The Legend of Zelda's THREE Timelines

[Shaddy]

Have you ever wondered how the many games of Zelda fit into place? Well, here is the timeline:
BUT FIRST! You must know that the series doesn't have one, but THREE timelines! Which means alternate dimensions! I will now explain:

What do you think? Do you think this is legit? Well, it is... Nintendo officially released this information to finally settle an ONGOING debate of how the timeline worked.
Before i knew this, i was VERY confused with the series... If you didn't know, there have been multiple Zeldas and Links. That's made possible through bloodlines. The original ancestors of Link and Zelda go back to Skyward Sword, Zelda was the reincarnated form of the goddess Hylia.
Ganon was a reincarnated form of Demise from Skyward Sword, and the Master Sword was forged by Link IN Skyward Sword.

Some crazy info right? Ocarina of Time is a no brainer though, when you think about a split timeline... When Zelda sends link back to the past, we get the Child Link Timeline (which means what happened after he was sent back as a child). In the Adult Link Timeline, we follow Zelda's history when she's left alone in Hyrule after sending Link back. Ganon returned, and no Hero of Time ever returned to save them...
The Fallen Hero Timeline happens when Link is killed by Ganon in OoT, and the kingdom struggles to come back together from Ganon's rule.

Attachments:

[TheFiredragon222]

I don't understandnit too well, but I understand it good enough to get the information I need!

[Frostbyte]

I've not played too many Zelda games, but how does WindWaker go in the Adult Timeline?

[Shaddy]

The Adult Link Timeline is what happened to Zelda after Link was sent back to childhood. Ganon breaks free of his imprisonment, and attacks the kingdom again. Afterwards, the kingdom gets flooded. That's where Windwaker comes in.

[VL]

Extended time-line:


Also:

[FyreeTSG]

....wow...okay, having read the history makes me REALLY confused...

[VL]

Apr 9, 2015 0:42:30 GMT -8 FyreeTSG said:

....wow...okay, having read the history makes me REALLY confused...

Character Back-story

Zelda:
Every game there is a Zelda that is a descendant of another Zelda all the way to Skyward Sword. Prior to that she was the Godess Hylia.
Zelda doesn't often play a big role in the games other than as an end goal for Link.

Link:
Link on the other hand is not always a descendant of another Link. Sometimes he's the same person or entirely unrelated.
The one thing they all have in common though is that they possess the Spirit of the Hero.
Technically Links name isn't even Link, it was supposed to be a way to imply that the character and player are linked.
Thus the character should be named after the player.

Ganon:
Ganon or Ganondorf is the main antagonist and reincarnation of Demise the Demon King who was sealed by Godess Hylias sacrifice in the events prior to Skyward Sword.
Ganondorf is a Gerudo warlock, he is a villain of pure evil, and is cruel and ruthless.
His goal is to usurp the Kingdom of Hyrule, by obtaining the Triforce and dominate the world using the abilities imbued by them.
During the final battle in Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf uses the essence of the Triforce of Power to transform into a bestial monstrosity called Ganon.
The Ganondorf that appears across the different games is the same one, he is either sealed and eventually freed between games or reincarnated.
He is destined to eternally reincarnate.

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Ocarina of Time

This is the most important game in the timeline, as it is from here that all the current timelines split from.

If Link at any time dies during the game then that leads to the Hero is Defeated timeline as seen in the extended timeline I posted earlier.

The other two timeline are as follows:

After Ganon is defeated at the end of Ocarina of Time, he is sealed in the Sacred Realm. From there on is the Adult Timeline.

Zelda then sends Link back in time to enjoy his childhood, in this timeline Zelda is warned about Ganondorf and the Sacred Realm is protected.
Thus the events of the Adult timeline didn't happen in this timeline. Link then wanders of to the events of Majora's Mask.

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The second split down the Hero is Defeated timeline is not that important since it mostly contains Third Party games and Game and Watch games.

It does have the first two games as well, and I can go into more detail on that split if it's of interest to you.

Mostly though, how the games fit together is of no consequence to most how play Zelda games. Only Hardcore fans really care about it at all.

[FyreeTSG]

okay, that's better....

thank God Mario is just Mario

[Shaddy]

I bought a book not too long ago, about the timelines of Zelda called Hyrule Historia.
It looks like a history textbook, and features great artwork.

[VL]

I want to have that book.
I just haven't gotten around to buying it yet.

Just not a priority at the moment.