The Complete Legend Of Zelda Timeline | The Leaderboard

The Complete Legend Of Zelda Timeline | The Leaderboard

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The Legend of Zelda is a timeline that, while Hyrule Historia details it for us, has largely become outdated since the introduction of Breath of the Wild, Age of Calamity, and Tears of the Kingdom. Even still, those games receive a lot of questioning as to when and where they take place in the current timeline, if they take place in it anywhere at all. There are plenty of theories out there, as the Zelda Series seems to spawn a lot of those. But right now, we want to take a stab at this timeline and attempt to figure it out.

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[willanderson]

One thing was remembered of the legend of the hero of the wild it was that he got his ass kicked by a gardener for stepping on her flowers

[etrephesm]

I think its crucial to mention that ganondorf was sealed in the sacred realm, which is also where the skyloft and the triforce were sealed.

[vaporwavevocap]

It's obvious to anyone who pays attention to Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that the founding of Hyrule that takes place after Skyward Sword is not the same founding of Hyrule that takes place in Tears of the Kingdom's past. These are two separate events in an infinite recurrence.

[himignicest]

ive got to say, the windwaker timeline feels like such a tragic timeline with such rich stories, i REALLY prefer the characterizations of link and zelda here because they have much more depth, with link not really wanting to do hero stuff, zelda changing her name to tetra and all and becoming a pirate, and ganondorf;s tragic wishes.

[LycosHayes]

I would like to point out that the adult timeline is where Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks take place. Also, the downfall timeline is where a link to the Past, the Oracle games, Link's Awakening, Zelda 1, Adventure of Link, A Link Between Worlds and Triforce Heroes all take place

[DustinGuidroz]

My theory is that BotW and TotK take place after all time lines because of all of the references to previous games in the Zelda canon. The only way that this could be possible is if the first Hyrule Warriors game is canon because that game combines all of the timelines into one timeline from which BotW and TotK could take place in.

[A.S_ButterMan]

I don’t know if I’m just weird, but for some reason I started tearing up watching 11:48 to 12:14 (mind you I’ve beat this game about 6 times)

[BarmyJuggler]

Great video! My theory about botw and totk is that all three timelines converge at the end, and the kingdom eventually collapses. Then, the zonai descend and found hyrule as seen in totk's memories. Then botw and the rest of totk take place. If totk's past took place after skyward sword, then why would there be rito and then no rito and then back again when wind waker takes place? Also molduga are seen in the memories and totk and botw. These are the only times you see those creatures in the timeline. You can't go from molduga, then none, and then reappearing again. I hope my reasoning on my theory makes somewhat sense.

[KaneLivesInDeath]

I see one hole in that branch theory... Zelda accidentally used the stone to travel back in time, but if that actually made a brach, Zelda wouldn't be in TOTK, yer she was as she used a stone to make herself immortal and have her light energy repair and upgrade the Master Sword over the eons... TOTK is BOTW link, but if there really was a timeline branch, then TOTK would not be BOTW link as they would be the same link but in two seperate timelines... There is also something else that happens... Like things suddenly became very different, yet still familiar... Almost like... There was no split?

In case anyone hasn't picked this up yet, there are two ways time travel effects time overall. The Ocarina back in OOT was used to send adults link back in time as a kid again so he can relive his childhood, but ultimately split reality as a result. This kind of time manipulation is called Multiverse Theory, an event where you travel back in time and, instead of events being changed, you actually distort reality and cause a split in Space-Time, the timeline you originally come from doesn't change, the alternate timeline contains the changed instead, leaving a lot of uncertainty.

There is another way time manipulation effects reality, it's as commonly used in media or games, and it's a weaker theory when it comes to IRL time travel... The only well known show that uses this effect is Yu-Gi-Oh!

In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, it was confirmed that their reality did nor work on Multiverse Theory, instead the show demonstrated multiple times that manipulating time in their way just rewrites history, overwriting time so the present can reflect the change in history.

I have a theory about this. I think time manipulation in the Legend of Zelda series can have BOTH outcomes. Depending on how you manipulate time, you will either split reality, or rewrite your present. If so, then tjat means Hylia's time power works differently that the Ocarina that was used much later, the music device wasn't made by Hylian but someone else who wasn't apaer of the Goddess clan, meaning they had to figure out how to manipulate time in their own way. Hylian, on the other hand, can use more power than the Ocarina. She seems to manipulate time far more efficiently, plus, the machines you use to manipulate time in SS were either built by Hylia, or had some Hylians make them with her supervision, giving them ways to time travel like how she does it...

The Ocarina, if anything, provably uses time travel in a more rudimentary way, being far less advanced as the blueprints to Hylia's Inventions were most likely lost to time. And since it's a more primitive tool, manipulating time was utilized differently, if anything, it was probably still an experimental device.

Zelda traveled back I time because she's a reincaeof Hylia, so she shares her powers, using the stone probably rewrote the events of BOTW. However, it seems she didn't change much, Sonia was still assassinated, the Imprisoning war still happened, Ganondorf was still sealed, the most she changed was the Sheikah's involvement in BOTW. The advanced Sheikah technology still existed, Guardian and the Four Divine Beasts were still used, but there was one thing that disappeared, the Sheikah Shrines were never invented, the Zonai shrines were made, instead. These Light Shrines replaced the Sheikah Shrines because of Zelda warning Rauru and interfearing in the Imprisoning war. Because of that, the Sheikah didn't see a need to make their own shrines.

This also explains the sudden change in the landscape, some things were altered and look different Than in BOTW, the exception being the chasms scattered around Hyrule. But the dongeons were one of the most notable changes that happened on the surface.

[alicelee]

The age of calamity, BotW, and TotK take place not in a separate timeline but TotK is the end and beginning of the Zelda timeline. Princess Zelda goes back in time and sets the stage for everything after, but TotK is the last game in the series chronologically. Because King Roham (spell his name in the reply section) is labeled as the “last king of hyrule, ” and TotK takes place afterward, these 3 games are the last of the timeline (but Age of Calamity takes place on a parallel timeline to 100 years before BotW)

[loganotto]

There is a incongruence, because all the races on BOTW and TOTK are evolutions of the other existents on the other games, so those games are after all the other games. This would be a merged timeline, with all the new and old Races.

[Lucario]

A common theory is that totk is a closed timeline loop like skyward sword. Gannondorf knows about Link and the master sword due to raru telling him about Link in the past. He also knows about Zelda cause he remembers her from the imprisoning war. This leads it to be a closed timeline and not a timeline split.

[quincydavis]

This Timeline is speculative, nothing official has been stated/released from Nintendo aside from being told that Breath of the wild takes place at the end of the Timeline, it is left to assume that there may of been some catastrophic event that wiped out Hyrule to the point where the past kingdom was forgotten and left in legends.

[Blazercraft]

I loved this video and found it helpful! I believe a useful Improvement would be having the currently talked about game in the series in the corner

[Li_tells]

O-kay, so I decided to educate myself in Zelda games, as one does. And I find it way too funny that at some point I lost count of how many times Zelda was kidnapped… honestly let’s kidnap Link for a change🤣

Great vid, man, thanks for all the effort

[DrNefariusMDK]

Here's one of my theories, similar to the one in the video:

The founding of Hyrule was by the Zonai, and the founding scenes in TOTK should mainly happen in the era of prosperity.
From the founding, there can be a timeline split here. 
If Ganondorf manages to get Sonia's stone, then BOTW and TOTK would happen as the video described in the beginning. 
If not, then from the founding of Hyrule the timeline can go straight to the era of chaos. From there, having BOTW and TOTK happen in the child timeline split also sounds good.
I also remember that for ALTTP instead of calling the war the Imprisoning War, some people call it the Sealing War, which can be helpful to stop confusion. 
I still consider Link's Awakening to occur after the Oracle games, here's why:
The main village in Link's Awakening, Mabe Village's theme sounds similar to the Horon Village theme in Oracle of Seasons.
Marin, closely resembles Malon from Oracle of Seasons.
Madam MeowMeow and BowWow in Link's Awakening somewhat resemble Mamamu Yan and her dog in Oracle of Ages.
I think from Labrynna, Link travel's by boat back to Hyrule, but encounters a storm, making the events of Link's Awakening come into play.

Let me know what you all think.

[wace]

If rauru was actually the first king of hyrule that wouldn't make sense. The reason why is because if ganondorf was trapped underground right after ss to totk why are there other reincarnations of demises hatred like oot ganondorfs different timeline varients or other ganons if totk ganondorf is still alive. The most logical timeline placement for the pre story of totk to be before botw and right after the previous games of every timeline before botw. I believe hyrules history was just loss and that would explain rauru is the first king of hyrule of his knowledge and he had no clue of what the triforce or master sword was they maybe just decided to call the land hyrule again due to the ruins left of the previous kingdom such as the springs of courage, wisdom, and power since they all have the symbol of hyrule labeled on them.

[zer.oo.o]

I don’t think that there was a timeline spilt when Zelda went back as ganondorf knew who Zelda was as he had seen her in the past

[andiebee]

The Wind Waker takes place in the Adult Timeline, not the Fallen Hero Timeline. Its fun to have theories but that has been confirmed by Nintendo in Hyrule Historia for over a decade.

[brucebrittain]

This was a great video. I love the term “dragondorf”