Lanayru Province

The Lanayru Desert as seen in Skyward Sword.
Lanayru Province
Type	Province
Affiliation	Hyrule
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The Lanayru Province is a province of Hyrule that was first established in Twilight Princess. Unlike the other provinces, however, the Lanayru Province has been shown containing different areas in both appearances, although this could be explained by borders changing over time.

Information

Skyward Sword

The Lanayru Province contained the western desert, which was known as Lanayru Desert. It once was a green paradise until climate forces changed it over the years. The area contained several mines for timeshift stones. When activated, a timeshift stone would restore the area surrounding it to its former pristine glory. The effect was temporary, in a sense of the word, as only one timeshift stone could be active at a time. The desert was filled with unique robots that the Thunder Dragon Lanayru had made. The robots were inert in the present, but they were reactivated when in timeshift fields. They did most of the mining and operated machinery. The central area of the desert contained the Lanaryu Mining Facility, which was hidden underground until all of the nearby power nodes were activated.

The deeper area of the desert contained the outdoor Temple of Time, where one of the two Gates of Time was located. It was connected to the Lanayru Mining Facility through an underground passage which Link was forced to utilize when the Temple's entrance was blocked by rubble. Zelda and Impa passed through the Gate and destroyed it behind them during the game's events. There were several areas aside from the desert, and the Lanayru Caves acted as a hub between most areas: the Lanayru Mine, Lanayru Gorge and Lanayru Sand Sea. The Lanayru Gorge was the site of the first timeshift mine, and it is also where the Thunder Dragon Lanayru presided over the province. Lanayru at one point died from an illness. His robots tried to save him by planting a Tree of Life, but it could not prosper even during Lanayru's prosperity because even though the land was fertile, it was better for grass than trees. The Tree of Life had to be transplanted to Faron in order to grow.

Uniquely, the Lanayru Sand Sea was part of an ocean that had dried up over the years and become sinksand. Activating a timeshift stone within a boat was the key to navigating the area, as the boat would always be surrounded by water within the timeshift field. The sea had several unique areas, such as a pirate fortress and a Shipyard where a series of mine carts were maintained by a lone Goron. It was in this sea that the Skipper kept Nayru's Flame safe within the Sandship. Link had to alternate between the present and past through timeshift stones to reclaim the Sandship (and the Flame) once it had been stolen from Skipper.

Twilight Princess

In Twilight Princess, the Lanayru Province was an umbrella area which covered familiar areas from the northwestern section of Hyrule such as Hyrule Castle, Lake Hylia and Zora's Domain. The province was protected by the light spirit Lanayru, who resided in a spring at Lake Hylia. This area was among those covered by twilight and was the last area to be restored by Link. This involved a battle against the Twilit Bloat to save the last of Lanayru's missing light. The last Fused Shadow was also kept within Lake Hylia's Lakebed Temple.

It should be noted that within this game, the Gerudo Desert was just outside the boundary of Lanayru Province, to the northwest of Lake Hylia. As the desert was not counted as part of Hyrule, the most convenient explanation for the difference between the two versions of the province would be assuming that the boundaries changes over time.

Breath of the Wild

In Breath of the Wild, it covered an area of eastern Hyrule that included the Lanayru Great Spring (which included Zora's Domain), the Lanayru Wetlands and Mount Lanayru, as well as the Lanayru Sea. Mount Lanayru was home to the Spring of Wisdom and the dragon Naydra, whom Link had to save from Malice growths.

Trivia

• The name is a play on Nayru of the three Golden Goddesses, who is the Goddess of Wisdom and is usually associated with Zelda herself.