Landscape of Hyrule: Echoes of A Link to the Past

[@Shinntoku]

5:31 the goddesses aren't "present" as in physically being there, they just speak to Zelda when she's in sacred locations because she's a priestess receiving divine wisdom

[@The80sRuss]

That’s a fair interpretation, however it’s apparently the only instance of this occurrence across the franchise; to me, this feels like evidence of their closer proximity and/or involvement with Hyrule, the Hylians, or just Hylia herself (as Zelda reincarnated, of course). I have additional theories about why the goddesses left in the first place, but there’s an obvious distance that forms between the people and the gods/spirits/deific entities over the course of Hyrule’s complicated & divided history.

[@AbeM.]

It’s hard to say for sure since it’s the first time they put us in the role of Zelda, but it would appear that visiting sacred places to communicate with the goddesses is just one of those things the Princess Zeldas of Hyrule can (and sometimes must) do. For other examples of it, we have Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild (a notable example of a Zelda trying to force it and failing to communicate with them).

[@kenji6492]

My main question is: if Echoes of Wisdom takes place as close to the start of the timeline as you claim, where does Echo Ganon come from? Null has no time manipulation powers, and the Ganondorf of TotK never takes on a form resembling it. I’d sooner place Echoes of Wisdom on the Child Timeline after Four Swords Adventures.

[@The80sRuss]

@kenji6492 I have a few theories about this, and I already mapped out one of them in another video. The short version is; maybe Null could sense Ganon’s presence within Ganondorf’s bloodline… but also, I believe Ganon is a sort of “offspring” of Null, as a reincarnation of Demise. As for the theory I didn’t cover in that other video, maybe Null glimpsed Ganon’s “blue pig” form through a time portal in the ancient past visited by Link in Oracle of Ages. Maybe it has something to do with Twinrova causing trouble through time in that same game. I have a theory about Jabu Jabu’s age aligning with the ancient past seen in OoA as well. That will be covered in a future video. Re: Ganondorf not taking that form in TotK; we never see how the original version of those events played out. We only see the past as it’s being altered by Zelda’s presence (this is even referenced by Rauru in a cutscene). I’m not saying that necessarily means anything significant… but it certainly could.

[@kenji6492]

@ TotK’s past doesn’t have “original events.” Zelda was always there. Zelda picks and chooses whether it functions on changeable pasts or closed time loops, and TotK’s loop is closed from the beginning. While I don’t doubt Null’s connection to Demise, I’m doubtful of Null’s ability to perceive shifts in time from within the Still World, especially given in your interpretation, Null would be long dead by any point where Ganon would appear.

[@The80sRuss]

It’s actually explicitly stated in one of the memories (by Rauru) that Zelda comes from a timeline wherein she was not present for the events of the past (that’s a confusing sentence, sorry, lol)… but yeah, he lays it out pretty clearly, that she is actively altering the events of the past. I believe the only reason Ganondorf took the form he did in the events of TotK, is because of Zelda’s presence. But I also believe this was part of a greater plan by Hylia, to seal Ganon in a time-loop, created deliberately by Zelda/Hylia, during the events of TotK. I’ll be explaining this nonsense in a future video… stay tuned! 😅

[@Xalidos]

This is very on point and I agree it makes more sense geographically than Nintendo just slapping the remains of a dungeon onto the map and calling it a day.

[@The80sRuss]

@@Xalidos There’s even more evidence that I found/realized after recording this, too. Several landmarks look discernibly less weathered by time (in EoW), and there’s even a living character who’s age can be somewhat clarified by their size across multiple games… Lord Jabu Jabu. Granted, the scale of his sprite in the top-down titles is open to some interpretation, but it’s pretty clear that he’s a lot smaller in EoW than the “present timeline” in Oracle of Ages, which “canonically” is earlier (according to Nintendo)… so yeah, I might do a follow-up on just Jabu Jabu. 😅