It cannot be that the entire planet was flooded, but only the kingdom of Hyrule. The Goddesses had the soil of Hyrule sink below the earth (cf. Atlantis), protected by a divine barrier, and the water of the surrounding seas pouring down into the hole is what was experienced by the population as the torrential downpours.
If it was only the relatively small kingdom of Hyrule that sank, that means the level of the planet's sea doesn't drop significantly while filling up the hole that comes to be after the barrier breaks in TWW's ending. Indeed the game shows us that there is no noticeable drop.
That doesn't seem to be the case, by my reckoning, although it is an interesting explanation.
You're right. But that doesn't really relate to Hyrule's destruction.
It certainly relates to Hyrule's
future.
In case that answer missed the point of your question: The pouring waters do of course not have the force to crumble the mountains (but everything else of the landscape), that's common sense.
I would argue, however, that (aside from the desert), the landscape changes for the most part between OoT and ALttP, with only the northern mountains, including Zora's Fountain, and the desert remaining. One could have previously argued Lake Hylia as well, but it appears to move south between FSA and ALttP from the water source to the lake basin in ALttP, where the village of the blue maiden once stood. You argue the opposite timeline, of course, but I don't really see it making sense that a lake would retreat closer to its source, nor do I buy your "the designation of places on the world map may not be accurate" bit either (forgive me if I misunderstood your point on this). Obviously the mountains would have remained post-flood, as you of course acknowledge, so the question is how the desert survived. Headstone Mountain is a mostly desert island, however, so that could suffice to stand for the desert itself.
The swamplands, northwestern forest, second peak of Death Mountain, and most of the temples in TMC/FSA/ALttP don't exist in OoT's Hyrule. The geographical landscapes, however, are shown in TFPRR, which appears heavily to be post-flood. I also see consistency between TMC and LoZ. The graveyard is beyond a forest (or what has traditionally come to be known as LoZ's Lost Woods), for instance. In all games it is close to Death Mountain, although this more likely has to do with the name of the mountain than with a specific geographical consistency. And I've already made my case regarding LoZ/AoL and PH. PH also features a pyramid-building culture in a land that is not Hyrule, while the Zuna claim to be descended from wise pyramid builders. And in ALttP a good chunk of the references to the Hylian culture that preceded the ALttP Hyruleans (specifically the language) have a large basis in Egypt.
While I don't think geography plays THAT big a role in the minds of the developers, it is probably the easiest way for them to reference other games while pursuing a free, unhindered story. And of course I prefer to think that nothing is meaningless.
TP is a tricky predicament, since it was originally supposed to go before TWW, and we don't know how much remains of that connection. A number of the small plot details still point to it, like the Triforce parts and the children (Talo and Colin) taking up blades. Some were removed, like Ganondorf's dying speech (he would of course need to be revived after TP to appear in TWW). We also have Aonuma's love of ALttP, which could contribute to his choice of homages. A lot of things in TP
parallel things in ALttP (the use of a scapegoat particularly). They also parallel OoT (Zora's Domain freezing, etc.), TWW (Kargarocs being dinosaur-like instead of actual birds), and FSA (the use of the Mirror). So I don't know what to make of it.
Edited by LionHarted, 27 May 2008 - 03:14 PM.
