A Link Between Worlds ALttP, ALBW, and the Masked Followers: A Great Theory That Might Explain Everything!

[Thanos]

After reading the article on the Masked Followers I came up with an interesting theory.

In the Hero Defeated timeline Ganon enters the Sacred Realm and uses the Triforce to wish to conquer Hyrule. The Sacred Realm is transformed to the Dark Realm and is filled with monsters while Ganon amasses the power to take Hyrule by force. Back in Hyrule unknowing thieves fill the "Sacred Realm" in hopes of stealing the Triforce. Once they enter the Dark World they are turned to Monsters (the talking monsters from aLttP) and are trapped with Ganon's army.

At the end of aLttP Link wishes Hyrule back to prominence and everyone who died back to life. Just as Ganon's wish to conquer Hyrule turned the Sacred Realm in to the Dark World, Links could have turned the Dark World in to Lorule and all of the lost Thieves back from monster to human. This would mean that everyone in Lorule is a descendant of a thief of Hyrule. Over the years some of these thieves could have sworn off their life of crime and donned masks resembling the monsters their ancestors became through their criminal acts. These are the Masked Followers. Notice the resemblance of the Masks to those occupants of the Dark World of aLttP. This means that even Ravio and Hilda are descendants of thieves, explaining why Ravio is an unworthy hero and Hilda a villain for most of the game. Maybe along with Links wish at the end of aLttP to save Hyrule, he also wished the Dark World in to a place as good as Hyrule, thus creating Lorule.

But why are there two Triforces you ask? Perhaps when making the wish Link took the Triforce with him to Hyrule and an analog was created in its place to complete and power Lorule. This would explain why the Triforce is in Hyrule at the beginning of OoX.

Thoughts? Who can pull my theory apart? What did I miss?

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

the moment i saw the exact same monsters in lorule,i just thought 'you know what,screw it,this is the dark world,not some new parallel world,its the freaking dark world....shut up'
it also doesn't help that a majority of areas in lorule have the same god damn name as the dark work:theives town,misery mire,etc.

anyways,whatever explanation anyone comes up w/ that ties the two together is good w/ me

also worth noting is in the dark world ending in the gba version of link to the past,after you defeat the 4 dark links
so its sort of like the dark world still exists,even after the game [though im not entirely sure if that ending is canon or not,since its just an extra thing to do after the game]

 

[r2d93]

I like this theory a lot, it's simple and generally sound, but I'm not a fan of your explanation of a Triforce in Lorule. The Triforce has been moved around a lot over the series, theres nothing to really support the creation of a new Triforce just because the original was moved to Hyrule (especially since the Triforce was created by the ancient Goddesses)

 

[Mipha]

Great theory! It totally makes sense. Nice to finaly see a lbw theory.

Though r2d93 does have a point concerning the triforce.

 

[Collbard]

I was trying very hard to connect the monsters of aLttP and the masked members of aLBW, and I think that you are right about this. I'm going to try to elaborate on the theory, give my own perspective, throw some more support in, and see how far we can take this.

From the aLttP manual:

One day, quite by accident, a gate to the Golden Land of the Triforce was opened by a gang of thieves skilled in the black arts. This land was like no other. In the gathering twilight, the Triforce shone from its resting place high above the world. In a long running battle, the leader of the thieves fought his way past his followers in lust for the Golden Power. After vanquishing his own followers, the leader stood triumphant over the Triforce and grasped it with his blood-stained hands...

...I do not know what Ganon wished for from the Triforce. However, in time evil power began to flow from the Golden Land and greedy men were drawn there to become members of Ganon's army. Black clouds permanently darkened the sky, and many disasters beset Hyrule.

Now, it seems as though Ganondorf killed the thieves that he brought with him, but was later joined by "Greedy men." Well, I don't know anyone greedier than those who steal, so there is no reason to believe that these were not more thieves. In any case, I think it is completely rational to believe that the monsters in aLttP are the descendants of these thieves (remember, aLttP occurs centuries after these events and The Imprisoning War).

Once Link defeats Ganon in aLttP, the Essence of the Triforce says:

But now, you have totally destroyed Ganon. His Dark World will vanish.

"Vanish" can be interpreted any number of ways, from being absolutely destroyed to reverting back to the Golden Land. We don't know what Link's wishes were, but I think that the connection between Lorule and the Dark World are so painfully obvious, that we can pretty safely conclude that the Dark World underwent a transformation that allowed its monstrous citizens to revert to the human forms that they would have held in Hyrule.

We know that Lorule was once prosperous. We know that Lorule (When it was simply "The Golden Land") once had its own Triforce. We also know, because of the end of aLBW, that the Triforce has the power to create other Triforces. So, it is not crazy to believe that when Link defeated Ganon, that another Triforce was created along with what would become Lorule. The Golden Realm was initially the home to the Triforce, so it is reasonable to believe that another Triforce would be created in order to revert that world back to its original state (or at least, very close).

Also, and I know that this may be stretching what we can consider evidence, but in the end credits of aLttP we see the (or maybe now I should say, "A") Triforce floating over the image of a dark red sky with black mountains, which then turns into a gold sky, then an almost entirely green world, finally ending with familiar blue skies over green earth. While at the time the game was created, this was probably just some vague symbolic imagery or dark turning to light; but given this current theory (and rabid over-analysis) I feel like that background takes on a more literal meaning of the dark world turning to light. Again, I definitely don't think there was originally any intention to give that scene some meaning other than looking cool, but now that we have a continuous timeline and whatnot, I think it can take on a new meaning.

If all of this is true, and the creation of a new Triforce caused (or is at least correlated) to the conversion of the Dark World to Lorule and the conversion of monsters into their human form, then it is extremely possible that the destruction of Lorule's Triforce is causing a reversion back to the Dark World and that humans are reverting back to their animal forms. The masked men talk about wearing masks to avoid corruption, but they also say that they are, themselves corrupted. I think that these people are fighting against the internal corruption that may be inherent in the descendants of the "Greedy Men" that entered the Dark World (It is not uncommon in LoZ lore for descendants to posses the attributes of their ancestors). Some are embracing what is inherent in themselves by becoming thieves, while others are trying to protect themselves by becoming monsters rather than give in to thievery. Even the thief girl that is rescued dons a mask once she escapes from that life. Perhaps, if the events of aLBW had not taken place, humans would have eventually became the monsters that they disguised themselves as. And let's not forget that Link's form in the Dark World was a pink bunny. Ravio's disguise is no coincidence.

So, that's my piece. The only thing (well, not the only thing, but maybe the most important for this discussion) that I am not 100% on is what exactly happened to the Triforce after aLttP and how Ganon was revived (I will say here that I have not played the OoX games, and I know there is something about Ganon being revived in those. Whether those happen between aLttP and aLBW or after aLBW, I do not know). I know that the castle in aLBW makes it clear that Ganon was defeated by the master sword and sealed away. We don't see Ganon being sealed, we see him being "Totally destroyed." So, it is possible that this is a retcon. It is also possible that Ganon was revived and sealed instead of being killed. The Triforce revived the King and Link's uncle, so maybe Ganon was revived as well. This is pure conjecture though. I feel like (again, unless something happened in OoX and OoX comes before aLBW) this is most likely a retcon. I'm new to the forums, so if this has been discussed elsewhere, I'd love to see it.

 

[JDUDE321]

One thing: at the end of ALBW Zelda and Link end up in Hyrule's Sacred Realm/Golden Land. This shows that Lorule can't be the restored Sacred Realm, since it is shown to still exist in its old form. Cool theory though!

 

[Shadow Blade]

It's simple to those who wish to see it, Lorule is not the dark world it can't be because we see hyrules sacred realm and not to mention the fact that Lorule has its own sacred realm, I've said this before and Im sticking to it until Nintendo provides evidence that actually says that Lorule is not a parallel world with its own history and timeline, Lorule being its own parallel world is the only theory that logically makes sense.

I apologize if I came off as harsh.

 

[HeroofScotland]

I think it's just a world growing alongside Hyrule as it's counterpart. I know it's a very stupid theory, but maybe the people who live on a parallel Eart have been playing "The Legend of Hilda" this whole time, and only now got to see Hyrule.

 

[Collbard]

As much as I wanted this theory to work, I have to concede the point based on the fact that we do see Hyrule's Sacred Realm at the end. The word "Sacred Realm" does get thrown around a little more than I believe it should at times; Hyrule Historia even calls Hyrule a "sacred realm" (not capitalized intentionally). But, from the very little bit that we see of the area, I have to admit that it looks pretty similar to the bits and pieces that we see of the Sacred Realm in other places. I was hoping that I would be able to show that this "Sacred Realm" is not what we traditionally know as the Sacred Realm, but I just can't find a way to do so. So, I do believe that Lorule must simply be a parallel world.

That being said, I find the end of the game very interesting; specifically, I find the relative ease with which Link and Zelda seem to be able to access the Sacred Realm to be very interesting. The Sacred Realm is typically sealed from Hyrule, requiring magic mirrors or the Temple of Time to enter it; but they enter it in a fairly matter-of-fact way. Does anyone else think this is significant, or am I looking for something that isn't there?