Video Game / Relics of Hyrule

"My philosophy is that a Skyrim mod should respect the milieu and story of the core game, rather than using it as a simple technological platform to remake another. I chose to make Relics of Hyrule the way it is after seeing many other mods based on the Legend of Zelda ignore Skyrim's world. The mod also serves to re-imagine and frame the tragic beauty of Hyrule and Termina in the harsh landscapes of Skyrim and Solstheim.

— JKalenad - Mod's primary focus on the Skyrim Nexus

Relics of Hyrule is a The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim mod created by JKalenad, which adds numerous weapons, spells, items, enemies, NPCs, dungeons and new locations inspired by The Legend of Zelda series.

The shards of an age long forgotten, the remnants of a civilization older than the Dwemer, so old that it was a myth during their time, and little evidence of the civilization remains. All that remain are long forgotten artifacts: weapons, armor, magic. As you travel through Skyrim, you will stumble across pieces of a long-lost civilization, and will eventually discover what led to its demise.

The main focus of the mod is to Link the universes and lore of both The Elder Scrolls and Zelda in a way that respects both, rather than using Skyrim as a development platform for making a Zelda Fan Game experience. The mod puts Skyrim's gameplay and setting first, and all Zelda content is balanced to not spoil the experience of playing Skyrim's vanilla content.

See also Conan Hyborian Age, another Skyrim mod with a similar premise but based on Conan the Barbarian (1982)(and with much less content).

The mod is available for both the Legendary Edition here and the Special Edition here.

---

Relics of Hyrule provides examples of:

• Ability Required to Proceed: While the base game itself doesn't have this as there are many ways of tackling a dungeon or location (unless said location is quest-locked), this aspect that is seen in almost every Zelda game is adapted for some of the dungeons and locations added by the mod.
• Ambiguous Situation: Ganondorf's Tomb is deliberately set up to leave his final fate uncertain: it contains his equipment, a dead Dremora, and a non-functional Oblivion Gate. Some interpretations suggested by the mod's author include Ganondorf and the Dremora (an assassin sent by Mehrunes Dagon) killing each other in battle, or the Dremora being a trusted lieutenant with whom Ganondorf left his gear while he went through the Gate.
• Anti-Frustration Features: The Alteration Table is a special crafting station (there is one in the Midden and another in Pale Stone Camp, a new location added by the mod in Solstheim) which converts some of the new items into another class (e.g. light to heavy armor and vice versa, one-handed to two-handed weapons vice versa), allowing the player to use the new equipment regardless of their character build.
• Artifact of Doom: Majora's Mask is a character unto itself, with its own agenda. In the bound state you find it in, it will satisfy itself with whispering clues about where to find the tools with which to unbind it. Unbound, it will provide great power, but it won't want to leave you, and it enjoys messing with you. Not the Dragonborn, you.
• Boss Battle: A few bosses from Zelda are adapted by taking Skyrim enemies and modifying them.
  • In Kinolangdanzel:
    • The Silver Centurion, a large Dwarven Centurion colored silver, is used as the stand-in for Gohdan.
    • Gohma appears as a larger Frostbite Spider.
    • The Mighty Darknut is similar to a regular Darknut, in that it's a Dremora wielding Darknut armor and armaments.
    • The Giant Stalfos is a Giant's skeleton wielding the Skull Hammer.
  • In Morwitijaal, which is heavily based on The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask:
    • The Bewitched Giant is Odolwa.
    • Goht is a massive mammoth.
    • Two oversized Chilfos are used instead of Gyorg, but a dead enlarged Slaughterfish appears as Gyorg's stand-in.
    • A pair of enlarged Chaurus enemies stand in for Twinmold.
    • The dungeon boss is Majora's Priest, a Dragon Priest inspired by the final battle of Majora's Mask.
  • In Itnamzand, the Ancient Automation is named after Koloktos.
  • The mod's Final Boss is the Hero's Shade from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
• Clingy MacGuffin: The fully awakened version of Majora's Mask; it has four messages that each have a 1 in 4 chance of displaying when you de-equip it. Two of these messages will forcibly re-equip the mask (one of them even locks it on your face unless you use the Fierce Deity's Mask), while a third will make you take damage over time while the Mask declares "You are nothing without me...."
• Collection Sidequest: Gold Skulltulas can be found all around Skyrim^note Normally in Relics-specific dungeons, but due to the spawn tables they sometimes pop up in vanilla locations; killing them nets you Gold Skulltula Tokens, which can be traded in at a specific location for new items.
• Disc-One Nuke: The Power Sword is one of the earliest relics available. When paired with the White Ring or Ivory Ring (or equipment with their enchantments), it's one of several weapons that can fire Sword Beams with every attack when at full health... or at any health level if the character is a vampire, allowing them to basically use Beam Spam as their main attack^note This actually isn't a bug; the alternative was having the enchantments never work for vampires due to sun damage.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Unfortunately, some of the LoZ artifacts don't do exactly the same thing as they did in their original games for various reasons. For example, the Four Sword doesn't create copies of the Dragonborn because Skyrim really wasn't made to do anything like that, while several teleportation songs from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask simply give you buffs.
• Guide Dang It!: A LOT of this mod isn't clearly explained to the player. Many of the added dungeons are also connected together and can be so labyrinthine that it's easy to get lost. As an example, it's possible to move from Falkreath Secret Grotto to the Mad God Passage and then to Morwitijaal to fight Majora's Priest all by complete accident and without ever stepping foot in Skyrim's overworld.
• Heart Container: The player can find Pieces of Heart, necklaces that grant +100 Health while worn. Get four and you can use a spell to turn them into an actual Heart Container, which when used grants a permanent +20 Health per Heart Container used. There are also Magic and Respite Containers that do the same for Magicka and Stamina, the latter being shaped like Skyward Sword's Stamina Meter.
• Interface Screw: Majora's Mask has a small chance of displaying a random message every time you equip it or land an attack while wearing it. For the bound state you find it in, these are hints on dungeons to explore to unbind it. Unbound, it's just messing with you.
• Joke Item: The mod contains several items based off of the infamous CD-i games; most of them are deliberately bad in order to reference those games' poor quality^note the Roar Stick is a staff that sprays sparks, the Wand of Gamelon is a modified Shiv, and the Book of Koridai is a Doge meme that can be turned into a ruined book at a smelter., but the Power Sword can be a Lethal Joke Item since it's a vanilla Silver Sword with the added ability to shoot Sword Beams.
• Notice This: Fairies mark the location of relics, either hovering over the chest's location or outside the entrance to dungeons. They're also Color-Coded for Your Convenience; red Fairies mark weapons, blue mark magic items like spell scrolls, etc.
• Poison Mushroom: Rupoors from the classic Zelda games appear as treasures; if you use the Hylia's Contract spell to that converts Rupees into Septims, each one will deduct 100 Septims instead. On the other hand, you can sell Rupoors off as-is, meaning you can still make money off of them (even if it's not all that much).
• Scenery Gorn: One of the few Legend of Zelda locations still standing — if you can call it that — is Kakariko Village. The entire village is covered in snow, buildings have fallen apart, and many can only be accessed by a series of underground tunnels the villagers retreated to when Hyrule fell. It also has an expansive graveyard.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Kakariko Graveyard contains a number of gravestones (many fan-submitted) that reference a wide variety of media like Nightwish (see Waxing Lyrical below), Doctor Who^note more precisely, the dying words of every Doctor up to Peter Capaldi; for example, a gravestone named "John P." with the quote "Don't cry. While there's life, there's" — the Third Doctor's final words right before regenerating in "Planet of the Spiders"., Fullmetal Alchemist, and Rick and Morty — as well as a few more serious ones that pay tribute to famous people like Satoru Iwata and Robin Williams.
  • The Mad God Passage dungeon is an extended reference to Doki Doki Literature Club! (spoilers for that game): It contains the corpses of three adventurers who represent Yuri, Sayori, and Natsuki, almost all of whom died in the same manner as their DDLC counterparts^note JKalenad had trouble getting "Sayori"'s corpse to hang properly, so instead she was crushed by a falling brazier. The noose that was intended to be used for this is still on the ceiling if you look hard enough., and the dungeon's boss is a Redead Knight who represents Monika (it didn't get get a proper "ending", it's "cheating" death, and it drops two emeralds and a Wisp Wrapping that represent Monika's green eyes and white hair ribbon). All four of these characters have poems on their corpses which tie the dungeon to Sheogorath, befitting one of DDLC's core themes of a descent into madness.
  • The Gossip Stones have a message warning referencing the the Game Grumps' playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, which says (among other things) that Wallmasters are "so full of beans".
  • The Book of Koridai and the journal that accompanies the Wand of Gamelon paraphrase quotes from The Angry Video Game Nerd's review of the CD-i games.
  • A Thalmor grunt can be found in Kinolangdanzel with written orders on his person. Said note ends with the phrase "Let the past die. Kill it, if you have to."
• Starter Equipment: In a meta sense, you can find Link's iconic green tunic in Bleak Falls Barrow, the first plot-mandated dungeon in Skyrim. You also find a basic sword and hints on where to go in Riverwood next to Alvor's house, or at a Hunter's camp near Helgen (a common starting point for the Alternate Start mod).
• Story Breadcrumbs: Figuring out just what happened to Hyrule requires the Dovahkiin to find all manner of books, scraps of paper, and other documentation scattered all over Skyrim and Solstheim. Most often, these scraps will point the player to either dungeons with Zelda items in them, or Relics-specific locations, but there are books and items sprinkled in that detail how exactly Hyrule fell and Tamriel rose in its place.
• Summon Bigger Fish: In order to combat the threat of Ganon's forces and Alduin, Hyrule's mages cast a spell that summoned various incarnations of Link from throughout Hyrule's history. This also serves to explain why artifacts from myriad Legend of Zelda games can be found.
• Sword Beam: Referencing the original source material, the White and Ivory Rings allow the player to launch projectiles from certain swords (including the True Master Sword and Fierce Deity's Sword) if they're at full health; the blade beam effect is based on the Dragonborn DLC's Bloodskal Blade.
• Waxing Lyrical: A few of the lore books quote Nightwish, for whom JKalenad is particularly fond. A number of the gravestones in Kakariko Village also bear the lyrics of several Nightwish songs including "God Bless the Child", "Amaranth", "Cadence of Her Last Breath", and "The Poet and the Pendulum".

---