Archaeological Markers of History and Indigeneity in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Introduction

Gerudo, Goron, Hylian, Korok, Rito, Sheikah, and Zora. These diverse races inhabit the world of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, interacting with the player and providing guidance on how best to navigate their avatar, Link, through a post-apocalyptic landscape reclaimed by nature over the course of 100 years. From sandy deserts to dangerous oceans, canyon badlands to icy mountain passes, each region of Hyrule is marked by the habitation of its residents, past and present. At times this manifests through cultural landscapes while other markers are smaller in nature and hidden away from all but the most inquisitive players. Other pieces of evidence include artifacts and textual evidence found throughout the game.

We take an archaeological approach to understanding the world of Hyrule, focusing on three principal themes: landscape, indigeneity, and “lost civilizations”. We first examine how landscape elements, both historic and ancient, are used to communicate the boundaries of the different races’ homelands as well as hinting at parts of their broader ideologies. Next, we describe how these two themes translate into player immersion within a world marked by indigeneity in a manner that is palatable to Japanese and Western audiences. Finally, we take a closer look at the representation of the two civilizations in the game considered to be destroyed, the kingdom of Hyrule and the lost people of the Zonai. We ask how these civilizations are presented to the viewer both as the player and as their avatar.

Nintendo’s 2017 release of the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild presented players with an opportunity to explore a new iteration of Hyrule. This version of Hyrule is unlike any that players had experienced before as it is decidedly post-apocalyptic from the very beginning of the game. Though many of the motifs present in earlier games still exist, Ganon’s attack on, and more specifically destruction of, Hyrule represent a complete shift for the series as this kind of attack usually occurs towards the middle of the game, after the player becomes familiar with the world. In Breath of the Wild players immediately encounter a ruined world with few remaining outposts of civilization. As archaeologists and gamers, we immediately started thinking about Hyrule in archaeological terms and tried to comprehend the world from that specific viewpoint. Helping us to analyze the game are the design notes and concept art in Creating a Champion (2018) as well as the broader themes in the series covered by Hyrule Historia (2013). In this article we first introduce the world of Legend of Zelda (LoZ) to those readers who are unfamiliar with the series before diving into some of the discussions that we had while playing the game. The discussions revolve around three separate, yet interconnected, themes that we believe are especially important to understanding Hyrule in an archaeological sense: landscape, indigeneity, and “lost civilizations”. Throughout we describe the broader implications of the game as they relate to the role of pseudoarcheology in video games, as discussed elsewhere in the special issue (Fitzpatrick 2024).

The World Of Hyrule

The LoZ series usually takes place in some version of the fictional world of Hyrule and revolves around a struggle with an ancient evil entity named Ganon. This recurring setting serves as an overworld connecting different dungeons that contain useful items or skills for completing the game. From the first installment of the series, gameplay has remained thematically consistent, focusing on exploration broken up by a mixture of puzzles and combat. The player completes these activities using an avatar character named Link, a green clothed Hylian swordsman. The first several games in the series featured two-dimensional graphics with either overhead or side facing perspectives. Ocarina of Time was able to move the series towards three-dimensional graphics and a reactive third person camera view due to the technological advances of the Nintendo 64 console. Subsequent games on non-handheld consoles have largely stuck to this three-dimensional style, with the exceptions of 2004’s Four Swords Adventures and 2019’s Link’s Awakening remake. Unlike many other popular games with a focus on exploration, it is impossible to play the game in a first-person perspective; though the player can temporarily look around from Link’s perspective to assess the landscape or use ranged weapons.

In Breath of the Wild, this style of gameplay continues with a greater focus on exploration than any other game in the series.^[1] Breath of the Wild is what game designers call an open world game which can be defined as “a nonlinear virtual world in which the player has the agency to roam freely and tackle objectives in the order they choose… [...] … obstacles can typically be overcome in multiple ways in order to facilitate player freedom and to achieve a heightened sense of player agency” (Vidqvist 2019:2). The overworld map is significantly larger than any previous LoZ game and every inch can be traversed by Link in some manner. For the first time, Link can climb any vertical surface in the overworld instead of finding a ladder or path that leads to higher elevations. This is essential to the gameplay as some areas can only be accessed by climbing, such as towers with map information located at the top. These towers provide the player with a platform to look down on the broader landscape, identify areas that warrant closer examination, and mark them on a map using an in-game viewfinder, though as Sellers notes, the most prominent landmarks from these navigational towers are other navigational towers which provide structure to exploration (2019:64).

After completing exploration of an initial plateau the player can travel through Hyrule at their own discretion with no areas requiring story progression to open. Instead of the traditional number of large dungeons, between seven and ten, the game takes players to four ancient constructs referred to as “Divine Beasts” which serve the same purpose in furthering the plot. These can be done in any order with difficulty scaling to the player’s progress. There are also 120 smaller dungeons called shrines scattered across the overworld that reward the player with orbs that can be exchanged for more life or stamina. Unlike previous installments in the series it is possible to walk directly from the initial area to the lair of the final boss without traveling to any of the other areas, though this approach does not allow the player to engage with the rich history, archaeology, and geography that the game has to offer.

In the LoZ canon, Breath of the Wild is the latest game in the chronology, occurring after all the other games in the series and combining branching timelines back into a single whole. To explain the entirety of the canonical timeline would take the remainder of the article (and fills an entire chapter in Hyrule Historia) but the essence of the timeline is that the first incarnation of Link, Zelda, and Ganon are from Skyward Sword with a linear timeline until Ocarina of Time. The time travel component of Ocarina of Time splits the timeline into three different canons with several games in each which then recombine for Breath of the Wild. In some ways this makes analysis of the game easier because all prior events in the LoZ universe are a valid part of the world’s history. However, the exact mechanism for the timelines recombining and how much time passes between different games are not fully explained, blurring any attempt at temporal analysis beyond the lore explicitly stated in Breath of the Wild, approximately 10,000 years of Hylian history.

The overworld in Breath of the Wild is divided into several different biomes with varying danger levels, weather conditions, and Indigenous groups. Though difficult enemies are more common as the player progresses, some areas accessible shortly after the introductory area contain a higher density of more dangerous monsters or monster outposts that can overwhelm the player if they are not careful. The weather compounds the danger for the player and different conditions can sap Link’s health unless he is equipped with the proper armor or weapons. Different Indigenous communities are associated with each biome, the all-female Gerudo live in the aptly named Gerudo desert, the aquatic Zora have their city in the wetlands of the Lanayru region, the stone-eating Goron call fiery Death Mountain home, and the avian Rito built their village between the badlands of the Tabantha Frontier and the snowy foothills of the Hebra Mountains. In addition to those areas controlled by Indigenous communities there are several remaining towns (Hateno Village, Lurelin Village, Tarrey Town) built by the western-European styled Hylians as well as a Kakariko Village which is controlled by the Japanese styled Sheikah.

Various types of ruins and other features can also be found throughout the overworld. Some are relatively recent, older community members remember how the areas looked before they were destroyed. Others are far older, possibly dating back to a time before the Hylians arrived in Hyrule and founded the kingdom. These places prove especially important for this article as they are where archaeological analysis can happen. In the following sections we go into more detail as to how exactly traces of the past influence the creation of social landscapes in present, how these landscapes translate into an understanding of indigeneity in the LoZ universe, and how the concept of lost civilizations is represented for both the fallen kingdom of Hyrule and the mysterious Zonai.

Creating Landscape

Since the mid-1980s landscape archaeology has emerged as a dominant paradigm within the broader field. The conceptualization of human landscapes appealed across regional and theoretical divides allowing archaeologists to apply it to a variety of different projects around the world. Contemporary conceptions of landscape archaeology, at their core, accept that the spaces surrounding people impact all aspects of their lives both as a lived-on environment and a lived-in environment (David and Thomas 2016). Landscape is totally encompassing and includes all elements of a space, both tangible and metaphysical. It is simultaneously a social construct and physically determined.

The first theme, the lived-on environment, refers to the physical aspects of space that influence how one can live in an area. These can be either imagined as constraints (cold temperatures, available water) or as advantages (plentiful construction materials, an abundance of food). Either way, the individuals living in an area can adapt to make the most of it. The second theme of landscape archaeology is the lived-in environment. This refers to the meaning assigned to different aspects of landscapes in social dimensions. These can be ontological understandings of a place as a miniature of the universe at large, the social relations determined through travel and trade, or the struggles surrounding identity and control of a place. Throughout both of these themes there is an understanding that landscape is constantly in flux (Lefebvre 1991). Resources and weather change in different temporal frames can range from hours to years. Social connections are constantly being reevaluated and one’s role within any given landscape can rapidly shift based on the actions of both human and non-human actors.

In the case of Breath of the Wild both themes of landscape archaeology come into play with different aspects influencing the player and characters in the game. The physical, lived-on, environment provides restraints to gameplay with regards to weather. Extreme temperatures require the player to equip Link with sub-optimal equipment if they do not wish to steadily lose life. Lightning storms prevent players from equipping metal items unless they are wearing a set of armor that nullifies electricity. Rain is perhaps the most difficult condition as it prevents the player from having Link climb anything besides ladders. Residents of Hyrule will take shelter during inclement weather and some will change their dialogue to discuss how it is impacting their lives.

Other times the lived-on, physical aspects of Hyrule provide boons for the players. Players are required to hunt and forage for resources that can then be used to cook food with healing and stat enhancing properties. The physical environment limits the plants that grow in some areas while different biomes have different edible animals. Some biomes contain animals that Link can capture and ride, increasing his travel speed. As the player interacts with these spaces they begin to create meaning of their own. Certain parts of the map may be visited more often because they are highly productive spaces or are safer than other areas. Players may also choose to visit certain places because of their views or memories associated with them. This kind of behavior crosses into the construction of lived-in landscapes that are embedded with individual and cultural meanings.

Though physical characteristics do much to set the tone of the game, the construction of the lived-in environment actually has a far greater impact on players and in-game characters. Oetelaar and Meyer (2006) suggest that different groups bring landscapes into social contexts by mapping meaning onto them over time, either physically or culturally. These meaningful places can at times be subtle markers of cultural identity, recognizable only to those familiar with the culture, or they can be overt landmarks recognizable by outsiders (Álvarez and Duarte 2018; Rubertone 2008). Oftentimes these symbols manifest as features in the archaeological record. Some in-game examples of this type of landscape creation include the offering bowls where Korok spirits can be found, the different types of goddess statues located throughout the map, and the Lanayru Promenade all of which work to generate social contexts for both the player and characters in the game.

Small stone bowls containing fruit can be found throughout Hyrule, sometimes accompanied by humanoid or froglike statues, and when the player puts that type of fruit into the empty bowl, they meet a Korok spirit who rewards them with a Korok seed. These old shrines appear in developed towns, along roads, and hidden away far from inhabited areas. Though not monumental they represent an enculturation of the landscape that hints at a far larger belief system shared throughout Hyrule. The widespread nature of these shrines is especially surprising because the game suggests that only Link and Zelda can see and interact directly with Korok spirits. When Link first meets Hestu, a Korok, Hestu is surprised by Link stopping as many travelers have passed by him on the relatively busy road to Kakariko Village without noticing his existence.^[2] The presence and maintenance of the shrines suggests that not only do the people of Hyrule recognize the presence of unseen spirits at these locations but are also willing to respect them. In addition these offering bowls are located throughout the map pointing towards the possibility that this belief is shared by the Hylians and the other groups in Hyrule. These areas also generate meaning for the player as they become waypoints to stop at while traveling from destination to destination. They move the player’s goal from arriving at the next location to truly engaging with the landscape, and in doing so creating their own memories, by exploring it in its entirety.

There are several forms of goddess statues found throughout Hyrule. These statues represent the goddess Hylia, a central figure in the Hyrule pantheon. The Forgotten Temple and Temple of Time have the largest statues followed by those at the goddess springs. Most settlements have a smaller type that is enshrined somewhere nearby and decorated by the local community. Just as the offering bowls suggest a shared belief in natural spirits, the goddess statues represent a physical embodiment of belief in the goddess Hylia as well as a desire to demonstrate that commitment in the creation of social landscapes. However, unlike the offering bowls, Hyrule’s different groups individualize their statues in different ways. For example, the statue in Rito Village wears a crown of local flowers while the one in Goron City wears a stone crown reminiscent of nearby Goron decorations instead. The statues in the Temple of Time and Tarry Town are undecorated, possibly due to the lack of inhabitants living near the Temple of Time and because Tarrey Town is a new settlement. Most interestingly, the statue in Gerudo Town has fallen into disrepair as many Gerudo no longer actively worship Hylia.^[3] Though few of the game’s non-player characters (NPCs) directly comment on the state of goddess statues, these features serve an essential purpose in communicating settlements’ identities to players as well as giving the players a location to increase their health and stamina.

The Lanayru Promenade presents a completely different example of an archaeological landscape as it is a massive walkway leading from the outskirts of Kakariko Village to the base of Mt. Lanayru. The promenade’s location between an important settlement and a sacred site combined with the scale of its construction signifies its importance to Hyrule at-large. As indicated by the “Return to Mt. Lanayru” memory (unlockable cutscenes obtained by identifying and traveling to certain areas of the map indicated by photographs), the promenade was used by pilgrims traveling to Mt. Lanayru to receive the goddess’s wisdom from the spring at the peak. It is significantly less symbolic than the offering bowls or goddess statues and there is little context provided to the players by NPCs. We know that it is no longer used by travelers at the time of the game because of the heavy monster presence in the area. This suggests the entirety of Hyrule is what Bender and Winer (2020) term a “contested landscape” with different groups striving to occupy different places, the promenade is one small example of this larger trend. These landscapes are constantly in flux, mirroring non-digital archaeological landscapes. When players move through these spaces, they enter into a struggle to regain control of the physical space and restore the Hylians’ meaning, despite not being Hylian themselves. When they leave the area, the game respawns monsters after a time, reverting it to the state that existed before the player arrived. This shifting meaning is unseen by any of the game’s NPCs and instead is only important to the player. The player transforms the Lanayru Promenade into an enculturated landscape, drawing on the archaeology present in the architecture and combining it with their contemporary experience with the broader struggle against Ganon.

As the player interacts with the lost civilizations and the current communities scattered across Hyrule they encounter the monuments and artifacts past inhabitants have created and left behind. The game’s open world design gives the player a sense of Terra Nullius, making the landscape free to explore and roam. Though there is a clear storyline for the player to follow, Link also can engage with side quests, focus on temples, or just explore the vast landscape of Hyrule. Despite the characters and small villages, the player has a sense of abandonment and openness for the world because of the destruction of Hyrule by Ganon. This, however, is not always the case in Breath of the Wild as the game includes clear markers of Hyrule’s Indigenous peoples in its design and these groups largely escaped Ganon’s destruction.

Marking Indigeneity

Before addressing how the designers of Breath of the Wild included markers of indigeneity in the game it is first essential to ask: What makes a group of people Indigenous in a non-digital setting? Working from Indigenous lawyer James Anaya's definition of Indigenous people, we can understand the term Indigenous as “living descendants of pre-invasion inhabitants of lands now dominated by others. They are culturally distinct groups that find themselves engulfed by other settler societies born of forces of empire and conquest" (2004:3). In Breath of the Wild, we see living descendants of four Indigenous groups: Gerudo, Zora, Goron, and Rito. Link, with his white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes allows Western gamers to feel comfortable playing as this character as he is familiar, but this same styling makes it clear that the other races present are to be understood as “other'' (Hutchinson 2021). This is best articulated by digital gaming scholar Leigh Schwartz who suggests “realistic and fantastic environments alike communicate cultural meanings that are experienced not only through game environments but also through avatars, identities provided for players. When experiencing these virtual spaces and the ideas embedded in the representation, game designers and players alike bring othering to the experience” (2006:321). Simply, conceptions of what constitutes an Indigenous community or Indigenous person is based on non-digital constructions and representation of Indigenous people. In the context of Breath of the Wild, we ask how elements of the game’s design can be used to indicate and reinforce Indigenous identity, besides the physical distinctions coding non-Hylians as different. One scholar points out that racially the people of Hyrule can be categorized as Anglo-Medieval Hylians, Oriental others including the Gerudo, Zora, Rito and Goron (all based on actual civilizations of the past) and self-Orientalized Japanese Sheikah (Herfs 2020).

It is impossible to decipher exactly how long the four races have lived in Hyrule given the evidence presented in Breath of the Wild. We do know that they exist as culturally distinct groups on the landscape because they are different from Hylians. The presence of ruins in the form of architecture and monuments as well as the oral traditions Link engages with implies that there is cultural continuity to each race. Link engages with descendants from the groups who created many of the ruins and monumental architecture that he interacts with during his exploration of Hyrule. We do know that these races have existed for quite some time in the LoZ franchise as the Rito, Gerudo, Goron, and Zora are groups we have seen before in previous games. Though their appearance and some cultural customs have shifted and changed over time in each game, those four races are familiar to players who have engaged with the series before. In Hyrule Historia, many of these groups have a clearly defined history with generations of these races existing well before Link awakes and begins his journey in Breath of the Wild. The groups can be identified not only by their relationship to the land but other cultural markers. The different races of Hyrule are marked by clothing, body modifications, oral traditions and other cultural customs and practices. These are unique and distinct in each group’s communities. Though we see these groups as “other” as compared to Hylians, they are presented as Indigenous to Hyrule to the player. But how does Indigeneity manifest in Hyrule’s archaeological record?

We see monumental architecture and features in the landscape that are marked as physical indicators signaling different groups. Even if Link does not interact with someone from the community, the architecture and other physical structures are still present on the landscape, transforming it into one of indigeneity. For example, the road leading up to Zora’s domain has large stone panels with carved images, much like rock art we see in the real world. The other Indigenous races of Hyrule also have these physical markers in their territories. These kinds of markers not only highlight the important relationship that each race has with its landscape but also shows how long that group has been there. Architecture implies that these races are making meaning out of their landscapes and creating cultural heritage that has lasted generations before the start of the game. We, interacting with the landscape as Link, can see how each race has curated, created, and conserved their respective territories.

The Gerudo landscape is marked by large monumental architecture related to their spiritual and cultural identities. When moving through the desert the player comes across various ruins, but one distinct space stands out, a circle of large statues of important Gerudo women in the tribe’s history in the eastern part of the Great Desert. Here, the player is asked to find seven glowing orbs hidden in proximity to the statues and place them in the seven circular indentations at the feet of each warrior woman to activate a shrine. Though there are seven heroines present at this site, there is an eighth statue hidden on the northern edge of the Gerudo highlands which the player is tasked with finding to acquire a piece of armor (Figure 1).^[4] The player also interacts with various ruins across the Gerudo desert, some of Gerudo make, some naturally occurring then augmented with structures (like the large skeletons). These areas may have been temples or towns at some point in Hyrule history - very reminiscent of the archaeology site Petra in Jordan but have been largely overtaken by the sands surrounding them. Many of these ruins have statues of warrior women, pointing to Gerudo civilization but the origins of others remain unclear.

The Gerudo are unique in that they have been isolated from the rest of Hyrule’s races and places. Inspiration for the different races seem to be Indigenous people around the world. They follow a completely different religion and have a different culture than the rest of Hyrule but in flashbacks it is implied that Urbosa, as the Gerudo leader, has a close relationship with Zelda’s mother - so the Gerudo are not completely cut off from greater Hyrule. The Gerudo Desert and the surrounding territory have perhaps the most stereotypical archaeological signatures with monumental architecture and ancient ruins reminiscent of some archaeological sites in the Middle East and Egypt are easily familiar to non-archaeologist players (Herfs 2020).

The archaeological landscapes of the Zora highlight their craftsmanship with local resources but are not necessarily as evident to the player. The majority of their stone monuments and tablets are located southwest and downstream of Zora’s Domain. There are carvings into the rock faces with luminous stone torches illuminating the panel. When Link interacts with the carvings the game translates the Zora script into the player’s language, informing them of important events in Zora history. We define these stone tablets as a form of rock art. Rock art leaves a long-lasting archaeological signature and its placement within the landscape emphasizes how the Zora are embedding meaning in the landscape. These panels are located most densely leading up to Zora’s Domain, with eight of the ten stone monuments on the main road into the city. Though a stylized arch as well as ecology that is different from other areas in Hyrule mark where Zora territory begins, with the addition of rock art panels strengthen the Zora claim to the landscape while also holding cultural knowledge. This knowledge engraved into the rock implies a long term, deep time connection between the Zora and the land as well as serving as a tool for passing this connection on to future generations.

Within the core of their territory the Zora have a large city above the lake that they call home. The developers made our interpretations of the architecture within the city rather easy as they outright explain it in Creating a Champion, Manabu Takehara states that the “direction for Zora’s Domain is based on the Zora’s faith in Lord Jabu-Jabu from past games. The concept is that their faith has persisted into the present and manifests itself through their architecture. That led to the giant fish statue and temple-like appearance of Zora’s Domain” (2018:274). The developers took a direct approach to including Zora faith into their game design so we will simply accept that as canon. We do not see any similarly sized symbolic architectural elements outside of the domain, though the path into the city is scattered with guiding lights and includes several large bridges.

The Goron are similar to the Gerudo in that they create large monumental architecture to mark their boundaries. When entering Goron City we see four large sculptures carved into a volcanic outcropping above the city. These sculptures are carved in the likeness of famous Gorons from the past. The most prominent is Daruk, the champion from one hundred years in the past. Seeing this statue sparks a memory for Link, cementing the place as belonging to the Goron and creating meaning for the player as well. Two of the other Goron statues are recognizable to those who have played Majora’s Mask - one is Darmani and one is the Goron Elder’s son. The final statue is of the wise Goron elder Gor Coron who helped Link in Twilight Princess. These heroes all overlook Goron City and are likely newer construction, given the inclusion of Daruk.

Archaeologically, the Goron would leave behind pottery marked with their distinctive designs, the player sees this unique form of pottery all over Goron City in front of and within shops. The Goron are also the only race to make significant use of metal. The number of minecarts and extensive network of rails in and around Death Mountain create visible connections between important spaces to Goron society. The mines are connected to the city to hot springs via this network. We also see rails to places that have been abandoned as a result of Death Mountain’s increased volcanic activity. Lastly, the Goron have created their territory around Death Mountain which looms over the Breath of the Wild landscape, use of the ecological world is similar to the decisions made by the Rito in their creation of their territory.

The Rito are one of the most difficult Indigenous communities to understand archaeologically. The Rito have a relatively small territory with a large bird-like rock pillar and a chain of small islands leading to their village. Though the pillar is monumental, it is clearly a naturally occurring structure. The Rito have picked this area to inhabit because of the pillar’s strong semblance to a bird or a bird perch and the naturally occurring wind gusts that allow them to fly more easily. Unlike the other Indigenous groups there is little on the road into Rito Village to indicate the beginning of their territory. The player does not pass through an arch until they are within sight of the village. Archaeologically, the Rito do not have a signature of deeper time like the Gerudo or Zora, possibly because they frequently travel via flying and most of their buildings are created from organic materials which do not preserve well.

The Rito do have a different type of evidence for their existence in Hyrule - oral tradition. In Breath of the Wild one of the ways in which the player learns about the Indigenous races of the Hyrule is through oral tradition. Storywork and oral tradition are ways in which Indigenous people in the non-digital world pass down information to future generations. Young Rito learn traditional songs from their elders and communicate these to Link, forming the basis of three shrine quests.^[5] The Rito bard Kass travels Hyrule in search of stories about this world, stories that are not always specific to the Rito but important to Hyrule more broadly. He actively helps Link unlock various shrines through his renditions of legends in the songs he sings. Link interacts with Kass a number of times to learn more about his own past but also as a way to activate more shrines. The Shrines have lasted for at least 10,000 years and Kass’s stories that he inherited from his bard like predecessor (a Sheikah) emphasize a long-term relationship with Hyrule history. In the “Champion’s Ballad” DLC Kass takes his role one step further when he seeks to complete the work of his fallen mentor by documenting the tales of Link and the other champions, cementing their place not only in the Rito oral tradition but in the composite oral tradition of a multi-racial Hyrule.

The player interacts with these Indigenous communities with ease and little conflict. Of the four Indigenous communities that Link encounters, only one of those groups is human-like, the other three are animals (Goron - turtle like, Zora - fish like, and Rito - bird like). By making these Indigenous groups animals and not humans it makes the interactions more palatable. Since the game is geared primarily towards Japanese and Western audiences, and given the anti-Indigenous history of these nations, the game designers making Indigenous people non-human allows for these audiences to engage with Indigenous people without addressing their nations ’own imperial histories (Herfs 2020). Indigeneity is othered just enough for the developers to create a diverse cast without directly connecting with non-digital Indigenous stereotypes.

The "Lost" Civilizations

There are a variety of different ruins and mysterious architecture throughout Hyrule that do not belong to the Indigenous landscapes we discuss above. The player learns about these places through conversations with various characters or from reading some of the in-game books. Link’s exploration of these mysterious spaces results in interactions with Koroks, hidden shrines, and monsters. There are ancient Hylian ruins in central Hyrule, Zonai ruins, and Lomai labyrinths. In this section we specifically discuss how these non-Indigenous ruins fit into two of Breath of the Wild’s “lost civilizations”: the remnants of Hyrule and the mysterious Zonai.

Ganon’s attack on Hyrule devastated the kingdom and left ruined cities and towns all over the map. When Link wakes up, he finds a very different landscape, a hundred years have passed since the Great Calamity, leaving Hyrule a very different place then what he knew. The creators of the game chose to communicate this loss to us in a very specific way, through the tales told by NPCs as well as through the material culture of the Hylians. As Link explores Hyrule, he is provided with background information that helps to clarify the land’s history.

A huge part of Link learning about what has happened to Hyrule and regaining his memory is through oral tradition. Previously in this article, we have seen that stories and oral tradition are incredibly important parts of learning about the past for Link but also for the player. Link and the player learn a large part of the deeper history, which could be interpreted as myth, from the Sheikah elder Impa. She tells Link about the ongoing struggle between Ganon, Link, and Zelda - a history bound to repeat itself lasting at least ten thousand years. She then tells Link about what happened just before the calamity and her and the other Sheikahs’ role in aiding Princess Zelda to defeat this iteration of Ganon - Calamity Ganon. Impa is one of the many elders of Hyrule that still remember the Great Calamity from one hundred years ago. Link is able to interact with and learn from these elders and the stories they tell. Link also learns more about this Calamity as well as the deeper past and lore of various places and characters through his interactions with Hylians at the stables, Kass, and Indigenous communities. It is also through these interactions with various characters that Link has memory flashbacks. When speaking with elders who remember this more recent history, Link is able to access these memories, important moments between himself and Zelda, and himself and the other champions. This gives Link his memory back but it also allows the player to learn what happened 100 years before. Other memories are fixed to a particular location, emphasizing the importance of how the game’s characters are assigning meaning to the landscape. Throughout these other interactions at stables and with other characters, Link also becomes part of the ongoing dialogue about the war. At these stables and within villages, like Kakariko and Hateno village, people are openly accepting what happened 100 years ago and the stories of the Princess (Zelda) and her fallen Hero (Link) are now part of the lore of Hyrule.

Hyrule’s landscape is rich with abandoned ruins, forts, and places that Hylians used to call home. Central Hyrule (Hyrule castle and Hyrule field) is largely abandoned except for a few Hylians traveling through and many monsters and guardians. After the Great Calamity, most Hylians were pushed to the outer parts of Hyrule by the cursed guardian forces. These refuges usually had some kind of barrier, natural or constructed, that prevented the guardians from overrunning the settlements (Nintendo 2018). Wherever the guardians reached was completely destroyed leaving many damaged stone and wood buildings. Though never explicitly addressed, given the archaeological nature of this article, it may be interpreted as wood being a more recent abandonment, perhaps after an attempt at reconstruction, since wood decays much faster than stone. This may mean that the stone buildings could be much older.

In addition to the domestic and commercial structures left behind after the fall of Hyrule there are also two major abandoned forts. The first fort most players will come across is Fort Hateno, located not far to the east of the starting plateau. Link hears stories about Fort Hateno being one of the last holdouts during the Great Calamity coupled with seeing a massive number of destroyed guardians all throughout Hateno field. Later in the game we discover that this is the place where Link almost died and was taken away from the battlefield on the orders of Princess Zelda shortly before being placed in a healing chamber and waking one hundred years later, at the start of the game. The other ruined fort is the Akkala Citadel Ruins in the northeastern region of the map. This location, one hundred years before, was where Hyrule’s knights made their last stand against the guardians and Great Calamity. It is home to pools of Ganon’s malice, monsters, guardians, and one of the most difficult towers to activate in the game. The citadel’s ruins stand prominently on the landscape and careful observers will notice that the defensive armaments are only placed facing the roads leading to the coastline, a factor that the developers confirmed was critical to the fort being taken by Ganon’s forces. Few NPCs discuss the Akkala Citadel with most viewing it as a place of danger or as a place to pay respects to the fallen.^[6]

Throughout the landscape, there are large pillars, arches, and other large ruined architecture scattered throughout Hyrule. Some of the ruins are a side effect of the Great Calamity and Ganon’s destruction of Hyrule but what is interesting is that some of the pillars are much older. In the Zeltik video “Mysterious Places in Breath of the Wild” (2019), he argues that some of the ancient pillars we find have symbols of Skyloft from Skyward Sword - loftwing and two leaves which we see at important symbols in the game Skyward Sword. In Creating a Champion Nintendo notes “the Ancient Columns located in the Tabantha Frontier region were ruined long before the Great Calamity. Some speculate that these structures were built around the same time as the three sacred springs due to similarities in their use of materials. Places that feature similar stone architecture are classified as ancient Hylian cultural relics” (2018:412). These places show that Hylians also have a deep connection to the place, possibly believing it to be the birthplace of ancient Hyrule.

One of the first important Hylian ruins that Link encounters is the abandoned Temple of Time, a place of importance for multiple games in the series. This is one of Link’s first encounters with the destruction of Hylian architecture by Ganon. The temple is in particularly bad condition and the ruins around it, along with dormant guardians around the periphery, suggest that a battle with Ganon took place here. Later, Link speaks with the ghost of King Rhoam who gives him the story of how Hyrule Castle was overrun by the Calamity Ganon. The Temple of Time still houses a goddess statue where Link can trade in spirit orbs for stamina or health. This is one of the largest statues of the Goddess, standing over three times taller than Link, suggesting the importance of this place for Hylians. The room where Link speaks with King Rhoam’s ghost directly looks on to Hyrule Castle. This implies a physical and cultural relationship between the Temple of Time and Hyrule Castle.

Hyrule Castle itself is now home to the Great Calamity Ganon. The entire Castle is completely overrun with Ganon’s malice, guardians, monsters, and in the throne room, Calamity Ganon himself. Most of the castle is completely destroyed except for small pockets of Hylian royal society, including Zelda’s study which contains her diary, giving the player more insight into the final days of Hyrule. King Rhoam’s hidden office can also be found undisturbed, with his diary serving the same purpose as Zelda’s. The Temple of Time and Hyrule Castle are two key places of Hylian society, especially for the Royal family. It is unsurprising that Calamity Ganon would attack these two important monumental structures as they symbolize the royal family's power as well as Hylian history.

The last important Hylian ruin is the Forgotten Temple below the Hebra region. Nestled deep within Tanagar Canyon, Link can make his way to this hidden temple where there is a small opening that he can climb through to access the interior. The temple is overrun with guardians though the scale of damage is beyond what any single attack could do. When Link finally reaches the end of the guardian gauntlet, he sees a goddess statue, larger than any others in the game yet still reminiscent of the one found in the Temple of Time. According to the developer’s notes the temple was destroyed due to a battle with Calamity Ganon ten thousand years ago and the purpose was to keep record of Hyrule’s heroes (Nintendo 2018:312). The developers also note the Forgotten Temple’s similarities to Skyward Sword, connecting this place to the ancient past of Hyrule.

Within all of these ancient and contemporary ruins that Link encounters are places of memory and history but are also places of danger. Many of the smaller town ruins are inhabited by enemy Wizrobes. Larger ruins like the Eastern Abbey on the Great Plateau are covered in cursed moving and non-moving guardians, still corrupted by Ganon’s malice from 100 years ago. Link will also sometimes come across other adventurous Hylians and occasional enemies from the Yiga clan while exploring these ruins. Occasionally Link will need to save Hylian adventurers from monsters and if he managed to do so before they are knocked unconscious, they will tell him a story of the history of the current location. These ruins also present the player with opportunity. If the player is adventurous enough and explores all the small pockets of the old Hylian forts, towns, and houses they may find treasure. These treasures range from a small number of rupees buried under a rock to powerful weapons in well hidden chests.

Overall, the narrative surrounds the fall of Hyrule and its transformation into a “lost civilization” can be viewed in two different ways. The far older ruins have fallen into Hylian myth in the recent past as the different knowledge keepers were lost during Ganon’s attack. This type can be viewed as more typical of the common perception of the archaeological unknown. The more recent ruins, however, present a counter narrative as there are still individuals, both knowledge keepers and common travelers, who contribute to the player’s understanding of Hyrule after its fall.

Breath of the Wild is full of mystery and one of the ways the player interacts with the history of Hyrule is through archaeological markers of the “lost civilization” of the Zonai. There is very little lore in the game regarding the Zonai, but stone pillars and mazes of their construction can be found throughout the world. Link explores these areas and interacts with the things that the Zonai left behind but the player never really learns more about their culture. There are a variety of theories about the Zonai (whose name is never mentioned by NPCs, the only way to know is to either see the Zonai Ruins on the map and realize that the name is not in any previous games or through design books). The Zonai are described as “a savage tribe based in Faron, where the most substantial of their ruins are located… [...] … The Zonai themselves are spoken of in hushed whispers as strong magic wielders who vanished suddenly thousands of years ago. The disappearance of the Zonai is one of Hyrule’s greatest mysteries” (Nintendo 2018:413). The majority of the Zonai archaeological signatures are located in the Faron region of Hyrule, located in the southeastern part of the world. Here, Link encounters large stone pillars carved with different animals - boars, dragons, owls and a small part of this region is called Zonai Ruins. He also encounters the shrines related to the Spring of Courage near where the dragon Farosh resides and it is said that the Zonai worshipped a water dragon. Before Link encounters this area, he is told by a few Hylians about a dangerous, mysterious, barbarian-like tribe that disappeared suddenly thousands of years ago.

These tropes of disappearance and mystery are ways in which public audiences and even archaeologists sometimes describe ancient civilizations that have left a mark but whose people no longer exist. In Meghan Dennis’ thesis, where she surveyed multiple publics who played video games, she noted that players wanted to interact with or “discover” a mysterious or lost civilization (Dennis 2019). Though this desire exists, this idea of a “lost” civilization can mislead and undermine real Indigenous peoples’ rights. An example, in our own world, is the Maya. Their ancestors created large monumental architecture and thousands of years ago had a complex society that archaeologists still study. But today, many people believe that the Maya “disappeared” mysteriously in the past, even though there are still many Mayan people alive today. Many video games have capitalized on this trope and continue to perpetuate this stereotype about Mayan people (Dennis 2019). Scholars have pointed out that archaeology and archaeological methods represented in video games are synonymous with treasure hunting (Livingstone, Louchart, Jeffrey 2016). This limits the player's ability to interact with Indigenous peoples heritage in an ethical way. The Zonia, in this instance, perpetuates the idea of “lost” ancient people.

Not only do we see pillars and other architecture of the Zonai in the Faron region, Link also explores three mazes of their design known as Lomei Labyrinths. These are located across Hyrule, one in the Akkala region on an island to the northeast - Lomei Labyrinth Island, one in the Hebra region in the north - North Lomei Labyrinth, and the last in the southern region at the edge between the Gerudo desert and the Faron Grasslands - South Lomei Labyrinth. These three labyrinths all bear the same iconography as other Zonai ruins. If Link successfully completes a labyrinth, he finds one of the only non-perishable forms of Zonai material culture - the barbarian armor set. The barbarian armor set is divided into three separate pieces (top, bottom, and head), each of which is housed in a different Lomei Labyrinth.

The final Zonai ruins that Link encounters are the Thyphlo ruins in the northern part of the Great Hyrule Forest region. This maze is completely shrouded in darkness, adding to the mysterious nature of the area. Link gains access through a single entrance where he finds a torch to guide him through the maze to the middle where there is a shrine, perfectly entitled the “Shrouded Shrine”. Though the player only catches glimpses of the ruins, the pillars and structures resemble those found at the labyrinths and Zonai ruins in the Faron region. There are also the unique bird statues that light Link’s path to the shrine. This area is unlike the other Zonai ruins encountered as it seems to have larger plazas and is in considerably better condition. The difference in design hints at a difference in purpose, though the perpetual darkness of the forest makes it impossible to accurately analyze.

There is a small developer note about the Zonai from the senior artist, “we thought if we showed fragments of a civilization that collapsed long ago, it would make the world feel more real. That’s why we added Zonai relics throughout Hyrule” (Nintendo 2018:342). Because these artifacts (pillars) are scattered throughout Hyrule they have the tendency to fade into the larger landscape. Link encounters extremely tall Zonai towers as well as smaller pillars and ruins across the landscape but they look similar to Hylian ruins, it is only after closer investigation that the player can see the stylistic differences between structures made by the Zonai and those made by Hylians. As noted, the Zonai ruins throughout Hyrule are designed to be a mystery. Even the name “Zonai '' is a play on the mystery theme, Senior lead landscape artist Makota Yonezu, explains “The ruins are primarily animal themed, but with the history of the Triforce from an ancient perspective in mind. The designs are symbolic - using dragons (courage), owls (wisdom), and boars (power). And yes, their name is a pun. “Zonai'' is a take on nazo, a word meaning “mystery” in Japanese. [laughs]” (2018:342). With this in mind, the lost civilization of the Zonai makes a lot more sense. It was designed to play into the common video game tropes associated with archaeological mysteries and was included by the developers to create intrigue for the player and create a deeper past on the visible Hyrule landscape.

Conclusion

There is no shortage of archaeological elements in Breath of the Wild and a far greater variety of conversations could be had regarding topics that we have largely ignored. Players can find many kinds of artifacts in the game, each with encoded meanings for the player and for the denizens of Hyrule. We have also done comparatively little to connect the different historic themes in the LoZ series as a whole as this work has been done by others in both academic and the public (Zeltik) spheres. However, analysis of the basic themes of landscape, indigeneity, and “lost civilizations” from an archaeological perspective provide an avenue for more in-depth research that synergizes with emerging video game research in other fields.

Of course, our understanding of this iteration of Hyrule could be completely changed by the upcoming release of Breath of the Wild 2. The initial trailer appears to take Link and Zelda to an underground ruin with monumental architecture, mysterious glowing lights, and a large pictographic rock art panel, possibly depicting Ganon, all presumably underneath Hyrule Castle. There are many fan theories and speculations about how Breath of the Wild 2 may give us more information about the Zonai, connect all the Hyrule timelines, or may conclude the series altogether. Nevertheless, the upcoming sequel will certainly provide us with more landscapes to encounter, Indigenous actors to meet, and lost civilizations to “discover”.

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Cover image Breath of the Wild River of the Dead Pathway, Screenshot by Wolfgerlion64 (Nintendo)

Masthead image reproduces Figure 1 by the Authors.