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

Is Navi an orb or a tiny person?

  • Orb

    Votes: 381 37.3%

  • Traditional Fairy

    Votes: 640 62.6%
  • Total voters
    1,022
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Zero-ELEC

Zero-ELEC

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,560
México
I'm pretty sure they've always been regular people-shaped faeries. It's just an artstyle thing.
Rotobit said:
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.

IMuSwo7.gif


she'd have to be hunched over constantly or something, if she had normal human proportions
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or, you know she has (relatively) huge wings that extend deep into the light that obscures the complete body
 
Vulcano's Assistant

Vulcano's Assistant

Member
Oct 29, 2017
13,471
Looking at all the depictions in the movies posted, looks like traditionally it should have been both. She would have a fairy body, but can also turn herself into a magical particle when needed.
 
Nanashrew

Nanashrew

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
6,328
Rotobit said:
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.

IMuSwo7.gif


she'd have to be hunched over constantly or something, if she had normal human proportions
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Some fairy myths say they can change shape and size. I don't think it's that big a deal.
 
Richietto

Richietto

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,939
North Carolina
Rotobit said:
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.

IMuSwo7.gif


she'd have to be hunched over constantly or something, if she had normal human proportions
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The wings are done like that to give visual identity. She's not literally a ball of light. The ball had to be large enough for a CRT screen which means the wings had to be even larger so you could visually imply its a fairy and not just some light at low resolution.
 
Dash Kappei

Dash Kappei

Member
Nov 1, 2017
4,827
How is this even a question?

She's basically Tinkerbell in Hook.
There's a traditional fairy behind the glowing super bright light. "Listen", she even speaks like you'd expect her to.
I mean, Link himself is inspired by PP.
 
Zero-ELEC

Zero-ELEC

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,560
México
Really, the best argument that OP could have is that Bubbles were called Anti-Fairies in early translations, and those are just floating skulls with wings on fire. As it stands tho, they're only ever called Bubbles in the original Japanese language script.
 
Giga Man

Giga Man

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
21,204
Nintendo should remake OoT again and shed some light on Navi's true form.
 
Quantum Nottle

Quantum Nottle

Member
Nov 4, 2017
430
Maybe at the time I thought it was just an orb when I played it at age 9. But yeah, it's supposed to be just the light it's giving off, and it was easier to do the orb thing on a n64.

Also it would be rad if they made another fairy companion that was detailed enough to emote and have a interesting personality. Get Puck in there!
 
Arttemis

Arttemis

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
6,185
carlsojo

carlsojo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
33,729
San Francisco
I think the only reason they were orbs with wings in the 64 games is because they looked much better than whatever they could have modeled for a tiny fairy body.
 
Death Penalty

Death Penalty

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
3,288
lvl 99 Pixel said:
its not a gotcha when its both the logical explanation and most Zelda games show them as human shaped when they're not stylized as orbs.
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How is it somehow more logical that she's human shaped? Just because it's the traditional depiction of a fairy, despite the series as a whole having plenty of nontraditional designs? The other games in the series aren't really relevant either, creature designs change drastically across the series and there are even modern games that choose to represent the fairies as orbs despite the ability to render human shapes.
 
lvl 99 Pixel

lvl 99 Pixel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,607
Death Penalty said:
How is it somehow more logical that she's human shaped? Just because it's the traditional depiction of a fairy, despite the series as a whole having plenty of nontraditional designs? The other games in the series aren't really relevant either, creature designs change drastically across the series and there are even modern games that choose to represent the fairies as orbs despite the ability to render human shapes.
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They sometimes show them as the stylized version sometimes not. Either way it makes no sense at all that they're literally balls of light with wings, nor is there any evidence to even suggest this.
 
Death Penalty

Death Penalty

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
3,288
lvl 99 Pixel said:
They sometimes show them as the stylized version sometimes not. Either way it makes no sense at all that they're literally balls of light with wings, nor is there any evidence to even suggest this.
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Why does it make no sense? It's not like a miniature human with insect wings "makes sense" either. There's plenty of evidence to suggest that Zelda fairies appear in certain entries this way, too- namely because we see them and are given no indication of a human form beneath. Staple Zelda creatures get weird and new designs all the time, so I don't think looking at other entries is particularly helpful, especially when Breath of the Wild has chosen the ball of light approach.

Fairies in particular are creatures that are extremely open to interpretation. They aren't necessarily little human shaped things- they can also be interpreted as disembodied spirits, invisible forces, etc. Zelda fairies are even interchangeably called sprites and pixies, terms that can also be used to refer to spirits that aren't always fully material. Interpreting fairies as little balls of light or magic doesn't seem nonsensical to me at all, and could come about through a broader understanding of what faerie means or simple artistic license on an existing idea. Either way, saying that "because she's called a fairy" she must be a tiny human isn't a great argument in my opinion.
 

Deleted member 7130

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If they're tiny people, then link is a monster for trapping them in bottles
 
Last edited:
unicornKnight

unicornKnight

▲ Legend ▲
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Oct 27, 2017
13,159
Athens, Greece
It was a product of technical limitations, that's why they used this approach. As a child yes I'd perceive her as a glowing orb but I know understand it was an actual fairy with a body and wings.
 
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