Summary
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomhas many wondrous things about its world, from unbelievable monsters to floating sky islands, but there are also some more subtle features that are a bit odd when analyzed. Hyrule is fairly similar betweenTOTKand its predecessor,BOTW, with much of the overall map remaining similar but taking into account the passage of time and the rebuilding that has been happening since the events of the first game. The beautiful games are designed to be immersive and sprawling, feeling much like a fantastical version of the real world.
Over the series, there has been a lot ofimportant history surrounding the land of Hyrule, but very few times does anyone really dive deep into the actual land masses in the games, other than just comparing maps to otherZeldagames. With the open-world nature of bothBOTWandTOTK, players have spent countless hours exploring these beautiful environments. InTOTKthere was even more to do with crafting unique vehicles to overcome the challenges the world provided, andperhaps all of this helped many overlook a very strange detail with this Hyrule.
Zelda: TOTK Players Discover Obvious BOTW Connection Over A Year Later
Over a year after Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom released, players are still discovering parallels to Breath of the Wild hiding in plain sight.
Tears Of The Kingdom’s Rivers Are All Completely Flat
No Elevation Changes Other Than Waterfalls
The very intelligent YouTuberAny Austinrecently released a video where they explore the rivers and bodies of water inTears of the Kingdom, highlighting some very strange details. Not only does the river system not appear to connect to any ocean or other body of water, but they strangelydo not change in elevation at all unless there is a waterfall. There is no water gradually going down a hillside or even having the slightest dip from the flat grid that they are on.
Any Austin’s thirty-minute-long video is full of fascinating science and revelations about the landscape and is worth a watch overall, but it is also interesting to contemplate how few people have noticed this. Even after hundreds of hours of exploringTOTKand crafting rafts, it never really stood out as something odd.
Why Link Never Speaks In The Legend Of Zelda Games
The Legend of Zelda’s Link is famously a silent protagonist, and there are a few explanations as to why he never talks in the main series' games.
Hyrule’s Landscape In TOTK And BOTW Doesn’t Have To Make Sense
The Magic Of Video Games Can Make For Strange Scenarios
Most likely this was a decision that was made on purpose by developersthat had to do with the sailing element in the game. Using Link’s special arm, players can build their own boats, rafts, and even motorized ships to sail along these bodies of water. If the water was changing elevation, this could have presented more of an issue in the game for players, as well as in development.
Thankfully, the magic of video games makes this really not that much of an issue. Although there are many familiar features that present a correlation between the real world and that of Hyrule, clearly there are some very obvious differences that can only exist in this fictional creation. While it is fascinating to look at things such as what direction the rivers are running and analyze the map, ultimately it is a video game and a fabricated creation that does not need to make sense. Otherwise, the sky islands would certainly cause some scientific conundrums forThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
