Lon Lon Ranch

Lon Lon Ranch
Lon Lon Ranch from The Minish Cap
First appearance	Ocarina of Time (1998)
Appears in	Ocarina of Time Four Swords Adventures The Minish Cap
Country	Hyrule
Terrain	Field Rural
Climate	Temperate
Point(s) of interest	(The Minish Cap) Goron Cave
Inhabitants	(Ocarina of Time) Epona Ingo Malon Super Cuccos Talon (Four Swords Adventures) Malon Talon (The Minish Cap) Ankle Elsie Malon Talon

"This small ranch lies just outside Hyrule Town. Father-and-daughter team Talon and Malon run it, and they sell the finest milk in Hyrule!"

— Figurine

Lon Lon Ranch is a recurring location in the Legend of Zelda series. Lon Lon Ranch is a cattle ranch owned by Talon. His daughter, Malon, also lives and works together with her father.

Appearances

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Lon Lon Ranch from Ocarina of Time

Lon Lon Ranch is located at the center of Hyrule Field. Talon and his daughter Malon run the ranch, and Ingo works there. They raise horses, cows, and cuccos. After Link wakes up Talon, who has fallen asleep on a milk delivery run to Hyrule Castle, he can learn "Epona's Song" from Malon. Link can also obtain a bottle filled with Lon Lon Milk if he is able to find the three Super Cuccos in Talon's Super Cucco-findin' Game, as well as a Piece of Heart found inside a stone building.

When Link returns to Lon Lon Ranch as an adult, he finds that Ingo has been given the ranch by Ganondorf, it has been renamed "Ingo Ranch", and that Talon has moved to Kakariko Village after being kicked out. With the help of Epona, however, Link outraces Ingo in a horse race. The frustrated Ingo bets Link that he cannot be beaten again, and puts Epona in as his bet. After losing once more, Ingo locks Link in the ranch, preventing him from leaving with his prize. Trapped, Link and Epona proceed to jump over the ranch's outer fence, leaving Lon Lon Ranch behind and changing Ingo's evil ways. Ingo seemingly returns to normal after this, and Talon moves back to the ranch.

Link can return to the Ranch at anytime afterwards to play a mini-game involving racing Epona through an obstacle course set up by Malon. If he succeeds in breaking the record time (originally set by Malon herself according to a Gossip Stone), Malon will deliver a special reward to Link's House. If Link visits his house after accomplishing this task, he will find that Malon has placed a Cow inside his house. Like all Cows in Ocarina of Time, Link can fill an empty bottle with Lon Lon Milk by playing Epona's Song near it.

At the end of the game, the citizens of all races of Hyrule come to the ranch to celebrate the defeat of Ganondorf.

Interestingly, Shigeru Miyamoto has said that he originally imagined a scene in which Ingo sets the ranch on fire in a frenzy and Epona jumps out of the ranch on a backdrop of flames. However, a member of the development staff asked him what would happen if Link returned to the ranch, so he dropped the idea.

In Ocarina of Time 3D, there is a carved drawing of Talon and Malon in the farmhouse's bedroom when Link is a child, hidden by two pots. If Link returns as an adult, it is replaced with a picture of Link from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

Lon Lon Ranch is located in The Field. It is the home of Malon and Talon. When the Links first enters The Field, they encounter Malon, who is trying to return to the ranch. The Hyrule Guards act strangely and the Links must escort Malon back. When they do Talon rewards them by giving them access to his store of Carrots, which allows them to ride Epona and reach another section of The Field.

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Lon Lon Ranch is located to the east of Hyrule Town and north of the Eastern Hills. Again, it is owned and operated by Malon and Talon, who raise Cows and Cuccos, but only have one horse. At one point, Talon loses the Spare Key to the house. Link retrieves it for him by becoming Minish-sized using a Picori Portal. Malon is then able to sell Lon Lon Milk from the ranch cows in Hyrule Town.

Later in the game, Link can obtain an empty bottle from the Goron Cave, which is located west of the ranch. In order to complete the optional quest for the Magical Boomerang, Link must fuse Kinstones with Ankle, who is located on a cliff in the southern area of the ranch. Link can also fuse Kinstone with Mayor Hagen causing a pool of water at the ranch to drain allowing Link to obtain a bigger Wallet

Other appearances

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Though it does not appear physically in the game, the Milk Bar Owner states that the Milk Bar's milk comes from Lon Lon Ranch. Interestingly, the Milk Bar Owner shares a resemblance to Talon.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

In Breath of the Wild, the Ranch Ruins found in Hyrule Field region of the Central Hyrule province, may be a reference to Lon Lon Ranch.

Etymology

The name for Lon Lon Ranch may have been derived from the owners' names, Malon and Talon, as both names end with -lon, the name of their ranch.

Theory

Theory warning: This section contains theoretical information based on the research of one or several other users. It has not been officially verified by Nintendo and its factual accuracy is disputed.

Possible ruins

In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the area of Hyrule Field due north of Kakariko Village in the Eldin Province features a number of ruined walls and wooden fences, which may be all that remains of the Lon Lon Ranch from Ocarina of Time. Due to indications that Hyrule may have experienced some sort of disaster (possibly caused by violent geological activity in the region, potentially as the result of volcanic activity on Death Mountain) sometime before the events of Twilight Princess, it is possible that it was destroyed during that time. Alternatively, it may have been destroyed during Ganondorf's rampage throughout Hyrule before his capture, failed execution by the Ancient Sages, and imprisonment in the Twilight Realm.

Its destruction may have lead to Malon and/or her relatives (such as her father and any of her descendants) to flee along with other human refugees from either Kakariko Village or Castle Town (for either of the reasons described above) to the Ordona Province, which potentially may have lead to the foundation of Ordon Village and Ordon Ranch.

Ranch Ruins

A few hundred years later, before the events of Breath Of The Wild, Malon and Talon's descendants may have had a similar ranch in Central Hyrule next to a real life incarnation of Mabe Village, and was most likely destroyed during the Great Calamity, standing as the Ranch Ruins next the Mabe Village Ruins. During this event, as for the Temple of Time ruins, Lon Lon Ranch and nearby Mabe Village might indeed be destroyed by Guardians controlled by Calamity Ganon, and may now be partially standing amongst these ruins in the Hyrule Field region. A Guardian can be found patrolling the Ranch Ruins, it might have been responsible for its destruction while patrolling the grounds for a century.

Theory warning: Theories end here.

See also

• Romani Ranch
• Ordon Ranch