There are several laboratories peppered throughout The Legend of Zelda games. Each of these locations is integral to the quests, characters, items, and knowledge needed to further one’s quest in the games they appear in.
This will be the start of a new miniseries about the various laboratories from the Zelda series. I’m going to explore these buildings in more detail, looking at what makes them all so individual, despite mostly sharing the same basic purpose.
First up is one that you’ve probably visited recently: the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab.
Follow the road that leads through the heart of Hateno Village and all the way to the top of the hill, ignoring the signposts that warn “Enter at your own risk!”, and you’ll find a ramshackle building at the peak.
Looking at it from a distance, it looks like an old tower with a small wooden addition at its base. The tower itself looks like the little windmills that litter the hillsides of upper Hateno Village, though it’s missing its sails. Get a little closer and you’ll spot a ruined Guardian balanced precariously on the roof of the tower. There’s also a giant telescope sticking out from the middle of the tower — so large, in fact, that it has a little scaffold to hold it up.
As you approach, you see that the structure is made of three composite parts: the old windmill, the farmhouse attached to it, and a presumably newer addition to the front of the building. The tower’s original stone steps have been extended with a wooden ramp that corkscrews up to the roof. There’s a chimney to the rear of the building that, along with the little windows in the tower, gives this strange building a warmth to it, with light and smoke making it feel alive rather than sorry-looking.
To the left of the door is a furnace for the sacred Blue Flame, but if you didn’t know what that was, the doorway gives this place away. The ancient symbol of the Sheikah, the eye design on the back of your Sheikah Slate, is painted on the sun-bleached doors. On the roof above the door sits a larger version of the frog statues you may have noticed in Kakariko Village. The main difference between those frogs and this one is that this frog is wearing a funky pair of glasses and holding a large paper parasol.
There’s also a rough Sheikah eye daubed on its front, which, from a distance, looks curiously like lipstick.
Inside, the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab is a wonderful mess.
The floor is strewn with paper. There are crates and boxes stacked against the walls. Every surface is covered with stacks of paper, books, and sample trays filled with broken pieces of Guardians.
Lamps are dotted around the room, hanging from the low beams and perched on the corners of tables. It immediately feels warm and inviting, if a little chaotic. Look to your left and you’ll see, nestled in the ground floor of the windmill structure, is a Guidance Stone on a little wooden platform.
Approach the glowing Guidance Stone and you’ll see that it sits on a reinforcing layer of wood, look up and you’ll see the upper portion supported by additional beams. Runes adorn further struts that brace the roof, presumably helping to support the weight of the ancient technology.
Talk to Purah, the diminutive Sheikah who owns this lab, and she’ll explain that the Guidance Stone here was “brought over from Hyrule Castle.” I wouldn’t like to have been part of the team “bringing” this hulking piece of tech all the way across Hyrule.
Purah stands on a stool in the center of the large lean-to extension, next to the table that dominates the space. This table is neater than the rest of the lab, presumably because it doubles as the main workbench and is in constant use. On it, you’ll see some more papers and one of several manuals authored by Purah on operating the Sheikah Slate.
To the right of the main table is another wonderfully messy corner of the room. The bookcases overflow onto the floor, surrounded by stacks of tomes, and the papers pool all around. More are pasted onto the walls, and the windows have cozy red curtains tied back from them.
The left corner of the room is the work area of Purah’s assistant, Symin. This is clear from not only how neat it is, but from the fact that the book on this desk is authored by Symin himself. He lingers in this corner mostly, his back to the rest of the room, examining his tidy bookcases. Even his unshelved books are orderly.
Upon further examination, and a little research on Zelda Wiki, it seems that the white lines painted across the floor separate Symin and Purah’s sides of the room. One line is more faded than the others, giving it the appearance of having been erased or scrubbed out. Is Purah trying to gain workspace, or is Symin trying to contain Purah’s mess? Either way, it adds to the very haphazard air to the room.
Above is a strange Guardian-like thing strapped to the ceiling. To me, it looks like a whale suspended in a natural history museum, or at least halfway between that and a small Divine Beast. Was this a patchwork project by Purah, or an Ancient Technology that we don’t encounter throughout Breath of the Wild? I can’t find anything to suggest either way.
From the side door, we return outside. The view from here is stunning. The deep blue of the Necluda sea, wisps of clouds skating the water, and a misty island in the distance. When I exit, the sun is setting, giving the water an ethereal green glow at the horizon line, the stars shining bright in the azure sky above.
This game is truly, truly beautiful. Even now it takes my breath away.
Heading around the side of the original structure, you’ll find the original steps have been extended and you that can follow them all the way to the roof of the tower.
Halfway up is a little platform that holds the humongous telescope made from the same materials as all the other Ancient equipment. Another little parasol sits by it, covering another little stool.
The telescope points in the direction of Hyrule Castle. It’s nice to think that someone was keeping an eye on the princess — and the Calamity — for the last hundred years.
This telescope feels like a real missed opportunity. You can’t interact with it in any way, but it’s pointed right at Hyrule Castle! I wish there had been a little cutscene where you could see Calamity Ganon being held at bay, or even a glimpse of Zelda’s shadow, just out of sight enough that you almost miss her. Something like that would be a great throwback to the Observatory in Majora’s Mask.
The little room in the tower opposite the platform must be Symin’s. It’s neat as a pin, and the walls have tasteful photographs of what might be pastoral scenes. One looks to be a closeup of a horse by a fence, but they’re hard to make out. This is another room full of books, but they’re all orderly, and an empty cup and saucer sit by a chair. Nearby that is a glowing lamp. This is a lovely little gem of a room and reminds me of the rooms in the Knight Academy in Skyward Sword.
Leave this room and follow the steps further up and you’ll come upon a breadcrumb trail of papers. Above the original roof, on little struts, sits a small cottage. On the roof of this cottage is a ruined Guardian, perched like a hat on the peak of its roof. Around the front of the cottage are lots of Guardian heads, strung together or perched on pikes. One of the carved struts from downstairs has several small lamps rigged to it, casting light on the letters above the door. This has been translated as saying “director.”
Within is the most adorable bedroom in all of Hyrule. It looks halfway between a child’s bedroom and a mad professor’s. Both of these things are mostly true of it.
The bed to the right has a frilled blue bedspread, and the books are surprisingly neat on their shelves, though some are piled messily in the corners. In the middle of the room is a tiny desk and chair, with a lamp, book, and pencil tin lying on the desktop. The back of the chair even has “director” written on it, like a child’s name on their school chair. This, coupled with the blackboard dominating the far wall and the drawings plastering the rest, give it the feeling of a schoolroom. It’s no dissimilar to the schoolroom in the Gerudo Barracks, used by Ashai to take her nightly romance classes.
The blackboard is covered with so much writing that Purah has needed to continue on the stone above it, reaching there with a little ladder that appears to be hooked over the top of the board for sliding along, Beauty and the Beast-style.
Lastly, examine the diary on the desk, and it will outline not only why Purah has the body of a six-year-old, but also more details about the relationship between the Sheikah people and Hyrule’s royal family. It also offers more information about how Link ended up in the Shrine of Resurrection. If you’ve lit the Blue Flame, then there’ll be an extra few pages of Purah’s childlike writing to amuse you.
Exiting from the tower, Hyrule stretches out before you once more. It’s a picture-perfect view, the land sprawling, the mountains high and forbidding, and the little village aglow below you. It’s cool enough here to see your breath cloud the air, and in the distance, Shrines and Towers glow with the promise of adventure.
What are you waiting for? There’s a whole world to save!
