Hyrule: The Land of Zelda, or HTLOZ, was founded by Falco-X in 1998. HTLOZ was one of the leading Zelda sites of the late 90's, along with such names as Zelda Headquarters, Ice's Zelda Central, Odyssey of Hyrule, and The Grand Adventures. The site was infamous for its rumor mill, which eventually churned out the Ariana Almondoz fiasco in early 1999. HTLOZ disappeared without warning in early 2002 when their host, Trintium Gaming Network, closed its doors.

The earliest known incarnation of HTLOZ was founded at hyrule.n64gamer.com in February, 1998, as part of the first generation of Zelda websites. Not long after the launch, HTLOZ adopted "insidetheweb" forums. Not much is known about this period because all those who went there at that time have pretty much disappeared--A reoccuring theme with HTLOZ. The only lasting legacy of the ITW forums was the infamous "TRIFORCEGUY" and his Triforce hoax.

Eventually, Falco-X launched htloz.com at some point in late 1998. Since no information is available from this time period, we assume HTLOZ switched hosts to Trintium Gaming Network around this time. In February 1999, when speculation about the Triforce in Ocarina of Time was at its peak, HTLOZ unleashed a killer story: A reader by the name of Ariana Almondoz claimed to have found the Triforce, and had convincing screenshots to back it up. The result was explosive - Every Zelda site around the net came to focus on the story, and in the process, Ariana's claims came under intense scrutiny. Within a week, one sharp-eyed reader caught a giveaway in one of the screenshots - Link's sword was sheathed on the wrong side of his back in a screenshot depicting him playing the "Overture of Sages." The entire story fell apart almost instantaneously, and community backlash towards this fraud was harsh. Ariana Almondoz's infamous hoax brought about the beginning of the end for Ocarina of Time Triforce rumors.

By late 1999, the online Zelda community was in the midst of a "Golden Era". The big websites were at the top of their game. Like any "Golden Era," however, conflict brought about its downfall. It was during this time that tensions arose between HTLOZ and Odyssey of Hyrule. The "Crooked Cart" code that Video Gamer X had claimed as his own appeared on HTLOZ. Odyssey of Hyrule had the code first, however the 'owner' of the technique was in question (If anyone owned the trick, it was it's discoverer, T-Dog). After an exchange of words, tensions rose, and forum members opened fire between boards. By early spring 2000, an exhausted Falco-X shut the HTLOZ boards down.

On February 27th, 2000, following the closure of HTLOZ's forums, a user named Tempest launched an ezBoard known as the Fallout Shelter. This board was the first HTLOZ refuge, a tradition carried on by Indigo's Place and Gamers Talk Elite/Gamer Crossfire.

In the same year, HTLOZ switched to a flash layout, and staff member Blazer opened a new vBulletin message board, which soon grew into the largest Zelda forum in its day. Here, a new HTLOZ legacy was born: Tri-Link's Cafe. Founded by Da_#1_Link, TLC was a sprawling, off-topic RPG Forum "Cafe" thread that reached over 40,000 replies before HTLOZ's end - A record for the Zelda community that stands to this day. As a matter of tradition, Tri-Link's has been revived on each successor to HTLOZ, but none ever approached the scale of the original (GXF came close with 20,000).

HTLOZ's end finally came about in early 2002, following a brief hacker incident at the forums. Just when it seemed HTLOZ would be reopening the forums, Trintium Gaming Network, HTLOZ's free host, decided to close it's doors. Falco-X, presumably short on time and tired of managing HTLOZ, didn't seek an alternative. Displaced members dispersed to hyrule.com.ar, Ganon's Tower, and the impromptu HTLOZ refuge, Gamers' Talk Elite (Later known as Gamer Crossfire). HTLOZ was never seen again.

The partially restored archives of HTLOZ can be browsed here.

Gamer Crossfire, or GXF, was the successor to the briefly-lived Gamers Talk Elite forums. Launched in 2002 by Zelda-King, GXF's original purpose was to provide a refuge for HTLOZ members. The forum's goals later shifted to include a general gaming website. Despite several attempts by staff members, a successful site was never launched.

During GXF's lifetime, there were several hosting issues which temporarily shut the forums down and left the community stranded for extended periods of time. There were two major server downtimes that threatened GXF's integrity. These two blackouts separate GXF into three distinct periods: GXF 1 (2002), GXF 2 (2003), and GXF 3 (2004).

Of all three versions of the GXF, the first resembled the original HTLOZ the most. GXF 1 had a large focus on RPG threads, user activity, and the rules were very similar to those of HTLOZ. Towards the end of 2002, the first server blackout struck GXF 1 and stranded the forum community. HTWOZ briefly emerged during this time, then collapsed in early 2003.

After HTWOZ fell through in 2003, Zelda King restored GXF on a new server, marking the beginning of GXF 2. In this incarnation, Zelda King wanted to stray from being recognized as merely an alternative for HTLOZ users. Revised forum rules and the first attempt at a site were introduced in order to help establish a unique identity for GXF. In late-2003, the GXF community was shut down yet again due to server issues. Many forumgoers fled to the Ganon's Tower forums until GXF returned.

Just before the turn of the new year, GXF returned. This was last and longest-lived incarnation of GXF. vBulletin 3.0, still in development stages at the time, was adopted during this period. A Flash-based arcade for users gained popularity during this period, but detracted from posting and drew in guests who held no intention of joining the community. Zelda King, now going by the name King-X, implemented a vBulletin portal on the front page that focused on video games. He featured some of his musical work on the site, and opened the forums up as a place that visitors could use to share their own music.

GXF closed its doors shortly before the opening of HTLOZ II in spring 2005. The site later returned in early 2006 under the new acronym, "GCF." Relieved of the burden of official HTLOZ refuge, Gamer Crossfire set out to establish itself as a general gaming site. Due to waning activity, however, the staff decided to close Gamer Crossfire at the end of 2006. There are no plans for its return.

The Tri-Link's Archives contain threads and files from GXF.

In the fall of 2002, ex-HTLOZ staffers Blazer and Brian attempted the first HTLOZ revival. The new site was named Hyrule: The World of Zelda, or HTWOZ for short, after being denied the rights to the name HTLOZ. Complications arose from hosting arrangements, and the project caved within the first quarter of 2003. For posterity, a small archive of HTWOZ can be found here.

A teaser page for the HTLOZ revival was posted on the domain htloz.net in early spring 2005. Gamer Crossfire announced its closure shortly thereafter, directing users to the new site. On March 1st, 2005, HTLOZ II launched.