What do you think Mekar Island is? A reference to an older Zelda, or nothing important?

The game devs: Crap, did I forget to put a korok seed under that rock?

amber is hardened tree sap, and opal can form from petrified wood. on an island where everything's dead, are you sure there's no korok under that rock?

The way I see it, Makar Island represents Mekar's last stand. In a forgotten area, it took 9 formidable, heavily equipped enemies to bring him down. And maybe they weren't even able to. He is the tree, after all. Still summoning wind. That is what the single rock hints at - a Korok missing.

Personnaly, I believe the tree *_IS_* Makar. After his death, his body became the tree.

I always thought that perhaps Makar died here, becoming a tree that would call the wind like back in Wind Waker.

"Surely this can't be a cruel joke by the developers..." Did you get Hestu's Gift?

In reality, at Nintendo: Let's allow the intern to do this random irrelevant island just to get him acquainted with the system. Intern: overdoes it to make a good impression.

Island: has strong winds preventing you getting there Island: named after wind sage 'this is nothing to do with wind sage'

It would be even more emotional if you got to the top of the tree, and faint violin notes started playing....

I’m still surprised that you can make a 12 minute video about one small island... To this day, I’m still impressed with your stuff

I was thinking that the tree WAS Makar, that he and possibly other people(the ones that would start a campfire) had taken shelter and were cornered by enemies. With Makar's death, he became a tree, possibly like the Great Deku Tree, and his spirit lives on in the wind, constantly blowing and even harder when you are on top of him.

I feel like it could also be a slight nod to the dying saplings in Wind Waker, which were planted by koroks

"The tree that calls the wind, the army of the dead" That's really poetic for some reason...

This is why I love botw, I haven't even heard of this island, and yet it's so unique.

I remember stumbling on this island looking for korok seeds. Once I landed and found none I saw the bones and figured that some Stalfos would appear at night. Was totally caught off guard by the platoon of high level monsters

I found this island at night by mistake and was treated with one hit from the dragon bone club and 2 bomb arrows which resulted in my immediate death

While watching the video, I've gotten a much darker idea. Know how in wind waker, Koroks would scatter across the sea planting korok seeds to grow great trees? Remember how those trees were the spots that koroks lived and died to give birth to great trees? What if it was Maker's tree? What if it was his grave?

Note also how some of the enemies wield *dragon* bone weapons, and the first boss of Zelda 1 was a dragon

What if the developers meant it _literally_ when they said BoTW takes place in all 3 timelines. What if all 3 timelines collided in the great catastrophe 10k years ago, and there wasn't one Ganon, but potentially 3! The wierd mixed landscape is because the odd slightly different timelines literally collided and the great plateau is a chunk of a different timeline that landed there, and they built the wall around it to protect the landscape. What if the Deku forest is another chunk of a different timeline? What if they are actual _physical_ chunks of alternate timelines and universes brought crashing together, nearly destroying all 3! It would explain why certain landmarks have moved or are slightly different, why certain characters or races from different universes are all present. It would explain a lot! It's my current headcanon.

Perhaps this island is where Makar was ambushed and killed by the undead. His body sprouted a tree, which was inhabited by his spirit. I think that he is using the winds to guide Link away from the island, and protect him from succumbing to a similar fate - like the hero saved him eons ago.

250+ hours in and this is the first time I'm hearing of this island. BotW is truly an enigma.

This game never stops giving huh. Feel like in 10 years we'll still be finding stuff lol. Not to mention BotW 2 on the horizon.

Zelda devs: "Sir, what should we do if they want us to make a sequel? We're already running low on ideas." Fujibayashi: "Stick some random shit in there and have Zeltik make up stories for us later."

I honestly didn't know the island existed until now.

So cool to imagine that the very first dungeon is hidden away forever right beneath Link's feet. Only thing missing is the wooden bridge to the island, not surprising that it wouldn't be there anymore after tens of thousands of years.

I feel that’d be a good place for a dungeon in the BotW sequel, another callback to the first Zelda dungeon

A lonely little island where the winds ominously push everything away from it, almost as if warning you to turn back. You arrive there to find piles of bones scattered about, and a dead tree. You lift the single rock expecting to find a happy little Korok, especially given the name of the island, but instead find a piece of either fossilized tree resin or opal, which decaying wood often plays a roll in forming. Night falls, and an onslaught of stal-enemies with notably powerful weapons rises and attacks. You survive the ambush only to come up empty-handed after all of your efforts. Nothing to show at all for having been here. Finally, you climb the tree, and a strong wind begins to blow directly away from the home of the Koroks. This place always gave me chills, and I can't help but think there's an implication that something tragic befell Makar here.

When you revealed the Zelda one comparison, I could not stop smiling. It felt so good to know that it could be a reference to the very beginning of one of my favorite game franchises ever.

If Breath of the Wild 2 is really reusing this Hyrule, then maybe that tree is an entrance to a DUNGEON

Mekar Island is the physical embodiment of "Mom/Dad, what is [something] for?" "To make you ask questions." Well-played, Nintendo. Jokes aside, this is absolutely amazing.

Bull shit, we just put it there. And gave it a name we forgot about.

It's the little locations like these In Breath of the Wild that are my favorite and what I think make the exploration so much more fun. Something mysterious that feels like neither you nor anyone else was ever supposed to be (Which is why I actually grew tired of shrines being your reward for finding the weird out of the way places. They kinda made the experience a bit too artificial for me). Personally, I do wish there was a bit more to this strange island, perhaps more clues as to what this place could have been, even if they didn't want any kind of solid reward. Of course, since there really is no explanation for it, my preferred narrative is that the tree may have been Makar, however, the land around him (or perhaps what remained of him by the time of the game) had somehow become cursed and killed everything around him. In response, he used his power of the wind as a means of trying to deter any would-be explorers from visiting his lonely island where nothing but death would await them. Explains the weird wind anomaly around the island and the fact that you are hit with wind when on top of the tree, as well as the stalfos army. The fire could be some poor slob ending up there before you did. Yea, it's a bit of a stretch, and tragic, but hey, I liked Majora's Mask allot XD. Honestly, the evidence really does seem to point to it just being an obscure reference to Zelda 1. Hope to see allot more weird locations like this in Breath of the Wild 2 though!

It's really amazing how many references there are in Breath of the Wild. Great Video!

This island has always confused me. I 100%ed this game twice, I KNOW what a suspicious place looks like. I KNOW how to find Koroks. When I saw this Island I was DEAD CERTAIN something was there. But... nothing. Then The first DLC was announced, and I thought I finally figured it out: Mekar Island, Of course! This place was made in advance, to hide a DLC item there! Surely, this must be where the Korok Mask will be hidden, it's too perfect! But then... nothing. Again. 2nd DLC comes and goes, and still... nothing. No korok, no treasure, no shrine no item, absolutely nothing that would give this island any right to exist in the game. I am extatic that you finally covered this. I never thought this was a mystery anyone could or would solve. But this just blew my mind. Yes, the evidence is somewhat flimsy, but it's more than ANYTHING we ever got out of this island in these past 2 years. And you managed to once again blow my mind. One question though, if this IS somehow a reference to the same island, looking at the size of the trees.... wouldnt you think there's an implication BotW somehow takes place _before_ the original TLoZ? Surely that can't be possible, right?. Whatever it means, I'm so happy you made a video about one of the few things even a veteran like me still could not figure out.

Nintendo: "idk just put some dead assets on that island IDC" Zeltik: "Coincidence? ... I THINK NOT!"

It'd have been more perfect if there was an octo instead of the chuchus.

Well, if Mekar Island is a reference to Zelda 1. What if in BotW 2, this is one of the dungeons? 🤔

I love the Legend of Zelda, like REALLY love it. But Zeltik can somehow make me appreciate it even more.

Botw: Idk lets put a random island here and give the players a tiny challenge, nothing more. Zeltik: HOLD MY CUCCO (JUST DONT SLAP HIM)

Maybe Makar on his adventures found this island and was mysteriously drawn to it by the tree. The island wanting to kill him. Yes I'm saying the tree's Magic. Still drawn to the tree, every night he would fight the stalfos enemies that would appear until he himself decayed like the tree. He felt inclined to save the tree while it still had some leaves left but ultimately ended up decaying himself. The winds that you find is Makar keeping you away so that you don't Decay like him and the tree, fighting hordes of monsters every night. The wind on the top of the tree is Makar trying to get you away from there. But that's just a theory. A GAME THEORY!!!

I swear to god if you let a random four year old scribble some shit on a random mountain in this game, Zeltik will find the meaning behind it

Makar: "haha, Link will never find me lol."

Here is my theroy: The small tree is where another great deku tree was planted, and the spirit of mekar had resided there as well. As travlers came and went, it drew in the attention of some creatures. They killed the travlers, and while feasting on the island, they became traped and died of hunger (or something, idk.) Now the winds try to blow others away, trying to push away more people. The wind on top of the tree is the last atempt to get you away, trying to get you to fly back to the shore before night falls and you get swarmed by stall enemies, or if you do manage to either defeat the enemies or realize something isnt right, and need to get off, you can use the breeze to WOOOSH out.

Lol as soon as you said stal enemies while talking about the first dungeon it thundered IRL

I remember finding this island and being so confused as to its point. It’s like the only conspicuous location in the game with no real point to it

Gotta say, I've genuinely had a lot of fun playing archaeologist in the ruins, trying to imagine what the buildings used to look like, guesing at what they were used for, that kind of thing. In Faron especially, that kind of thing has actually helped find hidden loot on more than one occasion.

man that actually fits perfectly, I very much remember traveling along the side of the lake and seeing the island, making my way over and being super confused; super obscure or subtle references are the best.

Could you do a theory about those stone pillars/towers found across Hyrule? Not the Sheikah towers, but the ones that often have chests on top. The book: “Creating a champion” mentions that they were built by the Zonai but their purpose is a mystery.

In the Wind Waker, Koroks would go out to islands and plant a single tree.

0:48 "Who were the Zonai, who decorated the land with their intricate stone structures?" Me watching this after the release of Tears of the Kingdom: "Huh, well I definitely don't know!"

Maybe the tree is Makar. Maybe Koroks become trees when they grow older. Just a thought

You should REALLY make a video about the mini Vah Medoh in the Hateno Ancient Lab.

I don’t know if it’s your amazing narration and comentary or simple intense nostalgia for my absolute favorite game series but I often find myself shedding a tear or two during your videos

I seriously didn't think there would end up being any big meaning to it XD I was pleasantly surprised by the ultimate connection you made. Bravo! I really need to play this game again. I don't think I made it onto Mekar island.

I personally think the tree is Makar... My theory is after wind waker and when spirit tracks begin. Makar maybe went to that island and decided to rest there for the day and when he slept there the army of skeletons appeared at night and attacked him... he may have been able to survive the night but when day came he was to weak to fly away so he was forced to die on the island alone... being the wind sage, he was the one who made the winds to have other go away from the island so they dont end up like him... once the tree grew he made a guest of wind that can help others escape if they did come on the island...even away from the forest so they dont get lost so the add to the army....but that's just my theory😅😋

Spectacle Rock which is the entrance to another dungeon in Zelda 1 is also in the game right? How about this for a conjecture: All of the dungeon entrances in Legend of Zelda 1 exists in Breath of the Wild in some kind of reference, such as the Spectacle Rock and Mekar Island. That, or there are only Mekar Island and Spectacle Rock to reference the first and last dungoen in LoZ1 respectively.

this is my first video on your channel, and I really enjoyed it! keep it up my man

When I first saw this island, immediately thought: Lv 1 from Zelda 1. The big tree remind me a lot the tree of the Lv 1 island!

I don’t know why but watching this got me really hyped for botw 2

"Mekar" in the Indonesian language means, "Bloom" 🤔

This makes me wanted a remake of the first Zelda game but redone to fit botw’s scale

Hey Zeltik, i know you probably don't look at older videos anymore but this video made me sad because it made me miss Makar. He was the last person I saw before stopping WW. This video makes it seem like this is where he died. While WW wasn't one of my favorites he was one of my favorite characters. Cheers for a great video, never stop following your passion.

Wait, when I went their it started raining and lightning struck the tree. Are you telling me that was pure luck?

I hope in botw2 mekar island is the first dungeon!

With all of the hours I have into this game, I can't believe there is still a place I haven't been, time to go to Mekar Island!

Love the videos keep up with all the great work very proud of everything you accomplished over the year

The four divine beasts of botw make reference to 4 different sages (Darunia, Ruto, Nabooru and Medli), 4 different elements (fire, water, lightning and wind) and 4 different races (Gorons, Zora, Gerudo and Rito). What if Mekar island is the location for an additional divine beast that got cut? A divine beast that represented Makar, an earth/forest element and Koroks/Kokiri/Minish. Perhaps the Divine Beast hung up in Hateno Lab would have been it. A Korok champion would have been small enough to pilot it.

Greatest Zelda channel by far. The level of detail and quality of speculation is incredible.

probably a reference to beserk: dead tree surrounded in corpses, spirits of the dead attack you at night, fairies, dragon wepons... Reminds me very clearly of the chapter where guts sleeps at the base of a cult ceremony tree when 3 slave traders decide to rest there too, only to be slauthered by the monsters gut's curse calls.

I know many people don't like botw's style of story telling, but I quite like when a game has a story that's not "in your face" and focuses a lot more on gameplay and atmosphere. Botw does it quite well with giving slightly inquisitive players a decent story if you go looking around interacting, talking and reading things, but hides something much, much deeper in plain sight that only series veterans can uncover. This makes watching these videos incredibly interesting (I've watched so many of these theory videos) while not making the actual game too busy with explaining references that could take away from the awesome atmosphere that speaks for itself. And when the sequel comes out, it'll probably explain a lot of these things with deeper storytelling (since that's maybe what the sequel is going for), so it'll satisfy people who would love a more narrative driven zelda game. I would probably love botw 2 even if it was narrative driven, but the first one will always be one of the best games I've played from the atmosphere standpoint, and also since it was uniquely focused on what matters most to me in a game: gameplay, while not being just a sandbox game engine test.

I love how locations in breath of the wild seem suspicious but arent. I love the mysterious quality to places in an already conquered land

If this is true. (Very possible) Then the developers went deep with botw. Even deeper then i ever hoped. That we might never know, makes this game series so good

As people have pointed out, Amber is petrified Tree Sap, and Opals can form from Wood. Also, while Flint is an odd choice, it could be used as a substitute for Charcoal (as it doesn't exist in BOTW), another resource died to dead trees. Between that, all of the Stal enemies, and the general theme of 'death' around that Island, I think there may have been a 1000th Korok we missed. As for the wind, well, it's named after Makar, the WIND sage. You have to SWIM to the island, like how you have to sail to it in Wind Waker.

Alright, I haven't played botw myself, but I've watched a lot of these lore type videos. I also have not finished the video, just gotten a breakdown of the scenario at hand. This is obviously Makar's tomb. He died there and became a tree, a tree that cam summon wind. No koroks are found there because they probably see it as hallowed ground and don't travel there. I think the stalfos are probably the corpses of fallen adventurers who come to the island in search of power. After all the resting place of a sage will probably have something powerful or valuable there. The fire is meant to lure them to test beneath the tree whee they either turn into stalfos (think lost woods oot) or they are cut down by the undead army that arises and join their rank. Maybe that's why the tree summons wind in the first place and why it's difficult to navigate there by sail or paraglider, Makar is trying to warn people away before they die too.

Seeing a notification you posted a new video gets me hyped everytime

I've been playing "Zelda" since 1988....and I would love it if Mekar Island was a tribute to the first dungeon of LOZ. I just wish they would have hollowed out the tree.

These kinds of mystery videos always end with a credit to Reddit.

This video has provided me with so much thought, consideration and joy. It finds me at a time where im stricken with harsh circumstance towards my work and personal life. To have found this, and become aware of such an incredible discovery, has truly lifted my spirits far beyond where they were prior to pressing play. Thank you, Truly.

I thought it was a reference to the forbidden woods from Wind Waker. I thought that was the reason why no koroks were there because they are not allowed to go hear the forbidden woods. I was also thinking the wind was a reference to the mini cyclones that spin around the forbidden woods. I never thought about it being a reference to Level one though.

"what's the point...?" sometimes, the point is: there's no point

Honestly this island makes me sad. Given what makar has done for history, for his part of the woods to be excluded from the rest, covered in death, as well as surrounded by winds that drive you away, it makes me feel like he fell to a dark fate and the best he could do was drive people away from his curse. Even that last wind at the top going away from the forest makes me feel like he was abandoned.

These intelligent and well-articulated dissections of seemingly obscure details in BOTW are hands down my favorite videos on your channel. They really shed light on just how many layers of thought and story development were put into the game.

Damn, once you pointed out the four small trees, I was sold on the theory. You blew my mind!

This is most certainly a multi-faceted reference. Part Forbidden Woods & Makar reference, but honestly the reference to Zelda 1 is pretty likely too!

"What's the point of the rock with no korok?" Ikr🤣

The sheer love, effort and dedicated memory in Breath of the Wild always manages to stagger me every time I come across something new. The scale of all the references and tributes across the years and timelines is monumental. Monumental indeed to this beloved series.

I never even went here. Didn’t even know that happened . Learn a new thing about this game every day. Amazing video

I though I knew a lot about Zelda... Your videos continue to prove me wrong

This is definitely the best explanation of this weird island! Great video!!

Well thought out and entertaining video as always, bravo Zeltik

I'm bloody sold! The idea of it being a reference to Level-1 gives me chills and that's amazing! Better yet, consider it's been years and years it might not just be a reference to Level - 1, It might be Level-1. Here's a thought: They should have put an octorock there! :D

Wow that’s amazing how you analyze this game to the end. Great stuff keep it up.

This is incredibly well done. It sounds like the "Lore" podcast; If you've ever thought of doing a Video Game Mysteries series in podcast form we will fully support you!

Y'know, I think that this supposition is one of the best thought out theories I've seen for a long time. Well done.

Just want to say I love your videos, so much quality

I think it is I think it's really cool that you were able to find this much about this island.

It’s actually interesting; I recently hopped into my BotW profile to get some roughly estimated measurements of part of the korok forest for a fan project I’m working on, and, with this video in mind, made my way to me Kat island to poke around. Considering the odd nature of the island not giving you a “reward” paired with the potential dungeon reference, I decided for the purpose of my fan comic, that the stal-enemies were deliberately placed there by a specific character to guard another, very special blade. The stal-enemies standing as a trial before the hero was supposed to find a secret, magically cloaked entrance in the tree’s trunk. I love watching theory videos like this because it gets me thinking about how I can implement some of their suggestions into my story telling~

It would be interesting if in BotW 2 you had to complete dungeons (like one in the tree on Mekar Island), all from the first game, or possibly from a bunch of different Zelda games.

A reference to the 1st dungeon in a Zelda game, a call-back to the Deku Tree sprout, or the last remains of the Forbidden Woods from LoZ:WW? Good luck figuring that out!