Analyzing and Comparing EVERY Zelda Map - The Theory of Zelda | Super Geek Bros.

Took us a little longer to make it but here's our video! We'll go through every single map of the mainline Zelda series, going over some details of the terrain and architecture and comparing each one, pointing similarities and differences from the previous ones.

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00:00 - intro
02:08 - The Legend of Zelda - NES
03:22 - The Adventure of Link - NES
04:43 - A Link to the Past - SNES
06:52 - Link's Awakening - GB
07:07 - Ocarina of Time - N64
10:15 - Majora's Mask - N64
11:01 - Oracle of Ages/Seasons - GBC
11:25 - Four Swords - GBA
11:45 - The Wind Waker - GC
13:37 - Four Swords Adventures - GC
15:15 - The Minish Cap - GBA
16:20 - Twilight Princess - GC
21:14 - Phantom Hourglass - DS
21:45 - Spirit Tracks - DS
22:57 - Skyward Sword - Wii
23:52 - A Link Between Worlds - 3DS
24:26 - TriForce Heroes - 3DS
24:58 - Breath of the Wild - WiiU/Switch

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Musics played:
Inside the Pirate Ship - TWW
Overworld - TLoZ
Overworld - TAoL
Overworld - ALttP
Opening - ALttP
Overworld - LA
Hyrule Field - OoT
Clock Town, First Day - MM
Main Theme - OoA
Title Screen - FS
Title Screen - TWW
The Great Sea - TWW
Map / Level Select - FSA
Overworld - TMC
Hylianische Steppe - TP
Ordon - TP
The Great Sea - PH
Overworld - ST
The Sky - SS
Overworld 2 - ALBW
Main Theme - TFH
Main Theme - BotW
Guardian Battle - BotW
Main Theme - HW:AoC
Kass' Theme - BotW

script, edit, footage, subtitles by Gabe
script, thumbnail art, footage by Johnny

Title: Analyzing and Comparing EVERY Zelda Map- The Theory of Zelda | Super Geek Bros.

#ZeldaMaps #ZeldaTheory #SuperGeekBros

[ShortfallSaviour]

I think you can make the argument that Termina is an inversion of Hyrule and therefore the map actually lines up better with Ocarina Of Time's if you flip it Horizontally. Snowhead stays in the north, roughly where Death Mountain was, Ikara Valley then appears West, lining up with Gerudo Desert, the Zora Hall would be where Zora's Domain is, and Woodfall would match up with the Lost Woods

[chrisharris]

What noone considers is that loading screens can be considered fast travel areas so we don't ever get a true walking distance. I think botw has the most accurate map and that discrepancies are due to poor cartography and the kingdom falling into ruin and rebuilding multiple times which allows the lost woods to expand and retract over time to protect the master sword and pedestal

[minight]

Finally some people who understand that video game maps omit irrelevent places kupo

Sometimes I feel like players actually believe that the "great hyrule kingdom" canonically has only 5 villages and a capital smaller than Paris's 2nd arrondissement, or that you would actually have two different climates a kilometer appart

And not just with space, but with time too, like the song of passing was even going to be relevent if a day/night cycle canonicly lasted 8 minutes kupo

[muticere]

I love that you pointed out a detail about the OoT and the LttP maps, how if you tilt the OoT map at an angle, many details line up. I remember seeing that as a kid and it was always my headcanon ever since. The way I interpreted the location of Castle Town and the location of the Master Sword in LttP was that Castle Town after being destroyed by Ganon would never be repopulated and would eventually be overgrown into a forest. Temple of Time would fall into ruin, leaving only the pedestal of time deep within the woods. This was super confirmed, in my opinion, with Twilight Princess, when we found again the Temple of Time hidden deep inside the forest in ruined state with the pedestal and the Master Sword inside. Grant it, I don't know how that lines up now with the "official" Zelda timeline, but it made a lot of sense to me.

[chobochobus]

The Lurelin Village and Outset Island connection blew my mind, holy smokes!

[FoggyBadger]

I've always noticed that the maps didn't match up and it was one thing about the series that has always bothered me. But I never considered that they weren't all facing the same direction, and that we're talking about Hyrule over thousands of years. It's not going to stay the same all that time. It's rare that one video changes my mind about something I've believed as long as this, but you managed to change my mind. I'm legitimately impressed!

[RabbiBY]

if only nintendo could keep this consitensy with the maps of the mushroom kingdom

[bowenorcutt]

I have a theory of my own on the Temple of Time's location in Twilight Princess. This is based on observations of Hyrule Castle's size and location between it and Ocarina. You'll notice that in Ocarina the castle is a somewhat small fortress on the far side of a meadow that lies between it and the north gate of Castle Town. While in Twilight Princess, the Castle has become a massive citadel that is right up against said north gate. One of the biggest challenges posed to archaeology is the tendency of settlements to clear away existing structures to make room for or provide materials for newer ones. Usually both. I theorize that the original Temple was torn down to make room for the expanded castle, with the new structure being built somewhere more remote. Then time took its toll and the location was just kind of forgotten about over the centuries.

[Silverskydragon]

Wow what a great video! Love the analysis of all of the different maps. Keep up the great work!

[CoalBurns]

That maze in the corner at 3:54 reminds me of the maze on the map in BOTW.

[beccacroce]

New Hyrule from Spirit Tracks would have to be way higher up on land if it didn't get flooded when Old Hyrule did.

[penginhaloguru]

after watching this i feel like many of the odd migrations of certain settlements over millennia could have happened without much documentation and then lost to time. such as countless things historians are still trying to account for in our world. then there is also the occasional shifting of almost entire geographical areas which i think any number of undocumented floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions could account for. then on top of that there are the magical structures from different games that seem to keep entire cities in the sky that could be accidently activated and either intentionally or unintentionally move vast ares of land, then giant magical creatures, and just weird areas that seem to have some kind of cloaking that warps the perception of the land and it's layout. I am grateful for your video and now feel like trying to understand the cumulative geography of the Zelda series is like blow up a pumpkin with a grenade and trying to put all the pieces back together where they came from.

[Aaron-from-BroTrio]

This might be the best Zelda map video I've ever seen! This clearly took a LOT of work, and I'm glad it has gotten a good amount of views!

I never thought about rotating & scaling the maps to fit locations from other games. Maybe the planet that Hyrule is on has a rapidly shifting north pole?

Keep up the good work! I look forward to hearing more from you guys!

[tapsin]

12:51 If I remember correctly, ganon's tower made its first appereance in A Link to the Past, in the dark world

[SubduedRadical]

I agree with the premise that "important areas" and "not to scale" are real world phenomena (props on showing past Earth maps and how they had the same GENERAL shape, but still got a lot of things wrong), and that things like rivers change course with time.

I think it's neat we can look at these maps and see these similarities when the maps are rotated that aren't apparent if you always assume "north = up" when that may not be the case.

Though one other thing that's important to remember is that, if the official timeline is to be believed, these are three separate timelines, meaning some events might have happened differently. For example, in the Fallen Timeline where Ganondorf wins, it's possible his use of dark magic could have caused shifts in plate tectonics or things like that, moving areas around, while in the other timelines, something different happened. The timeline the Wind Waker happened in obviously is different than the other ones because the King having flooded the entire region.

EDIT: Oh, and remember that Zelda 1 and 2 take place in the far distant future of the Fallen Timeline, so it makes sense why the ruins on the island may have been, long long LONG ago, Castle Town, since that is far in the future and a future corrupted by Ganon's magic. :ENDEDIT

It's also interesting to me that Zelda 2's map is, to date, the most expansive, and Zelda 2's Link traveled across far more of the world than any other Link in history. Seeing those other parts of the world as possibly the maps from those other games also makes some sense to me as well.

[scantyer]

One thing to notice is that natural places never if rarely change but human settlements (or zora/goron/kokiri lol) do change all time.

Death Mountain is always on the north, mostly Northeast
The Desert is always mostly in the southwest
The ice region is always Northwest

Only named villages and settlements often change, which makes sense since almost every game takes place many generations later.
And Twilight Princess confirmed that multiple Kakarikos are a thing, so it's not a stretch to think there existed multiple Zora's domains or other villages like windfall over time

[tinyetoile]

So glad for this video! I'd always assumed they just changed the map randomly to fit whatever the game needed- I'd never noticed how many consistencies there really was!

[Garchomp]

I have my own theory why the lost woods are always in a different place. The lost woods are actually a curse that comes with the master sward and the magical woods grow around the master sward as a trial for the next hero to come

[Trianull]

26:25 Something interesting to point out is that the name "Hebra" isn't exactly new. Four Swords Adventures had a "Hebra Hill, " which was an almost direct copy of the one hill puzzle in Zelda 1. Hebra Hill and the Zelda 1 puzzle are both on Death Mountain, which is odd when compared to the entire region that shares the name in Breath of the Wild.

[jinkstkittensen]

Reconheci o sotaque! Brazil representando <3