How Echoes of Wisdom CHANGES the Map of Hyrule [Legend of Zelda Theory]

The map being basically ALttP again really bummed me out. It's the 4th time we've seen this map so exploring it was kinda meh. I knew where most notable landmarks and stuff were gonna be and unlike TotK, not enough was added to EoW's map. That said, loved the sandbox element of EoW and finding ways to get around quickly so I didn't have to go through the ALttP/Zelda 1 map...yet again. I really don't wanna revisit Hyrule in the next Zelda game lol

I don't like the depths because of the complication of the lore, but I do really like the design of the environment. It makes me hopeful for a possible sequel or remake of Twilight Princess where we get to see more of the Twilight Realm because I could definitely see Nintendo designing the flora and fauna of the Twilight to resemble the depths. There's also a theory I've seen that the depths ARE the Twilight Realm, but I don't like that theory. There's also still the issue of the Sheikah who are a "long forgotten tribe" in nearly every game which makes me wonder where exactly Impa keeps coming from. It also makes me question where the numerous Sheikah of the Wild era (and its past during the First Calamity) came from. There's connections between the Zonai and the Sheikah, but the Sheikah predate the existence of Skyloft, so is it possible that the Hyrule we see in TotK's past existed before the events of Skyward Sword even happened? That would imply that all three timelines lead to the same outcome, though, which I am not fond of. It's also possible there's some kind of really weird looped timeline going on where several events are happening non-linearly. I think there's also a connection between the Yiga and Twili somehow because the "Dark Interlopers" are quite similar to the Yiga (a tribe of shadow magicians banished from Hyrule because they tried to claim power over the world). It's also possible the Wild games exist on a fourth timeline that splits somewhere else especially because of the fact that people worship Hylia in BotW, and she seems to respond. Maybe the cycle ended at some point and Hylia was restored, or the Wild games might split off of a version of SS where Hylia never became mortal. It's also interesting to me that Ganondorf's "demon form" strongly resembles Demise.

...so are the Master Works books basically like the Zelda version of Square Enix's Ultimanias?
Also I still don't understand how they can't just move the Master Sword's entire pedestal. Gorons exist, USE THEM!
Apart from that, only other things I could ask for are where the other kingdoms could be and a semi-joking, semi-serious video seeing if any of the spinoffs could potentially be placed on the Sheikah Map.

I have very limited knowledge on the games of the "Four Sword Saga," but is the Master Sword in any of those games, or does the Four Sword take its role? If so, it's theoretically possible that the entire Four Sword Saga is a fourth branch of the timeline where the Master Sword became the Four Sword. I propose the split occurring during the era of the Hero of Men. It's reasonable to assume that Hyrule in that time would have a similar geography to its appearance in Minish Cap and later Ocarina of Time. Perhaps the split occurred when one timeline had the Master Sword become the Four Sword, and in the other timeline it didn't. The first timeline is where Minish Cap, Four Swords, and FSA all take place. This split timeline would also fix FSA's strange placement. The second timeline is the branch where OoT takes place. It's even possible that the events pertaining to the Light Force mentioned in MC's backstory connect to the Light Spirits in some way. It's kind of strange that there were these light spirits who showed up to stop the Dark Wizards and then disappeared only to show up again several centuries or millennia later. My "Four Sword Split" theory could offer an explanation as to why they disappeared. As to why they came back in the Child timeline, I think they sensed the growing influence of Ganondorf while he was trapped in the Twilight Realm, so they returned to Hyrule in order to protect it from a possible Twilight threat (obviously they failed). Honestly, even if there's no split in the timeline, the Light Spirits being connected to the Four Sword could still be used to explain FSA's otherwise nonsensical placement in the Child branch. I really hope we get a MC prequel showing the full story of the Hero of Men that explains more about the Light Force and Picori Blade. I also just want to see the Minish again.

Lore of How Echoes of Wisdom CHANGES the Map of Hyrule [Legend of Zelda Theory] momentum 100

The truth is this, and it lay in the name of the games: It's ''THE LEGEND of Zelda'', the games are supposed to be like a story, a story that is told from generation to generation until it becomes a legend... And while names of places, people and the overarching story is something that persist-- Things are slightly ''changed'' and ''altered'' every generation, just like when stories are told by word of mouth over generations, slight changes happens here and there.

i just wanted to mention that during botw development, the locations of kakariko and the korok forest were swapped! it’s even noticeable in the surrounding topography

Love the vid.
I run my own personal take on the whole map thing.
That is to say in my Head Cannon; Only Ocarana (No Mahjora connection here) is legit and then I just came up with the rest.
on counter to that point being a limit; Hyrule and Middle Earth (LotR) are on the some planet. Hyrule being where the deities of Middle Earth including Eru came from.
Thus I had to have a solid basis that could not shift for my version of Hyrule.
I had always wondered about the Jungle in Echo of Wisdom... never played 4 swords or minish cap. Never got that far in Wild or Tears either.
I have been more interested in the Temples themselves. On that note I have no answer myself other than they have caretakers and said caretakers make all the changes and rules... Some temples are managed by the Great Fairies as their legit job but others are just people tasked with it. But in Wild and Tears and others with way to many damn temples well no clue then.
Because Take the final dungeon of each game and explain how they are placed throughout time sensibly... I do not know how you could easily.

There’s an easy solution to all of this. Continental drift.

In my head Canon, EoW just ties my unified timeine with the Wild games

The use of actual country names in fantasy always cracks me up - in Sea of Stars (specifically in the russian localization) Bell peppers are called "Bulgarian peppers" as that is what they are called irl in some eastern europe countries, but the fact that "Bulgaria is canon in Sea of Stars BUT ONLY if you play in russian" still makes me giggle once in a while. Guess France is also canon in the Zelda universe now..?

a lot of people forget that hyrule goes through a lot of reformation like...a LOT it gets destroyed practically every generation it happens so often. I wouldnt put it past the people living there to have completely different maps a few hundred or thousand years apart because it gets pretty banged up every time ganon comes around

I've assumed for some time time that the other games happened in the lands past the borders of botw hyrule

...while also thinking totk's past was countless years before the interloper war

Yeah idk why i think any of this lol

Were the goddess’s trapped in the still worlds? I assumed they gave you the sanctions as a token for proving yourself by freeing their sacred lands, not that they actually were trapped in said lands. Even in the clips you show they only mention the land being freed, though maybe I’m forgetting something.

Edit: to be clear this doesn’t really create an issue with what you’re saying even if they’re just connected to the goddess’s instead of that actual home of them, I’m more just confused

People still try to fit the Zelda games on a timeline? ...

Bro, they couldn't even keep the Rito's ability to fly consistent between BoTW and ToTK. They... basically change things whenever they want

I want them to do a sequel to the Windwaker games where a descendant of the Hero of Trains becomes a Merchant Hero on the Great Sea, sailing to distant lands like Termina, Holodrum, and Laberyna to solve problems and initiate trade, all while fighting the machinations of Pirate Queen Midna's Twilight Pirates.

Personally, I find the continuing presence of the Golden Goddesses in Echoes to be more persuasive in its timeline placement than the geography matching LttP's map so precisely. I put Echoes way, way early in the timeline - definitely before Ocarina. The events of Echoes create a realm that mirrors Hyrule, and which is the last known resting place of the Prime Energy. They also leave behind an artifact that was used to create autonomous copies of individuals, which could be a possible origin for the Four Sword. In Ocarina, not only is the Prime Energy known by a name that could be derived from its being closely associated with the being called Tri - the Tri-Force - but there is also an ancient legend of the Royal Family that describes what happens in this game when one with an unbalanced spirit laid hands on the Prime Energy. The Three Sanctions received directly from the Golden Goddesses could easily become the three Sacred Stones of Ocarina or the Three Pendants of LttP etc.

There are some issues with putting the game so early in the timeline. The existence of a Ganon is easily explained - this game has one weapon which, when wielded, transforms Zelda into a copy of Link - if the Trident has a similar power, and can transform its wielder into Ganon form, then it immediately explains how a Gerudo man who transformed himself into a sai-wielding giant with horns sprouting from his temples became tusked, trident-wielding pig-demon - he found the Trident where it was dropped in the Still World that became the Sacred Realm (and then the Dark World).

The landscape is the trickiest point - to explain the terrain, you'd either need to explain why sacred buildings tied to the magical energies of the realm would be built in the same place and same form at different times (hmmm, could it be because they're tied to the magical energies of the realm, which dictate their location and general form?), or come up with some explanation involving knowledge of future times - though there is a Goddess of Time who was known to have seen the way the future would play out in Skyward Sword, as well as one that intervened directly in Majora's Mask - not necessarily in the time loop itself, but definitely in the merging of timelines for the New Day.

Meanwhile, the official timeline placement has to explain away the total absence of Rifts and Might Crystals in all earlier games, the disappearance of the Master Sword, the loss of knowledge of the Triforce, the return of the Golden Goddesses to Hyrule, the absence of Sages, etc.

Let's just say Hyrule Warriors is cannon and say that game merged the timelines.

Nice video!

As a map lover as I know u are, what is the name/your name for; the large trench running from the entire top of the map, wrapping around the hebra region and ending at the forgotten temple?

First time I've seen anyone but me putting out the idea that Deku Sprouts of Wind-Waker reformed into the BoTW map...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw that possibility.

I think you're reading way too much into something that's just meant to be fun to play.

Im really excited to see how AoI will change the timeline

ngl, I would love to see all these outside-of-Hyrule lands show up in an open world game, just to see them reimagined

None of the reasons why the child or adult timeline being the basis for the New Era hold water when compared to the Downfall timeline being the only timeline Nintendo cares about.

My Suggestion is that Hyrule is on a Volcanic Hotspot that is moving, not to mention that Hebra in Breath of the Wild has hotsprings while in Tears of the Kingdom Beneath these is an Underground Magma Flow, so depending on which side is more Volcanically Active, both Sides also would Switch their names.

There MIGHT be just enough evidence to explain how the timelines collpased, but you have to extrapolate a bit.

Or, uh, more than a bit.

Okay its just based on three points of wild speculation.

But anyways, check em:

- The Triforce is the magical core of Hyrule, given that wishing on it can wildly reshape the word and its destruction would doom it.

- The Bloodline of the Goddess is an unbroken line of divine time magic. Not only in each timeline, but between them through Zelda in Ocarina.

- The Triforce in BotW and TotK is entirely contained within Zelda, and carried forward through her bloodline. Like all Zeldas she can't use it for wishes because Divine, but she can be greatly empowered by it.

Now then, for my obvious implication here: A zelda in one of the timelines sealed the Triforce within the Blood of the Goddess to protect it from anyone else. But theough the blood of the goddess of time that Triforce was then connected across all timelines simultaniously, and every Triforce is the same Triforce, thus every Hyrule became One Hyrule.

...All of the sudden, and quite destructively, leading to the weirdly mashed up Hyrule we see at the "end" of the timelines. A Hyrule where everything is broken and trying to heal.

...

Makes perfect sense!

...Right?

Just a thing : watever said Hyrule Historia, Four Swords Adventures was made to be a prequal of 2D Zelda game and a next episode right after the original four swords (thats litteraly the same link and zelda in both game and thats why the four sword palace is in A Link to The Past)

My headcannon is that the Triforce is so powerfull that, in between the ''games'' segments, someone uses it's power's to reshape the lands.

As far as timeline placement of the Wild Era games go, I've become pretty certain of their placement, mainly due to a couple of Triforce wishes and the process of elimination.

At the end of Wind Waker, King Daphnes wishes for the remains of Hyrule to be completely destroyed, so the people can move on from Hyrule's past. This would obviously prevent any further stories from taking place on the terra firma of Hyrule, eliminating the possibility of an Adult Timeline placement for the Wild Era.

At the end of Adventure of Link, the hero wishes for the resurrection of Ganon to be prevented. If this is the case, we can assume Ganondorf's resurrection cycle is over, meaning BotW and TotK could not have taken place in the Downfall Timeline.

Barring any later, improbable Triforce wishes, this leaves only the Child Timeline as the only possible placement for the Wild Era. The only issue with this is the abundance of references to the other two timelines found in BotW & TotK. We COULD chalk those up to just being Easter eggs... or...

... we can get a little non-canon and place Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition's story on the timeline. If it took place between Four Swords Adventures and Age of Imprisonment, then all the timeline merging and cameo appearances in the game would explain away every out of place relic found in the Depths. Obviously, this explanation is not officially canon, but it clears up a lot of issues, with the added benefit of being really fun.

Before I watch this video, I would like to say that I asked how Echoes of Wisdom affected your map theory because from what limited information I saw (I didn't play the game myself) it actually proved it right. I'm curious to see if there is anything in it that goes against what you said

My personal theory is the Zelda character's descendants inbetween games migrant every few decades-centuries and name a similar thing the same name.

Always boring to find people in the comments going "Well actually there is no timeline!" And mocking those who like it.

Clearly they haven't been paying attention, or they'd realise it's been a thing the developers have done since the second game.

It's also such a boring answer, that shows lack of imagination.

To be fair, we never actually saw the exact location of Holy Mount Lanayru in Echoes of Wisdom. All we know is that it's somewhere off the edge of the map. We have to enter a rift in Hebra Mountain, then travel from Stilled Hebra Mountain to Stilled Holy Mount Lanayru, but we never get to explore Overworld Mount Lanayru. Tri already admitted that the Still World is very skewed compared to the Overworld, so the relative locations of the two snowy mountains in the Still World tells us absolutely nothing about the Overworld outside the boundaries of the map.

Null and Demise seem to be two different but related demons. As they’re both demons. There’s also Vaati. Null also looks like a big Tri.

Hyrule may be made of limestone and thus water could carve underground caverns.

"The Depths is the dark world"

I've always thought of the differences in the games being different interpretations of the literal "Legend" of Zelda. The story evolved and changed over time so so much that different retellings could be vastly different, but still hold the same key pieces of information, like locations or some characters. But trying to piece together the stories like this is also very fun to hear about

The east of the Echoes of Wisdom map lines up really well with Twilight Princess's map. In the south of the maps there's the swamp, to it's northwest is Lake Hylia, and to the southwest of that is Gerudo Desert. In the north, each games version of Zora's River is to the east of the snowy mountain inhabited by yetis.
If Echoes of Wisdom's map is applied to Lorule, then it makes the west of Lorule line up with the east of Termina. Lorule has a swamp to the southwest and a village of mask wearing people with a milk bar also in the west. Echoes of Wisdom adds cliffs to the central west and a mountain to the north west, lining up with Ikana Canyon and Snowhead. Also, Termina has a lost kingdom in the east were Lorule would be and the big crack going through Lorule is coming from the west were the moon would have hit.

I once looked over past the valley that separates TOTK Hyrule towards the north mountains and found the LOD mountains to roughly match the main mountains where North Castle would be. Also in EoW there's also the start of that big valley/chasm if you look at the top-right of the map.

Out of curiosity, do certain non-canon games fit the map? This is basically just the first Hyrule Warriors, admittingly.

This is about your first map video. OOT lake hylia can’t be saltwater since the whole reason the Zoe’s became rito was because they were freshwater.