Spoiler BotW Ancient Waters

[Pyutaros]

I posted this as a comment on the Leviathon Bones thread, but thought i warranted it's own thread as a theory. I was just looking at the BotW map and thinking to myself that there is a TON of geological evidence that a great portion of the map was covered by water at some point. The most compelling evidence is on the northeast corner of the map at the northwest edge of the Akkala Sea. Keep in mind that this theory works the opposite of how bodies of water tend to work as you normally have water flowing out to sea and not inland. Careful, there may be spoilers ahead as this refers to a completely revealed map.

Lat: 1.3573, Lng: 1.0959. At the given coordinates is a strange plateau that ends at the edge of the navigable map where you can see in front of you an even stranger ridge of mountains that divides the Akkala Sea from a very deep canyon that runs along the northern edge of the map which also cannot be traversed. This implies that the canyon is deep enough to have once been a part of that sea.

At Lat: 1.3704 Lng: 0.7302, there is a split in the canyon where one branch continues to run to the west and the other begins to run southwest and comes to an end at the northwest base of Mount Drena. Looking at where the southwest branch ends, it's conceivable that the Forgotten Temple could have allowed water to flow through into Tanagar Canyon, where it eventually would rejoin the main branch near Hemaar's Descent.

There is also significant geological evidence based on elevation that the Tanagar (Canyon) River would have turned much of Hyrule into a flood plain with entry points around the Rowan Plain, Tabantha Stable, and Lake Illumeni.

If Hyrule had been a flood plain, the water levels of all of the rivers would have also been higher causing an overflow at Gerudo Canyon Pass and possibly the Taobab Grassland, turning both into bodies of water. Gerudo Canyon Pass would have then been the Gerudo River and the Gerudo Desert a lake or sea.

Finally, there are various scattered formations that hint at the existence of ancient waters, including the canyon leading southwest to the Yiga Clan located at Lat:0.9288 Lng: 0.4922, the gorges leading to Loshlo Harbor next to Ebon Mountain at Lat:0.8279 Lng: 1.0261, the large amount of chests hidden in the sand in the Gerudo Desert, and, even though it's at a higher elevation, the large amount of chests in the now in the Gerudo Highlands.

Anyhow, this isn't very well thought out, but I've been thinking about it ever since I noticed the mountain ridge next to the Akkala Sea and began looking at the map as a whole with flowing bodies of water in mind and the elevation and topology of the map. I'm interested to know what others think about this "ancient water" theory.

 

[YIGAhim]

Certainly possible, but it sounds a little bit of a stretch.

 

[Pyutaros]

Certainly possible, but it sounds a little bit of a stretch.

I'd love to see a map with a raised water level based on elevation. It's not that much of a stretch if you consider the elevation of the Akkala Highlands, Death Mountain, and the Hebrin Mountains. Either way, that northeastern plateau is very strange.

 

[DragonEleven]

While you've picked up on a couple of interesting details, I don't think it really has any weight on whether or not Hyrule had once been underwater... however, the game does indicate that to have been the case with the rock salt, which is described as being from 'the ancient sea' and is found all over Hyrule, suggesting that 'the ancient sea' once covered most if not all of Hyrule (anywhere you find rock salt, basically).

The canyon around the north/north-west edge of Hyrule does look like it was once some sort of river, but it appears to have been cut off by the formation of the ridge north of Akkala, not dropping sea levels... if I had to guess, I'd say that ridge was formed by some sort of tectonic activity, which makes sense considering how close it is to an active volcano.

The Tanagar Canyon appears to have been a branch of the same river, but was likely cut-off long before the main canyon went dry, as the section of the main canyon immediately north of the cut-off is rounded, suggesting that erosion had continued on that side. The cause for the cut-off appears to have been Mount Drana, which has two peaks... one on either side of the cut-off point... I'd guess that the mountain had once been cut in two by the river that once flowed through there (similar to Dueling Peaks), only for the two halves to then collapse into the river, causing the canyon to be cut-off. The Forgotten Temple was likely built some time after this.

Back to the subject of Hyrule flooding... one of the Zora stone monuments actually talks about Hyrule having experienced devastating floods every 10 years until the east reservoir lake was created to contain the water, and if we look at Deya Village, which appears to have been flooded much more recently than that, we can assume that most of the lower ground in Hyrule is likely part of the floodplane, and still at risk of flooding (it's also worth noting that most settlements are on higher ground... likely to avoid floods).

As for using the chests as part of your reasoning... it doesn't really hold up as chests can be found all around Hyrule, and while the Gerudo Highlands does have more than many other areas, this is not unusual for locations that are difficult to access... it just happens to be the largest area like this in Hyrule, causing it to stand out.

 

[Pyutaros]

however, the game does indicate that to have been the case with the rock salt, which is described as being from 'the ancient sea' and is found all over Hyrule, suggesting that 'the ancient sea' once covered most if not all of Hyrule (anywhere you find rock salt, basically)

Back to the subject of Hyrule flooding... one of the Zora stone monuments actually talks about Hyrule having experienced devastating floods every 10 years until the east reservoir lake was created to contain the water, and if we look at Deya Village, which appears to have been flooded much more recently than that, we can assume that most of the lower ground in Hyrule is likely part of the floodplane, and still at risk of flooding (it's also worth noting that most settlements are on higher ground... likely to avoid floods).

I had forgotten about the rock salt description and the Zora stone monument. Your other points are great as well. I agree that the ridge could very well be the product of tectonic activity, but again the strange thing about that is that it cuts of the river at its mouth rather than its source. It's a backwards mechanic of how bodies of water normally work. Very strange. You're also right that the treasure chests aren't really a good indicator at all, but it would be fascinating to map out all the locations that produce rock salt.

 

[DragonEleven]

I agree that the ridge could very well be the product of tectonic activity, but again the strange thing about that is that it cuts of the river at its mouth rather than its source. It's a backwards mechanic of how bodies of water normally work.

Rivers quite often flow inland with tidal flow, and in rare occasions can flow inland constantly with specific geography, but I'm not sure if it is actually a river, or if it is just something similar.... there's a lot of possibilities for what it could be, but it's impossible to tell which without seeing the other end of the canyon.

 

[Pyutaros]

there's a lot of possibilities for what it could be, but it's impossible to tell which without seeing the other end of the canyon.

Good point. Without a broader view of the world, this is highly speculative.

 

[Pyutaros]

Wow! Someone just released a fan art map that shows exactly what I was talking about. The water level is a bit higher than I would have made it, but still very cool. Check it out. https://www.reddit.com/r/zelda/comm...m_medium=hot&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=zelda