The Great Sea and The Mysterious Islands

[Lord_Cathaseigh]

In a recent thread about the Gerudo, I brought up an interesting point; where did the islands come from? Of course, Dragon Roost and the nearby islands are the tips of Death Mountain, but what about the rest of the islands? I find it hard to believe that there weren't any islands before the Korok planted their seeds. But doesn't this mean that at least some of the islands are part of a mountain range?

My take on this is that Hyrule was originally encircled by mountain ranges, which would explain why Hyrule is so secular. When the flood came, the people fleed to the mountain tops and set up camp there for awhile. The central islands could be a product of some kind of magma vent(s) at the bottom of the sea; maybe the goddesses saw that the Hyruleans would need more room and opened the
vent(s) to allow this. All that's left is the korok planting the Deku seeds. But what exactly do the deku seeds do?

 

[A Link In Time]

I always thought that the Great Sea and its islands were formed through continental drift much as the supercontinent of Pangaea produced the seven continents we know today. The one large landmass gave way to several smaller ones thus allowing liquid bodies to cover most of the world. Earthquakes and eruption of volcanoes during such an event thus forming new islands would only be natural as well.

That said, I doubt there is any scientific validity in how the islands were constructed. Although the Japanese are an oriental culture perhaps they took note from the biblical account of Noah's Ark. Since the world was corrupt it was flooded and the waters then cleared allowing for the honest and kind to be spared. Miyamoto has often maintained he takes inspiration from real world concepts. Perhaps this is how the flood of Hyrule came to mind?

 

[JDUDE321]

maybe originally various chunks of the earth were sent skyward for protection like in SS, but this time it wasn't enough to stop evil, and so the godesses decided to try and drown Ganon as well. After this the sea level ended up on the same plane as the sky islands.

?

 

[Lord_Cathaseigh]

It could work, but the water would have to raise by insane amounts (as in, past the clouds.) Also, can you clarify what you said about continental drift ALIT? What exactly is supposed to be the original continent (in your explanation?)

 

[The Jade Fist]

The island are so small, and plenty of mountains were seen in OoT and in windwaker when you go under the sea, even LTTP showed other mountains in the backdrops, you just simply couldn't go there.

But honestly its not like the islands in wind waker are big, i mean they are like 1 sq mile for the largest island. And multiple tips of the same mountain could spread out over miles of ocean to be different islands.

I don't see the need for continental drift in this set up. Perhaps the magic barrier could have have cut off literally the tops of the mountains, so they'd be able to move around with water/ magic barrier pressure acting as the forces on them.

Infact they even say (i know it was a cheap way of stoping you from sailing off the side of the map) there is nothing but open ocean beyond the islands in that local group. The actual size of the great sea wasn't really that gigantic, and real island chains have thousands of islands , real mountain ranges have thousands of tips and summits. Where is the problem?

 

[JDUDE321]

Another idea:

perhaps the sudden, high pressure movement of water caused rapid and substantial erosion across Hyrule, leading the country to largely become a basin, except for those small, untouched areas that are the mountain-islands.

 

[Locke]

Another idea:

perhaps the sudden, high pressure movement of water caused rapid and substantial erosion across Hyrule, leading the country to largely become a basin, except for those small, untouched areas that are the mountain-islands.

Hyrule Castle remains on the bottom though, untouched. Also, the Wind and Earth Temples are stated to be built inside mountains with the main entrance currently submerged.

I think some mountains, such as the one the Great Deku Tree is rooted to, were miraculously elevated.

 

[Beauts]

Another idea:

perhaps the sudden, high pressure movement of water caused rapid and substantial erosion across Hyrule, leading the country to largely become a basin, except for those small, untouched areas that are the mountain-islands.

I like this idea. It would be kind of like New Orleans, which was largely below sea level, which caused the floods to be so terrible when Hurricane Katrina struck.

 

[Sir Quaffler]

I always thought that, before the Goddesses actually started the deluge, they quickly created the mountains for the people. If you look at the mountains from Hyrule Castle in WW, it looks like they suddenly popped up from the ground for no logical reason other than divine intervention. Also it would have had to been a very quick process for the mountains to be created and for the peoples to race to the tops before the floods started, otherwise Ganondorf's forces could very easily have overtaken them and slaughtered what remained of the peoples anyway.