Hyrule topography; based on Breath of the Wild.

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

Being my first thread on this site, I really hope everything comes across properly. I have come up with a number of theories, based on one project. Even though I may mention one one or two preexisting theories, that fit well with these maps, every proposition is truly based on them. I will post and talk about the maps first.

I compared the maps from previous games to the map from Breath of the Wild. Some maps needed a small amount of tweaking, with Twilight Princess needing the most. Other maps, like A Link to the Past and Between Worlds, look a little different because I changed a left turn to a right to fit the terrain better. The map for Ocarina of time has bee spaced out at the points where Link would change maps, again to fit the terrain.

*In this map, I found that the coast lines up remarkably well with Zelda 2, which is why I extended the map out to include the other Zelda 2 land masses, with a few pints of interest. The placement of the original Legend of Zelda is based on it's placement on the Zelda 2 map, not so much the shape of the land, though it does seem to have a place it fits in the Solewood Range, and just south. Much of Deepback Bay would have to be filled in with land and forest, leaving a spectral shaped lake. This may be due to a change in ocean level.
*The placement for Majora's Mask is where it would align in the over world, as long as the realm mirrors the Overworld like every other realm.
*Labrynna has very little in common with with existing land masses, that are not connected to the main Hyrule land mass. Though, the name of the land could suggest that it is a re-imagination of the far eastern landmass in Zelda 2, the maze like land with a maze palace. Labrynna > Labrinth > Maze.
*I placed the desert region, in A Link to the Past and Between Worlds to reflect the raised rocky terrain.

*The similarity between Eventide Island and Koholint Island suggests a connection. It could be that the Wind Fish is still asleep, and the dream has yet to fully develop. It could also mean that the Wind Fish could have visited the real island, and dreamt of Eventide.
*Climbing to the top of Hebra Peak, I was able to spot a large, Fuji style, mountain off the edge of the map. Approximating it's position, I used it and the Great Plateau to position the map for Skyward Sword. Again, I drew in additional locations as needed.
*After positioning the map for Minish cap, swapping some left turns for right again, I found what may be the Royal Valley. The nu-named ruined homes that sits just east of the Trilby plains, and north of Russ, who is sitting under a huge tree, over looking the valley in question. It may mean nothing, but I found a Korok puzzle that looks a little like grave stones. I found that this lines up nicely with the graveyard from Ocarina of Time. I originally tried to place Vail falls over Veiled falls, but I found everything else fit better if I placed Elma Knolls as a dried up location for the Minish Cap water fall.

*I nearly neglected to compare Four Swords Hyrule Adenture, so I made a separate map. This allowed me to show a break in the earth dam, filling the deep crevasse with water. This lines up nicely with the Twilight Princess placement for the Zora domain. The frozen aria could easily be the Great Plateau, in winter. What I did not add in to this map is the water that likely turned the current Lake Hylia in to part of the ocean.

*In this map I highlighted the location text, and Master Sword locations. I know that it is officially stated that only Link/chosen one can move the Master Sword. I would like to point out that nothing is said about moving, or duplicating the pedestal. If we allow for a portal in the cathedral of Castle Town (Temple of Time in Ocarina of Time) that teleports Link to the Temple of Time on the Great Plateau, there is technically one less location to work with. Plus, the story in Breath of the Wild suggests that there is some wiggle room for who can be chosen to move the blade.

I will be posting about theories derived from all of this next. Please wait until I post one more time.

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

Theories I have derived from all of this:

There are so many different locations for Kakariko Village, and it never seems to get beyond Village status. This could mean that Kakariko basically means, “under construction.” Hyrule town from Minish Cap could have very well been the first settlement for the young Hyrulian people. As even our own history shows, the first settlements, however grand, don't last forever. In Ocarina of Time, this old location may have been resettled. By the time of Twilight Princess, the village would have fallen in to obscurity, never really being completed. In the Breath of the Wild timeline, construction was finished, and the place re-named “Rauru,” some time before it was destroyed again. Raru Settlement does have a well, and sits at the foot of a rise. If the building just to the north, along the lake were once a windmill, most of the structure could have easily fallen in to the water. Though nearly any of the buildings could be the windmill.

The location of Kakariko in Breath of the Wild not only lines up with (the main) Kakariko from Twilight Princess, it also lines up with Skyview temple from Skyward Sword, the Wind Ruins from Minish cap, and even possibly the forest temple from Ocarina of Time. If Breath of the Wild and Twilight princess take place in different timelines, which I think is very probable, they both may have discovered the ancient temple grounds, and decided to create a settlement there. In Breath of the Wild Kakariko's location would have been chosen for defensive purposes, after the Calamity. In Twilight Princess, it was probably started during peace time, as an archaeological effort. The two shrines could have been built in to the ancient temple while it still stood.

The Kakariko from A Link to the Past, and A Link Between Worlds line up with the ruins of Maritta Exchange. This could easily place Breath of the Wild before A Link to the Past. If Hyrule town was being rebuilt in to Rauru in Ocarina of Time, before the calamity of Gannon, The next Kakariko building project may very well be the destroyed Maritta Exchange. Though, the same could be said for placing Breath of the wild After those games, by saying that Kakariko had already become Maritta before it's destruction.

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The Royal Valley from Minish Cap is also the graveyard in Ocarina of Time. In Breath of the Wild, the small valley would be located at the nu-named ruined homes that sits just east of the Trilby plains, and north of a huge tree, on a tall hill, over looking the valley in question. Russ, the shield surfing enthusiast, can be found under this tree. Both Minish Cap and Ocarina of Time contain the Royal Family's Tomb in this location, yet it is not present for Breath of the Wild. What does exist is a Korok puzzle that looks a little like tombstones, though this is probably just a coincidence.

The tombs appear to have been destroyed before Link wakes up from his long nap in Breath of the Wild, but after the events in Ocarina of Time, as they don't exist anywhere. Without access to the ancestral burial grounds, the royal family would have found a new place to bury their dead, such as the King's Tomb(stone) in Zelda 2. To few games include a final resting place for royalty, so it is difficult to impossible to figure out if the place exists in the world of Twilight Princess. Just because it doesn't come up in the game, doesn't mean that it does not exist. The Royal Family Tomb may or may not remain intact in the timeline of Twilight Princess, that particular story never goes there.

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The Arbiters grounds from Twilight Princess is often theorized to be the Desert Colossus from Ocarina of Time, which lines up with the ruins, in Breath of the Wild, that are north of Gerudo Town, just before the Ice House. This could mean that the ruins in question were altered for the Child Timeline to sentence Gannon, setting up for Twilight Princess. In Breath of the Wild, the ruins are unaltered, and the grounds used by the Gerudo for arbitration remain to the south.

It is notable that the Eighth Heroin has a striking resemblance to the Desert Colossus, which could work against the for mentioned theory. In the time after Ocarina of Time, the Highlands could have risen. The event where Link chases a ghost to the Colossus may have also obscured the fact that they were going over the highlands. Looking at how much of the statue is visible, it may be an indication that the highlands have risen, and possibly back to a previous relative position; unless there is another, good, way for the sand to be drained away. There is a large gorge near by.

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The Ash Swamp is where the Lost Woods and Kokiri Forest would have been in Ocarina of Time. Two locations in the new Lost Woods could have been named after the two Kokiri who would have done the most to save a deku seed from the great tree, and transport it, Saria and Mido. If the origoinal woods were attacked and destroyed, the two may have been the last two Kokiri before the Korok.

The Kokiri forest, Royal Tomb, and the Gerudo Fortress, which all appears in Ocarina of Time, are absent from Breath of the wild, and the locations where the forest and tomb would be are destroyed. When Gannon conquered Hyrule, before the sealing war, he would have sought to destroy these locations, and possibly more. This fits with the way Hyrule appears in Breath of the Wild, possibly placing it in the Downfall Timeline.

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As for the other time line, with Twilight Princess and Four Sword. It would appear that something happened to the Zora domain, reducing it to one large lake. This would force them to move to a different location. Namely the location to the north, by where we find the North Lomel Labyrinth.

The differences stated so far make the Child Timeline less likely.

 

[YIGAhim]

My god, you must have spent days on this! Bravo

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

Thank you.

 

[DragonEleven]

You've done a decent job with this, and I'm glad you haven't stuck too strictly to how the maps are perceived in the different games, but I think there are a few details you may have overlooked.

The thing about Link being the only one able to hold the Master Sword is a misinterpretation... the actual line is wield, not hold... which means that others could hold/move it... they just couldn't use it. The only other restrictions on the Master Sword dictate who can draw it from it's pedestal... but one Link has drawn it from the pedestal, those restrictions likely cease to apply. Basically, the Master Sword's location in each game is irrelevant.
What is more important is the locations themselves.
Proposing a portal to take Link from Castle Town to the Great Plateau seems like a bit of a cop-out... there is no sign of the Master Sword's chamber in the Great Plateau ToT, so it doesn't really make sense... then there's the strong external resemblance between the OoT ToT and the BotW ToT, as well as the similarity between the ruins on the Great Plateau and Castle Town, which makes it hard to deny that they are the same building... the only possible explanation is that some sort of drastic event caused Castle Town to be relocated to the south of it's former location, where it became the Great Plateau... and this would also explain why there is no apparent way of getting up to the Great Plateau from the ground below.
There's also the clearing in the forest, which has been the Master Sword's resting place in a number of games, and has been revealed to be what remains of a temple... presumably a Temple of Time. We also know that the Sealed Grounds was the Master Sword's original resting place, which was also located in a forest, and the Hyrule Historia states that a Temple of Time may have been built over the Sealed Grounds (it does refer to the Castle Town ToT, but there is a degree of uncertainty to it, so we can assume that it may not be entirely accurate). It would make sense for the TP ToT to be the ToT built over the Sealed Grounds, which eventually became the clearing in the forest... it's also worth pointing out that the only times it is not found in this location, it is serving a specific purpose elsewhere (in OoT it is used to seal the Sacred Realm, and in WW it is used to seal Hyrule in time)... so it appears to be returned to this location when it is not needed elsewhere.
This does appear to pose an issue when working out it's location in Hyrule, but the fact that it's located in a forest (typically the Lost Woods, or an area of forest that bears a strong similarity) could explain this... we've seen in OoT that the Lost Woods can transport Link to/from other parts of Hyrule, so the Lost Woods themselves may not even be located where we thought they were (this could also explain the apparent relocation of the Great Deku Tree). The Sacred Grove also behaves similarly to the Lost Woods, so may in fact be part of the same forest, which Link had been warped to.

Your Skyward Sword placements also seem somewhat forced... based more on assumptions than specific locations, with there being two key locations that you seem to have overlooked... the Spring of Power and the Spring of Wisdom in BotW, which actually match up to the Skyview Spring and Earth Spring in SS respectively. (There is the third spring (the Spring of Courage) but this does not match either of the springs in Skyward Sword.)
At first glance, their locations in BotW don't seem to match their SS locations, but this could be explained by Death Mountain erupting, Eldin Volcano going dormant, and locations being renamed to reflect the changed landscape of Hyrule.
If we position the Sealed Grounds on the Great Hyrule Forest, Lake Floria (SS) on Lake Akkala, and the Skyview Spring on the Spring of Power, then this would place Death Mountain right on top of what was Faron Woods (which actually gives more meaning to the name Death Mountain).
Identifying a specific volcano would be difficult, as a single eruption can change them drastically, but it is not unusual for them to ice over when they go dormant, so it's not unreasonable to think that Mount Lanayru may once have been Eldin Volcano.
These drastic environmental changes would explain the disappearance of the three races from SS (Kikwi, Parella and Mogma).
The issue with this comes when comparing the layout of the three regions in SS with their apparent positions in BotW... but as we don't actually see all three regions together in SS, and we only have the openings in the clouds as a guide, it's possible that this could be put down the 'oral tradition' that Fi refers to... simply switch the Eldin and Faron openings, and this would match up perfectly.

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

Thank you for your observations. I can tell that you have put a lot of thought in to them. I am happy that you are very open to the resting locations being changed.

I would like to point out that you state that there is no pedestal room in the Temple of Time for Breath of the Wild, yet insist that the Great Plateau is Castle Town from Ocarina of Time. I'm not sure what to do with this aside from sticking to the Great Plateau being one of the pedestal locations, and talk about this next point.

As far as the portal bit; I agree that it is a bit of a stretch, but not something I came up with without reasoning. The idea does reduce the number of pedestal locations, even though we both agree that it is a minor issue. It explains how Gannon, in Ocarina of Time, had trouble finding the location. He was looking in the wrong place. It also offers an explanation as to how the Temple of Time could be on the plateau and in Castle Town. Yes, I am suggesting that the Hyrule Cathedral is the building Link walks in to during Ocarina of Time. The foundation even matches.

I didn't simply pick two locations, and go with what ever happened. Otherwise, my placement for Zelda 2 would have been much smaller. The same is true about my Skyward Sword placement. I started with sizing the map based on two locations, then looked at what fit where, as well as what didn't. Not only does the dormant volcano in the distance line up, Lake Floria lines up with it's self, and the Zonai ruins, in Breath of the Wild, is a possible spot for the Ancient Cistern, from Skyward Sword. I wanted to stay away from using constructed structures as defining marks until it already lined up with something. Architecture is commonly copied and altered.

Aligning the sealed grounds with the Korok Forest, to line Skyview Temple with the spring of courage is an interesting idea. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work with anything else. It would send Skyward Sword's Lake Floria closer to the Zora Domain, or the Millennio Sandbar.

As an aside, I got the feeling that the Parella evolve into the Zora. Not a real theory, just a feeling I got while playing.

 

[DragonEleven]

You don't seem to have followed my point about the pedestal room... I'm not saying that Link wasn't warped elsewhere in OoT (that part actually makes sense), just that there is no pedestal room on the Great Plateau for him to have been warped to, so that part of the theory doesn't hold up... it seemed like you were just trying to force it to make your positions fit.
Thinking about it... it would actually make most sense for the Door of Time to have warped Link to the temple in the forest, where we know that there is a pedestal chamber. This would also make the Door of Time name make more sense, as it doesn't make Link travel through time like similar objects do (the time travel in OoT is done via the Sacred Realm)... but it could make him travel from one Temple of Time to another.
As for the cathedral... other than it's approximate position and the fact that it has a rectangular floor plan (which is the case of a lot of buildings), there's no evidence to suggest this is the same building as in OoT... if the OoT Castle Town had been moved to an inaccessible location like the Great Plateau, then they would have needed to build a new town (including a new place of worship) and would likely have built it in the image of the old one, so similarities would be inevitable.

When you say about locations in Skyward Sword lining up, are you using the disjointed image of the three regions arranged around Skyloft to do that? Because that's not accurate.
Just look at the Isle of the Goddess... it's located north of Skyloft in the sky, but according to that image, the Sealed Grounds (which the Isle of the Goddess is supposed to be directly above) is positioned to the south of Skyloft (swapping Eldin and Faron as I suggested would solve this, though).
As I mentioned before, at no point to we see all three areas of the surface at the same time, so we have no way of orienting them in relation to one another... that image you seem to be using looks more like someone had just arranged the three areas to fit on the page, rather than to reflect their exact positions.
Each region must therefore be positioned independently from one another.

When considering the placement I suggested don't be so stiff with the connections between different areas... when Link passes between the different areas, we have no way of telling exactly how far he went or the exact direction... and the overview image we're given on the map screen is more of a sketch than an accurate map... so there is some flexibility in their locations, just as you used when you altered some of the other maps to make them fit.
The most likely location for Skyward Sword's Lake Floria in BotW, as I said before, would be Lake Akkala... their locations would roughly match, and both are fed by a set of waterfalls to the south that bear a fair similarity to one another (unlike BotW's Lake Floria, which is mainly fed from the north, by waterfalls that look completely different).
This would also place the Ancient Cistern around the foot of Death Mountain, so would almost certainly have been destroyed, however, the bodies of water immediately south of Death Mountain do suggest an underground water source, so could be evidence of the Ancient Cistern's former location (the fact that one is called Lake Ferona could even be a hint towards the area's former identity).

I'd probably agree about the Parella... it is a rather drastic change, but it's not unlike the transformation of the Zora into WW's Rito... but it might be worth noting that the Rito transformation was caused by them being forced out of their former home when the Great Flood occurred... so it makes sense that a similar environmental disaster could also have caused the Parella's transformation into Zora (such as the eruption of a volcano).

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

You bring up some good points, DragonEleven. I can see the potential for Link being teleported to where the Korok Woods are now, in Ocarina of Time. We don't see any surroundings from inside the room with the pedestal, so it is difficult to impossible to tell where the room is, if link was teleported. Both locations are out of the play aria for Ocarina of Time. I would like to point out a few things about the locations, and the pedestals.

The pedestal from Ocarina of Time looks nothing like the one in Breath of the Wild. I can't find any crafted stones, or signs of a structure, in the Korok Woods, aside from the rough hewn stone of the triangular pedistal. In Ocarina of time, the pedestal has a hexagonal shape, and is made from smooth stone. Granted, the game designers keep changing the look of the pedestal, though there tend to be similarities. The pedestal from Skyward Sword is also hexagonal, and there is a good chance that the Temple of Time construction retained it's look. I did notice that the Temple of Time in Breath of the wild is the only location with a large Goddess Statue surrounded by six smaller statues. On top of that, on both sides of this hexagonal shape, sits what looks like grave markers. It all has a memorial feel. If we take Gannon's campaign of destruction, before the Sealing War, in to account, it could easily explain the missing pedestal. The resting place of the Master Sword, and even that room, would likely been destroyed. The pond next to the temple may even be all that was left from his rage. That would be interesting; if the 'sword in the stone' Easter-egg turns out to be all that is left of the pedestal from Skyloft.

Before the 10,000 years is brought up, it has already been established that constructed structures, and their remains can and sometimes do last for more than 10,000 years. I'm not saying that you, DragonEleven, was going to use this argument; I know someone eventually will. It's funny how some fans try to pick and choose what can and can't withstand 10,000+ years.

My main problem with placing Castle town on the Great Plateau, is that it throws the entire map out of wack. I really don't see it working, even if we say that the Plateau had arisen after Ocarina of Time.

When I was talking about the map for Skyward Sword being disjointed by moving it north to meet those points, I was talking about just that portion of the map. While I do agree that there is some disjointing when traveling from region to region in Skyward Sword, I don't think they were that turned around. When looking at the one region, the southern location, where I have it, fits with less distortion, and accounts for all locations. All locations aside from the huge tree. I did always think it was odd that the game placed Skyloft in the middle of the three reigns, yet directly above the sealed grounds, which is why I am not worrying about islands in the sky. That's a separate, small, theory for another time.

Speaking of other theories; I got curious and looked up theories between the Zora and Parella. Turns out there is a theory with strong backing about it, as well as all of the other connected species.

I appreciate your ideas. Some of it, I have thought of, and some I have not. It's helping me strengthen some aspects, while thinking about other aspects differently.

 

[DragonEleven]

Something I forgot to point out before... it's heavily implied that the Master Sword's location in BotW is the same as that in ALttP and ALBW due to the positions of the flowers behind the pedestal.
Obviously, flowers growing in the exact same positions for thousands of years is virtually impossible... but the developers clearly wanted to make that connection regardless.
It's the ALttP/ALBW pedestal that has been confirmed to be all that remains of a temple, and if we consider the Master Sword's location in the order OoT->TP->ALttP/ALBW->BotW (it would have aged roughly the same, regardless of which timeline it was in), it does give the image of a temple slowly decaying until pretty much nothing was left.

It's also worth mentioning that I have a master's degree in architecture, so I probably have a better understanding of the architectural aspects than most, and have actually pointed out the potential for buildings to survive for long periods of time in previous discussions.

As for Castle Town... I'm not saying that it would have simply been raised up, I'm saying that it would have been completely moved... like it had been picked up and dropped to the south.
The Great Plateau would roughly fit into the area around Hyrule Castle, so the BotW Hyrule Castle would likely have been built in the void left when the OoT castle town was removed.
It's also just occurred to me that this also explains why the BotW Castle Town is located outside of the moat, whereas the OoT Castle Town was located inside the moat.

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

Your major is in architecture, DragonEleven? That's awesome. I don't have a master's yet, but mine is in psychology.

I see your point about the decaying temple. Im not sure if you are suggesting if Link travels to the forest location, in the north, or the plateau location, in the south, for the master sword, in Twilight Princess. Just like shifting Castle Town to the plateau, in Ocarina of Time; shifting that part of Link's journey to the north warps the Twilight Princess map to far.

We can account for Link traveling up to the plateau, in Twilight Princess, by how he uses the treetops.

It does make me curious as to whether there is any potential for three Temples of Time. The one on the Great Plateau stands now as more of a memorial.

Some water sources seem to last forever, while others change course, or dry up seemingly over night. That might be a better idea of how the moat changed.

 

[DragonEleven]

The TP ToT being in the north would be explained by the Lost Wood's warping that I mentioned before... the Sacred Grove does bear a strong similarity to the Lost Woods... both are magical maze-like locations, Skull Kid is encountered in both places, and they even share the same music... so chances are the Sacred Grove is part of the Lost Woods.

Seeing as moats are typically man-made (which certainly appears to be the case of the one in OoT), it is highly unlikely that it would just disappear.
The BotW moat, on the other hand, looks natural... is if was a pre-existing body of water that they took advantage of when they built the castle.

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

Now that I get what you are saying, about the Sacred Grove, I can see that as well. That would mean that telepotation is a lot more common. If I take in to account your proposal about the the Sealed grounds, and the teleporting locations for Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess, then the Master Sword never really rests on the Great Plateau.

I'm still not jiving with the moat idea being related to the position of Castle Town. The moat may have eroded in to a more natural shape, or been filled in as the town grew.

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

I hope you have time to look at another map, DragonEleven. I have been playing with the placement of the Skyward Sword map to reflect the idea of the sealed grounds being under the Korok woods, and Skyview temple being the same place as the Spring of Power. I have found that Lake Floria, from Skyward Sword, lines up with the mouth of the Rutala River. The lack of immediate waterfalls is easily explained by the waterfall(s) eroding back ti the Zora Domain and East Reservoir. Even more surprisingly, the Ancient Cistern lines up with my placement the Royal Tomb. This alone creates an interesting narrative for the location. If so, does this mean that the royal family renovated the cistern for the burials of their own family?

The map also suggests that Early Hylians probably resettled the land in a southward direction.

(Not that I am going with one placement over the other. *cough, cough*)