NOTE:
LoZ - The Legend of Zelda
AoL - Adventure of Link
AlttP - A Link to the Past
LA - Link's Awakening
OoT - Ocarina of Time
MM - Majora’s Mask
Oracle’s - Oracle of Ages/ Oracle of Season
FS - Four Swords
TWW/ WW - The Wind Waker
FSA - Four Swords Adventures
TMC - The Minish Cap
TP - Twilight Princess
PH - Phantom Hourglass
ZWii - The New Legend of Zelda coming to Wii
Ah The Legend of Zelda. Fantastic games, to be modest. But how do they all link together? Nintendo has never released an official timeline, imo, so they can keep adding games randomly and explain them later. Therefore, here's how I think it goes. Feel free to pitch in but keep it clean and try to respect others views.
The Beginning
All Timelines begin at the beginning so lets start there. Now, when OoT was released it was said to be the first game in the series. However, there has been a VERY significant release since then, The Minish Cap. People still today see OoT to be the VERY first game but I believe this is because they are yet to complete the Minish Cap. The Minish Cap details how 100s of years ago, a war broke out between the races of Hyrule. They game down from the sky and gave a sword to a young man dressed in green. HOWEVER, this is NOT Link. This is some other guy who I've forgotten the name of. He looks like Link but has golden locks and no hat. This dude then became the King of Hyrule and so starts the Minish Cap story. Every 100 years, a tournament is held in honour. At one occasion, Zelda and Link come to the tournament and Zelda gets turned into stone by Vaati. That's right, I consider Vaati the original Villain. The story continues until Link beats Vaati and gets the Minish Cap turned back into the wizard. This is the man who gives him a normal hat to wear. Hence the reason I consider this game to be the first in the timeline. OoT MAY have been stated to be the first but that was in 1998. Minish Cap was released in 2004, hence the reason why fans think OoT is first.
The Two Timeline Theories
There are two ways to look at the time line. One is like a normal timeline (Single Timeline), one game moves to the next. However, for Zelda, it is can be quite different. The main point to understand is what happened at the end of OoT. One could argue that at the end of OoT, two different timelines are created, where two different Hyrule’s exist. The first is where Zelda sends Link back once he has defeated Ganon to have a childhood which he missed. This is the first Hyrule where Ganon never took over. The second is with adult Zelda where Link leaves and with Ganon defeated. This creates a split timeline where the main two differences is one has Link (whereas the other doesn't) and where one has Ganon "defeated" (well he's locked away in the Sacred Realm). Personally, I find this makes the Timeline easy to understand and fit the games into so I will be using this one.
The Split of the Timeline with Young Link
Ok, not this is how I feel the rest of this timeline goes. Firstly we have Majora's Mask, a direct sequel to OoT. At the end of this game, we know Link tries to make it back to Hyrule from Termina. This suggests he could well have travelled across the sea and become ship wrecked. This is literally the story of Link's Awakening so that means this would come next. This game is actually a dream but that doesn't matter really.
So Link makes is back to Hyrule and what happens. IMO, we get the first Legend of Zelda game. Hence the reason we have Ganon. Remember, at the end of OoT in this timeline, Ganondorf was not defeated, and it turns out he has now taken control of Hyrule. Link fights and defeats Ganon. This leads us to Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. it gets a little confusing here and its far easier to play the game than for me to explain it... ok I'll do it anyway.
Literally, Link travels north to the REAL Hyrule. The place of OoT. Here he finds the ORIGINAL Zelda, who actually pre dates even Minish Cap's Zelda. This game also explains the reason why all the Zeldas share the same name, but I'll leave you to play the game and find out why.
Up next, is the multiplayer only Four Swords. Makes sense to be honest but we don't know who Link and Zelda actually are. This game could easily feature the same Link and Zelda s before, but it could also just as easily not.
Next is Four Swords Adventure. It makes sense to put it here as Vaati is within the sword and Ganon ends up with the Trident of Power, which he uses is the later games of this Timeline.
Now, here's a bit of a pickle. ALttP speaks of the Sages locking Ganon away. BUT in this timeline, that never happened, so how come is became a legend. Well, if we place it in the other timeline, how did Ganon get the Trident of Power? Here is where nothing can be said for sure, however, I personally believe Link told the King of Hyrule about his adventure as an Adult in OoT and so the "legend" was passed down to only those who would care to believe it. This makes sense, but isn't definite.
The Split of the Timeline with no Link and a locked Ganondorf
This part of the Timeline is my favourite, probably because there is so much for Nintendo to explore here. Remember where we started off? We have an Adult Zelda, no Link, Ganon locked in the Sacred Realm and everyone knowing about it. So what comes next?
Twilight Princess. Here, Ganon is locked away in the Sacred Realm and tricks Zant into helping him Escape. He succeeds but Link (this is a completely new Link) defeats him. Now, it becomes a little hazy here as Kink actually kills Ganon, or so it seems. He looses his mark of the Triforce and Zant appears right and the end, making a clicking noise, at which Ganon stops moving. Next in my timeline is The Wind Waker and Ganon is back, how did he get there? The start of the Wind Waker speaks of OoT legend (so it defiantly takes place on this timeline, or it could be like ALttP but it's unlikely as there are a host of other pointers towards this timeline) but it also speaks of how Ganon came back. This isn't the story of TP as Link is here and in WW he is not. BUT, there is one word which can answer this quest, right at the start of TWW when the story is being told. It says "This is but one of the legends of which the people speak" implying there are more. Very few people ACTUALLY knew of Ganon returning in TP so the legend would not have been passed down. This puts TWW in after TP.
A few questions go unanswered though. When was Hyrule flooded? How did Ganon come back from the dead? I am personally hoping this will all be answered in the next Zelda game, on Wii. I hope it features TP Link doing something which means he has to leave Hyrule and can't come back. During this, Ganon returns thanks to some powerful magic or villain, and Hyrule is flooded. Possible, Link could defeat him but a spell could be put on him to travel back and stop his actions from occurring. This would make a brilliant game and still put it in my timeline correctly. A bit of a pointless game though if all your actions are erased at the end.
The final game in this timeline is Phantom Hourglass. It's confirmed it's after WW and has the same Link so there's no real question about it.
The Oracle of the Timeline
The two games Oracle of Ages and oracle of Seasons are very interesting. They both happen at the same time and start in the same place. Both feature a villain trying to bring back Ganon and both would work on either Timeline. Therefore, I'm going to say they are on both. One on each. Considering they are so alike, it's possible these two games happen at the exact same time. No one can say which is on which ad I honestly don't know either, but I can say they feature a Link who has already been into contact with the Triforce, therefore, the YL from OoT, imo, is the same Link for the whole of his timeline and does mean more could come from him.
IMO, we get one game right at the end of YL's timeline after ALttP and one after TP but before TWW. Ganon is defeated in both of these and doesn't get restored, so it makes sense. Plus, TP takes place around 100 years after OoT and that gives YL in the other timeline enough time to get to the same point in time as his counterpart in the other timeline. I personally think Oracle must feature a new Link or TP Link once he has actually discovered the Triforce as he doesn't in TP.
So, in my opinion, this is how the timeline goes.
Not defiant, obviously, but it does make sense. What is interesting is how, very easily, Young Link from OoT appears in a total of 7/12 games. That's almost half of them. No wonder he was put in SSBM. I just hope they give him some better moves for SSBB.
Just to let you know, most of my inspiration was taken from this timeline theory but with some adjustments (mainly Oracle's positioning. I don't see why Hyrule would ever, or has to ever be "de-flooded".) Here's a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF8Ve2Dk6-0
Thoughts?
LoZ - The Legend of Zelda
AoL - Adventure of Link
AlttP - A Link to the Past
LA - Link's Awakening
OoT - Ocarina of Time
MM - Majora’s Mask
Oracle’s - Oracle of Ages/ Oracle of Season
FS - Four Swords
TWW/ WW - The Wind Waker
FSA - Four Swords Adventures
TMC - The Minish Cap
TP - Twilight Princess
PH - Phantom Hourglass
ZWii - The New Legend of Zelda coming to Wii
Ah The Legend of Zelda. Fantastic games, to be modest. But how do they all link together? Nintendo has never released an official timeline, imo, so they can keep adding games randomly and explain them later. Therefore, here's how I think it goes. Feel free to pitch in but keep it clean and try to respect others views.
The Beginning
All Timelines begin at the beginning so lets start there. Now, when OoT was released it was said to be the first game in the series. However, there has been a VERY significant release since then, The Minish Cap. People still today see OoT to be the VERY first game but I believe this is because they are yet to complete the Minish Cap. The Minish Cap details how 100s of years ago, a war broke out between the races of Hyrule. They game down from the sky and gave a sword to a young man dressed in green. HOWEVER, this is NOT Link. This is some other guy who I've forgotten the name of. He looks like Link but has golden locks and no hat. This dude then became the King of Hyrule and so starts the Minish Cap story. Every 100 years, a tournament is held in honour. At one occasion, Zelda and Link come to the tournament and Zelda gets turned into stone by Vaati. That's right, I consider Vaati the original Villain. The story continues until Link beats Vaati and gets the Minish Cap turned back into the wizard. This is the man who gives him a normal hat to wear. Hence the reason I consider this game to be the first in the timeline. OoT MAY have been stated to be the first but that was in 1998. Minish Cap was released in 2004, hence the reason why fans think OoT is first.
The Two Timeline Theories
There are two ways to look at the time line. One is like a normal timeline (Single Timeline), one game moves to the next. However, for Zelda, it is can be quite different. The main point to understand is what happened at the end of OoT. One could argue that at the end of OoT, two different timelines are created, where two different Hyrule’s exist. The first is where Zelda sends Link back once he has defeated Ganon to have a childhood which he missed. This is the first Hyrule where Ganon never took over. The second is with adult Zelda where Link leaves and with Ganon defeated. This creates a split timeline where the main two differences is one has Link (whereas the other doesn't) and where one has Ganon "defeated" (well he's locked away in the Sacred Realm). Personally, I find this makes the Timeline easy to understand and fit the games into so I will be using this one.
The Split of the Timeline with Young Link
Ok, not this is how I feel the rest of this timeline goes. Firstly we have Majora's Mask, a direct sequel to OoT. At the end of this game, we know Link tries to make it back to Hyrule from Termina. This suggests he could well have travelled across the sea and become ship wrecked. This is literally the story of Link's Awakening so that means this would come next. This game is actually a dream but that doesn't matter really.
So Link makes is back to Hyrule and what happens. IMO, we get the first Legend of Zelda game. Hence the reason we have Ganon. Remember, at the end of OoT in this timeline, Ganondorf was not defeated, and it turns out he has now taken control of Hyrule. Link fights and defeats Ganon. This leads us to Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. it gets a little confusing here and its far easier to play the game than for me to explain it... ok I'll do it anyway.
Literally, Link travels north to the REAL Hyrule. The place of OoT. Here he finds the ORIGINAL Zelda, who actually pre dates even Minish Cap's Zelda. This game also explains the reason why all the Zeldas share the same name, but I'll leave you to play the game and find out why.
Up next, is the multiplayer only Four Swords. Makes sense to be honest but we don't know who Link and Zelda actually are. This game could easily feature the same Link and Zelda s before, but it could also just as easily not.
Next is Four Swords Adventure. It makes sense to put it here as Vaati is within the sword and Ganon ends up with the Trident of Power, which he uses is the later games of this Timeline.
Now, here's a bit of a pickle. ALttP speaks of the Sages locking Ganon away. BUT in this timeline, that never happened, so how come is became a legend. Well, if we place it in the other timeline, how did Ganon get the Trident of Power? Here is where nothing can be said for sure, however, I personally believe Link told the King of Hyrule about his adventure as an Adult in OoT and so the "legend" was passed down to only those who would care to believe it. This makes sense, but isn't definite.
The Split of the Timeline with no Link and a locked Ganondorf
This part of the Timeline is my favourite, probably because there is so much for Nintendo to explore here. Remember where we started off? We have an Adult Zelda, no Link, Ganon locked in the Sacred Realm and everyone knowing about it. So what comes next?
Twilight Princess. Here, Ganon is locked away in the Sacred Realm and tricks Zant into helping him Escape. He succeeds but Link (this is a completely new Link) defeats him. Now, it becomes a little hazy here as Kink actually kills Ganon, or so it seems. He looses his mark of the Triforce and Zant appears right and the end, making a clicking noise, at which Ganon stops moving. Next in my timeline is The Wind Waker and Ganon is back, how did he get there? The start of the Wind Waker speaks of OoT legend (so it defiantly takes place on this timeline, or it could be like ALttP but it's unlikely as there are a host of other pointers towards this timeline) but it also speaks of how Ganon came back. This isn't the story of TP as Link is here and in WW he is not. BUT, there is one word which can answer this quest, right at the start of TWW when the story is being told. It says "This is but one of the legends of which the people speak" implying there are more. Very few people ACTUALLY knew of Ganon returning in TP so the legend would not have been passed down. This puts TWW in after TP.
A few questions go unanswered though. When was Hyrule flooded? How did Ganon come back from the dead? I am personally hoping this will all be answered in the next Zelda game, on Wii. I hope it features TP Link doing something which means he has to leave Hyrule and can't come back. During this, Ganon returns thanks to some powerful magic or villain, and Hyrule is flooded. Possible, Link could defeat him but a spell could be put on him to travel back and stop his actions from occurring. This would make a brilliant game and still put it in my timeline correctly. A bit of a pointless game though if all your actions are erased at the end.
The final game in this timeline is Phantom Hourglass. It's confirmed it's after WW and has the same Link so there's no real question about it.
The Oracle of the Timeline
The two games Oracle of Ages and oracle of Seasons are very interesting. They both happen at the same time and start in the same place. Both feature a villain trying to bring back Ganon and both would work on either Timeline. Therefore, I'm going to say they are on both. One on each. Considering they are so alike, it's possible these two games happen at the exact same time. No one can say which is on which ad I honestly don't know either, but I can say they feature a Link who has already been into contact with the Triforce, therefore, the YL from OoT, imo, is the same Link for the whole of his timeline and does mean more could come from him.
IMO, we get one game right at the end of YL's timeline after ALttP and one after TP but before TWW. Ganon is defeated in both of these and doesn't get restored, so it makes sense. Plus, TP takes place around 100 years after OoT and that gives YL in the other timeline enough time to get to the same point in time as his counterpart in the other timeline. I personally think Oracle must feature a new Link or TP Link once he has actually discovered the Triforce as he doesn't in TP.
So, in my opinion, this is how the timeline goes.
The Minish Cap
Ocarina of Time
//-------------------\\
Majora's Mask---------------Twilight Princess
Link's Awakening---------------Oracle of Ages/Seasons
The Legend of Zelda---------------The Wind Waker
Adventure of Link---------------Phantom Hourglass
A Link to the Past------------------------------
Oracle of Seasons/Ages------------------------------
Ocarina of Time
//-------------------\\
Majora's Mask---------------Twilight Princess
Link's Awakening---------------Oracle of Ages/Seasons
The Legend of Zelda---------------The Wind Waker
Adventure of Link---------------Phantom Hourglass
A Link to the Past------------------------------
Oracle of Seasons/Ages------------------------------
Not defiant, obviously, but it does make sense. What is interesting is how, very easily, Young Link from OoT appears in a total of 7/12 games. That's almost half of them. No wonder he was put in SSBM. I just hope they give him some better moves for SSBB.
Just to let you know, most of my inspiration was taken from this timeline theory but with some adjustments (mainly Oracle's positioning. I don't see why Hyrule would ever, or has to ever be "de-flooded".) Here's a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF8Ve2Dk6-0
Thoughts?
