This is the timeline given by Hyrule Historia and Hyrule Encyclopedia, with subsequent games being pieced together through in-game references or Word of God. This is not an exhaustive sequence of events, but merely helps establish where the games and other major backstory events are in relation to one another.
Subbullets indicate that the game or event involves the same Link as the one in the header,note while separate top-level bullets can take place an unspecified number of generations apart.
Singular Timeline
- The world is created by the Goddesses Din, Nayru, and Farore. They leave behind an artifact with their power called the Triforce. (Ocarina of Time)
- The Demon King Demise emerges from the earth and leads an army of demons against the surface world to claim the Triforce. To protect her people, the Hylians, the Goddess Hylia gathers them on a piece of land and sends it up into the sky out of Demise's reach; along with the Triforce and a blade called the Goddess Sword. She then leads the remaining races in a war against the demons, succeeding in sealing Demise within the earth. Afterwards, she relinquishes her immortality to reincarnate as a Hylian, as the Triforce would be needed to stop Demise again but cannot be used by the gods. (Skyward Sword)
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- The Kingdom of Hyrule is founded.
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
- The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
After Ocarina of Time the timeline splits into three due to the use of Time Travel — after Link defeats Ganon in the Bad Future, he returns to his childhood and prevents his rise to power in the first place; but the Bad Future timeline remains.
Child Timeline
In this timeline, Link was sent back in time, so he was able to warn Princess Zelda and the King of Hyrule of the tragic future that awaited the kingdom involving Ganondorf. The sages tried to execute Ganon, but were forced to seal him away in the Twilight Realm instead.- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Masknote
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (over a century after Ocarina of Time)
- The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
While Hyrule Warriors is explicitly not canon, it would take place in the Child Timeline if it were — it includes Twilight Princess content as part of the main story, while a Wind Waker epilogue in the re-releases explicitly involves a separate timeline (DLC content based on Decline Timeline games is also present, but not part of the story).
Adult Timeline
In this timeline, Link, the Hero of Time, defeated Ganondorf and his Ganon form, allowing the sages to seal him away in their present. However, when Ganondorf returned years later, Link did not appear, forcing the gods to flood the world to put an end to his power.- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
- Link and Zelda discover a mostly-uninhabited new land and make friends with the native Lokomo Tribe. Here, Zelda founds the second Kingdom of Hyrule.
- The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (explicitly 100 years after Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass)
Decline Timeline
This is the timeline a player cannot technically play into, because it was a timeline where the Hero of Time lost his final battle with Ganon, which led to him solidifying his rule over Hyrule. The sages still managed to seal Ganon away, but his reign led to a slow decline in the fortunes of the land.- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games (according to the Hyrule Encyclopedia)
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
- The King of Hyrule dies. The Prince believes his sister Princess Zelda knows something about the location of the Triforce and tries to force it out of her, leading to her falling under a sleeping spell. The regretful Prince decrees that all daughters born to the royal family are to be named "Zelda" in her honor. (Zelda II)
- The Legend of Zelda
Unknown
The events of these games take place far in the future of Hyrule, long enough that the origins of Ganon have been completely forgotten. However, the creators have explicitly not specified any particular timeline that these games are a part of, leaving it up for the player to decide.Events described in the backstory, however, are far less clear. The founding of Hyrule described here could potentially take place at any place on the timeline, as early as being the same one that followed Skyward Sword in the pre-split era or as late as being well after any of the known timeline events. The creation of the Divine Beasts, at least, is somewhere after Ocarina of Time as Breath of the Wild makes references to some of that game's Sages.note But even that is in doubt as Tears of the Kingdom reuses a sage's name (Rauru) for a similar yet distinct character and showcase events similar to Ocarina of Time, suggesting that it may be a Continuity Reboot and isn't part of any of the other known timelines at all.
- An advanced race called the Zonai descend from their home in the sky to the surface, where the native Hylians consider them gods or their descendants. However, over time, the Zonai vanish from the land until there are only a few left.
- The Kingdom of Hyrule is founded by the Zonai King Rauru and Hylian Queen Sonia.
- A Princess Zelda from tens of thousands of years in the future suddenly appears. Rauru and Sonia recognize her as their descendant and take her in as a "distant relative".
- The Gerudo chief Ganondorf wars against Hyrule. Unable to overcome Rauru by force, he falsely swears fealty and assassinates Queen Sonia, stealing her "secret stone" that enhances her abilities. With it, he becomes the new Demon King.
- King Rauru appoints Seven Sages — himself, his sister Mineru, the future Zelda, and four representatives from his vassal races — to stop Ganondorf. Ultimately, Rauru sacrifices himself to seal Ganondorf beneath Hyrule Castle.
- After the battle, Zelda arranges for the remaining Sages to grant their power to descendants when Ganondorf breaks free in her own time. The damaged Master Sword from her era also appears before her, and she decides to use a Dangerous Forbidden Technique to turn herself into an immortal but mindless dragon that can slowly restore the sword over eons.
- 10,000 years prior to Breath of the Wild: Though Ganondorf is sealed, his power manifests as a malevolent force of nature called Calamity Ganon. The Divine Beasts, Guardians, and other Sheikah technology are created and used to defeat Calamity Ganon, but the King of the time feels threatened and outlaws it. In response, some Sheikah break off and form the hostile Yiga Clan.
- 100 years prior to Breath of the Wild: The Great Calamity occurs. With Calamity Ganon's revival looming, the Sheikah technology is rediscovered. Unfortunately, when he awakens, Calamity Ganon hijacks it all for himself and uses it to lay waste to Hyrule and its defenders, even seriously injuring Link. He's only halted when Zelda awakens her powers at the last minute, leaving him Sealed Evil in a Duel. Link is brought to the Shrine of Resurrection for a century-long recovery.
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity takes place in yet another Alternate Timeline that branches off here.
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
