The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia is a collector's book about Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series, published in English by Dark Horse Comics. The 276-page book reveals the official timeline of the fictional events in the series, following years of speculation by fans. The book also includes artwork for the games, a short manga, and a foreword and afterword written by the series' producers. It is the first in an official trilogy of art books known as the "Goddess Collection" that was published by Dark Horse in partnership with Nintendo and was completed by the publication of The Legend of Zelda: Art & Artifacts and The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia. Hyrule Historia topped Amazon.com's list of bestselling books in February 2013 and was Amazon's sixth best-selling print book of 2013.
Content
Hyrule Historia contains 276 pages of content that documents information about The Legend of Zelda series, including artwork and production notes. It includes three major sections: "The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword", "The History of Hyrule: A Chronology", and "Creative Footprints: Documenting 25 Years of Artwork". Outside of those three sections, the book includes a foreword by series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, and an afterword from Eiji Aonuma, who produced recent games in the series. It also includes an art piece created for the 25th anniversary of the series (and the original cover of the English edition). Information about commemorative merchandise is also included. The book includes a manga at the end as a "Special Comic". It was written by Akira Himekawa, who have created other manga for the series. The manga takes place before the events of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
The first section, "The Legend Begins: The World of Skyward Sword", focuses on the world of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword due to the book being released alongside Skyward Sword in Japan. Images from the game, such as character designs, and commentary by the development team are also included. The section explores the development process for the game, presenting concept art for characters and locations, including artwork that was never used in the game.
The second section titled, "The History of Hyrule: A Chronology" establishes the official timeline of the fictional events that take place within the series, following years of speculation by fans. Nintendo qualified the timeline by stating that "this chronicle merely collects information that is believed to be true at this time" allowing the possibility for future changes.
The final major section, "Creative Footprints: Documenting 25 Years of Artwork", focuses on artwork based on chronological release date, depicting monsters and characters from rough drawings to final artwork, including the evolution of the main characters, Link, Zelda and Ganondorf. Some of the artwork had not been seen by the general public prior to the book's release.
A list of all official games in the series is included at the end of this section. Some spin-offs are not included, although The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest, the Satellaview Zelda games and Link's Crossbow Training are mentioned.
Development
Producer Eiji Aonuma said staff members pored through "stacks of ancient documents" to produce the timeline in the book.
Hyrule Historia was originally released in Japanese with a brown cover and gold type, on 21 December 2011. It was released to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the series and the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The book was published in Japan by Shogakukan Japan.
English book publisher Dark Horse Books inquired to Nintendo about working on a project together around 2009. However, Patrick Thorpe, who edited the English version, believes that fan demand was the real catalyst for the translation.
The translation was announced in August 2012. Six people worked on the translations while three people were assigned to design duties. The handwritten production and design notes were all translated. The English version is slightly larger than the Japanese version and uses heavier-weight paper, but it has essentially the same content as the original.
Cary Grazzini designed the cover of the English version. The cover for the English version was originally to include a brown background with artwork that included all the different versions and forms of Link. The intended cover was redesigned. The final English version featured a forest green cover. The series logo and a Triforce are embossed in gold. Also featured on the cover are the symbols of the three goddesses.