Finally: The Official Zelda Timeline Releases, is Not One Single Line Like We Always Knew

so where the f#k is malladus from?

from a different continent that was discovered after the flooding of Hyrule as seen in the timeline to the right.

They should create a game that ties all the timelines together

Sounds cool but impossible.

I dont think it would be all that hard…pretty sure comic books have  had more complicated timelines and they manage to alter, delete or converge them just fine.

I just made a connection… Maybe ganondorf is Groose from skyward sword. Because he was links enemy ad ganondorf is his enemy too. Same color hair and try are both bulky. Ganondorf captures Zelda, theoretically terrorizing her for liking link more than him.

Nah, by the end of Skyward Sword it is pretty clear who Ganondorf is. Groose ends up pretty likable too.

Yet those intercontinuity cross-overs result in either the conglomeration of one “official/canonical universe” or an effect on the different universes.

That said, most deal with a simple time-span, usually within a lifetime and more specifically within 10 years. Aside from the Branching Point of Ocarina of Time, such a cross-over would be devastating. Imagine if MM Link got the Harp of Ages to go Backwards in time, used the Wand of Ages to halt the Gerudo Desert’s sandstorms or the Invisibility wand from Link to the Past to hide from the Gerudos, and the Wind Baton from Wind Waker to control the winds of the Desert. He could easily sneak into the Gerudo fortress, kill Ganondorf, and totally fuck up the future. Twinrova wouldn’t have incentive to go to the lands of Ages and Seasons. Child Link of OoT would be unaware of his destiny, as the Deku Tree would not be cursed. The Seven Sages would not be required, which means the next time Ganoon appears he would not be sealed.
Or it could play out that Twinrova go and speed up the Ages/Seasons plot. No Link exists to stop them at this point. (Which is one reason I put Ages/Seasons under the OoT/MM path.) And so they could easily screw up that universe more. Because if Link saves those two places, the land Majora’s Mask takes place in would be destroyed.

The only ones not affected by the time-travelling would be those before the travelled point (imagine going back and stopping Vaati’s creation) and Link’s Awakening which is probably All-Just-A-Dream.

I agree. Something like oracle of ages/seasons would have been perfect for multiple parallel universes being united. 

But in response to Sjstout59, I agree 100%. I think it should be the next game.

…im a bit disapointed, because i’ve seen fanon ones that are more liniar, tie things together better, and all and all make more freakin sense.

The guy who wrote this article is a dumb ass. To put Ocarina first would make no sense. They talk about a time before the game. Now, in skyward sword they do the same, but the whole past was explained, and there was no hero then. Just a Goddess. The only thing that blows my mind about the time line is the “Hero is defeated”. I would never have guessed that some of Link losing could have happened. I played the game and won… That is straight out of left field.

what is with the whole hero is defeated thing? why would they make a timeline for when link is defeated by that logic they would have to make a seperate timeline for each game so that it would make any sense

gotta keep in mind, they could always bring out more games, which completely change this current timeline

Whoa o.O I feel like I haven’t known anything about Legend of Zelda now…

ummmmmmmmm could someone pleaaaassssseeee tell me why ganon is revived if link failed which means he wouldn’t need to be revived cause he didn’t die AND what is the triforce monarchy and tragedy of princess zelda 1

Sweet!  The triple split is simply ingenious. 

I agree with Tara, that split Nintendo made makes little sense. Maybe they should make a sequel to OoT in which the player decides the outcome: would Link die?

Wasn’t Ganadorf in Twilight Princess? Or was he merely a dead puppet???

that would be awesome. It’s what they should have done in the 3d remake of Ocarina of Time, at the end Link looses. That would have blown the worlds mind, :)

How to tie them all together: Following the events of all of them, Ganondorf is revived and retrieves all of the triforce. With it’s power, he brings the parallel universes together and rules. However, he forgot to realize the combined might of all the Link’s, and is defeated, but they remained bound.

wheres the game link and impa

hmm…… i remember seeing a fan site and they claimed the game console’s & handheld devices (DS, DSI, etc…) were on serperate timelines. so Phnatom Hourglass and spirit tracks wouldn’t be a part of the OoT and Twilight Princess timeline. Like the timeline of Zelda was split in two early off…

The Hero is not necessarily defeated. In many ways, it could also be seen this way. Link disappears from the the two original timelines several times in OoT. If you remember, you must return to obtain the lens of truth and to complete the Spirit Temple. So the question becomes, where does the Adult timeline go without Link (and Ganondorf had not yet been sealed)? It’s safe to assume that Link disappears, and the fate of Hyrule is in the hands of Ganondorf, who succeeds and creates the Dark World (A Link to the Past). Voila, that’s how the third timeline comes about.

I think it’d be really cool to have a game in which the end result would be the tragedy of Zelda or the flood of Hyrule. Nintendo

But Ganondorf wasn’t executed, they tried to, failed and then sealed him in the twilight realm.

It seems to make a little bit more sense to me when I discount the capcom made Zeldas

Been thinking this over a bit, and it does make sense (though no one would have come to such a conclusion without Nintendo’s help).  The split-timeline theory has always been regarded as practically canon, making the child and adult timelines in this official chart not much of a surprise. However, the “Hero is Defeated” line is a lot harder to make sense of.

Go back and read the story of LttP.  The “Gates to the Golden Land” and the “Imprisoning War” are important here.  They describe the events that take place in the first half of OoT.  However in this story, a wielder for the Master Sword is never found and Ganondorf ends up breaking into the Sacred Realm.  This split is more so that the hero is ignored, rather than defeated, and creates a nice little side timeline for the original Zelda games we grew up with.

I think the whole “Hero is defeated” should be replaced with “Hero is unsuccessful.” I think when Link first time-travels TO the future, a split occurs, creating a universe in which he never time-traveled. Ganondorf, becoming Gannon, is not defeated by the hero, who never time-traveled in an attempt stop him, but by the Seven Sages, one of whose descendant is the Zelda of A Link to the Past.  That’s why this timeline split is above the other one, because this split happened first. At least here, we don’t have to cope with the idea of Link losing.

The second split obviously occurs when Adult Link defeats Ganon and travels back in time.

Completely true. All they have to do is make a zelda version of Crisis.

This by and large makes sense. The main issue I have is with the tragedy of Princess Zelda I. One, she clearly isn’t the first if she’s down there, is she? And two, if most of the Zelda’s came before her (or even exist in alternate universes to her) then what the HELL is the new excuse for them all being called bloody Zelda? 

Why does four swords show up twice? And where is four swords adventurers? 

I think it is even easier than a complicated comic timeline to bring them all together.  Have some grand plot by Ganon to rule all of time and space, have the 3 different Links from each timeline all have to join forces to put a stop to Ganon once and for all, end the game with a merging of the timelines all into one again.

why is there 3

What makes this so perfect, is that it all goes under the “theory of time travle” – and the theory that there are multiple universes – If event A happends, you get event X, if event A failed, You get event Y, however, if event A never happends, but event B happened /failed – you get event BX and BY – and so on – beautifull… Fitting for the worlds greatest game serie.

Amen, brotha, amen.

yeah thatd be cool but you know nintendo and other companies dont want their main attraction to end so there will be 300 more legend of zelda games and the timeline will never end lol

“We” always knew it to be split, just not three ways.

If by “just fine” you mean in ridiculous and inane ways.

I don’t understand why Twilight Princess is in the child timeline. In it, Ganon has the triforce of power and is sealed in the dark world, that couldn’t have happened if he was executed without entering the sacred realm. I think Twilight Princess should be in the adult timeline. Am I missing something here?

ha! “just fine” is an entirely inaccurate description of the cumulative effects of cross-overs, retcons, and revamps on the comics industry.

It seemed to me that Groose was meant to be part of the Gerudo heritage. All the red hair and big facial features / muscular men, while the shiekah (the original Impa) brought the lithe body and dark skin to the table. They did end up hooking up in the end, right? I didn’t beat SS yet…

when is Link ever defeated, really when, third timeline split doesn’t make sence

The seven sages manage to seal him in the sacred/dark world, if you note it calls the time before A Link to the Past “The Sealing War”

WHERE DOES LINK’S CROSSBOW TRAINING FIT IN?!?!?!

What about the zelda cdi games?

Ture but you know they’re just going to ingnore it and make this time unless four iterations from now.

actually i have thought of a possible solution as to how that may be achieved

This is fake.  Twilight Princess comes right after Skyward Sword.  Nintendo said so and it makes more sense.

No it doesn’t that makes no sense, twilight princess comes after ocarina, in the child timeline, ganondorf was being executed for his plan in oot, but he was imprisoned after it went wrong. This is from
A book called hyrule historia, it was produced with Nintendo so I doubt it’s a fake. There are some mis-translations though.

Thats Skyward Sword.

Hmm.. the one thing I personally think should be different would be placing Link’s Awakening after “The Era Without a Hero”, right before Wind Waker, my reasons being 1) the obvious ocean-island theme (A flooded land) and 2) the feeling  of the hero being a drifter, with no “real” evil to slay.. yet…

so is like the adventure of link bs?

its iompossible if you see the hero of time must either suceed or fail , its like a choose your own adventure

would be cool, but then with some concept of Sonic generations, it all comes together. like you can play the 2 timelines, and then the  great showdown.

Dang. Good question…..

But the Oracle games ended with link on a voyage at sea. Link’s Awakening began with link on a voyage at sea.

Did you just say Minish Cap was largely forgettable? You monster.

Um, okay…am I the only who thinks this timeline makes little to no sense at all? From SS to TP I get, but why can’t they admit that the Oracle series, WW, PH, and ST were fillers, which I believe they are. They really have no fitting places in the timeline! Don’t get me wrong I love them, but honestly…

I don’t mean to piss anyone off or blow anyone’s mind here but comic books sure HAVE had more complicated timelines. They also typically have bull shitty time lines in a way that only comics that have been around for decades do, typically when people end up tieing them together.

While they can be super fun, they aren’t exactly the best example of literature in the world. Classic mangas typically have much better storylines/timelines.

They don’t, however, last forever and so they have that advantage.

And no, I am neither a fanboy or hater of either manga or comics.

Also, when I talk about comics above, I pretty much exclusively DC Comic’s and such. The new 52 aren’t exactly proving me wrong either. The majority are atrocious and while some are great, after a few weeks they went back into normal DC universe bullshit.

How can the timeline gets divided into defeat? Isn’t the hero of time meant to ALWAYS SUCCEED?

 How the timeline gets divided*

why is skyward sword first when i clearly states that sky loft was on the ground before it was in the sky meaning that the legend of zelda 1 and 2 should come first because there was no mention of the master sword meaning it is possible 

it is all tied sorta together whith ocarina of time the games above it are things that happen before Ganondorf is born when it gits to ocarina of time it branches to how you defeat Ganondorf though they probaly i still really like it

Where do the CD-I games fit in? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

the one thing that throws me off is the “The Hero is Defeated” time line, like, what point does it go by for the hero being defeated? does it happen from any time that the hero dies? or does it happen specifically at that point in OoT where the master sword is knocked away? there’s no other info on it about that other then we know he loses, but, WHEN? cause if he loses before he gets any of the medallions then doesn’t that mean that ganon would have been free from the start?

I dont think they should tie all the games together. If they do they cant chuck in another game. Nintendo is already starting to block themselves off, theres nothing before SS and they can go past trains on ST or the game will lose its medieval charm. y dont we just agree that the legend hasnt been told and that there is more explanations in the next game (hoping there iz 1)

I think they would have to make 2 games for that.

Well Nintendo also Annoced that it was the start of the Zelda Time line sorry to uhh disturb 

Wait… so the first four games and the ‘Oracle of’ games take place in a timeline in which Ocarina of Time’s Link was killed? Grim.