#maybe the blacksmith had enough and entrusted his child to the mountains

[tired-reader-writer]

Reading the Shahnameh out of curiosity and for AU inspiration purposes and...

(some of these are definitely gonna be out of order since my stuff got jumbled up while transferring phones my bad)

Souroush?!

Ormuzd is Ahura Mazda, by the way. The creator deity and... sole? main? deity of Zoroastrianism, if I remember correctly. Arslan Senki seems to have made the Parsian faith polytheistic, with a whole pantheon, but Zoroastrianism was a monotheistic religion, wasn't it? But then again there seemed to be deities/semi-deities like Anita? I really need to read more about the entire thing.

Kaweh has balls of steel! And later in the tale it is mentioned that Kaweh's apron/banner has become part of Feridoun's signatures, or at least that of his army, and Kaweh's son later comes to serve under Feridoun's son and grandson as well. That's really really cool. A much better fate than what Iumaka received, in any case. Iumaka too was a blacksmith— they even crafted the chains that'd bind Zahhak, and the treasured sword Rukhnabad as well. They and Kaykhusraw (the approximate Feridoun equivalent even if Kaykhusraw's actual namesake comes up way later, and I haven't gotten that far) even had a child together, but both Iumaka and Araya the younger met untimely ends, at Kaykhusraw's own hands/command.

(This takes place before the entire Feridoun thing, by the way. Feridoun is his grandson, according to this translation)

Note to self: do look up where Cathay is. When I was reading ArSen I always wondered whether Jamshid got tossed into the Darband Inland Sea or the actual Sea sea in the south, lol.

Just pinging any mention of Alborz that catches my eye. Very relevant to my interests that both instances here involve a child being fostered by someone who lives there: the hermit and Simurgh. How the mountains are regarded as a safe haven for these two children (Feridoun and the boy who would later be named Zal). (Also Zal was born with silvery white hair and that's why he was abandoned by his father Saum.)

Feridoun had three sons, Kaykhusraw has two in canon and three in my AU. What a coincidence! Though I guess the difference is that the eldest dies instead of the youngest, a boy who didn't live long enough to even meet his half-brothers.

I feel so bad for Irij! His brothers were out for blood and he just wanted peace :( At least his kid lived and avenged him. Minuchihr, whom I'm guessing was Manuchurh's namesake?

HUH. So there were Zahhak's descendants still exist, and they were even allowed to rule! I wasn't expecting that (nor for Zahhak to even have descendants— I guess ArSen's Zahhak influenced my impression of the character a lot)

[chandelierslayer]

Y’know, there are a lot of narrative choices and tropes that I outright hate with a fiery passion. Veritable plateaus of text have been dedicated to pointing out why and how stories that use them can be made better. And “super bloodlines” or whatever you want to call it, is one of the biggest offenders. It irritates me to no end when writers can’t let their person be special on their own merit. Everyone has to be connected to some kind of magical bloodline. This hero was able to vanquish the hero because they’re from a long line of special people. This woman can talk to the planet and she’s the ONLY ONE who can because it’s a thing only her race can do, and the rest of her race is dead. This villain was inevitably going to become the sixth ranger because they belong to bloodline that is always Good™ or is SURPRISE! the sibling of one of the heroes. This horse is more BEAUTIFUL and SPECIAL than all the other horses because it’s the descendant of the horse ridden by a PRINCESS (really???). Yeah. You get my drift. 

But when bloodlines are (actually or just hinted at being) in the backdrop of a story, with no special privileges bestowed because of it, I don’t mind. So when I was examining the maps of A Link to the Past and The Minish Cap together (which I originally only did to look for similarities between those two and the LoZ map, hi, welcome to how we do things around here, my trails of thought are split ends and those split ends have split ends and you get it) and trying to find more than a few similarities to back up two of my previous theories (I need help, somebody throw down a rope), and I found something that made me throw them off of the stove completely, I wasn’t at all bothered by the idea of the two little dudes who make the Master Sword red being descended from Minish Cap Link. Instead, I just used that thought to further fuel my digging into the theory I’ll lay out before you. 

Now, with that absurdly long and unnecessary intro out of the way, I hope you enjoy. XD

Picture, if you will, a cozy little house surrounded by trees. It’s also a smithy, where the sound of metalworking can be heard from closeby. To the west of this house is a body of water stretching from North to South. If you walk North of the house, you’ll eventually come across a road that runs from East to West. Not far Northwest from that point, you’ll find a place called the Lost Woods. 

Now, what did I just describe? The home of Smith and his grandson? Or the home of two tiny blacksmiths who helped the Hero of Legend stop the Cataclysm by strengthening the blade of evil’s bane? 

And no, no, no, don’t worry, I’m not asking you to believe that the Lost Woods in ALttP is the same as the “Lost Woods” South of the Royal Valley in TMC. That would be silly, right? Hahaaa. No. I’m asking you to believe that it’s part of it. The Northwestern part, that is. Sort of. Around that area. Look, if some of these map theorists out here can swivel maps diagonally and flip them completely around to make them fit together, I can be vague about some thick woods, okay? (No hate, I love you guys, keep doing what you’re doing) *ahem* So yeah. 

Let’s zoom out from that tiny scenario I was describing earlier. The idea is that the first Hyrule Castle¹ is around the area where the “Bumpkin Family” house and the Eastern part of the Lost Woods is. North Hyrule Field would be South of that, and Hyrule Town, whether you want it to be the same as or separate from OoT’s Castle Town, would be just South of that (the road running East to West, under the fortune teller’s place, would be the same road as the one just South of the town gate in TMC)

Yes, this means that ALttP’s Kakariko is where the Trilby Highlands/Western Wood used to be (and a little bit where TMC’s Hyrule Town is), which ALSO means that Wind Ruins, Castor Wilds, and Mt. Crenel are just West of all that, putting it just outside the ALttP map² (conveniently out of the way - sorry I love all three of you, you’re wonderful, mwah). This also means that Veil Falls would’ve been just about at the Westernmost parts of that gigantic mountain range thing in ALttP they call Death Mountain, which I’m okay with. Also means the Minish Woods was around where the Sanctuary and Hyrule Castle are in ALttP. Ouch. But I mean, it’s not the most devastating thing the Hylians have done, so moving on. Also, the first Lon Lon Ranch would be in the Death Mountain foothills, to the West. 

So, why do I like this idea so much? First, it aligns pretty neatly with the idea that the Master Sword grove in ALttP is where the Temple of Time used to be - at least, to me. But I’m also of the opinion that the Temple of Time/Sacred Grove/Lost Woods grove area are all the same - meaning that’s also where the Sealed Grounds was - and it never changed. Um... No matter what other theories I come up with/entertain, that’s always gonna be the case, I can pretty much guarantee. I just don’t like the theory that the Temple of Time was moved. Granted, I’m more okay with that idea in this timeline than in the Child Timeline, because in the Child Timeline the Hero of Time prophecy still has never come to pass, it’s still a sort of messianic legend the people believe strongly in, and even though the royal family has been told of the whole time-travel shenanigans thing, ha ha haaaaaaaaa... I don’t think they’d be able to convince an entire society that there was no longer need for that five-piece seal. The descendants of the ones entrusted with the keys are probably still clutching them tightly to this very day... Actually what am I talking about? All that stuff is forgotten about, shrouded in the mists of time and whatnot. Whoops, guess this green and shining stone can fetch me a pretty penny at the pawn shop... ANYWAY. We’re here for the Fallen Timeline right now, so let’s FOCUS. 

Another part of all this is my old theory... hypothesis?... idea? that the Sealed Temple/Temple of the Goddess, and later the Temple of Time that was build where that used to stand, were somewhere behind/within the castle in TMC (not in the game, obviously, but you know how this works). The reason I believe this, is because TMC happens at a time when Hyrule is a young kingdom. It has literally one town and everything else around it is all wild lands, as far as they’re concerned. It’s obvious that they’ve only just settled there in the past few centuries, and I doubt they would stray far from the place where they first touched down. 

So. If the Temple of Time is where the Master Sword grove is later, that would put OoT’s Hyrule Castle North of the ALttP map, Market where the Lost Woods eventually grows, Hyrule Field/the second Lon Lon Ranch in the Southern Lost Woods plus where ALttP’s Kakariko is built and the surrounding area (which also means Ordon Village is around the second Kakariko area in the Child Timeline. Amazing. No matter what happens, that land WILL be repurposed into village land. Except in the Adult Timeline, it’s been destroyed, bye-bye), and mayyyybe the Desert of Mystery where OoT’s Lake Hylia was??? Although this also means I could’ve been wrong all these years about the Minish Woods: Maybe they ARE where the OoT Lost Woods are after all. Hmmm. Honestly I still personally prefer the idea of OoT’s Lost Woods being where the Eastern Palace area is in ALttP. Lots of deforestation no matter where my theories go... That’s depressing. Hylians, stop being jerks. At least they’re less jerks than humans have historically been to each other. So far. I can only prove their oppression of AT MOST three and a half races so far, so honestly, we’re looking at an improved world here.

Ummmm I think that was about it. Did I have anything else before I zoom into the notes? No? Alrighty let’s wrap this up! 

¹ When I first played TMC, I had no problem thinking that Hyrule Castle and the one in OoT were the same, Hyrule Town became Castle Town, and the Minish Woods are located in some indeterminate woodland somewhere between Castle Town and Kakariko. But like I said, I’ve become partial to the idea that the Temple of Time is behind/around the castle in TMC, not shown, out of sight, protected, so I theorized them building a new castle elsewhere. Then again, that idea comes from the idea of the Temple of Time being built over the Sealed Grounds, and that hasn’t been shown or said in-game yet, so both options are valid to me I guess. I love Historia, and I take its word with more salt than Encyclopedia, but still not enough to season my stuffed pumpkins on a Monday night. ...I still believe wholeheartedly that Hyrule Castle in TP is a completely different castle up North from where the original one - and the town, and the Temple of Time - were in OoT, and TP’s Lake Hylia is not the same Lake Hylia, and Arbiter’s Grounds/the more “Western” style Gerudo desert is North of the OoT desert, etc., and you’ll never be able to pry that belief out of my cold, dead, fingers, so don’t even try. Er... I mean... ... Golly, you guys, aren’t hypotheses fun? ^__^

² Which I’m thinking would mean Mt. Crenel is just North of Gerudo Valley, maybe even a mountain or cliff you can see in-game, and Castor Wilds would maybe eventually be the land the river runs through in the canyon below. Or... part of said land. Who knows. Ah man now I wanna make my Link (from Peace of Heart) jump down from the Gerudo Valley bridge with her Roc’s Cape and glide down to the Wind Ruins all cool and stuff! <<33 Just kidding, Gerudo Valley is no longer exactly there in that fic, in fact Gerudo haven’t been in that area in ages. It’s... a long story. In more than one meaning of the phrase. ANYWAY.

Alternatives: Smith’s House TMC is Link’s House ALttP - this is not a new idea, I don’t think. I’ve seen other people propose it, it’s a great idea, my idea is just this but like, scooched over a little. I’m sorry, I never claimed to be original. XDD The great thing about both of these theories is that they put Syrup’s hut pretty much around the point where it is in both ALttP and TMC, if you think about it. 

Hyrule Town TMC is Hyrule Castle ALttP - this also works? Kind of? Except it doesn’t give a lot of room North of the castle for the stuff that should be there (although that’s explain-away-able if you take the “the mountain formed over the ages” route, which I personally like, because I like the idea that OoT Kakariko was around where the Sanctuary/Graveyard is in ALttP and then a series of volcanic eruptions happened, resulting in the formation of the Westernmost mountain and also the destruction of the original Kakariko and the village moving Southwest. ...I’m sorry). 

That’s all I have for you today (I’m pretty sure I didn’t miss anything) and to my followers, I am really sorry I’m never around anymore. I have no excuse. Please forgive me. I’ll try to make some posts about my recent LoZ misadventures, but... No promises, okay? Let’s take it one day at a time. However, you CAN follow me here to actually watch some of those misadventures, so there’s that! ^__^

Until next time, have fun, stay safe, and drink water! PACE~