History Novel Accidentally Uses Breath of the Wild Ingredients for Dyemaking

With all the talks of new movies and shows being produced, It’s easy to forget that books exist. Recently, a new book was published by John Boyne, the fellow behind “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”, called “A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom.” I have no idea what it’s about.

But it doesn’t matter, because Reddit user NoNoNo_OhHoHo took a snapshot of the book which contained the following quote:

“The dyes I used in my dressmaking were composed from various ingredients, depending on the colour required, but almost all required nightshade, sapphire, keese wing, the leaves of the silent princess plant, Octorok eyeball, swift violet, thistle, and highland lizard. In addition, for the red I had used for Abrila’s dress, I employed spicy pepper, the tail of the red lizardfols, and four Hylian shrooms.”

Breath of the Wild fans probably picked up what was going on in the first few ingredients, but even casual gamers would probably realize something was very wrong with this list once they reached “Hylian shrooms.”

While Reddit was baffled by this weird homage, author and journalist Dana Schwartz was quick to point out that there’s actually a more logical explanation for why this very fictional list of ingredients is in a otherwise fairly authentic and serious historical novel: Google mishaps.

“While John Boyne was doing a perfunctory google search for how to dye clothes red he found a site listing monster parts and accidentally put them in his Very Serious book. I am very embarrassed for him and this is my nightmare but it’s also very funny”

For what it’s worth, John Boyne was good natured about the mistake.

“I'll leave it as it is. I actually think it's quite funny and you're totally right. I don't remember but I must have just googled it. Hey, sometimes you just gotta throw your hands up and say "yup! My bad!"

Part of me wonders if Nintendo will mind and possibly force the issue, but I think we could all agree the world is better off with this weird video game reference polluting an otherwise very serious historical story.