The Abandoned Timeline (Zelda Theory)

Zelda's timeline split of Ocarina of Time has notoriously been a problematic mess for fans to explain for many, many years-- and still to this day people argue over its legitimacy and sometimes whether it should even be considered canon! I tend to believe it's all because of that one timeline split... you know, the Downfall/Fallen timeline. What if there was a way to fix it to where it all makes logical sense? Let's find out!

Follow Masked Nintendo Bandit:

Watch more Masked Nintendo Bandit:

About Masked Nintendo Bandit:
Welcome to the official channel of Masked Nintendo Bandit. I am the most chill Nintendo/Zelda YouTuber you'll ever meet! Join me for theories, top 10s, reviews, vlogs, and more! I upload as often as possible, which generally means once a week. Don’t forget to subscribe and enable all push notifications so you never miss a video! Thanks for checking me out!

#Zelda #Nintendo #OcarinaofTime #BreathoftheWild #BotW2 #PS5

legend oot mnb maskednintendobandit zeltik theory theories theorist nbc story lore explained analysis trailer sequel e3 ps5 sony conference new news hd release date game

[BanditGames]

Which timeline has the BEST games? Pre-split, Adult, Child, or Downfall/Abandoned?

EDIT: for those confused about the Abandoned Timeline becoming the Adult timeline in its future, that can’t be the case; if it were, games like MM and TP would either not exist or would take place in the Adult timeline. The Hero of Time was removed from the Adult Timeline by Zelda and placed in the new (Child) timeline; meaning the HoT would not awaken in the Original Timeline’s future to create the Adult timeline. If he did, that would mean the Fallen/Downfall timeline would never exist. In Zelda logic, once you go back in time, you have created a new future as is evidenced by the fact that it splits and doesn’t remain the same. Hope this helps! <3

[evansmith]

Nintendo: puts 2 seconds of thought into something

Fans: have a decades spanning debate over it

[bena]

"Time has passed in the past"

I don't think I was buckled in enough for this.

[timmyfitz]

My theory was always that the fallen timeline was actually the original timeline, but sometime after Zelda 2, Zelda reset time back to OOT to try to fix things and give the hero of time another chance. He won this time around, resulting in the creation of the child and adult timelines.

[Scarlettlnz]

I love constantly overthinking Zelda’s entire timelines. Don’t you, too?

[CZsWorld]

I've been trying to explain this in YouTube comment sections for years. You did a pretty good job explaining it and I might just reference this from now on.

One thing I'd add: every time you go back to the future in Ocarina of Time, a version of young Link is stuck in the past without the proper gear and experience to beat Ganon. So he is defeated.

Link isn't really traveling back and forth in time, because while he's in the sacred realm, he's actually just waiting until he's old enough to wield the Master Sword.

But when he travels back, he can go back and change certain things. This explains why you can plant a seed in the past to create a plant that wasn't there before in the future. But what happens to the version of history where there was no plant in the future? THAT'S the defeated timeline.

So there are actually multiple defeated / abandoned timelines. Every time you return to the past, a new one is created. (But they are all essentially the same and contain the same games).

[geianimari]

I do have a theory about the timeline!!
There is a split in Skyward Sword even if the end of the game seems to mean there isn't because it is an incoherence.
Now that I think of it, I never talked about it in English. Sorry about eventual mistakes in the following comment, English is not my native language.
If Demise is defeated in the past, Link wouldn't have had to use the Triforce to destroy it in the present. But he did have to do it, so Demise was defeated two different times in the game, so there is two different timelines: one where Demise was sealed by the goddess Hylia for ages before Hylia is reborn as Zelda and Demise destroyed by Link with the Triforce, and one where Link from the future killed Demise after Ghirahim from the future freed him .
I really think that the fact that the game implies there is no timeline split is an incoherence, and my theory may be a bit of a fanfiction, but Hylia may have predicted a split could happen and left instructions to Impa and Fi so they make sure nobody notices the time paradox.
So here was my theory. I do hope it catches somebody's intention, and I'll wait patiently for the video!

[RikkiJVelez]

This is how I always saw it even before the timeline split became official. I was like “there’s a third split, the timeline Link abandons” and everyone thought I was crazy.

[kevinr.]

The "Abandoned" Timeline you describe has to be the Adult Timeline. Why? Song of Storms paradox. A stable information loop like that of the Song of Storms only works if you are jumping back and forth between different points of the same timeline. Otherwise, it's a spiral, not a closed loop, and would have to start somewhere. Thus, the time spent as a kid after first drawing the Master Sword and the time spent as an adult must exist within the same timeline.

That said, I have my own interpretation of where the third timeline comes from that I like to call either the Timeline Zero theory or the Ghost Trick theory. This... might get a bit complicated. And rambly. Sorry.
The timeline we're playing in throughout the game is Timeline 1, the Adult Timeline. The timeline that Zelda sends Link back to at the end of the game is Timeline 2, the Child Timeline. This timeline is created when something (in this case, Link) is sent back from the first timeline to a point where it can change the course of events. My claim, however, is that this is not the first time that something like this happened, and that the Adult Timeline is itself the result of something being sent back from a previous, unseen timeline to change the course of events. This is Timeline Zero.
Now, let's consider what changes would need to be made to the course of events in _Ocarina of Time_ for the events of _A Link to the Past_ to follow. Link needs to be defeated, and the sages need to seal Ganondorf with the full Triforce in the Sacred Realm. Ideally, these sages should all be human/Hylian, because you have their very human descendants to rescue in ALttP. ( _A Link Between Worlds_ muddles this a bit, but it came out after the faulty timeline split was codified, so I'm not considering it. If necessary, I can come up with a suitable handwave.)
Something interesting about OoT is that the Master Sword functions very differently here from in any other game. Why didn't it seal Link away in, say, _The Wind Waker_ or ALttP? Isn't Link around the same age in those games? Why _did_ it seal him away in this game?
Let's consider what would happen if it didn't. Link leaves the Temple of Time, followed by Ganondorf waltzing in (fun mental image if you take that phrase literally) and trying to claim the Triforce. It splits, because of course it does, and he walks away with the Triforce of Power, while Courage and Wisdom get sent off to Link and Zelda, respectively. Link, with his newfound sword and sudden courage boost, rushes off to gather the Sages (and Zelda) and challenges the Gerudo king to battle. This goes about as well as you'd expect. Link is killed, Ganondorf claims the other two pieces of the Triforce, and the Sages have to seal him away.
Some time later, Zelda finds a way to send information (whether it be a physical messenger or a prophetic dream or whatever) back to before Link drew the Master Sword, warning either Rauru or the Master Sword herself that Link would come to draw the sword and not be strong enough to take Ganondorf, so he should be sealed away until he is. It's not a standard function of the Master Sword; it's something set up for this one instance so that this specific Link would be able to wield it when the time came. In doing so, Zelda created a split in the timeline, with the branch she was on becoming the Downfall Timeline and the new branch becoming the Adult Timeline.

[dpenlow]

This idea of Ganon being victorious because Link vanished from that part of the timeline actually reminds me of an old episode of Darkwing Duck. When Gosalyn travels into the future, Darkwing becomes the brooding, violent Darkwarrior Duck, as a result of her vanishing from his timeline for all those years. I like this concept, as it makes sense for someone time traveling to create a cause and effect by their absence.

[BankerPaul]

Firstly, when Link pulls the master sword from the pedastal for the first time, he doesn't just get zipped ahead in time; his spirit is kept in stasis for seven years, meaning that he is still there during the abandoned timeline; he's just in stasis.

Secondly, an explanation for why when Link time travels using the master sword a new timeline isn't created (hence the thing): First on the itinerary for this: the subject of time passing in the past while Link is in the future... no, it doesn't. Yes, you can take an item, go to the future, and come back and the item will be gone, but that's just because the master sword only sends Link back to the time when he last pulled it/put it back. Link pulls the master sword, Ganon grabs the Triforce, Link gets sealed, future stuff happens, Link goes back to right after Ganon left with the Triforce, Link does some past stuff, goes and gets the master sword again, and gets put back to when he returned the master sword. The master sword seems to be like an anchor in the timeline for Link, because of the nature of how he uses it, but the ocarina isn't like that; the relation of the ocarina to the user doesn't matter, so there is no anchor effect, so a new timeline is created when used.

Thirdly, your logic for the abandoned timeline not becoming the adult timeline in its future (you talked about this in your comment) either doesn't make any sense, or it is just _zooming_ over my head. Link gets sent back in time, to a new timeline, by Zelda. That timeline is where the games like Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess take place, the _new_ timeline, which is known as the child timeline (just trying to keep things clear). The timeline that Link was sent _from_ is known as the adult timeline. Based on the information I provided in the first and second paragraphs (Link being in stasis and the it can be concluded that the abandoned timeline does become the adult timeline in its future, and cannot take the place of the fallen timeline (I am seriously disappointed that this is the conclusion I came to. I _seriously_ tried to make your theory work).

Man, my brain hurts now.

Also, just gonna throw this in here: since a new timeline was created when Zelda sent Link back to the past, leaving the original without him, whenever you travel back in time in Majora's Mask, you are leaving that version of Termina to be crushed by the moon, and because of how many times you have to do this in the game, you are leaving many, many, many people to die.

[azophi]

Link cannot both live and die
Schrodinger's cat: *allow me to introduce myself*

[anthonibrookshire]

I remember someone pointing out that the Child and Adult Timelines were the result of Princess Zelda using the Triforce in the original NES game to wish for the Fallen Timeline to be undone. This resulted in the fallen Link having another chance and beating Ganon, creating the Adult Timeline. Zelda then sent him back to his childhood, thus creating the Child Timeline.

[luckysix]

I am confused, shouldn’t the “abandoned” timeline just the events of OoT from the adult timeline perspective. Young link beating the first three dungeons, zelda flees, getting the master sword, Link’s return trips to the spirit temple, song of storms and whatever else, the 7 year time skip, and the adult adventuring. I feel like I am missing something here.

[cjlevin]

This makes much more sense than the way Nintendo wrote it

[Walrus]

I never really had a problem with the timeline split, because I never really thought that all three timelines had to occur concurrently. That being said, I do like this theory and it makes it possible for them all to be all three parallel timelines. Well done

[RwanLink]

You know basically we could also say that everytime we pull out the mastersword from the pedestal it create a new timeline.

[TheLadyLiddell]

I never had a problem with the "if" timeline because alternate/parallel realities were always easy for me to accept. I do like your explanation better tho.

[annysummer]

I personally never had a problem with the Timeline and the Fallen Timeline specifically, but I can see why it would bother some people

And I have to say, this was a really interesting explanation on how it could work differently. I really enjoyed this video

[jscsytodnickeli]

0:51 "And what if I told you... *You're not alone.* " Me: *Looks around*