Those intrepid writers over at GlitterBerri have deciphered the official Legend of Zelda timeline from the recently released Hyrule Historia and have created the following image that shows exactly how the timeline for the series pans out. The timeline itself was created by Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma who is the supervising editor of the book.
Tip: Daan Koopman
NO WAY? The only time I wished the timeline would be fake it wasn’t…
Ight, this is lookin’ a lil better.
So does that mean it’s the actual 100% CONFIRMED timeline?
Yes.
This is much more thorough than the last one. And makes perfect sense too.
I wonder how this will affect the creation of future titles and if any of these paths will converge. It seems as though the timeline of OoT failing has pretty much finished (which may be why it has never been talked about before since the games are all the early ones in chronological release) so that leaves the two timelines that have been alluded to before to still continue.
I wonder if Ganon will appear in either of the saved timelines or if from then on Ganondorf is the base form.
So many questions from this and honestly I don’t know if it was a good move revealing it.
I didn’t understand the other one but I guess I get it now since they put in those extra captions explaining it all.
The hero of time is defeated is in the timeline? Nintendo, I am disappoint…
why not always link have to win
i wanna hear more about te sealing war
I’m guessing in Ocarina of Time, Link isn’t simply kept in the Sacred Realm for 7 years when pulling out the Master Sword for the first time, but traveling 7 years into the future, leaving behind a Hyrule with no hero where Ganondorf reigns.
Nope, Ganon would of reigned over Hyrule no matter what. If Link didn’t pull the sword, it still would of happened. Link was simply kept in the Realm for 7 years until he was old enough to become the Hero of Time. When Link defeated Ganon, the Gods sealed him away. Link then set out on his own personal adventure and was never again seen again in Hyrule. A long time after these events, the seal was broken, Ganon escaped and once again ruled over Hyrule, making him the winner over The Hero of Time.
… I think anyways.
That’s what I used to think as well, but then there wouldn’t have been a timeliness split with the hero “failing”. It might be less of a mystery if we had the exact translation of the original story told in OoT, or Nintendo might have changed their minds afterwards “bending” the series in 3 split timelines.
I think the “game over” screen counts this time. Ocarina of time is a game that plays with time, so you died on the game and that changed the future, course you got extra continues to play it, cause its a game, but you failed on your quest anyway. =) That’s funny to think but it’s the only explanation I could think, since Ocarina of time have not mutiple endings.
i dont think the time line is actualy conected there, its just what if, (my opinion) link won in oc of time, leading right oor things when bad and we go left. making since instead of him winning and heading out but ganon gets out next week ^^
I’m not sure what to think. Is the art book cannon? [I mean, unless this is confirmed by Miyamoto or Ejii, I don’t think it is remotely cannon, even if ‘made’ by Nintendo]
I get the feeling there will be an official response on this, I mean the two of them said that, if I remember right, they would only reveal the time line if there where going to be no more Zelda games.
Who knows, this seems more like a speculation and I doubt it is cannon.
The article does day that this was cdeated by mr Aonuma :(
*say
*created
This is an official timeline, not a cannon.
He means canon, not cannon… canon is a collection or list of information taken to be genuine and true; i.e. actual events, and publisher-confirmed information, and not spinoffs, web series, fan-made crap, etc…. Seems like some of you should have asked Santa for a dictionary this Xmas XD
Cool! Now all we need is a Mario timeline! JK! They’re already in order, correct?
Lol Yoshi’s Island.
Mario Galaxy 2 takes place 100 years after galaxy 1 since everyone doesn’t remember the events in galaxy one. The comet festival takes place every 100 years which is why I said 100 years after. And Rosalina actually tells the story of galaxy 1 if you 100% galaxy 2.
I looked into this too much…
Yeah, I remember that… HOLY SHIT! Mario is at least 126-years-old during SMG2! (26 year anniversary this year + 100 years for SMG2)
Time to play all games in order of the timeline.
How?…. the timeline splits…… can you clone yourself????
so its a more detailed version of the other one
2011…….. Now the best year ever
Idiots… this was ALREADY confirmed but people were STILL complaining about it. -_-
this does make since, however it shocks me that there is a 3rd split in which the hero fails, theres not special ending for if you die just a game over.
I think it’s when you decline to do the quest when you talk to the deku tree. If you don’t have the courage to do the quest, it sends you to the game over screen. I learned this the hard way.
What did you expect? A new Zelda game starting instead of the game over screen? lol
LOL no, but, maybe a different Game Over screen informing you that you failed and Ganon got the Triforce (which at least would imply that then the Seal War would follow), ala Adventure of Link
I’m guessing future Zelda games will fill the gaps between games in the timelines?
or add on to the end
doncha hate it when there is a series of movies or games and they keep adding prequels and ”before the events of…” to series but never add on to the end like star wars for example they keep making more and more clone wars related stuff instead of continuing where they left off it just makes the plot more and more complicated
Jeez that doesn’t make any sense AT ALL: if link can fail in ocarin of time to create a thir split, h can fil in skyward sword and then the master sword would never be created godamnm!!
and then again, in the end of ocaina of time zelda sends adult link back in time!! after finishing is duties as an adult he turns back into a child!! there IS no split timeline at all!! this timeline just has to be fake, i mean, not eve the creators noticed the stuff that i said here??!? doesn’t make any sense…
you hve done an awesome job this far mynintendonews, but posting this as such an acurate timeline makes you lose a lot of credibility
MORON ALERT
^ this
You fail to understand why they picked OOT for Link to fail. In the story of OOT, Link and Zelda have a part of the triforce. If Ganon was to have the ENTIRE triforce in LTTP; then Link and Zelda must have died; thus failing.
Technically you are right, but those avenues haven’t been explored for failure in other games. Since at the time OOT was the first title, it had to have created branches of time to make sense.
You also don’t understand how time travel works to get the other 2 splits. If you get sent back in time and alter the past, that creates a different future. If he goes back in time and just leaves to go to Termina, that means Ganondorf still intended to get the spiritual stones and open the door of time. When Ganon is sealed with adult link time continues after he is sent back in time to go to Wind Waker.
Exactly. You only make parallel universes when you travel back in time and Oot is the only game where you do that.
Technically it happens in Majora’s Mask…
and Skyward Sword.
in Link To the Past, you go to another world… making a double parallel shit
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What’s awesome is the “New content discovered” between Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Looks like we know the kind of Zelda game we are getting for the 3DS, awesome.
that said continent, not content:P
Well its supposed to be New Hyrule. But take into consideration the deku tree’s mission in WW. He spread seedlings across the Great Sea to drain it of water. It would take a few centuries for that to happen. Let’s say in a few hundred years in the game (roughly 2 games or so) the sea is dry enough for more land to be around. Lake Hylia becomes the Bay of Hylia, and the Gerudo Desert is now the Gerudo Sea which allows access to far off continents like it did in ancient times, restoring Hyrule to its former self. This now leaves two kingdoms, the people remaining in Old Hyrule would need a new ruler once unified. Yet the Royal Family is already in a new area. If the new kingdom were to unite with the old, this would create a two-part kingdom like we see in Adventure of Link. Thus the timelines begin to mirror each other
I like this a lot. It’s good to actually see what the timeline really is, so all the speculating can end. Although when was the Hero of Time defeated to lead to the leftmost split? I don’t remember that happening…
Parallel universes and timelines.
Kick ass! If you don’t get it, you’re not thinking 4TH DIMENSIONALLY!! :) (I.E. Back to the Future.)
I like it.
complete rubbish! link was successful in ocarina of time so why the alternate time line? just to try and make sense of it all? it all one big giant retcon! (emphasis on the con!) and all the princesses are called Zelda and all the heroes are called Link Really? kind of a cop out aint it?
Also it states that, in the supposed hero of time is defeated time line, that Gannon is “revived” but if the hero of time was defeated the Gannondorf would have won and so why would he need to be revived????? i know success takes it’s toll but thats ridiculous
Let me explain it.
There are various theories of time travel, and one of them stablishes that when you travel back or forth in time, time and space create “parallel universes”, for the sake of avoiding paradoxes.
That’s the case with OoT.
When Link defeats Ganondorf in the future, and then Zelda sends him back in time, the “future” Zelda doesn’t dissapear, even if Link is sent back in time to his child era and prevents Zelda about Ganondorf’s intentions,
Why? Let’s think about it. If “future” Zelda dissapears, then no one could have sent you back in time, and if no one sent you back, you couldn’t have warned “past” Zelda, and if you don’t warn “past Zelda”, then the “future” events take place, sending you back in time bla bla bla. You create a paradox. Time protects itself.
Now, taking that into account, the split timeline takes place.
And, if Link is defeated, then another timeline appears. Think of it as the “if” timeline.
Also, in Skyward Sword Demise states that as long as the bloodlines of Link and Zelda doesn’t disappear, he’ll reincarnate. Is natural to think that future generations would name their childrens in honor of the Goddess reborn and the Hero.
Oh, and the Sealing War is an event in wich Ganon was sealed. So, that’s why he needed to be revived.
never really cared what game came first :P
Whoa! Since Link can’t both fail and succed at the same time (or, if that’s the case, which event caused that? Does the book say it?) thus actually making a third split, that means that the original games were practically relegated into a “What if” scenario in an alternate universe, in conclusion, not part of the main canon anymore. Which is a shame, since my favorite games are AttP and the Oracle games (which, while not part of the original batch, still were puit in that third timeline).
This could have been avoided if OoT stayed being the Sealing War as it was originally (confirmed by the developers back in ’98), with AttP and the S/NES and GB games falling at the Adult timeline (since in AttP Ganon is imprisoned in the Sacred Realm just like OoT’s Adult ending). Unfortunately, TWW changed the whole Adult timeline, and since it was the more recent game, it prevaled over the others. So they retconed the Adult timeline and the Sealing War, making it still related to OoT, but NOT OoT (because of certain small discrepancies between the Sealing War prologue in AttP’s manual and the actual OoT0s plot, justifying it via ). Basically, now the Sealing War is OoT minus Link, but still a different event.
I’m a bit sad about this because AttP and the Oracle games are my favorite games in the series and just the ones that were outcanoned. But other than that, I’m satisfied as the mystery has finally being solved, and that, apart from that retcon, everything else makes sense.
So, all in all, this is a great day.
I blame LTTP giving Ganon the entire triforce, then it wouldn’t have been a what if type of event. If they only had him with the Triforce of Power, then it’d be a normal timeline, because in the Original Zelda game, Zelda had the triforce of Wisdom again.
It makes me sad that they aren’t likely going to add any games to this part of the timeline.
Well, I always thought that the “Ganon got the entire Triforce” was just retconed in OoT (since it established that because of his personality and character traits -that is, lack of wisdom and courage-, he could NEVER get the whole Triforce), but yes, you’re right, that’s the biggest incongruency between OoT and AttP’s prologue is that one, the rest are mainly minor divergencies that could be atributed to distortion of the legend because of the passage of time.
i is not understanding all this.i not good at zelda games.i just like crash.
I still don’t get it. what happened to the master sword after skyward sword? why did it just randomly reappear in ocarina of time again? and if link failed in OoT then how did the master sword get put back into the pedestal? What happened to the master sword after TP? It doesn’t make any sense.
I’m pretty sure by “fail” it means rejecting the Deku Trees offer thus leaving the Master Sword where it is.
No.
It’s been determined the entire game progresses as it should, and in the final moment when Ganon appears in OOT, Link dies here, forfeiting the triforce of courage, and (obviously) seizing the triforce of wisdom from Zelda.
So this way Zelda kills ganon, and that is why he is revived in LttP!
Refresh my memory…. in Minish Cap, they Explain the creation of the Minish Sword (A.K.A. the FourSword) ???
As i remember, the Minish Sword is embedded in some kind of Box, holding Demons and other Monsters…. Vaati goes guided by the evil cap, and brakes the sword in order to open the chest, hoping the “Light force” is there, but instead, free the demons locked in there …
Then, Link has to fix the Minish Sword, and then power it up with the goddess bless, in order to make it “the FourSword” right?
They had yet to explain this… The origin of the Minish Sword, supposedly created 100 years before Minish Cap, how the Hero locks the Demons and who originally this demon was.
They had to explain too, how exactly was it required to flood Hyrule, The process and events that pushed them to do so. And many other thinks open… there’s plenty of possibilities to more Games. They just try to align the story in Order to make some sense to the series.
They just need to do carefully in order to not mess it.
But…Majora’s Mask is supposed to come after Ocarina of Time!
it does………..
And so do is. In Ocarina of Time, there is 3 possible timelines…
The First; Link not accepting it’s destiny, so, no Hero of time is awakened.
The Second, Link accept its destiny, become the The Hero of time and restores Peace in the Future, once it defeat Gannon and It’s sealed back. Changing the Future time.
The Third, once fulfilled its destiny as Hero of Time, Link then return to it’s Original timeline and then, the story rewrites, now preventing the events that caused by opening the Sacred realm and uncovering the evil plans of Gannondorf. Then, majoras Mask and the other stories come after.
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Well this just killed half the speculation that goes on in the Zelda community. :( The Zelda Dungeon forums are going to be pretty boring from now on.
Still not right. Phantom Hourglass should be after Spirit Tracks. Last I checked, trains were invented before steam boats.
Spirit tracks even says in game that it takes place about a few generations after phantom hourglass ( I’m pretty sure it says a century, but I could be wrong.) It makes many reference to a past time that describes WW and Phantom hourglass, and it does by no means say “oh trains were just invented!” It simply uses trains as the transport system rather than boats.
Plus, Hyrule is not real life Earth. Techology doesn’t have to develop the same way or in the same order as in our world.
Ok gamers, If you play iPhone games are you really a gamer? (Not the article for this but I don’t care I need opinions) I think not. also is it a true gaming platform? again no. just need people to support this fact.
Here’s my take on it. In OoT, after child Link first pulls out the Master Sword, a series of events occurred which were not shown in the game. He goes to fight Ganondorf as a child but was defeated. The Goddesses decided Link was too young to face Ganondorf and rewound time and sealed him away for seven years, thus creating two universes. The first had Ganondorf defeating child Link and obtaining the trifoce, and the other which then further split into the child and adult timelines.
Since I am A HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE Zelda fan I pretty much understand this.
This shouldn’t be so complicated. Nintendo clearly wasn’t ever thinking about a timeline while making these games. And honestly, after looking at this, who cares? I’m just happy that the Metroid universe makes sense.
Imagine a Mario timeline!?
Hmm. If the one in Hyrule Historia is the the document itself rather than something merely based on it, this really could have been more open-ended. Since this is a “legend” we’re dealing with, the line of events shouldn’t read like a history book.
That said, there’s 3 problems they really should have caught:
1. The Twinrova sisters are dead in the line w/ LttP, and Ganon’s not alive to resurrect them.
2. There really is no need for an alternate outcome to determine the 3rd line. The 3 lines already have alternate events: LttP, TP and WW. The seal is made in the Dark World in either of the 2 that happens, so there’s no need to have a war to seal him. The Civil War prior to OoT will suffice for that prologue.
3. Since Ganon is in the Dark World, the holding place for the first Ganon, it can’t be the next King of the Gerudo. The game must either happen prior to LttP followed by his liberation from the 4-Sword or parallel to LttP w/ the same Ganon.
One thing I’m overjoyed about: They’re using a 3-Pronged timeline! ^_^ I’ve been working with one since 2009, so I’m glad to know it’s the official approach. Our reasoning behind 3 lines is different, sure, but they’re doing it!
Just checked, and it looks like Aonuma is an editor on the book. Guess this really is their document, which comes as a surprise given their negligence to build plot walls like that as stated in Iwata Asks.
On second thought, I’m not sure he’s endorsing what’s here. In that case it’s just as well, given what I said above.
Awesome! I’m kinda confused how it flows but it means I have to play the older games.
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Soo… Looks like Zelda Skyward Sword is … .ZELDA 0
So…the timeline ends at Adventure of Link?
Well it makes sense but I still don’t like the idea of 3 split lines
This explains it perfectly: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/zelda-official-timeline
I think that we can´t solve something that isn´t finished…
The legend of Zelda Saga has not yet completed, there are still more The legend of zelda games coming in the future, so imagine what will bring to us, a new peace of history, another peace of puzzle in The Legend of Zelda Time line.
Good point. It is possible that a later Zelda game may explain certain things. Link might travel back in time and make confusing plot points make sense.
Aside from that though, it’s fun to try and make sense of what has been revealed. No point in avoiding the topic just because future games may contradict our speculation.
This has left me with more questions than answers..When was created the twilight realm? In TP Lanayru told you about Interlopers who tried to take the triforce and were sealed in the twilight realm.(By the way it would be interesting to see a game based on this). When was created the sacred realm? *spoilers* In Skyward Sword the triforce was in Skyloft, not in the sacred realm, there has to be a reason for it. There are a lot of eras without a game. I would love to see a game based on them, specially one based in the Hyrule unification war or the era of chaos (why would the sacred realm be sealed? because of some threat?).
In skyward sword you do indeed go to skyloft to reach the triiforce but remember you must enter the silent realm in order to reach each peice. Which we can assume is the sacred realm or will beome the known as the sacred realm later.
Okay… I might need to complete all the games in order to understand this a little more…
Wow I never thought I would see the day when Nintendo would release the official timeline of Zelda. It is really interesting though. This might be a good thing after all because now fans can request which split timeline to make the next sequel or prequel to. They probably won’t listen but oh well.
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So basically what I am reading is that Link to the Past and the original Zelda series never happened.
unfortunately, it seems you’re right
I just want to comment that in OOT Ganon nor link or zelda Had the triforce in skyward sword they make it pretty clear, if you recall you get the triforce part sigil on the hand of a trait when you pass the tests in the silent realm, but this merely represents that link have aquire the trait making him able to hold that part of the triforce, and be able to get a wish when he passes the three tests, even if ganon had been able to get the other two parts he could never use the triforce because it will just split again, this is explained by Hylia in skyaward sword and is the same reason why gods nor demons can use it im guessing because of the fact that they ussually just have one trait, if you recall hylia made herself human in order to be able to use it she mentione that she had two plans set in motion but is made obvious that she decides on the second plan. In this time line what it doesn’t make sense to me is the need to revived ganon when hes is sealed away how can you revived someones that is sealed not dead, also in A links’t to the past it is said that the sacred realm was molded by the sages. And in ocarina there is a comment that the realm where is held the triforce can be molded by the person who touches it, so if gannon was sealed he could have molded the sacred real into the dark world for a link to the past. Besides you should really read carefully “”” Those intrepid writers over at GlitterBerri have DECiPHERED the official Legend of Zelda timeline from the recently released Hyrule Historia and have created the following image that shows exactly how the timeline for the series pans out”””” and then it merely comments: The timeline itself was created by Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma who is the supervising editor of the book. It never says that eji aounuma santioned this timeline, and we don’t even know if the book contains the whole story.
Given that I am late to the discussion my issues to the timeline only involves what happens during the era of light and dark. My complaint is simply the fact that the oracle games DO NOT BELONG after Link to the Past. i still own the manual to Links Awakening and it states to the prolog that the events happen Months after Link to the Past. Also at this point I still fallow the fact that link is an adult in Link to the Past not a child. so Why is Link a child all of a sudden until Links Awakening, did Nintendo forget that adding links voice in the game boy version valid it does not make sense! I feel that the oracle titles should be before Link to the Past or put it to the first title on the gold era to me it is the only thing that makes sense. Other then this I need to keep saying to myself after wasting all this time on this that this is still just a game.
Ok we need to know more about Malladus. He was in spirit tracks but he didn’t have a physical body so we don’t know what he actually looks like. If toon Link (continued from PH) finally made it to the land of the new hyrule he must’ve possibly fought Malladus to free the land from his evil. If for some reason they make a game of this, I hope toon Link returns being on the big screen again like for the Wii U.
I’ve also been looking into a little Minish cap and wanted to know more possibly about “The Hero of Men”. If they made a game about him and how it takes place between Skyward Sword and Minish cap they can explain the picori blade and the light force too but also explain if its part of the triforce or another untimate power.
It still really makes me wonder what Zelda game for the 3ds are they planning to make next?
my timeline is
ss
mc
oot
adult timeline:
ww
ph
st
fsa
fs
child timeline:
mm
alttp
os-oa
La
tp
loz
loz2 (aol)
the reason i only have one split is because link could have lost in any game not just oot.