In "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess"...

. . . ~~~~~~ Defense ~~~~~~ ///I will agree that Ordona is not always considered a part of Hyrule, but that is merely because it was recently annexed into Hyrule [1]. /// I looked at my opponent's source and find it lacking. It does not use any external sources to substantiate the claim that Ordon is a recently annexed part of Hyrule. Whereas I have provided evidence from the actual game to suggest that Ordon and Hyrule are separate. Just because Ordon is a province does not mean that it is a province of Hyrule. ~ ///Twilight never successfully covers the Ordona Province, but an attempt was made to do so. /// I'll concede the point about Twilight because it isn't really all that important of a supporting detail. ~ ///In Coro's case, he quite likely hasn't ever seen anybody from anywhere beyond Hyrule, so for him to say, "Woah, a Hylian! " would seem as redundant as saying, "Woah, a person! "/// This does nothing to negate my point. Coro called Link an Ordonian, not a person or Hyrulian. ~ ///Rusl also refers to Hyrule proper as Hyrule. He was possibly growing up during the annexation, allowing him to make a distinction. /// This is speculation and does nothing to counter my presented evidence. ~ ///Finally, the in-game map of Hyrule includes the Ordona Province, which is blatant evidence that the Ordona Province is part of Hyrule. /// No it isn't. Here is a map of the USA [1]. It includes Canada and Mexico. Are Canada and Mexico parts of the USA? ~ ///My opponent questions the existence of a temple in an area outside of Hyrule. However, one temple, the City in the Sky, is far above the Sages, and yet it also houses a shard. /// While the City in the Sky also may not be a part of Hyrule there is reason for a temple to exist there. Take this quote by Shad [2]: "But also according to legend, long ago there was a race even closer to the gods, and some say THESE creatures made the Hylians. When they created the people of Hylia, they simultaneously created a new capital, a city that floated in the heavens. They dwelt there. .. and some scholars believe that this race lives there still, somewhere in the great sky. " This means that while the city may not be a part of Hyrule it played a very large part in Hyrule's formation and exists in Hyrule's history, making the existence of a temple there not unreasonable. Ordon has no such mythology or historical evidence surrounding it. ~ ///My opponent makes no argument against the visual appeal of having a single temple in every province. /// Visual appeal is subjective. Therefore, it is unreasonable to expect me to convince you that the current setup is visually appealing if in fact you don't think that it is. ~ ///Yes, the Master Sword is a magical Hyrulian artifact an all. However, we know that the Ordona Province is a part of Hyrule. Plus, if the Sages truly wanted to hide the Master Sword so that only the Hero would find it, it would make sense to hide it in an area outside of Hyrule proper. It would also make sense to put it in the same province as the Hero himself. /// There is actually little need to hide the Master Sword as it can only be wielded by someone worthy of the title [3]: "Hero," and was embedded in a pedestal shortly after it's creation. I can also find no information that suggests that the Sages are able to see into the future. Negating the contention that it would make sense for them to hide the sword in Ordon province to make it easier for this incarnation of the Hero of Time to find. In response to all the sentences that contain a phrase related to things making sense [4]. ~ With that I conclude my response and await my opponent's. [1] . http://www.michellehenry.fr... [2] . http://zelda.wikia.com... [3] . http://zelda.wikia.com... [4] Video, which I think I will continue to use in debates. . http://www.youtube.com...