Northeast Hyrule is divided into three regions. From west to east, there’s the Woodlands, where the prevalent feature is the Lost Woods (and Korok Forest). Next is the region containing Death Mountain and Divine Beast Vah Rudania, probably properly called Eldin. In the far northeast, there’s Akkala, which is pointed to by two quests Link has (the one with Hudson leaving Hateno to build something else, and seeking out Purah’s associate Robbie). I decided at this point I would clear out this area of the map, starting with Akkala. A lot of places in the area are named for places/people from Link’s Awakening (Ulria and Ulri (Ulrira), Ukuku, Kaepora (technically the owl in Awakening wasn’t Kaepora Gaebora, but whatever), Torin (Tarin), Kanalet, Malin (Marin and Malon)).
Akkala was one of the last holdouts for Hyrule in the face of the Great Calamity, but unlike Hateno, it did eventually fall. Its tower is the most daunting one yet. Guardians patrol the skies of the mountain the tower sits one, and the other enemies along the way aren’t much easier (although, by this point, enemy scaling was starting to kick in from the game assuming if I’ve killed all those Lynels I won’t sweat a few silver Bokos). The base of the tower itself is covered in Malice sludge; when Link arrives, there’s no way up the tower. As far as I could find, there was one single eye in the whole mess and killing it only took enough sludge to free a single beam that Link could Magnesis into a bridge allowing him to reach above the rest of the sludge and climb.
My belief that Akkala is meant as a late-game area is further reinforced when Link catches up with Hudson on a small mesa in the center of the region. Hudson’s decided to build a new village, Tarrey Town, but first he needs more wood, then he wants a Goron to come help deal with rocks and ores. And in keeping with the theme naming for the other carpenters in his company, the Goron’s name should end in -son. Eldin’s a little ways down my list, so this one gets put in the same category as the weapon kid from Hateno.
Just a little south of the future Tarrey Town, Link can find his second Great Fairy, Mija, who takes 500 rupees to awaken. With two fairies awakened, Link can upgrade his armor a second time, and most full sets of armor have a set bonus associated with them. The Climber’s and Zora sets reduce the stamina drain from jumping while climbing or dashing while swimming, respectively. The Stealth set increases Link’s movement speed at night. From amiibo, the Twilight Princess-esque set grants extra damage with Master Sword beams, and the Fierce Deity set reduces the stamina required for a charged attack.
The main part of the area has the road fork after crossing the bridge, then the two paths reunite in the northeast. There are two stables in the area, one near the fork, one near the junction. The southwest stable has an involved quest involving an entomophobe trying to get her dragonfly-loving sister a birthday present. Yeah, guess who gets to round up three types of dragonflies, one of which only comes out in the rain and screw that somewhere Beedle sells all the needed dragonflies and that’s good enough.
Each stable has an associated shrine, and both are Apparatus/motion control shrines. Ze Kasho isn’t so bad, with a couple party favor tilt the balls/tiles to where you need them puzzles separated by a laser hallway with rotating floor tiles that can block the lasers. In Katosa Aug, the apparatus controls a giant hammer that needs to whack an orb into a socket. The only one that’s required to complete the shrine is an easy straight shot; even being bad with the controls (I tried to move the controller horizontally rather than tilting) I got it quickly. The second puzzle is only required for a treasure chest and requires making a bank shot with an incline. Oh, and you can’t trust gravity and inevitability; if you cancel out of the apparatus before the orb settles into the socket, the orb disappears and you have to make the shot again. In addition to being able to rest easy, the prize is a Great Frostblade.
Throughout the region, there is talk about a guy named Kilton who runs a shop at Skull Lake in the region’s northwest corner at night. One traveler who keeps getting accosted wants to find his shop, a soldier at the northwest soldier wants a picture of him because he thinks the whole thing sounds shady. Link finds Kilton on one of the skull’s eye islands and he’s Tingle’s goth cousin or something. Unlike Tingle who was fairy-obsessed, Kilton’s obsessed with monsters. He buys monster parts for store credit, and sells masks that make Link blend in with Bokoblins or Moblins, plus a couple mostly useless weapons and monster extract that adds a bit of unpredictability to cooking. After Link meets him for the first time there, Kilton starts taking his shop and appearing near other settlements throughout Hyrule at night.
Next: “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands…”
