What a book! I've spent the majority of this Saturday's afternoon with sitting on my balcony, skipping through the The Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia, probably the most extensive work in Dark Horse's Goddess Collection. Much like Arts & Artifacts provided an amazing visual journey through the entire Zelda series prior to Breath of the Wild, it's nice to have this comprehensive collection of information about all the games in the old timelines with Encyclopedia.
I do enjoy having this clean cut created by the 30th Anniversary of Zelda, where everything was coming together once again in these books, before Breath of the Wild created a massive milestone afterwards, essentially starting a new era for Zelda. Well, Breath of the Wild is so expansive, it probably could fill its own book, where there's actually one with Master Works, which will be released in English later this year, also by Dark Horse.
That being said, with a book of this size (328 pages full of information), it is prone to errors. And while it bothers me to have small translation errors here and there, I'm more angered by the fact that the original writers "added their own interpretations and expanded upon the games' stories" seemingly without any supervision. This effectively makes this whole book "non-canon", as thorough as it might have been researched.
Some of these "own interpretations" feel like cheap fan theories, which shouldn't be part of such a book. With Hyrule Historia I was overall fine with what they had established as "facts", but the Encyclopedia went a little bit too far and might even contradict the games at times. I guess, I have to let to sink some of the information in, but here are some larger things of notice:
Oracle of Seasons & Ages in the Timeline
The changed / fixed the timeline placement of Oracles of Seasons & Ages to their own era after Link's Awakening. This is completely fine and it really can go either way. The ending of the Oracle games made it look like they were a prequel to Link's Awakening, where Link sets off in a boat that resembles the one from the intro, where he gets stranded on Koholint. And since Link's Awakening was always said to be a direct sequel to A Link to the Past, Hyrule Historia placed the Oracle games between the two classics.
But, this was always a controversy... Link and Zelda in the Oracle games looks much younger than in A Link to the Past, following the games' main artworks. And when Link and Zelda meet, the dialogues make it sound like they meet for the first time, with Zelda introducing herself. So, this never added up and it's probably a good thing that this was now changed in hindsight.
However, the English version states on page 19 that the hero in the Oracle games is the same one as from A Link to the Past... Which doesn't make any sense at all. Why would they put the games AFTER Link's Awakening, where Link's fate originally always was unknown, if not to make this a story of a new Link? But as far as I know, this is a translation mistake in the English version and the Japanese version states the opposite.
All the timeline diagrams also always put a gap between Link's Awakening and the Oracle games, which symbolizes a jump between different eras, which makes it quite clear that this is supposed to be a new Link and a new Zelda.
Termina Vanished
The Encyclopedia explains that Termina was created by Majora's Mask from the mind of the Skull Kid and that it ceased to exist, after the Hero left... Which doesn't seem to be the case in the game, because we saw the people celebrating, after Link had left. We also saw the Deku Butler mourning for his son in what should have been a part of the Lost Woods... But apparently it was all just another Koholint.
It feels like Nintendo just wanted to shut up the fans asking for another game taking place in Termina, but this kind of kills the mystery surrounding these lands... It does explain, how both Link and the Happy Mask Salesman disappear into thin air at the end of the game. But the thought that you can find your way to Termina through the Lost Woods was always exciting.
Geographical Guesses
Other than the fact that Termina apparently doesn't exist, the book also some controversies about Hyrule and the countries surrounding it.
It treats both Holodrum and Labrynna as some "parallel worlds", while we know that both Zelda and Impa travelled there from Hyrule. Characters from the Oracle games also travel between the two lands, so everything should be connected somehow, but not according to the Encyclopedia...
It doesn't get better with Hytopia, where the book downright states that it lies north of Hyrule, a fact that's coming out of nowhere and has no evidence whatsoever. To make things worse, it formulates the theory that the Northern Hyrule from Zelda II - The Adventure of Link might be, where Hytopia is located, because the people there are so "fashionable". What...?!
At least it acknowledges the fact that the southwest corner of the map from Zelda II is supposed to be the old Hyrule from the first game. But it then tries to make sense out of things by placing the first Hyrule at the foot of Death Mountain from A Link to the Past... I guess, you can see it that way and the Graveyard location does match, but it doesn't explain, how there's suddenly an ocean to the southeast.
So, the book tries to connect similar areas from different eras, where some of these connections are quite questionable. Another example would be Dragon Roost Island, where every fan would have guessed that this is actually Death Mountain from Ocarina of Time. But, no, apparently it's Zora's Fountain, simply because the Zora evolved into the Rito...
If they wanted to theorize about connections like that, they could have used the "Lost Woods" in Oracle of Seasons, where you can find the Master Sword in a Linked Game, as an indication that Holodrum is a neighboring country of Hyrule, instead of deeming it as some parallel world like Lorule.
The Noble Master Four Sword
Apropos Master Sword in the Oracle games... Now, this never made any sense and the Encyclopedia explains it with the Noble Sword receiving the Master Sword's powers. But this doesn't make any sense either, because you never upgrade the Noble Sword, you always get a new sword. And in one case you can even find the Noble or Master Sword on a pedestal in Holodrum's Lost Wood, which is very reminiscent of how you find the Master Sword in A Link to the Past...
At the same time the book states that you can "swap" the Four Sword in Four Swords with the Master Sword by unlocking it in A Link to the Past (page 131)... In reality the Four Sword gains a sword beam akin to the Master Sword, but it doesn't become the Master Sword. The unlockable ability is simply called "Master Sword", but you don't wield the Master Sword in the game. But apparently no one told this the the authors of this book...
Here it would have been correct to say that the Four Sword gained the powers of the Master Sword. The ingame icon for the ability even clearly shows the Four Sword shooting a sword beam, not the Master Sword.
The Dungeon List
The Encyclopedia comes with an extensive "Database" section, where they have a list of "all" the dungeons from all the games. But this one feels rather inconsistent. For starters, they've listed both the Pyramid of Power and the "Mountain Cave" as dungeons in A Link to the Past. Why?
You would think that they are simply being thorough, but it's really an exception. It doesn't list the Maku Path from Oracle of Ages, for example, which at least has a dungeon map screen and is certainly more of a dungeon than some normal caves. How's the "Mountain Cave" any different from other cave complexes in other Zelda games?
In Link's Awakening they list the Southern Face Shrine as a dungeon (that's three rooms), but not the Dream Shrine (that's four rooms). It also doesn't feature the Royal Crypt from The Minish Cap, even though that's an excellent mini-dungeon.
With mini-dungeons it seems to be quite a picky list overall, not featuring the optional ones from the N64 games. It does have the Cave of Ordeals and Cave of Shadows from Twilight Princess, but not the Savage Labyrinth from the Wind Waker, even though those are effectively the same dungeon concepts in the same size.
It lists the "Dark Realm" as a dungeon from Spirit Tracks (it's really not a dungeon, it's just Pac-Man rail tracks), but not the Lost at Sea Station dungeon, which was a huge homage to the Ocean King Temple.
It lists all 32 levels from Tri Force Heroes, plus the Den of Trials, but it doesn't have the Realm of Memories, nor the Hero's Trial from the Four Swords Anniversary Edition. Which leads us to the following point...
Four Swords Anniversary Edition as a Side Note
While the book goes thoroughly through all retail releases of the Zelda series, the enhanced digital-only release of Four Swords for the 25th Anniversary apparently isn't even "canon". It got put on the same page as the BS-X Zelda games, Link's Crossbow Training and the Twilight Princess Picross...
The book is mentioning that this new release has levels based on three past Zelda games, but it doesn't give a name and doesn't mention the Hero's Trial in any form, as if this never existed. It feels like the writers never got to play this version of the game and decided not to bother with it at all. Very disappointing. It would have been nice to read some explanations for both these areas or to at least have their existence acknowledged somehow.
"Minor" Mistakes
While I haven't read everything yet, I've noticed some obvious errors here and there (this list will be updated):
- The timeline page (11) claims that Ganon was part of the story from Four Swords, probably confusing things with Four Swords Adventures. Again, did the authors even play these games? Probably not.
- The Lorule pages (32 and 33) have a caption "Life in Hyrule", despite showing villagers wearing monster masks in Lorule.
- The Item Database lists the "Piece of Power" from Link's Awakening as a "Critical" (= main quest reward) item, while it's just a "Consumable" power-up. Someone probably confused it for the Triforce of Power here.
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