Maku Tree

Maku Trees, also commonly known as Great Deku Trees or Deku Trees, are primordial beings that naturally arose on the world of Hyrule during the Age of Myth.

History
Maku Trees, along with the Dragons, differ from the other beings of Hyrule in that they naturally arose without the influence of the Goddesses and their servants, or the Druthulidi. They formed as natural manifestations of the concept of order and laws of reality, growing and spreading across the primordial surface of Hyrule even as it was ravaged by the chaotic Dragons, nurturing the formation of vast forests. The Maku Trees aligned with the Oracle Farore and the First Sage of Forests, Sulkaris, aiding in the spread of life across Hyrule as order and civilization was brought to the world They then isolated themselves in remote regions of the world as the de facto guardians of the natural world, often worshiped as godlike spirits by the mortals of Hyrule.

On the continent of Hyrule, five known Maku Trees existed. Kasuto and its sibling the Baga Tree watched over the great expanse of the Kokiri Forest, while their siblings, the Maku Trees of Holodrum and Labrynna, traveled east to watch over the forests of Holodrum and Labrynna, respectively. The fifth traveled to the far southwest, watching over the Forests in what is now the Land of Famine and the Plains of Ordona. At some point, sensing a crack in the world leading to Termina, the Maku Tree of the South planted itself over the wound in reality, but died from the corruption, becoming known as the Dead Maku Tree, from under whose roots the waters of souls still leak into the world of the living. With its death the forests of the south lost their protector, being felled by the Moblins, Ikanians, Ordonians, or dying in the fires of the Crucible of Hylia or the Haunts blighting the land.

The other four Maku Trees persisted for millennia, watching over their forests. During the Hylian Century of Decline, the lands of House Rhoam in the western Kokiri Forest suffered a series of devastating plagues, leading to their abandonment of their ancestral estates and anarchy. In this void emerged the Kokiri Bandits, violent marauders whom preyed upon the peoples of the Forest before being destroyed by Kasuto and its Forest Alliance. Kasuto spared a single Hylian, the son of a blacksmith,named Gulley, transforming him into the first of the Kokiri, immortal forest children who would live in harmony with nature and shed their violent natures as mortals. Early in this process, however, the Baga Tree, having become a twisted being of stagnant order and death, drew a subset of the Kokiri away, amplifying their violent mortal urges as minions. This plot backfired, however, as the vicious Kokiri slew the Bagu and took its Wooden Fortress as their own, becoming known as the Mudmen of Faron. Kasuto itself was slain in 126 AG by the Gohma as they sought to free the Fallen Sage, Sulkaris, leading its Kokiri children to fall into anarchy without its guidance. Its legacy survived in its direct children, the lesser Deku Trees of the Forest.

Meanwhile, in the east, the Maku Tree of Labrynna watched the rise of a new people over the millenia, the Labrynnians, whom once respected nature as noble knights and healers. However, after the Gerudo Wars in the west, Labrynna saw the spark of a rapid industrial revolution. The forests were felled and land stripped for farms and torn apart to reach the minerals underneath. The Maku Tree itself sided with new order rather than nature, electing to become a monstrous fusion of wood and metal bristling with cannons and steam vents.

Maku Trees
Also known as Great Deku Trees, the Maku Trees are impossibly ancient, godlike beings of the primordial world, appearing as gargantuan trees the size of a castle, possessing humanoid faces complete with eyebrows and beards of foliage. They possess massive strength, able to flatten entire armies or fortifications with ease, and have an innate ability to influence and reshape any living being. Like other ancient beings of Hyrule, they lack a sex, but will prefer to associate themselves as either male or female for their mortal followers. As cosmic manifestations of Order, their very presence brings life, stability, and growth, but their overbearing influence can lead to stagnation and decay, resulting in their resident woods being shrouded by an unearthly stillness and timelessness. Like overbearing parents, the Maku Trees are inclined to tyrannically isolationist and backward thinking, and can descent into madness, becoming stagnant representations of death and decay that do not allow life to change and evolve.

Deku Trees
The children of Kasuto and its siblings, Deku Trees, much like the creations of the First Sages and spawn of the Druthulidi, could be seen as extensions of the greater spirit that is a Maku Tree. Kasuto's spawn served as guardians of the Kokiri Forest and shock troops in his Forest Alliance, while a number of sprouts were recovered by the Koroks and taken to their new home in the Great Sea, Forest Haven, after 140 AG.