The Legend Of Zelda 10 Things You Didn t Know About The Game s Timeline

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The Legend Of Zelda 10 Things You Didn t Know About The Game s Timeline

The series timeline is a contentious topic for The Legend of Zelda, but it's one that Nintendo takes far more seriously than fans even realize. Legend Of Zelda Breath Of The Wild Link To The Past Wind Waker Trio has created a lot of properties that haven’t just been successful, but have helped influence the entire video game industry in significant ways. is one of Nintendo’s flagship series and for decades it’s helped showcase how innovative they can be. The Zelda has evolved in considerable ways since its debut. It’s been fascinating to watch how the games in the series retain their core concepts, yet are able to push Link into drastically different adventures. With all of the Zelda games that are now available, there have been increasing questions over the series’ timeline and just how it fits together. It turns out that it’s a lot more complicated than fans realize. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Series Official Timeline Was Kept Top Secret Until 2011

Zelda Hyrule Historia Timeline Fans had speculated that there was a canonical timeline for the Zelda series, but such a thing was actually kept secret up until the development of Skyward Sword. There are a lot of voices that have helped the Zelda series become what it is today, but much of the credit goes to Eiji Aonuma, the acclaimed video game designer who acts as the project manager and producer for the Legend of Zelda series. Initially, only Eiji Aonuma, , and the respective game’s director were privy to this confidential document. In 2011, the timeline was finally made public in the Hyrule Historia companion book.

The Timeline Is Flexible

Soul Calibur II Link Fight It’s always interesting to see what piece of minutiae audiences can fixate on when it’s the quality of the games that’s actually important. Zelda’s timeline was quite rigid in the past and Nintendo held events up to a lot of scrutiny, but this attitude has relaxed in more recent years. Rather than worry about contradictions, the timeline has opened itself up to a multiverse not beholden to the franchise's main plot. The multiverse stretches to titles like Hyrule Warriors, Super Smash Bros., and , but never in a way that tries to force continuity.

The Timeline Crosses Over With Sonic s Timeline

Sonic Lost World Link Skyward Sword Link has been involved with some unusual video game crossovers in the past, but one of the strangest has to be when leaves a trail of dust in the kingdom of Hyrule. The Wii U title, Sonic Lost World, features a DLC package where Sonic doesn’t just don Link’s outfit, but he collects rupees instead of rings as he races through Hyrule and takes out Deku Scrubs and avoids Gorons. The level features a lot of nods to Ocarina of Time, but it also specifically features Link and art designs that come from Skyward Sword.

Skyward Sword Is Chronologically The First Game In The Timeline

Zelda Skyward Sword Link Zelda Bird Curiously, one of the more recent games in the series, Skyward Sword, is currently set towards the beginning of the Zelda timeline. Sky Era details events that are thousands of years before other games in the series. It details the creation of the Master Sword, the rise of the Demon King Demise, as well as the introduction of the Goddess, Hylia, who gets reborn as Zelda. Skyward Sword also features the official formation of Hyrule, how it gets its namesake, and the knowledge that the people of Skyloft help repopulate the surface world.

Ocarina Of Time Marks A Crucial Splitting Of The Timeline

Zelda Ocarina Of Time Link Plays Ocarina The Nintendo 64’s is still viewed as one of the best games in the series, but it’s also significant in terms of how it marks a turning point in the franchise’s larger timeline. Ocarina of Time famously features gameplay with both Link as a child and an adult, which is how both the Child and Adult Timelines are added to the series. However, Ocarina of Time also starts the branching of a third timeline, the Fallen Hero Timeline, which explores a scenario where Link actually loses to Ganon, following the aftermath of this event into A Link to the Past.

The First Game Is One Of The Last Games Chronologically

NES Original Legend Of Zelda Sword Slash With most video game franchises, there is usually a fairly linear structure that’s taken between games. It makes sense for people to assume that the original Legend of Zelda on the Nintendo would be the story that kicks off the franchise. However, as more Zelda games were added to the timeline, it became clear that Link’s first journey actually takes place towards the end of the timeline’s chronology. It’s set after most of the SNES and Game Boy Zelda games, which re-contextualizes the events of the original game.

There Are Technically Five Timelines

Zelda Breath Of The Wild Great Calamity Lightning Every new Zelda game that gets added to the series seems like it complicates the larger series’ timeline in some fashion, but all of this has resulted in a number of different branching timelines extending from the main series’ lore. Ocarina of Time introduces the three-way split between the Fallen Hero Timeline, the Child Timeline, and the Adult Timeline, with everything that precedes this referred to as the Hylia & Hero of Time timeline. Finally, the Great Calamity Timeline looks at the new canon from and the mysterious events that lead to it.

The Fallen Hero Timeline Houses The Most Games

Zelda A Link To The Past Master Sword The Legend of Zelda timeline is full of twists that explore many different turning points in the larger series. Each of the distinct timelines are important in their own way, but it’s worth noting that the Fallen Hero Timeline covers the most games in the series and is the “dominant” timeline, if there needs to be one. The Fallen Hero Timeline includes seven games, most of which are the 2D adventures made before Ocarina of Time. It covers some of the biggest games in the series, like

Several Different Versions Of Link Zelda And Ganon Exist

Zelda Wind Waker Toon Link Ganondorf Selfie Even though the series’ protagonist, Link, largely remains unchanged through the games, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that these different timelines have also created alternate versions of not just Link, but also and Ganon. Some games feature these characters being reincarnated into different individuals or the advent of stylistic changes, like “Toon Link.” It explores the victory, defeat, and rebirth of these important figures.

The Triforce Separates In The Fallen Hero Timeline

Zelda A Link Between Worlds Zelda Link Repair Triforce The is a central icon in the earlier Legend of Zelda games and while its significance has never been erased, it’s been less fundamental in some of the more recent titles. In the Zelda timeline, one of the biggest events that takes place is the splitting of the Triforce and the after effects of this. The Zelda timeline actually delineates when this fracture takes place and it occurs within the Fallen Hero Timeline. The Triforce separates between the events of Oracle of Seasons/Ages and A Link Between Worlds, where it’s a major plot point.