Video games have always been fertile ground for rumors. Like with other rumors and conspiracy theories, the rise of the internet made it not only easier for misinformation about game content to spread, but for hoaxers to deliberately spread misinformation. One such hoax, pertaining to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, released in November of 1998, became something of an obsession of mine “back in the day.” It would go on to be what website Kotaku called “one of the greatest hoaxes in video game history.”
On February 4, 1999, a user by the name of Ariana Almandoz, who claimed to be a gamer from Colombia, sent an email to the owner of a now-defunct fan site, Hyrule the Land of Zelda, claiming, “I found the triforce about a week ago and I took the picture on Friday (…) But I will keep the secret because it was hard for me to find it.”
For those unfamiliar with the games, in The Legend of Zelda series, the Triforce is a sacred relic with the power to grant the wish of whomever obtains it. The titular princess and Link, the player character, want to keep it out of the hands of the series’ main villain, Ganon. The Triforce was obtainable in-game in three out of the four video games that existed up until Ocarina of Time released in 1998. Naturally, players expected it would be once again.
Upon beating the game, the player finds that the Triforce is not, in fact, an item the player can obtain. Indeed, the storyline of the game makes it impossible to obtain the Triforce — Link, Princess Zelda, and the evil Ganon each end up with a single one of the Triforce’s three pieces. Fans pointed to several lines of evidence as to why they refused to accept this reality. First, an early promotional video for the game showed Link holding up the entire Triforce. Also, the in-game menu screen had an imprint of the Triforce, a characteristic of the game to indicate obtainable items to the player.
It wasn’t long before many different alleged methods of obtaining the Triforce began popping up on fan messageboards. Some involved ridiculous tasks like throwing a bomb directly into the center of a lava pool underneath Ganon’s castle, to make a secret room appear. Others invoked grueling or even impossible feats, like defeating a character called the Running Man in a race, or beating the game without taking any damage. Almandox, however, was one of the only people to offer evidence in support of her claims.
The owner of Hyrule the Legend of Zelda, a user named Falco X, asked Almandox for the picture she mentioned, which was missing from her first email. A day or so later, Falco X received a second email containing a photo of a never-before-seen image of Link, yes, holding up the Triforce. The picture ignited a firestorm of controversy over its authenticity, and legions of fans began begging Almandox to share her secret method of obtaining the Triforce. At first, she only dropped hints, refusing to explain her method step-by-step, claiming:
It’s really simple but I don’t want to say anything else until everybody recognizes me as the one who discovered it. If I reveal the secret, everybody will have the knowledge I have, therefore it wouldn’t have any value for me.
After several weeks, two more pictures were released. Many fans argued the pictures were fake, citing the poor quality and the fact that Link’s sword was on the wrong shoulder (Link is canonically left-handed). Almandox dismissed the detractors and eventually revealed one of the main conditions of her method was learning a secret song, “Overture of Sages,” but refused to explain a crucial step of how to learn it. Finally, perhaps overwhelmed by inquiries and fan mail, on March 11, 1999, Almandox admitted the whole thing had been a hoax:
People from all over the world will try my story, they will swallow it like candies no matter that the pictures are a total fake, the mistakes I made in purpose were to show how silly can some people be (…) Stop writing emails, it’s useless. I never read then [sic] and this was all a lie. If you didn’t believe it, then you’re smart. If you believe it, then you probably need to grow up and shut your mouth up.
In the February 2001 issue of Nintendo Power magazine, the game company firmly laid the story to rest, stating in no uncertain terms, “The Triforce is not in the game. Period.”
It’s no exaggeration to say that Almandoz’s story is one of the most well-known and elaborate fan hoaxes in video game history. I, like many others, fell for it hook, line, and sinker. For years after the hoax was revealed, I wanted it to be true. Desperately. After years of trying, I had to acknowledge the disappointing truth that the Triforce just wasn’t in Ocarina of Time. So what can this teach us about critical thinking?
If you really want something to be true, that’s the thing you should question the most. Wanting something to be true invites confirmation bias, or the tendency to pay attention to evidence which confirms our beliefs and ignore evidence which disproves our beliefs, even if it’s overwhelming. It didn’t matter to me that, after years of trying, nobody had come up with the goods. It didn’t matter to me that none of the purported methods of obtaining the Triforce had worked. I believed it was an obtainable item because I wanted to find it. I dismissed anyone and anything that said that I couldn’t.
Thinking scientifically about extraordinary claims means one should be looking for that which disproves a hypothesis, not for something that proves it. Fans like me shouldn’t have started with the assumption the Triforce was in the game and could be found if only the right method was discovered. Rather, we should’ve begun from the assumption that, since all the available evidence pointed to it not being in the game, it wasn’t. Instead, whenever a method failed to work, I rationalized it as somehow being my fault (“I must not have done something right”), or that some method must work; I just hadn’t found the right one.
You should evaluate how comfortably unusual claims fit with the established body of knowledge. Obtaining the Triforce in Ocarina of Time would contradict the in-game story. Many of the alleged methods, including Almandoz’s, relied on in-game events which were impossible to trigger, or items which were impossible to obtain — it’s simply not possible to defeat the Running Man in a race, as he’s programmed to always beat the player by at least one second.
Additionally, there’s no dialogue in the game’s code which would be triggered if the condition of beating the Running Man was met. There’s no Unicorn Fountain or Overture of Sages in the game’s code, either. People who actually worked on the game, who would best be in a position to separate fact from fiction, denied that it was possible.
Rather than being an embarrassing anecdote, I consider my quest for the Triforce to be an excellent case study in how one should think critically about extraordinary claims. While I was disappointed at the time, looking back, I’m grateful for the experience, and even for Almandoz’s hoax. It made for a great story, and it taught me to be much more skeptical of video game rumors, and extraordinary claims in general.
Every February, to help celebrate Darwin Day, the Science section of AIPT cranks up the critical thinking for SKEPTICISM MONTH! Skepticism is an approach to evaluating claims that emphasizes evidence and applies the tools of science. All month we’ll be highlighting skepticism in pop culture, and skepticism *OF* pop culture.
AIPT Science is co-presented by AIPT and the New York City Skeptics.
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