mattleese87 on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/mattleese87/art/Dark-World-Map-Dark-Deluge-209807368mattleese87

Deviation Actions

mattleese87's avatar

Dark World Map - Dark Deluge

By
Published:
7.1K Views

Description

This is the accompaniment to my Hyrule map for my tabletop Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: The Dark Deluge. As stated in the manual for A Link to the Past, the Golden Land (aka Sacred Realm) was a beautiful place that was a mirror copy of Hyrule when the Goddesses ascended again, leaving the Triforce behind in the center of the Sacred Realm. This realm remained untouched and untainted for untold eons until the Great Cataclysm... when Ganondorf found a way in, stole the Triforce, and corrupted the Sacred Realm to reflect his own evil heart. After being defeated by Link, he was sealed within this land by the Sages. This realm became known as the Dark World.

In the same way that my Hyrule map is a culmination of familiar and unfamiliar, so too is this one. I'm fairly certain that the events of A Link to the Past were not in the same timeline as the setting of my game so I figured it would be OK to do a lot of my own things to it. A lot of elements from ALttP make a return, though perhaps in new locations or used for different purposes. The Palace of Darkness returns but is instead the Dark World equivalent of the Forsaken Pyramid in the Light World.

Other places are just plain new, many as final dungeons for my players to traverse before attempting Ganon's Tower. Each is the Dark World equivalent of the Earth Temple, Wind Temple, and Flood Temple in Hyrule. Also tossed in the Freezard Tundra for good measure.

The overlaying image is that of the evil eye symbol used by Agahnim, and ultimately Ganon, in A Link to the Past. I do believe that there is definitely something about the whole eye symbol in the Zelda series that must mean something. It's literally everywhere. This symbol, the Sheikah symbol (the Lens/Mask of Truth, Gossip Stones), and symbols on character's clothing (Veran comes to mind). The eyes on Majora's Mask and the eye on the Fused Shadow are not only reminiscent of each other, but of this "evil eye" idea. Also COUNTLESS enemies, especially boss enemies, feature a single eye and usually this is the creature's weak point. Gohma (every incarnation), Bongo Bongo, Arrghus, Vitreous, Kholdstare, Diababa, and Morpheel are just some of the bosses with one large eye. One that stands out even more is Vaati, who begins as a Minish, takes the form of a blue-skinned Hylian, but by the end becomes an incarnation of the evil eye. Now I'm not sure how the Sheikah relate to it, but I do believe that there must be something behind this and I decided the evil eye symbol would be the best one to define the Dark World.
Image size
4000x3000px 6.84 MB
© 2011 - 2024 mattleese87
Comments17
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Your maps of Hyrule are incredible! I was wanting to beg you for permission to use these for my fanfiction lay out? I would, of course, provide a link to your page at the end of my ficiton. Pretty please?