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Life & Arts

Hearts never fail to work miracles

My 8 Bits

Jason Poland

For the sake of a gamer plunged into a strange new video world, video graphics in the playing field and what they stand for need to be readily apparent. Hot lava is bad; money is good. Mario knows the difference between power-ups, coins and goombas and how they affect him when he touches them because of the message their graphics convey. In Super Mario Bros., mushrooms make Mario larger and stronger, but in 3D World Runner, mushroom power-ups harm you. Power-ups in video games act like cognates in foreign languages -- they offer familiar visual cues to something you already know, but sometimes there are false cognates.

The most frequently used symbols to represent positive power-ups in video games are money, fruit and hearts. The meaning of the heart symbol is rooted more in intangible sentiment than it is in representing its literal, anatomical namesake, but its usage is abundantly replicated as vital signage in countless video games.

In The Legend of Zelda, our hero Link begins with three hearts, above which is printed the word "life." Contact with enemies will deplete from this heart meter. Collecting small red hearts will replenish lost life, and finding larger heart containers will add to his overall vitality. Six hearts will allow him to wield the white sword, and 12 will enable him to use the more powerful magical sword. Because of these reasons, heart containers are a treasured find, and when Link uncovers one from its hiding place, he holds it triumphantly above his head. The white lining around a heart container makes it resemble a lace-fringed heart, and when I was younger, I thought they were valentines from Princess Zelda. A love token from Princess Zelda can give Link the stamina to trek onward through slings and arrows, but most Hallmark sentiments just make people ill.

In any given February, hundreds of paper hearts and cards are exchanged, and during the Valentine's aftermath, heaps of neglected candy are stacked on clearance tables at every CVS in the city. During this time, we're forced to cast a gaze on hundreds of sweet pink and red hearts, but why was this shape chosen to represent all the affection and sentiment that it has come to stand for?

It's understandable why the heart was chosen as the organ (and origin) of love. When we are sad or upset, we feel our hearts sink; when we're excited, its pace quickens or even skips a beat; when we're in love, it explodes. But the stylized shape used to represent said blood pumper is a far cry from the cardiac muscle beating inside our chests. (Granted, it's easier to draw than a real heart, and it would be an entirely different game if Link were collecting human hearts to restore his health.)

History shows that many are credited with the creation of the Valentine's-style heart. The Catholic Church claims the symbol of the heart originated in the late 17th century when Saint Margaret Marie Alacoque had a holy vision of a heart shape surrounded by a crown of thorns. This sacred heart represented the soul of Christ, but evidence of its iconic use in stained glass predates Alacoque's vision by centuries. The first association of Jesus and the heart go back even further to John 19:34, when a centurion used a lance to pierce the heart of Christ at his crucifixion.

Catholics use the symbol of the heart to represent the soul of Christ, but its use to signify an intangible part of the self goes back even further to ancient Egypt to signify the ab, or heart soul, one part of the seven souls carried by a person in life.

Still, the shape's origin rests elsewhere, in artifacts from the seventh century B.C. city-state of Cyrene, where the heart symbol was used to represent a plant with a curious use. Silphium, a plant growing only in the upland regions surrounding the city, was prescribed for many medicinal applications. Because of its estrogenic qualities, its most popular use was as an herbal contraceptive. It was so often prescribed, in fact, that it was harvested into extinction. The seeds of this species of fennel most resemble the heart symbol we have come to know today.

After all the hearts Link has collected throughout his quest, he'll have more love to give the princess than she can handle. Whether hearts imbue you with feelings of romance, erotic love or increased hit points, have a heart this post-Valentine's Day, even if it's covered in chocolate and comes from the corner store.

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