Deku Tree

Great Deku Tree in Ocarina of Time.
The Great Deku Tree
Species	Tree Deity
Base	Lost Woods
Debut	Ocarina of Time

The Great Deku Tree is a sentient tree who is usually the caretaker of the forest he exists in.

Background

Ocarina of Time

Although he is peaceful and wise, the Great Deku Tree is rooted to the ground and vulnerable to attack. It is he who created the Kokiri and watched over them in his sacred haven, the Kokiri Forest. The Great Deku Tree was also entrusted with the Spiritual Stone of Forest, the Kokiri's Emerald- one of the keys to the Sacred Realm. The Great Deku Tree is actually hollow and contains a dungeon-like area within his body.

It was the Great Deku Tree who adopted an orpahned baby Hylian named Link into the Kokiri community and raised him as if he were another Kokiri- and Link would grow up to become the Hero of Time.

One day a man of the desert, Ganondorf attempted to take the Kokiri's Emerald from the Deku Tree. When the tree refused, Ganondorf cast a spell on him and infected him with monsters- Skulltullas, Deku Scrub, Deku Babas and Gohmas led by Queen Gohma. The Great Deku Tree sent the fairy Navi to the young Link, and together they vanquished the monsters from the Deku Tree's body in the beginning of Ocarina of Time. It was already too late for the Deku Tree; he had only sent Link inside of him as a test of courage. The Great Deku Tree told Link of the Triforce, granted him the Kokiri's Emerald, sent him off to find Zelda, withered and died.

Although that shell of the tree died, his spirit carried over to a sapling of the Great Deku Tree. However dark forces around Hyrule prevented it from sprouting until seven years later, when Link extinguished the evil from the Forest Temple.

The Wind Waker

In The Wind Waker

Over the years many things changed. As Hyrule was flooded after the Hero of Time's disappearance, the Great Deku Tree and Kokiri were forced to move to a mountain that became an island, known as the Forest Haven. The Great Deku Tree was also given Farore's Pearl, a treasure of one of the Golden Goddesses. The Deku Tree now had a new dream- every year he held a ceremony in which he sprouted seeds, and the Kokiri, who had changed into Koroks, went and planted those seeds across the Great Sea. These would produce new Deku Trees, and maybe one day all the islands would be connected by the trees into one continent again.

InThe Wind Waker Ganondorf struck at the Deku Tree again with a swarm of Chuchus. A boy in green named Link arrived to stop them and was able to save the Deku Tree. The Great Deku Tree was stunned by Link's appearance and begun speaking to the hero in the old language until he realized that this was not the same Link- this was a new one, discovered by the King of Red Lions. He had come for the pearl. The Great Deku Tree granted it to Link only after he saved Makar from the Forbidden Woods. The Great Deku Tree then resumed his peaceful existance in the Forest Haven, patiently awaiting the day his vision comes true.

Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland

As depicted in Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland

In Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, the Great Deku Tree existed in the Deku Forest on a small self-contained island. Although he was strong and healthy, his child sapling had become ill from the pollution by humans. He was approached by Tingle who was busy on his quest to get enough rupees to reach Rupeeland. With the assistance of the resident hero, Junglo, he has traversed the forest maze to reach the Deku Tree's location.

The Deku Tree bid Tingle to enter and go to his roots and retrieve a bottle of Life Dew, which would cure the Deku Sprout. However Tingle had difficulty entering and had to pay a fine to open the way in (an amount of no specific value, the Deku Tree transferred that amount to a chest as his entire 'savings' to fight pollution). Inside Tingle found that three poisonous plants were blocking the way to the Life Dew and he had to defeat the three of them.

At the bottom of the Deku Tree was a vat full of Life Dew, but it had been polluted beyond use. Tingle discovered that a monster in possession of a Super Rupee had been polluting the Life Dew. Tingle defeated the monster and in doing so, purified the Dew Water and healed the Deku Sprout. But in doing so, the Great Deku Tree wilted, allowing the sprout to succeed him as it had been done with previous trees.

Trivia

• In Oracle of Ages and Seasons, Link meets the Maku Trees (one male and the other female) who are similar to the Deku Tree.
• "Deku" is Japanese for "wooden figure or doll/puppet".
• Depending on the order of the series, there has been a succession of at least three Deku Trees. If each incarnation is considered separate, there could have been as many as five.