Sidetracked by a Zelda map
August 15th, 2007In my mind I have a storyline, several stories really, centering on a character. I’ve been putting thought into it for long while now, and with setting up this site I feel like I’m getting closer to actually producing something. Regardless, it seems I am easily distracted, and have managed to sidetrack myself.
My latest distraction has come in the form of a map.
http://langford.deviantart.com/art/Zelda-Map-58364184
This map is supposed to be a representation of the cumulative territory of several Legend of Zelda games. All the Zelda games seem to box you in, so naturally there are always thoughts about what might be over the walls that surround you. Using cheat codes you will see that you are surrounded by a horrifyingly empty void, from which there can be no escape. Ignoring that, one can assume that there may be unexplored locations that are simply unreachable, possibly locations from one Zelda game that are simply unrepresented in the game you happen to be in. That is where the map comes in.
The simplest way to explain the map I want to make, is to say that I want to start with a simple enough map of Hyrule as represented in twilight Princess, then fill in the unknown areas with information from the various other Zelda games. Having played several of the games, there is a general feeling that they reuse elements of the games, while not attempting to recreate the old games. For example, there is usually a location regarded as “Death Mountain”, somewhere on the map, and near to it a cemetery of some sort. Deserts are generally represented, usually containing some abandoned buildings from some lost ancient group of people, and there are usually magically unnavigable forests of some type.
It should go without saying that simply overlaying existing game maps to get a view of the world will only get you a limited amount of satisfaction, but what surprised me was actually that that was not necessarily the case on some of the more recent games. For the most part, the 3D Zelda titles seemed to have geography that were eerily compatible, and stranger still, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess overlay one another remarkably well. The line ups are probably for the most part coincidental, but, but fun to find none the less. I have even considered trying to devise a kind of “Hyrule Archaeological Study” on some of the areas, to give more meaning to some of the ruins that seem to appear in some of the games, because many may be explainable by way of the games that preceded them. Perhaps a wiki of some sort to let others do it, or maybe I’ll just donate my finished map to some other page and let others do what they wish with it. Chances are I will want to hold on to my finished map, just so I can keep it updated when the next game eventually comes out.
The map is nowhere near complete right now, and currently consists of around 60 sheets of notebook paper taped up on an empty wall. If I assume that can do one square a week, then it would take a whole year, so I really need to ramp up my effort and make a point to go much faster than that. Hopefully I can find time to work on it every day, and finish in full color in a couple of months. When I finish it, I intend to put it on display here and probably also on DeviantArt, so that I can order prints of the thing for myself.
