Community:Hyrule: The Land of Zelda

Hyrule: The Land of Zelda (HTLOZ) was a Zelda website founded by Falco-X in 1998 and was one of the first popular Zelda sites. The site was infamous for its rumor mill, which eventually churned out the Ariana Almondoz fiasco in early 1999. HTLOZ disappeared without warning in early 2002 when their host, Trintium Gaming Network, closed its doors.

Pre-Domain HTLOZ (1998-1999)
HTLOZ was originally founded as "Hyruleland" on Tripod in August, 1998, as part of the first generation of Zelda websites. The original staff consisted of Falco-X, Zerofoxie, and Wolfhang van Kraus. Visitors were quickly drawn to the site thanks to Wolfhang and Falco's "Dark Art" section and the artwork used in the site's presentation. With the site's popularity increasing, Falco-X expanded his staff to include Goldenboy7 and Ultima9999. Ultima9999 maintained HTLOZ's first forum, an "Inside the Web" board, where user registration was not required. Not much is known about this period because most of the users from that time period have vanished. The only lasting legacy of the Inside the Web forums was the infamous "TRIFORCEGUY" and his Triforce hoax. By October 1998, the site had taken on the name "Hyrule: The Land of Zelda," and moved to n64gamer.com. Shortly after this move, Spots joined the staff.

Ariana Almondoz (1999)
In February 1999, when speculation about the Triforce in Ocarina of Time was at its peak, HTLOZ unleashed a killer story: A reader by the name of Ariana Almondoz claimed to have found the Triforce, and had convincing screenshots to back it up. The result was explosive: Every Zelda site around the net came to focus on the story. The Odyssey of Hyrule in particular posted a full page on the story without permission, which gave rise to the first tensions between HTLOZ and Odyssey of Hyrule (this would later be repeated with the publication of the Crooked Cartridge trick, but with fiery results). Within a week, a reader caught a giveaway in one of Ariana's images. Link's sword was sheathed on the wrong side of his back in a screenshot depicting him playing the "Overture of Sages." The entire story fell apart almost instantaneously, and community backlash towards the fraud was harsh. Ariana Almondoz's infamous hoax brought about the end for Ocarina of Time Triforce rumors.

Early Domain HTLOZ (1999-2000)
Three months later, Falco-X updated HTLOZ's layout to the tabbed design that would be carried over to the final Flash version of the site later in 1999. HTLOZ disappeared shortly after the update, before re-emerging on its own domain at htloz.com with a new host, Trintium Gaming Network. Ultima9999 also switched the forums from Inside the Web to Casual Forums, and user registration became required for the first time. By June, HTLOZ began using Flash for its layout, featuring a movie on the splash page, various interactive elements in the site's navigation, and a few games.

Khakain vs. HTLOZ War (1999-2000)
By late 1999, the online Zelda community was in the midst of what has since been called a "Golden Era." It was during this time that tensions arose again between HTLOZ and Odyssey of Hyrule. The "Crooked Cartridge" code that The Odyssey of Hyrule's webmaster, Video Gamer X, had claimed as his own, had appeared without credit on HTLOZ's "Codes Bag" section. VGX responded by placing HTLOZ on The Odyssey of Hyrule's "Wall of Shame." Although The Odyssey of Hyrule had the Crooked Cartridge technique first, the trick's discoverer was in question. If anyone "owned" the Crooked Cartridge trick, it was it's discoverer, T-Dog. Furthermore, HTLOZ received the trick in a reader's email. Ultima9999 attempted to defuse the situation by removing the code, only to have it replaced by a defiant Falco-X. This was when the staff member "El Toro" appeared, who was simply an alter-ego for Falco-X. "El Toro" created a "Wall of Facts" page to dispatch HTLOZ's naysayers, in addition to a satirical take on The Odyssey of Hyrule known as "Maxwell Martinez's Page." After this exchange of words, tensions rose further, and forum members opened fire between boards. By early 2000, an exhausted Falco-X had moved the boards from Casual Forums to a locally hosted forum and password-protected them.

Late Domain HTLOZ and Closure (2001-2002)
Espio, Flare50, Shadik, Brian and Blazer later joined the HTLOZ staff. Blazer opened a new vBulletin message board, which soon grew into the largest Zelda forum at the time. Here, a new legacy was born: Tri-Link's Cafe. Founded by Da_#1_Link, TLC was a sprawling, off-topic thread in the RPG Forum that reached over 40,000 replies before HTLOZ's end, a record for the Zelda community that stands to this day. As a matter of tradition, Tri-Link's has been revived on each successor to HTLOZ, but none ever approached the scale of the original (Gamer Crossfire was closest with 20,000 replies).

HTLOZ's end finally came about in early 2002, following a brief hacker incident at the forums. Just when it seemed HTLOZ would be reopening the forums, Trintium Gaming Network, HTLOZ's free host, decided to close it's doors. Falco-X, presumably short on time and tired of managing HTLOZ, didn't seek an alternative. Displaced members dispersed to hyrule.com.ar, Ganon's Tower, and the impromptu HTLOZ refuge, Gamers Talk Elite (later known as Gamer Crossfire).

Refuges & Revivals
On February 27th, 2000, following the closure of HTLOZ's forums during the Khakain vs. HTLOZ War, a user named Tempest launched an ezBoard known as the Fallout Shelter. This board was the first HTLOZ refuge, a tradition carried on by Indigo's Place, Gamer Crossfire, and HTLOZ II.

In the fall of 2002, ex-HTLOZ staffers Blazer and Brian attempted the first HTLOZ revival, named Hyrule: The World of Zelda (HTWOZ) after being denied the rights to the name HTLOZ by Falco-X. Complications arose from hosting arrangements, and the project caved within the first quarter of 2003.

The name was successfully revived in March 2005 when a group of former members launched HTLOZ II.