Ah Yes...The Legend of Zelda timeline. The greatest source of Fan Wank in the entire Video Game industry.
- Rules
- LoZ — The Legend of Zelda
- AoL — Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
- ALttP — The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- LA — The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
- OoT — The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
- MM — The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
- OoS/OoA/OoX — The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games''
- FS — The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
- WW — The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
- FSA — The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
- MC — The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
- TP — The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- PH — The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
- ST — The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
- SS — The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- LBW — The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
- TFH — The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
- BotW — The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- TotK — The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- HH — Hyrule Historia
- Pre-Split: SS — MC — FS — OoT
- Continuing from OoT:
- Timeline where Link is defeated by Ganondorf (the initial battle, where both engage in Dead Man's Volley): LttP — LA — OoS/OoA — LBW — TFH — LoZ — AoL
- Timeline where Link defeats Ganon: WW — PH — ST
- Timeline where Link returns to his childhood: MM — TP — FSA
Original Timeline: ALttP — LA — LoZ — AoL (possibly OoX)
I call this the "Original Timeline" because it encompasses the first four Zelda games ever released, apparently before Nintendo started thinking it was funny to watch us argue about the timeline amongst ourselves. ALttP I believe was explicitly stated to be a prequel to LoZ, so it goes first. LA goes next. There isn't much in-game to support this, but I noticed something with this Link's official artwork; he looks identical to ALttP's Link, even the design on the shield. Considering that this game came out only a year later, those two being the same seems totally feasible to me. LoZ/AoL come last, as AoL is a direct sequel to LoZ, which ALttP is a prequel to. The oracle games don't seem to fit in really anywhere particular, so if I had to put them in any timeline but their own, I'd slap them on the end of this one. Ganon is dead and is to be resurrected, so they must take place after LoZ, where he was killed. Din, Nayru, and Farore are present in these games, but not as goddesses, so it's not likely to be the Main Timeline, and there's no mention of Vaati or the Four Sword, so it's not likely to be the Four Sword Timeline either.
Four Sword Timeline: MC — FS — FSA
Fairly simple, MC explains the origins of the Four Sword, FS is the main game featuring the Four Sword, and FSA is the sequel. Vaati's presence in all three seems to further confirm this, if the Four Sword itself wasn't enough. Sure, Ganon, whom Zelda states to have once been a Gerudo named Ganondorf, hijacks the plot at the end, but if this timeline has a separate Link and a separate Zelda, then why not a separate Ganondorf with a similar backstory too? (Also, the Original Timeline's Ganon was said to be a King of Thieves named Ganondorf.) Also, because it wasn't in the original release AND it has nothing to do with the story itself, the Four Swords Dungeon in ALttP should not be taken as canon. And while I cited visual similarities as proof for LA!Link and ALttP!Link being one and the same, MC!Link is not WW!Link. The MC setting is too drastically different, the biggest kicker being the absence of the Triforce in MC and the absence of the Light Force any other game.
.................................................................................. MM — WW — PH — ST
The Main/Ocarina Timeline: SS — OoT — SPLIT<
.................................................................................. TP
SS goes first. I really have no in-game evidence to support this because the game has not come out at the time of me writing this, but Word of God says that it comes before OoT and explains the origins of the Master Sword. Ocarina of Time goes next. Between Word of God saying that it was the first in the series until SS was announced and all future games in this timeline referring to its events in past tense, it seems the most obvious place to put it.
Okay, so the next bit always bugged me. I never understood the Adult/Child split, in neither the naming convention nor the actual concept, but I digress. People always tell me that MM goes on the same side of the split as TP, but why? What evidence is there to that? The way I figure:
- At the end of Ocarina of Time, Link is sent back to his childhood where he does one of two things.
- A) Link tells everyone that Ganondorf is bad news. Presenting evidence of the evil he's already done (killed the Deku Tree, starved the Gorons, and filled the Zoras' deity with monsters) and having the Zoras and Gorons testify, Ganondorf is put on trial.
- He is found guilty.
- His execution fails, he kills one of the sages, and is thrown into the Twilight Realm.
- The events of Twilight Princess happen.
- B) Link fails to realize that stopping Ganondorf in the future doesn't mean he isn't still at large in the past.
- Link immediately leaves to find Navi.
- The events of Majora's Mask happen.
- Meanwhile, while Link is in Termina, Ganondorf rises to power.
- With no hero to stop him, the goddesses flood Hyrule.
- The events of The Wind Waker happen.
- A) Link tells everyone that Ganondorf is bad news. Presenting evidence of the evil he's already done (killed the Deku Tree, starved the Gorons, and filled the Zoras' deity with monsters) and having the Zoras and Gorons testify, Ganondorf is put on trial.
Link has left Hyrule and he's not around, not even in the same dimension. That's why Hyrule was flooded. Why would they need to flood the world if Link was still there? I assume that in the TP side of the split, Link probably settled down somewhere. Malon is usually a popular ship, what with Link working at a ranch by TP (I have problems shipping Link with Zelda. They're often stated to be descendants of their predecessors, and a coupling at any point would effectively make the two cousins. Distant cousins, but cousins still). There's also the idea that the Hero's Shade is OoT!Link, which implies that he became a knight or royal guard after the game.
The rest of the timeline is fairly straightforward. PH comes after WW, it once again takes place in a flooded world and features Tetra. Spirit Tracks is generations later and features Link and Zelda's successors in New Hyrule, the new mainland that Link and Tetra were looking for.
There. That's my two cents. Feel free to point out flaws. The Zelda Timeline is something I love to waste hours of my life contemplating, I'll try to adjust my theory to patch any holes pointed out.
- Child——-MM--TP--FSA/FS--LoZ/Aol--ALttP/OoX/LA
- SS—MC—OoT^Adult—WW/PH—ST
- SS, OoT, WW, MM, PH, TP, and ST are canon. MC being pre-OoT is due to the presence of Skyloft in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword sounding like MC's Wind Tribe. FSA/FS brings Ganon back to the Child Timeline after his death in TP, as does the ritual method mentioned in AoL (the game is Nintendo Hard, so it's not too far a stretch to assume that Twinrova were able to get Link's blood somewhere), ALttP seals the main Ganon plotline, and OoX is connected by the beginning (the complete Triforce calling Link) and ending (Link leaving on a boat).
Let's see. MC predates [=OoT. Why? Hat? The fact that you only interact with a few friendly Gorons and the Minish (whom, I bet, evolve into the Kokiri) may be slightly indicative of the Hyrulean Civil War. (SS could take place before or after. The game isn't released yet!) FS also predates the war. The Split Timeline theory is canon, so OoT leading into MM/TP and WW/PH/ST still holds. Next is Oracle of Seasons, which takes place after MM and shows OoT/MM "kid" Link taking on a new adventure and takes place shortly before Ganon's attempt at power. Twinrova appears at the end hoping to help Ganon by getting rid of=] Hyrule's army his greatest foe. Doesn't work. However, she does succeed in lighting the Flame of Despair, and the Flame of Destruction is also lit in the process. This'll be important later.
Next is timeline fixing. MM-TP and WW-PH-ST take place as usual. But during the Adult timeline, the Ocean King got the worlds wrong and sent Link and Tetra and the ship to Child Timeline's Termina. Over the intervening 200 years or so, the goddesses decided to have some more rule over this area and set up the Lokomos; four of the Lokomos are the old giants, and three more were created. Their tech has advanced enough to include trains. So the timelines are somewhat fixed without any knowledge of it! However, 100 years after TP and shortly after ST, the Hyrules become aware of each other, the two Triforces merge into a single whole, and so do the two worlds. In the process, the train system is removed. With the trains gone, ST Zelda assumes a different name and becomes an adventurer. (I can see it happening!) As a final consequence, there is now only one Link.
This timeline leads to many geographies blending together. Sounds like the weird geography in FSA. The Goddesses also took advantage to fuse the Four Sword and the Master Sword together to be useful regardless of which foe it faces, which explains how the Four Sword can take on Ganon. It also doubles as the Imprisoning War. Yep. ALttP takes place 30-40 years after. After that comes LA. Now remember that the two summoning flames are lit? A certain sorceress finds that little tidbit and uses it to her advantage in Labrynna. If you've been keeping track of time, OoA's "past" takes place 400 years ago — the same time as Oracle of Seasons. And this fangirl loves the thought of having the Hero of Time meeting the Hero of Hyrule (Her nickname for ALttP Link). Both are Links that survived a somewhat depressing adventure along with a classic adventure. But enough fangirling. Ganon is resurrected this time around. Link defeats him, but... not really. Hence the original game and AoL.
I postulate that the two original games should not be included in the timeline theory at all. They exist in an alternate version of Hyrule and do not take place in the same reality as the other games. Here are my reasons:
- Geographical differences
- While it must be acknowledged that every game shows Hyrule looking somewhat different (and this is at least partly due to advancements in game technology), the two original games have the only existing continuity. The Overworld from LoZ can be found in the map of AoL, which can't be said of the other games.
- Additionally, AoL has North Castle — not Hyrule Castle — as well as the six palaces of the crystals, two deserts instead of one, and of course the Great Palace.
- Yes, most of its towns share names with the sages from OoT, but that's just further confusion, because why don't those towns exist in other games too? Only Kakariko Village and Hyrule Castle Town are consistent, and neither of those appear in the NES games.
- Also, the Hyrule of the NES games seems to border an ocean — all other games indicate that Hyrule is landlocked.
- Religious differences
- It has been stated by Word of God that the reason Hyrule in the NES games has a recurring cross motif is because they had intended for Christianity to be the dominant religion in Hyrule. From ALttP onward, the crosses have been quietly removed and we've been treated to the legends of the goddesses. But meanwhile, they're still sitting there in the NES games — on Link's shields, on every tombstone in the cemetery, on the spellbook in LoZ, and in AoL as an actual cross. Since no remakes have been produced, nor are there any known plans to produce them, one must presume that technically, Christianity still exists in the Hyrule of the NES.
- Link's background
- The manual for LoZ suggests that Link is not from Hyrule. This is further confirmed by the authorized comic books, which say that he comes from a neighboring country called Calatia. (While the canonical veracity of supplemental material is questioned by some, Nintendo has stated that the The Legend of Zelda manga are to be taken as canonical. There is therefore no logical reason why this should not also apply to the comics, which came first, especially since there is no manga of the NES games.)
- Link not being native of Hyrule in the NES games makes sense, since the manual further implies that he doesn't know anything about Princess Zelda or the existence of the Triforce until Impa explains things to him. But the Links in all other games are explicitly Hyrule-born — in ALttP he's descended from the knights of the realm, in TP he's a lifelong resident of Ordon Village, etc.
- The Master Sword — or lack thereof
- The Master Sword, fabled weapon which is solely capable of defeating Ganon/dorf, does not appear in the NES games. Instead, LoZ gives us three swords — the Wooden Sword, which does appear in other games, and the White Sword and Magical Sword, which do not. And AoL never upgrades Link's sword at all; he's still using the Magical Sword from the end of LoZ, suggesting that there is no better weapon to be had.
- It's been suggested that the Magical Sword and the Master Sword are the same, and there is nothing to either confirm or deny this, but it doesn't really make sense. The Master Sword, as seen in pretty much every game where it appears, has a blue hilt with wings. The Magical Sword, going by its appearance in the promotional and box art for the NES games, has a gold hilt encrusted with jewels. It's hard to imagine they are the same object.
- Another suggestion has been that, since ALttP ends with the assertion that "the Master Sword sleeps forever," the NES games came later and the Magical Sword is indeed a different weapon. That mostly makes sense... except that if the Blade of Evil's Bane is the only weapon (alongside Light/Silver Arrows) capable of killing Ganon/dorf, then how did the Magical Sword come into existence and how is it able to do the same thing? It obviously does the job, which means that either the Master Sword is not the only blade that can defeat him (and all the games that claim it is are therefore lying), or it's not sleeping forever as ALttP states and was somehow turned into the Magical Sword. The only viable third option is this theory.
- Other items
- In both NES games, Link is able to acquire a magical key which will unlock any door in any dungeon/palace. In all later games, keys are only useable in the dungeon where they are found, and the more recent games add the bonus matter of the boss key. Magical keys do not exist in the Hyrule(s) of the games from ALttP onward.
- They are the only games in which a raft is required to access certain dungeons/palaces.
- Link learns spells in AoL, something he does not do in any other game. He does use magic in other games, but not in the same way.
- Link collects Heart Containers instead of pieces of heart.
- The Triforce! The motherloving Triforce is different!
- In all other games where it is mentioned, the Triforce of Courage selects Link as its bearer, just as the Triforce of Wisdom selects Zelda. But in the NES games, the King of Hyrule (father of the Sleeping Beauty Zelda in AoL) held all three parts, and made the personal decision to split them up; there is no Sacred Realm.
- Furthermore, the backstory of LoZ explicitly states that Ganon stole the Triforce of Power from Zelda, which meshes with the backstory of AoL and its implication that the Triforce parts are treasures of the royal house. Link recovers it for her, then acquires the Triforce of Courage in the next game, so that all three are physically present and in his/Zelda's possession. In all other games, Ganon is more or less the chosen bearer of the Triforce of Power.
For these reasons, and probably for others that I'm not presently thinking of, I think the NES games are in an alternate universe of their own and should be removed from the timeline theories altogether. They are a continuity unto themselves.
- And three years after I posted this theory, Hyrule Historia shows that I was almost right. If I'd included the Oracle games and LTTP, I would have correctly figured out the third branch of the timeline!
Something that I'm surprised I'm the first to guess: Only the games that are developed in-house at Nintendo are canon. So, the Capcom games (FS, FSA, OoS/OoA, and MC) are not. Suddenly, everything's a whole lot easier, isn't it?
After that, the timeline is as follows:
SS -> OoT (timeline splits here):
WW -> PH -> ST
MM -> TP -> ALttP -> LA -> LoZ -> AoL
Now, doesn't that make perfect sense?
- 1st part= {SS}->MC->FS->OoT (Timeline split)
- Child Timeline= {OoT:C->MM->TP}->{ALttP->LA}->{LoZ->AoL}->OoX
- Adult Timeline= {OoT:A->WW->PH->ST}
- Explaination of "1st Part"- Skyward Sword is canonically before Minish Cap and Ocarina of Time.
- Timeline Split: When Link is sent back to his own time at the end of Ocarina, it creates 2 timelines.
- Timeline differences-
- Child- Link is sent back to the time when he first took the Master Sword. Navi leaves. Link tries to find Navi, is assaulted by the Skull Kid, and ends up in Termina (whether or not he ever returned is a different discussion).
- Adult- Link is sent back to the time when he first took the Master Sword (The Child Timeline). Link can only exist in one timeline, so the one where Ganon is sealed away is left without a hero when Ganon returns. Hyrule is flooded to stop Ganon from rising to power again.
- Oracle Games- After beating one of the Oracle games, linking to the other, and beating that one, you learn that this was an attempt by Twinrova to bring Ganon back to life. The reason it's put specifically after LoZ and Zelda II is because Zelda II confirms that Ganon is officially dead. Ganon's minions failed to revive him in Zelda II, so the Oracle games are the last attempt to bring him back. It makes a bit more sense to me than Ganon being revived before Zelda 1.
- Link's Awakening- Word of God says ALttP Link is the same as LA Link. I'll just assume this is true.
- Concerning the Hero Fails timeline: What the hell does this even mean? Until I get a good explanation, I'm sticking with my timeline.
Because Future!Link prevented his first adventure, Present!Link is a stranger to Hyrule, allowing LoZ and Zelda II to take place. Also, because they were sick of this whole cosmic Kudzu Plot, the Goddesses cursed all three Links to have Nintendo Hard stealth levels in a desperate attempt to keep him from completing his various adventures.
Minish Cap is the first game; it never references the Triforce, for the people of Hyrule do not know of its power. Then Four Swords Adventure is Ganon's Start of Darkness. Ocarina of Time is where the timeline split.Now, at the timeline split, we have two possible choices — Link doesn't go to the future and Ganon does take over the world, and then we have the "Good" future where Link does go into the future and stops Ganon.
Ganon stays supreme: LoZ — AoL — OoX — LA — WW — PH — ST
Legend of Zelda is where Hyrule's population first drops. Due partly to hardware limitations, we only see a small fraction of the population; this is justified if we assume that most of the people have been killed because of widespread monsters. Ganon is banished, and Adventures of Link and the Oracle games is Link thwarting Ganon from being resurrected during a population boom. Between the next generation of Links, Ganon is brought back, and starts the initial great flood. Link's Awakening takes place during this time frame, and Link, unaware of the destiny he was supposed to have, ultimately dies out at sea, which leads to the Wind Waker Saga.
Ganon is defeated : MM — TP — ALttP
This timeline is shorter because Ganon is not around as much to cause as much trouble. Being sufficiently weakened, Twilight Princess is his next appearance after being freed; while he is killed, he ultimately corrupts the Twilight Realm. Thus, after a long Time Skip, while Hyrule is prosperous, but the Twilight people have gone extinct in their homeland, which is now what we call the Dark World.
Adult:WW->PH->ST->MC->FS->FSA->LoZ->AoL
Child:MM->TP->LttP->OoX->LA
SS, OoT-ST, and OoT-TP are all confirmed canon. FSA has Ganon revived for LoZ. MC after ST? Because the Triforce has been forgotten in WW, and the "Light Force" in Zelda is likely the Triforce of Wisdom. Knowledge of the Triforce is revived by Ganon himself between FSA and LoZ, and the Great War in LttP takes place between OoT and TP. Am I missing anything?
Child: MM->TP->OoX]Adult: WW->PH->ST->[=ALttP->LA->FS->FSA->LoZ->AoL
The Minish Cap comes first, as the Wind Tribe still lives in the sky at that point. They may descend to Hyrule and abandon the skies in Skyward Sword, which is why you only see Oocca there in Twilight Princess.
Everything between Skyward Sword and Spirit Tracks is canon.
After A Link to the Past, in which Ganon is Killed Off for Real, Link gives the Triforce to the Royal Family of Hyrule, and the King hides the Triforce of Courage in the Great Temple while he and Zelda keep Power and Wisdom respectively. Link's journey to look for other threats to Hyrule brings him to the islands of Old Hyrule where he learns of Vaati and the Four Sword. This information is imparted to the Royal Family afterward. After waiting until the gateway to the Elemental Sanctuary opens again, Zelda brings Link to check on the seal (as only children can see the entrance to the sanctuary) and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords happens.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures features a reincarnation of Ganondorf who receives the previous Ganon's abilities upon gaining the latter's Trident, which functioned as a Soul Jar. This Ganon is sealed into the Four Sword, which he breaks out of in LoZ.
The Oracle games could happen at the end of either timeline, as Ganon is dead and the Triforces reunited in AoL. In Twilight Princess, Ganon is also dead and his Triforce has abandoned him, while Link and Zelda have the other two, so it's logical to think the pieces were brought back together. I place them at the end of the Child Timeline because the Master Sword makes an appearance. In the Adult Timeline, this would conflict with A Link to the Past's line about the Master Sword sleeping forever. Plus, it is possible that the original Twinrova could still be alive as of the end of Twilight Princess.
An alternate placement of The Minish Cap could be between Spirit Tracks and A Link to the Past, in the event that Skyward Sword takes a different direction than predicted or one takes the "Triumph Forks" title in the library to actually be significant. Regardless, the Light Force cannot be the Triforce of Wisdom in either case, since Zelda does not have it prior to Ocarina of Time or between the end of The Wind Waker and the end of A Link to the Past.
Ganon becoming a giant pig monster has little bearing to the timeline, as he can easily switch between being a Gerudo and a giant pig monster in both Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.
Not including the first two Zelda games, and the Four Swords alternate world, all of the series is a single timeline
We start like this:
A) Ocarina of Time. Then Link is returned to his child form and he goes to Termina, thus starting
B) Majora's Mask, and afterwards Link rides Epona into a forest where he finds a temple with the Triforce, teleporting him to
C/D) Oracle of Ages/Seasons, which, after the end, see Link sailing away in a boat, which is struck by lightning in the end, leading to
E) Link's Awakening. He was saved by the Wind Fish and returned to land for him to procreate and have children and tell all the legends.
F) A Link to the Past. Link's reincarnation/descendant has an adventure many years/centuries apart.
G) Twilight Princess. Link defeats Ganondorf, but he isn't dead (How many people die and stay standing anyway?). He returns later, after Link has died of old age, leading the Goddesses to flood the land, which leads to
H) Wind Waker. This leads to
I) Phantom Hourglass. And this FURTHER leads to
J) Spirit Tracks
- (Minish Cap?), Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask happen, with possible other games in-between.
- The split into flooded and not flooded timelines (Majora's Mask may only happen in one of the two timelines, I forget how that worked)
- Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks happen in the flooded timeline
- Twilight Princess happens in the not flooded timeline.
Beyond that, there is no time line beyond "Adventure of Link is after the original game", "Link's Awakening is after Link to the Past" (and possibly something with the Oracle games and their relation to each other as well, haven't played them), and Nintendo's claims otherwise are just to mess with you.
From the games I have played in the series:
1) Ocarina of Time
2) Child Timeline: where Link returns from the future to stop Ganondorf in the present time of Ocarina of Time.
- Majora's Mask
- Twilight Princess
- A Link To The Past
- Link's Awakening
- The Legend Of Zelda
- The Adventures Of Link
3) Adult Timeline: where Link disappears from the future after Ganondorf is sealed and never returns, allowing Ganondorf to break free of his imprisonment and requiring Hyrule to be flooded.
- The Wind Waker
- Phantom Hourglass
- Spirit Tracks
We already know that Split Timeline Theory is canon, so I propose we first determine which timeline the other games take place in. Everyone knows where MM, TP, WW, PH, and ST go; their placements are all canon and are easily verifiable.
OoT (adult) -> WW/PH -> ST
OoT (child)/MM -> TP
Starting with the original LoZ, we literally get nothing to go on. Ganon has the Triforce of Power (just like in almost every other game), Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom (just like in almost every other game). We don't even see any notable landmarks of later games other than Death Mountain. No Hyrule Castle or anything.
Thankfully, AoL is canonically the direct sequel to LoZ, and gives us plenty of context. The Triforce of Courage is scattered — but the most important hint here is the names of the towns. Specifically, they are mostly named after the sages of OoT (in-universe, anyway). In the "child" timeline, Saria, Darunia, Ruto, etc. never became the sages, as seen in TP, and thus there is no reason whatsoever for anyone to name any towns after them. I believe this is sufficient evidence to pin both LoZ and AoL to the "adult" timeline. For the moment, I will abstain from committing them to a placement within that timeline, but note that at the end of AoL, Ganon is dead and the Triforce is assembled at Hyrule Castle.
Next: ALttP. There are a lot of solid hints in this one both ways. However, the state (or rather existence, as I'll explain) of the Dark World leads me to believe that this game, too, resides in the "adult" timeline. In the "child" timeline, Ganon never entered the Sacred Realm, did not spend seven years warping and corrupting it, and thus did not create the Dark World, as he did in the "adult" timeline. One could argue that the placement of the Master Sword in TP is a clear call-back to ALttP, and admittedly WW left the Master Sword stuck in Ganondorf's head at the bottom of the ocean. But stone is slowly eroded by water, the Sword can be swept up in the currents, and who knows where it could have ended up? The Dark World evidence is plain and simple.
LA has been stated to be a direct sequel to ALttP, and I see no reason to dispute said statement. Furthermore, the game's placement in the "adult" timeline allows the sea that swallows Link's ship to be the Great Sea, and even allows for the theory that the Ocean King (from PH) is actually the Wind Fish. Neither theory is necessary for this timeline, but both theories support it.
Next, we'll tackle the Four Swords Trilogy, considered by many to be the toughest games to place. I think MC fits nicely at the beginning of the timeline — before OoT — for several reasons, most (if not all) of which have been stated multiple times already. I'll just say Word of God and Link's hat, and we'll move on.
Let's take a moment to consider the timelines as I've constructed them thus far:
MC -> OoT (adult) -> WW/PH -> ST -> (LoZ, AoL, ALttP)
MC -> OoT (child)/MM -> TP
Four Swords is pretty ambiguous about its placement; really, it could go practically anywhere. No reference to the Triforce or Ganon, and no net result (Vaati begins and ends the game imprisoned in the Four Sword). However, as most people think of FSA as a direct sequel, we'll just look at that.
This one's a doozy. Eiji Aonuma claimed that FS was the oldest tale in the chronology in 2004, before the release of MC but after the release of OoT. Since FSA is a direct sequel to FS, that means Ganon rose to power before OoT. But at the end of FSA, he is sealed inside the Four Sword, while at the beginning of OoT, he has apparently roamed freely for some time as a man, and doesn't have his trademark trident, which he then reacquires later in the series. I am forced to come to the conclusion that every once in a while, the developers just don't think their comments through. I don't believe they have a master timeline, and I don't believe they care. They just want to make fun games without worrying about how they all tie in to some grand overarching plot, and I don't blame them. Disregarding Aonuma's comment, this one is left open to interpretation: either FS does take place before OoT, but FSA is not a direct sequel to it, or both games take place after OoT, and FSA is a direct sequel.
The end result is the same because, as I said before, FS is completely irrelevant to the plot. For the purpose of neatness, I'm going to tack FS onto the beginning of FSA. So which timeline do they fit into? Not as hard a question as you might think; just look at the overworld map. Anyone who has ever played ALttP should recognize it instantly, as the overworlds are practically identical. One notable difference is that now we can see that Hyrule is surrounded on all sides by water. The Great Sea, perhaps? As if that's not enough, this game explains the origins of Ganon's trident — which he wields in ALttP. It has a connection to the Dark World (or, at the very least, a dark world). It ends with Ganon being locked inside the Four Sword, and lo and behold, in the GBA re-release of ALttP, Link can travel through the Palace of the Four Sword, battle four shadow Links, and take up said sword to smite Ganon. How about that final scene of FSA, showing the Four Sword surrounded by a kind of prism of light? It looks awfully familiar, maybe because the old ALttP artwork included a picture of the great beast trapped within a pyramid of light, surrounded by dead knights. There is one potential problem here: Ganon is alive at the beginning of FSA, but dead at the end of all other games in this timeline. However, death has never stopped him before. He manages to come back from the dead in LoZ, the bad end of AoL, and partly in OoX. In short, even though Link is usually able to thwart his (or his minions') efforts to resurrect himself, he is clearly capable of doing so. Zelda even calls him the "ancient demon reborn", possibly implying that he is, in fact, the original Ganon resurrected. This might just be from the English translation, but anyway it's the least of my evidence.
I don't think I have to argue my point any further, though I could. FSA is clearly a precursor to ALttP, and once you accept that, everything else just falls right into place.
MC -> OoT (adult) -> WW/PH -> ST -> FS/FSA -> ALttP/LA -> LoZ/AoL
MC -> OoT (child)/MM -> TP
Once could argue that LoZ and AoL could come between ST and FS, but I would point to the Triforce as proof otherwise. After WW, it should have gone back to the Sacred Realm (/Dark World). Ganon and Zelda would have no business possessing their pieces in LoZ, and how exactly did the Triforce of Courage wind up scattered across the land? No, I think it simply makes more sense for LoZ to come after ALttP. Since he was in the Dark World with it at that point, Ganon probably tried to seize the Triforce again, but for the second time, it rejected him and split into three pieces. Ganon died, but the Triforce was not united. He could be revived and reobtain the Triforce of Power, Zelda can keep the Triforce of Wisdom, handing it down until it gets to LoZ Zelda, and there's even room for the AoL backstory to take place somewhere between ALttP and LoZ.
Wary Zelda fans will note that the only games missing from the timeline now are the Oracle games. Honestly, there are a few places they can fit into, but I have a preference. First, why not after TP? It makes sense. Kotake and Koume (Twinrova) would still be alive, and there's no reason it couldn't. But I'll be honest: I prefer placing it at the end of the "adult" timeline, for one reason: the Triforce. At the beginning of OoX, Link is sent on his quest by the Triforce itself, hovering before him in Hyrule Castle. Only — only — at the end of AoL is the Triforce fully assembled in Hyrule Castle. The rest of the plot works out very cleanly. The way I see it, Ganon's minions failed to kill AoL Link and use his blood to revive Ganon. Years later, said Link presumably having died of natural causes, they have to resort to this crazy scheme of lighting the flames of Destruction, Sorrow, and Despair to bring back their king. Ganon even has his Trident, which he obtained in FSA, used again in ALttP, and was mysteriously missing in LoZ (though some ALttP artwork depicting the LoZ Ganon with his Trident may have been an early attempt at a retcon, ...Or So I Heard). As icing on the cake, you have the Maku Trees, which smack of WW's Great Deku Tree's aspirations of planting trees all around the Great Sea, in an attempt to increase the landmass... Look closely at a couple of maps of Labrynna (from Ages), one of the "past" overworld, the other of the "present" overworld. The past has noticably more water! The size of Tokay Island is smaller, the size of the island in the middle of the Sea of Storms is smaller, a small island suddenly appears in the "present" in the southwest corner — but you really only have to look at eastern Labrynna to see a clear difference. This obvious increase in landmass happens while the Maku Tree grows from a sprout to a huge talking tree. Sure, it could be a coincidence, especially since the Oracle games were made before WW. It probably is a coincidence! But it's an awesome coincidence that just works.
The only problem I can think of with my placement of OoX is Twinrova, who dies in the "adult" timeline of OoT. And that's not even really a problem, depending on how much you trust Zant. In TP, Zant claims that his death means little, as Ganondorf is powerful enough to revive him rather easily. If this is true, I see no reason for Ganon not to revive his surrogate mothers, and he would have had ample opportunities to do so, whether just before the Great Flood, or during WW, or during FSA, or during ALttP, or during LoZ...
And so, I present to you my final draft of the timeline, with a closing statement: Zelda sent Link back to his childhood in OoT, knowing full well that such an action would create a separate reality from her own, one in which none of the evils which had befallen her kingdom in the prior seven years would take place, in which her father would live, the villain would be punished, and the hero rewarded. It was her hope that her actions would create a future for Hyrule that would be free of the destruction, suffering, and despair which plagued her own reality, and, if my theory is correct, by and large she succeeded. At least, until Nintendo decides they want to exploit that timeline for games, too.
MC -> OoT (adult) -> WW/PH -> ST -> FS/FSA -> ALttP/LA -> LoZ/AoL -> OoX
MC -> OoT (child)/MM -> TP
TL;DR Vaati is still alive in the "child" timeline, hurry up Nintendo and put him in a 3D game!
*cough* thank you for reading.
- Who posted this? Anyway, confirmed for the former. Response posted by bwburke94 immediately after the reveal.
- I did.
- There isn't really a timeline. It's just a 1-player Super Mario Bros. with a medieval motif.
- They really do take place in chronological order. None of the Zeldas or Links or any other recurring character are the same respective person.
- Evidence: Word of God stated there are multiple Links. The prince in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link decreed a new law that required every princess be named Zelda. As for Ganon/Ganondorf, you think that one out.
- Not only which, but the Schizo Tech is actually progress in technology.
- Evidence: Word of God stated there are multiple Links. The prince in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link decreed a new law that required every princess be named Zelda. As for Ganon/Ganondorf, you think that one out.
We are all taking a similar route. Maybe it's possible that there are three or more timelines? It's never exactly stated whether or not the timeline spilts at a certain point.
It's possible that during/after Wind Waker, the timeline split again, going on to either Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks or the first two Zelda games. In Spirit Tracks, we are told that WW Link and Tetra had found the large amount of land called New Hyrule. Now imagine if they hadn't found it... Look at the map for the original Zelda game. It's spurned with bodies of water and barely any civilization other than some very old temples and a graveyard. Maybe the land found in the first Zelda games was Hyrule that rose again? OR possibly both Hyrules are living within the same timeline. It's possible that in a different timeline, New Hyrule was found and colonized, leading to the Oracle games, albeit with different names for the mass of land.
Now, many say that there can only be one Link per game arc, but I find that strange. It's never stated that there isn't another Link. A Link is often someone chosen by sheer luck, but a few Links, such as Wind Waker Link (who was outright told that he wasn't the next incarnation), still decide to fight evil and win because they earn their title as a Link. Maybe Link's Awakening took place at the same time as Phantom Hourglass and Wind Waker.
We are to believe that Minish Cap takes place before Ocarina of Time, but very small detail is given whether or not this is true, other than the traditional green hat origin.
Now, all might say that Child Link in Ocarina of Time leads to Twilight Princess. I see that Majora's Mask has connections to the Twili in Twilight Princess, but I feel that it doesn't add up. Maybe the timeline splits again?
Here are two possiblities regarding Majora's Mask:
1-Link left Termina and went back to Hyrule, thus creating Twilight Princess
OR
2-Link stayed, giving a connection to Wind Waker even in the Child timeline.
It's actually possible that Wind Waker could come from Majora's Mask. If Termina didn't exist in the Adult timeline, Wind Waker Hyrule would have been flooded for very little reason other than an ineffective lock on Ganondorf. If my "Stayed in Termina" theory is correct, the influence with the Moon in Majora's Mask might have caused great calamity in Hyrule, such as earthquakes, a messed up calendar, or even massive floods as seen in Wind Waker.
Also, seeing how all Arcs have a Ganondorf, an unexplained Eldritch Abomination, or a Wizard bent on bringing Ganon back, the timelines are often scattered because of the villains. Ganondorf was possibly split into two beings after Ocarina of Time, each given a different lock. In such a scenario, it is most likely that Ganondorf (the humanish form) was imprisoned by the Master Sword while Ganon (the beast form) was imprisoned by a different relic. Twilight Princess holds the idea that both forms escaped at the same time, while Wind Waker only has the Humanish Ganondorf. Maybe in Spirit Tracks, 'Malladus' is possibly a form of Ganon imprisoned by the tracks.
Many other villains can be connected to Majora or the Three Goddesses themselves. Seriously, the oh-so-subtle hints in Majora Mask and Ocarina of Time hint that many of the stranger anatagonists are connected to the Eldritch Abominations. In my theory, Majora and others are possibly Chessmasters in the world of Legend of Zelda (think Higurashi or Umineko, messing with lives for sport).
Maybe all of the games are connected in different universes? Maybe every game splits into different outcomes, connecting to all of the other corresponding games? Don't worry about Timeline Order and try looking at connections no matter what order a game might be in; there are many connections to ALL of the games that are ignored or blown out or proportion.
Sorry for my rambling.
First off, the divergence dates all the way back to Ocarina of Time itself, which is my starting point.
The first in the timeline is Ocarina, as both the official Nintendo guide (which is an IC guide for the game) and hints provided by other games in the series seem to indicate that OoT chronicled the "Imprisoning War" that Ganon lost. It's also the part wherein he is shown to first gain the Triforce of Power, which he's had throughout the series.
Ocarina of Time -> Timeline Split between the Adult timeline, which Link disappeared from, and the Child Timeline, where he returned.
Adult Timeline then follows as such: Wind Waker (note this is the second awakening of the Master Sword in this Timeline) -> A Link to the Past (this game acknowledges the Imprisoning War, which didn't happen in the Child Timeline. Also, the Master Sword is said to "sleep forever" once Link returns it to the pedestal) -> Link's Awakening (This was the same Link who defeated Ganon in ALttP. IIRC, the instruction manual notes that this Link was "troubled by visions of other Evil after defeating Ganon." This Link later either dies at sea, which would be quite fitting knowing the fate of the Hero of Time, or he hitches a ride with the Wind Fish and returns home to Zelda.) -> The Legend of Zelda (Ganon is in his "pig-sorcerer form", which was a mainstay of the series until the Timeline divergence concept was introduced) -> The Adventure of Link (Ganon in this timeline was probably defeated once and for all, as we see Link reclaiming the Triforce of Power from Ganon's corpse, which was his source of resurrection).
The Child Timeline (which I believe is the current timeline, if Nintendo decided to follow-up Twilight Princess) follows like this: Majora's Mask (Link is explicitly stated to be the Hero of Time. The Hero of Time then probably gets lost in the Lost Woods on his way back from Hyrule, as he has no guiding fairy, and transforms into the Hero's Spirit, which looks exactly like a Stalfos. Either that, or he somehow returned to Hyrule and fathered children with either Malon or Zelda, as the Hero of Twilight IS implied to be descended from the Hero of Time. He then went back to the Lost Woods, I guess, and got lost. OR, for a third option, the Post-Traumatic Stress of the Imprisoning War left him so shellshocked that he never found peace and thus his Spirit remained restless to pass on his techniques to his descendant.) -> Twilight Princess (As stated earlier, the Hero's Spirit, implied to be that of the Hero of Time, refers to Link as "my son", implying that Link is descended from the Hero of Time. And the Hero of Time vanished entirely from the Adult timeline.)
- The Adventure of Link backstory (Princesses are named Zelda)
- Minish Cap (Skyward Sword likely comes before or after here, but I'm not making any firm statements until release)
- OoT
- Child Timeline
- Majora's Mask (Direct sequel)
- Twilight Princess (Ganon(dorf) is exectutedish for his attempted betrayal in OoT)
- Imprisoning War and A Link to the Past (They can only happen in the Child timeline, as Ganon(dorf) hasn't gotten to the Sacred Realm prior in ALttP's backstory; alternately, ALttP and linked stories takes place before OoT and Link's wish that Ganon(dorf)'s actions be undone is a Reset Button)
- Link's Awaking (Direct sequel, natch) and The Ancient Stone Tablets (if canon, also direct sequel)
- Original Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link (Word of God places them after LttP), there is also too much land for them to be in the once flooded adult timeline
- Adult Timeline
- Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks (natch)
- Child Timeline
- MC -> FS -> FSA
These come first, as the Triforce was worshiped before the Master Sword was forged. The Hero of the Four Swords, after the adventure, travels as an ambassador to another kingdom, where he is observed by that kingdom's hero while sleeping in an inn. He learns of that hero's heritage in yet another world, one dominated by a peculiar religion. Tales of this religion are kept in a separate room of the Hyrule Castle, with portraits of figures from that kingdom, to be revisited later...
- SS
Then comes the Master Sword.
Next we see the rise of the Hero of Time. He appears in:
- OoT -> MM -> The CDi games.
As much as I would like to adhere to the No CDi rule, it has to be here. More on that later...
There are two times in which the Hero of Time is returned to where he started after his adventures, and both of these times creates a new timeline, for a total of three timelines corresponding to the three goddesses.
Timeline of Din
- OoT -> OoS -> WW -> PH -> ST
The Hero of Time travels forward in time seven years. Over seven years, the evil of Ganon so infests the world that, some fifty to seventy years later, when another hero named Link is summoned by the timeline's patron goddess, the forest he is summoned to is still dark with evil. The destruction lights a mythical Flame of Destruction which resonates across all timelines, culminating in a world so dark it must be flooded. Enter Wind Waker, in which the Triforce is set in balance and Ganon is destroyed. The last wish on the Triforce sends the new Link and Tetra on a new journey, and a hundred years later, another Link and Zelda have another adventure.
Timeline of Nayru
- OoT (averted) -> MM -> OoA -> TP -> ALttP -> LA
The Hero of Time warns of a possible future of destruction, and Ganondorf is imprisoned in the Twilight Realm, which he slowly begins corrupting into the Dark World. The Hero then goes to meet a friend, but disappears and never returns. Some fifty to seventy years later, another hero named Link is summoned by the timeline's patron goddess to a still-light forest. The loss of the Hero of Time at a young age still resonates with such sorrow that the adventure lights a mythical Flame of Sorrow which resonates across all timelines. Again, the hero named Link disappears, and Ganon attempts to free himself using a magic mirror to send the humanoid Ganondorf version of himself from the Twilight Realm he exists in to the Light World, but is defeated. He waits until the bloodline of the Hero of Time is nearly dead, and tries once again, this time masking his humanoid form as a wizard. The last descendant of the Hero of Time arises, and, as per the Triforce, this Hero of the Cataclysm completely destroys Ganon so that the Master Sword may rest forever in the same pedestal-in-what-was-a-temple that was in the same forest-which-once-bordered-the-capital-city that the previous hero retrieved it from. The Hero of the Cataclysm then experiences a shipwreck in which he dreams of a flying whale and having a sword even more powerful than the golden sword which was even more powerful than the Master Sword.
Timeline of Farore
- OoT -> MM (both averted) -> CDi -> LoZ -> AoL -> OoX combined ending
The Hero of Time earns his title, causing two alternate timelines by trying to return to his life before two major adventures to set right what went wrong. Under his guard, Hyrule Castle and its monarchy remains and Ganon is never banished to an alternate dimension where he can gather godly power. Meanwhile, using skills learned from embedding spirits within masks, the Triforce is deconstructed into powerful artifacts. Ganon eventually escapes into the mortal realm, but stays clear of Hyrule and the Hero of Time, causing a peace which all true warriors strive for. Eventually, he attacks and is trapped into a mythic book. When he escapes, the King of Hyrule decides to fight him head-on using the physical manifestation of the power of the goddesses, the Triforce of Courage. When the Triforce of Courage does not protect him, the resulting agnosticism results in an outbreak of Christianity as long passed in the archives of Hyrule Castle, so that, years later, when the slowly-turning-into-a-pig-creature Ganon is again released, crosses appear as common symbols. Like his earlier confrontation with the Hero of Time, Ganon causes the current Princess Zelda to enter a deep sleep, but she breaks the now-very-tangible Triforce into eight pieces. A series of two adventures restores the Triforce and sees the new Link kill Ganon. Some fifty to seventy years after the life of the Hero of Time, a Princess Zelda is captured by a trans-dimensional witch in a plot that spans three timelines, causing the lighting of the Flame of Despair (Despair being present in the lack of courage, which the patron goddess of this timeline exemplifies). Through another trans-dimensional being, the Heroes named Link of at least two of the timelines are sent through a portal to fight Ganon, who is being resurrected in this timeline (as he is not dead but merely trapped in the other timelines.)
SS->MC->...LA->...->OoT->
- Split:Child:WW->PH->ST->OoS/OoA->Rewrite with kidnap of Zelda and resurrection of Ganon.->...->LoZ->AoL-> "future" games
- Adult:MM->TP->... OoA/OoS
- As a Youtube theorist pointed out, neither LoZ nor AoL make any mention of any triforce piece other than Wisdom, which Zelda scattered when Ganon broke out of his seal (for the umpteenth time), nor does the Master Sword make an appearance. We can therefore assume that those particular legends have been lost to the ages. In this way, it makes sense that the first Zelda story arc released is the farthest in the future compared to the others.
1. OoT: it shows him as a kid. If it's not the first in his lifetime, then he was fighting Ganon as a fetus!
2. MM: direct sequel.
3. OOx: features recurring characters and themes from the first two. Link is still travelling outside of Hyrule as he was in MM. Ganon was executed, so it makes sense for there to be a plan to revive him.
4. LoZ: 7 years after OoT. Link, still on his travels, comes upon Impa. Ganon has somehow been revived and has led an army to attack Hyrule! Only Link can gather the Triforce of Wisdom and stop him. (This has a nice effect of having the crapsack world Ganon made in the adult timeline that was erased come full circle.)
5. AoL: Direct sequel. (If you're wondering why the Triforce of Courage isn't on him, I surmised that since after time travel Ganon never got his hands on the Triforce, the first time he does is in LoZ, when Link was traveling.)
6. LA: the manual places it after Ganon's death and it is a dream with symbolism relating to Link's youth. (Such as the talking Owl.)
First off, this theory relies on one specific and very Wild Mass Guess. There are Two Ganons: a blue pigman with a Trident, and the Triforce of Power-owning Wizard Ganondorf. They shall henceforth be referred to as Ganon (Trident) and Ganon (Wizard).
Pre-Timeline Split:
Skyward Sword is first up, Word of God.
Next is Minish Cap, this is practically universal.
Next up is Four Swords (Or not at all, if you don't consider it canon).
Third is Four Swords Adventures; it is here that Ganon (Trident) makes his appearance, stealing the Trident and becoming the Manbearpig. Vatti dies and Ganon (Trident) is sealed in the Four Sword in his place.
OoT comes next, we all know how this goes down, Ganon (Wizard) makes his appearance.
Child Timeline:Majora's Mask, non-debatable.
Twilight Princess, also fairly unanimous. Ganon (Wizard) Dies.
Next is A Link to the Past, the Master Sword being located in the woods and not, you know, Ganon's (Wizard) skull chest is proof enough. Ganon (Trident) Dies.
Link's Awakening, pretty sure this is stated to be ALttP Link.
Oracle game: honestly, these two are troublesome. However, I believe both take place in this timeline, one after the other. They MAY use ALttP Link. My main reason for putting them in this timeline is Twinrova, they would be dead in Adult. Ganon (Trident) is revived and killed once more.
Adult Timeline:Wind Waker. Ganon (Wizard) Dies. Master Sword is lost to the Sea.
Phantom Hourglass. New Hyrule is founded some time after.
Spirit Tracks. These three are non-debatable.
Zelda 1. Ganon (Trident) Dies.
Zelda 2.
Pre-Split: MC > FS > FSA > OoT.
Child Timeline: MM > TP > ALTTP > LA > Oracle.
Adult Timeline: WW > PH > ST > Zelda 1 > Zelda 2 [strikeout]>CDi Games[/strikeout]
There are flaws, however::There is no explanation for Ganon (Trident) escaping his seal in the Four Sword in either timeline, or how he got to the Dark Realm in ALttP.:Zelda II Zelda being in New Hyrule. I'd like to chalk that one up to 'A Godess did it'.
Finally, Skyward Sword — I'm withdrawing from placing that anywhere until futher information is obtained, but a wild guess puts it inbetween FSA and OoT.
Skyward Sword and Minish Cap could be one way around or the other, I'm pending Skyward Sword to confirm whether or not Hyrule has existed as a kingdom prior. Four Swords and Four Swords Adventure could take place in the meantime, as I consider this Ganon to be different to the one in the other games; either way, after MC or FSA, Ocarina of Time happens and splits the timeline apart.
Adult Timeline: WW — PH — ST — LoZ — AoL — OoX
Wind Waker takes place a long time after Ocarina of Time, and in that time, the Master Sword has been moved specifically to serve as Hyrule's seal, and there is a statue honouring the Hero of Time; yet, even pre-flood, his age was forgotten. Six of the sages are also honoured in the castle, as is the Triforce. Finally, there are two portraits — one of Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, the last King, and one of the last Princess Zelda, his daughter, and her courtiers, who are ancestors to Tetra's crew. The Triforce of Courage split into fragments when its bearer disappeared from the world, and remained hidden. After the flood, the Zora evolve into the Rito, possibly via the interference of Jabun or Valoo, and the Kokiri become the Koroks when they leave the forest. In Phantom Hourglass, the World of the Ocean King is a section of the Great Sea, but was formerly an Ocean even before the Great Flood; the Gorons on the sea are a tribe which moved there across the sea long before the flood. At the end, Link, Tetra, Linebeck, and the Ghost Ship are sent back in time to 10 minutes after Link boarded the ship by Ciela's power. Spirit Tracks follows this with a new land that has been discovered, 100 years later. Alfonzo is Gonzo's descendant, and Niko is possibly the only survivor of the crew, given he has at least two of Link's possessions. The guard uniform is in honour of the Hero of Winds, while Tetra became the first reigning Princess of the new Kingdom. Spirit Track's Link is of no relation to the Hero of Winds, who may have married Tetra. By the time of Legend of Zelda, the door to the sacred realm has been remade, and the Triforce claimed by the king mentioned in Adventure of Link's backstory. Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages' Twinrova are followers of Ganon who escape and plan to revive him.
Child Timeline: MM — TP — (FS-FSA) — ALttP — LA/KnS -- OoX
Majora's Mask features the Hero of Time, searching for Navi; in the end, he returns home to Hyrule, and ultimately settles down and has children, but never teaches anyone his skills until he dies. When he came back from the past, he still has the Triforce of Courage; this causes the rest of the Triforce to split, Wisdom becoming Zelda's, and Ganondorf receiving Power. Ganondorf, however, either does not realise he has, or decides not to use, the Triforce of Power until his execution. His seeming disinterest in obtaining the remainder of the Triforce is because he considers himself blessed by the gods to have received any of it at all, in comparison to his Wind Waker self, who could have had it all, only for it to slip through his fingers. The Hero's Shade is the Hero of Time, and the ancestor of Twilight Princess's Link. Ordon Province, though not part of Hyrule proper, is in the former south of Hyrule Field and on close terms with Hyrule. Hyrule Castle is moved up north as well, though the Temple of Time is left in ruins and eventually becomes the new Lost Woods. Four Sword and Four Sword Adventure could also take place here given the geography of Four Swords Adventure compared to A Link to the Past. A Link to the Past either involves a revived Twilight Princess Ganon, or Four Sword Adventures Ganon who escaped his seal in the Four Sword, only to be trapped in the Sacred Realm, but able to claim the Triforce. The Imprisoning War is a combination of Four Sword Adventures, tales told about the Hero of Time which have naturally been interpreted as having taken place in that timeline, and possibly some other events if ALttP Ganon is TP Ganon. ALttP is then followed by Link's Awakening for Link himself, and Kodai no Sekiban/Ancient Stone Tablets in Hyrule with a different Hero. This timeline finishes off with Oracle of Ages/Oracle of Seasons in the opposite order to how they happen in the Adult Timeline, though here Twinrova is possibly the one from Ocarina of Time.Still Pending on where to place Freshly Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, possibly pre-Minish Cap.
On the adult timeline side of OoT, Ganon(dorf) is sealed in the Sacred Realm, which becomes the Evil Realm/Dark World. Centuries later, Ganon uses Agahnim as a puppet in an attempt to break out of the Dark World, the events of ALttP take place, and Link kills Ganon and takes the Triforce to Hyrule Castle. Koume and Kotake (who revived themselves after their battle with Link in OoT) plot to resurrect Ganon, and the events of OoS and OoA take place, ending with Ganon being defeated. Centuries pass, Ganondorf returns, and since there's no Link to stop him, the goddesses flood Hyrule to prevent Ganondorf from taking over. Time passes (decades?), the events of WW occur, and Ganondorf is defeated for good. PH is the direct sequel to WW, Link gets caught in a storm, the events of LA occur, a hundred years pass, and ST is the last game in the adult timeline.
On the child timeline side of OoT, Ganondorf is put on trial, but instead of being executed (which doesn't work thanks to the Triforce of Power), he's banished into the Twilight Realm. A year later, Link leaves Hyrule, is attacked by Skull Kid, and the events of MM take place. Link manages to return to Hyrule, at least a couple of centuries pass, and the events of TP occur. Many, many centuries pass (during which the back stories of both AoL and MC occur), and the events of MC take place; the events of FS occur a few years later, with FSA being a direct sequel. Ganondorf is sealed into the Four Sword, and after a few centuries or so, he breaks out, steals the Triforce of Power, kidnaps Zelda, and the events of LoZ take place, with the events of AoL occuring two years later.
In summary:
- Before the Split: SS — OoT
- Adult Timeline: ALttP, OoS, OoA — WW, PH, LA — ST
- Child Timeline: MM — TP — MC, FS, FSA — LoZ, AoL
- Pre-split: SS — MC, FS, FSA — OoT
- Child Timeline: MM — TP — ALttP, LA — OoX
- Adult Timeline: WW, PH — ST — LoZ, AoL
Ok. First, the placement of Skyward Sword is something of a guess as it hasn't come out yet, and it could well go between Minish Cap and Four Swords (although no later). Second, any mistakes are likely due to the fact I've only played Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. The rest of my information is largely from Zeldapedia.
I've built up this timeline based on three constants in the Zelda games: Ganon and Ganondorf; the Master Sword; the Triforce.
We start with Ganon/Ganondorf. Ganondorf first becomes Ganon prior to the events of FSA, when he enters the sacred Pyramid and transformed into Ganon. At the end of the game, he is defeated by the four Links and sealed in the Four Sword. Sometime after this, he escapes the seal of the Four Sword (possibly with help from Koume and Kotake) as Ganondorf, and he becomes leader of the Gerudo again. He explains his acts as the result of possession, and by aiding the King of Hyrule during the civil war, he is able to gain his trust.
This leads into the events of OoT, wherin Ganondorf has established himself as a trusted ally of Hyrule. During the game, he betrays the King and, with Link’s unwitting help, breaks into the Sacred Realm. This leads to the split in the timeline.
After gaining the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf successfully takes over Hyrule before being defeated by Link and sealed again, this time in the Sacred Realm. Link is sent back in time and is removed from the adult timeline, but his heroic spirit remains. Over time, Ganondorf manages to escape the Sacred Realm, leading to the flooding of Hyrule and the creation of the Great Sea. Eventually, Link is born on Outset Island and the events of WW occur. Ganondorf is unsealed, and then he is killed by Link. Ganondorf is now dead in the adult timeline. However, Ganon is still alive.
Link and Tetra found New Hyrule, and Ganon finds his way there during the centuries following WW. Eventually, when New Hyrule has fallen into ruin, Ganon begins to gain power and followers. However, a new Link is born and the events of LoZ occur. Ganon is finally killed by the silver arrows, and now both Ganon and Ganondorf are dead.
In the child timeline, Ganondorf is captured before he can access the Sacred Realm. The sages attempt to execute him, but he escapes into the Twilight Realm. Here, he poses as a god and manipulates Zant in order to invade Hyrule. He fights Link as both himself and Ganon, but he is killed on Hyrule Field. Ganon, however, lives on, and is sealed in the Sacred Realm.
Ganon warps the Sacred Realm into his own image, and projects himself into Hyrule as the wizard Agahnim. The events of ALttP end as Ganon is confronted and killed by Link. However, his surrogate mothers, Koume and Kotake, are still alive in the child timeline, and during the events of OoT they attempt to revive him. Ganon is briefly revived as a mindless beast before being killed for the last time.
So from this, we are given the order:
- FSA – OoT (child) – TP – LttP – OoX
- .........OoT (adult) – WW – LoZ
Now, the Master Sword. The Master Sword is created sometime during SS, although it is not yet known what happened to it following this. It is later found by Link during the events of FS, where it can be obtained in the Realm of Memories. Following the events of this game, the Master Sword is housed in the Temple of Time until it is needed again.
During the events of OoT, Link unlocks the Door of Time and pulls out the Master Sword from its pedestal. He uses the Master Sword to defeat Ganon in the adult timeline before he is sent back in time. At this point, the Master Sword remains in the adult timeline, although changes to the child timeline when Link returns to the past mean it also exists there. Adult Zelda takes the Master Sword and stores it underneath Hyrule Castle.
During WW, Link explores Hyrule Castle and discovers the Master Sword. He takes it and uses it to kill Ganondorf, at which point he leaves it in Ganondorf’s head. The Master Sword is therefore lost under the sea and is never used again in the adult timeline.
At the end of OoT, the Master Sword still exists in the child timeline and is left in the Temple of Time. However, between OoT and TP, the Master Sword moves to the Sacred Grove in the Lost Woods through the intervention of the goddesses. It is found here during TP, and is then replaced following Ganondorf’s defeat.
During ALttP, another Link finds the Master Sword in the Lost Woods and uses it to defeat Ganon. He too replaces it in the pedestal, and (according to the text) it is never used again. However, a second Master Sword is forged during the events of OoX, which Link can use in his adventure.
So from this, we are given the order:
- SS – FS – OoT (child) – TP – LttP – OoX
- ..............OoT (adult) – WW
Finally, the Triforce. The Triforce first appears during SS. During the game Link finds and assembles the Triforce in the Silent Realm (which I think is the Sacred Realm). It then reappears in OoT, where it is intact and hidden in the Sacred Realm. During Ganondorf’s attack on Hyrule, the Triforce is broken into three pieces (Wisdom, Courage, and Power) and goes to Zelda, Link, and Ganondorf, respectively. After Ganondorf’s defeat in the adult timeline, he and Zelda both retain their pieces, but the Triforce of Courage is broken after Link vanishes, and is scattered across Hyrule.
During WW, Link finds the pieces of the Triforce of Courage and brings them to Ganon’s Tower. Tetra, descended from OoT's Zelda, already holds the Triforce of Wisdom, and Ganondorf still retains the Triforce of Power from OoT. When the three come together, the Triforce is reunited and used to flood the remains of Hyrule. The Triforce once again splits into three, and each bearer is reunited with their respective piece.
Long after the events of WW, Ganon finds his way to New Hyrule (now known simply as Hyrule). He retains the Triforce from the events of WW, and the Zelda of this game holds the Triforce of Wisdom, which has been passed down from her ancestor, Tetra. The Triforce of Courage has been passed to Royal Family for safekeeping, and is stored in the Great Palace. Prior to LoZ, Zelda breaks the Triforce of Wisdom into eight shards and hides them from Ganon. Link then gathers them during the game, and he takes the Triforce of Power from Ganon after defeating him. In AoL, he also obtains the Triforce of Courage from the Great Palace, thus reuniting the Triforce once more.
In the child timeline, the Triforce remains intact in the Sacred Realm until the events of ALttP, wherein it is transferred to Hyrule Castle and remains there. Link visits Hyrule Castle during OoX, where he finds the intact Triforce.
So from this, we are given the order:
- OoT (child) – ALttP – OoX
- OoT (adult) – WW – LoZ, AoL
If we take these three timelines, we can merge the information we are given to get:
- (FSA) – SS – (FSA) – FS – (FSA) – OoT (child) – TP – ALttP – OoX
- ..................................................OoT (adult) – WW – LoZ, AoL
We are missing LA, MC, MM, PH, and ST, and FSA is not clearly placed. However, this is easily cleared up.
Vaati appears in three games – FS, FSA, and MC. MC chronicles his first appearance, and he transforms from his Minish form into the giant eyeball he is in FS and FSA. Thus, MC precedes both these games. Vaati begins both FS and FSA sealed in the Four Sword, but FS ends with him sealed again, while FSA ends with his death. Thus, the order is MC, FS, FSA.
PH is a direct sequel to WW, featuring the same Link and Tetra from the previous game, and thus goes immediately after WW. ST also incorporates WW and PH into its backstory and contains many references which place it after these two games, thus giving the order WW, PH – ST.
LA’s final boss, Nightmare, morphs into the forms of Moldorm, Agahnim, and Ganon, amongst others. While Moldorm and Ganon are both recurring bosses, only the Link from ALttP ever fought Agahnim. Therefore, this puts LA as a direct sequel to ALttP on the timeline.
MM directly references OoT and is a clear sequel to the game, so is thus placed directly after the child timeline of OoT.
Some argue that OoX should happen prior to LA, since OoX ends with Link sailing away and LA begins with him shipwrecked. However, OoX’s Link meets Zelda for the first time in these games, and I have already placed LA as being a sequel to ALttP.
Thus, we are left with the timeline:
- SS – MC – FS – FSA – OoT (child), MM – TP – ALttP, LA – OoX
- .................................OoT (adult) – WW, PH – ST – LoZ, AoL
- This theory is one of the split timeline theories, and I have tried to ensure its cohesion.
With the release of several of the recent games, most of the timeline has already been put together, and requires no debate.
- Adult Timeline
- Child Timeline
All of this data has been confirmed. Thus, the games in need of review are MC, FSAnote , OoS/OoA, ALttP, LA, LoZ, and AoL.
FSA follows behind MC, LA follows ALttP, and AoL follows LoZ, thus putting three pieces of the puzzle mostly together. Next, it's a case of looking at plot points in the earlier games to see which ones match up.
With the events of ST, and New Hyrule only having been settled for 100 years, this is the right avenue of time for the events of MC. Because the Picori are only visible to children, and the door only opening once in a hundred years, it is entirely possible that Toon Link and Tetra noticed the Lokomos, but missed the opportunity to consult with the Picori, something that can plausibly take place soon after the events of ST. This, of course, leads to MC, probably 200 or so years after ST. Thus, the timeline becomes as follows:
Adult Timeline:SS -> OoT -> WW -> PH -> ST -> MC -> FSA
Support for this is evidenced by the fact that neither MC or FSA have the Master Sword or the Triforce, which were sealed away in Old Hyrule. They do, however, have force gems.
Next, we return to the Child timeline. With Ganondorf's death in TP, and the continued existence of the Triforce and Master Sword, Ganon's loss of the Triforce of Power, and the continued exixtence of Twinrova, the stage is set for the next game immediately to be OoS/OoA. Since Ganon has been resurrected as a mindless beast in a semicorporeal form, he must be sealed, not killed. These events set the stage for ALttP, which FS/FSA was a remake of. Seeing as we've already placed FSA in the adult timeline, ALttP cannot take place there. Without the Triforce, Ganon raids the Sacred Realm to attain it, transforming it into a wasteland, which, thanks to the split timeline, had not occurred in the child timeline. Naturally, LA follows this, being most probably the child version of PH.
The last and, probably the hardest piece to fit in, are the original games. They have very few things in common with the later canon, and a lack of elements such as the Master Sword means that it could fit into either timeline. In the end, despite all of the differences with the original elements, due to the presence of Ganon and the Triforce, LoZ and AoL fit most smoothly at the very end of the Child timeline. In the end, there is a very easy way to rectify most of these problems, without altering anything said in any of the games. As noted by Fi in SS, oral tradition is a horrible way to keep track of history. And with all of the destruction that befalls Hyrule, written word probably isn't too accurate either.
Thus, the timelines come out as follows:SS -> OoT -> WW -> PH -> ST -> MC -> FSASS -> OoT -> MM -> TP -> OoS/OoA -> ALttP -> LA -> LoZ -> AoL
The only snag in this is the presence of Ganon at the end of FSA. But, for this, we probably can probably blame Vaati and his power-hunger.
Link's mother, Princess Zelda, held ancient future knowledge regarding the whereabouts of the Triforce of Courage, and her jealous brother demanded it from her. Meanwhile, war broke out in Hyrule. In the strife that followed, Zelda deposited her son with the Great Deku Tree, who raised him as a Kokiri. Zelda herself, as told in the Adventure of Link back-story, was put to sleep by a wizard in her brother's employ. Although the wizard certainly had not planned it this way, Zelda slept backwards through time, rejuvenating as she did so (this will make sense later).
Eventually, Ganon came to Hyrule. Link then became involved in the familiar plot of Ocarina of Time. With Ganon sealed in a prison that transcended time, Link was free to relive those seven years in the comfort of the Kokiri Woods. In fact, he resided there much longer than seven years, and prolonged exposure to Deku Tree magic combined with Princess Zelda's (not the same as the sleeping Zelda, obviously) rejuvenating spell permanently slowed Link's rate of aging, even after he left the Kokiri forest. (Ocarina of Time)
Link then was lured into Termina by the Skull Kid. There, he saved Termina, and in a feat of dramatic irony completely failed to realize that just as Termina was locked in a time loop to prevent its own destruction, Hyrule was in a much larger time triangle to prevent its salvation. This irony was not lost on Tingle, as shall be shown. (Majora's Mask)
Due to the unpredictable nature of inter-dimensional travel, when Link left Termina, he found that Hyrule had long ago been destroyed and was now a system of islands. (Not that he remembered Hyrule. Link was a chronic amnesiac — the rejuvenating spells affected his mind as well as his body.) He was adopted by a kindly old woman, who took mercy on this homeless piece of driftwood. He lovingly referred to her as “grandmother” and partook of her excellent soup. Soon enough, Link found himself on a pirate ship on a quest to save his “sister”. Soon enough after that, he was on a quest to stop Ganon from stealing the Triforce.
The King of Red Lions and Jabun explicitly stated that this Link was not the Hero of Time. Shows what they know.
Anyways, Link defeated Ganon, but not entirely. Ganon, the Villain of Time, had the favor of the goddesses. It was their wish for Hyrule to be lost beneath the sea. Here, the timeline would have straightened. However, King Hyrule's final wish was to bring hope to Hyrule. That hope could only be achieved in one way: by repairing the past. (The Wind Waker)
While the Triforce was thinking about a plan, Link sailed off with Tetra's crew, got caught in a storm, and probably had a lucid dream (or maybe not!). I don't really know what was going on there. (Phantom Hourglass)
Later on, the Triforce yanked Link from the new land he would have settled, and dropped him at the doorstep of a friendly knight of Hyrule centuries earlier. The knight took in the boy with no memory, and Link became fond of him, and called him his uncle.
Unbeknownst to Link, he had arrived in Hyrule just before Ganon had freed himself to wreak the havoc that resulted in the flooding of Hyrule. As chronicled in Link to the Past, Link averted this disaster by preventing Ganon from ever escaping the Dark World. This completed the right-hand corner of the triangle. (A Link to the Past)
Link's uncle became a blacksmith, and on the day he sprouted his first grey hair, Link began to call him “grandpa.” Having already forgotten the events of ALttP, Link embraced the power of the Four Sword to defeat the upstart wizard Vaati, with the aid of his new ally, Ezlo. (The Minish Cap)
Thereafter, Link began to wonder why he did not age like the other people of Hyrule. As if to prevent him from realizing who he was, the Triforce intervened and sent him on a quest in the distant lands of Holodrum and Labrynna. Distant in the future, that is. (Oracles)
The Oracle games constitute another corner of the Triforce of Time. Had Link not prevented the resurrection of Ganon, Ganon would have again succeeded in straightening the timeline, and many a good thing would have failed to happen.
After bending time once more, and forgetting who he was once more, Link used the Four Sword to defeat Vaati again. Twice. The second time, he encountered Ganondorf for the first time. That is to say, Ganon was born on this side of the triangle. (Four Swords, Four Swords Adventure)
After this, Link engaged in his ancient hobby of sailing. He was summarily shipwrecked. The goddesses had sent a vicious storm in their anger over their timeline being turned into a triangle. Their plan failed, however, and Link found himself in the mind of the Wind Fish, where he defeated the Nightmare. The Wind Fish, however, had slumbered for centuries from the point of view of Hyrule, and by the time he awoke, and consequently by the time Link returned to reality, centuries had passed. (Link's Awakening).
Hyrule had changed so much that Link could hardly consider himself a citizen of it, assuming he even knew who or where he was. His first action was to save an old woman named Impa from a group of Moblins. She begged him to collect pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom and defeat Ganon, which he gladly did, since he didn't really have much going on at the moment. (The Legend of Zelda)
He then went on to awaken the sleeping Princess Zelda, who after her slumber back through time, was a young woman again. (The Adventure of Link)
Link married Zelda and helped rebuild Hyrule. Nine months later, the timetrangle converged, and Link was born.
- SS — OoT (timeline splits)
- MM — TP — ALttP — LA — LoZ — AoL — OoS
- WW — PH — ST — MC — FS — FSA — OoA
- |Key|
- [Undisputable]
- {#} = Footnote
- ++ = Related Somehow
- -> = Leads to
- +> = Possibly Leads to
- -x = cannot lead to
- [Skyward Sword -> Ocarina of Time]
- OoT(Adult 1){3} -> [ALttP -> LA] -> [LoZ -> AoL]{4} +> OoA & OoS{2}{11}
- OoT(Adult 2){3} -> [WW -> PH -> ST] -x OoA & OoS{6}
- OoT(Adult 2){3} -> [WW -> PH -> ST] -x MC{9}
- FSA -x WW{9}
- [OoT(Child) -> MM] -> TP{1} +> OoA & OoS{2}{5}
- TP +> [MC -> FS -> FSA]{7}
- FS ++ ALttP
- ALttP +> MC +> LoZ{8}{10}
- Footnotes
- 1. Eiji Aonuma stated that after Link is sent back to his childhood in Ocarina of Time, he talks to Princess Zelda again, Ganondorf is arrested, sentenced to execution, but after the execution fails, he is banished to the Twilight Realm.
- 2. Oracle of Ages/Seasons can be placed within any timeline in which Ganon(dorf) died, after he died, because the plot of the game revolves around reviving Ganon.
- 3. I split Ocarina of Time's Adult timeline into two split timelines because Ganon dies at the end of A Link to the Past, and both a Link to the Past and Wind Waker contain Ganon having started in the Evil Realm, which he was sealed in at the end of Ocarina of Time's Adult timeline. In Wind Waker, Ganon escapes the Evil Realm. During the course of A Link to the Past, Agahnim seeks to revive Ganon, and ultimately Link confronts Ganon within the Evil Realm, and kills him.
- 4. In the instruction manual for A Link to the Past, it is stated that the Link of a Link to the Past is the ancestor of the first game's Link.
- 5. Placing Oracle of Ages/Seasons is highly debatable here because Ganondorf's final fate in Twilight Princess isn't confirmed. But this could be highly possible since in this Timeline, Twinrova had never died, and therefore would be able to be in this game without resurrecting themselves.
- 6. The Zora appear in Oracle of Ages/Seasons, and in Wind Waker, the Zora no longer exist as they have evolved into the Rito.
- 7. Ganondorf's fate is unconfirmed in Twilight Princess, so if he survived, he could have gone on to be in Four Swords Adventures.
- 8. This is possible should Ganondorf have been revived between A Link to the Past and Four Swords Adventures, but would also require that he escapes the Four Sword between Four Sword Adventures and the original Zelda.
- 9. There are Zora in Four Swords Adventures, but, again, the Zora have evolved into the Rito in Wind Waker. Another problem this presents is that Wind Waker leads directly off of Ocarina, with Ganondorf being trapped in the Evil Realm and escaping, and due to Link not showing up to stop him in time, the world is flooded. Link is present in Four Swords continuity and actually seals Ganon, which means it cannot come before Wind Waker either.
- 10. It is possible that in the Evil Realm, Ganon stored a piece of himself in his trident and sent it to the Light World, and then possessed someone who wanted power when they took his trident. Ganon(dorf) has the ability to possess people, as shown in Twilight Princess and with Agahnim from A Link to the Past.
- 11. Placing the Oracle games in this timeline would make a lot of sense, as they would be reviving Ganon, rather than Ganondorf, because Ganondorf's original body had been killed in A Link to the Past, and if it follows after Zelda II, it would make sense since Zelda II's villain motivation was to revive Ganon.
My timeline adheres to the split, since it's canon and makes sense if you think about it anyway. I also like to add in events that are referenced in the games — actual game names will be in bold to make them visible.
TIMELINE START:
Goddesses create Hyrule/Triforce||Dark Interloper War||Skyward Sword||Hyrulian Civil War|Ocarina of Time(TIMELINE SPLIT)
Hyrule starts off with Hylians living in it; they find the Triforce and start up a civilization that's responsible for ALL the Schizo Tech in the later games. Eventually, there are repeated wars over the Triforce. One of these wars was the Dark Interloper War, when the ancestors of the Twili are banished to the Twilight Realm. Some of the Hylians retreat to flying islands to escape all the fighting, leading to SS. After SS, they return to living on the ground (leaving places like City in the Sky behind), the Triforce is rediscovered, and the Hyrulian Royal Family (descendants of Zelda and Link from SS) fights a war to maintain control over the region. During that war, a Hylian woman with the infant that will be the Hero of Time flees into the Kokiri Forest — thus setting up OoT. Then the timeline splits thanks to all that time travel mucking things up.
OoT (Child) -> Ganondorf's coup prevented, Ganondorf sent to Twilight Realm -> Majora's Mask —-> Twilight Princess —-> A Link to the Past —-> Oracle of Ages/Seasons
The Hero of Time uses his future-knowledge to prevent Ganondorf from killing the king and gets him imprisoned by the Sages. That Link then goes in search of Navi, confident in a job well-done, unaware that the Sages were only able to fling Ganondorf into the Twilight Realm and not actually end him (though he DOES gets turned into a spirit in the Twilight, which slows him down for a while). Then Majora's Mask happens, wherein Link gets to play with time even more (probably making multiple timelines for Termina in the process, not that it matters because Termina is destroyed in pretty much all of them). That Link ends up becoming the Hero's Shade after getting trapped in Lost Woods on the way back.
After a while, Ganondorf uses his new spirit-ness to his advantage, makes a new body for himself, escapes the Twilight Realm in TP, and gets stabbed with the Master Sword. The body dies, but Ganon's spirit survives and he eventually possesses a wizard that makes him yet another new body to inhabit in ALttP. The Dark World is in fact the same ruined Sacred Realm from the Adult Timeline: since the Hero of Time passed through it so often, it can be accessed by people in both timelines. Unfortunately for Ganon, TP Link's descendants remained good friends and loyal servants of TP Zelda's descendants (though the 'Divine Beast' has been downgraded from a wolf to a bunny) and Ganon gets himself Killed Off for Real. Later on, Twinrova attempts to revive him (since she dies in the Adult Timeline, that sets the Oracle games in the Child one), but OoX Link puts a stop to it.
OoT (Adult) —> Flooding of Hyrule —> Wind Waker -> Phantom Hourglass -> Hero of Winds or his son helps forge the Picori Sword to replace the Master Sword during the founding of New Hyrule —> Spirit Tracks ——> Minish Cap -> Four Swords -> Four Swords Adventures ——> a Zelda is put into an enchanted sleep, Christianity imported to New Hyrule from neighbors ——> Legend of Zelda -> Adventure of Link -> Link's Awakening
OoT through ST is canon. Everything in ST and beyond takes place in New Hyrule, which allows for extremely different geography, neighbors importing strange religions, and the naming of towns after OoT sages. The 'hero in green' from the Picori legend is in fact either WW Link making a replacement for the Master Sword stuck in Ganondorf's head under the sea, or his kid having an adventure in green on his birthday like his dad did.
ST Link and ST Zelda's families remain EXTREMELY close after the game, which is why Link and Zelda are already friends in MC. FS and FSA are set a few years later. Sometime later, New Hyrule's neighbor Catalina imports Christianity, and since this Hyrule isn't actually IN the 'Land of the Gods', it gains a following relatively quickly. During the long gap between ST and LoZ, the train system breaks down, as the Demon King is gone and the tracks were his 'chains'. The Ganon in LoZ is the Ganon from FSA doing the spiritual reincarnation thing, but the Silver Arrows make him also Killed Off for Real. His minions try to revive him using Link's blood but that fails due to Link beating them all up.
Afterward, that Link tries sailing out to the Great Sea for more adventure, only to find Windfish Island. The Windfish is in fact Jabun from WW aka Lord Jabu-Jabu from OoT.
There are in fact only TWO Ganondorfs in all of the games with this timeline. For comparison, there's nine Links and ten Zeldas. The Master Sword first appears in the Zelda universe in SS, gets stuck in Ganon's head in WW/sealed forever in ALttP, and never appears again — the 'Master Sword' you can get in the Oracle games is a really nice sword you can get made for you, but it's not THE Master Sword. The Triforce likes to bounce between timelines — TP Ganon has his Triforce while OoT-WW Ganon is sealed, then loses it right when the seal breaks (which is conveniently moments after TP Ganon gets impaled by the Master Sword).
- Skyward Sword (First Link, has child with Zelda, names son Link. Demise is reborn as Ganon.)
- Minish Cap (Not Son of Link, a regular kid who idolized Link and takes his name. Vaati is the vessel for Demise to become Ganon.)
- Four Sword/ Four Sword Adventure (Are the same story, the Link here is the same Link and Zelda from Minish Cap, they are mistaken as the heroes in later games. Skyward Sword Link is forgotten in time. Vaati now became Ganon.)
- Ocarina of Time (Son of Link from SS, orphaned in Forest. Ganondorf is possessed with spirit of Ganon, Ganondorf has nothing to do with Demise, he got his name from the ancient Gerudo God, Ganondromus, King God of Sand and Thievery.)
- Majora's Mask (Two years after Ocarina, same Link from Ocarina, who was sent back in time as a child. He is actually 17 years old in the body of a child to "relieve his childhood".)
- Wind Waker (Grandson of Hero of Time, despite what the rumors say, he is brought into Legend like his grandfather.)
- Phantom Hourglass (Same Link from WW, the new world is still being created.)
- Spirit Tracks (Same Link from WW and PH, new world is now coming together.)
- Twilight Princess (Son of Link from WW, he now resides in new world. Ganondorf has been reborn from Black Magic from the Gerudo followers who reincarnated him as his young body from Ocarina, he was quickly imprisoned and executed.)
- Link to the Past (Great Grandson of Link from TP, Ganon has taken physical form from the Triforce, creating the Dark World. Ganon is destroyed but he lived on because Link was supposed to shoot an arrow in both of his eyes. He only shot one eye and killed him temporarily.)
- Link's Awakening (Same Link as LttP)
- Oracle of Ages/Seasons (Twin sons of Link from Awakening, happens at the same time. Whoever you play as after linking games and fighting Ganon is the one who fights Ganon and died. (For example, if you played Ages first, Seasons Link died after the battle, succumbed to wounds, and became a vessel for Ganon to become reborn again.) Link (one who never fights Ganon) goes on to have a child who becomes protagonist in...)
- The Legend of Zelda (Son of Link from oracle game you play first, Linked together!Ganon is reborn and is officially killed off when Link shoots arrows into both eyes.)
- Adventure of Link (Same Link from TLOZ, finishes off Ganon forever, this is the current Zelda game in timeline.)
Zelda changes in each game too. Zelda from Skyward Sword is mother of Link from Ocarina of Time, that Zelda from Ocarina is named after the Zelda from Skyward Sword and has no relation to Link or Zelda from Skyward Sword. Link from Ocarina ages and is now 18 years old five years after Majora's Mask. When he reached that age, he married Malon from Ocarina and they have children. Malon is Link's grandmother from WW. Zelda in WW is from the royal bloodline, her mother they refer to in the game is the Zelda from Ocarina who turned her daughter into a child again, Tetra is actually 57 but looks like a 15 year old, which is how old Link was from that game.The Zelda from TLOZ is the daughter of TP Zelda, who was never a princess but was a decoy for the real princess, who died many years ago by the hand of Ganondorf. AoL Zelda was the real Zelda who was killed in the events of TP, not put to sleep, and was brought back to life from that Link. Ganondorf officially died after TP, and Ganon is a demon from Demise who is now given physical form after wishing himself a body and possessing Link from Oracle who fought him.
Timeline: SS — OoT — MM — TP — WW — PH — ST — MC — FS — FSA — ALttP — LA — ALBW — LoZ — AoL — OoX
Methods: First, I broke the games down into ones that are clearly connected, which looks like this — LoZ/AoL, LttP/LA, LttP/LBW, OoT/MM, OoT/TP, OoT/WW, WW/PH/ST, MC/FS/FSA, and OoS/OoA.
From there, I started arranging them into a timeline, starting with the ones of least debate and going from there. So LttP is a prequel to LoZ and LBW is a sequel to LttP, but with a different Link. OoT is also a prequel to LttP, and SS is currently the official first game (it does depict the founding of Hyrule, after all). So that already does a lot of work, giving us SS — OoT — MM — LttP — LA — LBW — LoZ — AoL.
Here's where it starts to need more explanation. TP happens at least a century after OoT and the events of that game are referenced directly, so it goes after MM. WW also directly references the Hero of Time and happens several centuries after OoT; this is the last we see of the original Hyrule. WW is followed by PH (with the same Link) and then by ST (with a different one). It's in this new Hyrule that MC happens, followed by FS and FSA. In FSA, Ganondorf gains the Trident of Power and turns into his blue pig form, in which he stays for the rest of the timeline. After an untold amount of time, Ltt P and the rest of the timeline happen, ending with the Oracle games. They're placed last because the main plot of the linked game involves resurrecting Ganon, which continues AoL's plot of trying to resurrect Ganon. It also gives a possible explanation of why the Master Sword is nowhere to be found in the first two games: it's in either Holodrum or Labrynna at the time.
The common theory is that there is a split in the timeline from the events in Ocarina of Time, generally referred to as the Child Timeline (Where Link, following the events of OoT, warned the king of Hyrule about Ganondorf's treachery, resulting in Majora's Mask and The Wind Waker series) and the Adult Timeline (Where events generally played out as presented in OoT, without Ganondorf being preemptively executed for his crimes but ultimately failing in his bid to secure the Triforce. Twilight Princess and sequels follow on from this). The main problem is that the history in A Link to the Past doesn't mesh well with either timelines; the biggest difference is that, by ALttP, Ganon possesses the entire Triforce, not just the Triforce of Power. There's no mention of the Hero of Time, nor Princess Zelda's role in the defeat of Ganondorf, just the efforts of the Knights of Hyrule (who appeared to be pretty ineffective as of Ocarina) and the Seven Wise Men (which I'll use to clarify the differences between the original seven "Hylians" that sealed Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm, rather than the six/seven "Sages" of time, who were of different races). It's almost as if the events of Ocarina never actually happened, and until he was eventually sealed in the Golden Land, it appeared that Ganondorf was very, very successful in his attempt to conquer Hyrule.
So the timeline split further. If the events of Ocarina played out, then Ganondorf did slay the Hero of Time to gain the Triforce of Courage, and also slew Princess Zelda for the Triforce of Wisdom. Ganondorf now had the complete Triforce in his possession, and with the Six Sages specifically being bound to the Hero of Time through which to exude their powers in the real world instantly became useless, so Ganondorf had no opposition from Rauru and his posse. Hyrule was, basically, conquered without Ganondorf having to even use the complete power of the Triforce.
So the remaining citizens of Hyrule finally dropped some major balls, realising that putting all your bets on some emotionally-unstable teen fond of dressing like a forest kid was a bad idea, and assembled a fighting force that could take on Ganondorf. They also had seven powerful wizards, the Seven Wise Men, that could seal the Golden Realm, and then took the fight to Ganondorf's front door. The Knights pushed back Ganondorf's forces, pushing him into the Sacred Realm, and the Seven Wise Men quickly sealed the pathway back into Hyrule. Ganondorf, angry at his loss, made the single wish that he could rule "the world", but the Triforce being a Literal Genie took that at face value and installed him as ruler of the Golden Land, corrupting the realm into the Dark World to match its new king.
In short, Ganondorf "wins" the battle of Ocarina (as opposed to "losing" it in the Adult Timeline and being preemptively slapped down in the Child Timeline), but eventually loses the war. The Hero and Sage of Time are dead, and their failure effectively covered up and forgotten by the true victors of this version of the Imprisoning War, namely the Knights and the Wise Men. Thematically, this timeline would be the Timeline of Power (Ganon's victory, through sheer force), while the other two timelines would be the Timeline of Courage (Where a young boy dares to accuse the ruler of a desert tribe that has just pledged loyalty to Hyrule) and the Timeline of Wisdom (Where all involved decide to allow events to proceed without any interruption).
- CONFIRMED, AMAZINGLY ENOUGH. Per Hyrule Historia, OoT in this case is followed by ALttP, both Oracle games, Link's Awakening, and finally the NES installments.
- Twilight Princess takes place after Majora's Mask. Wind Waker follows the defeat of Ganon at the end of Ocarina of Time. Confirmed by Word of God.
- It would make more sense that A Link to the Past took place very early in the chronology of the world. Ocarina of Time would take place after it and the original game (which would be the first "incarnation" as there is no Master Sword in the first game). The Majora's Mask/Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker timelines would take place even further after. Making the release order mostly coinciding with the in-game timeline.
- Why would that make more sense? None of the games (that involve the Triforce) can come before Ocarina of Time, because in that game Ganon makes his original bid for the Triforce. In fact, at the time of its release it was a pretty explicit prequel to A Link to the Past, depicting the backstory events alluded to. My thought is that Nintendo execs simply figured that the latest generation of gamers didn't know anything about that "old" SNES game and felt free to drop it in favor of new sequels to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
- This theory could pan out, actually: with the timeline split into three instead of two, there's balance. If there's just two timelines, they could start folding in on each other what with all that Triforce-y power and general dimension-hopping going on. Of course, since the Power timeline is relatively small and stunted compared to the other, more dynamic ones, there clearly IS some leakage between the Wisdom (Adult) and Courage (Child) timelines: it would explain the Oracle games, at least.
- Original WMG proposer here: Kotaku has released a translation of a page in the 25th Anniversary art book. Apparently the timeline splits in three after Ocarina headed by three games: Majora's, Wind Waker, and Link to the Past. Destructoid has a better translation and a more detailed timeline, and the whole ALttP arc is in fact under a branch labelled "The Hero of Time is Defeated".
- I would rather swap the Adult-Wisdom and Child-Courage associations. In the adult timeline Link (who is associated with the Triforce of Courage) wins the conflict by using his Courage to fight the much more powerful Ganondorf, while in the child timeline Zelda (who is associated with the Triforce of Wisdom) wins through the knowledge (i.e. Wisdom) she gives herself (by sending Link back in time) of Ganondorf's inevitable betrayal.
- We do not know how exactly his plan to rule was foiled, but we do know that he was in possession of the Triforce of Power. We also see the marking of the Triforce of Courage on Link's hand at the very end of the Ocarina of Time epilogue, when Child Link meets Child Zelda once again. Barring the idea of the Triforce jumping into their bodies as their Alternate Universe counterparts obtain them, Link must have been sent back in time to the point AFTER Ganondorf entered and exited the Sacred Realm to steal the Triforce.
- When Link returns the Master Sword to the Pedestal of Time, he jumps back to the past. We do not know when in the past he returns to, but since his actions during this time are still present in Adult Link portions of the game, it is a fair assumption that he returns to the past slightly before he drew the Master Sword. Otherwise, he wouldn't be present to actually do it by virtue of being sealed in the Sacred Realm for seven years. That, or he returns to the past at a time just before Ganondorf makes his move and enters the Sacred Realm through the now-opened portal.
- What if, through all this moving back and forth through time, Link manages to return to the past JUST as Ganondorf steps into the Sacred Realm? This would create a third branch of the timeline which states that Ganondorf enters the Sacred Realm, but the portal is shut before he could leave, trapping him there. Link simply walks away, confident that Ganondorf is no longer a threat to Hyrule.
- This theory was inspired by something the second Crystal Maiden said in A Link to the Past. "The person who rediscovered the Golden Land [or Sacred Realm] was Ganondorf the evil thief. Luckily, he couldn't figure out how to return to the Light World..." This implies that the Ganondorf from A Link to the Past got trapped inside the Sacred Realm as soon as he entered it.
- Jossed. The three games are set within entirely different timelines.
- That one's easy. They built her palace on a distant mountaintop to keep her away from evil sorcerers seeking her inherent power, in the land near what would become the second Hyrule.
- Jossed. The official chronology places them in different timelines.
.- Hell, Word of God states that TP takes place over a century after the "child" ending of OoT.
- Word of God holds that this is actually the case.
- Okay, seriously, did Word of God actually confirm the part about the Oracle games, or did you just not notice that that part was in there when you wrote that? And if it did, where?
- Word of God confirmed that Ocarina of Time split the timeline, with Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess going one way, and Wind Waker (and therefore Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks) the other. The rest are all still up for debate.
- To be fair, Word of God doesn't always mesh with what actually happens in-game. After all, back before WW came out Word of God was that it took place a century after OoT, which isn't nearly enough time for people to completely forget the name "Hyrule," since Grandma would have either lived through the Flood or heard stories about it from her folks.
- This was a mistranslation, due to the Japanese language lacking plural. Eiji Aonuma meant to say hundreds, not hundred. Which could set the passed time up to possibly 1000 years.
- Okay, seriously, did Word of God actually confirm the part about the Oracle games, or did you just not notice that that part was in there when you wrote that? And if it did, where?
- It could be the slow merging of the timelines together is causing strange temporal overlaps, resulting in people recognizing you and your deeds from the other timeline.
- Confirmed. The events of Ocarina do result in a timeline split, leading to the events of the other games mentioned.
- Alternatively, what if the timeline didn't split, and the events of TP were just a footnote to Hyrule's history before the Great Flood? The Zora in TP could easily serve as an intermediate stage before they became the Rito as they appeared in WW, and the exterior of Hyrule Castle looks much as it would in TP. Also note that the Koroks in WW were planting Deku seeds to allow the forest to reclaim the sea; this would not only open the way for less sailing in PH, but allow Hyrule to be re-established after however long for the original Zelda and Link to the Past.
- It's established in the ending of PH that Link and Tetra were in an alternate universe. It had not been an actual part of the WW world.
- Jossed.
- Jossed. There is no chronological trend tied to a game being 2D or 3D.
In every other Zelda title, Links starts out with incredible skills and enough strength to crush harder objects (usually) and the ability to do a Spin Attack right away. Except Minish Cap, where he suddenly has to learn everything, from his basic spin-attack to his famous sword-beam. Meanwhile, The Wind Waker Link suddenly Ass Pulls the most amazing moves out of nowhere once he's told to improvise, once the A-button symbol lights up. Twilight Princess Link gradually keeps learning the very same amazing moves and stunts by "mysterious encounters" (which could, according to a former WMG, just as well be metaphors for awakening memories of past lives) over the course of the game. And everytime Link gets some sword-training (except Minish Cap) people remark how talented he is and sometimes even mention that he was the one who came up with the Spin Attack and that they just reminded him. So Wind Waker and Twilight Princess have Link just access all the great sword-skills from his previous lives and even Link of Ocarina of Time, which is supposed to come very early, knows the Spin Attack right away. But poor, poor Minish Cap Link starts out with downright pathetic strength and has to learn from tutors (real ones, not just ghostly soldiers which may or may not be a past "him") to get any useful skills at all, despite growing up in a blacksmith's atelier, where swords are, well, made. This leads me to one conclusion:
The Minish Cap is where Link first got all his amazing sword skills. And he was so happy to learn them that they burned very deeply into his mind, and thus became the only thing he never loses over the course of reincarnations (besides that silly hat Ezlo gave him). No matter how many times Link reincarnates, just put a sword into his hand and he'll start kicking ass like it was his purpose (which it is).
- Again, shot down by Word of God. Ocarina happened first, says Miyamoto, or Aonuma, this troper can't remember which.
- This statement was made five years before Minish Cap was released and it only referred to the struggle against Ganon. Was there any Ganon in Minish Cap? No? Well, looks like your "shot down" wouldn't apply after all.
- Don't forget that Minish Cap is probably the only game where there was a time before monsters. Also, all the other Links wearing the funny hat could be a commemoration to Link wearing Elzo. (Probably the only game where Link was not wearing a hat at the beginning and the only game where there is a reason he is wearing a hat.)
- On the other hand, Ocarina of Time explains where the hat AND the tunic came from. So just as easily as one can say that The Minish Cap comes before Ocarina because it explains where the hat comes from, one can say that Ocarina comes first since it explains where Minish Cap!Link's green clothing comes from. That is to say, it's not much evidence at all.
- Confirmed by Hyrule Historia — The Minish Cap is right after Skyward Sword in the timeline.
If we read HH's timeline, we see a split, which as we know involves two timelines left in the wake of the Hero of Time messing with spacetime in OoT. This works causally, as he simply created a parallel universe which he saved, and then returned to the original universe to prevent the events from transpiring in the first place. The problem here lies in the Downfall Timeline. We are expected to believe that the Ocarina somehow also created a timeline in which Link died? It isn't that Link simply died during his quest, as we'd then have dozens if not hundreds of Downfall Timelines splitting off from each and every game.
There are explanations, of course. I've heard it said that Ganon obtained the Triforce at some point in the Child Timeline and wished that Link would fall to Ganondorf generations prior. However, given that doing so would essentially Thanos-snap the existing Ganon, I can't see him bothering to have a different Ganon win when the current timeline already ends in Ganon obtaining the Triforce. I've also heard the opposite, that the Downfall Timeline was the original one, and after AoL, Link wished on the Triforce to have the Hero of Time succeed, creating the other two timelines.This is acceptable if you don't dig too deep, and I suspect many came to the same conclusion. However, there is quite a bit of evidence suggesting a different interpretation altogether.
Reading the manual for ALttP produces this passage: "One day, quite by accident, a gate to the Golden Land of the Triforce was opened by a gang of thieves skilled in the black arts."
It goes on to describe Ganondorf Dragmire, the leader, "vanquishing his own followers" in "a long-running battle" for the Triforce. This seems a far cry from the events of OoT, where Ganondorf was in a position to gain an audience with Zelda's father, hardly a common thief. He also stalked a Kokiri for a while, then backstabbed him in a temple. In fact, the manual even states that he gained the complete Triforce that day, meaning Link never even touched and split the Triforce, let alone made it to their volleyball match. In fact, the events in the manual show quite realistically what would have most likely happened had the Hero of Time not been there at all.
In the backstory of TP, we know that the Hero of Time returned from his adventures in Termina and then brought Ganondorf to justice, banishing him to the Twilight realm and out of the purview of this theory. But what would have happened had the Hero not returned from Termina? It's possible, while difficult, to complete Majora's Mask in as few as six days, which requires Link to play the Song of Time exactly once. However, in OoT we see that travelling in time causes timelines to split, which means that every time the First Day Dawns, he leaves behind a timeline in which the Moon falls on Termina, the Hero of Time never returns to Hyrule, and Ganondorf Dragmire is never brought to justice and obtains the Triforce. Every time the First Day Dawns, he leaves behind a Downfall Timeline.
- We must naturally begin with the true (canon?) version of Hylia's Chosen Hero, the focus of the SS manga in HH. As a matter of course, it remains to be seen whether or not this game will include scenes from the manga, scenes reminiscent thereof, or tell a whole different story in the name of variety.
- TMC Prequel — Zelda Wiki has acknowledged the idea that the Hero Of Men from the intro might be another incarnation of Link, citing the use of Link's likeness in the image accompanying this. Nintendo is free to Joss this at any time, but until then, this Missing Entry assumes the theory is correct.
- FS Prequel — In the instruction booklet for the GBA re-release of ALttP, FS revealed that Vaati had been defeated once before, when he was sealed in the Four Sword. Obviously the hero in this story could be either a |descendant / reincarnation / both-at-once| of TMC!Link, |receiving the Four Sword from his family / retrieving the Four Sword from wherever his predecessor left it| and going off to challenge Vaati.
- HH both Jossed the original idea that TMC was about this hero, and provided the final implication that this is, in fact, a Missing Entry, when it confirmed that Vaati DIED in TMC and was somehow resurrected later, and with Laser-Guided Amnesia on top of that for no better reason than to justify why he didn't remember TMC.
- MM/TP Interquel — Non-specific entry where the Hero Of Time learns the Hidden Skills that he passes on to TP!Link. It could add further to the Zelda mythos, but ultimately, that's not why it's here.
- What sets this entry apart from other And the Adventure Continues ideas is that it fills the plot hole of where the Hero Of Time picked up the Hidden Skills in the first place. He doesn't use them in OoT/MM, but somehow picked them up, maybe from TWW!Link, just in time to retire without a successor and utlimately haunt Hyrule until TP.
- FSA Prequel — If you pay attention to FSA's opening text, you'll notice a line that implies that Vaati has already broken out of his prison and been defeated by FSA!Link once before, all before the events of FSA even take place.
- The pre-HH theory was that FS was what was being referenced, just as the backstory for FS was believed to be referencing TMC, but HH Jossed both by (A) placing TMC and FS before OoT, (B) placing FSA after TP, and (C) providing the aforementioned statement of Vaati The Minish being Killed Off for Real in TMC.
- ALBW Prequel — We know that Ganon lost the Triforce Of Power alongside Wisdom and Courage when he was killed in ALttP, but how did he get it back in time for Yuga to snatch it when ALBW rolled around? He wasn't shown getting it back when he was briefly resurrected in OoX, thus implying a Missing Entry where he recovered it.
- The reason this is a Missing Entry is also because of the murals in Hyrule Castle, added to celebrate a Hero's victory. While ALttP being an early installment can be the out-of-universe reason, one might prefer to think that another Hero v. Ganon showdown happened between LA and ALBW and that's what the murals are depicting, including Ganon taking the Triforce Of Power with him, even though this is the Downfall Timeline, where he was victorious against OoT!Link, prompting the Imprisoning War of ALttP's backstory.
- It's also a point of contention that this Missing Entry could have also been when Ganon stole the Triforce Of Power as stated in LoZ's backstory. At the same time, the event could just as easily have occurred between ALBW and LoZ so it's non-specific. That said, a new game between LA and ALBW could also reveal what happened to ALttP!Link after the events of LA, like how he got back to Hyrule after waking the Wind Fish.
- BotW Prequel — Before we even begin, I want to clarify that NO, this is NOT going to be about what happened 100 years ago. This will be taking us even further back, depicting the events described as taking place 10,000 years before BotW, when Ganon first became the Calamity, and the Sheikah created both the Guardians and the Divine Beasts for the Goddess Incarnate and the Appointed Knight.
Naturally, with one exception, I left out the obvious And the Adventure Continues sequel ideas where it seemed like Link was setting out on another adventure after the credits roll in his game (*cough*TP*cough*LA*cough*) and thus opening the door for a Missing Entry covering this new adventure. Not to mention a Prequel to The Hyrule Fantasy (LoZ) explaining just what the hell the original Link was up to before he saved Impa and learned of his destiny.
- It needed to be in a timeline where Ganon existed and had already transformed. Ganondorf doesn't come into the picture until OoT, so it has to be after that point. The cycle of Ganon ended in the Downfall and Adult timelines, and in the Child Timeline he doesn't transform until TP, so FSA is placed at some point after that.
Also, the Four Swords series's placement is very icky. There is no evidence that Minish Cap ever came before Ocarina of Time, especially since there is a lot of evidence stating that all 3 Four Swords games lead directly into eachother, and Ganon is in Four Swords Adventures. There's also the debate that Ganondorf died at the end of Twilight Princess (with evidence that Zant committed suicide to finish Ganondorf off, and Link being able to retrieve his sword from Ganondorf's body), which would mean he could not be in Four Swords Adventures.
Oh and the worst is the Four Swords series's geography. The geography across all 3 games is inconsistent, but 2 of them happen in between Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time, yet Skyward Sword's map with a few tweaks matches Ocarina of Time's map perfectly? I call bullshit once again.
- I don't think "fanboy rage" counts as proper evidence. Sorry, it's canon. Deal with it.
- Although if the troper could present the evidence that the FS games tie together then that would help their case.
- It's also worth noting that this series is called The Legend of Zelda for a reason. A legend can easily suffer changes with time (like geography), even if the real event it was based on happened at all, in-universe speaking. If you think it that way, it makes perfect sense that some of these legends never happened, regardless of the importance of the games themselves.
- Personally (and don't hit me for this), I agree with the Trolling Creator theory. This whole "official" timeline thing might just be Nintendo's way of saying, "Screw you!" to the fans who treat the Zelda timeline as Serious Business. I mean, they've said for years that they generally care more about gameplay than how all the games fit together, and that there is no definite timeline, then suddenly release a timeline that, quite frankly, raises more questions than it answers and ends up ticking off at least half the fanbase? Yeah, I'm calling troll on this.
- They've said that there is an official timeline on several occasions, while also claiming that game design is more important than a cohesive story. The logical conclusion would be that the various dev teams have collected an 'official' timeline, but since each game is designed without concerns for a definitive canon, it isn't really better than any fan theory.
- Well, I wouldn't say the Creator is Trolling, but Eiji Anonuma is about as obsessed with trying to make a Timeline as the fans. Especially since he IS a former Zelda Fanboy anyway. The main problem is that only the games he makes are linked to each other in an obvious way, but the Capcom games and the original Shigeru games aren't exactly as...well, concrete. The end result is a Cosmic Retcon in a vain attempt to fit everything together, but not all games are efficiently linked. The Four Swords oddness and the bizarre new "GANON WINS" Timeline is basically proof of the Continuity Snarl it created.
- They've said that there is an official timeline on several occasions, while also claiming that game design is more important than a cohesive story. The logical conclusion would be that the various dev teams have collected an 'official' timeline, but since each game is designed without concerns for a definitive canon, it isn't really better than any fan theory.
- Why does it have to be what if? There are three timelines. There are three triforce pieces. Each timeline can correspond to a piece. Child Link's timeline would be Wisdom, as they now have the information of what the proper way to deal with ganon is. The adult timeline is courage, considering all he faces to bring down Ganon. The defeat timeline is Power, the one in which Ganon wins. It's also the reason there aren't other timelines shooting off from when Link dies. At no other point does Zelda create a time split. The defeat timeline only exists because of the need to have an even split between the three.
...Sounds a bit like Lavos, doesn't it? If I understand Chrono Cross correctly, then apparently Lavos exists in an infinite number of alternate timelines and whatnot, and I assume that this means that he's trashing all of them. Now, given the nature of reincarnation, after Demise was killed, he could have either reincarnated as Ganondorf, or as Lavos. Either way, they both set out to do the same thing, which is to screw over as many alternate timelines as they possibly can.
Thus, it could be proposed that the Link from the failed timeline was the one who taught Guru-Guru the Song of Storms in the first place. Seeing that we played as the sucessful Link in OoT, it would make sense that we don't really see the escapades of the Link that failed, as it wouldn't make sense for Nintendo to let us play a Link that failed, nor would it make sense to have the Link we can play perceive alternate versions of himself within time and space freely wander about Hyrule like it ain't no thang.
How Guru-Guru could perceive the alternate Link is a bit shakier, but it could add up to one of three things. 1) Guru-Guru is flat out crazy, negating this guess due to composing the song himself. 2) He's a reality warper, and he's able to see into other timelines, thereby seeing the failed Link. 3) When the Link that failed... failed, the section of the timeline before OoT up to the point of him teaching Guru-Guru the song of Storms could have been duplicated, and then that duplicated timeline merged with the timeline of the Link that suceeded. Of course, the copy of the timeline where Link failed would still be intact, and overall, lead to the events of the classic Zelda games in the original timeline, as opposed to the duplicate. Also, the Link that failed either learned the Song of Storms from someone else, or actually made it up himself, and just happened to cause problems.
TL:DR: The timeline splitting up in OoT works like various other WMGs involving MM. All abandoned and failed attempts on Link's part exist, but are duplicated, and somehow compiled and merged with the timeline where he suceeds. Oh, but those multiple Hyrules where OoT Link flat out failed (and their timelines) still exist where no one has seen them yet. This said, we don't get to see all of those timeline duplicates in the official timeline, due to the official timeline being reduced to the lowest common denominator. This renders OoT!Link as the least sucessful Link, as he only wins through severe time-travel abuse, to the point where timelines like the one with all of the classic Zelda games in it exist in abundance. Way to go, Link. Way to go. MM would make this even worse, with how often Link screws with time in that game.
I believe I am fan-wanked out, and I'm not sure if it makes any sense, in hindsight. OH WELL.
- This troper always believed Link technically learned Song of Storms in Majora's Mask, then played it in the windmill after returning to Hyrule, setting Adult Link up to learn it years later. Going back in Ocarina of Time only caused it to be played for the first time a year or two earlier.
- Except that the timeline doesn't say that the hero "vanished", it explicitly says he was defeated. Going back in time is part of how you win in Ocarina of Time, so at no point does going back in time mean defeat.
- Evidence suggests that in the Downfall Timeline, the Hero of Time was not there at all, 'Official Timeline' aside. (The creators value gameplay over narrative cohesion, so their timeline is no better or worse than any fan theory.)
- Unless he never went to sleep when he put the sword back in, just sent memories to the past to change that past and generate a better timeline... in which case the Link that put the sword in would have taken it out again, shrugged, and gone on to try and fail to defeat Gannondorf without the aid of all of the sages.
- But HH states that Link died during his and Ganondorf's volleyball match. Without all the sages, he wouldn't have been able to reach the castle gate, never mind the tower.
- Except that the timeline doesn't say that the hero "vanished", it explicitly says he was defeated. Going back in time is part of how you win in Ocarina of Time, so at no point does going back in time mean defeat.
- In the case of Majora's Mask, it must be that the rules governing time travel are simply different in that reality than in the one Link is from; after all, they're different enough for travel in absence of the Pedestal and Master Sword.
- In the case of Oracle of Ages, time travel was drawing directly on the power of the Goddess Nayru via Her Oracle; presumably, this is more inherently reliable and stable a method than the Sage-made Ocarina, as She can intervene to nip budding timelines as they form, whereas in the latter it is more automated and prone to bugs.
- Yes, because Ganon would clearly allow the only one capable of overthrowing his rule to live after pummeling him to the point of helplessness.
- Bond Villain Stupidity can happen. Also being able to retreat after defeat isn't uncommon in fiction. And in dark fantasy, being a last survivor of a race/kingdom/martial art/bloodline/whatever is quite commonplace.
- I know it's non-canon, but in Hyrule Warriors, Ganondorf basically lets Lana, Link and Zelda live and fight again after taking their triforces. So Ganon/dorf "sparing" people isn't new.
OoA — the Triforce is intact, and sends you on the mission in the first place.
MM — takes place in the timeline where you prevented Ganondorf from gaining the Triforce of Power, no timeline split is involved.
SS — The Triforce is intact at the end of it anyway.
OoT — The Triforce is split into its three parts. This is the game where the timeline splits.
- Problem with this theory. Due to how the Triforce split in OoT, it's split from that point on in ALL timelines because the Triforce exists outside of time and space. That's why Ganondorf has the Triforce of Power in Twilight Princess even though he never entered the Sacred Realm in that timeline.
- It also seems possible that the "split into 3 pieces" clause also happened in that same timeline, which is why the pieces are split in the first two games. Perhaps the king who made that wish was the one from the backstory of Adventure of Link, who did so on account of seeing his son's unbalanced heart.
- Alternatively: In the original (failure) timeline, failure!Link faces Ganondorf while he is still a child, and thus is overpowered and killed. After this, Zelda uses her "send someone's memories/soul back in time"-powers on Rauru, so he can make sure that Link does not face Ganondorf until he is old enough, and the Adult timeline is created. Ganondorf then kills Zelda and completes his triforce, which leads up to the events of ALttP. This fits better with canon than many other theories because of all the time-travel that happens in the series; OoT!Zelda is the only one that has been confirmed to split timelines, and Link facing Ganondorf too early being the reason he fails fits well with OoT. (painocus)
So in T-1, let's assume that Demise was never fully resurrected and never made his curse, and that the Triforce never has to be sealed away because evil has been pretty much eradicated. It follows that this Hyrule becomes a golden land blessed by the presence of the whole Triforce completely controlled by the forces of good. This blessed Hyrule becomes the Sacred Realm.
But in T-2, with Demise having been sealed in the Master Sword but not fully destroyed, and with Demise's curse, evil still lurks across the land, leading to the wars for the Triforce first mentioned in A Link to the Past. But while the backstory states elsewhere that the Triforce in T-2 was sealed away, what might have actually happened is that the Seven Sages actually wished for the Triforce to be beyond the reach of evil, which was fulfilled by having the T-2 Triforce eradicated. Thus, by the time of Ocarina of Time, there is only a single Triforce across all timelines that exist by then.
Thus, the Temple of Time seen in Ocarina of Time does not actually access an entirely different dimension, but simply lets anyone using the Gate of Time access T-2. So when Ganondorf goes through to the Sacred Realm when Hero of Time Link gets the Master Sword, he is going to the Hyrule that was free from evil until he came. As a result, the golden Hyrule of T-1 is conquered by evil once again, and the Triforce is stolen.
The reason the Dark World is Hyrule's dark mirror is not because Ganon's dark heart turned it into that purely by magic, but because it was already Hyrule in another timeline. Because T-1 Hyrule was an evil-free utopia, there was no need to maintain any sort of army, meaning that Ganondorf conquered it rather easily. Certain gloomy aspects of the Dark World may stem more directly from the natural effects of being a subjugated realm.
As a result of all this, the split timelines that Word of God has officially confirmed (Adult timeline, Child timeline, Decline timeline) split off directly from T-2. However, T-1 gets split alongside it because the Sacred Realm/Dark World is confirmed to exist in all of them and gets affected differently each time as a result. In essence, there are actually eight timeline splits: the two from Skyward Sword, and the three pairs of splits for those previous two from Ocarina of Time.
On a side note, this might also result in two other effects regarding the two swords that are central to the plot of Skyward Sword.
For one thing, the Master Sword of T-1 does not contain the lingering essence of Demise. It's possible that, because it is completely free from any evil, it becomes the ultra-powerful Golden Sword from A Link to the Past. This would explain why it is found in the Dark World/Sacred Realm/T-1 Hyrule. And the reason it is found in the possession of the Great Fairy Venus rather than in a pedestal is because, during Ganondorf's invasion of the Sacred Realm/T-1 Hyrule, the forces of good took the T-1 Master Sword/Golden Sword from its pedestal and hid it before Ganondorf could find it and destroy it.
Also, as speculated at WMG.The Legend Of Zelda Skyward Sword, Ghirahim does indeed become the Trident of Power. The Ghirahim of T-1 goes through the Gate of Time to T-2, revives Demise, gets forcibly turned into the Anti-Master Sword, and is eradicated when Link defeats Demise. However, the Ghirahim of T-2 would still exist; it's just that Demise being locked in the Master Sword would mean that his evil machinations would unfold quite differently from how they did throughout Skyward Sword.
First, because the resurrection of Demise is no longer a goal that T-2 Ghirahim can attain, his efforts instead focus on either conquering Hyrule himself or making sure Demise's curse is brought about. It's possible that Ghirahim became the founder and leader of the Dark Interlopers who tried to steal the T-2 Triforce and eventually became the Twili of Twilight Princess. This would explain certain similarities between the Twili characters and Ghirahim (similar Villain Teleportation, strange skin coloring, over-the-top mannerisms, ultimately subservient to the vastly more powerful Demise/Ganon). In fact, when Midna talks about the ancient king who was driven mad by the same greed that she sees in Zant's eyes, she may have been referring to T-2 Ghirahim.
But due to the failure of Ghirahim's Dark Interloper plot, he falls back on Plan B: seal himself in the Trident of Power and make sure that, in this form, he can help the eventual incarnation of Demise's hatred attain the height of his magical potential. In fact, Ghirahim may have either created or influenced the development of the Gerudo to make this flow more smoothly. For one, he influenced their culture so that they would wish to isolate themselves from the other inhabitants of Hyrule, making them extra protective of their desert land and all dwelling in it, including the Trident of Power's resting place. Also, he altered their biology so that there would only be one male Gerudo every 100 years, ensuring that, among this pet race of Ghirahim's, there would be a convenient vessel for Demise's curse who would be in a position of sufficient power (King of the Gerudo) to amass an army and be on high-enough diplomatic ground with the Royal Family of Hyrule to manipulate them. Twinrova may have been a colleague of Ghirahim's who made sure all this came to pass.
Link's very existence split the timeline to begin with.
In the original timeline... there was no Link at all. Thus Ganondorf, with no Hero of Time to open the door in the Temple of Time for him, soon raised an army. Seeking the Sacred Stones, he then invaded the Lost Woods, Death Mountain, and Zora's Domain, eventually leading to a war with the armies of Hyrule in order to force his way into the Temple of Time, a violent conflict that shook the world.
Right before Ganondorf gained access to the Sacred Realm, a desperate and wounded Hyrulian mother and her infant son got there first, with her making a wish to live in a Hyrule without war. Recognizing her pure heart, the Triforce granted her wish by sending her back in time before Ganondorf gained power. The mother took her infant son to the Kokiri Forest and died of her injuries from the war. The Great Deku Tree, sensing he would be a boy of destiny, took care of him from then on. This act split the timeline, which was then split again by Link being sent back by Zelda at the end of OoT.
Thus there was:
No Link: Where Ganondorf gained access to the Triforce in the Sacred Realm, but his wish trapped him in the Golden Land, eventually turning into the Dark World.
Child Link: Where a young Link managed to prevent Ganondorf's rise from occurring at all.
Adult Link: Where Link disappeared completely, and when Ganondorf escaped and conquered Hyrule, the Goddesses flooded the world.
According to the official timeline, OoT splits three ways — Child!Timeline, Adult!Timeline, and Fail!Timeline, with games continuing through each of them. However, the timeline also splits at the end of SS when Ghirahim resurrects Demise in the past. In one timeline, Demise is resurrected and then defeated by Link, leading to the events of the rest of the series. In the other timeline, Demise remains sealed to the 'present' of SS, before being permenently sealed by the Triforce. In this timeline, none of the villains of the series exist, because they are the result of Demise's hatred, letting Skyloft/Hyrule exist in a state of peace. However, this timeline also lacks Link and Zelda. Thus, there will never be a game made in the Sealed!Timeline.
Up until the events in OoT, the Goddesses were in balance, and the timeline was a simple line. However, by traveling back in time and splitting the timeline, Link unwittingly created a feud between Din and Nayru. Nayru, being the Goddess of Wisdom, was interested in the 'experiment' of a 'split timeline' and wanted to see how it would play out. Din, with her stricter personality, didn't want the confusion of an additional timeline. So, in an effort to 'fix' the problem, she decided to destroy it.
She took hold of an uninhabitted 'loose thread' of creative potential and 'attached' it to Hyrule at the point of the time split, turning it into a 'parasite' world in order to suck existence out of one of the timelines and send it spiralling into a void of non-creation. Since it was created almost entirely by Din, who has less creative ability than her sisters, it was hastily thrown together, bearing a great resemblence to Hyrule, with a vague history that spoke of little more than destruction and shadows. This world, created only to be destroyed, the intended 'terminal' point in the 'child' timeline, was called, appropriately, Termina.
But something unexpected happened. When Link fell through the ever-widening gap between the worlds, Nayru (who is also the Goddess of Time) intervened, and the Hero of Time stopped the cycle of destruction, unwittingly saving not only Termina, but Hyrule as well. Grudgingly, Din was forced to accept the split in the timeline, and the Goddesses worked together to flesh out the history of this hastily-created world by gently attaching segments of its past to earlier points in Hyrule's history.
They inspired the Dark Interlopers to arise in Hyrule's past, and, when they were sent into the parallel world, Termina was retroactively populated. However, the life force of Termina was not enough to sustain it properly. Save for the brief period where it was fully attached to Hyrule, both the past and future of this realm remained dark and shadowy, and became known as the Twilit Realm.
At this point in meta-time, Farore, the youngest and most creative of the Goddesses, hatched an idea to fix the problem, by reconciling the argument between her sisters. Rather than leaving the timeline split forever or destroying one of its ends, they could instead tie it back together — in the future. Nayru would have her time experiment, and Din would have a single, concise ending. Everyone could be happy! All they would have to do would be to direct the two timelines in such a way that their futures ended up functionally identical to one another.
But there was a problem — Ganondorf. Being immortal, intelligent, and non-divine, he would always remember events as they actually happened — he would always remember which timeline was the 'real' one. In order to leave Hyrule's history ambiguous to mortals, Ganondorf, the constant, had to be killed. Not sealed, but killed entirely — in both timelines.
Din, who favored this plan, orchestrated the events in TP, leading to Ganondorf's death in the 'child' timeline. Although Nayru wasn't particularly concerned one way or another, she allowed Farore to patch things up in the 'adult' timeline, leading to the events in WW. With Ganondorf dead and Ganon returned to a primal force without mortal memory, the incarnation of Demise itself, a bit of historical tweaking would be all that was needed to bind the timelines together for good.
All that remained was to create a new, 'binding' timeline that would act as the centerpoint from which the 'true history' of Hyrule would be created. In order to do this, Farore created a new split — by causing Link to lose the battle in OoT. From this timeline, the events of ALttP took place, and at the point where the timelines were fused together, Time itself became tangled, and the events of OoS and OoA, whose chronology was always meant to be ambiguous, took place. His role done, the new Link that the Goddesses used to bind the timelines together went on to experience his peaceful end during the events of LA.
The timelines reconciled and Hyrule's history resolved, Link fought one last battle against Ganon and his shadow in LoZ and AoL, bringing a new age of prosperity to Hyrule, and a final end to the divine arguments and chrono-madness his ancestor created.
Also, notice the games that are in the Fail!Timeline. They are all for the NES, the SNES, and the Game Boy. All games that are for later systems are in one of the other two timelines. I'm not sure whether OoT and MM were remade for the Nintendo GameCube, but if they weren't, then this does cause some problems regarding ALttP, if not Zelda 1&2 as well, as all of these above would be accessible via the Virtual Console. Still, removing the Game Boy games from any relevant timeline is a practical matter, concerning the lack of a VC for Game Boy. Perhaps Nintendo thought that ALttP was too attached to LA.
In essence, in creating the Fail!Timeline, Nintendo is saying to these games, "thanks for creating the franchise, but your Early-Installment Weirdness and inaccessibility (again, Virtual Console notwithstanding for 1-3) has made your existence a liability. Though, at least, you did exist, unlike games best left unmentioned, and so we are creating this 'third timeline' to recognize that fact." — Donaldthe Potholer
- Alternatively, the existence of an alternate timeline created by Link's losing is meant to keep the existing timeline around while allowing the creators to freely ignore it whenever they want just by setting any new game in a timeline that split off from any game, rather than only splitting off from OoT or another game involving time travel.
- And yet they're making A Link Between Worlds. Hmmm.
- Or it could just mean that the series' writers aren't arbitrarily following this unwritten rule, especially considering that it's chiefly a minor setting detail in supplementary material — and that as A Link Between Worlds and Tri Force Heroes illustrate, Nintendo continues to use that branch and set games in it.
Okay, so you need the sword and shield in order to get the Kokiri Emerald and leave the forest, but notice how Link is woken up before Ganondorf does anything to him besides aim at him. Maybe Link doesn't survive the blast in that "dream".
- Hero of Men/Fierce Deity/Sleeping Zelda
- Skyward Sword
- Minish Cap
- Four Swords
- Four Swords Adventures (<=Is actually what leads to the civil War, Ganon returns 100 years later claiming to be Gerudo Jesus)
- Ocarina of Time
- (TIME SPLIT!!)
- Adult Timeline
- (Great Flood)
- Wind Waker
- Phantom Hourglass
- Spirit Tracks
- Child Timeline
- (Ganon's fail invasion, Gerudo cast into Twilight Realm)
- Twilight Princess
- A Link To The Past
- Oracles of...things.
- Link's Awakening (Marin is just Malon's dream)
- Legend of Zelda
- Adventure of Link
In the original timeline, Ganon killed Link at the end of OoT. However, Master Hand has the power to take characters/areas/materials from other universes from any point in that universe's space time continuum. Master Hand wanted to get the Hero of Time in his cross-dimensional tournament, even though Ganon had killed him, so he just took Link out of his timeline during OoT, before his death.
However, while fighting in the tournament, Link got quite a bit of training done, and not just any training, but training with the likes of Mario, Donkey Kong, Kirby, and even more of the multiverse's most powerful heroes. So, when Link was returned to his point in the Zelda Timeline after Super Smash Bros...
He defeated Ganon at the end of OoT! Master Hand, with all his time meddling, had accidentally made Link a better warrior, creating an alternate universe where Link defeated Ganon. Then, Zelda split this universe into two by sending Link back in time to his childhood, creating the Failure, Adult, and Child timelines. And the rest is history!
Link was killed by Ganon in the final battle. However, the Master Sword has a last ditch defense mechanism, which sends its master back in time a few minutes if (s)he dies (After all, Ocarina of Time already had the Master Sword allow Link to time travel.)
So, after Link was killed by Ganon, the Master Sword caused his (dead) body to disappear from the Failure Timeline. Link woke up in a new (Adult) timeline, a few minutes in the past at the beginning of his battle with Ganon. This time, he could predict Ganon's moves (since he remembered his death in the Failure Timeline) and was able to defeat Ganon. Then, Zelda sent Link even further back in time, disappearing him from the Adult timeline, causing him to wake up seven years in the past in the Child Timeline.
In a moment of desperation, Link comes up with an idea.
He's not sure how the flow of time works in Hyrule (NOBODY does), but he thinks that maybe — just maybe — he can turn back time so that he can find a way to defeat Ganon before it's too late. With this thought, he takes out the Ocarina of Time, and he plays.
And, just before Ganon can deal the killing blow, he Disappears into Light.
Additionally, it's very likely that the cause of Link's failure is that he didn't awaken the sages. In A Link to the Past, all of the sages were Hylian (what with all their descendants being such), unlike what we see in Ocarina of Time. Koume and Kotake are still alive up until the Oracle games in the Decline timeline, which would suggest that Link never fought them in the Spirit Temple.
What supports this idea is a similar issue in the "Child" timeline with Twilight Princess and Four Swords Adventure. In FSA, Ganon appears, despite that Ganon was killed at the end of TP. According to Hyrule Historia, the Ganon of FSA is a separate reincarnation of the Ganon appearing in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess, similar to how multiple incarnations of Link and Zelda have appeared throughout the Zelda series. Therefore, it would make sense that Ganon could be reincarnated in the other timelines as well.
All lines:
Link: SS — First holder of the Master Sword. Demise curses the lines of Link and Zelda. Zelda is the incarnation of Hylia.Pre-Minish Cap — Picori bestow the Four Sword and other items to first king of Hyrule in an untold story. Vaati created, Ezlo cursed.
Link II: MC — Vaati defeated. Zelda II is a Princess and Link's friend.
Link III: FS — Vaati resurrected. Zelda III is again a Princess and Link's friend.
Link IV: OoT — The timeline divides, Ganondorf becomes Ganon. Zelda IV is princess of the kingdom and a Sage.
Fail!Line (Link IV dies or is crippled):
Link V: LttP — Ganon revived by Agahnim. OoX — Ganon partially revived by Twinrova. LA — Link travels to train, is stranded on Koholint. reasoning Zelda V begins as a Maiden. She gets kidnapped by Twinrova and rescued by Link. She's uninvolved with Awakening.
Link VI: LBW — Six generations (120-150 years) after LttP. Not much is known, though if Ganon appears again, they'll have to both explain how he came back after Oracle, and kill him again. Zelda VI's involvement in the plot is unknown.
(A princess Zelda is cursed by a wizard. We'll say Zelda VII for now. All subsequent daughters of the royal line are given this name by law, rather than tradition.)
Link VII: LoZ — Link explores an island or blocked off section of Hyrule. Note the absence of towns. Ganon is killed and Zelda VIII is rescued. Seven years later, in AoL, Link explores Hyrule and learns direct magic (not item-based magic). Zelda VII is awakened. What happens to her afterwards is unknown, since Zelda VIII is presumably in Hyrule.
7 Links, 8 Zeldas.
Child!Line (Link IV returns to being 10):
Link IV: OoT Ganondorf is banished to the Twilight Realm. MM — Link goes to Termina. Zelda IV appears in flashback and teaches the Song of Time.
Link V: TP — Starts as a villager. Zelda V is matriarch of Hyrule and works with Link V to beat Zant.
Link VI: FSA — Vaati is released and subsequently defeated. A reincarnation of Ganon gains the Trident and is sealed in the Four Sword. Zelda VI is a princess and Maiden.
6 Links, 6 Zeldas, 2 Ganons.
Adult!Line
(7-year period while Link is in stasis, Zelda moves about as Sheik.)
OoT — Link IV disappears from this world, due to being sent back. Zelda IV lives out her life as a Sage.
(Prior to WW, Ganondorf escapes and the Goddesses flood Hyrule)
Link V: WW — Link kills Ganondorf via sword to the head. Zelda V starts as Tetra, unaware of her heritage. Hyrule is fully destroyed. PH — Link V and Zelda V (as Tetra) encounter Bellum and eventually found New Hyrule.
Link VI: ST — Link and Zelda VI fight Malladus. Zelda does more in this game.
6 Links, 6 Zeldas.
So, the final tally is that there are 11 plot-relevant Links and 12 Zeldas across the 3 lines. Ganon is only alive in the Child line, but sealed. The Master Sword is in the Lost Woods (Fail), The Sacred Grove (Child), and lost underwater (impaling Ganon) in the Adult line.
Of course, this will need modification once full details of The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds and Zelda Wii U become known.
In the end, we have a loving father entertaining his kids and giving them happy memories of Link, Zelda, and Ganon for them to remember in their adulthood. Continuity doesn't matter when you're telling children good stories.
- But why would Nintendo lie about it- starting with the second game for that matter?
- Thus explaining why no fully 3D Zelda game has ever been made in the Downfall Timeline.
Classic Timeline: Creation of the World > Dark War > Skyward Sword (New Timeline) > Interloper War > The Minish Cap > Civil War > Ocarina of Time (Link pulls the Master Sword as a child and fails) > Imprisoning War > A Link to the Past / Link's Awakening > A Link Between Worlds / Tri Force Heroes > Golden Age > Oracle of Seasons / Ages > Tragedy of Zelda I > The Legend of Zelda / The Adventure of Link
Adult Timeline: Creation of the World > Dark War > Skyward Sword (New Timeline) > Interloper War > The Minish Cap > Civil War > Ocarina of Time (Unaltered events) > Great Flood > Wind Waker / Phantom Hourglass > Spirit Tracks
Child Timeline: Creation of the World > Dark War > Skyward Sword (New Timeline) > Interloper War > The Minish Cap > Civil War > (Ocarina of Time) Link returns to this period / Majora's Mask > Gerudo-Hylian War > Twilight Princess > First Calamity > Age of Calamity / Breath of the Wild / Breath of the Wild Sequel
I separated Four Swords and Adventures from the Minish Cap because the Minish Cap contradicts both games. Vaati is eradicated in the Minish Cap, so how did he return in Four Swords's backstory? I propose that Four Swords's backstory is an alternate version of events to the Minish Cap, where Vaati rises to power much earlier.
Out of all the explanations for the Downfall Timeline I've seen, this is my favorite one. It explains how Ganondorf managed to enter the Sacred Realm and take the Triforce, it explains why the Ancient Sages help seal the Sacred Realm instead of the newly-awakened sages, and it would explain how they're still alive.
Four Swords's Backstory and the Minish Cap happen at the same time. Ocarina of Time and Four Swords Adventures happen at the same time. A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess, and the Wind Waker happen at the same time. A Link Between Worlds and Spirit Tracks happen at the same time. The Legend of Zelda and Breath of the Wild happen at the same time.
- This is also why the timeline split in Ocarina of Time, but not in any of the other games involving time travel — the time travel was a red herring and unrelated to the split.
This intended prequel connection is further backed up by FSA showing the origins of an entirely new Ganondorf, who wields a trident and takes the form of a blue pig monster, something only otherwise seen in HH's "Downfall" timeline branch. Wouldn't it make much more sense to separate the "Ocarina" Ganondorf from this clearly separate Trident-wielding Blue Pig Ganon? To be honest, it would, and this was likely the intent during development. So what exactly caused the connection to be vague and easily deniable in the final product? Easy: Miyamoto upended the tea table.
"And in the end on that game, as we got closer to finishing it, of course, Mr. Miyamoto then came in and upended the tea table, and we changed the story around quite a bit at the end with Four Swords Adventures."— Eiji Aonuma, GDC Roundtable, May 17th 2004
Miyamoto wasn't pleased with FSA going so heavy on the story elements during development, forcing the dev team to backtrack heavily late in development. This explains why the game is so heavily connected to LTTP, yet never makes the connection too obvious or explicit. Miyamoto nixed it and made them rework what they already had made.
Now, ignoring HH and the updates to its timeline for a moment, and taking liberties with the "this timeline is subject to change and may be wrong" statement on the HH page just before the first official timeline... what if we were to rectify this weird double (triple?) retcon that places FSA uncomfortably after TP and separated from FS?
Here is the new timeline being proposed:
Unified Timeline: SS — MC — OOT (Split)
Great Sea Timeline: OOT — WW/PH — ST
Old Hyrule Timeline: OOT/MM — TP — FS/FSA — LTTP/OOS/OOA/LA — LBW/TFH — LOZ/AOL
Chronology Unknown: BOTW
This altered timeline removes the weirdness of the Downfall Timeline (which has never sat right with most fans), and keeps all of the Old Hyrule adventures in the same timeline. BOTW is kept ambiguous as usual. Whether FS stays in its HH position, or is moved after TP with FSA like FSA's prologue implies, is entirely up to the reader.
The break starts when Zelda, as the Sage of Time, sends Link back into the past. This split causes the first part of the break, where the Child and Adult timelines become a thing, but the flow of time is fractured from the paradox, as technically there could be two Young Links in the Child Timeline depending on when Link was sent back to. To fix this paradox, the third timeline branch is created, which forces the Child Link who hadn't been sent back in time into the new branch, where he got unlucky and fell to Ganondorf in some way, creating the Downfall timeline.
As for when the break ends, one possible point could be when Zelda is sent to the past in Tears of the Kingdom, and another possible point is when Zelda is forcefully Recalled to the past after the encounter with Dehydrated Ganondorf - either way, once this event with Zelda, who is or will be the Sage of Time, happens, the timeline suddenly snaps into one singular timeline where all three timelines had happened simultaneously.
Bonus points to the fact that Zelda becomes the Dragon of Light at the end of the memories in TotK, which could possibly be another point in time that the Dragon Break ends.
