Echoes of Wisdom ~ Areas Around Hyrule

The original footage for Echoes of Wisdom already let us speculate that the Hyrule we know from A Link to the Past and Between Worlds will get expanded by a number of surrounding areas. And the Traversing Hyrule Trailer now gave us some clarity about what to expect here.

What looked to be a new Death Mountain to the northwest, is now confirmed to be the Eldin Volcano, where the Gorons live. They look great, probably the best they've ever been in a top-down Zelda, where their building style seems very close to Breath of the Wild, but Goron City is actually underground this time. (I wasn't really a fan of the unearthed Goron City in the two last games, it felt like a lot of missed potential and like a result of the original engine's limitations, before they had caves.)

Oh, and there are Moldorms now running on climbable areas. That's new and looks troublesome. And it's certainly more clever than having an infinite stream of rolling boulders as obstacles whenever you climb somewhere, which a lot of top-down Zelda games have done ever since the first.

Kakariko Village lies at the feet of Eldin Volcano. You can even see how it's directly at its feet, where the windmill is right in front of the rock walls. So, it's likely that the location of Kakariko has shifted a bit, because originally it was south of the Lost Woods, or maybe the village got bigger, where it didn't have a windmill before.

The village does look very different overall, however, so it's possible that this is meant to be a completely new Kakariko. The layout of the houses around the covered well is like nothing from the previous games.

We also have the Jabul Waters, named after Jabu Jabu, most likely in the northeast of the map, where the Zora River used to be. Here live both the Sea and the River Zora, who have a conflict with each other. Oracle of Ages introduced the idea of having these two different Zora species, which explained why the classic Zora are hostile, while Zora from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are peaceful. Both seem peaceful towards Zelda this time, but they are at odds with each other.

Given that the Sea Zora are ocean-themed, it's also likely that there will be a shore somewhere in the east, potentially the southeast corner of the map, where they live in the ocean, like in Majora's Mask or Oracle of Ages. We can already look at what might be their home in a sequence where Zelda is swimming and talking to one of them, because the map there is mostly blue.

Curiously, the River Zora Villager seems to have musical instruments in every corner, like some maracas. This could be a throwback to various other Zelda games. Maybe we can find all Instruments of the Sirens here as well?

The Japanese website has some additional screenshots floating around, where you can see what's a fishing village, probably this game's equivalent to Lurelin Village. You can even spot another Sea Zora there, probably on a visit.

In the southeast you will find the Faron Wetlands, which is the home of the Dekus, so there are lot more to find than just the Business Scrubs selling smoothies. This is the first time we see them live as an actual tribe with individual characters outside of Termina, which is a lovely comeback. Also for the first time since Majora's Mask, the Dekus have different leafs as "hairstyles", which is adorable. And they are eating cotton candy, but that cotton is made from spider webs.

Finally, there is the Gerudo Desert to the southwest, where you can find Gerudo Town, but also some oasis with a bazaar, similar to Breath of the Wild. Maybe this even is named the Kara Kara Bazaar. The Gerudo guards all have the same model, similar to the Hylian soldiers, but you can see some unique Gerudo in the footage. So, this isn't yet at the point where every character in the game looks unique, which is understandable for a top-down title, because you don't really need that level of detail.

With the exception of Eldin Volcano, all of this seems to be a natural extension of what was already there in A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds. There was the Desert of Mystery in the southwest, the swamp in the south, and the Zora River in the northeast. They even give us a view of the map in the trailer, where you can see how the jungle areas expand from the swamp and go around the south of Lake Hylia:

There is also a "Suthorn Village" and a "Suthorn Beach" to the south, where "Suthorn" seems like a pun on "southern". This seems to be another Hylian settlement in the jungle, because the houses look more human-made, so this isn't a Deku village. The later trailer also confirms this, because one of the Adventure Log entries shown talks about an elderly man from Suthorn Village.

The Suthorn Beach is also entirely isolated, from what it looks, so you will to climb so cliffs to get there or go through some cave. It's actually exciting to think that this has always been there, already back in A Link to the Past, but you simply couldn't get there with what you had. The shape of the beach also looks a bit like the Subrosia Seaside from Oracle of Seasons, the place where you can find Rosa. But this might be a coincidence.

On the covered map parts you can also spot the entrance to the desert in the west, as well as what seems to be the Lon Lon Ranch, if you go west from where Link's house used to be (which is an empty hill now). The farm can be even be briefly seen in the footage, as Zelda rides around it:

Actually, you can even see the silo in the game's key artwork. But this part of the landscape close to the Flute Boy's Meadow seems to have changed quite tremendously, which may go hand in hand with the new Kakariko Village.

To the east of the Faron Wetlands really seems to be another beach area with palm trees, which is probably where we will find the fishing village and where they have showcased the white horse in the trailer. There is also a heart-shaped pond there, like the one on Tuft Mountain in Breath of the Wild, which was geographically in a similar position. (Not saying that these are one and the same, this is a different Hyrule, but this could be a reference.)

And there is certainly more that the trailer hasn't revealed yet, potentially even other tribes. There was no mention of a Lanayru region yet, but there should be one, given that we have the Eldin Volcano and the Faron Wetlands. Maybe it's somewhere part of the eastern area, which would make the most sense. And we don't know what has become of Death Mountain yet...

Those might be one and the same now, though, where this could be the "Lanayru Mountains", a snow-themed area and home to potentially another tribe, like the Anouki or the Rito. For the latter it would be the first appearance in a top-down Zelda title. And with them in mind this could also now be the Hebra Mountains, with the Tower of Hera renamed to the "Tower of Hebra". Close enough. But with the great heights and the snow it makes sense to have the Rito there, no matter how it will be called. The tower on the mountain could even become the new home of the Rito. It's great fit.

And since the Rito have somehow evolved from the Zora, you would get all three evolutions of the Zora in one game here and it would also make sense to have them all as neighbors. But that's a lot of speculation right now...

We also haven't seen the Lost Woods yet, save for the Great Deku Tree. It's unlikely that they will have the Koroks there, because they would be too similar to the Deku, but maybe we will see a return of the Kokiri... Though, it doesn't look right now like the map was actually expanded to the north, at least not as far, so maybe we shouldn't expect too much here, other than the snowy revision of Death Mountain. But the Lost Woods still might be much larger this time, going further north.