This thing with the rupees

[Puck 1]

For a long time I could accept any idea relating to Zelda, from Minish cap being the first in the game to the split-timeline threory and beyond, but this is bothering me. Why is the rupee used as a currency? what is it made out of? What's its significance? Anybody got any ideas?

[pheonix561 2080]

UUHHHHHH QUIT BEING SO RACIALLY INTOLERANT THATS THE MONEY THEY USE IN INDIA

But seriously, they probably use it because its so durable, you can lock it in a chest for hundreds of years, or let it get eaten by a monster, and it will be fine when it comes out. Like how the US mint wants everyone to start using coins, but we still use bills for some reason.

[PrimaGaga 1025]

How else do you want Link to earn money? Whore himself out?

It's a game. Get over it.

PS-- Force Gems are better!

[Sahaqiel 1232]

Just letting you know, Minish Cap being first in the timeline isn't accepted as absolute fact like the split timeline. Personally, I don't believe it.

Too lazy to mint money.

Actually, they probably do mint money. 'Cause see, it's explained in Minish Cap that the Minish are responsible for hiding them in grass and stuff. When they're in pots, it's probably just the townsfolk hiding their hard earned money from burglars, and when they're in jars of dungeons and stuff, they were probably put there by the same people who put the chests there or something.

But yeah, Rupees seem like a logical choice because:

1*) They regulate their own inflation by becoming more or less rare. At some point, Silver Rupees were part of a set and had to be collected en masse for them to be of any worth, but then they became rare in Wind Waker, which boosted their worth to a set amount. Big Rupees went through inflation some time before OoX or something. Stuff like that.

2) They're gems, and as pheonix stated, they're pretty durable. Even US coins would tarnish or something, but Rupees can stay in chests at the bottom of the ocean for a whole century (As proven by Oracle of Ages) and be a-OK.

3) They're pretty. :3

4) You don't have to worry about things like purity of the materials used, (Merchants a ways back when would obsess over the quality of the silver or gold in certain coins, because that determined worth) because the stones are so chemically inert. There aren't any Rupees with impurities, in other words, and impurities would probably make them more rare anyway, because that might change the color of the stone.

5*) They crystallize into a perfect shape every time, so you don't need to cut them.

Plus, it's not like they're really all that susceptible to inflation. To seriously mess the economy up, you'd have to flood the market with Rupees, and the only way to do that is to go fight monsters or steal peoples' money or journey into a dungeon. Ordinary people don't have that kind of mettle. Or you cut peoples' grass, but then, you'd probably get paid anyway.

* Assuming the Rupees are naturally occurring stones

So yeah, Rupees.

(Thumbs up)

Sahaqiel

[Puck 1]

UUHHHHHH QUIT BEING SO RACIALLY INTOLERANT THATS THE MONEY THEY USE IN INDIA

UUhhhhhhh I knew that already. Just because I don't mention a fast fact about etemology doesn't make me intolerant. It just makes me lazy

Also Shaqueal I agree with your points but what I'm getting at is why they can do all those things, like never tarnish or take their trademark shape? And for that matter what are they made out of that makes them an acceptable form of money. I mean there must be something special about them (Besides being currency) that would compel the Minish to hide it in the grass and such for Humans. If they were just hiding random inportant things in the grass we'd probably find Goold and silver too.

[Sahaqiel 1232]

Shaqueal? You mean, Sahaqiel?

Like really, is it this hard.

How they never tarnish is simple. They're chemically stable. Same reason we have noble gases that don't merge with anything to make compounds. As for their shape, there are loads of crystals in real life that take on a pattern.

People use the Rupees for money. The Picori hide it in the grass because they know this.

It's pretty simple.

Also, gold and silver aren't important in the Zelda universe. Why would the Picori hide stuff in the grass no one has a use for?

Wait, why is this in Theories?

Read the rules.

Sahaqiel

[Puck 1]

Because these are theories. Has Nintendo specifically said "Rupees are chemically stable"? If not, it's a theory. That's how it works, right?

[Sahaqiel 1232]

Posts in Theories are supposed to be finished hypotheses. This is a discussion, not a theory.