Topic: Official Legend of Zelda Timeline Revealed

[Daan]

Are we about to discover everything about the series that we've held dear for 25 years? UPDATE: Confirmed!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/28755

The official timeline for The Legend of Zelda series might be revealed, thanks to a fan translation of the recently released Hyrule Historia book. Update: We've confirmed the timeline is indeed in the book.

We don't know all the details at the moment, but if true, the timeline is even more complex than usually imagined, featuring a trio of alternatives after Ocarina of Time. Nintendo has always been secretive about the franchise's anthology, so to give it all away in this one book is a huge surprise. You can find the rumoured timeline below. We will continue to follow the story as it develops.

Main Timeline
1. Skyward Sword
2. The Minish Cap
3. Four Swords
4. Ocarina of Time

Split 1: Link defeats Ganon - childhood branch
1. Majora's Mask
2. Twilight Princess
3. Four Swords Adventures

Split 2: Link defeats Ganon - adult branch
1. The Wind Waker
2. Phantom Hourglass
3. Spirit Tracks

Split 3: Link fails in Ocarina Of Time
1. A Link to the Past
2. Oracles of Seasons and Ages
3. Link's Awakening
4. The Legend of Zelda
5. Zelda II

[gtownclown]

Wow

[SilverQuilava]

....Huh. Looks like it could work. If explained, it'l probably make sense. Feels like it fits too.

[stevey]

timelines with splits are failures + lttp belongs at the very end

[Enner]

Three splits. So tricky.
I'd much rather that this was kept a secret to everybody as it was fun guessing how messed up it is as opposed to knowing exactly how messed up it is.

[broodwars]

I really don't see how it makes sense that there's a timeline if Link fails to stop Ganon in Ocarina of Time.  We saw what that future would look like in Ocarina, and it doesn't match up to the games listed.  It seems like Nintendo just wanted to give a reason why there's a group of games that never mention the events of Ocarina, rather than just accept that those games were made before Ocarina and leaving it at that.

While it's nice to have an official (?) Zelda timeline, I don't see the folks who really care about that accepting this one.

[JRokujuushi]

timelines with splits are failures + lttp belongs at the very end

It says on the back of the box that LttP features "[t]he predecessors of Link and Zelda..."   http://i.imgur.com/uMlPO.jpg

Also, if LttP was at the end, it wouldn't be in the past in relation to any of the other games, meaning it wouldn't actually be a link to the past.

So how does LttP belong at the very end?

[TrueNerd]

I very much agree with Broodwars on this matter.

[WindyMan]

That's nice, but where does the Wand of Gamelon fall into this?

[Retro Deckades]

Interesting, but a little too unnecessarily complex. I always enjoyed the split timeline theory in which the two strands reconvene with the Oracle games.

[UncleBob]

I have two issues with this...

First, I don't like the "three splits" - I was never a huge fan of the split timeline theory.  Although I must reluctantly agree that it works (and that the games have virtually been tailored to make it work), my issue with it is that it seemed like a cheap cop-out.  "Oh, these don't quite fit together?  Split!".

This third split proves that point.  Why stop at two?  three?  Hell, why not just make 15 splits and get it over with?

Second gripe - the ORACLE GAMES DO NOT COME BETWEEN LttP and LA.  Period.  It simply doesn't make sense.  I know some people like to try and claim that the ending of the Oracle games leads directly into the beginning of Link's Awakening... and that sounds all nice and pretty... but...

Link's Awakening is a direct sequel to LttP.  The story clearly works that way (and it's expressed in the manual/etc.).  Obviously, Zelda and Link met in Link to the Past.  He got her out of the castle prison, dropped her off at the sanctuary, then, later, saved her punk ass from Ganon.

Yet, in the Oracle games, there's scenes devoted to Zelda introducing herself to Link.

Of course, the player needs to be introduced to Zelda.  I won't argue that - but for Zelda and Link to pretend that they don't know each other?  IT MAKES NO SENSE.

I simply will not accept any timeline that puts the Oracle games between LttP and Link's Awakening unless there's another game that involves Zelda getting bonked in the head with a coconut.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Whether one likes it or not, if this is true, it is canon. It is the official timeline. Personally I do not mind it at all.

[Caterkiller]

I just stopped caring around the TP day's. The only story I can look forward to that doesn't ever contradict it's self is One Piece.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm glad Nintendo released this, because it's entertaining to me to watch people get really upset about it.

[Bman87301]

I'm assuming this is BS until I hear otherwise. If this does turn out to be true, I'm going to be very disappointed in Nintendo, because it'll mean they've only just now got someone to come up with their own complex interpretation after the fact, to try to cover up the fact that the original plot got botched beyond repair when Aonuma took over  the series.

[Ian Sane]

The split timeline **** is just unbearably annoying and it pretty much fucks the whole thing up.  And it was totally unnecessary.  It wasn't until Wind Waker's stupid flood that that even came up.

What if Link failed in OoT?  Um... he didn't.  I beat the fuckin' game, that means he succeeded.  Why don't we have a "what if Link failed" timeline for EVERY game?

I also thought that OoT's story made perfect sense.  Link defeats Ganon and uses some time travel as part of it.  All this two timelines stuff seems like Miyamoto has never encountered any other time travelling fiction and is making it needlessly complex.  Link stops Ganon and the status quo is resumed.  This isn't hard.  This doesn't have to be complicated.

This timeline also destroys one of the cool references by seperating Zelda II from OoT.  The towns have the same names of the sages.  I assumed that was a reference to OoT, like the people named their towns after the sages from history.  And there is also reference to the seven sages in LttP.  So what happened then?  Did the sages seal Ganon without Link?  I always assumed defeating Ganon in OoT was playing out the events in the prologue of LttP.

No one but the most hackneyed writer would ever intentionally have something so complicated and ridiculous on purpose.  This is just Nintendo not paying any attention to this stuff when making a new game, introducing all sorts of idiotic plot holes and then coming up with a complicated explanation later when they get caught on it.  This is like DC Comics Crisis on Infinite Earths bad.

I stopped paying attention to the Zelda timeline after Wind Waker.  They can come up with all the dumb explanations they want.  The second you introduce a world altering Noah-esque flood into the middle of the timeline, the whole thing has jumped the shark.

Another reason to hate Wind Waker: if Nintendo didn't do the infamous Spaceworld switcheroo they might never have done a flood and thus never had to come up with some alternate timeline excuse to explain it away.  They not only bait 'n' switched their fans, screwed the Gamecube out of easily the most anticipated of the first rumoured titles and confirmed their kiddy reputation by turning one of their only franchises anyone thought was cool into a cartoon but also ruined the Zelda timeline!  It's the PR disaster that keeps on giving!

[UncleBob]

Whether one likes it or not, if this is true, it is canon. It is the official timeline. Personally I do not mind it at all.

It's only official canon until Nintendo decides otherwise.

[NWR_insanolord]

No one but the most hackneyed writer...Nintendo

Yeah, that checks out.

[UncleBob]

No one but the most hackneyed writer...Nintendo

Yeah, that checks out.

Managing expectations...

[Ceric]

I am glad to see that Legend of Zelda and Zelda II are put in a spot of being at the very end.  Even if you squished all those timelines together I believe those games be at the very end.  You know the ironic part is that if you think about it the Zelda series is about a post apocalypse world.  With Legend of Zelda being the last hold out branch.  The one with Windwalker is the new blossoming of society, each game the world is more populated and fleshed out. 

Its an interesting way to think about it.

[nickmitch]

The problem with time travel in any story is that it creates a paradox. Personally, I don't think the time line splits at the end of Ocarina of Time. Why should it? The events of that game never actually happen. Link goes back in time, and then Gannon gets executed or sealed away or whatever. Link never gets the Master Sword, blah, blah, blah.

I can deal with two, but 3 time splits feels unnecessary. However, if that's what Nintendo says, then I'll just accept it and hope there's an English version so I can better understand it.

[Art_de_Cat]

I don't understand why there is a third split.  Much less why it is called Link Fails to stop Ganon. Ganon was stopped and sealed in the dark world.  He never fully opens the doorway to escape, but just a part of him as Aghanim is able to to undo the seal.  Once that mess is settled, he is not resealed.  Maybe they could do a game inbetween ALTTP and Zelda 1 to explain how he gets out and gets the triforce of power again, and why they had to hide the triforce of courage the way they did. 

[Ian Sane]

This whole thing also suggests that it's so easier and safer to go with sequels.  If you just make each game/movie/book go chronologically in the same order they are released in, it is much easier to avoid introducing plot holes or having to "fit" stories in the middle.  It's so much easier to answer "what happens next?" then to answer "what happened then?"

Metroid worked quite well when it did not have any prequels.  The first three games just go through sequentially and Metroid Fusion even works well with those original three as well if you ignore Metroid Prime.

[NWR_insanolord]

It's even easier to do things the way Nintendo likes to and do whatever they feel like, continuity be damned.

[marty]

Pretty much what I expected.  Zelda games stopped being Zelda games, as defined by the previous games, after the 16 bit era.