A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom is the latest historical novel from Irish author John Boyne (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas). Telling tales from across the breadth of human history, it deals with a lot of stuff that was real and actually happened, as well as some stuff that has only happened if you’ve played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Yesterday, Reddit user NoNoNo_OhHoHo posted a shot of part of the book, spotted in a section that deals with dressmaking:
Red lizalfos, an Octorok eyeball and Hylian shrooms? In a historical book? In a section about dressmaking? That’s... weird. But there’s a likely explanation for it.
As writer Dana Schwartz explains in this Twitter thread, it looks like Boyne, when needing some added details on how how to dye some fabric red for his book, went straight to Google and hit “ingredients red dye clothes”.
Whoops. I haven’t read Boyle’s book myself, but if you have and find mention of the fall of the Persian Empire having anything to do with a giant mechanical camel or some seals that can swim in the sand, let us know.
UPDATE: He’s been a very good sport about it: