France Canonically Exists In Tears Of The Kingdom

thegamer.com:

Tears of the Kingdom is a return to a saved Hyrule, a rarity for the Zelda series, as it lets us see the impact we've had, watching as civilisation begins to rebuild. There are plenty of nods to Breath of the Wild and little lore tidbits that expand on the world we know, but nestled among these details is a reference to France.

France... the very real European country that was founded in 1792, is referenced in the horse customisation options thanks to the "French-Braided Mane". Somehow, it exists in the fictional world of Zelda among Hyrule, which begs the question of whether other real countries do, or if Hyrule replaces one of our countries. Maybe it's a post-apocalyptic version of the USA, a la Death Stranding, or maybe France is just a constant no matter the universe you're in. Maybe there's a France across from Middle-earth.

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Whatever the case, "French-Braided Mane" implies the existence of French people, which in turn implies the existence of France. The Zelda timeline and world is confusing as is, let alone when mixing in real life. More likely, this name isn't an in-universe title, but a real-world description, but logic is no fun - France is canon.

Instead of trying to explain away the name, let's look at what could be France across the Zelda series. Maybe we've already been there and didn't realise. Kakariko Village is speculated to come from 'cocorica', a Portuguese and French "onomatopoeia for the sound of a crowing rooster." A French-named city, a French-named mane, we can loosely connect the two to say Kakiriko Village is France, right? It's much smaller than the real country, but then again, Hyrule is tiny compared to most anyway. It is a video game, after