TSA: Hyrule: The Land of Zelda is one of the sites from the "big" five (The Golden Land, Zelda Headquarters, Ice's Zelda Central, Hyrule: The Land of Zelda and Odyssey of Hyrule) of the late 90's. What drew you to the original site at first? What set it apart from the others?

Fury Three: What originally brought me to HTLOZ was the Ariana Almondoz hoax. I learned about the whole thing through The Odyssey of Hyrule, and tried to visit HTLOZ to see the fiasco myself. At the time HTLOZ was going through one of its meltdowns, however, and the site was unavailable. At least a year later I checked the address again, out of sheer curiousity, to find it alive and well. By this time, HTLOZ was the largest site in the community. I decided to join the forums and give it a try. That was early 2001 I believe, and was my first step into the Zelda community.

Forgot about Dark Art? You won't now.

TSA: I believe there was an earlier attempt to revive HTLOZ - HTWOZ or something. It was short lived. Could you give us any background as to what happened there?

Fury Three: Two of HTLOZ's former staff members, Brian and Blazer, attempted to revive the site in late 2002. I suppose someone must have been in contact with Falco-X, because they were denied permission to use the name HTLOZ. The project was renamed Hyrule: The World of Zelda, or HTWOZ. For a while, things seemed promising. The site opened and the forums populated with old members, mostly refugees from GXF. They even stirred up some controversy when people mistakenly thought Falco-X was back. By the end of the year, however, updates to the site had slacked off and were eventually replaced by a Plesk Server Administrator page. It was only this past year that I learned the site was terminated by its host. Apparently running the forums violated part of the hosting agreement. So it was back to GXF again.

TSA: HTLOZ.net is a revival of HTLOZ. Yet, the Flash navigation and animations which set the original apart, in my opinion, are strangely lacking. Are there any plans to bring them back?

Fury Three: I experimented with several designs when we first decided we were serious about reviving HTLOZ. At one point I went to Tempest and asked if I should try a layout in Flash. I think we both shot down the idea pretty fast. We felt Flash was bloated and unnecessary, and a lot of the returning members have expressed similar opinions. I don't believe dialup users in particular should have to be subjected to Flash. I've never completely written Flash off, though, so it could always be implemented as an optional layout for broadband users sometime in the future.

TSA: What prompted you or your staff to bring back HTLOZ?

Fury Three: When HTLOZ went down, a good number of the frequent members regrouped at Gamercrossfire, or GXF. We spent several years there, all the while reminiscing about HTLOZ and wondering why things weren't the same. GXF tried to get a site out, but it never really happened. Every time it seemed close to getting off the ground, it would fall apart. It seemed to me that everyone was ready to have HTLOZ back. The problem was no one knew where its owners went. So I considered doing it myself. In December 2003, I created a mockup HTLOZ logo for my own amusement, squirreled it away, and forgot about it for a while. After another year at a steadily declining GXF, I found myself digging it back up. When GXF began to show signs of closing for good, I discussed the idea with Tempest and Ganon, who agreed to help.

I realize that paints a pretty negative picture of GXF, but I've always stressed that Gamercrossfire was crucial. Without it, what was left of HTLOZ's following would have completely disbanded. Besides that, it was a fun site.

TSA: Could you explain why so many people think the original HTLOZ fabricated stories? I seem to recall many believed Falco-X made up news in order to get visitors. Is there any truth to this, or is this just a myth created by lack of information from that time period?

Fury Three: Part of this was probably a result of Spots' "It's Real! It's Real!" column and the site's humor section, which were pretty blatantly rediculous. Nothing seems to stop some people from interpreting jokes as facts, as I'm sure you know. But there is some truth to the claim that HTLOZ intentionally produced misinformation. We're pretty much convinced that Ariana Almondoz didn't exist, that Falco-X perpetrated the whole thing. He set up the photos, wrote the letters, and posted them on HTLOZ to generate visitors. The damning evidence for that came in the form of the original image sent to Ariana's TV to create the infamous "Temple of Light" photo, which we've never released. We also believe the supposed staff member El Toro may have simply been an alter-ego for Falco-X.

TSA: HTLOZ appears to have heavily supported the now-defunct Zelda Re-Orchestrated. Is there a particular reason why HTLOZ backed the project for so long?

Fury Three: I originally caught on to ZREO from lord-of-shadow at Zelda Legends. I was immediately impressed by these detailed recreations of the original compositions. A lot of people vow to do some pretty ambitious things, but those efforts never seem to get off the ground. ZREO, however, had already reorchestrated numerous tracks by the time I found it, and they were perfect at that. These are the kinds of efforts that need to be applauded and supported. So when ZREO's original site closed, we offered to continue hosting the project. Shortly after that, however, the ZREO team relaunched with Zelda Music. One of my staff members, Master of Zelda, played a big role in that site, and even ran a web-based radio show there. When the news came out that Zelda Music would be closing the beginning of this year, we extended the hosting offer again, and they agreed. I've promised myself those tracks will always be available, no matter what - Should something happen to HTLOZ, I'll hand them off to Ganon's Tower.

TSA: What are your thoughts on reviving a "dead" fan site? Who has the right to do it? When should it be done? When shouldn't it?

Fury Three: This is going to sound odd, given what we've done, but I sincerely believe only the original owner has the right to revive their site. We broke the rules. The fact of the matter was no one had any clue where the former staff went, and after three years, all indication was they wouldn't be coming back. It's not like we ever got a farewell page or an explanation, like hyrule.com.ar. The site just disappeared one day. And in that circumstance, I feel the community has the right to rebuild itself, so that's what we did. We've still got a long way to go, but we're getting there.

TSA: What are your overall thoughts on the Zelda community today as compared tothe time when you first got involved?

Fury Three: The biggest difference is sheer size. This community has exploded compared to where it was in 2001. Zelda Universe is larger than all of the former leading websites combined. And there's still Zelda Legends and its hostees to consider after that, plus the smaller fragments of the community. There has also been a massive influx of aspiring webmasters in recent months. Thanks to free hosts like FreeWebs and forums like InvisionFree, anyone and their dog can set up a site and forum now. That's been the subject of a lot of controversy lately, because there's a dozen bad sites for every standout that emerges from the fray. Personally, I'll deal with a dozen lousy sites if we can get one good site out of it.