A Link Between Worlds Theory: Lorule is Actually Hyrule (Spoilers)

[Justac00lguy]

*So a couple of things before I delve into details: one, this is a theory, which means that not all what I say is going to be true and it will be mainly me attempting to piece together evidence to support the title. Two, this will contain spoilers, and if you've haven't completed the game, and don't want to be spoiled, then I encourage you not to read*

The title obviously details what I'm putting forward here: Lorule is actually Hyrule. Now let me explain this in a better way. Hyrule is sometimes referred to as the castle, the kingdom, the land and even the world - I'm just going to use the term for the entire world here. So Hyrule was created by the three Goddesses (I'm sure we all know that) and it was split into three separate timelines: Defeated, Child and Adult. Now these are all in fact separate wolrds as they are not connected, but run in line with one another. In other words, they are Parallel Worlds. This is my favourite definition of such:

A Parallel World, or Universe, is a self-contained reality that is a hypothetical result of a variant occurring.

Now for those who are unfamiliar with the Multiverse Theory, it's basically just the idea of the possibility of infinite universes which exist due to different outcome occurring. I'll quickly explain: there may be two choices someone might make, if they choose option A then that will create one outcome while choosing option B leads to a different outcome. Now you have two separate outcomes at the result of a variant.

What does all this have to do with Zelda you ask? Well this does in fact occur within the Timeline itself. You have the Adult Timeline being the natural flow of events; however the other two timelines have a different outcome due to a variant. In the Child Timeline, Link--now with proof and knowledge--prevents what happens in the events of Ocarina of Time. While in the Defeated Timeline, Link is actually defeated by Ganon himself. Now we all know this shapes the landscape of Hyrule and changes the outcomes as each Timeline is severely different to its counterpart.

Now I'm going to use this logic in my theory for what Lorule is. Lorule was once Hyrule. Now the key word is "once" and I'll explain why. First off, I'm going to jump to one of the final cut scenes within the game where Hilda tells us of Lorule's origins: (skip to around 1.20)

Spoiler

[video=youtube;dzsX_0DnM-Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=dzsX_0DnM-Y[/video]

Now the origin story is very, very reminiscent of The Imprisoning War, which is coincidently the origin story of A Link to the Past. Now even though this scene is pretty brief it actually does seem to follow a familiar pattern with the people of Hyrule lusting over the Triforce; however the outcome was different. In the Imprisoning War, the Knights of Hyrule sealed the entrance to the Sacred Realm (Dark World), thus preventing inevitable destruction by Ganon and his minions. However, in the Lorule War it seems that the leaders, or Gods (we don't know), decided the best solution was to simply destroy the Triforce.

Now we know that the destruction of the Triforce lead to even worse consequences for the land and it's appearance is strikingly similar to that of the Dark World. Now of course that's to put it in line with the game's design choice: making it similar to its father: A Link to the Past, but I also feel it has a deeper meaning. Lorule is basically Hyrule in ruins. The Dark World, however, mirrors Ganon's heart and his intentions - here's where I make reference to Sheik from Ocarina of Time:

Sheik: "The resting place of the sacred triangle, the Sacred Realm, is a mirror that reflects what is in the heart...the heart of one who enters it..."

So basically Ganon is evil and the Dark World perfectly reflects that. Lorule is a world in ruins and it's basically an insight into Hyrule ruled by evil and deadly monsters. It also explains why Lorule is very similar to Hyrule itself, it's almost as if it's a look into Hyrule's dark future - which is kind of the feeling I got when playing. It was as if something went drastically wrong. Now I'm not seeing this as Hyrule's future, but instead, Hyrule's present -- in a world where the Triforce was destroyed.

So what's with Lorule's version of the Triforce? Well most people think it's this "Dark Triforce", the antithesis of Hyrule's own and this was further supported by its concept art within the title of the game. Although, take a look at the real image of the Triforce in comparison:

As you can see, the Triforce is the same relic and not this so called "Dark Triforce" and I think this goes for Lorule too as that isn't Dark Hyrule as we've witnessed when learning of its origins. So why was the Triforce a different symbol... well let me rephrase that, why was it upside down? Well I want to refer back to that YouTube clip of Lorule's origins. They speak of banishing the Triforce and this is the image shown:

Now you witness here the Triforce being forced down as if it's showing that the power is gone, or in other words, buried - a sign of death. Now I think this is a form of symbolism; the Triforce pointing downwards is a sign of its demise. Something pointing upwards is usually a symbol of power and might, while this is completely the opposite. Anyway, speaking of Demise, what about his sword and the same relic being shown? Well I think it was Demise's true intentions to destroy the Triforce entirely. Demise seemed jealous of the Gods; his hatred for them and Hyrule itself may have lead to his overall intentions in Skyward Sword - I don't think he would ever want to support one of the God's creations.

Ok so I went on a slight tangent there, but I do believe this is the same Triforce we all know it's just that it's position symbolises it's destruction and downfall.

There are still a few more things that might need to be covered to convince people. What about Ravio? Well the Triforce is the balance of power in Hyrule; it ties good and evil together essentially. When an evil is present a Hero rises, such is the beginning of most Zelda games. However, when the Triforce was destroyed it left those who were destined to hold a specific piece without power. Ravio wasn't exactly any Link here and I believe that's because of the appearance of no Triforce. He still showed heroic actions, but he just didn't have the adequate power in order to execute them on his own; he needed the help of a real hero, one who could bear the Triforce of Courage - Link.

---

Anyway, I think that's my theory wrapped up. I'd appreciate some feedback and critique if necessary, also please tell me your own theories of Lorule.

 

[Ganondork]

I'll go ahead and add to your theory.

Demise's sword is an antithesis to the Master Sword, aesthetically, no doubt.

Spoiler

But, if you look at the Triforces on the two swords, you'll notice that the two point in opposite directions. When held skyward, the Master Sword's Triforce points up. Demise's, on the other hand, points downward. That is reminiscent of Hyrule and Lorule's Triforces, respectively.

There are still a few more things that might need to be covered to convince people. What about Ravio? Well the Triforce is the balance of power in Hyrule; it ties good and evil together essentially. When an evil is present a Hero rises, such is the beginning of most Zelda games. However, when the Triforce was destroyed it left those who were destined to hold a specific piece without power. Ravio wasn't exactly any Link here and I believe that's because of the appearance of no Triforce. He still showed heroic actions, but he just didn't have the adequate power in order to execute them on his own; he needed the help of a real hero, one who could bear the Triforce of Courage - Link.

I will go ahead and copy and paste what I said in a previous thread.

His [Ravio] role in calming Hilda from her rage was probably one of the most interesting parts of the game, as it was at that point that A Link Between Worlds really discerned itself from A Link to the Past. Link was no longer Lorule's hero; it was Ravio. Hilda would have seen Lorule fall into further destruction through the course of her actions, be it by working alongside Yuga, or her attempts to take Link's Triforce pieces. Ravio intervened and showed her the error of her ways and brought her back to her senses.

The thing that I particularly loved about Ravio was the fact that he didn't have conventional courage. He wasn't willing to stand toe-to-toe with Yuga, but he still had plenty of courageous roles. His journey to Hyrule alone was a perilous one, no doubt. But above all, he had the courage to stand between Zelda and Hilda, and show Hilda that what she was doing was wrong. He was courageous in a very different way than Link ever was.

My word isn't law, though. I am speculating about as much as you are.

It is an otherwise interesting theory. I would say spiritually, they are the same, but unless you use the definition of Hyrule as the entire world, they are not necessarily the same.

 

[Shadow Blade]

Ok so if I understand your theory correctly, your saying that Lorule's present is hyrules future, if that is what your getting at then I completely disagree for the reason that because Lorule runs parallel to hyrule the same amount of time will have passed in both worlds making it impossible for Lorule to be hyrules future, they have their own timelines, as for the upside down triforce I don't think that it's being upside down holds any significance it's very likely just for cosmetic purposes to further set Lorule apart from hyrule and its dark world and to further establish that Lorule is a different and separate world.

If I've misunderstood your theory I would appreciate it if it was more clearly explained, otherwise its an interesting theory but since there is little evidence to support your theory I simply can't agree with it, once again if I misunderstood your theory please clarify it and I will reconsider what evidence you have provided.

 

[Justac00lguy]

Ok so if I understand your theory correctly, your saying that Lorule's present is hyrules future, if that is what your getting at then I completely disagree for the reason that because Lorule runs parallel to hyrule the same amount of time will have passed in both worlds making it impossible for Lorule to be hyrules future, they have their own timelines, as for the upside down triforce I don't think that it's being upside down holds any significance it's very likely just for cosmetic purposes to further set Lorule apart from hyrule and its dark world and to further establish that Lorule is a different and separate world.

If I've misunderstood your theory I would appreciate it if it was more clearly explained, otherwise its an interesting theory but since there is little evidence to support your theory I simply can't agree with it, once again if I misunderstood your theory please clarify it and I will reconsider what evidence you have provided.

Basically, I'm saying that Lorule was once Hyrule. Yes, it's very much a parallel world, but I think it was once a part of Hyrule itself. Something happened that caused an altered reality. Think the Defeated Timeline... here Link was defeated which caused a different outcome and an alternative split.

That "something that happened" was that--during the Imprisoning War--the higher ups decided to destroy the Triforce, which contrasts what happens within the Defeated Timeline. Here, the Sages decided to counter the on-going war by sealing the Sacred Realm.

 

[Wolf Sage]

So you're saying Lorule may be a potential result of Demise or some other powerful, God-level being other than the Golden Goddesses "winning the world" and shaping it to their liking?

---------------→ SS (Hyrule) ----------------------------------------→ Defeat timeline [SIZE=1]1[/SIZE]                                                                                                                                    
(origin story) [SIZE=1]Link crosses over to/discovers Hyrule's alternate dimension (Lorule)here[/SIZE] ^ ↓ 
---------------→ ?? (Lorule) ----------------------------------------→ ??? [SIZE=1]2[/SIZE]

The way that I see it... A Link Between Worlds might simply be the only point in the series where the world of Lorule is made known; in other words, it hypothetically existed unseen the entire time. Its creation may simply run parallel with Hyrule's and takes place in an alternate universe (FYI: a different branch of a timeline is seen as an alternate, separate universe) due to a variant that may have occurred as early as the creation of the world [of Hyrule] itself. If this proves true, then this means that ABLW Link crossed over into Lorule's timeline—an alternate dimension's version of Hyrule (Lorule).

1 Regular dimension/universe
2 Alternate dimension/universe
↓ Link crossing over

 

[Justac00lguy]

So you're saying Lorule may be a potential result of Demise or some other powerful, God-level being other than the Golden Goddesses "winning the world" and shaping it to their liking?

Not exactly.

The way that I see it... A Link Between Worlds might simply be the only point in the series where the world of Lorule is made known; in other words, it hypothetically existed unseen the entire time. Its creation may simply run parallel with Hyrule's and takes place in an alternate universe (FYI: a different branch of a timeline is seen as an alternate, separate universe) due to a variant that may have occurred as early as the creation of the world [of Hyrule] itself. If this proves true, then this means that ABLW Link crossed over into Lorule's timeline—an alternate dimension's version of Hyrule (Lorule).

Nailed it on the head. Yes this is what I was getting onto. The rest of the OP was just answering some questions that could possibly disprove the theory itself. Lorule is basically a parallel version of Hyrule in which something else happened. The variant I was referring to was the higher ups destroying the Triforce in what was seemingly the Imprisoned War.

 

[Shadow Blade]

Thank you for clarifying, Hyrule and Lorule are their own worlds that came into existence at the same time, run parallel to each other and share similar histories and have their own timelines that run parallel to one another and remained seperate from each other until the events in ALBW, while I don't think Lorule was ever know as Hyrule this is essentially your theory is it not, but this isn't a theory my friend its practically the undeniable truth of what happened, I did not at all get this from your original discription of your theory, as far as I know most people already know of and have accepted this as the truth or at least the most likely probability.

 

[r2d93]

I very much enjoy this theory, it has some solid evidence to back it up. Though there are a few things that come to my mind.

If Lorule is actually Hyrule, where is Ganon? The Downfall timeline is based on the idea that Link failed, and as a result the sages decided to seal Ganon in the Sacred Realm as a last resort. If this is so- where is Ganon in Lorule? Since Lorule and Hyrule as you say are parallel timelines, Ganon should exist in both of them. We see him in Hyrule, but not Lorule. We know, however, that he isn't in the sacred realm, for we see Lorule's Sacred Realm in the game with no trace of Ganon. With Ganon not sealed in the sacred realm, this leads to the assumption that in your hypothetical backstory to Lorule, Ganon had to have either randomly wandered off (possible due to there no longer being a triforce, but unlikely since Ganon would still have the desire and power to rule the world), been killed by the Hyrulean Soldiers (very unlikely) or killed all of the Hyrulean soldiers and ruled what would be known as Lorule. But he's not there.

I do like the theory, and if you have any theory of where Ganon might be I would like it even more :ganondorf:

 

[Shadow Blade]

While the theory is likely correct in multiple aspects there may never have been a Ganon in Lorule as the histories of Hyrule and Lorule could be different in any number of ways do to an enumerable number of variables that would have effected the development of the worlds in which Hyrule and Lorule exist, I doubt Lorule was ever Hyrule at some point as they were likely created at the same point in time and followed their own developmental paths which crossed over do to the actions of Yuga and Hilda during the events of ALBW and may never cross again.

 

[snakeoiltanker]

Coolguy, u have made a very strong case here. I feel that your theory creates yet another split however, due to ur theory making so much more sense. As a matter of fact u have me thinking that lorule would be the "hyrule" setting of the first two zelda games. Which would mean it would be yet another split, with ALttP through ALBW being its own story line and the split happening with ALBW as with OoT. But that's just me making my own theory continuing urs as I feel urs should be made official

 

[Justac00lguy]

I very much enjoy this theory, it has some solid evidence to back it up. Though there are a few things that come to my mind.

If Lorule is actually Hyrule, where is Ganon? The Downfall timeline is based on the idea that Link failed, and as a result the sages decided to seal Ganon in the Sacred Realm as a last resort. If this is so- where is Ganon in Lorule? Since Lorule and Hyrule as you say are parallel timelines, Ganon should exist in both of them. We see him in Hyrule, but not Lorule. We know, however, that he isn't in the sacred realm, for we see Lorule's Sacred Realm in the game with no trace of Ganon. With Ganon not sealed in the sacred realm, this leads to the assumption that in your hypothetical backstory to Lorule, Ganon had to have either randomly wandered off (possible due to there no longer being a triforce, but unlikely since Ganon would still have the desire and power to rule the world), been killed by the Hyrulean Soldiers (very unlikely) or killed all of the Hyrulean soldiers and ruled what would be known as Lorule. But he's not there.

I do like the theory, and if you have any theory of where Ganon might be I would like it even more :ganondorf:

This is something that stumped me but I think I've finally found an explanation.

If I'm making a case for Lorule was once Hyrule during the Imprisoning War then I guess Ganon would still be sealed within the Sacred Realm; however I think different. For one, during this war Ganon was trying to escape, but the Knights of Hyrule found a solution: sealing the Sacred Realm - now the Dark World. Now, if my theory is correct, then this never happened in Lorule's timeline. Instead, the Sages (or Gods) decided to just completely get rid of the Triforce.

This would mean that they never actually sealed the Sacred Realm and instead the evils of the Realm (Dark World) escaped and caused havoc among Hyrule eventually leading to what we now know as Lorule - an alternate path of the Hyrule: The Defeated Timeline.

Now Ganon--much like the other holders of the Triforce--could not wield their specific piece due no Triforce being present. This would leave Ganon, essentially, powerless. Remember he transforms into his Demon King Ganon form due to the Triforce of Power (Ocarina of Time). However, with no Triforce piece he would simply transform back into his normal state or even worse, die. Now how may he have died? Well remember we defeated Ganondorf previously within his tower? It was only due to his sacred power that he was able to survive (this was also the same case with his execution in Twilight Princess).

Now the possibility of him being dead still doesn't explain where he is in A Link Between Worlds as we know from experience that Ganon(dorf) can return despite whatever fate he meets. This is where Yuga comes into play. Now originally I didn't think that Yuga was Ganon's Lorule counterpart, but it could actually make sense and make this theory quite a bit stronger at the same time. So Ganon--after the destruction of the golden relic--was without the power of the Triforce - now disguised as Yuga (to become close to Hilda), he formulates a plan to travel to a world where Ganon is still present with the Triforce of Power. It explains how Yuga knew where to find Ganon and how he knew how to resurrect him. It all fits into place now. Yuga fused with his alternate self to return to his original, powerful state.

 

[snakeoiltanker]

i tried to post this last night, so ill try this again.

I dont see how you guys come up with these theories. Maybe its my lack of attention to detail cuz i might have partied too much in my younger years, but this stuff is good. Now that you have worked out all the kinks and what not, you should revise you OP and post it in the Theory section coolguy, people would have fun with this one, cuz you are breezing right through everyone trying to debunk this

 

[Terminus]

So, I'm fairly certain I understand what you're saying.

Does this graphic accurately describe the Hyrule/Lorule split?

 

[Justac00lguy]

Yeah pretty much. Basically I'm proposing it's another split which took place with two outcomes branching from the Imprisoning War.

Thinking about it, I should have just made a detailed diagram to outline it. So thanks for adding that.

 

[Terminus]

I really think with every theory I start to dislike Zelda fans (which I unfortunately am part of) more and more. Lorule is NOT Hyrule. Proof: No one in Nintendo said it was and it's not stated in game.

I don't think I need any more proof than that. Stuff like "why do some fairies heal and others don't" is good Zelda theorizing. It's factual that some heal and some don't so it's nice to discuss the possibilities. Stuff like this is a bit ridiculous. To quote Kobe Bryant: "That's a Bikram yoga stretch".

My theory: Link is actually Zelda. Look at these ridiculous quotes!

If you come here to insult, don't bother posting. Thanks.

This is the point of theorising, after all .