If Hyrule was real...

Hi, this is my first post on these boards. I'm a little strapped for time so forgive me for minor mistakes and I'll try and keep it as short as I can.

We all know Hyrule is fictional but what if Hyrule was a real place? I don't mean there IS a Hyrule, I mean if Hyrule was real and not a videogame location, where do you think it would be?

After some thought I have come to the idea that Hyrule would be in ancient Celtic Scotland. I came across alot of things to back up my idea.

First off is the scenery. With the exception of Gerrudo Valley the scenery in Zelda seems straight from the Scottish country side on a summers day to me. The green feilds, the forests and lakes with a cluster of mountains to the north. Plus the Scottish highlands are riddled with caves and waterfalls and at one point they had alot of villages.
Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3

Next is music: The music tends to have a medievil sound to it, naturally but the music of the Lost Woods in OOT and 90% of Wind Wakers soundtrack sounds very Scottish with Scottish beats and instruments. Infact you even hear bagpipes in the WW theme if you listen carefully.
I looked it up and it turns out Ocarinas are celtic in origin.

Other small things such as there being a Celtic Goddess of horses called....Yes, Epona. The Celtics had a good luck charm that was made up of a gold triangle. Called a "Celtic Tri-Knot Triquetra Charm"
There was a tree called "The Tree of Life" as well as the fact Princess Zelda dressed very close to the Princess of Spring.

These are simply a few things that have led me to beileve that The LoZ games are based in Celtic Scotland. What do you think?

Pretty good research . I think Zelda is based from Celtic,Scotland,also.

Thanks I'm sure with deeper research I or anyone could come up with alot more evidence but I personally will always consider it based in Celtic Scotland,intentional or not.

That's all good research, those pics look a lot like Hyrule. Now the Triforce did not originate from Scotland it orginated from Japan, you see the Triforce in real life is the Hondo family crest. And Zelda really is just a princess, if you look at numerous fairy tales and fantasy stories you'll see a lot of princesses are simular.

P.S: Excellent work!

Wow!
This really proves that Zelda borrowed from the Celtic mythology!
But some of Zelda's characters are based in Greek mythology...

Originally Posted by Sotiris

Wow!
This really proves that Zelda borrowed from the Celtic mythology!
But some of Zelda's characters are based in Greek mythology...

Who?

P.S: I actually find this quite interesting.

Originally Posted by Tetra`s Tracker

Who?

P.S: I actually find this quite interesting.

The cyclopes (cyclops singular, cyclopes plural) in ALttP dark world are a Greek creature. "Hera" is a Greek goddess, but it's unclear if the Tower of Hera is actually named after her. Lynels seem quite Greek...

As for Zelda being based on Celtic Scotland, you've got to remember that Scotland has tragically lost over 99% of its original forests. Had it not been for the actions of man in the past centuries, Scotland would be heavily forested, rather than as treeless as much of it is today. It's only in the past 80 years or so that Scotland's forests are being restored. In Celtic times Scotland, like the rest of the UK, would still be covered by the great forest.

Although there are Celtic themes in Zelda, I think it's more likely to be set in a Medieval time period. The castles, knights, towns, villages all seem more Medieval than Celtic, as does the culture and religion - the Celts certainly had nothing like the Temple of Time, or any of the other temples, although they did associate natural features (such as groves of trees, springs of water, and probably volcanoes had there been any in Britain) with religion, so the location of the temples fits a Celtic mentality (other than the Temple of Time).

Overall, than, Zelda is probably based more in a Medieval British/west European setting, but with Celtic style undertones from the past.

Yeah all good points. I guess in my heart I'll always see it as Celtic inspired. I knew the Triforce was a crest of a samurai family at one point. Thanks for hearing me out though.

By the way incase some people didnt get it I was trying to link the Celtic Tree of Life with the Deku Tree.

Originally Posted by Showsni

The cyclopes (cyclops singular, cyclopes plural) in ALttP dark world are a Greek creature. "Hera" is a Greek goddess, but it's unclear if the Tower of Hera is actually named after her. Lynels seem quite Greek...

As for Zelda being based on Celtic Scotland, you've got to remember that Scotland has tragically lost over 99% of its original forests. Had it not been for the actions of man in the past centuries, Scotland would be heavily forested, rather than as treeless as much of it is today. It's only in the past 80 years or so that Scotland's forests are being restored. In Celtic times Scotland, like the rest of the UK, would still be covered by the great forest.

Although there are Celtic themes in Zelda, I think it's more likely to be set in a Medieval time period. The castles, knights, towns, villages all seem more Medieval than Celtic, as does the culture and religion - the Celts certainly had nothing like the Temple of Time, or any of the other temples, although they did associate natural features (such as groves of trees, springs of water, and probably volcanoes had there been any in Britain) with religion, so the location of the temples fits a Celtic mentality (other than the Temple of Time).

Overall, than, Zelda is probably based more in a Medieval British/west European setting, but with Celtic style undertones from the past.

Medieval isn't a nation....its a time period. There were celts in medieval times...there were celts in ancient times....go celts...all the way.

Originally Posted by Showsni

As for Zelda being based on Celtic Scotland, you've got to remember that Scotland has tragically lost over 99% of its original forests.

If I'm correct then we here in scotland only populate a rather small part of the country. in the south and east we have cities but I don't think in the north,west or center of
Scotland, you'll find anything bigger than a village or very small town.

I've been hill climbing and the view was amazing. On one side I saw an ocean and on the other was sprawling forests,hills and mountains. I really think its worth doing at least once if you ever visit. Lol there was even this weird group of thorns at the bottom with fences and stuff and I had to walk through it like some zelda puzzle. Then near the top, the ground under my foot crumbled and I almost fell but I got my balance back just in time. From the peak, thinking back it was a very Hyrule-esque veiw.

yea...if it was real.....I would be a hyrulian knight...and kick ass.

Originally Posted by Drakul

If I'm correct then we here in scotland only populate a rather small part of the country. in the south and east we have cities but I don't think in the north,west or center of
Scotland, you'll find anything bigger than a village or very small town.

I've been hill climbing and the view was amazing. On one side I saw an ocean and on the other was sprawling forests,hills and mountains. I really think its worth doing at least once if you ever visit. Lol there was even this weird group of thorns at the bottom with fences and stuff and I had to walk through it like some zelda puzzle. Then near the top, the ground under my foot crumbled and I almost fell but I got my balance back just in time. From the peak, thinking back it was a very Hyrule-esque veiw.

I've only been to Scotland once - it was very beautiful, though. We drove all the way through, and then got the ferry to the Orkneys. Perhaps a Wind Waker influence? I was on the mainland, Hoy and Sanday.

Originally Posted by Showsni

I know. I meant a medieval time period.

Well......where do you think the celts went during that time? Its not like they disapeared.


Though why are we talking aboot celts and scotland?

I thought after the defeat of Vercingetorix by the romans....most of the celts fled to ireland.

I may be wrong...anyway...just because you think the celts did not have knights and castles..which they did....doesnt mean they werent present in medieval times.

aaaanyway....yah...scotland is a beautiful place.

After the Roman invasion, the Celts were pushed into the extremeties - Scotland, Ireland, Wales, etc. Once the Romans had gone they made a brief comeback, but then the Saxon invaders started pushing them back and diluting their blood. The Celts never really left places like Scotland, Ireland, etc, but as time passed they lose most of the Celtic ways of their forebears - like, say, the original Hylians who aren't seen in any games could be the Celts, and the modern Hyrulians are the offspring of them and other people.

Hyrule may be based on Scotland, and parts of Zelda could be inspiried by Celtic religion, but I'm sort of torn between thinking it's coincidence and it's intentinal. The more I Think about it, I reckon the similarities are intentional, I mean you can't get that many coincidences in one go!!! Off Topic: I've noticed that a lot of my posts have been disappearing off threads lately. I don't know why, but I haven't done anything to get banned. Has this ever happened to you?

Zelda is actually based on a mixture of different Mythologies/Cultures...Celtic,Norsk,Japanese and ...
Thats why its so uniqe .