Time to open THIS can of worms again...

the Zelda timeline. Did we figure it out yet?

I don't have a theory of my own, because I haven't played all the games yet.

I'm curious to know if anyone's managed to put together a "definitive", plot hole-free timeline theory yet.

"Religion isn't the cause of wars, it's the excuse." —Mycroft Next

It's only slightly less useless than trying to make a Super Mario timeline.

I gave up on it, frankly.

ALL CREATURE WILL DIE AND ALL THE THINGS WILL BE BROKEN. THAT'S THE LAW OF SAMURAI.

The problem with the Zelda timeline is that there are several games that can go anywhere.

The only confirmed parts of the timeline are:

Skyward Sword->Ocarina of Time->Majora's Mask Ocarina->100 years->Wind Waker->Phantom Hourglass->about 100 years->Spirit Tracks Ocarina->Long ass time->Twilight Princess Minish Cap->Four Swords->Four Swords Adventures Skyward Sword-> Everything else

Every other game is subject to Wild Mass Guessing (which is why we have a WMG page for the timeline).

And, as of now, every timeline theory has plotholes.

So, in the U.S., randomly stripping is a signal that you want to sing the national anthem? - That Human

I've long since stopped caring about it, to be honest. The chronic migraines aren't worth it.

Experience has taught me to investigate anything that glows.

What's the currently accepted "most likely" timeline, though? I'm rather curious.

Oh and, it's actual canon that the timeline splits after Ocarina of Time. Thought I'd toss that out there.

"Religion isn't the cause of wars, it's the excuse." —Mycroft Next

Okay we know things split off at Ocarina of Time.

Ocarina to Majora's goes to Wind Waker to Phantom Hourglass.

And Ocarina to Twilight Princess.

Zelda 1 goes to Zelda 2

Seasons and Ages are at the same time.

I think the Vaati games are in their own thing.

The Blog The Art

Zelda Timeline? That's easy.

Minish Cap -> Ocarina of Time, then split timeline.

Child timeline is Majora's Mask -> Twilight Princess -> Four Swords -> Four Swords Adventure -> Link to the Past -> Link's Awakening -> Legend of Zelda -> Adventure of Link -> Oracle Games

Adult Timeline is Wind Waker -> Phantom Hourglass -> Spirit Tracks

Though really Four Swords could go just about any time between MC and FCA and the oracle games could probably also be between LA and Loz.

Oh right, and Skyward Sword would be before Oot, but after MC.

edited 1st Feb '11 6:25:09 PM by KuroBaraHime

Easy.

• 1986: The Legend of Zelda
• 1987: Zelda II
• 1991: A Link to the Past
• 1993: Link's Awakening
• 1998: Ocarina of Time
• 2000: Majora's Mask
• 2002: Wind Waker
• 2004: Minish Cap
• 2006: Twilight Princess
• 2007: Phantom Hourglass
• 2009: Spirit Tracks

hope that cleared some stuff up

I'm certain it's Ocarina —> Majora —> Twilight Princess on one side, then Ocarina —> Wind Waker —> Phantom Hourglass on the other.

Link didn't return to Hyrule after Ganondorf's return in the adult timeline because he got sent back in time. Not too sure about any of the other stuff.

edited 1st Feb '11 6:53:07 PM by EddieValiant,Jr.

"Religion isn't the cause of wars, it's the excuse." —Mycroft Next

Wait, wouldn't it be Majora to Wind Waker because Gananondorf took over becuase Link was in another dimension so the goddesses took action?

The Blog The Art

No, he took over because there was no Link since he was sent back in time. That's what caused the split timeline and why they're referred to as the adult and child timelines.

Also Link can travel back to Hyrule from Termina. He can't travel back to the future because Adult!Zelda took the Ocarina of Time when she sent him back.

And remember, Ganondorf was sealed differently in the timelines. In the Adult Timeline Link with the Master Sword and the 7 Sages sealed him in the Dark Realm, where as in the Child Timeline, child Link and Zelda warned the King about Ganondorf and the Ancient Sages used the Mirror of Twilight to seal him in the Twilight Realm.

edited 1st Feb '11 7:12:26 PM by KuroBaraHime

Ah okay, I saw things WAY differently, nevermind.

The Blog The Art

I don't know the "official" timeline, but here's what I have on the Zelda Timeline WMG:

• 1st part= SS->MC->OOT (Timeline split)
  • Child Timeline= TP->FS->FSA->ALTTP->LA->LOZ->AOL->Oracle Games
  • Adult Timeline= WW->PH->ST
• Obligatory Insane Theory*
  ^{the part in brackets takes place in both timelines}
  =[MC->FS->FSA]->OOS/OOA*
  ^{One takes place on the Child Timeline, the other on the Adult Timeline}
  ->ALTTP->LA->LOZ->AOL

That's the best guess I have.

edited 2nd Jul '11 11:54:24 PM by Malph

So, in the U.S., randomly stripping is a signal that you want to sing the national anthem? - That Human

Oh God.

The oracle games taking place in different timelines doesn't make sense since linking the games reveals that Twinrova got Onix and Veren from Season and Ages to carry out their plan so as to light the Flames of Destruction and Sorrow. Those with the Flame of Despair from kidnapping Zelda could be used to revive Ganon.

FSA makes the most sense between TP and LTTP because in the game Ganon gets the trident he uses in the 2D games from the Pyramid. He doesn't have this trident in any of the 3D games.

MC makes more sense at the very beginning since it's the "origin" of Link's hat. Of course SS isn't out yet so it's no use deciding on its exact placement.

edited 1st Feb '11 8:22:22 PM by KuroBaraHime

Sigh.

I don't know why people bother, thanks to all the Fanon out there, but here is everything which is certain:

Zelda 1 -> Zelda 2
Ocarina of Time (Adult) -> Twilight Princess
Ocarina of Time (Child) -> Majora's Mask -> Wind Waker -> Phantom Hourglass -> Spirit Tracks
Oracle of Ages/Oracle of Seasons (interchangable. Seasons is production-wise one before Ages.)
Minish Cap -> Four Swords -> Four Swords Adventures
Ocarina of Time -> (Zelda 1-4, in no certain order)

And I've been told that Skyward Sword comes first, but haven't been given a source. Apparently the (translated?) phrasing by Nintendo was "The only reason we're not calling it the first game is because that would prevent us from making something set before it." I have no idea whether this is credible.

Everything else is Fanon, including stuff like Minish Cap being first because "it is the origin story of his hat".

edited 1st Feb '11 10:41:24 PM by Sabbo

Uh...it's kind of hard to make head or tails of your timeline.

Umm... Wind Waker and sequels are definitely Adult Timeline and Twilight Princess Child. WW Ganondorf broke out of the Dark Realm he was sealed in at the end of Oot and there's at the least stained-glass windows of the sages from Oot who wouldn't of awakened in the Child timeline. And in TP Ganondorf is shown to be sealed in the Twilight Realm be the Ancient Sages after a failed execution that was nothing like Oo T's end.

Also I looked up the evidence of Minish Cap being first, and it there does seem to be counter-evidence. Particularly pointing towards it taking place after Wind Waker, in the new Hyrule from Spirit Tracks. Of coarse MC is almost defiantly Vaati's Start of Darkness, and Vaati is the central a villain and dies in Four Swords Adventures which has connections to Link to the Past. And putting LttP after WW opens a whole other can of worms. Unless of course, the legend in Four Swords of Vaati's first sealing isn't referring to MC but something unrelated, and MC is actually after WW and is when Vaati was killed in the Adult Timeline as opposed to his death in Child's FSA. That's definitely an interesting theory.

As for Skyward Sword, in an interview with Eiji Aonuma you can find several places he says-

"I have already talked to Mr. Miyamoto about this so I am comfortable in releasing this information — this title [Skyward Sword] takes place before Ocarina of Time. If I said that a certain title was ‘the first Zelda game’, then that means that we can't ever make a title that takes place before that!"

Also, the Skyward Sword is apparently the original form of the Master Sword, so it would have to go some time before any game with the Master Sword.

edited 2nd Feb '11 12:17:36 AM by KuroBaraHime

A part I won't deter about is ALTTP —> Oracle Games —> LA. There is just too big a piece of evidence that Oracle Games happen right before Link's Awakening, and LA's manual (well, at least the French one) mentions it happening after Ganon's death in ALTTP.

"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."

LA is certainly a sequel to LttP and stars the same Link. The Oracle games placement is debated.

On one hand OoX ends with Link on a boat similar to the one he starts LA on, and the Japanese Wikipedia article says that a magazine called 64 Dream (a Japanese Nintendo Power basically) said the OoX star the same Link as LttP.

On the hand Zelda talks to Link like they just met and it's sorta implied it this Link's first adventure, neither of which makes sense if it was LttP's Link. And as for Wikipedia, it not exactly the best source, and that magazine might have gotten it wrong even it did say that.

Scardoll: "You Zelda fans have it so hard... Why not just go the route of Metroid, with one main character and one timeline?"

Random Nobody: What about the Metroid Manga and Metroid Other M confli-

Scardoll: Shut up.

Fight. Struggle. Endure. Suffer. LIVE.

Word of God isn't the same thing as Canon. Death of the Author and all that.

My personal thought on the whole thing is that OoT is a Stable Time Loop rather than causing an Alternate Timeline, so it doesn't jive with the common thoughts on the subject at all.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

Yeah, it's generally agreed that Nintendo only joined the timeline party around when TWW came out, all prior games are tattered with continuity problems, and even those after are somewhat loosely written.

For this reason, timeline speculation is largely just pure entertainment for us fans.

So far as “canon” stuff is concerned, everyone else is correct about the “sub-series,” so to speak:

• TLoZ→TAoL
• ALttP→LA
• OoT→MM
• TMC→FS→FSA
• TWW→PH→ST

The least controversial arrangements outside sub-series are pretty directly stated in-game or on the box/manual/PR fluff for each of these:

• ALttP→TLoZ
• OoT→ALttP
• FS↔ALttP
• TWW←OoT
• TP←MM (with pretty blatant hints that TP→ALttP too, see the discussion just below the top here.)
• SS←everything else

Beyond that, it's basically a tossup, especially the Oracles games (one theory I like is that they occur simultaneously at the end of TP & TWW's respective timelines, fusing them together.)

Eric,

edited 2nd Feb '11 8:43:12 AM by EricDVH

Wait, ALttP -> LA? What makes that "official"?

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.