Hyrule

A depiction of Hyrule from Four Swords Adventures.
Hyrule
Type	Kingdom
Debut	The Legend of Zelda

Hyrule is a kingdom that serves as a main setting of the The Legend of Zelda series. It is shown as a large land that is mostly comprised of forests, fields and surrounding mountains. Hyrule is also the name of the kingdom based in the land, and it is implied that both are named after the goddess Hylia, who was reincarnated as Zelda. The kingdom is ruled by a Royal Family, the princesses of which are always named Zelda. Hyrule is also known for its close ties to the Triforce and the Sacred Realm, which has attracted much warfare over the years. These wars came to primarily consist of battles with the power-hungry Ganon. Nearly every time that Hyrule was endangered, however, it has been protected by the Princess Zelda and a young hero named Link.

History

In the creation story, Hyrule is described as having been chaos before the Golden Goddesses descended and created the world. The details of the kingdom's formation are uncertain, although Twilight Princess refers to the land of Hyrule as having been created by the Hylians. Skyward Sword is actually set prior to Hyrule's foundation and implies that the name of the country as well as the Hylian people is rooted in the name of the goddess Hylia. The game also shows Impa of the Sheikah tribe protecting Zelda and establishing the Sheikah's loyalty to Hylia, and it ends with Zelda deciding to remain on the surface to watch over the Triforce. The game's ending leaves it vague as to whether or not Zelda (and her father Gaepora) founds the kingdom or if it is instead some descendent of this Zelda. It is made clearer that all incarnations of Zelda are part of the same "goddess's bloodline".

Hyrule's original threat was the Demon King Demise, during the time when the Triforce was protected by Hylia. His threat caused Hylia to hide her people as well as the Triforce on a sky island for ages. That sky land became known as Skyloft, and a cloud barrier cut off the link between the sky and the surface. The five other races still inhabited the surface at this time, but they became overrun by Ghirahim's monsters eventually. The first-known Link managed to put an end to Demise in Skyward Sword and restored peace to the land for the time being. The cloud barrier was gone afterwards, which left the people who would be the Hylians free to return to the land. It seems that the Triforce was hidden in the Sacred Realm at some point afterwards. Several games refer to a time when Hyrule was consumed by warfare over the location of the entrance to the Sacred Realm, which was located somewhere in Hyrule (and eventually was hidden within the Temple of Time). The backstory of Ocarina of Time refers to a fierce war that was fought not long before the game's events, and the Shadow Temple referred to Hyrule as having a "bloody history of greed and hatred". A Link to the Past's backstory similarly mentions bloodshed occurring about the location of the Sacred Realm, as well as the seal war in which Ganon was sealed within the Dark World after gaining the Triforce. The backstory for Twilight Princess refers to a time when a mysterious tribe of dark interlopers attacked Hyrule in search of the Triforce and were sealed within the Twilight Realm, which has been referred to as the dark antithesis of Hyrule.

Other backstories referred to the unification of Hyrule. In Ocarina, it is mentioned that the king of Hyrule unified the country around the time the war ended. The legend of the sleeping Zelda from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link also mentioned "a time when Hyrule was one country", but in this account the king was shown to use the whole Triforce to control Hyrule. His son only inherited part of the Triforce when the king died, and his efforts to find the missing pieces of the Triforce ended in his sister Zelda being cast into a seemingly eternal slumber. Ever since then, that princess's sleeping form was kept in the North Castle, and he decreed all daughters of the Royal Family to be named Zelda in her honor. It is uncertain when in Hyrule's history this event is supposed to take place, as although it is clearly intended as an explanation for all the games featuring different Princess Zeldas, at the same time it is possible for games featuring other Zeldas to take place before it. It also clashes with the story of Skyward Sword, which would seem to establish the precedent for all of the princesses being named Zelda.

The Royal Family of Hyrule maintained control over Hyrule throughout its history. They passed down various legends, special items and mysterious powers through the generations. Other important figures in Hyrule's history were the sages, who played vital roles in protecting the Sacred Realm (and by extension the Triforce) and the Master Sword. Within the Hyrule-set games, Ganondorf often made claims to conquer Hyrule. He was successful three times: in A Link to the Past (through Agahnim), Ocarina of Time (at least during the timeline split followed in the game) and Twilight Princess (in which Zant tried to merged the Twilight Realm with Hyrule). However, he was defeated and dethroned by Link all three times, usually relatively shortly after he had taken over. Only in Ocarina did Ganondorf have a somewhat lengthy reign, as he had conquered Hyrule for seven years before Link defeated him and he was sealed within the evil realm. However, within the alternate timeline that was apparently created in the ending of Ocarina, Ganondorf was captured before he could gain power and was put on trial by the ancient sages. Ganon also posed a threat to Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda and Four Swords Adventures, but in those cases Link was able to stop him before he could take control of Hyrule. The various Links' exploits have caused tales of a legendary hero to be passed down in most games.

The Minish Cap's place in the timeline is uncertain (although an early placement is implied), but it contains some important additions to Hyrule's history. Its backstory features a Link known as "the hero of men" who protected Hyrule when it was being consumed by shadows and drove out the darkness using two gifts provided by the Minish people: the Four Sword and the mysterious light force. Afterwards, the light force was embodied within the Princess Zelda and seems to have been passed down the females of the royal bloodline. This acted as a possible explanation for the mystical powers which Princess Zeldas possess, although this also clashes with Skyward Sword which seemed to hint at remnants of divine power being within Zelda and "the goddess's bloodline". The Minish Cap is also the only time a menace other than Ganon attacks and conquers Hyrule, Vaati, although he himself is also defeated by Link.

The dividing point between some of the games set in Hyrule seems to be the decline of the Hylians. The Hylians had been prosperous in Ocarina of Time, but by the time of A Link to the Past their blood had whittled down enough to the point where there were very few Hylians left, and reading the ancient Hylian language was only possible using the Book of Mudora. Although the Hylians were not mentioned in these games, Hyrule itself was said to be in a general decline during the time of Adventure of Link, and Link was seeking to help in its reconstruction.

The Great Flood

According to Eiji Aonuma's word, these events take place in a parallel timeline that continues from the "adult timeline" ending of Ocarina of Time in which Ganondorf had been sealed in the Evil Realm with the Triforce of Power.

There was a time sometime after the Hero of Time's disappearance when Ganon returned to torment Hyrule and no hero appeared to challenge him. The prayers of the people caused the Golden Goddesses to flood Hyrule, making it into the Great Sea, in order to protect the people of Ganon. Ancient Hyrule was still preserved in a time-frozen bubble at the bottom of the sea (as was Ganon until he somehow freed himself). The tops of its mountains became islands on which the people lived and passed down legends about Ancient Hyrule. Over the years, the language of Ancient Hyrule as well as the memory of the flood were forgotten by most of the Great Sea's inhabitants. They still revered the Hero of Time, which led to a custom in which children were given clothes similar to that of the hero when they came of age.

As for Ancient Hyrule, it remained asleep for centuries until Link un-froze time when he drew the Master Sword from Hyrule Castle's basement. At the end of the game, King Daphnes made a wish on the Triforce that allowed Hyrule to be destroyed by the Great Sea. He was able to save Link and Tetra, but he chose to remain behind himself to go down with Hyrule and Ganondorf's petrified body. With his last words, Daphnes asked Link and Zelda to find a new land that they could call there own.

In The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, a second Hyrule was shown to have been founded by Tetra after The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass.

Geography

Hyrule's geography is partially consistent throughout most of the games. It is mostly fields, forests, mountains and caves. Hyrule's map is depicted differently between games, although in some cases (particularly between A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time) most of the inconsistencies are resolved when one map is tilted to another angle. There are also various temples and other types of dungeons throughout Hyrule which usually differ from a game-to-game basis. The following are important locations which appear in various Zelda games:

• Death Mountain - The most consistently appearing area that is usually shown to be the northernmost area of Hyrule. In Zelda II, it connects to the rest of Hyrule through the Death Mountain Maze.
• Hyrule Castle - This is of course the castle which serves as the capital of Hyrule and is home to the royal family. It is notably not on the map in the first two Zelda's, but it has been shown in nearly every Zelda game since. It is usually depicted as being in the northern-central area of Hyrule, and in almost every game starting with Ocarina a variant on the Hyrule Castle Town is located nearby. Hyrule Castle was destroyed in the adult future of Ocarina, although it seems a new one was built before the Great Flood.
• Hyrule Field - This area is an open field which acts as a hub connecting to other areas of Hyrule and is introduced in Ocarina of Time. It contains a Lon Lon Ranch in Ocarina of Time, Four Swords Adventures and The Minish Cap.
• The Lost Woods - The Lost Woods is a mysterious forest that usually has a maze-like structure and hints of the supernatural, but its exact properties differ from game to game. Its location is also different, as it is located near Death Mountain in A Link to the Past and Four Swords Adventures but is much further south in Ocarina of Time. The only attempt to explain this discrepancy was in Four Swords Adventures, where it was hinted that all forests can be turned into Lost Woods when corrupted. The Legend of Zelda also had a forest similar to the Lost Woods, and in Twilight Princess the Sacred Grove area (and possibly the Faron Woods in general) seem to be the Lost Woods as well.
• The Desert of Mystery (aka Gerudo Desert or Desert of Doubt) - This is a desert that is located somewhere to the eastern part of Hyrule. It is inhabited by the Gerudo in Ocarina of Time and Four Swords Adventures (as well as the Zuni Tribe in the latter game), but it seems to be empty except for ruins and monsters in other games. The desert is not included in every game, and in Twilight Princess it notably appears but is not counted as part of Hyrule's provinces. In Skyward Sword, the majority of Lanayru Province is desert, but it is shown to have been a fertile paradise in the past.
• Lake Hylia - This is a lake that is usually located somewhere in the southern portion of Hyrule. It is a large and deep lake where Hyrule goes for water. It is fed by a river which traces back to a northern waterfall. This waterfall is known as Zora's Waterfall and in most games that area is the Zora's Domain.
• Kakariko Village - A village that is usually located at the foot of Death Mountain or somewhere in Northern Hyrule. It has been implied that there are multiple villages by its name in Hyrule's history, which explains its different locations.
• The Sky - The Sky has become increasingly prominent in recent games. Several sky structures such as the Palace of the Winds were firsts shown in the Four Swords subseries, and in The Minish Cap it was shown that there were people living in the sky. Twilight Princess later expanded upon the idea of a race living in the sky who created the Hylians and featured the City in the Sky dungeon as well as the native Oocca race. The sky was fully featured in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword where the sky islands were shown to be elevated pieces of land, the most prominent being Skyloft.

Recent games have divided Hyrule into several provinces, although the provinces have been depicted with different area depending on the game. They are the Faron Province (a forest region), Lanaryu Province (which contains Hyrule's lake area in Twilight Princess but the desert in Skyward Sword) and the Eldin Province (which is a mountainous region). Each province is watched over by a deity of the same name, with the deities being dragons in Skyward Sword and light spirits in Twilight Princess. In Twilight Princess, there is a fourth southern province called Orodona that does not seem to count as part of Hyrule.

The Hyrule seen in The Minish Cap remains the exception to the series's rules of geographical consistency as aside from Lake Hylia, a Lon Lon Ranch and Hyrule Castle, the Hyrule depicted in that game has a completely original set of locations. For more details on this, see Locations in The Minish Cap.

The "full" Hyrule map from Zelda II.

Zelda II notably featured a much larger version of Hyrule that was spread out across several landmasses. The area of Hyrule near Death Mountain (i.e. the setting of all other Hyrule-based Zelda games) was located in the southwestern corner of the map. This has caused the locations to be distinguished by the area near Death Mountain being referred to as South Hyrule, while the rest of Hyrule shown in this game is referred to as North Hyrule, although these are not official terms. South Hyrule notably was shown to be very small compared to the rest of Hyrule, but it is uncertain if its size in the game is due to actual scale or simply because of gameplay reasons. Hyrule is also shown to be surrounded by a coastline, which is supported by the coast level which appears in Four Swords Adventures. For more information on the areas found in Northern Hyrule, see Locations in The Adventure of Link.

The Hylians and other Prominent Creatures

Hyrule was home to an ancient race known as the Hylians, who were named after the goddess Hylia. They were apparently a prosperous people who mastered sorcery and could hear messages from the gods through their tall ears. In A Link to the Past, their numbers had already dwindled, but the ruins of their ancient architecture was seen.

Normal humans are most commonly seen inhabiting Hyrule in the Zelda games. Other races include the mountain-dwelling Gorons, the aquatic Zora, the all-women Gerudo desert tribe, the Kokiri forest children, the nigh-extinct Sheikah shadow people and the tiny Minish people. The latter two species are particularly important in that they have been implied to have played important roles in Hyrule's history. The Sheikah seemed to have aided Hyrule primarily during the times of the fierce war after originally aiding the goddess Hylia, while the Minish brought the light force and what would become the Four Sword to Hyrule. Other early races of Hyrule included the Kikwi, the Mogmas, the Parella and a race of robots that were created by the Thunder Dragon.

Throughout its history, Hyrule's only form of currency is the Rupee, a currency which is shared by most of the other lands that have appeared in the games.

Trivia

• Hyrule may be a pun for 'High Rule', as in the King has the highest rule.
• The games remain vague or indecisive about whether Hyrule is the name of the kingdom, the region it is based in, the world it is located on, or all of these.
• Hyrule is notably connected to several other dimensions. The Sacred Realm (which becomes the Dark World/Evil Realm) is described as a mirror of Hyrule, while the Twilight Realm is also compared to a distorted mirror of Hyrule. There is also Termina, a parallel world that is linked to Hyrule through the Lost Woods. While Termina seems to be unique world, it is its inhabitants that serve as counterparts to the people living in Hyrule.

See Also

• Holodrum
• Labrynna