More Four Swords Things
A part 2 to this post
I mentioned some things in my last post about the map of Four Swords, mainly how there is a giant sword and Triforce symbol, but there are even more weird things about it.
MC's map is probably the one that makes the most sense. As an early period in Hyrule's history, the limited scope of the kingdom's influence makes sense. Plus relative size is the main gimmick of the game. Levels of geographical weirdness are low.
FS, though? I have so many questions. It doesn't look anything like MC or any other game. If you reallly (and I mean really) wanted to stretch, you might be able to make an argument that it is a part of another game's map that hasn't been fully developed, but I don't buy it. There are some buildings. The only castle in this one is Vaati's floating one. There are no towns as far as I am aware. The stages are the Chambers of Insight, the Sea of Trees, Talus Caves, and Death Mountain (there are three). The insanity of this map is a big reason why I am a proponent of the theory that Link, Zelda, and Vaati accidently went through some sort of portal in the Four Sword Sanctuary and ended up in the Sacred Realm, Termina, or other alternate world. (LU writers! If any of you were looking to flesh out Four's second adventure, this could be a fun theory to play with!)
And, FSA. I also have questions about this, mainly WHY IS HYRULE AN ISLAND. You can see some other landmasses off in the distance, but there doesn't seem to be any other peninsula. Also, you can tell that this was meant to go along with the early Downfall timeline instead of Child. I don't mind its canonical position, but there are a lot of questions here. My biggest one is how does the Dark World work? (Keep in mind I have only watched parts of playthroughs so I may be missing something.) In ALTTP, its explained that the Dark World was the Sacred Realm after it was corrupted by Ganon. He was shoved in there by the Sages after he killed the Hero of Time. That didn't really happen in the Child Timeline. If it did, it probably would have had to taken place before Twilight Princess, right? Or I guess this Dark World could just be a misunderstanding of the Twilight Realm, but I am personally disinclined to believe that based off vibes and, more importantly, Iris.
Iris is an apprentice magician who Vaati/Ganon kidnapped along with a bunch of other people to the Dark World. While trying to escape without her spell book in hand, Iris, hilariously, managed to kidnap an entire woman and said woman's boyfriend's house from the Light World. Once the Links returns her book under the instructions of her mentor, she sends the woman and the house back to Hyrule. Funnily enough, I don't think Iris herself returns to the Light World until the end of the game. Considering the ending of TP, I refuse to believe that a magician in-training--probably a teenager-- could accidently transport someone from the Light World into the Twilight Realm and back even if it is funny, but all the power to someone who does want to play around with the idea.
Just for clarification, the Links get into the Dark World by using Moon Pearls as a key for Moon Gates, which is a pretty interesting contrast with the way Legend used his Moon Pearl.
Other fun connections include: Four also had to infiltrate Hyrule castle during FSA, meaning Legend isn't the only one to do that. The Oracles also show up in Minish Cap--some people believe they are incarnations fo the goddesses though I like to think of them as more Zelda-like lines of priestesses. Finally, Malon actually shows up in one of Legends games (OOS) and two of Fours games--Minish Cap and Four Swords Adventures. In FSA, she is the subject of an entire escort mission where she can be killed by brainwashed soldiers. Possible angst, anyone? Also, I personally think its funny that she has shown up in more of Four's games than Time's.
If anyone has any corrections or other interpretations/theories, feel free to add them! There are a lot of extrapolations that can be made about these games. I might add a third part to this about the Four Sword and the questions/assumptions one could make about it, but only after my poll is done.
Maps are under the cut