Zelda U: Valley of the Flood

[Spirit]

So, Zelda U looks sexy does it not?

Let's get to it. Could Zelda U be Valley of the Flood, the rumoured Zelda game of 07/08?


Well, i reckon so but i'll be brief with the reasoning.

Aonuma said prior to e3 that he'd like to make a Zelda game that felt like a Zelda game that didn't necessarily need to star either Link or Zelda themselves.
Post e3 Zelda U reveal Aonuma said in response to the question of why Link looked a little different "who said it was Link? we didn't necessarily see Link in the U reveal."

Also, Valley of the Flood is the interim between OoT and WW a time without a hero. Valley of the Flood was said to feature a hero that would be ultimately defeated by the evil threatening the land, which then forced the gods to flood Hyrule in order to try and save it.

The character in Valley could look like Link without being him, he could even be called Link, the difference is that he wouldn't have the Triforce of Courage.

A couple of in-game factors that point to this being possible are:

'Link's' clothing; orange pants, blue shirt which are very akin to Link's alternate costume/pyjamas in The Wind Waker. It could be reference or it could be a bigger link to say that these games are connected.

The area we saw, that vast field that Link was looking over before he was attacked is a very mountainous region and i'd go as far as to say it looked more like a valley than a field, either way, the islands in WW are said to be mountain tops of old Hyrule, could these mountains be those?

Of course its difficult to determine placements given one view of one location but the volcano in the distance could be Death Mountain or what we'd come to know as Dragon Roost, and being over at the top right of the screen, if we Lay TWW's map over that opening shot of ZeldaU, we could argue that its in the same place.

Also, the fact that TWWHD exists, was this actually an attempt from nintendo to give some exposition to ZeldaU, it uses cel shaded graphics, a style WWHD obviously helped them come to grips with and using a similar style could be argued as another link to connect the game within the timeline.

For a little bit more on Valley of the Flood and an older comment, look here; http://zeldadungeon.net/forum/showthread.php?t=33773&p=523163&viewfull=1#post523163

So, how about it, could Zelda U finally be Valley of the Flood given the art style of the game, Link's clothing, the apparent/possible similarities between overworlds and the existence of WWHD?

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

It looked to me that Zelda Wii U will be on the child timeline, probably after TP. Link or whoever it is has epona and is shooting bomb arrows. Seems like a TP sequel to me.

 

[Terminus]

It looked to me that Zelda Wii U will be on the child timeline, probably after TP. Link or whoever it is has epona and is shooting bomb arrows. Seems like a TP sequel to me.

The original VotF rumors mentioned that the games would use more mechanical devices. Keep in mind that the interview was 100% fake, and no game like this was ever in the works (to our knowledge). This was a time without a hero, and Hyrule was doomed to be flooded and nothing could prevent that. The only way it would be successful is if they added a secondary timeline split on the AT.

I have heard some theories that the person we saw was the descendant of SS Link and Zelda. Given the facial features and the similar but slightly buffed art style, this might not be too far off.


On the steampunk elements:

Another supposed change to the Zelda series would be to update the time period and general tone. As stated by the fake Aonuma, “many fans tell me that they’re interested in a steampunk-influenced Zelda, even though the series has always maintained a very medieval foundation.” However, in keeping with the series’ fantasy roots, a gun, for example, would not be a weapon in the real-world sense, but rather a sort of “deku musket that fires gunpowder-filled deku nuts.”

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

The original VotF rumors mentioned that the games would use more mechanical devices. Keep in mind that the interview was 100% fake, and no game like this was ever in the works (to our knowledge). This was a time without a hero, and Hyrule was doomed to be flooded and nothing could prevent that. The only way it would be successful is if they added a secondary timeline split on the AT.

I have heard some theories that the person we saw was the descendant of SS Link and Zelda. Given the facial features and the similar but slightly buffed art style, this might not be too far off.


On the steampunk elements:

Yeah I guess but I just don't see VoTF to be what this game will be. I really don't want VoTF to be real because it was based off a timeline that wasn't the right one. The whole concept of VoTF was that it would be after TP and lead into WW... as we all know WW doesn't come after TP so I don't see it working and I hope they don't try making it work by making another split within the Adult Timeline.

 

[Terminus]

Yeah I guess but I just don't see VoTF to be what this game will be. I really don't want VoTF to be real because it was based off a timeline that wasn't the right one. The whole concept of VoTF was that it would be after TP and lead into WW... as we all know WW doesn't come after TP so I don't see it working and I hope they don't try making it work by making another split within the Adult Timeline.

It was supposed to link OoT and TWW, not TP and TWW.

 

[Justac00lguy]

I think I've given some time to mull this possibility over now. Unlike before, I'm not going to completely dismiss the possibility but instead explore it a bit.

So basically this "Valley of the Flood" was a rumoured title that turned out to be fake, right? Obviously any rumours that leaked have no correlation with this game, but I guess people are using the title as it refers to a similar thing being a prequel to The Wind Waker(?). Anyway we need to get a better understanding of what canonically happened before - we know this as "The Great Flood". This translation from Hyrule Historia gives a good, but rather ambiguous look at the "Hero" being gone:

"Ganondorf, who had once been sealed away, returned from the depths of the earth and covered Hyrule in darkness once again. The people hoped that the legendary hero would show up to save them a second time, but… the hero did not appear."​

— Hyrule Historia

Yeah like I said, it's ambiguous, lol. So Ganondorf returned for what seemed like the 500th time and waged war on the surface of Hyrule once again. So it's just like any normal day in Hyrule really; however the hero didn't appear due him [Adult Link] being set back to his own time consequently causing the infamous split in time (yeah we all know this). Anyway, it seems as if Link's spirit, so to say, was not present due to it leaving that specific world and as such the hero didn't appear. Hmm, it says a hero didn't appear, but let's say this is true (Zelda Wii U being a WW prequel) wouldn't the guy/gal we're playing as technically count as a hero? I don't know just seems odd, but I guess this specific piece of text is directly referring to the hero they knew so well of [The Hero of Time].

Nintendo is sort of known for throwing the odd curve ball at us and retcons here and there, so it's not beyond their capability to create this prequel, but it just doesn't sit right with me. Let's say this is all true, Nintendo have just confirmed that this game is indeed a prequel and the figure seen is not the Link we all know, would it work? Well it would work to a degree, but now this hero has literally no significance whatsoever. First off we know he dies (great start) and that he isn't the true hero, so we're playing as a watered down Link really. I mean, old records of the Great Flood didn't even mention such a figure, so this game's plot, hypothetically, is rather unimportant in the grand scheme.

Another thing slightly bothers me as well. We know Link left this world and we know his spirit left too - basically the Triforce of Courage now had no one to hold, not one person to make a hero, no one could fit that position. Wind Waker Link in some ways earned the right to be called hero, he wasn't chosen by the gods, neither did he have some mystical dream that foretold the future, he just found himself in the middle of these events. This Link earned the right to be called Hero by passing a test of sorts which allowed him to wield the Master Sword, he got the blessings of the Sages, and finally pieced together the broken Triforce - in a way he single handedly forged a new Hero. However, what about this guy here? Why couldn't he do the same? Is he just not strong enough? Eh, now that I think of it, it's making me less excited thinking that we're potentiality playing as a weak hero, actually a Hylian who can't even be classed as a hero.

Of course, Nintendo could easily find little ways around this, but I think it's a big risk to tell a story that has already been told; Nintendo are always looking for something new, would they really do this? Something tells me no, I mean I don't know how I'd feel, in-game, if I already knew all the big plot points and the fact that I'm not the true hero. At the moment, I'm leaning more towards this taking place before or after Twilight Princess, but that's just my view.

 

[Dio]

Yeah would be cool to see valley of the flood. I'd love to see Ganon breaking out and f***ing sh*t up!
The time without a hero was where the game would be set. Just because legend remembered no hero does not mean there wasn't one. Even if this guy is heroic, the day is not saved, Hyrule is flooded and everyone's home is destroyed or has to be left behind

 

[Deleted member 14134]

I'll never understand why people believe a dead fan made theory that was ridiculous and plainly fake in the first place.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

After thinking about it long and hard I came to the conclusion that VotF would be over-explaining something that has already been explained quite well, therefore VotF is a unnecesary game.