The Hylia - The End of an Era

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Zelda Headquarters used to mean something to fans. During the birth of the online Zelda community, there was only one site, one name that mattered. Over the course of ten years, ZHQ (as it came to be known) provided the absolute best in breaking news coverage and had a fan base unrivaled until the advent of the 21st century. But all good things must come to an end.

Zelda Headquarters was originally founded by Niels 't Hooft in 1995 on SimpleNet. The premise of the original site was to show off Niels' original Zelda artwork and to express his love for the Zelda series. But in just over a year's time, his site grew into something much more. It became a hub for the entire Zelda community, and for the three years it was at the top of its game, there wasn't another site online that could touch it.
Most Stolen Image Indeed
Probably the most noteworthy of ZHQ's many collections was its massive timeline section, run by Master of Hyrule. It simply was unmatched in its presentation and its depth. In fact, it seemed like every aspect of Zelda, from the games to the short lived cartoon series to the evil CD-i installments made its way onto ZHQ. The pinnacle of its popularity was in 1998 when Ocarina of Time, the most highly anticipated Zelda title at the time, was launched worldwide.

After that time, though, Niels decided to take a break and pursue other opportunities, and left ZHQ in the hands of Conrad VanderWoude. As determined as he was to keep up the good name of ZHQ, the site slowly fell from grace until it ultimately closed its doors in 2000. Many ZHQ revivals were attempted, and ultimately only two ever got off the ground. The first was an indirect revival done by Conrad on his own site Hylia.com, which meant to capture the magic of the old ZHQ and the old Zelda days.

The more recent, which is probably why you are here reading this, was by myself (TSA) in 2002, in which I kept the name and tried to just redo the site. After months of protesting from the old ZHQ staff, I finally gave up all ties to the old ZHQ and just kept the name and re-launched in 2003. However, after two years of running a shell of a site which relied on breaking news and its community, I decided to move onto my own project. Thus, I've dropped the ZHQ name and shed the past. I will hold onto the domain names because I feel responsible to protect the legacy of ZHQ and to not let anyone else, unless Niels came back, touch ZHQ. Also, I think it is best to leave the past as it is. Maybe I was holding on too tightly. But like the new name of our site (which I swear had nothing to do with Conrad's site, which I had in fact forgotten about until two days ago when a friend brought it up), this new site is about people. The Hylia is the proper, old-fashioned way to call the people of Hyrule. Though recent events in the past may lead you to believe I'm aganist 99% of the community, I'll let my new site's actions speak, rather than my rather long-winded rants.