Interesting Picture

[DekuScrub]

Hi!

My name is Dan and I'm under the moniker of the DekuScrub! I've just joined the site and am very excited at the prospect of joining such a helpful and welcoming community.

In the spirit of community, I thought I would share a picture that I've made to see if it gets any attention or gleans any information, because I am trying to come up with my own Timeline theory. So please, discuss the geographic similarities between the maps of Hyrule from Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and A Link to the Past.

 

[Ghosi]

First of all,welcome to ZD! Second, for the Tp map, I had noticed similarities to the OoT one, but why did you flip the map upside down? You could have used the Gamecube map. If you couldn't find one then just ignore the question.

 

[Michael Heide]

I notice that the Lost Woods and Hyrule Castle both don't match up between N64 and SNES. The rest fits perfectly, though. Weird. Maybe they rebuilt the castle somewhere else for some reason?

edit: Look what I found: http://www.zeldauniverse.net/articles/hyrule-a-geography-and-cartography/

 

[Flagpole]

This is something very interesting you are showing. These similarities you are pointing out in these three maps could help a lot of people to elaborate their timelines. You have a good eye!
Something I'd also like to point out is that the Wind Fish is placed in a very high place, and it is located in the same position as the death mountains from Ocarina of Time and A Link To The Past.
Maybe they have some kind of relation?

 

[Michael Heide]

That is Koholint though, not Hyrule. While there are similarities (if you want to spoil yourself, look at the theories about Koholint or the Wind Fish), for the sake of this discusion let's just say that it's a different continent.

 

[bradley]

I think they are trying to connect the storylines of the games, but not to the point where it becomes repetitive. But when comparing with the map of twilight princess, you should use the map for the canon GameCube version.

 

[Locke]

If you rotate the OoT map so N faces up (I believe there was a compass somewhere...cropped out of that image perhaps. currently you have N facing top-right), rotate LttP's back to its normal position, and TP's 45 degrees CCW from where you have it, the regions you highlighted (you forgot Zora's Domain in OoT's) do seem to match up perfectly. Unfortunately Lake Hylia (a major landmark when geography theorizing) is in the wrong spot in TP, and the Lost Woods are in different places in each map. But the main problem is that you're using the Wii version of the TP map. The GC version is canon since it was actually made for the GC and they flipped everything in the Wii version just so Link could be right-handed.

I'll welcome you with a few words of advice:
Geography isn't really something to base timeline connections on. It can sometimes be used as evidence, but people usually try to stay away from it.
A few correlations (in any area, not just geography) mean next to nothing if they leave unexplained inconsistencies (unless you provide well-thought and well-backed theories to explain them).

 

[Michael Heide]

I'm sorry for neglecting to post a Spoiler alert in the earlier post. I thought that part was common knowledge by now.

 

[the_gamer]

You've forgotten to mark Zora's Domain in OoT. And you've got a mistake. You've marked the temple of time/the pedastal of time in TP and ALTTP but you've marked Hyrule Castle in OoT. The Temple of Time is a bit more to the right and down there.

 

[dumb180]

Interesting enough to think about, but not quite consistent enough to base a theory around, eh?

The correlation between the desert and the Pedestal in all three games is striking. Some of the differences in the maps could be accounted for by the transition from 2D to 3D. Death Mountain's location is a good example. In Alttp, the mountain seems due north of Hyrule Castle. However in OoT, it seems to be to the northeast of the castle. If you shift the OoT image a little, pretty much everything lines up quite nicely. Hyrule castle shifts left to become the abandoned Temple of Time, and Death Mountain resumes its due north Alttp position.

Zora's Domain is the tricky one. You can make a good case for Alttp to OoT, but TP creates big problems. Arg! Even with a shifted TP map, Zora's Domain ends up where Lake Hylia should be and vice versa.

To be honest, I think they just move some things around Hyrule without rhyme or reason. Variety is good.

 

[Michael Heide]

Zora's Domain is the tricky one. You can make a good case for Alttp to OoT, but TP creates big problems. Arg! Even with a shifted TP map, Zora's Domain ends up where Lake Hylia should be and vice versa.

Well, we know that they are connected underground, so it's possible that they relocated from one location to the other. On the other hand, maybe Nintendo just screwed up.

 

[DekuScrub]

Well, we know that they are connected underground, so it's possible that they relocated from one location to the other. On the other hand, maybe Nintendo just screwed up.

Also, as several people kindly pointed out, I did use the non-canon wii map for Twilight Princess. Oops! My bad!

And I'm sorry if I came across as if I was basing my whole timeline theory on this, all I meant was that it could help, if only for the key component of Ocarina of Time's temple of time, turning into the Sacred Grove from Twilight Princess, and finally becoming the lost woods in AlttP.

For instance, if you'll notice that in OoT, Link had to collect the three stones? Perhaps the stones were remade into pendants somewhere through the years, and this would explain why you have to gather them before you can retrieve the MS in AlltP.

Granted, Nintendo basically recycled the plots for AlttP and OoT, but it's worth thinking about, IMHO.

 

[Hylian Knight]

Although ur not the only who noticed the land like that I never got around to posting a Thread about it but was going to.
"Aw ya beat me to it!"

 

[linksbro321]

I think the oot field looks like the whol map from TP.

 

[DekuScrub]

And one last thing from me. If we believe this to be true, then that means if you set The Temple of Time, The Sacred Grove and the Lost Woods from each respective game as a pivot point and rotate the map around them, we'd eventually figure out if the three are connected.