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{{Chronology of The Legend of Zelda}} The Legend Of Zelda Timeline is official chronology of the The Legend Of Zelda series, as released and detailed in The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia. It had previously been a subject of much fan speculation and theories, and as
History Of the Legend of Zelda Timeline[edit]
The first two games of The Legend of Zelda series provided a basic and simple timeline, with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link being set as a sequel a few years after the events of the original The Legend of Zelda and comprising of the same Link as the original, just a few years older.
This pattern was quickly broken, as the next game in the series The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past was set as a prequel to these games and as an origin story for the series. It also was the first game in the series to use a different Link than the one found in the previous two games, setting a tradition that would commonly be followed in the franchise. Additionally, A Link To The Past set the foundation for the lore and legend behind the franchise, introducing, expanding, and explaining the Triforce, the Master Sword, and Ganon, all major reoccurring components of the franchise.
Following the release of A Link To The Past,The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was release in 1997 and purported as a prequel to A Link To the Past and an origin story to Ganon and his original human form, Ganondorf. Although it was meant to be set during the Imprisoning War, the events of Ocarina of Time did not accurately match with the events of The Imprisoning War, allowing for the birth of fan speculation over whether the events of Ocarina of Time were set during the Imprisoning War or not.
Although [The Legend of Zelda: Majoras Mask]] did not interfere with the groundwork set by the previous games, when [The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker]] released, it was described as a sequel to Ocarina of Time centuries afterward, did not acknowledge the existence of A Link To The Past’s events, while vice versa. Additionally, in the events of Wind Waker, Hyrule was flooded, and with no reason as to believe that A Link To The Past came before Wind Waker due to the Wind Waker not acknowledging its vents, nor any reason to believe A Link To The Past was set after Wind Waker, with no recognition of Wind Waker’s events in A Link To The Past and no reason as to why Hyrule wouldn’t have been flooded should A Link To The Past come after Wind Waker, fan speculation over the timeline began to doubt the events of later games as being canonical.
In 2001, Nintendo of America released a timeline chronicling the events of the first 8 games in the franchise, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II, A Link To The Past, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages on Zelda Universe. According to this timeline, the series was chronicled in this order: Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, A Link To the Past, Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and Link’s Awakening. However, due to a lack of developer input, this was not considered canonical. Additionally, this timeline introduced the idea of a single Link throughout the franchise, which raised multiple inconsistencies throughout the events of the series.
In a similar manner to Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was described as a sequel to Ocarina of Time, set centuries afterwards. However, it followed Wind Waker and A Link To The Past’s path in not recognizing either of the two games. Around this time, the theory of multiple timelines came into being, which was later on confirmed in an interview with series producer Eiji Aonuma[1] The split in timelines, according to Aonuma, was caused by the events of the ending of Ocarina of Time. In Ocarina of Time, once Link, the Hero of Time, has defeated Ganon, Zelda sends him back to the past to relive his childhood and make up for the years he missed. In this continuity, where Link defeats Ganon, the Adult Timeline is placed, named for the adventure of the adult Hero of Time Link in Ocarina of Time. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker was placed in this timeline.
Following Zelda sending Link back to the past, the player is shown a scene where Link comes to the young Princess Zelda and tells her something. Aonuma states “In Ocarina of Time, Link flew seven years in time, he beat Ganon and went back to being a kid, remember? Twilight Princess takes place in the world of Ocarina of Time, a hundred and something years after the peace returned to kid Link’s time. In the last scene of Ocarina of Time, kids Link and Zelda have a little talk, and a consequence of that talk, their relationship with Ganon takes a whole new direction”. It is implied here that Young Link warned Zelda of Ganondorf’s plan, and as such they react accordingly, ultimately culminating in Ganondorf’s execution in Twilight Princess.
Although the split timeline theory did solve many problems in the Zelda continuity, any still remained. After Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess was the first game in the Child Timeline named for kid Hero of Time Link’s adventures in this timeline. Wind Waker was the first game bar none after Ocarina of Time in the Adult Timeline. Ocarina of Time was a prequel to A Link To The Past. But neither Twilight Princess nor Wind Waker be accurately placed, without inconsistencies and continuity flaws, as a prequel to A Link To The Past. Additionally, The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures stood as a wild card in the series, with no clue as to where on the timeline it could be placed. It was known that Four Swords Adventures was related to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords and they may somehow have been related through the same villain of each game, Vaati, to The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, but these three games couldn’t be firmly placed anywhere as a whole either.
Finally, on December 21, 2011, the official chronology of The Legend of Zelda franchise was published in Hyrule Historia, firmly setting the timeline of every game from The Legend of Zelda to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the genesis story of the franchise. This timeline introduced a 3rd timeline split during and or after the events of Ocarina of Time. This timeline was the Fallen Hero Timeline, and relates to the events following Ocarina of Time in which The Hero of Time Link falls to Ganon in the final battle.