High Times in Hyrule
Mar. 25th, 2009 12:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovatAs I'm sure anyone who has investigated the timeline of the Zelda games knows, it's very convoluted. I believe the official explanation is that there are two branches of time following Ocarina of Time, one in which Link lived out his entire childhood, and one where he skipped a few years thanks to the Temple of Time. There are plenty of other issues to deal with as well, like when Vaati was active relative to Ganon, and which Link is the hero of Link's Awakening. There's even been some talk of A Link to the Past taking place AFTER the first two games, despite its title. And I really don't know much of anything about Phantom Hourglasses or Twilight Princesses. But general wisdom seems to be that Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a direct sequel to the first game (well, duh), and LttP a prequel. OoT is, in turn, a prequel to LttP, showing the Imprisoning War that's mentioned as history in the earlier game. And with that in mind, let's take a look at the development of the Land of Hyrule from one game to another. Here are the relevant maps that I could find:
The Overworld in the original Legend of Zelda
The world of Zelda II: AoL
Map of Hyrule from the Valiant comic series (non-canonical, but pretty accurate as far as I can see)
Hyrule from LttP
Hyrule from OoT
You'll notice that the entire overworld from the first game is crammed into the southwest corner of the second, sort of like what was done in the first two Dragon Quest games. The Valiant comic map does a decent job of showing locations from both of these games in relation to each other. LttP shows essentially the same land as the first LoZ, but it's much more settled (in the Light World, anyway). The OoT map looks confusing at first, with familiar landmarks in totally different locations, but it makes more sense when viewed at an angle, with Lake Hylia in the lower right corner and the Gerudo desert in the lower left. Hyrule Castle does appear to have been moved, but maybe the King wasn't comfortable having his home so close to Death Mountain.
If we look at the maps in chronological order, it seems to show a kingdom in decline. Some of the races from OoT, like the Gorons and the Gerudo, are no longer present in LttP. It's possible they're in hiding (as the Zora seem to be) or have relocated to other lands, but the fact remains that LttP's population is much less diverse. And the first game, when viewed by this lens, looks positively post-apocalyptic. There's a large graveyard where Kakariko Village used to stand, and a lake with two islands in place of the castle. Pretty much all the people are squatting in caves trying to scam money from each other ("door repair charge," my ass). Even without all the monsters, it would be pretty bleak. AoL reveals that there are actual towns outside the limits of the first map, however, and most of them are named after sages from OoT (Rauru, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, and Nabooru). Actually, looking at it from a real-world perspective, I guess it's the sages who were named after the towns, but within the fiction the sages came first.
The Overworld in the original Legend of Zelda
The world of Zelda II: AoL
Map of Hyrule from the Valiant comic series (non-canonical, but pretty accurate as far as I can see)
Hyrule from LttP
Hyrule from OoT
You'll notice that the entire overworld from the first game is crammed into the southwest corner of the second, sort of like what was done in the first two Dragon Quest games. The Valiant comic map does a decent job of showing locations from both of these games in relation to each other. LttP shows essentially the same land as the first LoZ, but it's much more settled (in the Light World, anyway). The OoT map looks confusing at first, with familiar landmarks in totally different locations, but it makes more sense when viewed at an angle, with Lake Hylia in the lower right corner and the Gerudo desert in the lower left. Hyrule Castle does appear to have been moved, but maybe the King wasn't comfortable having his home so close to Death Mountain.
If we look at the maps in chronological order, it seems to show a kingdom in decline. Some of the races from OoT, like the Gorons and the Gerudo, are no longer present in LttP. It's possible they're in hiding (as the Zora seem to be) or have relocated to other lands, but the fact remains that LttP's population is much less diverse. And the first game, when viewed by this lens, looks positively post-apocalyptic. There's a large graveyard where Kakariko Village used to stand, and a lake with two islands in place of the castle. Pretty much all the people are squatting in caves trying to scam money from each other ("door repair charge," my ass). Even without all the monsters, it would be pretty bleak. AoL reveals that there are actual towns outside the limits of the first map, however, and most of them are named after sages from OoT (Rauru, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, and Nabooru). Actually, looking at it from a real-world perspective, I guess it's the sages who were named after the towns, but within the fiction the sages came first.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 09:16 pm (UTC)Probably worse, actually. I guess Din, Farore, and Nayru would be the equivalents of Lurline, wouldn't they?
Would you consider coming up with timelines and geography lessons for some of the Final Fantasy worlds? Do you think any of the FF series inhabit the same world (disregarding Tactics and FFXII, which are set in the same world but different continents)?
That would be interesting. I know there were several attempts to tie together the first few games, but it gets a little more complicated with some of the later ones. Actually, didn't the first Tactics include locations from all of seven games that were then in the main series?
no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 09:31 pm (UTC)That I'm not sure of, as I haven't played the Tactics games yet. But Cloud does make an appearance for some reason. (As a summon?)
As if FFXII didn't make it confusing enough with two Cids (Dr. Cid the mad scientist and Al-Cid Margrave the pacifist, flamboyant prince of Rozarria), FFXII: Revenant Wings gives us a third Cid: Cid the non-human sage who's kind and somewhat important to the storyline, not to mention the only playable representative of his race, so he goes by another race's rule sets.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 09:40 pm (UTC)I must admit, I've puzzled over the the Zelda timeline many times. All I've decided on is that the Oracle games on the Gameboy Color come before "Link's Awakening," though some want to say it happened while Link was crossing the Ocean in Zelda II. (I don't go for these stories within a story, at least, not in this case, because to play the games with that chronology, you'd have to stop playing one game to play another to go right back to the other game. "The Horse and His Boy," in another, non-video game series, is an exception to that dislike of mine...)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 09:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 11:54 pm (UTC)Yeah, something like that. And don't the Kingdom Hearts games also use some FF characters, including a mysteriously not-dead Aeris? I haven't played any of them myself.
Do all those Cids at least have different last names?
no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-25 11:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-03-26 03:35 am (UTC)