#undoubtedly there is some niche bit of loz lore that even my fully rotted brain didn't know that disproves this. however. it's fun

[anxietybumblebee]

Other than the obvious overlap in monsters, I replayed the switch version of Link's Awakening recently and saw like. An uncanny amount of similarities between it and EoW. It's a given, seeing as they're both in the same toon Link style on the same device, but it makes you wonder why there are virtually no differences - other than, from what I've seen, pretty much just some monster names and colours (plus more recent additions to the loz universe, like lynels).

A LOT OF TEXT + ECHOES OF WISDOM/LINK'S AWAKENING SPOILERS BENEATH THE BREAK VVV

From the entrance to the final boss (LA left + EoW right)

To the dark monsters + the nightmare in LA (left + right respectively)

Not even mentioning the fact that it's the same Ganon (well, the nightmare version in LA, but the same guy as that Link has faced before) (LA + LBW on the left/top depending on your screen, EoW on the right/bottom)

The map styles aren't identical, but the mechanics + appearances are similar enough that I thought they were worth a mention, too!! (EoW on the left, LA on the right)

The similarities between Null/the rifts and the nightmares has me wondering if there was a deeper reason behind the similarities than simply being able to reuse models; we all know Nintendo isn't one to skimp on the graphics for new Zelda games (see breath of the wild + tears of the kingdom).

I had a couple of theories on this:

The first being that Echoes of Wisdom is a more drawn out dream, which I think is a more obvious conclusion. It could come about in a few different ways, though; either Tri and the golden goddesses are working to keep the dream going (fixing the rifts) and the people returned from the rifts have awoken, leaving only the no longer sentient bodies behind, or Null and the dark monsters are the nightmares, attempting to render the dream fully un-endable by turning it into void; with no instruments to play and no bosses to beat, the dream can't be ended. It's something of a pyrrhic victory for the nightmares, who honestly seemed to like having Koholint around, if just to torture its inhabitants.

The second being that Echoes of Wisdom takes place in the Hyrule where Koholint truly existed (or somewhere else that the Windfish has influence), somewhere out in the sea beyond our map, and the rifts are damage caused as the Windfish pulls more and more people into its slumber. It reaches across worlds, and sometimes people's bodies and souls end up back in the wrong spots (hence Marin's turning into a seagull in the true ending, and the people returning from the rifts completely lifeless, or missing things). In this case, the rifts would be the effects of the Windfish's slumber ripping the land apart (perhaps by the nightmare's influence as they want more and more in their domain, beyond the simple island of Koholint). Maybe Null is simply the main nightmare you fight at the end, trying to have an entire world as part of the dream, trying to stop everything from just looping like it seemed to on Koholint.

I'm having quite a few thoughts about this if you couldn't tell. I may be insane.