Few would argue the fact that Breath of the Wild excels at its use of the environment and locations to provide subtle worldbuilding and add a sense of mystery to our exploration of the quiet, desolate Hyrule. For this reason, one—or should I say three—of my favorite places that I found during my travels were the inexplicable Lomei Labyrinths spread across Hyrule.
The diamond-shaped North Lomei Labyrinth can be found in North Tabantha Snowfield in the frigid Hebra region. The South Lomei Labyrinth is located in the eastern portion of the Gerudo Desert, hidden in the shadows of the Gerudo Highland cliffs. Lastly, just off the northern coast near the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, you can find Lomei Labyrinth Island standing tall in the ocean, only accessible to a Rito or a paragliding Link. These labyrinths act as three huge puzzles for the Hero of the Wild that require some navigating and monster-slaying, rewarding him with Blessing Shrines and some treasure at the finish line. In addition, the island has a not-so-secret treasure room hidden beneath the labyrinth, which contains a fine Diamond Circlet that helps resist those Guardian lasers. I find it interesting that you can find these three mazes in wildly different regions. I still remember finding my first labyrinth, Lomei Labyrinth Island; along with all the other secrets and cool locations, I thought it was way past cool to have stumbled upon this. And then unexpectedly discovering two more was even more exciting. But finding these hulking labyrinths scattered throughout Hyrule, along with many other locations located in Breath of the Wild, raised questions as to why such puzzles exist in these seemingly random locations.
Breath of the Wild does an amazing job of raising questions about the ruined world we explore. All these mazes clearly have some sort of connection, yet few answers are given. For starters, they all are called Lomei, which may be a name for a person, a group of people, or a place; that has yet to be revealed. We can also connect these labyrinths by the rewards we receive at the end. In the Blessing Shrines, you are, of course, rewarded with Spirit Orbs, but each one also rewards you with a piece of Barbarian Armor; completing all three labyrinths will provide you with the entire armor set. The Barbarian Set itself is described as having been “worn by the warriors of an ancient warlike tribe from the Faron region.” This would seem to be talking about the ancient Zonai tribe, another mystery that we are presented with in Breath of the Wild. This tribe thrived in the Faron region, as seen by all the Zonai ruins. It is never confirmed if these are related, but it is definitely another cool part of the mysterious land of war-torn Hyrule.
The Lomei Labyrinths are some of my favorite puzzles in Breath of the Wild. As far as puzzles go, they may be pretty straightforward, but I just really like what they add to the game as a whole. Not only do they make for a nice break from the traditional, unvarying Shrines, but they help add a little bit of mystery and worldbuilding to the game. Out of all the mysterious locations in Breath of the Wild, these labyrinths and their vague connection to the Zonai were easily among my favorites to experience. I hope that in the upcoming sequel, we will be able to get some more insight into this mystery and finally start to piece this puzzle together.
