Topic: Zelda Series Time Line Explanation

[DRJ]

I see a lot of people arguing over the Zelda timeline, and nobody seems to agree on where all the games fit. I have my own idea about this that I think explains everything rather nicely.

If you have read the Wheel Of Time series by Robert Jordan you will understand. Basically time can be thought of as a wheel. Constantly spinning, with spokes on the wheel representing different ages or periods of time. The time that is now the present will eventually become the past. Then a distant memory. Then a legend or myth. Then it will be completely forgotten. And eventually that time will come full circle and be repeated.

In ALTTP the ending says the Master Sword sleeps forever. Clearly this is the end of all evil in the world, at least for a time. This is the final game of the series, it has happened in the past (If we consider Wind Waker the present) and will happen again in the future.

While time repeats itself, most of the major events will be replayed over and over again, although each time will not be repeated exactly.

This is where all the games prior to OoT fit in. They may happen in the same time period as the other games or they may happen in the distant past or future.

We then get to the most recent timeline starting with OoT. All the other games that have taken place, or will take place have long since been forgotten and so nobody remembers anything that happened. Maybe there is some myth or legend, but that is all they are since nobody remembers that these events have happened before. Some people that can seemingly predict the future or seem to know more than they should or possibly could (Like the owl in OoT) are able to perceive (if only subconsciously) the other times that this age has come to pass. Since the general events of this time have repeated many many times.

Now look at Majora’s Mask. It would seem to take place at the same time frame, but not everything is the same. There are some similarities (people, items etc.) but there are many differences. This game is describing the same time frame as in OoT, but it is a different cycle. Since the OoT is referred to in Wind Waker I will assume the Majora’s Mask tells the story that happened many ages ago. So long ago that nobody remembers anything about it. There was evil (Majora’s Mask) that was trying to destroy the world and that evil was destroyed by the hero of time. Many ages passed and that time eventually came around again. This time we have OoT.

After Ganondorf is defeated at the end of OoT Zelda does something completely unexpected. Although she was trying to reward link, she unknowingly trapped him forever in a causality time loop. She sends link back in time to a time right before he met Zelda. Link then meets her again, and sees Ganon. Zelda asks for his help, which he provides and eventually recovers the Master Sword, and gives Ganon the power he wanted. Seven years pass until Link is ready to defeat Ganon, afterward he is returned to the past by Zelda again and again and again.

In Wind Waker it talks about the Hero of Time from OoT. Although this happened hundreds of years ago (as stated by the King of Hyrule) people still remember. The story goes that after Link defeated Ganon he went off to another part of the world on another adventure. Clearly this is the story that Zelda told everyone, since only she knew what really happened to him. Since the Hero of Time was trapped in the past when evil attacked the world again there was nobody to stand up and fight it. The world was flooded until such a time that a new hero could be born. One who could defeat the evil and restore peace to the world… for a time.

Well these are my thoughts on the series. Its about the only way I can make sense of it all.

[mouse_clicker]

Meh, you've got an interesting timeline there, but one that isn't very popular. The timeline used by most people who support the theory that all Zelda games are linked (no pun intended) is this:

Ocarina of Time: The first Link is born and Ganondorf is still human. He tricks Link into letting him into the Sacred Realm and grabs the Triforce. However, since his heart is not in balance of the 3 virtues (Courage, Wisdom, and Power), the Triforce splits, leaving him with the one he most believes in, the Triforce of Power. He uses it to conquer all of Hyrule, but he still searches for the other two pieces. Link returns wielding the legendary Master Sword and, with the help of the Seven Sages, defeats Ganondorf and seals him in the Sacred Realm, which he has corrupted.

Majora's Mask: On an alternate timeline after Zelda returned Link to his childhood, one where Ganondorf didn't exist because he was already defeated. He is transported to a different dimension and must save that world, and his own, from being destroyed by a falling moon. Same Link as OoT.

Wind Waker: Takes place either 100 years after OoT or hundreds of years (both are said). In an earlier time, Ganondorf/Ganon returned and reaked havoc across the land unchallenged. Since no other help would come, the Three Goddesses (Din, Nayru, and Farore) flood the land of Hyrule. After a while, Ganondorf reclaims his power and a new Link arises to  defeat him.

A Link ot the Past: Presumably takes place thousands of years after OoT. An evil wizard controlled by Ganon from the Dark Realm (previously the Sacred Realm) is trying to get him back into the Light Realm. Yet another Link comes to combine the power of the descendants of the 7 Sages to defeat Ganon once again.

Link's Awakening: Link grows weary of Hyrule and sails off to a distant land and washes up on a dream island where he must stop an gian fish from awakening (I think). Same Link as LttP.

Legend of Zelda: Ganon has returned and has split the Triforce into 8 pieces. The 4th Link must collect each piece and defeat the evil man once and for all.

Adventures of Link: I'm not real sure about it's story- I haven't played it in so long, but it does encompass the same Link as LoZ.

As for the Oracles, I have no idea where they go. I've heard some people say After LA and using the same Link as LttP, and others say after AoL and using the same Link as LoZ. I don't have a clue either way.

[DRJ]

Quote
Majora's Mask: On an alternate timeline after Zelda returned Link to his childhood, one where Ganondorf didn't exist because he was already defeated. He is transported to a different dimension and must save that world, and his own, from being destroyed by a falling moon. Same Link as OoT.

Ganondorf was defeated in the future not the past, and when Link is sent back in time Ganon is still there. The ending of OoT shows Link meeting Zelda for the first time and she shows him Ganon through the window.

[mouse_clicker]

That was just something nice to see at the end- if that were true, Link would continue to repeat history over and over and over again, which can't be true because he obviously had time to go to Termina. Every Zelda game besides OoT takes place on the timeline in which Ganondorf was defeated while Majora's Mask branches off nito it's own world.

[Bill Aurion]

The Oracle games are by themselves, because Link is discovering the Triforce and Zelda for the first time.  The 3 pieces of the Triforce are together, so my best bet is that it is after LttP.  That in mind, my timeline goes like so...

OoT
MM

WW

LttP
LA

OoA
OoS

LoZ
AoL

making 5 Links in my timeline

[Joey]

Quote
Link's Awakening: Link grows weary of Hyrule and sails off to a distant land and washes up on a dream island where he must stop an gian fish from awakening (I think). Same Link as LttP.

He was actually trying to wake the Wind Fish up.

[kurst_chao3030]

Listen, I have to say this...
When Link had defeated Ganon in OoT, Zelda sent him back to a time when Ganon never existed. In which Navi left him when he returned to the past, so Link was gone from the time when he sealed Ganon in the sacred realm. Later, Young Link left on a journey to find Navi bringing him to Termina. While there was no Hero of Time in the Future world of Hyrule Ganon broke free from the sacred realm and the Gods had no choice but to flood the land which brings you to the story of WW. Thats all I'm gonna say on my part, the other games are pretty much on there own, except for mabye LoZ and LA.

[kurst_chao3030]

Oh, I also wanted to say that if you read the instruction manuel of LttP you'ed know that Ganon was the leader of a band of theives when he accidently ran into the sacred realm and found the Triforce, with it he started to control Hyrule till they sealed up the realm, turning it into the Dark World. During that time there was a war between Hyrule and Ganon, known as the imprisoning war.  Much, much, later a dark wizard came to ruin world but was quickely taken out by the seven sages. And again, many, many years later, he returned but under the control of Ganon where LttP starts. Oh, and if you ever heard, or have seen the horrible Legend of Zelda TV series (I've seen 3 episodes) they have NOTHING to do with the Zelda series (it just sucks okay). Thats all I've got to say.

[Bill Aurion]

If the Hero of Time never existed then why is there a statue of him in WW?  

[DRJ]

The hero of time did exist. After defeating Ganon in OoT Zelda sent him back in time. the people still remebered him and built statues and told stories etc.

Also if he was transported to another dimension in Majora's Mask, how does Link have the Ocarina. Zelda kept it at the end of OoT.

[Bosrs1]

That's an interesting theory.

Personally I think the timeline is linear, and goes like this based on what I've read in official guides and just the stories in general over the years.

*Ocarina of Time (The Imprisioning War) - The "Original" Link

*Majora's Mask (A Few months after Link is sent back to the past at the end of OOT)

*Link to the Past (Thousands of Years later when the Imprisioning War is a distant memory) - "New" Boy Named Link

*Link's Awakening (A Few Months after LTTP)

*The Legend of Zelda (Several Years after LTTP)

*Zelda II: Link's Adventures (Soon After TLOZ)

*The Windwaker (Thousands of Years Beyond the Previous games when Hyrule has become myth) - "Newest" Link

This set up seems to actually satisfy continuity pretty well. There have been essentially 3 time periods each with a boy named Link which is a fairly common name since OOT's Link made the name famous in the imprisioning war. It's obvious that Ganon was Imprisioned at the end of OOT, and that he's still in the Dark World / Golden Land in LTTP. TLOZ takes place years later and LTTP was introduced as TLOZ's prequel which puts it earlier in that same Link's life. As for Windwaker, since Hyrule is now myth and legend, it happens in the farthest future.  

[Bill Aurion]

The problem with your timeline is this: spoilers...

1) Ganondorf tells Link in WW that he is the reincarnation of the Hero of Time.  Not to mention that in the opening it shows that WW comes after OoT.
2) The Link in LoZ is different than the one in LttP.  In both games Link meets Zelda for the first time.

[Bosrs1]

Well when it comes to your first point, I have WW after OOT, as it should be. And in the older explainations of LOZ it may have been the first time they met, but when LTTP came out it was presented as a prequel to LOZ. It's possible they were different Links in LTTP and LOZ but not likely. I think that's just one small continuity glitch, but even if it is, there is no doubt that LTTP and LOZ happen in the same timeline and in that order.  

[Bill Aurion]

What I meant was that it was explained in the opening that WW came right after OoT(1000 years later).  

And to further prove the two Links from LttP and LoZ are different.  The LttP Link was born in Hyrule while the Link in LoZ was born in a country outside Hyrule.(Can't remember where exactly...I have to go look it up).

Taken from the LoZ manual:

"All was not lost. A young lad appeared. He skillfully drove off Gannon's henchmen, and saved Impa from a fate worse than death.  His name was Link. During his travels he had come across Impa and Gannon's henchmen. Impa told Link the whole story of the princess Zelda and the evil Gannon."

Why would Link need to be told of Zelda if he had known her from LttP?  It is clearly obvious that the two are seperate, perhaps by another 1000 years.

[Drunk Fly]

I don't know a great deal about the earlier Zelda games, but what seems clear to me is that at the end of Ocarina of Time Zelda sends Link back to his time, but because Ganon has been defeated in the future, he no longer exists in the past, otherwise the whole thing would've been pointless. Anyway, in Majora's Mask he goes looking for Navi and winds up in Termina and you all know what happens. The importance of this is that in Wind Waker (I used to think it was the last in the series, but its possible that Link's Awakening comes after this seeing as he sailed away at the end of WW) the Triforce has been split into eight pieces (coincedentally the same number as a previous Zelda game...) because the Hero of Time left Hyrule (to go to Termina) and was split from what made him the Hero.  

So my guess is

Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask
*hundreds of years pass*
Wind Waker
Link's Awakening

Got no clue where the other's come in. It also seems to me slightly suggestive that both the games have 'wake' in their titles....

[kurst_chao3030]

thats what i meant to, so listen: The other games do NOT MATTER, the only games i can see together is above. Maybe land comes back on the second WW coming out, which link gets tired of Hyrule and goes to Links Awakening. But i still think LttP is thousands of years after everything else.

Just think of OoA, OaS, LoZ, and Z2LA, as myths died, down, generation, after generation, after generation. This makes those games all seperet, now lets just shutup and stop yapping about an extremley long timeline, to hard for anyone to understand. -_-hehehe

[Ness_the_Mess]

The analogy of WoT works very well, since there is the Dragon Reborn and in zelda there is the Hero of Time reborn.  Anyway ...

This is just a copy + paste of something from another thread but I believe it is quite relevant to this ...

As to the 'new Hyrule ... In my opinion, Wind Waker was just a continuation of the future in OoT. You see, when time travel occurs, new continueum are formed. These must be caused because all time happens at the same time. So, when Link defeated Gannon while he was a late-teen, that continueum contined. However, that continueum was continued in the form of Wind Waker. In the history of WW, they say that the hero left the plane entirely, and that is because Link went back in time. Many people asume that when the history says that, it is reffering to Majora's Mask, but in MM Link comes back.

So, Wind Waker continued the continueum where Gannon was semi-defeated. Does anyone else recall that at the end of WW, it says 'The Legend of Zelda The End'? It didn't bother saying Wind Waker in there. That is because that is where the Legend of Zelda stops. At least, in that continueum. Now, they can continue the continueum where Link was just a child, and met Zelda at the end of OoT. Since Gannon was banished into a temporal plane, it removed him from all time, past and present, and so he was no longer in that continueum. Thus, a new story starting at the beginning of OoT, without Gannon.

[kurst_chao3030]

thats really perfect u know, i guess it really makes sense, after all the crap we've been saying...^.^

[Bill Aurion]

I don't like this time-travel junk.  Space-time continuems should stick in the Physics lab, not in videogames.   I just don't see how Link would do different things when he went back in time.  If you went back in time, you would still eventually do the same exact things you did to make it to the present time.

[norebonomis]

c'mon you guys, go take some shrooms then think about this some more, time doesn't exist, there is not past or future only now, therefore the only zelda game that matters is the one you are playing at the moment, i can see all the japaneeze guys who make the zelda series sitting around and laughing at our western ignorance.

[Giolon]

I'm a believer in this theory for the timeline:

(in chronological order)

1st Link --

Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask

2nd Link --

Wind Waker

3rd Link --
Legend of Zelda
Adventures of Link

4th Link --
Ocarina of Seasons/Ages

5th Link --
A Link to the Past
Link's Awakening

Here's why... in each of the following games, Link meets Zelda for the first time: OoT, WW, LoZ, OoS/OoA, LttP.  Thusly, there must be 5 different Links.  As for the ordering, well, OoT is clearly the first and MM is a sort of continuation of that.  We know Wind Waker comes a hundred or several hundred years after OoT.  I place the LttP set last because it does say that Master Sword sleeps forever and it talks about how thousands of years ago Ganon was sealed away in the Seven Years War by the Seven Sages (This is OoT).  As for OoS/OoA occuring before or after LoZ, I don't really know.  All I know is it's a separate Link.

[Bill Aurion]

The problem I see with this theory is that in LoZ(NES) Hyrule is completely destroyed, leaving only a few huts with old codgers in them.  Though this could go either way:  Maybe the Hylians created a new life on that area after LoZ, who knows?  I believe that the Oracle games come after LttP because when Link goes to see the triforce at the beginning of the game, it is in it's fullest form, just as it was left at the end of LttP.

(I think the 7-year War stuff should be left out.  The story has been changed immensely throughout the series, and I don't think even Nintendo knows what the true story is. )  

[kingbry]

The way I see things working is this: you have 2 timelines, the split occurring when Zelda sent Link back in time and the end of Ocarina of Time.  Wind Waker is the end of the timeline that follows from the end of the "Imprisoning War".  eventually Ganon reappeared, and Hyrule was flooded.  centuries passed, life went on on the islands that were created and tada WW.

Majora's Mask follows shortly after the end of Ocarina in the other Timeline, and ALTTP continues this thread. It can't have happened before WW because the Triforce is whole, and it can't have happened after because in the last moments of WW, Hyrule was destroyed and the King drowned with his wish on the entire Triforce.  "the world above" was clearly NOT Hyrule, and a "new Hyrule" that Link and Tetra set out to find would not have been as connected to the lore and history of the first Hyrule as was the Hyrule of ALTTP.  Which means ALTTP belongs in the MM timeline.  Also, WW states that the Hero of Time did not return, which would seem to indicate that none of the games occured in this time period.

Now, the other games would seem to fit on this timeline too, depending on what state the Triforce is in.  I could believe that Link's Awakening goes in the WW timeline, perhaps occurring after Link left to find the new Hyrule, but I have also heard a good case for EVERY SECOND of L'sA occuring in a dream during the seven years where Link was inprisoned in the Sacred Realm.  I'm sorry I can't give anything more than that, but I haven't played many of the early games, or the Oracle games.

this theory has AT LEAST 3 Links: OoT-MM, WW-LA and ALTTP. OR LA before end of OoT followed by MM, WW Link2, ALTTP Link3.  Depending where you place the other games, there are probably more.

So that's my 2 cents.

[Avinash_Tyagi]

The problem with that theory occurs when you take into account that when Zelda sent Link back, Ganondorf was recursively sealed, so he wasn't free in the past and therefore the imprisoning war never happened.  So it means that at most only Link and maybe the sages(when they came into their powers) would remember the events of the erased timeline.


This effect of recursive erasing was illustrated quite nicely in that episode of Star Trek Voyager where they battle that time ship.

[Jale]

The thing is before OoT Ninendo weren't really thinking of a timeline, it all started with OoT. Now there are too many problems to sort out. But i do like the OoT/MM, WW..ect theory. Perhaps one day they will make a prequel or something about the master sword itself, or perhaps a quest to remake the sword.