Community:Zelda Fansite Directory

The following is a brief listing of notable Legend of Zelda fansites that have been created since the advent of the internet.

1997

 * North Castle - Launched in the summer, North Castle is the oldest surviving Zelda website on the internet today. One of the site's primary features is its library of fan fiction and fan artwork.

1998

 * Ganon's Tower - Created by Ganon, it remains one of the longest running Zelda websites online. The site served as an impromptu refuge for members of The Great Deku Tree, hyrule.com.ar, and HTLOZ after their respective sites closed. In 2008, Ganon's Tower changed management and the main portion of the site was removed, leaving just the forums.


 * The Grand Adventures - Originally created by John Rogos and later maintained by The Missing Link. Work on the site was discontinued in 2007, but it remains online today.


 * Hyrule.net - One of the longest running Zelda websites. Celebrating over 10 years online, Hyrule.net has a community forum of over 5000 registered users. The site recently launched Hyrule.net 3.0.


 * Hyrule: The Land of Zelda (HTLOZ) - Founded by Falco-X, HTLOZ was one of the most popular Zelda websites during the late 90's and the turn of the millennium. After its disappearance in 2002, numerous refuge sites sprung up, the most recent being HTLOZ II


 * The Odyssey of Hyrule - Founded by Video Gamer X (VGX), Odyssey of Hyrule was considered one of the major Zelda sites of the late 1990's. The site gained popularity through its efforts in uncovering glitches and Gameshark codes for Ocarina of Time. While still online today, the site has not been updated since 2006.


 * Zelda Power - Founded by Aaron Holt, Zelda Power was one of the largest Zelda websites at the turn of the millennium. It is currently maintained by KoSoVaR and Kao and has the second largest forum community, behind Zelda Universe.

1999

 * Great Deku Tree - Launched by Attrox as part of the massive ZeldaGames.com network. The site grew to become one of the largest Zelda sites online before its sudden closure near the end of 2004.


 * Hyrule.com.ar - Between 2000 and 2002, Hyrule.com.ar was the largest Zelda website online. It succeeded HTLOZ and preceded Zelda Universe as the most popular Zelda website.


 * The Desert Colossus - Created by Jack O'Reily. The Desert Colossus is notable for its encyclopedia, Compendium of Hyrule, and for Hyrule Adventures 2, a text-based online game.


 * LegendOfZelda.com (LoZ.com) - Originally launched by Link of Hyrule, LoZ.com has endured a rough history, including legal problems with Nintendo and years of downtime before a relaunch in 2004. It is one of the largest Zelda communities online today with over 19,000 members.


 * The Legends of Zelda - Launched on January 1st by davogones. The site went on to merge with Zelda Legends in November 2003, where it became well known for its extensive Zelda resources.


 * Zelda Legends - Originally created by Khuffie, Zelda Legends became a hit website when it merged with its hostee, The Legends of Zelda. Zelda Legends is one of the largest media-based Zelda websites, with manga, comics, Zelda books, a massive gallery and more.


 * Zelda Central


 * Zelda Planet - Also known as Z64 Planet, Zelda Planet covered Ocarina of Time at its launch. It soon followed with Majora's Mask and several other Zelda titles. Zelda Planet was one of the largest Zelda websites at the turn of the millennium.

2000

 * Zelda Cavern - Founded by Kyle Bargman during the intense hype surrounding the release of Majora's Mask and The Oracle Series.

2001

 * Zelda Dungeon - Launched by Mases Hagopian, Zelda Dungeon is a well-known for providing in-depth game walkthroughs and strategy guides. The site is currently one of the largest Zelda websites online.


 * Zelda Elements - One of the most prominent Zelda sites during the early 2000s. The site was the network Zelda website at Gamespy, and was well recognized for its layouts.


 * Zelda Universe - Launched in February by Lars-Christian Simonsen, Zelda Universe is the largest Zelda community online today. The Zelda Universe forums contain over 50,000 registered members and over 2.5 million posts.

2002

 * Exploding Deku Nut - Launched on November 25 by Darth Citrus, Exploding Deku Nut has taken on comedy as its primary focus, with humorous comics amongst other features. Exploding Deku Nut also runs the annual Golden Item Awards, which recognizes the achievements of websites in the Zelda community.


 * History of Hyrule - Created by Melora. Melora and the website are well known for their contributions of rare Zelda comics and manga, of which many have been translated into English.


 * ZHQ2 - Created by TSA as the successor to the original Zelda Headquarters (ZHQ). Realms of Hyrule launched through ZHQ2 in 2003. In 2005, ZHQ2 was closed and TSA launched The Hylia.

2003

 * Just Zelda - Launched on August 11th, Just Zelda has gone through numerous web hosts and two webmasters. The site is most well-known for its personal fan game 'Zelda, Just Beginning'.


 * Zelda World - Originally created by Toby, it was a succeeded by a short lived Zelda blog known as 5 Rupees. The site closed in 2006, just weeks before the release of 5 Rupees.

2004

 * Rauru's Return - February 19th


 * Zelda Reorchestrated (ZREO) - Created by FireGS, ZREO was intended to re-orchestrate every Zelda soundtrack using newer synthesizers and samples. The project briefly became known as Zelda Music in 2005 before closing later that year. In December 2006, the project was revived with the assistance of HTLOZ II. The new forums were originally hosted by HTLOZ II, but moved to Zentendo in early 2008.

2005

 * HTLOZ II - Founded in March by F3, Tempest, and IceSage. The site is the spiritual successor to Hyrule: The Land of Zelda. In 2008 the homepage was dropped in favor of the forums.


 * The Hylia - Launched on October 1st by TSA, the site succeeded ZHQ2 but was more news-oriented. The site became well known as a quick and credible source for Zelda news. In 2007, the site's ownership changed hands and is now run by DSCUBED.


 * Hylian Help Desk - Shortly after launch, it replaced Zelda Elements as the network Zelda website on the Gamespy Gaming Network. The site is currently derelict, having not been updated since the winter of 2006-2007.


 * Hyrule: Land of the Legend (HTOTL) - Branched off from Hyrule.net in 2005. The site gained notability for its news updates and a controversy with TSA from The Hylia. The site has since gone on hiatus and subsequently vanished.


 * ZeldaBlog - Created by The Missing Link of The Grand Adventures fame, the site acted as a blog for the Zelda community. It was a collaborative project involving several webmasters from around the community. ZeldaBlog was discontinued in 2006, though efforts were made in 2008 to revive it.


 * Zelda Oracles - Originally known as Zelda Discussions, the site was created by Henhouse. The site later merged with Zelda Online, run by The Burning Link. Zelda Oracles has since archived its website and is no longer active.

2006

 * Forsaken Legend - Started by Sam Brereton, Forsaken Legend went on to merge with two other Zelda websites, Zelda Temple and Zelda Cavern. After administrative issues, the website was taken offline. A relaunch was planned, but in 2008, the site was closed for good.


 * Kafei A'La Mode - Launched on March 30th. The website is dedicated to the character Kafei. It and includes a large database of screenshots, videos and more about Kafei.


 * Zelda Capital - May 22

2007

 * 5 Rupees - A Zelda blog created by Toby, marking the closure of Zelda World. 5 Rupees had a very short lived run and closed just two months after launch.


 * ZeldaInformer - Originally created as an offshoot of Zelda Universe in July, ZeldaInformer is the current home of the well known group of writers, The Bombers. In that same summer, the website merged with Absolute Zelda.

2008

 * Zelda in my Pocket - Created by former Zelda Universe staff member Duncan "Hylie" Ruffle. The website was to focus on handheld Zelda games and was set to launch in early 2009. However, due to the unexpected death of the webmaster, the site never launched and currently sits near completion.


 * Portal to Hyrule - Created by DekuLink. Started as a freewebs fansite in late 2006. Started working on new site for 2 years and was finally released on June 28th '08 as PTH. Mainly supposed to be an Interactive/Community based website when the "New PTH/PTHI" releases.