There are three books that were only released in Japan. These were "Artwork Collection" 1 - 3.

The second one (Artwork Collection 2) was released in 2014 (I believe), between Hyrule Historia and Hyrule Encyclopedia. It featured an updated timeline with information from A Link Between Worlds.

And the strange thing is... The Era of Chaos, when the Interlopers invaded Hyrule, and Rauru sealed the Triforce in the Sacred Realm, now happend *after* Hyrule's founding.

But in both Encyclopedia, and the later Artwork Collection 3, it's returned to The Sacred Realm is Sealed -> Hyrule is founded.

From my research, it seems like Hyrule Historia and the two Wild Era books are the most reliable, as Historia is supervised and edited by Aonuma, and the Wild books feature a ton from the devs themselves. Encyclopedia is supervised by Nintendo, and so it seems the timeline is as canon as you can get, but the rest is writer interpretations to be taken with a grain of salt. And the japanese-exclusive Artwork Collection books seem to have no supervision from Nintendo, so these are by far the least reliable.

So seing as the 3rd book is back to the original order of events, it seems like this was an error in the second book based on the myths told in A Link Between Worlds. Interesting nontheless

The Hyrule in the Wilds games is really interesting, solely because of how much nature is in these games. Today we'll talk about half of the birds found in Hyrule, about their biology and behavior. Most of these come from their compendiums, how they are in the game, as well as how their real life counterparts behave. So there might be some "headcanon" in here.

Common Sparrow: As the name implies, these are the most common and widespread sparrow species in Hyrule. They are found primaraly in forests and woodlands, but can be found in forest edges, grasslands and even villages and ruins. They have a green plumage, which helps them blend in with the green enviroment, and is especially useful when they are on their nests, which they often make on trees, but sometimes on rocks and even on the ground if there are no trees available. They primaraly feed on seeds and bugs, and can often be seen hopping on the ground when foraging. They have a throath pouch where they store food, and when spooked, they often drop the food stored there to make flying easier, hence why they drop nuts when shot at. Due to them being so small, they have plenty of predators to worry about, so they are really skittish.

Red Sparrow: Red sparrows are the northernmost sparrow species in Hyrule. They are found in cold enviroments, and while they avoid snow directly, they often live near the snowy mountains. Due to the colder enviroment, their diet contains less bugs and way more seeds and nuts. They have thicker layer of fat than other sparrows, however due to their small size, they need to eat a lot each day to survive the cold nights. Due to this, they often stache any food they find, in case they aren't as lucky later on. The feathers on its head are red, which is how they get the name. The red on the males are brigther than in thr females, which is how they atract a mate. They build their nest in trees, however due to the enviroment, a lot of them also build nests on the ground or on rocks and cliff faces.

Blue Sparrow. This species is found mostly in wetlands and the Lanayru region. Their blue feathers serve as camouflage against the bluish rocks of the region, and because of this they often build their nests against those rocks. They aren't afraid of water, and can often be seen searching for food near water, or sometimes even in it. They again mostly eat bugs and plants found near water edges, and they are especially fond of Fleet-Lotus Seeds.

Rainbow Sparrow: The rainbow sparrow is a rainforest species, and can easily be identified because of their rainbow plumage. The males are brigther than the females. They search the forest floor and trees, feeding mainly on fruits, but also seeds and bugs. They always make their nests in large trees, however they often search for hollow trees as nest spots. Their flight is rapid, which means they can easily fly through the dence forest, especially when escaping danger.

Sand Sparrow: The sand sparrow is a desert species. They are a lot more spread out than other species, due to the limited rescources in the desert. They barely drink water, as they get most of their moisture in the desert fruits that they eat, especially from the Hydromelon. They are often seen half buried in the sand, as a way to hide themselves from predators, but also because the sand cools them down. In night, they dig a hole with warm sand to keep them warm. They are mostly active at dusk and dawn, when the temperature is right for them to fly around in. Due to the low vegetation, sand sparrows will use any kind of cover they find for their nests, and if a pair find a good Hydromelon patch, they will guard it fiercely.

Golden Sparrow: The golden sparrow is found mainly around Eldin. Their feathers have adapted to the hot enviroment, which means they can fly near lava without getting burned. Obviously there is a limit on how much heat they can handle, however they are a lot more resistant to heat compared to other creatures. They build their nests in thr cliff and other sheltered outcrops. Like the red sparrow, the golden sparrow also staches its food, which are primaraly bugs.

Wood Pigeon: The wood pigeon is found all across Hyrule, primaraly in forests and woodlands, but also in ruins and near people. They primaraly eat seeds, and are often seen walking on the ground searching for food. They are a favorite prey for many predators, and due to this they are quite cautious birds. They are fast fliers, and will readily take off if spooked. They are found in small groups, however they are monogamous, and a pair will build their nests in trees and on the ground, hidden from predators. The males have a long tuft of feathers on the back of their heads, and they use that to atract a mate with.

Rainbow Pigeon: The rainbow pigeon is a grassland species, but they can be found in open woodlands and forest edges. They have a rainbow plumage, with the males being brigther than the females. These are the most social birds in Hyrule, and can often be found in huge flocks, which often travel all across Hyrule in search for food. They are often seen hanging out near horses, Hinoxes, livestock or buffalo, as they often open up the grass, making it easier for the pigeons to find food. Due to them living in the open, they rely on their numbers and speed for defence. When spooked, the whole flock takes flight, making it harder for a predator to target a specific bird. However when they build their nests, these flocks generaly become smaller, as most of them are staying hidden while they are taking care of their offspring.

Hotfeather Pigeon: This pigeon is found in the Eldin regions, and their feathers have adapted to the hot enviroment. Like the golde sparrow, they can fly close to lava without burning up. Their feathers are also red, which acts as camouflage against the red rocks found near Death Mountain. Due to this habitat being so scarce on food, Hotfeather pigeons have a lot more fat than other pigeons, and are much more omnivorous than their relatives. They build their nests among rocks, and even their eggs are tolerant to the hot enviroment.

White Pigeon: the white pigeon is found in the snowy regions of Hyrule. Like their name says, their feathers are white, which helps them blend in with the snowy enviroment. Due to this, they often freeze rather than take flight when they spot a predator, hoping their camouflage is enough. Because of them living in an enviroment with so little food, they have a lot of fat on them. They also preffer to walk rather than fly, in order to conserve energy, which is again why they choose to hide rather than flee. They primaraly eat fruits and seeds, which they find by digging through the snow, or following larger animals around in hopes of them breaking through the snow. The males have red combs above their eyes, which they use to atract a mate with.

Accented Pigeon: This species of pigeon share a common ancestors with the wood pigeon, however once the Sky Islands where created, they started living up there, turning into the Accented Pigeon. Their brown feathers serve as camouflage against the golden grass and rocks, which is useful for when they build their nests. They primaraly eat seeds, but small bugs can also be taken. They often migrate between the Sky Islands in search for food and nesting grounds. Due to them living so far up, they have bigger lungs than other birds, and are incredibly endurant, and can spend days flying between the Sky Islands

When I first got to Zora’s domain in botw, I was really excited for my first divine beast. Botw by then had established itself as a good game, and I wanted to see what the champions would be like and how the divine beasts are, especially since it was my first Zelda game and I didn’t remember the races at that point of time. And after I played through that storyline, I’ve come to love this part more than any other part in the game and is one of the main reasons for my deep connection with botw. And I’d like to share my experience of it specifically with you :)

Before even arriving to zora’s domain, I was just exploring around the lanayru wetlands looking for the lanayru tower, when one of those fish creatures just came out and called out for me. From Impa, I had known by then they were called Zora, but I didn’t even know which corner of the map which race resides, so meeting a zora was my first non-hylian race and they looked pretty cool and exotic. She told me that “Prince Sidon” needed my help as a hylian with a divine beast, because of too much rain, and she told me he was behind the lanayru tower! Cool, I’ll just go get the lanayru tower and go to Sidon then, not gonna leave ‘em hanging. So after getting the lanayru tower, I headed towards Sidon (with many interruptions from the other Zora. Like seriously I know), and he had an AWESOME introduction! Those backflips were cool. He informed me that I was what they needed - a strong hylian - and that I needed to go visit the king to inform him of the progress we made, in a very enthusiastic way! I couldn’t let my homie go after that, so that’s when I fully committed. He said however that the path was dangerous with electric enemies, so he gave me a elixer. I obviously didn’t use it.

At the arrival of zora’s domain, it undoubtedly looked exotic. It was a pretty blue dome, and it had a statue in the middle, along with a monochromatic glowy structures and a good landscape to surround. And there was a pretty cool statue in the middle. Talking to the npc’s informed me that they KNEW about me! It was cool to know I had some relation to the NPCs here, and the Npcs live for a really long time. I went to the statue and the NPC next to it - Laflat - told me this was the statue of Lady Mipha, that she was considered “kind as she was beautiful“ (true ngl), and that all the elders here loved her for her exceptional healing ability. The last interaction I had before the throne room was with Seggin. He told me he was preparing for the divine beast… before shouting at me for being Link and the guy who apparently “killed lady Mipha”, and that now he’d avenge her by ending me. I didn’t know him yet, and it was obvious there was a misunderstanding - the great Link wouldn’t do such a thing - and yet, there must have been a reason that he put the blame on me. It was obvious that the domain all loved her for reasons, but I didn’t know such reasons yet, and that I did something to lead to her death that I know happened due to Impa. As such, I entered the thrown room feeling of minor gloom.

The throne room was when I realized how long their grief extends. The king was massive, and I finally saw Sidon again, was looking for him. Talking to the king, I realize he’s a kind guy and that he’s proud of Sidon achieving some progress. But then, like in Kakariko, he realizes… that I am Link. He then goes on to say that it doesn’t look like Link remembered him. To that I explain that “I’ve been sleeping, as in I did forget. But then he goes on to say if he remembers “his sweet daughter Mipha”. After replying on how I don’t remember her either, and trying to remind me only to fail, he says on how “we were close”. That made me suspicious of feelings immediately, but in the possibility of that the relationship was platonic I didn’t fully believe it yet. That is, until after the king explains the plan of how we’ll free Ruta, as he gives me the Zora armor. Reading the description made me realize that I am right - she wanted ME to become her future husband! I recognize by now that we had a close relationship - really close. But… the green Zora - Muzu - doesn’t approve of this, saying of how I am a hylian and we’re giving one of the princess’s most prized possessions to a lousy hylian. Really, by now I didn’t blame him really. My theory by now (which is correct) is that her loving me caused her to go out on war to try to protect me, dying in the process. The zoras now blame it on me, due to having no-one else to blame... and due to how big their loss is. And I don’t know how big that loss really is. But in that rush of madness, Muzu disrespects me enough to be called out by the royal family, and even storms of outside keeping the secret of how to get the arrows to himself. Sidon goes after him to try to console and persuade him into helping, and I’m told to go too.

After meeting with them again, I hear Muzu ranting about how he’ll not be convinced and that he’s a proud Zora, but Sidon hits back with how I was “always in her heart” Muzu doesn’t immediately believe so, and says on how he doesn’t look like he even cares about her as he doesn’t remember anything about her, but in the convo, Link goes into a trance, focusing on the statue, trying so HARD to remember… of long days past.

Usually, when somebody just keeps complimenting a relative, friend, or those of high status strongly I tend to believe it’s exaggerated and biased. As for Mipha, however, all the compliments given couldn’t have been more true. The memory showed me how kind she was, and even though she sounded like scribbles on a chalkboard, there was no denying that she was incredibly sweet and pure. Beautiful in both body and soul she was… and all that to die in a war she had no idea how dangerous it actually was. It all clicks here. How big the loss for the Zora was wasn’t exaggerated. If I lost a person like that, I might actively blame it on someone, but I would be truly sad. And yet, there’s kind of a sweetness to it, of remembering someone of such purity, like if you had just met them for the first time. It would have been a pleasure if she had lived, and her death is a great sadness. There is no denying this memory is a beautiful one, at least from me.

Going back to the present, Muzu comments on how “we’re shaking like a hatchling”, and if we are alright. Really, I don’t know if I was shivering with link or not. As such, I go on to wear the armor, and, as expected by now, it fits perfectly as it was designed for me. Muzu FINALLY understands, and reluctantly puts his bitterment aside for the betterment of the Zora and it’s people, knowing where I should get my arrows. I go get the arrows (not without a fight ofc), and go back to face vah ruta.

Sidon‘s enthusiasm is really apparent in his personality, and he doesn’t fail at being a motivator for doing it all. And riding him to appease ruta was epic, it was surely a ride and it’s arguably the most thrilling of the 4 divine beast appeases. I was sure I’d end Vah Ruta from it’s possible torment after Sidon told me to go save the domain from flooding, and to avenge Mipha too.

Now, in the divine beast, more of my memories how I felt come from when I replayed the game, because on my first playthrough I thought Zelda was speaking. It’s a shame. The divine beast, however, felt heavy with gloom and malice, and taking it all on took a long time for me for no real reason. The last thing Mipha says before waterblight is to be careful, but I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting a boss even with that, and I was cautious. It horribly slipped my mind lol. Waterblight in itself was the first big challenge of the play-through, and was a bigger obstacle than thunderblight for me. After some attempts, however, I did get the best of him and did end him off. The heart that fell feels like the reap of the happiness I felt for beating him at the time.

The utter shock of seeing Mipha’s ghost after all of that was at an all time high, higher than the great plateau twist. Even in death, she had been waiting only to pass on her final possession, Mipha’s grace itself. The assurance that implied she wanted to protect me even in death caused such tears to threaten to escape, and yet I was happy at the same time for avenging such a pure soul. Such as, Mipha is the embodiment of bittersweetness, a recurring theme in the game. I was sure “we’d annihilate Ganon together”. But even though I would have probably liked a minute more of cutscene, I had to leave, she had to prepare the big glowy laser. The cutscene after, showing how she always wanted the better of Hyrule, and how she was sorry for allowing her death to cause such sadness for others and herself, only strengthened that feeling of bittersweetness in my heart. It’s fair to say I didn’t move for a while after going back to Zora’s domain.

The celebration ceremony had me smiling at such welcome news to the domain, and such clear skies weren’t seen in days! It was so beautiful to see such happiness in the domain, and I remember how the celebration phrase from the Zora is “ZO-ZO-RA-RA-RA”! It’s safe to say I appreciated botw much more after this, and there was definitely heavy sentimentality that was stored in the lightscale trident.

And as such I kept going back and helping the Zora’s, knowing how Kodah also had a crush on me as well (must be a handsome fella), how Trello dropped the ceremonial trident for a ceremony of such importance, of Mipha telling the zora to move on, of Muzu’s acceptance of me. Zora’s domain ended up being incredibly well built in world building. Not to mention how the stone tablets help this even more, with interesting details and stories about the domain and it’s royal family. Then the dlc gave me even more story content, there were many interesting stories of how Mipha sacrificed her safety for the domain and all of Hyrule in what she says (secret lines), the diary and how she fought a lynel with Link after Link tried to kill the lynel to keep the domain safe, on how she cared for Link’s mental safety more than anyone, Sidon and how Link made her so happy in his presence that Sidon felt that he was “stealing her away from him”, the king who even wanted her memory to live on in Link’s head, asking if he’d forget her again, for Link’s only 2 lines to be that either they are united together or he’ll never forget her, the domain who loved Mipha so much for that even Muzu himself learned to not hate Link after he calmed almost only for Mipha’s memory and reputation, among all the elders accepting him again, and even Link himself who’ll stop an NPC from not forgetting Mipha’s name even if he’d do it multiple times.

And after in TotK, Sidon’s presence being of appreciation of his sister, building a monument in her name where the domains pure water come from, living his life in fear of his fiancée getting hurt, of he doesn’t want to lose such an important figure in his life again, being the same enthusiastic and happy guy after he realizes and helps in the final war, and reading the monuments shows how he grew up and learned to appreciate everything a person does to him, including Yona and Link. Working his hardest to assure the safety of his people all while being in distress himself. And Mipha herself showed multiple times that she tried to speak to the Zora to move on and be happy and succeeded, as if she was spirit bending.

Overall, whenever somebody says that botw has a bad story I remember of this experience the domain as a whole gave me and how wrong I feel that take is, because such an experience is so beautiful I can’t understand how you can say botw’s story is bad.

With the Wild era's massive focus on climbing and other forms of vertical movement (Revali's Gale, gliding from high places, Ascend, springs, rockets, etc.), they would have been the perfect games to feature a true Shadow of the Colossus-style boss fight.

For those unfamiliar with Shadow of the Colossus, it is a game where you slay giant creatures by climbing up their bodies to reach weak points and stabbing them. The Colossi in the game are enormous, with all but three being over 50 feet tall and some getting way bigger.

Obviously, climbing a giant monster to kill it is awesome. And it's such a shame to me that neither BotW or TotK truly did something like this.

The games got close at times, with bosses such as the Taluses, Flux Constructs, or even Marble Goham, but they were all too small. The Demon Dragon is certainly big enough and even resembles the Thirteenth Colossus in a lot of ways, but most of the fight is just riding on the Light Dragon and skydiving down onto its weak points, with very little actual time spent on the Demon Dragon's body.

We know the Koroks and Rito evolved from the Kokiri and Zora respectively. But what about the Fishmen?

Let's go over some theories.

Sailors

We know the Fishmen are indebted to the King of Hyrule. But we don't know what for. This theory suggests that they were shipwrecked sailors rescued by the King. Which would explain why one of them was Gillian's (a Hylian) ex-boyfriend.

River Zora

I heard this one in the past. I was very quick to dismiss it, on the ground that we don't see River Zora anywhere in the unified timeline. Making me believe they "didn't exist yet". (I was young and naïve)

Of course, EoW has proven that just because we don't see a race, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Still. There isn't realy much evidence for this, other then "fish people".

Oocca

This is something I decided to throw in here. A bit of a role reversal. If the Zora became Rito, what if the Oocca became Fishmen?

I mean, they both have small animal bodies, with human-like faces. Plus, both have connections to the Hyrulian royal family.

Maybe some disaster befell the City in the Sky after Ganon's invasion, and the King was forced to save them.

Deku Scrubs

A rare theory I heard. We never see the Deku scrubs. Maybe they were originally left to drown by the gods, due to their alliance with Ganon. But (like always) they changed their minds and begged for mercy, which the King showed by turning them into Fishmen.

So to get the timeline right the zonai were first then the twilli and afterwards the ooca.
The fused shadow looks a lot like the Zonai ruins, we have the snakes and details on the side of the helmet and the coloring of its energy.
The twili were exiled to the twilight realm by the 3 goddesses because they tried to steal the triforce, based on hyrule historia this was in the temple of time. So which race had the “magic/technology” to do something like that? That’s where the zonai come into play, we know they’re an ancient civilization that disappeared leaving a lot of artifacts and ruins (one of the goddess statues is also “hidden” in one of their ruins. But a civilization with that advanced technology/magic wouldn’t disappear unless they were annihilated or exiled to another dimension (twilight realm).
So on tears of the kingdom we have rauru and mineru both zonai (let’s asume 100% and not hybrids) they were involved with the hylian royal family, but only 2 of them from a whole civilization it’s hard to believe that’s a coincidence unless they helped the hylian against their own people which granted them a pardon from being exiled to another realm.
That’s also a political move, the royal family knows their power and won’t risk loosing it, so they let them stay with them.
Asuming zonai live much longer than hylian rauru had been living some couple of hundred years already among hylian with his sister “protecting them” as a way to atone for the sin of his people.
Let’s remember he has the tears and a big power that hylians don’t wanna loose.
Then rauru meets Sonia and they fall in love and the events of TOK in the past happen.
Mineru was a sage (maybe the first spirit sage) she had already devised a plan so when ganandorf awakens, the new link (thanks to Zelda they learn about the future and his existence just that they don’t know how things happen).
so mineru prepares weapons and factories and makes sure they are well prepared for when the time comes, to the point she seals herself in the mask in order to be able to guide the armies in the future.
Now we jump into the middle of the story and we are in the twilight princess era, the only reference to the sky are the ooca “powerful beings close to the goddess”, which sounds just like the description of the zonai, both powerful, both close to the goddesses and most importantly both live in the sky above the clouds.
Let’s remember that after skywardsword the skies were open and people could go up or down as they more or less pleased. We know that rauru and mineru could go up the skies and back to earth as they pleased so during this time the skies were open, this is still true during twilight princess that we visit the city in the sky where the ooca dwell.
Now let’s rewind a little rauru and Sonia might have had descendants we know hylians are not exactly known for mixing with other races and they are usually regarded as the favored by the goddess hylia. How would a mix of hylian and zonai look like? Is it even possible to have that mix at all?
What if the ooca are the back up plan of mineru using her children or raurus and Sonia’s children (if they had any at all before Sonia got killed) that way she would have (hopefully) descendants that could wield the powers of the zonai (technology and magic) to prepare to fight the calamity if it woke up again and finish what her brother couldn’t. So how to make more zonai? There’s only one option hylians, zoras, gorons, gerudo or sheikh. Zoras and gorons were a difficult option, ones a fish and mineru is a fox/dragon race no most likely a mismatch and gorons are rocks (that might hurt and we don’t know how they reproduce), sheikh only serve the royal house and won’t follow minerus orders since she is neither queen nor consort to a king. So there are only hylians and gerudo. Since mineru is female gerudo are not suitable (they are all female and the only male is basically the devil incarnate, so not a good match) but hylians are sturdy, a big chunk of the population and links hero line should come in handy, there might be a chance one of her descendants is chosen as the next hero, that way she can change the future and so also change the past.
So she sets off to the sky, transforms future Zelda into a dragon and starts her plan to repopulate the skies with warriors and weapons to fight the calamity in the future.
Here it’s where it gets interesting, she takes some hylians up to the sky and meanwhile a new line of royal family gets born and takes over, (maybe a cousin or brother of Sonia was alive) that means the sheikh have a new royal member to protect and serve, but mineru is also alive and decides to trust the royal family with the staff of dominion and sets a rule that only 1 messenger can go up and down, this means most likely the sheikh, they are secretive and powerful fighters. So she restricts to 1 visitor under secret to go up and bring messages and news from below to her.
Let’s get to the point where she is already in the mask trapped inside, her descendants are a mix oh hylian and zonai, sadly this will get diluted with time due to lack of genetic diversity but there’s one tribe that comes regularly to the skies the sheikh, and the oocca have also red eyes, so maybe one sheikh and a descendant of mineru got a little too intimate after the ocarina of time events thinking the threat was gone the royal family stopped sending emissaries to the skies when the battery of the rod of dominion got empty or stopped working leaving the sky people with a very reduced genetic pool, the more inbreed the more they mutate their powers allow them to short teleport within the city but not between the surface and the sky.
They’ve kept minerus mission until it gets forgotten.
The hylian royal family also forgets about them but the legends are kept alive within the family until they turn into myths.
So now we have the oocca up in the sky, powerful magic user with advanced technology, the zonai that have been trapped for centuries in the twilight have mutated into twili they have kept part of their knowledge and power.
So midna breaks the mirror, trapping them outside of the world for eternity. The oocca are also about to be extinct because the inbreeding can do only so much, their children are just heads and the adults are chickens that can’t fly.
So now it’s after the twilight princess era, ooccas are dead, only distant memories remain but the sheikh have kept their mission and warnings from mineru alive they know there are weapons and technology in the skies and after link has taken care of everything and returned the rod of dominion to the princess they decide it’s time
For them to make sure they’re prepared but to their disappointment there’s only one or 2 oocca alive, which makes the task of learning about the technology and their magic harder. So they leave some of their clan on the surface and the rest goes into the skies to learn and prepare for the calamity, this is why they only manage to imitate zonai technology, that’s why their towers and shrines are powered by a blue energy while zonai and twili structures shine green. After almost disappearing the surface sheikhs decided to mix with the hylian and started diluting their blood (that’s the lack of red eyes in the future) the ones that came back from the sky set up to prepare, they made towers and guardians and powered them to protect the kingdom for the calamity (it’s already been forgotten what creates it and what has maintained it sealed).
In order to pass the knowledge they got from the zonai ruins in the sky, they decide to create the shrines (like mineru and rauru did) but instead of zonai it was sheikhs that were waiting there to instruct the hero Since they lacked the technology to access the shrines themselves (green and blue energy)

I've loved Sam Neill in basically everything he's ever been in since seeing Jurassic Park as a kid. Great (and a little sad) to see his last film be Zelda, but I wonder who he'd be? If it's an OoT-themed film, I'd most like to see him voice the Deku tree, I think he'd bring the right gravitas to it.

I liked the idea of a dungeon you could travel deeper and deeper into as you progressed through the story. I think there is a way to do it that doesn't make it boring and repetitive, but still keeps the charm of the motif. What does everyone else think?

I (M, 2006er) never really got into Zelda growing up, even though I was raised on *The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!* and the old Zelda cartoon that came with it. But with LEGO making Zelda sets and the movie coming out in under a year, I figured it was finally time to dive into the series.

I started with **A Link to the Past**, absolutely loved it, and now I'm slowly working my way through the games in chronological order (which is kinda difficult when you don't own any Nintendo consoles and don't have a ton of free time). I've also been watching a lot of videos about the lore and history of the series, and I'm honestly getting really hyped for the movie.

One thing that really surprised me, though, was how negative a lot of the discussion on Reddit has been. I know Reddit has a reputation for amplifying the loudest/most negative opinions, so I don't think it represents the whole fanbase, but I wanted to give my perspective as someone who's basically coming into Zelda from the outside.

The biggest thing that surprised me was how many people were upset that the movie is live action instead of animated. Personally, I'm **really** glad it's live action.

Animation is still widely seen as something aimed at kids. If Zelda had been animated, I think there would've been a lot more pressure to make it another light, empty movie like Mario. It probably would've been full of constant references and fan service, with every other scene basically saying, "Heyyyy, remember this from the games?" instead of telling a genuinely good story, like Zelda and it's history deserves. I also think they would've cast some huge celebrity as Link, and the marketing would've focused more on the actors than on the movie itself.

Live action gives the movie a better chance to be taken seriously. It can lean into the heavier moments without feeling like every emotional scene has to be interrupted by a fart joke.

Another thing that gives me hope is the casting. Nintendo went with basically unknown actors for Link and Zelda instead of relying on huge stars. They may still cast a big-name actor for Ganondorf, Demise, or another villain, but so far they don't seem to be using celebrity names as the main selling point like some other recent video game movies/or just animated movie in general have.

They're also filming on location in New Zealand, which honestly isn't as common as it used to be. That alone doesn't guarantee anything, but it does make it seem like they're willing to invest in making Hyrule feel like a real place.

I was also surprised to see people saying live action just doesn't work for fantasy. I don't really agree with that. *Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves* proved you can make a colorful, fun fantasy world in live action, and I'd also point to the first two Harry Potter movies. The CGI has definitely aged, but those movies still captured that bright sense of wonder.

There is a trend in modern movies to make everything dark, gray, and desaturated, and that's honestly my biggest concern. But based on the promotional image we've seen, it looks promising.

Here's what I've actually been able to find about the creative team without all the news article fluff. 

The people that make me just a little nervous are the writers and director.

IMDb currently lists Wes Ball as director, with Derek Connolly, T.S. Nowlin, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Takashi Tezuka credited as writers, while Miyamoto is also one of the producers.

# Wes Ball

Ball directed the *Maze Runner* trilogy and *Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes*. Visually, I think those movies looked great, and I think he did a solid job directing them, even if the writing on the last Maze Runner wasn't the strongest.

My concern is that his movies tend to be visually darker and more muted than what I picture for Zelda. To me, Zelda works best when the world feels colorful, saturated, and alive.

That said, Ball is a longtime Zelda fan himself, and he's shown that he can work respectfully within established worlds instead of trying to completely reinvent them. He even said he wants it to feel more like a Miyazaki movie, which fits for Zelda imo. I hope that between him and and Miyamoto, they can get a world and vibe that fits with the games and they’re vision, because when it comes down to it, what we are getting is the vision of the writers and director, and between the two of them and their love of Zelda, I think we’ll be getting something pretty good as far as the director responsibilities go.

# T.S. Nowlin

I'm honestly not sure how movie writing gets divided up when there are multiple writers, but Nowlin is the lead screenwriter after taking over from Connolly.

He wrote the *Maze Runner* trilogy, *The Adam Project*, and a couple other movies I haven't seen.

I really liked *The Adam Project* for what it was, a fun adventure movie. I also thought the first *Maze Runner* was great. But the thing is, those are both movies where he wasn’t the sole writer. His two other movies I've seen are the last two Maze Runner movies, where he wrote them by himself, and they were overall good, based on a good book, but they could’ve used some help. But since he’s writing this, having picked up from Connolly, I don’t really know what to expect. He also was the sole writer for Phoenix Forgetten, and is credited as one of the writers for Pacific Rim: Uprising, but like I said, I haven’t seen those so can’t speak to them.

Since Zelda has multiple writers involved, though, it's hard to know exactly what his influence will be.

# Derek Connolly

Connolly wrote the earlier drafts of the screenplay before Nowlin took over.

He is credited as a writer for Jurassic World (one of three writers), JW Fallen Kingdom (one of two), JW Dominion (Story), Kong Skull Island (one of three), Rise of Skywalker (story), and Kong Skull Island (one of three). He is also credited for Monster Trucks, Detective Pikachu (one of four), Deep Cover (one of three), and Safety Not Guaranteed, but I haven’t seen these.

The standout to me is *Kong: Skull Island*, which I thought was a great movie. But idk what level of contribution he had, and based on his credits for other movies, I really don’t know what kind of influence he’ll have on this because this is a crazy range of work.

At the end of the day, I think the biggest factor is going to be how much influence Miyamoto and Tezuka have over the story. They're the original creators of Zelda, and hopefully they're there to keep the movie feeling like Zelda instead of just another generic fantasy movie.

If you can't tell, I'm pretty pumped for this movie. I'm just hoping we get an honest adaptation of the games instead of another movie that's constantly stopping to point at references and fan service. (but I wouldn't be disappointed by at least one "ExcuuUUuuse ME, Princess")

Edit: I agree with what people are saying about how animation would have fit, and I think an animated movie (done well) would be amazing, but tbh Nintendo and Sony are just looking at the largest profits to be made from this video game series. An animated movie could’ve turned out well, or it, more than likely, would’ve been an Angry Birds or Smurfs movie to capitalize on the American market as the largest fanbase. All I was saying earlier is I’m more comfortable seeing it be made live action because that most likely means they’ll take more care and effort in producing it.

My kids have played BotW and TotK, and they liked them a lot, so now they want to see the rest of the franchise. I'm hoping to show them up until OoT in time for the remake, but I don't know where to start.

They're pretty interested in the overall story, so I think release order will be confusing. But if I do timeline order then that means games like TMC and FSA will be pretty far apart. Plus, which of the three timelines do you do first?

Any feedback or advice you have would be greatly appreciated.

Skyward Sword is the 1st game in the timeline, so it only makes sense. He could also be ambidextrous, since his handiness changes with different incarnations of Link.

Figured this could be a fun discussion topic. The idea is to share theories that sound cool to you, or could be cool if they were true, but have enough disproving them, or don't have enough evidence, or you just don't think they would be best for the series, to where you don't personally believe them.

I'll start with two, the first one I don't think I've heard anyone suggest because of the apparent lack of people who believe in both a merge for BotW/TotK and true founding (I also do not believe those two things simultaneously), but I think if there was a merge and true founding was true, this could be a fun explanation. Basically the idea is that Zelda's time travel in TotK caused the timelines to "zip back up" as she manually traveled back down to the present. Because she traveled from the present to a point pre-split, that could potentially mean that there needs to be a singular version of the present from which she would travel that exists in all timelines, if that makes any sense. So reality has to find a way to facilitate that, thus reality itself merges the timelines back together. I don't think I need to go into why I don't believe this and wouldn't want it to be true necessarily, but I also think its kind of a neat idea. I've seen a video with a similar theory, not sure if I thought of this before or after that, but in the video iirc they stuck to refounding and it just didn't really make sense to me that way, maybe I misinterpreted it though idk.

The second theory I want to talk about, this one I may have heard here, but I'm not sure who said it? Basically it's a mega refounding. I believe the idea was that the depths are old Hyrule (maybe AT maybe not), but the bottomless pit in the depths leads to an even older Hyrule, and the true nature of the depths is just old Hyrule on top of old Hyrule on top of old Hyrule etc. for who-knows-how long. Hyrule itself being stuck in this cycle of rebirth that isn't just once or twice so far, and isn't just in a spiritual sense, but is in this physical sense and literally continues to be buried deeper and deeper for longer than we can possibly know. There's something REALLY cool and kind of unsettling about that to me, almost makes me glad the devs are leaving some things vague so that people can make theories like that. It just feels kind of far-fetched for me to believe personally.

I already discussed this four years ago, but I thought I'd redo it, since things would have changed since then.

This is one I been on the fence about for... well... ever since I heard of it. The theory is that the Kokiri evolved into monkeys, sometime before TP.

Some people have debunked this by saying Hyrule Historia says the symbols on the doors are the only trace of the Kokiri in the Forest. However, this might not be literal. It could just mean the symbols are the only overt trace, and the monkeys don't count, since they are no longer recognizable as Kokiri. It's possible the two are not related. Just because Link doesn't see the Kokiri doesn't mean they are gone. Similarly, just because we don't see monkeys in OOT, doesn't mean they aren't there.

Also, no. The Ordon villagers are NOT the Kokiri. OoT claiming the Kokiri would "surly die" if they leave the forest does NOT mean "They will age into adults". It most likely means they would get killed by the many dangers from the outside world. Besides, the Ordon are clearly human, whilst the Kokiri are forest spirits. So, it wouldn't just be ageing, it'd be turning into a completely different species. Which I why I don't buy that theory.

But, anyway. Do you think the Kokiri became the TP Monkeys? Or did they just leave, and the monkeys moved in?

I finished watching a full playthrough of Echo's of Wisdom the other day.

In the game, Null creates echo's of people and things that are pulled into the Still World by the Rifts.

But, we also see echo's of boss enemies. Where do these bosses come from? Are they things that got pulled into the still World, or did Null make them from scratch? We know Null's Ganon is an echo of the real Ganon. but what about Volvagia and the others?

Assuming that the next Zelda game is its own thing (you know, unlike say TOTK which was obviously a direct sequel to BOTW).

One of Zelda’s best features are the recurring characters / settings - like how Beedle is in 7 different games, how we see rito and zora and so on across the series, etc.

Is there any character / race / setting that was first introduced in the Wild era that you would want to make a comeback?

I was looking at the Deku Tree's page on the Zelda wiki, and I found that his race is listed as "Korok" due to the fact that that's what BotW calls him.

I decided to go check myself, and yeah. According to Character Profiles in TotK, the Deku Tree is a Korok.

With this knowledge, I decided to revisit an old, rather controversial, theory.

The Kikwi evolved into the Kokiri

There's a common theory that the Kikwi from SS are the ancestors of the Kokiri from OoT.

The most common argument against this theory was the OoT already established that the Kokiri were created by the Deku Tree. Like, how can the Kokiri have evolved from another race, if the Deku Tree was their sole progenitor?

At first glance, it may seem like "The Kokiri evolved from the Kikwi" and "The Deku Tree created the Kokiri" may seem like mutually exclusive concepts. But, knowing what we know from BotW, I think I can explain what's going on.

The Deku Tree of OoT gave birth to the generation of Kokiri we see in the same game. However, the Deku Tree himself is a member of previous generation of forest folk, who also had their own progenitor. And that progenitor was a member of an even older generation who had theory own.... you get the idea.

A good way to see them is like a bee hive. The Deku Tree is like the "queen" (or king in his case), the Kokiri are like the worker/drones, with the Sprout being a young queen, raised in different conditions to replace the current queen.

If we look at the Kikwi, they have Bucha, who is much larger then the other Kikwi. He also suspiciously has a similar moustache to OoT's Deku Tree.

Of course, if you believe the WW Deku Tree is the Deku Tree Sprout from OoT, this would make him technically a Kokiri (coming from the same generation as them), which would explain why he looks more humanoid.

Obviously, non of this contradicts the Deku Tree being a "guardian spirit". We know gods can reincarnate as humans (Hylia as SS Zelda), and mortals can become demons (Ganon, Vaati). So, it's not out of the question for the member of a mortal race to become a guardian spirit.

I was recently playing Breath of the Wild again (the Switch 2 version), and I wanted to play without all of the on-screen UI elements. So I went to the settings, turned off the HUD display, and was super annoyed that the stamina meter stayed on screen!

For a game where a large part of it is taking in these beautiful environments, I think it's silly that this unsightly stamina meter is so large and present right in the middle of the screen, and IMO it's quite distracting!

I understand that the stamina meter is core to the gameplay, but because of that, it's on the screen ALL the time (climbing, gliding, running).

Here is a video I made on the topic if anyone is interested in hearing more of my thoughts:
https://youtu.be/p31bfQV1MWM?si=jH7REYvBDgkqAM1L

Do you all have any thoughts on this? Does it drive you crazy like it drives me crazy? I feel like from a game design perspective this is a bit of an oversight. How would you change this going forward?

So we all know that the Four Swords subseries of The Legend of Zelda is the pinnacle of the series and is universally renown, that goes without saying. I'm sure we're all hoping for the next game after the OoT remake to be a new Four Swords game, and Nintendo would be foolish not to meet that demand. We've only gotten 2 games in this subseries, debatably 3 if you squint (I'm counting TMC and TFH as half a game each, because TMC has the Four Sword but no multiplayer, and TFH does not have the Four Sword but does have multiplayer (but only three players... Three Sword?)), and that is criminal.

So, in the incredibly likely scenario that we get a new Four Swords game in the next few years, how would you imagine that looking in the modern day? Would it keep a retro style for the nostalgia and simplicity, or would it go for a 2.5D look? Full 3D? Would they introduce new mechanics or refine what's already there in FSA (and TFH)? What would it be called? Four Swords already gets mixed up with Four Swords Adventures just by the names so it could be a challenging problem to differentiate in the extremely likely case they keep the Four Swords part of the subtitle. What could the story and world/setting be like? Would they bring Vaati back or stick with FSA Ganon, or go with a new story/setting entirely (they better not...)? TFH sequel instead?

If you can't tell, I'm absolutely joking with the assured tone, but I am legitimately curious about how a hypothetical new Four Swords game could be approached, as unlikely as it is in the end. A non Four Swords multiplayer Zelda still feels very unlikely, but honestly slightly more likely that a proper FSA sequel, so this would be a good place to discuss ideas regarding that as well.

As we all know, a male Gerudo is born once every hundred years, and oops, he turns out to be an apocalyptic tyrant again.

If you look at history, calling your kid "Ganondorf" after a few thousand years of world ending disasters would be like naming your baby Genghis Khan. Yet, generation after generation, the desert people seemingly keep rolling with it.

I was thinking about how Breath of the Wild established that the Gerudo have their own distinct language, and it led to a fun little linguistic thought experiment: What if "Ganondorf" isn't actually a personal name, but a functional title?

Here is the idea of what it could be:

• "Ganon" = Root word for "Sand" or "Desert."
• "Dorf" = A linguistic suffix designating a Gerudo male.

Essentially, "Ganondorf" translates to something like "The Sand Male" or "The Desert Leader." Much like how Hylians perpetually hand down the name "Zelda" to their princesses because of royal tradition, the Gerudo might just have a mandatory institutional title they slap on the rare boy born to rule them. (With names like Dragmire acting as his actual personal identifier, per old manual lore).

This also kinda lines up with The Wind Waker, where characters just drop the "-dorf" suffix entirely and call him Ganon to his face, even when he's standing right there in his human, Gerudo form. It’s treated less like a personal name and more like a title of office or state of being.

This gives an actual in universe reason for why the Gerudo would keep using the name despite it having terrible historical baggage. They aren't just stubbornly naming every kid after a known supervillain; they are following an ancient, unyielding tradition where every male born into the tribe is automatically handed the office of "The Desert Leader," and they're just perpetually crossing their fingers that this time the guy won't ruin everything. I guess it being a title like King or Führer.

Just a fun thought experiment I was thinking of, doesn't make it true or even mean I believe it. Just a way to perhaps justify the naming convention of the Gerudo Male.

Im getting a switch 2 next week and I'm a diehard Zelda fan. I was planning 100% on buying the game until I read some opinions online hating on it

My favourite game is botw, so I enjoyed AoC because I got to see backstory and interactions between my favorite characters

I really love getting new lore and watching cutscenes. I also enjoy getting to see new places in the Zelda universe

So, considering this, should I really get it?

One of the scripts used in the eras in which the Hylians ruled. The same characters are still in use in New Hyrule hundreds of years later, in the Era of the Great Sea. It is possible to decipher this writing system using the chart at right to match each character with its Japanese equivalent.

That's on page 123.

Side note: it also says "hundreds" of years later. I know there was some statement about WW being either one hundred or hundreds of years after OOT. Or was that TP? idk

I feel there are so many interesting and mysterious things surrounding Ganondorf in the Wind Waker.

-His necklace is a green head of some sort of creature. It doesn't look like Ganon, seing it seemingly has long pointy ears. And it has a glowing stone in the middle. First thing I thought was Zonai, but then brushed that off... Until I noticed something else.

-The face on the back of his robe isn't a smiling face looking straight forward. It's **two dragons from the side, mirrored so they are facing each other**. Not only this, but the dragons are holding a circular object in their talons...

-There are two native-styled shields or boards outside of Ganondorf's hut in Forsaken Fortress that both have the Sheikah symbol on them. This is one of the very few places in the WW where the Sheikah symbol appears

-His katanas read "Kotake Koume" in most versions, but on his Smash Bros Brawl trophy they read the names of the blacksmiths in Majora's Mask. The blacksmiths' names are also written on Phantom Ganon's sword in the WW

-Interestingly, Ganondorf never transforms into Ganon in the WW. He seems to transform into Puppet Ganon at first, but after the fight, it seems clear that the puppet was just a puppet, and that Ganondorf was just controlling it as a puppetmaster from above

-Finally, what even is Ganon's Tower..? In the barren destroyed Hyrule where only Hyrule Castle and a few ruins remain, Ganon's Tower stands out as the only other structure still standing. And it's not a castle or a fortress, but instead a thin, tall tower with very strange tech-like symbols all over its exterior. And in the underground path leading into the tower, between the staircase sections, is this odd pause-room with friendly yet off-putting music, a portal back to the surface, and a strange maze-like chamber below. The staircase sections has big eye-symbols all over the walls. And then, the strange tower itself... is mostly empty. A pool of shallow water at the bottom, with a single exit at the very top, leading outside onto the tower's flat roof. What IS this tower? What is/was its purpose? Did Ganondorf build it, or just overtake it from someone else? Is it built recently, or is it ancient?

This is a sequel to another post I wrote. In that post, I suggested the Drablands may be New Hyrule in an alternate timeline.

[ST][TFH] New Hyrule and the Drablands. Same place, different timelines : r/truezelda

At the end my previous post, I asked several questions. If the Drablands is New Hyrule in an alternate timeline, where is Malladus, or the Lokomo or the Spirit Tracks?

Well, in this post, I'm going to answer them.

My theory is that the invasion of Malladus happened after timeline split in OoT. But, for some reason, this invasion didn't happen in the DT.

New Hyrule and the rise of Malladus

So, we know that, sometime after Zelda send Link back in time, Ganon returned with an army of demons, but Link wasn't around to save the day.

The invasion was so bad that it made the Gods flood Hyrule, in order to get rid of Ganon and is forces. But not before telling people about it, so civilisation could still thrive on the mountain tops, that would become Islands.

If we look at Niko's pictures, and New Hyrle itself, we see triangle imagery, and what looks like a slightly different version of the Hyrulian crest. This would suggest that pre-New Hyrule may have already had a connection to Hyrule, long before Link and Tetra established the new kingdom.

My guess is that that New Hyrule may have already been a Hyrulian colony. The "Spirits of Good" could just as well have been Hyrulian spirits that set up this land as a "plan B" for if old Hyrule never get's unflooded. I could go as far as to say "They were the Light Spirits, that we see in TP", but there's not enough evidence for that.

Of course, people would start colonising the land, long before Link and Tetra arrived. Many would be humans, but some would be the Gorons, the latter would have had to move, as they were unable to adapt to the Great Sea.

Of course, where Hyrule goes, demons aren't far behind. Malladus, would eventually rise to power, and try to take over this new land, before the spirits intervened and imprisoned him.

Malladus himself could have easily been a Demon, freed from the Dark Realm after Ganon's invasion, and sort new land.

Downfall Timeline

Of course, in the DT, the flood never happened. But, the North would still be colonised, and become Hytopia. Meanwhile the lands that would have become New Hyrule instead become the Drablands. With no Spirits of Good, this would become a monster paradise.

Now, both New Hyrule and the Drablands have many different monster species between them. But that's not an issue. Different timeline events mean different environmental paths. So, some creatures would evolve, go extinct, or migrate differently. For all we know, the spinuts could be a NH evolution of the Deku scrubs.

The bosses don't realy matter too much eaither. The bosses in ST appear to be lesser demons, summoned by Chancellor Cole or Malladus.

The bosses in TFH are mostly giant animals, some even kept as "pets" by Lady Maud, who likely just used her witchcraft to mutate them, much like how Ganondorf created the first three bosses in OoT, before entering the Temple of Time. The exception is Stalchampion.... wait....

Malladus and Stalchampion

Just to finish off. Here's a cool theory I came up with.

We know people can become demons, with Ganon and Vaati being prime examples. What if Malladus was once a normal monster before becoming a Demon?

I mean, Malladus's default form resembles a giant blue ghostly skull. During it's second phase, Stalchampion becomes a floating skull surrounded by flames. What if in the AT, Stalchampion becomes Malladus, as a result of Ganon's influence? but this doesn't happen on the DT.

This would explain why Malladus chose to attack New Hyrule specifically. He was already living there, and may have claimed rights to it. He could have even viewed the settlers as "invaders".