A lot can change in a century … so when Impa gave Link this quest, she kinda assumed that the locations in the pictures did not change beyond the point of being recognizable. From a gameplay point of view it makes sense that the player should be able to recognize those places easily, but in-game, it raises some questions.

To demonstrate what I mean, I visited the pictured memory locations in the “present” and compared them to the “past”.

(The top picture is always the original)

1. The Sacred Grounds, 13:45, sunny

If you consider the placement of the shadows, the ceremony took place at approx. 13:45 o’clock, during sunny weather. The main differences are the broken pillars, the malice and the giant columns near the castle which weren’t present back in the day.

Apart from that, not much has changed. I removed the Guardian Stalkers before taking the picture tho, as one of them took my very existence personally.

One thing to note: I had to stand on a pile of crates to get the correct height. Either Zelda was a lot taller 100 years ago, or she took that pic standing on Daruk’s shoulders.

2. Lake Kolomo, 15:00, sunny

Thank Hylia for that random bump in the ground, otherwise that place would have looked identical to the rest of the forest. To get the angle right, I had to stand on some barrels again and chop down a tree that was blocking the view.

However, it is a bit strange that the Kolomo Garrison was already a ruin and the trees are EXACTLY as they were back then - they neither grew nor withered. Even the shadows of the very leaves are identical if you wait for ca. 15 o’clock

3. Ancient Collumns, 13;00, sunny

I had to stand on some rubble to get the angle right, but since Zelda had her horse with her back then, it is possible that she took the picture on horseback. According to the shadows, it must have been around 13 o’clock.

Random extra fun fact: Link might be the “chosen one” but even he wouldn’t have been able to activate the shrine back then. Why? Because it’s turned off. It does not glow at all - the shrines only do that after the Sheikah Towers rise from the ground, and THEN you can open them with the slate. And the Hebra Tower is not yet present in the “Then” picture.

4. Kara Kara Bazaar, sunset

Standing one a ledge to get the angle right … again. I wasn’t able to properly determine the time, as at 19:30 the shadows on the palm trees do not yet match, and at 20:30 the shadows DO match but the lighting is dull and grey already. The old picture must have been taken somewhere inbetween (or it was edited - is there something like Ancient Sheikah Photshop?)

Either way, this picture was taken at sunset, presumably a while after Zelda was attacked, rescued and had a couple of hours to calm down - as the memory flashback takes place during daylight.

5. Death Mountain / Eldin Canyon, 17:30

Wolf Link refused to come into the picture, so I used a pumpkin instead.

Yes, he’s been in the other shots as well. Why? Because I can! … I just wanted to add something to the pics so that it’s easy to see which one is the “Then” and which is the “Now” picture.

The picture itself was difficult. I had to stand on a wobbling pile of crates to even get close to the desired angle, and since the terrain up there is pretty uneven, the crates kept toppling over after a while. The actually perfect spot would have been a good deal farther left and about one crate higher, but I simply wasn’t able to built a crate tower in that spot. (The crates are from the Guardian amiibo BTW)

^ The wobbling pile of crates ^

I have no idea just how Zelda managed to do it. Maybe they piled all the dead enemies from the memory into a giant heap and stood atop “Mount Corpse” to take the pic?

6. Irch Plain, sunny

Only one crate this time. Easy for Zelda if she was sitting atop her horse. The picture was taken around noon and during sunny weather, tho it started to drizzle slightly during the “Now” stage. The main differences are the malice and giant columns again, but for some reason there are also a lot less flowers now and no Silent Princesses nearby. Lots of frogs tho.

7. West Necluda, 10:00, pre-rainfall

Again, I had to stand on a crate I should have also been a good bit farther away from the tree and statues, but the steep slope made the crates slide off. The weather was a pain to get right - during cloudy weather, the background was a grey blob, the bridge and mountains not even visible. During rain, the colors were dull and too dark. Another candidate for why I think the Sheikah Slate has a build-in photoshop mode.

The Bridge of Hylia also was already in that sorry state. The meta reason for this is likely that the environmental artists didn’t have the time / resources to create an “unbroken” model for a single image that the player looks at for all of six seconds … but in-game this means that some of the most important buildings in Hyrule were already in a state of gross decay/disrepair before Ganon tore the Kingdom to shreds. Apparently, there is no OSHA in Hyrule.

8. Hyrule Castle / Zelda’s Study

Standing on a crate again. Seriously, did Zelda carry a stepladder with her at all times?! Wolf refused to follow me into the castle, so pumpkin again. That veggie now saw more of the world in just a week than the average Hylian does in their lifetime.

The clock said it was 03:40 after I warped out of the castle and it was pitch black and raining, but the second before I warped out, the sun was still visible and there was no rain. The time and weather inside the castle are just wonky … but I guess the original picture was taken around afternoon. The shadows point southeast, meaning the sun was northwest - but not really sunset yet.

9. Spring of Power, 01:00, full moon

One crate and a chest. At least that area didn’t change much in the 100 years that have passed, unlike Hyrule Castle which has changed for the worse … but I guess that’s not exactly a suprise for anyone. The full moon doesn’t appear in the picture, but can be seen briefly during the cutscene.

10. Sanidin Park Ruins, sunny, 18:30

At this point, im convinced that the Sheikah Slate originally had a Selfie Stick. In order to “stand” on the right spot, I would have had to hover in mid-air six feet behind the parapet. I tried to build another crate tower, but 6 crates still weren’t high enough so I took the picture standing ON the parapet instead. It’s too close to the statue to perfectly match, but good enough IMHO. Also, that slight green sheen on Mount Satori means that the Lord of the Mountain is present.

Interesting that the stationary cloud in the Gerudo Highlands didn’t move an inch during the last century, just like the trees near the Kolomo Garrison and Kara Kara Bazaar, the Bridge of Hylia … maybe the entirety of Hyrule is trapped in an endless cycle of being “reset” compeltely every time there is a Blood Moon, so everything stays the same forever?

11. Lanayru Road - East Gate, 17:30, sunny

Only one crate was needed for this, but I had to kill the Lynel first because he constantly sniped me without any kind of warning while I was just minding my own business. Totally rude, dude!

This area, too, was already battered and broken a century ago despite allegedly being a very important place.

12. “Hyrule Field”, 12:00, weather: weird

No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the weather / lighting right.

According to the shadows of the trees, it’s definitely 12 o’clock in that pic, but it’s not sunny (too bright), nor rainy (background not visible), nor cloudy (too dark), nor a thunderstorm, nor the brief moment between rain and sunshine. I begrudgingly settled for a shot in cloudy weather even tho the colors are all wrong.

And not even this shot was taken from ground level. I had to stand on two chests stacked on top of each other. Makes you wonder what TF Zelda was thinking 100 years ago … “oh everyone is dead now, it’s all my fault, let me climb your shoulders so I can take a picture of a random forest to remember this moment FOREVER!” …what.

13. Ash Swamp, 14:00, cloudy

The original picture is supposed to be cloudy or rainy, but shortly after the sky cleared up I got a faint rainbow. Since the mountains in the background are also more clearly visible in this shot, I used the rainbow picture instead.

Fun Fact; if you “just” go here and interact with the glowing spot, the cutscene will start and Link will get a flashback. If you take a picture of the painting in Impa’s house beforehand, Link will pull out the slate and look at the picture first.

This picture is also the only one that was created relatively recently, as the Guardians are all covered in moss and visibly decayed already, but it must have been made before Link woke up as the tower wasn’t present when the painting was created.