Master's Analysis of Geography

Since my last geography thread was insanely popular, and we've got another game to play around with, I thought it'd be a great time to create another geography thread. In this thread, I will be analyzing the geography of just about every Zelda game, and will even attempt to combine the maps of other lands. Also, I shall tackle the TP Hyrule vs. OoT Hyrule debate and will show where I stand on the whole issue. As with before, I will make shorter articles and add them up over a few days' time, just to keep people visiting and to ensure discussion over each topic.

Old Old Hyrule and New Old Hyrule

Let's talk about the geography of Ocarina of Time versus the geography of Twilight Princess. Let's take a look at the maps for these two games.





As you can see, there are quite a few similarities between the two. However, there are also some fairly significant differences. Namely, they are the Great Bridge of Hylia, the Bridge of Eldin, the location of Death Mountain and Zora's Domain relative to each other, and the location of the Temple of Time.

Now, seeing as the Hylians have limited technology for building structures such as bridges, the Bridge of Eldin would have taken decades to build, and let's not even talk about how long the Great Bridge of Hylia would take. The only feasible explanation is that the Hyrule we see in Ocarina of Time is not the true Hyrule. Basically, the way Hyrule is arranged in OoT is meant purely for story purposes, as in, you're retelling the story to someone. However, with Twilight Princess, you are experiencing the events more first-hand and see things as they are, and not how you're percieving them when listening to the legend of the Hero of Time. In other words, Hyrule has been retconned. Old Hyrule is the Hyrule that we see in Twilight Princess, not Ocarina of Time.

Now, you can argue all you want, but pay attention to this. You go back in time when you step through the door of the Temple of Time in the Sacred Grove, right? If you say, "No, the restored Temple of Time is in an alternate dimension," then I suggest you read the door. It says "Time Door," meaning the door allows for travel through time. Anyway, when you run to the back room, you see that the Master Sword is missing. Because only a true Hero can wield the Master Sword, and we know of no other Heroes between OoT and TP, the only explanation that would not involve creating a massive amount of fanfiction would be that you are sent back to the time in which OoT occured, after the Hero of Time removed the Master Sword from the Pedestal of Time.

Of course, you'll argue against that. "Why didn't Link go back in time when he put the sword in the pedestal?" There's so many other questions that you may ask, but I'll just answer this one right now. The reason that Link didn't go back in time when he put the Master Sword in the pedestal was because he was not the Hero of Time, and hadn't needed to age in order to become the Hero.

I'm a bit tired right now, so I'll just stop that for now. This was the main thing I was hoping to do today. Maybe if I feel like it later on, I'll write up another article.

New Old Hyrule and New New Hyrule

In this section, I will be comparing the geography of Twilight Princess and The Minish Cap. Now, I shall only compare the natural geography. Meaning, you can pretty much just cut out Hyrule Castle and Castle Town. Besides, I'm just going to say it right now. They're pretty much in the same place, and are exactly the same relative to each other. Perhaps the TMC versions were built from the ruins of the ones from Twilight Princess? Perhaps it's purely coincidental? Whatever your explanation, it doesn't matter. I am not looking at them in this article as more than a frame of reference.

Now, let's take a look at the maps for Twilight Princess and The Minish Cap. Since I have already posted the map of Hyrule from Twilight Princess and will need the ten images I am allowed in a single post, I shall not post it again. Just scroll up a little bit and look at it. Here is the map for The Minish Cap.



Now, let's just start by establishing a frame of reference, or common place to determine relative location. Let's go with Hyrule Castle Town, as they are the same shape and approximately the same size. Now, let's identify some prominent landmarks. There's the mountain to the northwest, the massive waterfall and mountain to the northeast, the low-lying area to the southwest, the fields to the south, and the forests to the south and southeast. Relatively speaking, these areas are practically the same. However, there are a few specific things which must be addressed.

One of these issues is the desert in the southwest of Old Hyrule and the swamp in the southwest of New Hyrule. Well, you must take into account that I am a believer that the Great Sea drained over time, as with all floods which have occured in our own planet's history. In fact, Kansas used to be covered in water. Millions of years ago, there were fish where I'm sitting! But let's get back on topic. Taking into consideration that there was a flood, and the water eventually receded, we now have a low-lying area that was once devoid of water, and has now been saturated in it. Combined with the fact that this area was also a desert, we have perfect conditions for a swamp with quicksand to form.

The next thing we should look at is the Death Mountain/Zora's Domain area and how it becomes Veil Falls and the surrounding territory. The first thing I'd like to point out is that the map we see for TMC is a gameplay map, meaning, we see things as they are in the game. In reality, Cloud Tops would be high above Veil Falls, and there would be more mountains to the east of Veil Falls. These mountains would be in the exact same location as Death Mountain in Twilight Princess, with Veil Falls being approximately where Zora's Domain was. They also both have a similar underground water source, in which water flows from deep within the mountain and out through an opening in a large cavern. This strengthens the theory that they are the same location, only with different names and slightly different appearances.

Those are really the only things that needed explaining, but I should still explain the fairly obvious relationships. The portion of Hyrule Field located within Faron Province is Southern Hyrule Field from TMC, and the Minish Woods seen in TMC are an unexplored but nevertheless present forest east of Faron Province. As for Mount Crenel, it is Snowpeak from Twilight Princess.

The Evolution of New Hyrule, Part I

In this section, I shall display the similarities between the various shapes that New Hyrule takes on. The games I shall be comparing maps from are TMC, FSA, and ALttP. As you can clearly see, I have labeled this to be the first part of "The Evolution of New Hyrule." Seeing as New Hyrule has far more games than Old Hyrule, I feel that it'd be easier on me to write a shorter article with half the games, which would therefore be easier for you all to read.

Anyway, let's get started by putting up some maps. As I have already put up the map of Hyrule from TMC, you will have to scroll up to look at it, because I'm probably going to hit my ten image limit in this post. Now, here we have the map of Hyrule from FSA.


Until I can catch ZG21 online, I can't get a better map of Hyrule from FSA. So, you're just gonna have to deal with the level selection map. Anyway, here is the map of Hyrule from ALttP.


Notice that this is a gameplay map, showing exactly how the overworld is layed out.

Okay, so let's mark off areas that match up. Remembering that TMC's map is only meant for gameplay aspects, and doesn't show the true representation of Hyrule, we can assume that there is a mountain at the location of Cloud Tops on the map. This means that all three maps have two mountains in the northeast, one of which having a waterfall located either on it or in the immediate vicinity.

Next, there's the castle. If you look at the maps, then you will see that Castle Town is in the same relative location as Hyrule Castle from both FSA and ALttP. This could be due to the castle having been relocated for some reason. Anyway, the three are in the same location, so that is significant.

The last thing that all three maps have in common is a forested area in the northwest, with at least part of it bearing the name Lost Woods. Knowing that TMC's map is purely a gameplay map, we can safely assume that the forested area is larger than it is shown on the map. There is also the area within the Royal Valley that is called the Lost Woods, which isn't displayed, which provides logic behind the map misrepresenting the size of things.

Seeing as those things are all pretty much static and don't really change, let's take a look at things which two of the three games have in common. The first major thing is the Eastern Palace in FSA and ALttP, which is absent from TMC's map. It is quite possible that the Veil Falls River changed course at some time between TMC and FSA, which isn't completely out of the question seeing as it is something known to happen with rivers. Now that Lake Hylia doesn't have a constant source of water, it can dry up through evaporation, water consumption by the inhabitants of Hyrule, and seepage through the neighboring soil.

Now, if you would recall, Lake Hylia in TMC has quite a few shallow spots scattered throughout it, which implies that there is land just below the water's surface. If Lake Hylia were to drain, then the area which was once the lakebed would resemble the area surrounding the Eastern Palace in ALttP. Seeing as you don't see much of the surrounding area in FSA, we cannot tell if there were cliffs around the temple or not. However, seeing as TMC's Lake Hylia implies underwater cliffs and ALttP shows cliffs surrounding the Eastern Palace, it is very likely that there are such cliffs present during FSA which are not displayed on the map as it is meant to display relative location rather than an accurate representation of scale.

The next thing that two of the three maps share is a shouthwestern desert. FSA and ALttP both have a desert in the southwestern corner of Hyrule, whereas TMC has a swampy area. Now, recalling that the theory I chose to go with was that the Great Sea drained over time to reveal the land which was once Old Hyrule, it is very logical for the swamp to return to being a desert. Throughout our own history, swamps have been drained and forests have been cleared to provide farmland. This could have happened with Castor Wilds, but what the inhabitants of Hyrule soon discovered was that the area was far too sandy to grow crops in, so the area ended up reverting to a desert.

Now, let us turn our attention to the southeastern corner of Hyrule. In TMC we have the Minish Woods, which is a forested area with small streams running through it. In FSA, we have the Village of the Blue Maiden, which is a small town surrounded by forests with small pools of water scattered about the town entrance and the neighboring area. In ALttP, we have a new body of water named Lake Hylia.

My conclusion? The Minish Woods were located within a floodplain which was later cleared to make room for the Village of the Blue Maiden. However, because it was a floodplain, the area was prone to flooding. Eventually, the people of Hyrule were so fed up with the town being ravaged with every heavy rain that they decided to build a lake in the place of the town. In fact, if you look at the area surrounding the Village of the Blue Maiden, you will see that it bears a distinctly similar shape to ALttP's Lake Hylia.

Now, if you look at the maps, there is one major problem. Mount Crenel is located where the Lost Woods should be in FSA, but there's really no way that a mountain can just disappear. However, if you look at FSA's map, you will see that Lake Hylia greatly resembles the peaks of Death Mountain. The reason for this is because Lake Hylia in FSA is a crater lake. Basically, it used to be a volcano, but the crater eventually filled with rainwater. Seeing as Veil Falls is seismically active, according to my theory that it is Zora's Domain from TP, it could have become Lake Hylia in FSA after moving southeast, due to tectonic plates.

Now, I know that you'll tell me that it takes thousands of years for tectonic movement to be noticeable, but that's only on Earth. On other planets, such as Mars, tectonic activity happens (okay, happened, the planet's no longer geologically active) at a much quicker rate. It's entirely possible that the planet which Hyrule is in is much more geologically active than Earth and has much faster tectonic activity. It is this increased tectonic movement which is responsible for Mount Crenel moving to its current position in FSA, which is the western peak of Death Mountain.

However, if you disagree with that, then here's my other possible solution. Seeing as TMC's gameplay map is already as flawed as it is, and TMC itself is no better, then it's entirely possible that Mount Crenel has always been north of Hyrule Castle. By the time of FSA, it has been renamed Death Mountain, in order to further shape New Hyrule in the image of Old Hyrule. Now, if you need a better explanation for this, ask Lex about it. He's the one who suggested this to me just now, so don't be mad at me if you don't like this idea. I just agree with him that TMC's gameplay-based map is highly flawed and that it's more likely that Mount Crenel is actually north of Hyrule Castle. However, like I said, take any complaints up with him.

The Evolution of New Hyrule, Part II

Alright, so I've finally gotten around to updating the thread again with a new article. I'm very sorry about the two or three week delay. Anyway, in this article, I shall compare the maps of Hyrule from ALttP and AoL. No, I didn't leave LoZ out. Its overworld is located in the southwestern-most area of Hyrule in AoL. So, before I go any further, I will put up a map of Hyrule from AoL.



Now, let's see the map from LoZ.



Compare it to the southwestern-most part of Hyrule in the AoL map, and you will see that they are practically identical. Quite some time ago, ZeldaGamer21 pointed out to me that the southwest corner must be Hyrule from LoZ, which is clearly evident when you take a look at the two maps. The significance of that discovery is that it proves the map from the Valiant comics to be incorrect, thus strengthening the order of canon which has games on the top and comics on the bottom. Oh, and just to let you all know, I did use the section of the Valiant that showed Hyrule from LoZ. It was just more convenient for me to use an artist's rendition instead of a gameplay map, as it's a bit more flexible and a bit more realistic in appearance. Now, for the sake of convenience on your part, I will display the map from ALttP once again so you don't have to scroll back and forth between maps in order to see what I'm talking about.



Alright, so just like before, let's see what areas hold consistent. Oh, but wait! There's nothing left that matches identically! Okay, so let's look at areas that are similar. We can see a river running from the northeast of Hyrule to the center, where it then encircles at least one island. To the southeast of that, we have a relatively large body of water with rocky, raised terrain adjacent to it. To the north and slightly to the east of that body of water, we can see an area full of cliffs and hills. North of that area we see the source of Hyrule's fresh water, a slightly raised reservoir with cliffs surrounding it. To the west of that we can see the jagged peaks of the volcanic Death Mountain. To the southwest of the landmark known as Spectacle Rock, we can see evidence of a Hyrulean settlement. ALttP's map has Kakariko Village, whereas LoZ's map has a graveyard. To the south of that area we can see a large area which recieves little rainfall (remember, in LoZ the trees in that area were brown), with a grassy area to the east of it.

Now that we've spotted the similarities between the two maps, there's still major issues that need addressing. Specifically, they are how Hyrule Castle disappeared and was replaced by two small islands, how Lake Hylia and Zora's Waterfall have almost completely dried up, how the entire eastern peak of Death Mountain vanished and a new mountain appeared to the west of the Bespectacled Peak, and how Kakariko Village was destroyed and turned into a massive graveyard. So, let's just go with the first issue, which concerns Hyrule Castle.

Looking at the rivers of Hyrule in the maps of ALttP and LoZ, it is easy to see that they follow an almost identical path. Zora's Waterfall is located in the northeast, and the resulting river follows a straight path to the west. It then turns south and enters the central area of Hyrule. This is just about all that matches up in terms of connected rivers. However, take a look just to the northwest of Hyrule Castle's moat. There's a small pond located there, which has a similarly shaped body of water in the exact same location in LoZ's map. It's entirely possible that the land seperating the moat of Hyrule Castle from the pond was eroded away by the moat itself, which is actually a river flowing around the castle and beneath the land bridges connecting to the castle.

We still haven't answered the question of how Hyrule Castle vanished and two islands formed, but we're on the right track. Seeing as that area of land was eroded away by the constant aggravation of the river flowing around the castle and the occassional flood, it's very likely that the land beneath Hyrule Castle was also worn away throughout the ages. If you look at the river where it flows into Hyrule Castle's moat, you can see that it runs into a wall of earth before splitting off to the sides. Where the river slams into the land is where a considerable amount of erosion would take place, which would eventually result in there not being enough earth beneath the castle wall wall to support its weight, and would cause it to collapse into the river.

Over time, a similar thing would happen to the rest of the ground upon which Hyrule Castle is built, which would result in there being only two small islands surrounded by a massive river. Now, if you're wondering what areas from ALttP's map became the islands in LoZ, just take a look at what's on the islands and where they're located. The island with the first dungeon is located in the northeast of the body of water and has a tree perched upon it, so it is most likely the eastern part of the castle courtyard.

Now, for the western island. It's located a bit farther south than the one to the east, and has a stone structure on it. Taking note of the northwest body of water which branchs off of the rivers in LoZ's map, we can't say that the western island comes from the land upon which Hyrule Castle was built. However, notice how there's a narrow body of water to the west of Hyrule Castle in ALttP's map. Just to the east of the bottom tip is the Dwarven Smithy, which is a stone house. Eventually, the river surrounding the castle may have worn away the earth around the hill the smithy is located upon, which would leave it as an isolated island. It is unclear as to whether or not the rope and log ladder at the base of the hill survived, but it is something worthy to take note of.

The next issue which needs addressing is Lake Hylia. In ALttP, we see that it is a massive lake full of fresh water, but in the same area in LoZ, all that's left is a small pond. However, there is evidence of there being a lake there a relatively short time ago. Notice how the area surrounding the southeast pond is, for the most part, clear of trees. It appears as if something caused the river which flowed around Hyrule Castle to stop draining into Lake Hylia. Perhaps the land bridge connected to the castle collapsed at some time, which would introduce a reason for a wooden bridge to be made that later allows access to the first dungeon in LoZ. Now, taking into consideration my theory that ALttP's Lake Hylia is a man-made lake, it seems possible that it would have needed a constant supply of water to keep it full. Without a river feeding into it, the lake's supply of water would have seeped into the ground beneath it and evaporated into the air. Eventually, all that would remain would be a small pond.

Next, let's look at Zora's Waterfall. In ALttP, it's a massive reservoir of water located relatively high above the rest of Hyrule. However, by the time of LoZ it is almost completely dried up. Looking at the area in ALttP, it seems that the water comes from the melting of glaciers located up on Death Mountain. With every passing year, the snow on the mountain piles up on top of a large mass of ice which is slowly sliding down the mountain. As it melts nearer to the base of the mountain, it provides large amounts of water to supply the rivers of Hyrule. This is a great thing, as it represents the life and death cycles of nature over a yearly basis with the winter freezing and summer thawing. Looking at the amount of water coming off the glacier over a large period of time, it would appear fairly constant. The winter snows would balance out the summer thaws.

So, if we have this nearly perfect cycle going on, how is it that Zora's Waterfall dried up? Well, take note that for this cycle to work, there must be a mountain for the snows to pile up on and form a slow-moving river of ice. This is clearly present in ALttP. However, if you look at the map of Hyrule from LoZ, you'll see that there is no mountain near Zora's Waterfall. No mountain means no glacier, and no glacier means no water. Well, let's remember that this is the same area as Veil Falls from TMC and Zora's Domain from TP, which had underwater sources of water which were forced up out of the ground, quite possibly due to some sort of heating of the water due to magma. So, wait, if we've got that magma there, isn't it going to build up over time? That brings us to how the eastern peak of Death Mountain disappeared.

We know that Death Mountain is an active volcano. In fact, it seems quite obvious in ALttP, despite the fact that it's never explicitly stated. So, if we've got an active volcano, that means something's going to happen. Eventually, it's going to erupt. All throughout Death Mountain's past, as far as we know, it's been relatively peaceful. All the eruptions have been very small in comparison to those our own planet has seen. So, let's take a look at some of our planet's eruptions. I think the best example I can give is that of Mount St. Helens.

On May 18th, 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted. It didn't just erupt; it exploded. Much of the volcano's cone was blown away during the eruption, and the surrounding area was devastated. Forests were charred and buried in piles of ash, homes were destroyed, and people's lives were lost. Who's to say that Death Mountain didn't blow in a similar, and perhaps even more devastating way? Seeing as we have no accounts of particularly devastating eruptions, only minor ones which resulted in the jettison of "volcanic bombs" (small clumps of magma which cool in the air and fall to the ground as volcanic rock), isn't it entirely possible that no such eruptions have occured for thousands of years? Well, perhaps not since some time prior to TP, where we see a massive bulb of lava which seems to be the result of runny lava quickly cooling as it flew through the air. Still, there are hundreds of years between TP and ALttP, which is often all a volcano needs to recharge.

At some time between ALttP and LoZ, the eastern peak of Death Mountain violently erupted. Almost the entire mountain was destroyed by the eruption, which would have likely bombarded all of Hyrule with chunks of rock and would have, sent a cloud of ash into the atmosphere which would have blocked out sunlight for months. However, seeing as winds typically blow from the west to the east, I doubt this cloud of ash would pose much of a threat to Hyrule. Regardless of that, the eastern peak of Death Mountain is now almost completely gone. Considering the things which would have occured during the volcano's eruption (massive explosions of magma and volcanic gas, pyroclastic flows, etc.) it is likely that the glacier is no longer there, as it has either been blown to bits, sent halfway across the world, melted, or a combination of the three. Now there's only small underground springs to supply Zora's Waterfall with water, which would eventually cause it to dry up to the extent that it has in LoZ.

There are two more things that I need to address, and those are the formation of the western part of the Death Mountain Range and the destruction of Kakariko Village. Luckily, these two go hand in hand with each other. Beneath the Lost Woods, a massive reservoir of magma has been building up over thousands of years. I feel that I should say that this would have been going on long before the events of OoT, as I don't want you all to think I'm saying the timeline spans many thousands of years. At the very most, I feel it takes place over the course of two or three thousand years, but nothing more than that. Anyway, quite some time after the eastern peak of Death Mountain erupted, the magma chamber beneath the Lost Woods blew up, which may have resulted in large sections of rock to settle in unnatural positions, forming a small chain of mountains formed of giant slabs of rock. Over time, the frequent eruptions in this area would create larger mountains out of layers of cooled lava.

Now, when the magma chamber beneath the Lost Woods explodes, it would be much like the way scientists predict Yellowstone National Park will eventually erupt. Allow me to explain. The entire area is located upon a massive magma chamber. This attributes to the many geisers and other related phenomena in the park. Eventually, the rock above the magma chamber will be stressed by the pressure of the magma chamber to the point that it will simply give, which would cause a massive eruption that would send volcanic ash many miles into the air. This cloud would cover most of the United States and block out the sun, fall to the ground in nearby areas and suffocate people, and would cause a change in global climate.

Essentially, Kakariko and the rest of Hyrule suffer from these same things. The eruption would create a massive cloud of volcanic ash, which would suffocate the people of Kakariko and block out the sun for the rest of Hyrule. Seeing as Hyrule is a country remiscent of European countries during the Middle Ages, we can tell that Hyrule's main source of food is agriculture. One of the main aspects of agriculture is farming crops which can be eaten by either people or livestock. However, seeing as the cloud of volcanic ash would block out the sunlight for a few months at the very least, plants wouldn't be able to grow. Without plants, livestock wouldn't have any food to eat. Without livestock to provide various food products for them, the people of Hyrule would have experienced a massive famine.

Seeing as Kakariko was closest to the eruption, it would have been hit hardest. By the time this eruption would occur, Kakariko would most likely be a thriving city with a massive population. This large population would require an equally large amount of food to sustain itself on a daily basis, and with no way to grow crops in other parts of Hyrule, many of the people who may have managed to survive the cloud of ash would end up starving to death. Additionally, there would be the threat of fires caused by lava flows, which would further decimate the city and the most of the remainder of the city's population. Eventually, the cloud would settle, and the people of Hyrule would want to pay tribute to those who had died in the disaster. For this reason, the area was made into a graveyard to offer a place for the lost souls of the people of Kakariko to find eternal rest.

The entire country of Hyrule would be so affected by this disaster that it would just be easier to search for a new place to live instead of rebuild the area they currently live in. With the eastern peak of Death Mountain completely destroyed, the remaining people of Hyrule would be able to travel away from the land they had known for centuries and discover lands which had been revealed by the receding tides of the Great Flood after FSA.

So, there you go. I hope this all makes up for the uncountable days I've put this thing off. I'll probably stay up just a little bit longer to see how you all respond to it. If you have any questions regarding any aspect of the theories I've presented in this new article, then let me know and I'll clear things up for you. If you have any complaints about how I brutally destroyed Kakariko Village, I'd love to hear them.

I really like seeing the maps up there next to each other. There is easily enough in common with them to suggest they are the same Hyrule. There really is very little that can't be accounted for my simple changes having to do with gameplay design.

Originally Posted by Alfindeol

I really like seeing the maps up there next to each other. There is easily enough in common with them to suggest they are the same Hyrule. There really is very little that can't be accounted for my simple changes having to do with gameplay design.

And that's really the whole thing. The geography was changed because of new gameplay elements. I'm sure that if OoT were remade with the current technology, the developers would decide to stick with this layout for Hyrule and just add a few more areas, such as the Lost Woods and the Gerudo territories from Ocarina of Time.

Originally Posted by Alfindeol

There is easily enough in common with them to suggest they are the same Hyrule.

Probably because they are the same Hyrule .

Originally Posted by ZeldaGamer21

Probably because they are the same Hyrule .

I've always though so! Maybe the designers havn't forgotten about us entirely... ah wait, they never did, they just like to get us fired up by screwing with our heads.

Originally Posted by Alfindeol

I've always though so! Maybe the designers havn't forgotten about us entirely... ah wait, they never did, they just like to get us fired up by screwing with our heads.

The developers do whatever they please, as long as it's within a set limit. However, sometimes they extend the limits and end up messing things up a bit, but we just have to accept that. I have, so I'm basically the Zen Wise Man of ZU.

Edit: I'll give this a few more hours before posting my next article. I'm not exactly sure what to write about yet, but I'll think of something. Until then, I'll be waiting for some insightful discussion to take place.

Second Edit: I have updated the first post with a new article regarding the relationships of Old Hyrule (TP) and New Hyrule (TMC).

Nicely done so far about TMC. That swamp theory does actually make perfect sense.

I believe the flood does makes a lot of excuses for this theory. Like possibly the Lake Hylia we see in TP is now the moat of the Hyrule Castle for TMC. So far everything is find...haven't found anything wrong yet...not yet.

This may be a little off topic, but I just realize a coincidence. All 2D zelda games maps are squared. I'm not sure about FSA, but I think that has a square map too.

Slight revision: TP Link didn't go back in time when he returned the sword to the Pedestal because he did not use it in the same way he did in OoT--to become old enough to be the Hero of Time.

Originally Posted by HeroOfTime5

This may be a little off topic, but I just realize a coincidence. All 2D zelda games maps are squared. I'm not sure about FSA, but I think that has a square map too.

The square map is purely because of programming aspects. It'd be easier to create a world with a square shape than to make a more irregular playing area, like the 3D Zelda's.

I'll be making another article here today. Not exactly sure what, though.

You say OoT is from a story perspective because it doesn't fit in with the geography... Surely, it's not the game that's wrong, but the timeline. I always thought it would be the game that was the definitive source, not our perception. And besides, why would OoT be in a story perspective when other Zeldas weren't?

Originally Posted by The War Chief

why would OoT be in a story perspective when other Zeldas weren't?

Who said other Zeldas weren't? Heck, 2D Zelda games should be considered as being even less accurate, and more story-oriented.

I'm really just saying that OoT is outdated and developer views have changed. I really didn't have another way to explain it. OoT is eight years old, whereas TP hasn't hit two months yet. Therefore, we should go off of TP's geography and not OoT's.