ok so ive been playing twilight princess and it got me thinking about hyrule maps again
so prepare for a hyrule geography lesson
so some baseline geographic lore for zelda. the kingdom of hyrule is broken up into three provinces, each one with its own people and history: the lanayru province (named for the goddess nayru), the eldin province (named for the goddess din), and the faron province (named for the goddess farore).
the faron and eldin provinces are really easy to identify. the eldin province consists of the eldin mountain range (which includes death mountain), kakariko village (usually at the foot of the eldin range), and hyrule castle (on the western edge of the eldin province near kakariko village). the faron province is vaguely just “southern forests,” and can easily be pointed out in games that dont name the faron province - kokiri forest would be a part of the faron province.
the lanayru province is… a little harder to define.
it is associated with the goddess nayru, goddess of water. thus, the lanayru province is associated with the zora in several games.
however, in many games the zora are instead associated with the eldin region; the zora fountain, the origin of hyrules rivers, is often shown as a lake in the eldin mountain range. look at games like ocarina of time, a link to the past, etc. these depictions of the zora will usually have zoras domain behind a waterfall. i equate this waterfall to veil falls from minish cap, as it is named to be the source of the water flow in hyrule. all of these are east of hyrule castle, nestled among the mountains - in the eldin province.
games that associate the lanayru province with the zora include: twilight princess and breath of the wild.
thats it.
twilight princess still tries to keep the zora associated with the “northern source of water,” so they place the lanayru province further north than the eldin province. while this keeps the zora associated with that thematic element, it contradicts the zoras usual placement, being the southern edge of the eldin range. breath of the wild, meanwhile, is more consistent with its placement, being just south of the eldin province - however, in order to have the zoras lanayru province be distinguished from the eldin province, it is pushed so far south that the zora fountain is no longer the source of all water in hyrule.
so you have two separate placements for “zora lanayru,” being north of the eldin province and being south of the eldin province. both contradict the zoras historic association with the eldin mountain range.
the primary example of the lanayru province which isnt associated with the zora (the example i like best) is the lanayru province from skyward sword. it makes the southwest desert and associated regions the lanayru province, with the idea being that it was once wet and fertile before industrialization and unsustainable mining practices desertified the region.
the reason i am such a fan of this lanayru province is that it is a key aspect in several of my timeline theories. it is essential for understanding the timeline, so… im a fan of skyward swords lanayru province.
heres the thing: this means that the associated people for the lanayru province wouldnt be the zora at all, itd be the GERUDO. which is some goofy shit. but it also lets us understand the scope of the lanayru province more by looking at the gerudo territory.
the skyward sword lanayru desert is actually south of the ocarina of time gerudo desert; gerudo valley snakes up north to gerudo fortress, which opens into the desert. this means that, if the western desert is the lanayru province, the lanayru province stretches far from the north and south, making it a “skinny” province so to speak.
we dont see many games that show whats north of the eldin mountain range. the only games i know of that do are zelda 2 and twilight princess.
zelda 2 shows a northern region split between unscalable mountains and lower grassy fields covered in lakes and rivers. twilight princess shows a northern area consisting of zoras domain and the snowpeak mountain range. assume that snowpeak IS the mountain range in zelda 2. it has a… vaguely similar shape? also, the zelda 2 mountains are connected directly to a western range that spreads all the way from the north to the south, which would be equivalent to the range gerudo valley is nestled within in ocarina of time.
we could say that the lanayru region lies to the west of the gerudo mountain range, snaking up north before spreading east once its north of the eldin mountain range. the gerudo range would transition into the snowpeak range, which breaks up the landscape of zelda 2s greater hyrule. this would allow for the northern lanayru region we see in twilight princess. the eldin province, meanwhile, consists of central hyrule, the eldin mountain range, and the eastern coast we see in zelda 1, making it the widest province. and the faron province would just be… vaguely south, including the forests of hyrule and lake hylia.
and as for breath of the wild?
…no. i dont like breath of the wilds map. its lanayru province isnt real.
still doesnt explain why suddenly the zora (and the zora fountain) is in the northern lanayru province during twilight princess specifically. i think maybe its just an inconsistent map. but whats the fun in that?