The Dark Purpose of Snowpeak Ruins - Zelda Theory

[Music] the northwestern peak province of hyrule is in stark contrast to the green fields and cool forests that lie in its shadow raised above the rest of the kingdom say for the colossal death mountain the snow peak region is a frozen tundra its biting winds and bitter cold making it almost inaccessible to most travellers because of this the snow peak region is almost uninhabited save for those adapted to the land like the hulking yeti cloaked in thick fur and warm coats it's in the far reaches of this icy waste that one of the series most iconic dungeons lies the eerie decaying snow peak ruins found in one of the most perilous regions in hyrule the snowpeak ruins are the remains of an opulent mansion built from stone bricks decorated with red carpets chandeliers and paintings yet despite the sheer cost and effort it must have taken to build this place atop the frozen snow peak mountain it sits abandoned save for a pair of yetis which have taken up residence in its icy halls link is invited to the mansion by these yetis imaginatively named yeto and yeta after he learns that yeto has found a shard of the mirror of twilight now kept in the bedroom of their house but since yeto found the mirror yeta has fallen ill and monsters have infested the mansion causing the couple to lock the bedroom in which the mirror shard is found out of fear once link finds the bedroom key yeta will show him the shard but its evil powers take hold of her transforming her into the gargantuan blizzetta imprisoning the yeti within a sarcophagus of ice after its defeat link is finally free to take the shard with yeto coming to yetta's aid in a heartwarming ending but while the story of the yetis and the miroshad makes sense this couple took up residence in the mansion found a shard of the mirror of twilight and suffered due to its corrupting influence the overall story of snow peak ruins does not the game doesn't answer who built this house when or why it's clearly designed for humans and not yeti as shown by the furniture but bizarrely the ruins are filled with suits of armor far too large to fit a hylian at least 10 feet tall and half that wide with gaps at the rear to accommodate a tail not only this but the paintings found within the mansion include locations and characters which would be unknown to all but the most informed of individuals like the sacred grove rauru the sage of light and even the city in the sky so who built the snow peak mansion and why does it lie abandoned snow peak mansion is found on a small rocky outcrop only accessible by a single bridge its walls are thick and high made from solid stone surrounding an inner courtyard and at the rear a huge tower looms over the rest of the house it's clearly designed with defense at least partially in mind as the single bridge would bottleneck any invaders and what appears to be watchtowers sit atop the walls which in addition to the main tower gives the inhabitants a complete and clear view of their surroundings the mansion also features a full-on armory shields armor swords axes spears even cannons which don't appear anywhere else in hyrule save for the sky cannons the amount of weapons and armor found within the mansion immediately rules out the idea that this place was simply someone's home unless they happen to have their own private army but saying that the mansion is decidedly comfortable in places the hall for example has fine red carpet on the floor and stairs ornate carved wooden beams and walls chandeliers and of course the mysterious paintings and moving one room further into the mansion were met with a living room a fireplace cushioned chairs a clock on the wall candlesticks bookshelves even a bottle of alcohol and what's probably a dinner bell meaning whoever this room was designed for most likely had servants to wait on them when called the bedroom too is ornate a four poster bed a grandfather clock a dressing table the mansion can't have been simply military in use either it's some sort of blend of the two perhaps a castle of sorts for a powerful family lived in not only by the rich nobles but servants and soldiers too there are two clear purposes for the mansion the first being a home for whichever wealthy individuals lived here providing a comfortable respite from the cold the second is the site's military function having enough weaponry to arm a small battalion and the space to house these soldiers but who were the inhabitants a common theory for snow peak mansion's original purpose is that of a training academy for nights evidenced by the huge amount of various weapons open space in the courtyard for sparring and comfortable living spaces for those in charge but the academy was abandoned some time before the game due to the snow peak region becoming increasingly colder and more hostile resulting in it beginning to decay this idea is often coupled with a theory surrounding ashay and her father ashay is an important character in the game a member of the resistance and apparently the daughter of a knight she mentions that she grew up in the mountains with her father who taught her the art of war as if she were his son so if snow peak ruins was once a night's academy in the mountains perhaps this is where ashay's father lived and where she was raised and trained while it fits thematically this isn't the case as ashy describes snow peak as being unlike any mountain she's ever known meaning she can't have been raised there and it's unlikely that the reason it was abandoned was due to that cold while it's possible that snow peak wasn't always a frozen wasteland meaning the mansion was built in a more habitable area there are signs that the mansion was always surrounded by this permanent winter as a snowflake symbol is one of the mansion's most common motifs found on the cannons the ceiling of the main bedroom and even decorating the flags surrounding the coat of arms snow peak mansion was likely always enshrouded in bitter cold this location was chosen deliberately in one of the most hostile environments in the country which would be an incredibly strange place to build a simple training ground the first clue to the mansion's history and one central to most theories surrounding snow peak mansion is the mysterious crest found throughout the dungeon crossed rapiers in front of a red and blue shield with a pair of wings in the back this symbol appears everywhere on the stone columns outside the mansion on the wooden doors flags and prominently displayed in the entrance hall it's clear that this symbol represents snow peak mansion or its original owners as it's found nowhere else in the game with a couple of exceptions first and most importantly this symbol can be found within hyrule castle itself in princess zelda's tower providing a strong link between snow peak ruins and the royal family this is only true for the hd version with the original game just featuring a wing crest in its place but the second location in which this coat of arms can be found outside of the mansion is also connected to the royal family the ice block cavern this small cave is found in north hyrule field and seems to be a weapons store with multiple small rooms it's in a state of disrepair crumbling and almost completely frozen over but this cavern features heavily both the snow peak coat of arms and the wing crest again connecting the two symbols if the mansion was built by the hyrulean royal family it would explain its opulence literally fit for a king the painting of the city in the sky is particularly enigmatic as the ocar and their ancient residents is little more than a legend in hyrule yet an accurate painting exists in this mansion however we know that at some points the hyrulean royal family communicated regularly with the oka a designated individual known as the messenger to the heavens would carry the dominion rod and contact the oka on behalf of the royal family so of all groups in hyrule it makes the most sense for these paintings to belong to this royal family as they have connections to each and every location and individual displayed the assumption that the mansion was designed by the royal family explains the luxurious living areas with servants to bring food comfortable sitting rooms and bedrooms and a chapel for religious ceremonies and based on its strong defensive position and massive arsenal of weapons a popular idea is that the mansion was built as a safe house for the royal family for use in wars or other times of conflict allowing the royals to retreat to a well-defended remote but still comfortable location this theory ties up many of the dungeon's mysteries but it doesn't clear up everything for one why does the snow peak mansion have a separate coat of arms to the traditional wing crest used by the royal family and most importantly why if the house's military features are designed to protect those individuals is it filled with these gigantic suits of armor too large and too heavy for even the tallest hylian to wear let's look at the more exciting mystery first the puzzle of the colossal suits of armor it's hard to overstate this armour's scale if link is around five and a half feet tall then these suits are at least 11 feet tall and more than six feet wide these suits of armor could be waved off as being merely decorative except for the fact that it's not just the full sets on display that are found in the mansion there are entire storerooms filled with these helmets boots chest plates and gauntlets it's as if the mansion is stocked to armor up an entire legion of gigantic warriors warriors who absolutely dwarf their hylian counterparts and in the mansion one such soldier remains when link enters one of the mansion's many rooms this one being a storeroom with two caged stashes on either side he's met with two of these suits of armor standing sentinel in the middle aside from the eerie ambience of the mansion nothing seems amiss until link nears the other side and a metal grating slides down to block his exits as the bars cover the door a strange sound cuts through the room a thrumming like the bellows of a forge suddenly the suit of armor closest to him explodes falling to pieces as it struck by a massive force as it collapses the assailant is revealed the other suit has seemingly come to life swinging around a colossal steel ball this enemy is dark hammer the dungeon's mini boss and a brilliant fight against a powerful opponent in a tight space link must avoid the ball and chain and use the hook sharp to reach darkhammer's vulnerable back after its defeat link is left with the ball and chain an unwieldly but monstrously strong weapon which can smash through otherwise nearly unbreakable obstacles and deal massive damage to enemies but the dungeons item aside with dark hammer itself we've got an insight into one of the mansion's mysteries whatever the enemy is it seems that the suit of armor it's wearing was designed to fit it in addition to its tail and obviously inhumane proportions concept artwork of dark hammer shows that it's some sort of reptile creature not unlike the game's dinolfos but if the armor fits so closely on dark hammer then it's very possible that its armor along with the armor which decorates the mansion's halls and the armor found in the storerooms were all designed to fit these gigantic reptilian creatures so currently our picture of snow peak mansion is that of a comfortable fortress built for the royal family deliberately far out in the biting cold mountains however the mansion was also filled with armor designed to fit an unidentified race of huge reptiles one of which remains in the ruins known as dark hammer but let's go a step further stick with me on this one could snow peak mansion have been built to create them a stronghold far away in the mountains designed to not only house the royal family but to forge a new species of bodyguard the house not only has the vast supplies of weapons and armor designed to fit the monstrous dark hammer but also rooms which could have been cells and notably huge steel cages during the game a friezard occupies one of these cages but when the mansion was in operation might they have housed the reptilian creatures which became the armored dark hammer keeping them secured while not in training darkhammer famously uses the ball and chain swinging the ball's huge weight to deal massive damage but this is far from the first time we've seen this weapon used by enemies in fact it normally appears as the signature weapon of the ball and chain soldier debuting in a link to the past where their brainwashed hyrulean soldiers the ball and chain is a standard weapon used by the royal family's own soldiers and now again by dark hammer perhaps dark hammer is the result of a dark experiment by the royal family deliberately isolated in the freezing mountains far from civilization kept in cages and clad in thick plate armor dark hammer may have been a primitive soldier designed by the royal family bred from a type of lizalfos but it still feels like we're missing something why doesn't darkhammer appear anywhere else if it was designed as a guardian by the royal family the answer might not lie in the mansion itself but miles from the frozen peaks within hyrule castle itself where we can find the next step in the mystery more giant suits of armor while they blend in with the overall colossal scale of the seats of the royal family and are dwarfed by the gigantic opulent halls of the citadel the suits of armor found within are unarguably linked with those found at snowpeak not only are they a similar size only slightly less broad the actual separation pieces of armor are actually nearly identical in shape including strange quirks like small legs and an oversized torso the main difference aside from the castle suits being slimmer are the helmets which appear to be entirely different to those found at snow peak however the hd remake actually changes the helmet of dark hammer to match almost perfectly the design of the helmets in hyrule castle two eye slits with three vertical slits lower down for ventilation additionally also in the hd remake dark hammer features this symbol on his chest plate almost identical to a symbol found all throughout hyrule castle it's no coincidence that a fortress mansion tied to the royal family and their seats at hyrule castle itself both feature this gigantic armor armor which seems to be designed for dark hammer not for hylians but it seems like we're missing a piece of the puzzle here something to make this strange connection make sense the answer to the snow peak mystery [Music] the dark nuts these powerful knights debuted in the very first game in the series and have appeared sporadically since in twilight princess they're arguably at their strongest towering over link and clad in thick plate armor a darknet is first encountered as the mini boss of the temple of time seemingly guarding the dominion rod and will challenge link when he enters the room the dark nut fights with an immense sword and shield and is nigh invulnerable to damage except for its weak spots which link must focus on to remove the plate armor when the dart nut's exterior armor is destroyed it'll engage link with a smaller sword moving far faster as now it only wears chainmail the temple of time darknet wears a suit of black armor with a crested helm but those encountered later on in the game such as those in hyrule castle are kitted out in mostly silver armor with winged great helms the darkness are interesting because they seem unlike any of ganondorf's other minions their plate armor clearly requires an advanced civilization to smith features strange insignia and their under armour is covered in red and gold cloth which looks decidedly regal perhaps even more so than ganondorf's own armor the dark nuts found in hyrule castle even feature a beetle emblem perhaps representing their similarity to the armored insect it's debatable what dark nuts actually are in twilight princess as we never see them without armor even when in their second form their head is still covered by a crowned mask however they're obviously humanoid shape and appear to have human facial features except for the fact that they're impossibly tall around as tall as the suits of armor while the armor of either type of darknet doesn't resemble the armor found in either snowpeak ruins or hyrule castle a connection has to be drawn between them all a giant set of plate armor connected in some way to hyrule castle and the royal family and if dark hammer was the result of the royal family breeding at snow peak mansion could the dark nuts impossibly tall humanoids have been forged the same way if we assume that darkham was the first iteration judging by its overly monstrous hunched appearance there's a clear progression here starting with the bulky inhuman shapes of dark hammer and the snow peak armor shifting to the slightly more humanoid hyrule castle armor and ending with the dark nuts the perfected form of the warrior darkness appearing in hyrule castle could easily be the result of ganondorf's influence as the castle is infested with his minions but the one found within the temple of time appears to be deliberately placed guarding the dominion rod it's possible that like the lesser enemies which plagued the temple of time this darknet was placed by ganondorf to guard the dominion rod but it's equally possible that he was placed here by whoever built the temple or by the royal family themselves tasked with defending the artifact from whoever enters his domain the dominion rod was a sacred treasure of the royal family used by the messenger of the heavens to communicate with the oka so perhaps once it was no longer needed it was stored safely within this temple and guarded by a dark nut these massive knights might not actually be evil but simply guardians placed to defend important locations like the temple of time or hyrule castle itself the names of dark hammer and dark nuts are obviously very similar in english but in japanese too the dark hammer being called hamanaku or hammer knuckle while dark nut is called tatunaku or dark knuckle there's a bit of ambiguity here on whether knuckle was meant to mean knight but either way there's a clear connection with their names but still they could just be minions of ganondorf except the most prominent symbol adorning the armor on these dark nuts found here on their knee pads shields and even swords is the symbol of a bird with wings split into three and two three-digit talons below which is a stylized version of the loftwing symbol used to represent hylia and the royal family of course this is very similar to the knights crest symbol worn by darkness in the wind waker but that's a theory for another day with this possibility in mind let's come back to the final mystery of snow peak mansion the coat of arms as we've mentioned it's clearly connected to the royal family but if so why doesn't it simply feature the wing crest design the exact reason is impossible to determine but perhaps this crest two crossed swords on a shield in front of a pair of wings represents some military faction closely related to the royal family for which snow peak was built if this is true it's possible that the ice block cavern a strange abandoned cave filled with weapons wasn't a weapons store at all but a training room with each small section representing a combat arena this faction similarly to the sheikah might have operated in relative secrecy defending hyrule and the royal family at whatever cost undertaking even the tasks considered too dark or heinous for the royals themselves to carry out like the creation of armoured guardians at the isolated snow peak mansion bred from the primitive dark hammer kept in cages and forged into some of the deadliest most skilled fighters hyrule has ever seen it's entirely possible that snow peak was intended for a different purpose or that the dark nuts have no relation to the dark hammers or that all monsters seen in game are simply creations of ganondorf or corruptions of the twilight mirror and regardless of theories snow peak mansion will likely always remain officially unexplained but the appearance of the massive amounts of gigantic plate armor steel cages connections to the royal family and the appearance of dark hammer itself hint to a more ominous purpose to the mansion than it initially seems let me know in the comments below what you think of these ideas and what your personal theory is on snow peak mansion a huge thank you to nintendo black crisis for joining me on this one be sure to check out his video covering the temple of time and the oka over on his channel cheers guys and i'll see you next time [Music] so

Channel: Zeltik

Views: 797,590

Keywords: Zelda, unexplained, theory, mystery, zeltik, top 5, top 10, creepy, scary, sheikah, next, game, e3, trailer, reaction, news, legend of zelda, breath of the wild, guide, ocarina of time, majoras mask, nintendo, switch, ultimate, strongest, tier list, ranking, twilight princess, hd, rito, carving, castle town, castle town carvings, direct, analysis, tphd, twilight princess hd

Id: 3aAC0gsph_0

Length: 23min 24sec (1404 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 30 2020