Theory: Breath of the Wild’s Forgotten Temple is the Sealed Temple From Skyward Sword
Posted on July 22 2019 by Charles Xavier
Breath of the Wild has been remarkable with all its influences from past installments in the Legend of Zelda series. It’s awesome to have a game that embraces multiple Zelda games to make them feel like they really happened. Interestingly, popular Zelda YouTube Theorist Zeltik has taken note of this in a recent theory video to posit that Breath of the Wild‘s Forgotten Temple is built around the ruins of Skyward Sword‘s Sealed Temple.
Zeltik begins by examining what is known about the Forgotten Temple. He points out that Breath of the Wild‘s lead structural artist Manabu Takehara has said the Temple was inspired by the structural design found in Skyward Sword in order to reflect that the building is from Hyrule’s ancient past. Zeltik uses that info to claim that the structure is a relic remaining from the era of Skyward Sword. From there, he looks at the description of the sidequest “A Gift From The Monks” which states the Forgotten Temple’s statue of the Goddess is the oldest in Hyrule. With that in mind, Zeltik speculates that the sculpture could be the large Goddess Statue from Skyward Sword that housed the Goddess Sword.
Ultimately, Zeltik believes the location of the statue of the Goddess in the Forgotten Temple is the remnants of the Sealed Temple from Skyward Sword, and he supports this by pointing out the area around the statue does resemble the design of the Sealed Temple. According to Zeltik, the exterior structure was created to preserve the Sealed Temple’s ruins. Overall, the video is very interesting and it’s well executed. I really enjoyed the last few minutes of the video in which Zeltik does bring up the potential flaws in his theory; it was a nice touch, especially because I’ve seen some theorists present their theories like there isn’t an alternative.
Personally, I would like for Zeltik’s theory to be true, but I’m hesitant to adopt it. There are instances of ruins in Breath of the Wild being exactly identical to places from previous games. In this case, the Spring of Power is a notable ruin to mention because it’s certainly the Eldin Spring from Skyward Sword. It feels weird to me that some ruins in Breath of the Wild are exactly identical to how they were in past games, while other ruins that seemingly bare a resemblance to a place from a prior game are not perfectly alike. Unfortunately, the location of the Goddess statue in the Forgotten Temple is one such area where it isn’t exactly identical to the place it is theorized to be. So, while Zeltik’s theory cannot be ruled out, I view the theory as a stretch.
What do you think about Zeltik’s theory? Do you believe the Forgotten Temple is the Sealed Temple, or do you subscribe to a different theory? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Charles is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. He is a Visual Development artist focused on enviroments and pitch paintings. Check out his Instagram and Twitter to see his latest artworks, a lot of which is Zelda fan art! His favorite candy is Skittles – he feels the world should know this.
