Hylian (Language)

is the main language used in Hyrule. Throughout the Timeline, many forms and iterations of both written and spoken Hylian have appeared, sometimes being interwoven and revived across whole eras. There are presently six forms of Hylian confirmed to be used by the residents of the Kingdom of Hyrule, and many more languages used by other species as well.

Mudoran
ALttP: is the iteration of ALttP: text that appears in. Unlike later Hylian scripts, Mudoran is unintelligible. It is found on various important rocks and pedestals.

Era of the Hero of Time
The Hylian writing system from the Era of the Hero of Time was introduced in and later appears in. It is a syllabary based on Japanese ', merging both ' and . However, unlike these scripts, this syllabary lacks sutegana and uses full sized characters for ' and '. It also lacks punctuation marks, such as ', as well as distinction for diacritical letters via ' and , limiting the full dexterity of the syllabary when emulating Japanese text.

This syllabary appears all throughout Hyrule and Termina on signs and architecture.

Era Without a Hero
The Hylian writing system from the Era Without a Hero was introduced in, later appearing in , , , and , and briefly in. It is a syllabary based on Japanese and Hindu-Arabic numerals. It supports ', ', and ', but typically lacks sutegana, therefore using full size characters for ' and . For example, the Japanese and  are not differentiated in this writing system, except for a few rare occasions.

This syllabary is used as early as the Force Era, persisting throughout the Adult Timeline until the Era of Hyrule's Rebirth.

In, the syllabary appears as an archaic dialect dating back to the Era without a Hero. By the time of the Era of the Great Sea, it had became almost obsolete; its remaining speakers being ancient beings such as the Great Deku Tree, Valoo, Jabun, and the King of Red Lions, as well as the Rito appointed to the role of Valoo's attendant, who learned it to communicate with him. Despite the dialect not widely spoken in the Era of the Great Sea, its syllabary is commonly used throughout the Great Sea and the World of the Ocean King by their inhabitants, and is later carried over into New Hyrule. It makes a small appearance in on tombstones in Kakariko Graveyard.

Twilight Era
The Hylian writing system from the Twilight Era is a cipher based on the Latin alphabet used in English, but with no letter casing. It appears predominately in on signs and maps throughout Hyrule, albeit with a few lexical errors commonly surrounding Japanese transliteration of English, causing L and R to be used interchangeably. The non-canonical version of the alphabet found in the Wii version of features its letters flipped horizontally.

In SS undefined, the alphabet is found on the box art as well as on walls in the Sealed Temple and Sky Keep.

Sky Era
The Sky Era alphabet appears exclusively in SS undefined. It is a cipher mostly matching the Latin alphabet, with a few duplicate letters. D is identical to W, E is identical to K, G is identical to Q, I is identical to X, O is identical to Z and P is identical to T, which complicates translations.

The Hylian writing system that appears in, , and  is a modified form of the Sky Era alphabet. Both alphabets share some symbols while others are very similar. Several letters in this alphabet map to the same Hylian characters, namely D and G, E and W, F and R, J and T, and O and Z.

Writing appearing in ALBW: uses an inverted, but otherwise identical alphabet.

continues to use the same script from, but also features Ancient Hyrulean from the era of Hyrule's founding which cannot be read by Link. If Link takes a TotK: of Ancient Hyrulean text on an TotK: and brings it to TotK: in TotK:, he will read and summarize the text for Link. Ancient Hyrulean is written in, rather than modern English.

While the Hylian language does not appear in any form, one of the pictures in the DX version contains posters in plain English and Japanese. As Koholint Island is separate from Hyrule, this should not indicate an evolution of the Hylian language, though it has been derived from real life Japanese and English later on.

In the Temple stage from, Hylian from the Era Without a Hero appears on certain platforms. When translated, it reads "Smash Brothers".

The Temple stage also appears in, where the text reading "Smash Brothers" also appears.

The Temple stage reappears in, where it contains the same "Smash Brothers" text.

In Hyrule Circuit, a sign with Beedle's face appears with Hylian from written on it. When translated, it reads "Item Shop".

Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Hylian from the Era Without a Hero appears on Lon Lon Milk bottles. Additionally, a mural from the opening of featuring Hylian from the Era Without a Hero appears as a piece of furniture.