HOLY ISH! THERE'S AN OFFICIAL ZELDA TIMELINE!

Here you go. A full explanation.

It shouldn't have been all that confusing to figure out to begin with...

edited 30th Dec '12 10:17:12 PM by burnpsy

But that says november. Didnt this one come out in december last year?

Casual talk is a debate you have to win.

Yeah, and that was posted November this year.

But if you just want a really simple breakdown.

Skyward Sword → Minish Cap → Four Swords → Ocarina of Time.

Then the timeline splits into 3.

One timeline continues off the the future in OoT where Link beat Ganon and Zelda and the Sages trapped him in the Sacred Realm with the Triforce of Power. This goes into The Wind Waker → Phantom Hourglass → Spirit Tracks.

Another continues off the timeline Link made after he was sent back in time at the end of OoT. This continues into Majora's Mask → Twilight Princess → Four Swords Adventures.

Finally one is off a timeline where OoT didn't happen, or rather, it happened in a way we don't get to see. Link fails to beat Ganon somehow. There's no further details on how. It doesn't even specify if failing meant he died. So the Imprisoning War from ALttP's backstory happened that ended in Ganon being trapped in the Sacred Realm with the whole Triforce. This leads into A Link to the Past → Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages → Link's Awakening → Legend of Zelda → Adventure of Link.

Ten bucks says Ocarina Of Time ends up splitting into even more timelines down the line. Especially if we ever get a Zelda MMO.

That musical instrument was locked away by the god(desse)s for a reason.

Is it possible that the failure timeline was created during the Spirit Temple? Because the Adult timeline changed when Link went through the Child segment; with the creation of the Spirit!Adult Timeline, the Pre-Spirit!Adult Timeline was abandoned without a Link to defeat Ganon(dorf). Plus, the only other time that Link is required to return to his Child Time is for the Lens of Truth; however, that is done within the the Song of Storms Time Loop and is implied to be the cause of Bongo-Bongo being freed. It always happened in every timeline, which is why the Spirit and Shadow Temples can be done out of order. They both require the Lens of Truth; but, because that timeloop exists in every Timeline, it doesn't matter which Adult Timeline the Shadow Temple is completed in. But in the Spirit Temple the future visibly changes when Link goes to the past; the Child segment of the Temple was not always done, thus preventing Link from being able to save that version of the Adult Timeline. He had to create a new, alternate future in which the Temple could be completed.

edited 31st Dec '12 11:25:24 AM by TheAirman

PSN ID: FateSeraph | Switch friendcode: SW-0145-8835-0610 Congratulations! She/They

In that case, one wonders what good Time Travel even is. If it creates a new timeline every time it's used, you're leaving your enemies to get stronger and creating a new version you didn't have to face before. By beating the new version and NOT chasing the old version into the abyss of death, you're only creating more terror than you should . . .

Doesn't really matter though, unless travel between timelines is possible.

The Ocarina of Time was broken as a result of the events of the failure timeline, then the pieces were used in the creation of the Harp of Ages.

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

Where there's a sequel, there's a way.

Well the only timeline with a living Ganon right now is the Child Timeline. The Ganon in the Failure Timeline is actually pretty dead right now.

On the other hand, the Adult and Failure timelines still have Vaati, and he's supposedly bound to the cycle as much as Ganon is/was.

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

No, I don't think Vaati is bound to the curse like Ganon probably is.

And yet he still can be brought back. From what can tell, the Zeldaverses have a very loose boundary between 'life" and "death." I think I can count Ganon being brought back to life at least five times in one timeline.

Casual talk is a debate you have to win.

The most Ganon's been brought back to life in a single timeline is twice in the failure timeline. Once at the end of the Oracle link game, and the second time unexplained between Link's Awakening and the NES game.

He's never been revived in the adult timeline, and he did once in the child timeline, though he didn't exactly get revived so much as reincarnate.

edited 1st Jan '13 2:00:07 AM by KuroBaraHime

What about his come back in Wind Waker? I also count three revials in failure time and oen reincarnation in child.

edited 1st Jan '13 2:32:02 AM by HyperAlbion

Casual talk is a debate you have to win.

What? He didn't come back to life in Wind Waker, he just broke out of the Sacred Realm since he was sealed there at the end of Ocarina of Time.

And what's the 3rd revival in the failure timeline? I only see the end of Oracle, and between Link's Awakening and Legend of Zelda. If you mean him being in A Link to the Past, like Wind Waker he was just sealed in the Sacred Realm and was finding a way out by using his puppet Aghanim.

Oh I see. Between being sealed/ killed and revived/returned/ reincarnated it all kinda blends.

Though using hindsight and following through the official timeline in order of release, it's actually quite obvious. (So much that I don't know how anyone could ever go with the 'It's all a legend there is no connection" theory)

The first two games are directly tied, a a link to the past is a straight up prequel and Link's Awakening could really go anywhere.

Oracarina of Time was made as an even more farther back prequel and it got a direct sequel in Majora's Mask.

Oracles was made as a direct bond between Link tot he past and Awakening what with the boat and all.

It gets weird with Four Swords, but it was so self contained it hardly mattered.

Wind Waker was made as an alternate direct sequel to Ocarina and it WOULD be confusing here, but they announced the split timeline here so there were no issues with one game having two contradicting direct sequels.

Then FSA comes on and flubs stuff up...*

But its still a direct sequel to FS. Minnish cap then completes the trilogy.

Twilight Princess comes after Majora's and since the split timeline was largely given there should be no issues here.

Same with Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass.

The only loose end was the Four Swords trilogy and Skyward Sword tied those in.

Looking at it all like this it's obvious to build two seprate timelines One with the MM AND WW split (holy fucking shit did anyone just notice that? MM/WW? THEY PLANNED IT FROM THE START!) And one with the OG games.

The only actual controversy was how to tie the OG games in with the rest since the split didn't give any direct tie to Link to the Past. I'm surprised no one came up with a thrid split before, it's the only logical solution here.

I mean everyone tries to claim Nintendo is just B Sing from the get go but when you pay attention isnt clear they knew what were doing the whole time. (Well except for maybe the irony making Ocarina as a prequel to the original timeline and then using it to spin off two entirely different ones).

I would hazard that most timeline theory issues stemmed from trying to tie the OT to the Split Timelines. Because other than that each one is quite internally consistent.

We just needed one Unifying Theory for it to work and the Downfall timelien did that.

TL;DR "ALL ACORDING TO KEIKAKU!"

edited 1st Jan '13 3:28:25 AM by HyperAlbion

Casual talk is a debate you have to win.

I find "Everything is just a legend!" option to be lazy and unimaginative I prefer the "Continuity is weird because writers don't put much effort into that, but it does exist" explanation

Heck the old theory were OT was the sealing war was rather lame to me. I mean, that would be lamest war ever, guy conquers the whole land before one guy comes out of nowhere and kills monsters until he finally beats the bad guy who is sealed =P Thats not really a "war"!

edited 1st Jan '13 3:16:44 AM by SpookyMask

Archive Binging it seems on e fellow here was pretty deadset on it. Seemed like what killed the thread.

But I seriously CANT be the first person to get Majora's Mask and Wind Waker can I? Is that a thing we all knew that I just got?

Casual talk is a debate you have to win.

Yes.

EDIT: Well, probably anyway.

edited 1st Jan '13 3:49:51 AM by Sabbo

Am I the only one who thinks the failure timeline is one in which Link almost lost to Ganon and used the Ocarina to escape and try the battle again? It would explain why other deaths don't create timeline splits and is an active split caused by time travel rather than a passive one in which there are merely two unrelated possible outcomes.

The Spirit Temple creates an in-story spot for that, though. So there's no need for an extra Ocarina use.

Twinrova also shows up later in the failure timeline. I'm pretty sure she doesn't appear later in the other two timelines, so it can be assumed that Link never managed to kill them in the failure timeline.

Except the Spirit Temple isn't the only situation in which you can change events. Plant magic beans in the past and suddenly they appear in the future even though they weren't there before. Besides, every single game in the failed timeline has Ganon, not Ganondorf - he only becomes Ganon after both getting the three parts of the Triforce, which occurs after Link completes the Spirit Temple, and being defeated by Link, so if Link left the timeline at that point Ganondorf would never finish the Triforce and would never be able to let alone have reason to transform.

Either theory assumes Link traveling back left behind the Triforce of Courage, so I don't see how the Triforce factors in.

And you can get 100% completion of game and only travel back in time once, so it's not like Link necessarily needed have gone back multiple times.