My Zelda timeline inspired by lorulean historian, Brian David Gilbert, and Bird Keeper Toby: Includes fan creations:
keep in mind not everyone may agree on this timeline. This isn’t to discredit anyone else’s personal timeline it is simply the way I see the games as fitting together:
Majora’s Mask prequel manga
Timeline 1: Minish cap bad ending: Zelda is turned to stone and Vaati briefly rampages but Link seals Vaati in the four sword leading to the rest of the four swords trilogy.
Four Swords Bonus Manga Stories
Timeline 1A: link to the past and other classic Zelda games: A branch off from the four swords trilogy in which Ganon tries to steal the triforce and gets sealed in the sacred realm.
Nintendo Land: Zelda Battle Quest
Oracle of ages and seasons
Ancient Stone Tablets and Link’s awakening
The Time Break and BS The Legend Of Zelda: Link goes into the multiverse after being stranded in the Mario universe, whilst he is gone the events of BS The Legend Of Zelda happen in which a different set of protagonists battle Ganon since link is absent:
Sonic Lost World Legend Of Zelda Zone
End of time break: Link returns to his own universe:
Timeline 1B: CDI Shenanigans: Instead of going to the sacred realm Ganon goes directly for Hyrule leading to the original Zelda games and media.
The legend of Zelda and the moblin’s magic spear book presumably takes place at some point during the original Zelda game.
Crystal Trap and Shadow Prince
Zelda Tv Show and Valiant Comics
Zelda 2: Adventure of Link
Timeline 2: Minish Cap good ending: the regular ending of Minish Cap leading to the prospering of Hyrule and a different origin for Ganon.
The Skull Kid And The Mask manga story
Rouru Of The Watarara Manga story
Link and the Portal of Doom
Tingle's balloon trip of love
Tingle’s Balloon Fight DS
Timeline 2A: Terrako doesn’t go back in time resulting in the breaking of Demise’s curse and Hyrule prospering for eternity:
Timeline 2C: Champions succeed: Terrako Travels back in time allowing the champions to succeed. However Ganon was meant to be destroyed for good to break the curse so unbeknownst to them they have doomed The Hero, Hylia, and Demise to reincarnate for eternity meaning there will never be true peace in Hyrule:
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Hang ‘Em Hyrule a Zelda western fan Film
Demise’s curse is never broken leading to Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf reincarnating for the rest of time.
Timeline 2D: Cadence doesn’t come to Hyrule:
Wind Waker Arc (Hyrule Warriors)
Leads back to Phantom Hourglass in Timeline 2 and continues as normal from there
I haven’t been able to figure out where the hell Skyward Sword fits on the timeline though. It clearly can’t be first since the first timeline cannot logically include Skyward Sword as part of its backstory due to the fact that Zelda 2 gives a different origin story for the very first Princess Zelda. Unless the Zelda from Zelda 2 is the same as the one from Skyward Sword this would not work. It could go after Minish Cap but it would be hard to explain how the humans go from living on the ground to in the sky. The easy solution would be to say that the timeline was never unified in the first place.