-Matter of the Champion Spirits-
Champion Spirits. Demigods. Champions of the Triple Goddess. Courage. Wisdom. Power.
The Champion Spirits (CSs) are as elusive to track through history, yet just as influential, as perhaps the gods themselves. They are beings in some way equally spirit as they are flesh. Mortal, yet immortal. Cursed, yet blessed. Powerful, yet seemingly powerless to their own fate. CSs are not a race, but a group of three individuals. It is impossible to talk about one of the CSs without talking, in some way, about the other two. They are capable of their individual lives, to be sure, but whether by design or instinct, they are always drawn to one another whether by love... or by hatred.
The first, and primary thing to understand about the CSs is that they are mortal. They age, they eat, they have children, they are born from fathers and mothers, and they fall to disease and the sword. Yet even as they are mortal, they are immortal, as they are unique in spirit. Their spirit does not leave the physical realm, but stays and returns as a new life. This new life, while always unique in the period and place and gender and experiences to which the life is born, always yet carries the same overall personality and mentalities of its former lives. The spirit of Courage, while always different from one cycle to the next, is always recognized in some way to be Courage. The same with Wisdom and Power.
They are not infalible, despite these things. Courage is courageous, whether he a hero or villain. Power is powerful, whether for good or calamity. Wisdom is always wise, whether to be known as a tyrant or loved king. It is perhaps the greatest reflection of this potential duality, this potential for good and evil, that the three last ones to be recognized in history were to be known as the Demonic King, the Wise Tyrant, and the Rebellious Hero.
The second thing worthy of recognition is that no matter what era they are born in, there is a pattern. The pattern is as follows: There are always three, no more or less. They are always drawn to one another, whether they know it or not, as if their very souls recognize each other even if their eyes do not. They are given powerful Gifts, whether natural or unnatural. They always are placed, whether by higher design or coincidence or their own ambition, at the center of history in their time so as to be the perfect architects of their age. (My colleagues jest they are dramatic like that.) And there is never more than one of each at any one time, so the former must die for there to be a new one.
The third thing of note, and probably the most amazing, is how ignorant they are. Unlike other races who know of their origins and purpose, the CSs are entirely unaware unless guided to know. They consider themselves no different from any other individual, entirely unaware of their place in history and what makes them special. Their ignorance makes them difficult to track, as it often leaves them as ones to not take credit for their own handiwork and role in history and so be left unwritten or left as a shadow in the backdrop of history. It makes patterns horribly difficult to track, as I hope you can imagine. They do not know they are reincarting endlessly. They do not know of their power, unless they stumble upon it. It is, in a sense, so natural to them as breathing is for us.
At first this might seem to be the end of it. On the surface there is not much more to them, but when looked at closely, there is something deeper within them and questions to be asked. Why are these three the only ones to exist? Where did they come from? Why are they reincarnating in an endless cycle, and towards what goal or end does this cycle hold? Most of all, why do even they not know and never remember? Did they start by way of a curse, to be forever bound in spirit to the earth? Are they the gods hidden hand guiding us all towards a fated future? Why are these three always seeking one another, even across the world to chase each other, as if in an eternal dance?
Will this dance ever end?
-History-
The war in heaven.
The Triple Goddess came across a realm to mold. Guarding it was the Twilight Pantheon, five in total. To combat them they made that which reflected them the most deeply. Naryu sent of herself, Wisdom. Din gave of herself, Power. Farore gave of herself, Courage. These three spirits were champions of them and made battle with the Pantheon.
It is not written how the battle went beyond the conclusion of success. The Divine won the day, cast the Twilight Pantheon out, and the Goddess started their work. Their work was not the most peaceful as drama started among them as the Fae laughed and the dragon's roared, but in the background of this new war, something was wrong. The three CSs, a team as they were once, were splintered.
Something had happened to Power. He was not the same as he once was. A sickness came over him and he made war with Wisdom and Courage. Together they could withstand him, but even so their conflict threatened to destroy everything the Triple Goddess had envisioned and before their eyes the same sickness that came over Power was threatening to come over Courage and Wisdom too. The Triple Goddess cast them to the mortal plane, gave them bodies, and bound them there forever. Whether as punishment, whether to keep their conflict from destroying everything, or whether to keep the spiritual sickness from consuming them. It is unknown why, yet perhaps it is the most important quandry as they are locked all the same to an endless cycle of reincarnation until either they learn the reason and fix it, or until a pre-determined time.
Time would pass. The CSs would be reborn in one generation after the next. They would seek each other out, and no matter the circumstances, no matter the reason, and no matter the nature or scale of the conflict Power would make war with Courage and Wisdom. No matter how many eons pass they seemed to never change from this. Courage and Wisdom worked together to keep Power restrained, and Power always saught war.
Their relationship would shift in a new era, five hundred years ago. Wisdom rose as king that was as wise as he was tyrannical and paranoid, earning the title: Wise Tyrant. Courage rose as a hero, but made civil war in a time when there was already war, earning him the title: Rebellious Hero. Power rose as a king, seeking land and riches that was not his own with incredible power at his command and a strong, faithful nation beneath him, earning him the title: Demon King. For the first time in history Wisdom, Courage, and Power all made war with one another. Their unity was fully and truly broken.
In the peak of this conflict, Wisdom's body was found. It is unknown who killed the Wise Tyrant, as Courage and Power both disappeared and so could not take full responsibility. All sides no longer had their leaders, and so pointed to one to blame for their disappearance or death of their leaders, and then pointed inward. Their command structures collapsed and in the wake of this large-scale collapse the land of Hyrule fell into anarchy. Every city turned into a city-state.
This unique shift in their cycle an relationship would also be marked by the first, and longest, period of silence from them. For the first time in history, the three would not return. The cycle of the CSs would come to a halt. Any who knew of them, and watched their dance in history, most notably the Fae, would consider the Cycle to be completed. They would believe the CSs to be no more.
-Amended by the Sheikah archives-
Unlike normal history, there is more to it. Secrets are held to shed light on what happened and what may yet happen.
In the final battle of Hyrule, Wisdom and Courage and Power did meet each other in battle. Power was stronger then them both and was slowly becoming the victor, and so, when hope seemed lost, Wisdom talked Courage into aiding him long enough to do something unique, something that had never been done in their battles before. With no way to truly kill him, Wisdom and Courage cast Power out of the physical realm and into an unknown realm
After sending Power out of the physical realm, Wisdom showed it to be a trick as he used a portion of the same 'spell' to cast Courage away and bind his spirit, in part, to physical objects. Despite being tricked, Courage was able to fatally wound Wisdom before disappearing and thrown into the furthest depths of the temple. Power was trapped in another realm. Wisdom died. Courage, in part, was trapped to stay beneath a temple, forever.
In so doing, this result in their battle brought a halt to the cycle. The cycle does not exist without all three being dead at one time, and so locking one out, and leaving one immortal and spiritually splintered, broke the cycle in its entirety. Whether this was by design or accident, is unknown.
In the land of Qin, the children of Courage, Matsubi and Kimoto with their respective families, would find their ancient father, and form a home around him. The Kimoto would become known as the Ki. In the land of Gerudo, the Dragmire family would remember their father, the Demon King. The sons of the Wise Tyrant would, over generations, become the leaders and kings of the various nations to form.
One of these kings, King Shorlin of Qin, would find an individual known as the 'Wish Maker' and through this individual would learn of the lineage of the three CSs. A strongly spiritual man, he would seek to bring the three lineage together, and so recruited the Dragmire, among many others bloodlines rumored to have followed in the wake of the three CSs.
King Shorlin would die, and in his place was King Aou. King Aou pushed the bloodlines to contest against one another. The Dragmire would, when pressured to their end, would seek the aid of a mysterious individual in restoring Power. They succeeded, in part. While Power did not return in his full might and form, Power would come to return to the physical work within a child. (Whether Power came to possess and overwrite the child, or merely an attribute of the child, is unknown.)
The Dragmire's ritual did more than restore Power, it restored the cycle. Because soon after, Wisdom would be born. Soon after Wisdom was born, Courage would be born.
Whether the three would grow up to make war with one another or not, is yet to be seen, but if history has shown anything, they will once more be at the center of their age.