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Using nothing997 Archivesa brief glimpse at the back of the game's special edition map, a group of hardcore Legend of Zeldafans figured out the backstory of the next anticipated entry in the series, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

YouTuber Zeltik and his fellow code-crackers were able to piece together the backstory of Breath of the Wildafter noticing Sheikah (a race of people in Zelda) symbols on the back of the map included in the special edition of the game, which was shown for a moment during Nintendo's Treehouse live stream on Friday. The group translated the Skeikah symbols into Japanese and then into English, which tells the story of Breath of the Wild.

The translation is as follows:

Hylians pass stories of a destined time long past where multiple races lived and worked together in harmony. The Sheikah Tribe's blue aura breathed through the land and this mutual prosperity continued until a cataclysmic disaster stuck. The Hero and the Princess attempted to seal the terror which became known as the Calamity Ganon. Divine beasts awoke from four directions and deployed a mechanical army which made the King and his people fearful. They fractured Ganon's power and sealed him but the Sheikah were banished from the land ever since.

According to this translation, there was a peaceful time in Hyrule that was disrupted by the appearance of the Calamity Ganon. Link (the hero) and Zelda (the princess) did not succeed in defeating this version of Ganon, so the technologically-advanced Sheikah unleashed four beasts and their mechanical army to destroy Ganon.

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Zeltik suggests that Ganon took control of the mechanical army and the four beasts and turned them against the people living in Hyrule. Although the Sheikah managed to seal Ganon away, they were banished from Hyrule for leading to the army of enemies terrorizing the land.

The army seems to still be present in Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, manifested as the deadly Guardians seen in trailers.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Before being banished, though, Zelda and Sheikah sealed Link away underground, putting him in a form of stasis, finally awakening when the evil of Ganon broke free of the Sheikah's seal.

For fans of the Legend of Zelda's hotly debated timeline and backstories, this is quite an enticing development. We'll just have to wait until it comes out on Nintendo Switch and Wii U on March 3 to see if it all comes true.

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