First of all.... fuck the Historia lol. It's just. Wrong. It ignores in-game statements, manuals, interviews where developers stated their intent, the works. That timeline is full of it lol.
But anyway, listen, the Zelda timeline isn't "complicated" or "obtuse" and each game is NOT "just a retelling of the same legend"
Damn near every game in the franchise that's been released is very clear about where it lies with relation to at least one other game.
The Legend of Zelda (LoZ) - the first one, we're starting here.
The Adventure of Link (AoL) - a direct sequel LoZ, featuring the same Link.
A Link to the Past (LttP) - a prequel to LoZ, from "before Hyrule was a unified kingdom".
Link's Awakening (LA) - a sequel to LttP, featuring the same Link.
Ocarina of Time (OoT) - a prequel to LttP, portraying events from its backstory.
Majora's Mask (MM) - a direct sequel to OoT, following the same Link.
Oracle of Seasons (OoS) and Oracle of Ages (OoA) go one after the other in either order, but take place in between LttP and LA. This is stated Developer Intent as per interviews, and why they open with Link approaching the Triforce from the end of LttP and ending the linked campaign with Link on the boat from the beginning of LA. I'm going to list Seasons first and Ages second just because that's their sku order.
so at this point the timeline is very straightforward and looks thusly:
OoT, MM -> LttP, OoS/OoA, LA -> LoZ, AoL
Four Swords (FS) comes out attached to an expanded port of Link to the Past which has new content. Said new content includes a temple dedicated to FS', er, Four Sword, which has been corrupted and is in Ganon's hands. FS is said to take place prior to LttP and is "potentially the earliest in the timeline", but exact placement is unclear at time of release.
The Wind Waker (WW) - this presents our first (and only) timeline split. It explicitly takes place after the future of OoT where the final boss fight against Ganon took place, the Hero of Time disappearing afterwards (because Link then travelled into the past and experienced the events of MM)
At this time we do not know which timeline split off from OoT that LttP, and everything after it, follows on from.
Four Swords Adventures (FSA) - a direct sequel to FS, featuring the same Link & Zelda, and firmly takes place between OoT and LttP (and by extension, means FS does as well). Stated Developer Intent was to better portray events from LttP's backstory and explain how the Four Sword wound up in Ganon's control. It also, for the first time, shows the rise of a new incarnation of Ganon, firmly splitting the OoT Ganon and LttP Ganon as separate beings.
The Minish Cap (MC) - Very firmly the earliest chronological game at the time of its release. Just, comes before everything else in the list at present.
Twilight Princess (TP) - takes place after OoT, but on the MM side of the split, carrying over characters and plotlines from MM and the ending of OoT where Link went back to being a child and warned the kingdom of Ganon's actions. Also sets up stuff for FSA and LttP. This firmly establishes that LttP takes place on the MM half of the timeline split.
so, to take a look at things now, timeline looks like this:
MC -> OoT {timeline splits}
- OoT, MM -> TP -> FS, FSA -> LttP, OoS/OoA, LA -> LoZ, AoL
- OoT -> WW
coincidentally, the next couple of releases would be WW split games heh
Phantom Hourglass (PH) - a direct sequel to WW, featuring the same Link & Zelda
Spirit Tracks (ST) - a sequel to Phantom Hourglass, taking place a few generations later
Skyward Sword (SS) - the new earliest chronological game in the timeline, taking place before even MC
A Link Between Worlds (LBW) - sequel to LttP taking place some generations later but with some returning long-lived characters
Hyrule Warriors (HW) - officially "non-canon", but it takes place some time after TP, Ganon's spirit having been sealed away and the next incarnation not able to be born until he breaks free, so prior to FSA.
Tri Force Heroes (TFH) - a direct sequel to LBW featuring the same Link.
so the timeline looks thus at this point in time:
SS -> MC -> OoT {timeline splits}
- OoT, MM -> TP -> HW -> FS, FSA -> LttP, OoS/OoA, LA -> LBW, TFH -> LoZ, AoL
- OoT -> WW, PH -> ST
Hyrule Warriors Legends - an expansion of HW that adds a new story which sees the WW branch of the timeline, from WW through ST, being pulled in to the TP one. Again, "non-canon", but this serves as a convenient spot to point at if one wanted to argue that the two timelines converged again at some point
Why is that convenient? Well, because the next release was
Breath of the Wild (BotW) - references events of OoT, and takes place 10,000 years after the last time "The Calamity" Ganon ravaged the lands of Hyrule. Also seems to reference, among other things, events of both TP and WW, which would suggest that it takes place after both of them at once, which is contradictory... unless the timelines merged back into one at some point.
But really, this is where Nintendo makes a clean break. BotW is either its own standalone thing, or it takes place so far out from prior entries that putting it on a timeline doesn't matter. For reference, that timescale irl is equivalent of looking at when the Ice Age was wrapping up with respect to present day.
From here on out things are less defined, if at all, with relation to pre-BotW games, and are more just in a BotW aesthetic if they're not placed relative to BotW itself.
Cadence of Hyrule (CoH) - another "non-canon" entry, and a crossover one at that. No stated placement, but, the game features a young Ganon who doesn't have the Triforce of Power who grows up, turns into his big beast form, and ravages Hyrule before being defeated, which conveniently is the backstory for the original LoZ, so one could arguably put it prior to it but after LBW, making it the origin story of the Ganon who appears in the original Famicom games.
Age of Calamity (AoC) - yet another "non-canon" entry, but is seemingly a prequel to BotW that branches a new timeline split (lol) by way of actually being a sequel to BotW via the use of time travel.
Tears of the Kingdom (TotK) - a direct sequel to BotW that, surprise, involves time travel that involves possibly overwriting large swathes of Hyrule's history, back to and possibly even including OoT, if you subscribe to BotW being in the same timeline continuity as prior entries. I don't really want to think about the implications of that lol.
anyway, so the timeline either looks like this:
SS -> MC -> OoT {timeline splits}
- OoT, MM -> TP -> HW -> FS, FSA -> LttP, OoS/OoA, LA -> LBW, TFH -> CoH -> LoZ, AoL
- OoT -> WW, PH -> ST
{unconnected} BotW, AoC, TotK
or, if you believe in timeline unification, this:
SS -> MC -> OoT {timeline splits}
- OoT, MM -> TP -> HW
- OoT -> WW, PH -> ST -> HW
{timeline merges} FS, FSA -> LttP, OoS/OoA, LA -> LBW, TFH -> CoH -> LoZ, AoL -> -> -> BotW, AoC, TotK
Echoes of Wisdom (EoW) comes out in just under three weeks. We have no idea when it will take place. Does it really matter where? No, of course not. None of this really does, but the developers working on the games clearly put a lot of time and effort into these sorts of things and I think it's neat to acknowledge that work and be able to lay everything out like this.
Anyway yeah thanks for coming to my TED Talk
tangentwithtanner
romaincrisis
areudirty
andulkaphoto
titsay
kaledo-art
