Time, Farore is depicted as a golden figure surrounded by a greenish aura, and it is also in this game that she is first referred to as the Goddess, not God, of Courage. She is first seen when the Great Deku Tree explains to Link the history of Hyrule's creation, which includes a cut-scene of Farore soaring along with the other two Golden Goddesses: Nayru and Din. She is last seen as the three goddesses depart to the heavens and leave the Triforce hidden in the Sacred Realm.

The Wind Waker
In The Wind Waker, Din, Nayru, and Farore are mentioned during the introduction of the game as well as when King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule explains the tale of the Great Flood to both Link and Tetra. The three goddesses, after hearing the pleas of the people of Hyrule who were faced by Ganon's onslaught of evil, instructed them to flee to Hyrule's mountaintops in order to escape the apocalypse they were about to unleash upon the land to halt Ganondorf's invasion. It was then that the Golden Goddesses chose to seal away the kingdom of Hyrule by bringing a "torrential downpour of rains from the heavens," leaving the land forgotten beneath the waves.

There is also a statue depicting Farore's characteristics, which can be found in one Eastern Triangle Island. The statue of Farore appears almost identical to Farore, the Oracle of Secrets who is named after her from Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons.

Twilight Princess
During the Light Spirit Lanayru's tale of the Sacred Realm, the history of how the three goddesses created the land of Hyrule is retold, albeit in a more compressed manner. Lanayru goes on to explain how word of the Sacred Realm soon spread throughout Hyrule, causing a great battle and marking the appearance of the Dark Interlopers who excelled at magic. These sorcerers tried to establish dominion over the Sacred Realm, but it was then that the goddesses, Farore included, commanded the three Light Spirits to intervene and seal away the great magic the interlopers had mastered.

Farore is also one of the Golden Goddesses depicted in a giant monument that appears in the throne room of Hyrule Castle.