User:Dermotmacflann/Theories

My theories.

Lake Hylia as a volcano
Lake Hylia may be a volcano &mdash; not necessarily an active volcano, but a volcano nonetheless. But unlike the complex volcanism of Death Mountain, Lake Hylia is most likely a maar. Evidence for this includes its maar-like punchbowl shape &mdash; vaguely circular shoreline, steep lake walls, and great depth, and the fact that its greatest depth at the center goes down even deeper below the lakebed into the Water Temple, a cross-section of which would probably resemble the remnants of a.

It is possible that Lake Hylia is still active, but that its largely limited to s. In a limnic eruption, the deepest waters become increasingly saturated with  gas from its volcanic source. When the deep waters become too saturated, the lake overturns and releases all the gas at once. In the real world, such an eruption at 's in 1986 destroyed surrounding villages, killing 1700 people and 3500 livestock. After that disaster, volcanologists started installing deep water pipes to continually fountain the gas so it doesn't have a chance to oversaturate the water.

It may be that Lake Hylia's Water Temple and/or Lanayru Spring already serve this function, as the lake's water is already constantly filtered to keep it pure. It remains pure enough to supply Castle Town with drinking water. If Lake Hylia were active and limited to limnic eruptions, this would effectively render the volcano inactive as it would be unable to erupt either way.

Addendum
Lake Hylia's nature appears relatively different, is of less circular shape, and has a shallower middle where the Great Hylia Bridge's support columns lie. The lake's basin may have drastically reshaped compared to other versions.

Hyrule as a rift valley basin
If indeed both Death Mountain and Lake Hylia are volcanoes, it may be safe to guess that much of Hyrule's geology is of volcanic origin. Additionally, its appearance and layout in gives the impression that it is made up of  terrain. A graben is an area of land subsidence caused when the crust spreads and becomes thinner. In places like the and in, this creates subsiding volcanic lowlands nestled against swollen volcanic highlands.

There is evidence in Twilight Princess that such a process could have progressed somewhat since. Indeed, Hyrule's landscape is shorn by gaping chasms, and the floor of both Zora's River and Lake Hylia appear to be sinking to lower elevations relative to the surrounding countryside. This could have influenced the change in the course of Zora's River since Ocarina of Time; rather than the river changing course and eroding a deep gorge in such a relatively short period of time, the gorge may have cracked open first and the river started flowing into it. Lake Hylia may have genuinely formed as a volcano, but is also located in a sinking graben.

If Hyrule is a rift valley basin, it is also possible that most of its land is significantly below sea level, as seen in other rift basins located inland from the sea. When the Great Flood occurs in the Adult Timeline, it may not have been rain alone that inundated the kingdom, but the break of a natural dam that allowed the ocean's waters to fill the basin, leaving only its highest points as islands in the Great Sea. Magic alone kept Hyrule below dry and frozen in time. Magic aside, this is not without precedent, as the entire has dried up and refilled multiple times in ancient prehistory in a similar manner. However, during these dry periods (part of what is called the ), the Mediterranean Basin was mostly a salty desert, not unlike (or perhaps the Gerudo Desert or Lanayru Desert).

Addendum
This version of Hyrule is obviously not all below sea level, as parts of its coastline hug the ocean. However, other parts of the landscape (particularly the north and western boundaries) dip into seemingly bottomless pits of what seem to be land far below sea level. In addition, Tanagar Canyon does appear to be a graben, as a deep valley with steep sides and no sign of having been carved by water. All this reinforces my original theory that Hyrule is at least highly tectonically active, and may contain multiple rifts, whether or not the entire country sits inside a rift.

Spectacle Rock as a volcanic plug
Spectacle Rock superficially appears to be a, which is lava that solidifies first and gradually extrudes itself from a volcano's vent. Lava spines have been witnessed in association with volcanic eruptions at and. However, lava spines are inherently unstable and usually imminently collapse after extrusion. Considering Spectacle Rock seems to have a primordial age and even has an ancient Fire Temple located inside it, it seems unlikely that it is a lava spine.

Spectacle Rock may actually be a, which can be shaped similarly to a lava spine, but is actually much, much older, often as old as hundreds of millions of years. Volcanic plugs are actually the remnants of the central magma chambers of volcanoes, and appear on the land only after the rest of the volcano has already crumbled away after millions of years. The magma chamber cools more slowly and under greater pressure, forming an extremely hard rock that is naturally very resistant to erosion. As such, volcanic plugs can stand out above surrounding countryside long after volcanism in a region has ended.

Hyrule was created by the three Golden Goddesses, and the land's actual age is not clear, but it seems unlikely that the Goddesses created it all in just a matter of days. As such, Spectacle Rock could actually be a remnant of a long-extinct prehistoric volcano, and remained in place even as the younger Death Mountain eventually started forming at roughly the same location.

Admittedly, this theory stretches the bounds of realism, as it is difficult to imagine Spectacle Rock surviving repeat violent unscathed. Ultimately, the true nature of Spectacle Rock may be at least partly magical.

Addendum
Spectacle Rock is on the other side of the country from Death Mountain, and this version of the Rock does not seem very volcanic in nature. I have another theory on that in a different section.

Lake Hylia as a fish-free anoxic lake
The reason Lake Hylia proper (at least in ) has no fish, may be because of the way the water is purified &mdash; they are. Fish can't breathe normal air, but they still need oxygen to survive, and this comes from oxygen dissolved in water. The Lake Hylia filtration process purifies it, but also removes its dissolved oxygen, leaving the lake desolate of aquatic life. The Zoras don't live in the lake, but they can visit there because they have technology to allow them to breathe underwater regardless of dissolved oxygen content, and Link's Zora Armor uses the same technology. Without this technology, a human like Link would also easily die from alone, whether or not there is dissolved oxygen in the water.

Addendum
This version of Lake Hylia has plenty of fish, suggesting that the waters are not necessarily anoxic. And if it was ever geologically active, it may not be so anymore.

Hebra as a former Death Mountain
In 's Light World, Mount Hebra (at least in the Japanese language edition of the game) was the name of the mountainous region in the north. If it was ever volcanically active, it isn't anymore. Its Dark World counterpart occupying the same geography is Death Mountain, which is very actively volcanic in nature. In, there's a Hebra region (with Hebra Mountains) and a separate Death Mountain area, separated by a non-trivial distance of geography. I don't consider this contradictory at all: I think Hebra is the older region, having been the original Death Mountain until at least  and some time after. Then, as can also happen in the real world over great periods of time, the old Death Mountain went inactive and the center of active volcanic activity migrated to what is the new Death Mountain. The Goron people, with their affinity for volcanoes, largely moved to the new area. Hebra still has signs of lingering volcanic activity in the form of hot springs, and may indeed only be dormant and resume volcanic activity at a later time, but for now it is a cold, snowy region with no volcanic eruptions. It does have many signs of having been a volcano, though; in addition to the hot springs, there are several crater- or caldera-shaped land features, including Coldsnap Hollow, the Flight Range, Gisa Crater (and its surrounding smaller craters), the Sturnida Basin (with Lake Kilsie), and Lake Totori, to name at least a few. I may even go as far as to suggest that Hebra occupies the same general vicinity as Dragon Roost Island in, where, as with Hebra's Tabantha Frontier, the Rito people also live, but which is genuinely volcanically active in that setting.

Turtle Rock near North Lomei Labyrinth
There is a strangely turtle-shaped rock formation, resembling Turtle Rock, just southeast of the North Lomei Labyrinth in the northeast Hebra region in. If this is really the original Turtle Rock, it has no plot significance in the game.

Gerudo Highlands Spectacle Rock is not the original landmark
If the original Spectacle Rock of Death Mountain was a volcanic feature, it may no longer exist by the time of, having been destroyed through volcanic activity, erosion or other causes. This explains why Death Mountain has no Spectacle Rock, and why the Hebra region (which I speculate is the original Death Mountain) also has no Spectacle Rock. But the Gerudo people have a history of carving great monuments in the stone of their Gerudo Highlands, including the Seven Heroines at the East Gerudo Ruins. If the original Spectacle Rock was no more, a new landmark may have been created by the (relatively) simple task of choosing an appropriate table mountain and carving a wide gap between its two halves. And since this Spectacle Rock has a Sheikah Tower and also serves as a perfect platform for Vah Naboris, this may have happened as long as 10000 years ago, as turning the mountain into such an important a landmark would be an ideal reason to also carve into it.

Kakariko Village has moved more than once
In, the writing in the Hidden Village reveals (or at least strongly suggests) that it is the original Kakariko Village, with the other place of that name being a newer version of the Sheikah settlement. There is actually some very good logic to this, as Kakariko during and Twilight Princess is located in the volcanically-active Eldin Province, sometimes even on the flanks of Death Mountain itself. And since both Kakarikos in Twilight Princess are also in desert regions of Eldin, prolonged drought in addition to volcanic activity could be reason enough to move the village. But goes a step further, placing its Kakariko Village in West Necluda, a non-trivial distance outside the borders of Eldin. At some point, Kakariko Village had to have moved out of Eldin altogether, and to a region with no active volcanoes like Necluda. This Kakariko also has a cemetery, but it's a much humbler facility with no obvious signs of royal burial. One or more of the previous versions of Kakariko may be buried under subsequent Death Mountain lava flows, or perhaps even those of an older Death Mountain at what is now the Hebra region.