Why Wales is Hyrule in the Real World

Miles and miles of trees and grasslands, seemingly uninhabited except for the roving animals; Wind whipping across fields of flowers and clear, fresh skies.  A picturesque, seemingly endless display of the vast countryside, grandiose ruins, and the secluded quiet gardens paint an almost fantastic portrait of the beauty offered by nature.  Suddenly, a cloud of darkness and lighting erupts from a castle in the distance, a demon broken free from years of confinement in its prison.  Its minions rush forward to overtake the peaceful land, destroying everything in their path…

            What? That didn’t happen, you say?  Ok, I admit it.  This is the plotline from one of the most critically acclaimed video games of all time, The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild.  But if you ask me, the game and Wales have a ton in common.  Several settings from the game were probably inspired by several different Welsh locations, and both have strong ties to Romanticism.

(from reddit.com)

Certain areas of Wales were much beloved by Romantics in the 19^th century.  Romanticism is particularly concerned with feeling rather than rationality, individual experience, and transcendentalism rather than materialism.  It was in part a reaction to classical styles and the Enlightenment. Nature was seen as a force that acts upon man and dwarfs him, rather than the Enlightenment view that man exerts himself on nature.  A lot of art produced in the Romantic era focused on how the natural world is dark, mysterious, and powerful.  At Tintern Abbey, the earth has reclaimed what once was a beautiful manmade structure.  It is a reminder of our own mortality and that eventually time runs its course.  The area has inspired many works of art and poems, but because Romanticism is all about the subjective, I’ll focus on how it influenced me particularly. I wanted to run around and slash things with a sword, just like the Hero of Time.

(zeldawiki.com)

The game hones in on themes of exploration, isolation, and discovery.  I felt like it was easy to imagine myself as a mythical hero on a journey to save a fallen world as I walked around the beautiful ruined abbey.  I'd like to think that the Romantic artists and authors of the time would appreciate that experience, as they valued imagination and wonder to a high degree.

(from Eurogamer.com)

Another amazing area I was able to visit in Wales is called Puzzlewood.  It's probably one of the closest places on earth to the other-worldly and alien. It's the site for several fantastical films and TV shows.  It's quite easy to wind up lost in this area, which reminds me of another location in a certain video game...

(from zeldapedia.com)

I'm having way too much fun with this.  

But I digress. 

Both Romanticism and video games have a distinct quality of taking people away from their everyday lives and transporting them somewhere magical.  It's a form of escapism, a way to feel in control of yourself in a world that can seem unfeeling and controlled by unbending laws and sciences. We like to look to the past through rose-colored glasses, or perhaps through the screen of a portable console.  Perhaps Zelda is the modern-day equivalent of Wordsworth's famous poem - a love letter to the heroic individual and beauty of the natural world.  At least, that's how I'd like to justify my obsession with Zelda and, by extension, the ruins of Tintern Abbey. 

Bonus: My favorite bit of advertising I saw in Wales.