Is Zelda's Navi a glowing orb with wings, or is there a traditional fairy under there?

[RagnarokX]

I have a saying I like to use:
"What I see in the game is canon" and I mean it literally. Concept art looks cool but the way everything looked in Ocarina of Time is what it was, on face value. That's why I love how in Metal Gear Solid 4 they didn't try to re-render the events of the previous games in the flashbacks, they simply showed them as they were, because that is the truth.

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Well that's why what they did with Navi is so clever. It doesn't contradict the concept art. She's just so bright that her body is completely obscured by the light, but it's still in there. It also ended up looking much better than what they would have gone with if N64 had been more powerful. Really it makes sense since Tinkerbell has long been portrayed in stage plays by a light being shined upon the stage.

 

[Capra]

She's a chestnut

 

[Tyaren]

It's imo a tiny figure, glowing so brightly you only see a ball of light.

 

[Gunny T Highway]

I believe she is just a normal fairy that is covered in light.

 

[LukeOP]

What does Navi and other fairies like her eat to sustain the energy needed to glow 24/7?

 

[TheSilentCircus]

I've always imagined Navi being a humanoid shape but glows so intensely you cannot see....BUT those wings are just too massive they way it's depicted and seem to close to the edge of the sphere. If there was a person in the light it would look very disproportionate (not that it matters because we are talking proportions on a video game vs real life).

 

[Deleted member 17952]

Where's the option for "just a mouth with wings?". Kinda like a Behelit, but capable of flight.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

She probably looks like... this.

-3-

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No that's a piece of the "Great" fairy.

 

[LinkStrikesBack]

What does Navi and other fairies like her eat to sustain the energy needed to glow 24/7?

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Conspiracy theory: They sap the life energy from humanoids. That's why they all paired with a kokiri in ocarina of time, and the one 3d game where they don't have a orb form at all is the one where humanoid life is very sparse (wind waker), due to all the livable land being destroyed.

 

[Ordinary Rock]

It's a sentient kugelblitz, obviously.

 

[klastical]

It's an orb and I will accept no other alternative

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Me too. I've never even considered another option really. This glowing fairy that emits blinding light must be some folklore that I missed growing up.

 

[Ferrio]

It was a lot easier to render and animate a ball of light back then. #TeamActualFairy.

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Yep, a figure that small would have looked horrible.

 

[Vonocourt]

It's a tiny figure that projected blinding light, doubt they really could do anything else with the game's low resolution.

 

[Tiny Chihuahueño]

There are plenty of zelda games where you can see the actual fairy. They probably obscured her in OOT because of the systems' limitations. It's easier to just draw a circle with wings than a 360 degrees 2D fairy -and I say 2d because there's no way the would have made her in 3d-

 

[The Awesomest]

making them fireflies prob makes it less disturbing that you're kidnapping them and sealing them in jars

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See: Wind Waker

She's not happy.

 

[RPGamer]

Perhaps it's censorship cause she is naked? Also you can consume fairies in Zelda, it would be heartbreaking to show their original forms.

 

[Rolodzeo]

Traditional rave fairy.

 

[jph139]

The intent is clearly that there's an actual tiny lady underneath, but whether that's still the case at this point, tough to say. I assume modern takes on the orb are just in reference to the original N64 design - like, little glowing ball is the most iconic fairy design, simple as it is.

 

[Deleted member 8468]

It's a fairy that glows. I've seen this since the N64 days.

 

[newline]

Logically Navi is obviously a tiny fairy person obscured by light. But to me Navi will always be a little glowing orb with wings.

 

[Joeytj]

They're fairies obscured by light. But they kept them as an orb for simplicity, I guess.

The biggest clue is how they look like traditional fairies in almost every other games.

 

[GameBuddy]

Maybe it's because I played the game around the same time I saw the movie, but I saw Navi like the faries in The Pagemaster

 

[Worldshaker]

Normal fairy covered in light for sure.

Due to limitations on the N64 I think they just made her covered by light to make her look less terrible.

Also in some of the art for the game she was shown as being an actual fairy (woman) IIRC?

 

[AndrewDean84]

They probably drew inspiration from Tinkerbell

She makes bell sounds like Tinkerbell, too.

Link was inspired by Peter Pan.

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Why have I never thought of this before, wtf!

 

[jman2050]

"Link, listen! I have had it with these mother-fucking Ganon on this mother-fucking Hyrule!"

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You joke but this tone wouldn't be all strange coming from Tatl from Majora's Mask.

EDIT - Speaking of which, Tatl has a line at the start of that game where she chides Link for staring at her, presumably because she looks identical to Navi, and she's like "is there something on my face?" so the tiny person thing seems pretty firmly established.

 

[FantaSoda]

A little person projecting really intense light at a very short distance.

 

[Calamari41]

There's a little woman in there just like the glowing orb of a firefly has a little bug inside it.

 

[chrisypoo]

Hyrule Warriors shows us that they're just straight up fairies.

 

[VaporSnake]

Now I can't say there's a traditional fairy under there (for all we know she could look like an insect or some shit) but she's definitely not a floating orb, whatever the actual physical form of the fairy is, the extremely strong bioluminescence obscures it's true appearance.

 

[Serif]

The Great Fairy is the same 'species' but larger, and she's always had a humanoid appearance. The fairy sprites in Zelda I and II are humanoid. As mentioned earlier in the thread they're probably meant to resemble Tinkerbell similarly to how Link resembles Peter Pan.
BotW keeps the glowing orb appearance because it's iconic and easier to spot at a distance when scavenging for resources.

Hyrule Warriors art:

 

[Garlador]

Yeah, that's just how many fairies were shown in movies.

They even did it in the most "Zelda by any other name" movie "Legend" when the fairies turn small.

 

[Shoichi]

Navi is probably just a normal fairy with wings that just looks like a ball of glowing light with wings due to performance of the N64. They just stuck to that orb fairy for simplicity. The great fairy is likely just a larger scale version of what Navi them look like.

 

[SirNinja]

Traditional fairy, depicted/rendered as orb for artistic/performance reasons.

 

[Bulbul]

They stuck with the orb design since it's iconic, has a gameplay function and simple. Even with the better hardware we have today.

I am sure it always is #teamActualFairy lore wise.

 

[SpankyDoodle]

It could be one of those interchangeable lore things like Zoras becoming Ritos but wait now Zoras and Ritos coexist... aka try not to put too much thought into it.

FWIW I prefer the orb design.

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Is there a reason I keep seeing people try to do the "how can Zoras become Ritos if they both exist at the same time" as a gotcha? It's the Zelda equivalent of "Why we still got monkeys?"

 

[Falchion]

As an actual fairy obscured by glowing light.

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Yeah it wouldn't make sense to me otherwise.

 

[Stryder]

When working on the N64 it probably looked fugly when they just made a little fairy person with wings. So, they obscured it so that you don't constantly see a scantly clad woman hovering over you. Also it cuts the amount of work in having to worry about animating her during certain scenes.

 

[Fulminator]

100% Orb

 

[Richietto]

Y'all can't literally believe it's a glowing ball with wings, right??? It's a Zelda fairy like any other and an obvious stylistic choice to make it a ball of light because the N64 limitations.

As an actual fairy obscured by glowing light.

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Yup.

 

[Prof Bathtub]

The great fairy is likely just a larger scale version of what Navi them look like.

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There are probably other ways fairies can look, given that Four Swords/Minish Cap have designs that try to bridge the gap between humanoids and glowing orbs with butterfly/dragonfly wings.

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But if what you say is the case, then is Tael this jacked male fairy in a leafy speedo?

 

[7thFloor]

As an actual fairy obscured by glowing light.

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Correct.

 

[Nanashrew]

The way fairies are depicted in most media is that they often don't have a clean cut shape but emit sparkles and shine of color and light around their bodies, and they are most visible at twilight much like fireflies. They twinkle like starlight.

The modern fairy as we know them and how they are still depicted today started in the romantic period of arts and literature in the Victorian era. Though for fairies themselves and dispelling fears that surrounded them in the 16th and 17th century, we can thank Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

 

[Dylan]

It's actually Scott Thompson from Kids in the Hall.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

Fairies were fully rendered in Wind Waker but mere orbs of light in Phantom Hourglass - and those take place in the same universe involving the same Link.

So....? I just roll with it and just accept all their forms. Same with Great Fairies and pretty much all Zelda creatures.

 

[Deleted member 59109]

Easily glowing orb with wings. The design works a lot better to me

 

[Nanashrew]

Fairies were fully rendered in Wind Waker but mere orbs of light in Phantom Hourglass - and those take place in the same universe involving the same Link.

So....? I just roll with it and just accept all their forms. Same with Great Fairies and pretty much all Zelda creatures.

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Very simple, the Wind Waker fairy left to Minish Cap.

https://zelda.gamepedia.com/Gallery:Fairy

 

[chezzymann]

I bet they made them orbs cause they didnt have the graphical budget to make an actual tiny fairy in there

 

[1upsuper]

As an actual fairy obscured by glowing light.

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Definitively this.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

I don't know whether she actually looks like a tiny person or maybe she looks like a tiny critter, but whatever it is, there must be something in the middle of the light.

 

[Rotobit]

Y'all can't literally believe it's a glowing ball with wings, right??? It's a Zelda fairy like any other and an obvious stylistic choice to make it a ball of light because the N64 limitations.


Yup.

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In the OP I addressed the technical limitations being the likely original intent when it comes to the original OoT, but later depictions of Navi and similar fairies make it so the proportions don't really make sense for a tiny human to be in there - the wings in particular are too far out.

she'd have to be hunched over constantly or something, if she had normal human proportions