Daily Debate: What’s Beyond Hyrule?

Over the years, we’ve run, rolled, hopped, galloped, sailed, and flown over the land of Hyrule. From the large and iconic field itself, to the towns full of characters of various races and identities, this land has overwhelmingly been the primary backdrop for our adventures in the Legend of Zelda. But with all the focus on having a truly open world, I believe it’s time to inquire as to what’s beyond the horizon of Hyrule.

As boundless as the world feels when one starts a Zelda game, it soon becomes apparent that the world is both limited and compartmentalized. The latter was explicitly addressed in the reveal of Zelda U, as Eiji Aonuma acknowledged that no matter how open any past game in the series has felt, there’s always a strict entrance/exit. Admittedly, things such as the ability to transport from one area to the next or pathways from one particular area to another (e.g. The Lost Woods to Death Mountain or Zora’s Domain) have helped all these areas feel like they flow nicely into one another, but there’s no denying the feeling of rigid organization permeating these locations.

Part of the issue has simply been technical limitations. For example, at last year’s E3 event, Aonuma spoke on how the improved technical abilities of the Wii U were able to better the experience of The Wind Waker in its HD release. He noted that the original console, the GameCube, did not have the capacity to load large areas of the Great Sea at one time, so the sail could only move so quickly else players would “fall off the edge of the world”. The HD release’s Swift Sail is made possible by the Wii U’s ability to load the entire Great Sea at once, creating a more seamless experience. Many developers, including Aonuma, have noted that they have gradually grown used to the Wii U’s capabilities and are better able to harness its power than they could in the early days of the console’s life. I have no doubts this will be used to great effect in Zelda U, but my hope is that it will not only link the world within the game together, but expand it as never before.

To be fair, multiple adventures in the series have taken us outside of Hyrule in one way or another. Link’s Awakening took our hero to an island on which he washed up ashore after leaving Hyrule to become stronger. Admittedly (SPOILER!!!! Skip the rest of this sentence if you have not played the game) the island was all a dream, but it was a step in acknowledging that there was more to Link‘s explorations than Hyrule. Since then, essentially all of our foreign travels have merely taken us to alternate versions of Hyrule or worlds that reside in the same space, so to speak. These include Termina from Majora’s Mask, The Dark World from A Link to the Past, The Twilight Realm from Twilight Princess, Lorule from A Link Between Worlds, and (to a limited extent) the Silent Realm from Skyward Sword. And while all these differing territories have provided a fascinating glimpse at what lies out there, we still don’t know how large Hyrule is.

This is my dream for Zelda U: let’s leave Hyrule. I understand this is and has been the home of Zelda since the series’s inception, but it’s time to expand. Are there kingdoms beyond Hyrule’s borders? We’re already received a taste of the concept with the separation of the land into homes of the various tribes and people such as the Gerudo Desert and Zora’s Domain, but it’s been tacitly accepted that these lands are essentially part of Hyrule on a larger scale. Additionally, the retreading of the same areas only serves to pound the idea of “I’ve seen this all before” into our heads until we finish the adventure. To contrast, in the game Xenoblade Chronicles, not only are there two largely different worlds to explore, but they are absolutely enormous, expressing the idea of truly traversing and trekking through a world to the fullest extent.

Perhaps I’m asking too much, but I certainly can’t be the only one who’s curious. Are there lands outside Hyrule which Link could visit and save? Or are there simply more realms and altered/dark versions of this land to be entered? If we do get to leave Hyrule, where would you like to go and what would you like to see? Have at it in the comments below and in our forums!