A book explaining how the Number-Letter Code works
The Ancient Hyrulian Number-Letter Code is a code mentioned in The Shadow Prince. It is first introduced after the King of Hyrule says he wishes to show the Triforce of Wisdom to Charles.[1] Outraged by the king's decision, Link turns to Impa, who tells him to not act rashly and to think this through.[2] To help him make the decision on what he should, Impa hands the young hero a piece of paper that contains a one-word message written in the ancient number-letter code.[3]
According to the book, the Ancient Hyrulian Number-Letter Code works as follows: each letter of the alphabet has a number that matches it. A=0, B=1, and so forth; however, in old Hyrule, the number system was in base 2, or binary. Thus, each of the numbers in the message are the base 2 numbers that match the Hyrulian alphabet:
| Letter | Base 10 | Base 2 |
| A | 0 | 0 |
| B | 1 | 1 |
| C | 2 | 10 |
| D | 3 | 11 |
| E | 4 | 100 |
| F | 5 | 101 |
| G | 6 | 110 |
| H | 7 | 111 |
| I | 8 | 1000 |
| J | 9 | 1001 |
| K | 10 | 1010 |
| L | 11 | 1011 |
| M | 12 | 1100 |
| N | 13 | 1101 |
| O | 14 | 1110 |
| P | 15 | 1111 |
| Q | 16 | 10000 |
| R | 17 | 10001 |
| S | 18 | 10010 |
| T | 19 | 10011 |
| U | 20 | 10100 |
| V | 21 | 10101 |
| W | 22 | 10110 |
| X | 23 | 10111 |
| Y | 24 | 11000 |
| Z | 25 | 11001 |
The message that Link must decipher contains the following numbers:
10010, 10011, 0, 1011, 100, 101, 1110, 10001, 1011
When translated, it advises Link to "FORESTALL," meaning to wait. Whether Link decides to forestall or act forthwith does not greatly affect the outcome of the book.
See Also
Sign Language of the Hyrulian Royal Guard