So, Nintendo decided to reveal their official Zelda timeline

[Nobiyuki77]

So Nintendo is releasing an artbook/encyclopedia in Japan, and this book apparently reveals Nintendo's official timeline for the Zelda series. Read the below. I find it fascinating and interesting. Of course it will be endlessly debated, but at least Nintendo's gone and made it official now. ^^;

http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1215301p1.html

The Zelda series starts with a simple progression. The first four games in the timeline, from earliest to latest are:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
2. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
3. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Here's where things get complicated, because Ocarina deals with a leap in time and technically only spells out one of those timelines with its ending. However, if these reports are to be believed, Nintendo has generated three scenarios based on Ocarina of Time.

The first, which we'll call Timeline A, assumes Link actually fails to stop Ganon. How or why this is a logical storyline path is a bit lost on us, because the game resolves that battle, but regardless, here are the games that follow Timeline A:

5-A. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
6-A. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages
7-A. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
8-A. The Legend of Zelda
9-A. The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventures of Link

So there's that - many games based on an odd presumption. Regardless, the next path, Timeline B, works from the presented ending of Ocarina of Time, featuring Link returning to live through his childhood. As we all know, Majora's Mask picks up shortly after Ocarina's ending, leading to these games:

5-B. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
6-B. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
7-B. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures

One more timeline for you. This one starts with Ganon's defeat in the Ocarina of Time era, and progresses from there - from the time that Link advanced and eventually left so he could be a child once again. Here are the games in Timeline C:

5-C. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
6-C. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
7-C. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

[phyco126]

Question. Does Princess Zelda get kidnapped in each one of these?

[Nobiyuki77]

I... think so? I dunno.

[LunarSilverStar]

Honestly, I think by releasing the timeline, they limit themselves on what they can do with the franchise in the future, but it's really Nintendo's choice and I really only care that the games are fun.

[Werefrog]

But wait... Ganon was clearly sealed away in Zelda: A Link to the Past. Does that timeline assume that the sages sealed him without Link? I think Nintendo making a Zelda timeline now is like adding Hayden Christensen to Return of the Jedi.

[Nobiyuki77]

But wait... Ganon was clearly sealed away in Zelda: A Link to the Past. Does that timeline assume that the sages sealed him without Link? I think Nintendo making a Zelda timeline now is like adding Hayden Christensen to Return of the Jedi.

I think that's exactly what it's saying yes. I think it's basically how, like at the end of OoT where a split was made when Zelda send Link back to his childhood, a split was ALSO made earlier when Link first took the Master Sword. He reappears 7 years later and doesn't reappear in the original timeline.

So maybe time-travel in Zelda is more like DBZ than BttF?

[Shiva Indis]

So...I can't really say Zelda timelines are fanwank, because even Miyamoto thought about how the Zelda games fit together chronologically back in the early days. Is it fanwank fodder?

[LunarRaptor]

Their timeline is -Dung Beetle-. One of the timelines is the result of Link failing, but somehow leads to A Link to the Past where Ganon has been sealed. Huh? Yeah, I'lll be sticking with my timeline theory, thank you.

[Sonic#]

^ Events can occur between games. In this case, Ganon was sealed by an intervening war, perhaps the subject of a future Zelda game. I don't see what the confusion is.

[Werefrog]

^ Events can occur between games. In this case, Ganon was sealed by an intervening war, perhaps the subject of a future Zelda game. I don't see what the confusion is.

Yeah, I'm okay with this now that I thought about it more. But... I'm still not okay with the concept of an "official" timeline.

[Silver Phoenix]

The timeline IS -Dung Beetle-, and even Miyamoto stated that more games would have to be made to "correct" the timeline. I think it was concocted after everyone started theorizing the timeline after Ocarina of Time.

[LunarRaptor]

Nope. Not buying it. And I'm not going to buy it until they have a game which features the "Link fails" option as part of the story.