Archive:Timeline Theories/Deku Tree's Success

Deku Tree's Successis a common term in the Zelda theorizing community referring to the uniting of islands into a single land. This phrase comes from a quote in The Wind Waker in which the Great Deku Tree states that every year, the Koroks fly off and plant seeds that will grow into trees. He says that these trees will eventually cause all the islands of the Great Sea to be united into one land, which some have speculated to be Hyrule.

Since the Great Deku Tree is the Spirit of Earth, it is certainly possible, but there is some disagreement in the theorizing community as to how exactly the trees accomplish this. Some hold that the trees cause the islands to expand in size until they are connected as one. Others believe the trees cause the islands to pull closer together until they connect. Still others believe that the trees cause a deflooding process, bringing about the unity of the land. Whether the Deku Tree succeeded in his attempts or not is unconfirmed.

Skeptics of this theory argue, however, that the discovery of a new Hyrule (shown in Spirit Tracks) and the lack of references to any Hyrule formed by the Deku Tree make it unlikely.

Possible Indications of Deku Tree’s Success
Theorists who believe in the existence of games taking place after The Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass point to several geographical occurrences as potential proof of the Deku Tree's success.

Deku Tree's Success in Adventure of Link
Despite Hyrule being described in A Link to the Past as a "beautiful land surrounded by forests and mountains", the Hyrule of Adventure of Link is largely water-based. The map depicts Hyrule as a large western landmass with two medium-sized islands in the east. The game's manual also makes specific note of Hyrule's watery state over an extended period of time, as the tale of the hiding of the Triforce of Courage (said to happen long ago) denotes that it was hidden on "the largest island in Hyrule".

Deku Tree's Success in Oracle of Ages
When Link travels back in time in Oracle of Ages to a period 400 years before his time, there is considerably more water in the past than in the present. Several unnamed islands in the Zora Seas and Sea of Storms, as well as Crescent Island, have grown from past to present. Additionally, the island labrynth in the Sea of No Return, which guarded the entrance to the eighth dungeon in the past, is completely absorbed by the mainland in the present, so that only its southern side borders water any more. Even that side extends farther out into the sea than it did in the past.

Oracle of Ages (as well as Oracle of Seasons) features an entity known as the Maku Tree, which some have speculated to be connected to the Deku Tree. Some theorize that the Maku Trees carried on the process which Wind Waker's Deku Tree began.

Deku Tree's Success in Four Swords Adventures
Four Swords Adventures features a Hyrule composed of a single, large island, but is otherwise much like A Link to the Past's map - it is unknown if this is merely an artistic difference. Four Swords Adventures and A Link to the Past are more geographically similar than any other two depictions of Hyrule.

A top view of Four Swords Adventures' Hyrule gives it a fragmented, watery look. This lends itself to either the concept of islands growing together, or the concept of the islands pulling together fairly well. Because A Link to the Past's Hyrule is less fragmented, and features trees north of Death Mountain where Four Swords Adventures has water, it is believed that Four Swords Adventures' Hyrule grew into A Link to the Past's Hyrule by Deku Tree's Success.

Deku Tree's Success in Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
The spin-off game, Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland has an overworld made up of three continents. Each one of these continents is composed of several large islands that are close enough to be connected by bridges. However, the timeframe and location of this game are unknown, as its its canon status (as it was not developed by Nintendo).

Among the continents of the overworld are places with names that reference Hyrule, notably "Lon Lon Meadows" and "The Deku Forest". Though Hyrule is never mentioned by name in the game, and the map lacks any geographical connections to other games, this is believed by some to indicate the Deku Tree's Success leading to a New Hyrule resembling the old one.