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Traveling Our World And The Environments of Zelda - A Comparison

POSTED ON:  August 23, 2025

by: E_Randarts

1.   Adventure is out There 

“I don’t care what we see, I just want to see something pretty”. I recall saying those words while I was walking with a girl from Spain through the streets of Vilnius, Lithuania. The two of us were in Lithuania for a week, participating in a business conference alongside other university students from around the world, with me being from the USA. After a long day of working on a project pitch together, we wanted to take a stroll to explore what Lithuania had to offer. Moments after those words left my mouth, we stumbled upon a gorgeous church that I came to learn is the Church of St. Catherine. Taking a chance, my companion pushed open the doors to the church, and we were met with the sight of a glowing music hall with late Baroque architecture and religious imagery along the interior walls and ceiling. The two of us took in a gasp as we stared in awe at the sight before us, and simultaneously released it as a sigh upon leaving the antique building. We both laughed as we realized we had experienced the same feeling. 

Since I was little, I had a seemingly unquenchable thirst for adventure. When I wasn’t out having new experiences, I was daydreaming about them as if I were the lead in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. It is no surprise, then, that I was drawn to a game like Breath of the Wild, which was my gateway drug to the wonders of the Zelda universe. At the time, I hadn’t played any game like Breath of the Wild; a game that allows you to explore the world however you want, take on missions in no specific order, meet people with personal stories to tell, and stumble upon old ruins that leave you wondering what mysteries they hold. In a way, the non-linear quality of the game resembles how we live in the real world. A decision precedes every action. This similarity of creating our path and making discoveries in our world, and the world of Zelda, is what I aim to explore in this month’s blog.

 2.   Initial stages of travel and Zelda

The first comparison I wanted to draw is between the initial traveling stage and starting a Zelda game. This past year, I had the unexpected privilege of traveling to four countries. Spain, Lithuania, South Korea, and Japan. This meant having four opportunities to discover a new culture and an unfamiliar corner of our world. Now, before traveling to any new location, we all do some research first. Some things we may look into, for example, are the local cuisine, natives' customs, interesting hotspots to visit, or maybe even some common phrases in the native language. However, real cultural education is greatly deepened by actually being there. 

This initial research that we do, however, is different when we play Legend of Zelda. In our modern era, we have information at our fingertips through a smartphone. If we want to learn how to prepare for a trip, we just type a few questions into a search engine and get what we need. In contrast, The Legend of Zelda is a series where every game sets you in a new environment. While yes, the games do have underlying core elements of Hyrule kingdom and elemental regions, they also host new sets of rules and varying alterations to these regions and their inhabitants. Skyward Sword is set in the sky, Wind Waker has the vast ocean to sail through, and Minish Cap introduces us to the Picori race, which appears in that game alone. The only way to learn about the world you appear in is by exploring it yourself. The Zelda maps indicate this best. When starting a Zelda game, players are provided with a map in which most of the area is blurred or clouded by fog, indicating unexplored lands. It creates a sense of mystery that pushes the player to venture out and “clear the fog”. For instance, I still recall the moment I completed the tutorial stage on the Great Plateau, allowing Link to glide down to the lands below. All at once, I was overwhelmed by how much new ground there was to cover and excited to search every nook and cranny. However, Breath of the Wild was a journey that, contrary to real-world travel, was started and ended in my own home. 

 3.   How to get around?

When traveling in the real world, I aim to clear this fog by being active rather than passive. I take every opportunity to be outdoors, spending numerous hours looking at Google Maps and plotting a path to get me to as many landmarks, museums, and tourist destinations as possible. Regarding The Legend of Zelda, I noticed I am the same way. I frequent the map, debating whether to continue the main story or explore that out-of-the-way island in the bottom right corner. While deciding where to go is half of the battle, the second half is learning how to get there. 

My most recent real-world trip took me to Japan. If we know anything about Japan, its intricate public transportation system is considered the best way to get around the country. Being a New Yorker all my life, I am no stranger to hopping on a Subway train or city bus, but that wasn’t enough to prepare me for the customs of Japanese train stations. I can’t read the native language on the signs, I’m not familiar with the train lines and station names, and to top it off, I was clueless about how to pay for the transportation. I was fortunate enough to have a guide who explained it all before I could even attempt managing to get around on my own. While not as intricate, the experience resembles the Legend of Zelda. In every game, we see a new form of transportation. Of course, Link has his noble steed Epona, but then we have the train in Spirit Tracks or- Did someone build a mecha-suit in Tears of the Kingdom?? 

Similar to how the guide showed me the ropes of the transit system in Japan, Zelda players get to experience this through tutorials. I was fortunate to have a guide in Japan, but oftentimes, travelers go in without this kind of help. I found it is an inevitable component of travel to muster up the courage to ask for help from locals with a translation app in hand. Not only is it humbling, but it also enhances one's cultural immersion. This isn’t as much of an issue in Zelda, at least not visibly, because players can have Link walk up to any NPC with ease and communicate with no language barrier. 

 4.   The Mementos 

Two ways people keep memories of places they travel to are with photos and souvenirs. With all the new spots I’ve been hitting in my travels, my camera roll has much to show for it. It holds pictures of historic monuments and buildings, landmarks, and many photos of myself at those places to say “I was there”. I can look back at my photos years after taking them and reminisce about the time I went lake swimming in Spain, for example. In various Zelda games, most prominently in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, a camera feature is present for the same reason. With such a vast expanse of land to explore, the in-game camera serves as a way to catalog and document it all. It makes the game more immersive, considering players can freely snap photos of what they consider memorable, and even pose their character for that “perfect shot”. A favorite feature of the camera is the Hyrule Compendium, which identifies the subject of the photos and teaches players what they are. 

I mentioned before that I am an “active” traveler because I try to take in my surroundings in a new environment. The Hyrule Compendium is simply a tool that allows players to do the same thing in BoTW and ToTK. 

Finally, regarding souvenirs, the best comparison I can draw between the real deal and Zelda games is collecting key items and the spoils of battle. How cool was it when you defeated your first Lynel in BoTW? How about your first Gleeok in ToTK? I recall my first victories against these strong enemies, and the excitement as I got to collect the items that dropped from them as trophies. Of course, in the real world, we aren’t fighting three-headed dragons for our souvenirs, but in both cases, the mementos we bring back home are filled with internal value as we recall our adventures whenever we look at them sitting on our shelves. 

1. Learning the Customs

Something I have always enjoyed about the Zelda series is how fleshed out the primary races are. Learning the customs of different communities is another integral part of traveling. Let's take the Gerudo for example. The Gerudo are a race in Hyrule consisting of only females, and they forbid males from entering their village in BotW and TotK. What happens to the poor male souls unaware of this rule? They are hunted down by guards and land in Gerudo prison. Our world works with the same premise of respecting one another’s customs. 

In my personal and not as extreme example, as an American, I had seen tipping in stores and restaurants as normal. Imagine my surprise when I travelled to Europe for the first time and learned that it is considered rude. I realized that it can be viewed as insensitive, and locals may think you are pitying the employees by giving extra cash. Tipping is one of those things I now add to the “research checklist” before I travel somewhere for the first time.. 

At the end of the day, whether it is falling into the twilight realm for the first time or traveling to a new country, we have that question in the back of our minds- “What does this new place have in store for me?”.