Dark Horse Comics has revealed its third hefty Zelda book instalment: The Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia, due for publication on April 24th, 2018. It's available for pre-order for $39.99 on the Dark Horse Comics website, though is notably cheaper across other outlets such as Amazon. The book is the third and final volume in the company's trilogy of Zelda books (the "Goddess Collection"), following Hyrule Historia in 2013 and more recently Art & Artifacts last February.
While the former contains a historical overview on the legendary franchise and all its games (including the infamous Zelda timeline that tore many Zelda enthusiasts apart), the latter focuses more on the series' artwork throughout its three-decade existence. The Encyclopedia, however, aims to expand on Hyrule Historia, including further information on the seemingly controversial Zelda timeline (for those who care). Here's an extract from Dark Horse Comics' official site:
This 320-page book is an exhaustive guide to The Legend of Zelda from the original The Legend of Zelda to Twilight Princess HD.
A comprehensive collection of enemies and items, potions to poes, an expansion of the lore touched upon in Hyrule Historia, concept art, screencaps, maps, main characters and how they relate, languages, and much, much more, including an exclusive interview with Series Producer, Eiji Aonuma! This, the last of The Goddess Collection trilogy, which includes Hyrule Historia and Art & Artifacts, is a treasure trove of explanations and information about every aspect of The Legend of Zelda universe!
* An exhaustive compendium of everything from the first 30 years of The Legend of Zelda.
* An expansion of information from The Legend of Zelda timeline.
* Rare development sketches of your favourite characters.
* An extensive database of items and enemies."
For collectors it should be noted that both Hyrule Historia and Art & Artifacts also had limited edition versions available to pre-order alongside their regular copies (which are basically the same books but with flashier covers), so it can be assumed that Encyclopedia will receive this same treatment too. Having said that, the regular editions of each all share the same themed covers, with HH being green, A&A being red, and Encyclopedia being blue, so possessing all three together is arguably a more visually appealing collection.
What are your thoughts? Will you be picking up this book? Let us know below.
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[source darkhorse.com]
Comments 33
Still need to get the artifacts one (gotta have those hardbooks), but the historia was awesome. Would love the set.
If this includes an updated timeline, it’s a must-have for sure!
Would love it if they bought out a three book collection edition. But it's not really exhaustive as it only goes up to Twilight Princess.
What about Skyward Sword? (it's not like that game hasn't been out for a while) and Breath of the Wild?
I think I'll have to get this at some point. Ya gotta complete the collection.
@BezBot you pay only when it is sent. You can pre-order and wait until April. If you have the money, yeah, if not, you cancel.
@Bunkerneath please don't! I will have to buy the bundle and I already have the two other books.
Hmm, this sounds more interesting then the last book (wich I didn't buy).
Defo picking this up. Already have the other two. Something to look forward to next year.
The news this book was coming reminded me I still needed to buy the second one. Was 30% off too!
Haven't picked up Arts & Artifacts yet but I'm excited for the third book.
@Bunkerneath it says twilight princess HD.
@Bunkerneath As @timson72 says, the description states "Twilight Princess HD". In addition, as Arts & Artifacts contains Breath of the Wild content, I wouldn't be surprised if BotW makes a few appearances in the Encyclopedia as well.
Still have to get the arts and artifacts book but might get it when the third books is released or when I see a sale for it.
Oh yes! Art and Artifacts wasn't a book of my interest so I'll gladly pick this up!
The problem with this one is that it's debatable whether or not it can be considered canon.
Unlike Hyrule Historia, the main (lore) section of this one was written by writers at Nintendo Dream Magazine, not staff at Nintendo itself... so when you come to any inconsistencies, Hyrule Historia is the more credible of the two to believe, despite this being written more recently.
There are also a handful of details that are so bizarre that it just makes it seem like fan fiction (most notably concerning the ancestry of several of the races).
Personally, I'll be treating this as just a collectible, with Hyrule Historia remaining as the primary source of lore regarding the series.
already preordered mine but I still need to get the Japanese version.
I bet in another 10 to 20 years tgey will remake these books updating them or making a vol 2 version. I don't ever see this series ending so the first 2 books are already outdated, and the third will ne soon enough
I'll get the third book too to complete the trilogy. Then again, these will propably get updated in the future with stuff from newer games, but I'm happy with the originals and just having the new games.
@Bunkerneath They write as if Dark Horse produced these, but the fact is that they are just licensed versions of already published Japanese books. The first one was a 25th anniversary volume part of Nintendo's official guide book series and the others were published by the Nintendo Dream magazine.
My point here is that the first book was originally released before Skyward Sword and the other two before Breath of the Wild.
So as long as it takes Dark Horse more than a year to localize them, they will never be up to date even at the point of release.
This serves as a reminder that I still need to pick up Art & Artifacts. Glad that I'm not the only one that hasn't done so, at any rate.
I still need to read the majority of Hyrule Historia, too....
@Tyranexx lol same here. Didn't even know Art & Artifacts was out already. It's just artwork, so I dunno, I can wait for a price drop.
Ah yes, the infamous Hyrule Encyclopedia, which included revelations such as the Oracle games not being put between ALttP and LA anymore, that Termina was just the Skull Kid's dream the whole time, that the Kokiri used to be Hylians who settled in the forest, that the races seen in Skyward Sword didn't evolve into the current races but instead went extinct, and that the Triforce was completely annihilated after Wind Waker, among several other oddities and inconsistencies. I'm still looking forward to the release, but those expecting definitive lore and answers may be disappointed
This will finish the collection of nicely! I need a library! (Or a bookshelf) lol
They are excellent quality books! I have the first two so I'll certainly pick up the final as well.
Yes, I will be picking up this book. I'll probably put it down when I'm not reading it, however.
I'm kinda confused as to what this exactly is, since all of the books have gone through the series' history and had art and blurbs and such. Still, it sounds a little more interesting than the second one if it truly is exhaustive as it says.
I kinda want the historia first...
@Octane: Same! Though I'm slapping it on my Christmas list just to see what happens.
Aaand preordered! Kinda disappointed that there are weird stuff added to the lore on this book, but it seems interesting nonetheless.
@hylian-pudding What weird stuff? By the way, if they're spoilers, please don't post them.
@NinNin BetaBugs64 talked about some of them, just scroll up a bit.
@hylian-pudding Thanks.
Though @SM4SHshorts has a good point about the Arts & Artifacts book, the phrase "from the original The Legend of Zelda to Twilight Princess HD" is a bit disconcerting. They must include Breath of the Wild, especially when it comes to a timeline update!
On a side note, the colors for all three books are the same as the Golden Goddesses. Anyone else notice this?
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