Is the Gerudo Desert Seperate from Hyrule in Ocarina of Time?

[MrLuigi]

The quote from Ganondorf in Wind Waker suggests so. In Twilight Princess it's clearly a part of Hyrule's boundaries, even boasting a Hyrulean prison.

 

[Djinn]

If Ganondorf was a King himself then it is most likely that the Desert was not a typical part of Hyrule. But it is possible that the Hylians either conquered it or absorbed it into a sort of tributary to Hyrule. The first time you see Ganondorf in OoT he was swearing loyalty to the Hylian King. This means that there is some type of superior/subordinate country relationship between the Gerudo Desert and Hyrule.

The fact that there is a closed border between the two countries and the Gerudo will attack Link on sight mean that there is not a very good relationship between the two nations. Which also points to a Hylian takeover that the Gerudo are not happy about. This relationship could also be a result of the wars between the tribes that was mentioned in the backstory of OoT. It might be possible that the Gerudo went to war against the Hylians and lost. So now the king of the Gerudo must pay tribute to the Hylian king.

 

[bbevington90]

As stated above, it's most likely a separate place that is still part of Hyrule. (Correct me if I'm wrong) I was sort of thinking of it like Puerto Rico to the United States. It's not technically part of the U.S., but they're loyal to the U.S. and the U.S. protects them.

 

[ikilltoonlink]

but the Gerudo Desert dos NOT protect hyrule at all! they hate hyrule correct?

 

[MrLuigi]

I think the same apply to the Snowpeak Mountains in a way, in Twilight Princess the Gerudo Desert and Snowpeak Mountains don't have a light creature but they are in fact apart from Hyrule, but you access those areas when Lannyru (spelling) gets freed. I don't know for a fact if those places were in Twili at the time before Lannyru is freed. They're a territory of Hyrule, just not having a main population in them makes them the example that bbevington90 stated. Maybe before Snowpeak had some people, like when the Gerudo were in Gerudo Desert before.

 

[Ghosi]

It was probably not part of Hyrule at the time of OoT. You can tell it, because they always refer to it as the Great Desert, the desert, and other such names, which probably means that it wasn't a part of Hyrule at all. By the time of TP, I believe this was still lasting. The desert was already pretty much empty, filled with monsters. So, I think that the Gerudo Desert is separate from Hyrule.

 

[Djinn]

but the Gerudo Desert dos NOT protect hyrule at all! they hate hyrule correct?

Well that is not quite what was meant by using the term protectorate. The Gerudo and by extension their lands were absorbed, most likely by force, into Hyrule. And while they still had a king of their own, that king must travel to Hyrule and pay tribute and swear loyalty to the Hylian king. This was swearing of loyalty was seen in OoT the first time Link enters Hyrule Castle. Obviously the Gerudo were not sincere in their oath of loyalty and was only giving lip service to the more powerful king. This might also be one of the reasons why Ganondorf was trying to acquire the spiritual stones in Hyrule at that same time.

 

[DuckNoises]

It's an interesting question. Here is a post I made a while back that should answer most of your questions:

Before Link's birth, there had been a civil war in Hyrule because of conflict between the various groups and territories that form Hyrule, including the monarchy. This was happening around the time of Link's birth, and ended shortly after. From what we gather, by the beginning of OoT, all the states had unified under the monarchy with the exception of the Gerudo. Even though each society has their own respective leaders (and occasionally their own monarchies), they still have an allegiance to the Hylian Monarchy, likely as terms of agreement for ending the war; this is demonstrated by why so much of the game is influenced by Zelda's Lullaby, the melody of the Royal Family, because all the groups of Hyrule swore allegiance to the monarchy under unification, with the exception of the Gerudo. A neat little supplemental bit of evidence to this is the fact that you don't play Zelda's Lullaby at all (as far as I can recall) in the entire Gerudo Valley or Spirit Temple Segments in the game. This means that the Gerudo had not sworn allegiance to the royal family. At the beginning of OoT, Ganondorf is seen coming to Hyrule Castle to meet with the King to discuss a treaty of some kind; Ganondorf is proposing a peace treaty and/or offering to join the united Hyrule, which is a ploy to lull Hyrule into a sense of complacency so that they will not suspect attack from Ganondorf. This allows Ganondorf to carry through his plan and attack without suspicion.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

I think Gerudo Desert is part of Hyrule. Just because it has it's own monarch system doesn't mean anything. Zora's Domain had it's own monarch, but it is still considered as part of Hyrule.