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I don't know if anyone else here has engaged in this discussion, but I came across it before and I became a little bit obsessed with it for a time. Anyone who has played a few of the Legend of Zelda games will know that the games (mostly) take place in Hyrule, but in different versions of it over different times and with different Links and Zeldas in each one. But it's also not very clear what order they fall in to. Nintendo at first never bothered with any type of continuity between the games so it's rather messy and they're a good bit of debate about the order.
Ocarina of Time complicates things further (or perhaps it makes things fit better) because of its unusual ending. If you have forgotten what happened (or, shock!, haven't played the game) Link gets sent back in time so that he can be a child again and gets back all the time he lost when the sages kept him in stasis for many years. This, due to quantum, splits the Zelda timeline in two.
One timeline (called the adult timeline) continues on from adult link defeating Ganon and the sages locking him in the Sacred Realm. Everything that happened in Ocarina of Time has occurred in this timeline, including Ganon's evil rein.
The other timeline (child timeline) follows on from Link becoming a child. All that Link accomplished as an adult in the game has never happened. How much of what he did as a child has happened in a timeline in unknown. It's often thought that this continues from where Link first picked up the master sword, meaning that he has at least helped the Gorons and the Zora. The only thing that is definite is that he played the ocarina with the skull kid in the Lost Woods (this is mentioned in Majora's Mask). Ganon's plans also fail for some reason or other.
All things that happened before Ocarina of Time happened in both timelines. This is my timeline theory:
Shared timeline:
Adult timeline:
Child timeline:
I hope that after me writing all that crap someone is willing to discuss this timeline thing with me.
*waits for first tl;dr*
Ocarina of Time complicates things further (or perhaps it makes things fit better) because of its unusual ending. If you have forgotten what happened (or, shock!, haven't played the game) Link gets sent back in time so that he can be a child again and gets back all the time he lost when the sages kept him in stasis for many years. This, due to quantum, splits the Zelda timeline in two.
One timeline (called the adult timeline) continues on from adult link defeating Ganon and the sages locking him in the Sacred Realm. Everything that happened in Ocarina of Time has occurred in this timeline, including Ganon's evil rein.
The other timeline (child timeline) follows on from Link becoming a child. All that Link accomplished as an adult in the game has never happened. How much of what he did as a child has happened in a timeline in unknown. It's often thought that this continues from where Link first picked up the master sword, meaning that he has at least helped the Gorons and the Zora. The only thing that is definite is that he played the ocarina with the skull kid in the Lost Woods (this is mentioned in Majora's Mask). Ganon's plans also fail for some reason or other.
All things that happened before Ocarina of Time happened in both timelines. This is my timeline theory:
Shared timeline:
- The Minish Cap
The first game in the timeline. (Note. The events that are set in the past in Origin of Ages may proceed this) This one show's the origin of both Vaati (placing it before all the Four Swords games automatically) and Link's green sock-hat (placing it before all the others). The landscape of Hyrule is quite different to that of all the other games, and also seems to take place in a much smaller area. - Four Swords
It has to go somewhere between Minish Cap and Four Swords Adventures. I haven't played this game but I think the map is pretty much the same as that in A Link to the Past.
Adult timeline:
- Ocarina of Time
This game show's Ganon's origins as human. All the other games (bar one) have him as either a demon or as an ancient evil. This one even shows his foster mothers. He gains control of Hyrule but is then locked in the sacred realm by Link and the Sages (the possession of the Triforce makes him unkillable). - Twilight Princess
Ganon somehow managed to escape the Sacred Realm in the past but was sent back by the Sages with a magic mirror. He gets out again and Link beats the shit out of him. The map is pretty similar to Ocarina's (I've heard, haven't had the chance to place this game much and I've never seen the map for it). - The Wind Waker
Ganon got out again in the past and Hyrule got flooded (making it fairly impossible for any of the other games bar Phantom Hourglass to come after it). I guess they figured that a flooded Hyrule was a better prison than the Sacred Realm which Ganon keeps breaking out of. Despite the fact that Majora's Mask is reference by Tingle in this game, they're almost definitely in two different timelines. - Phantom Hourglass
Last game of the adult timeline (awww)
Child timeline:
- Ocarina of Time
Link's actions as an adult don't happen. Twinrova survived, the Deku Tree died and was never reborn and Ganon was not locked in the Sacred Realm. He does have a jam session with the boss of the next game though. - Majora's Mask
THREE DAYS! Link somehow ends up in a different universe and has to repeat the same THREE DAYS over and over again until he can save the world again. It's known to be the direct sequel to Ocarina of Time and takes place in a different world to the others so it doesn't have any impact on the rest of the timeline (even though I'm writing more about it than OoT, which is one of the most important). - Four Swords Adventures
This is the only game, other than Ocarina of Time, that shows Ganon going from an ordinary Gerudo to pig demon which allows it to fit quite well as his emergence as Hyrule's public enemy #1 seeing as he never came to power in Ocarina of Time. This game also shows the origin of his trident, putting it before most of his 2D incarnations. This game also features the death of Vaati, so it's after Minish Cap and Four Swords. I've read that the map is quite similar to that of both Ocarina and Link to the Past (again, never played this one) so that helps it tie them up. - A Link to the Past
The placement of this game relative to Ocarina of Time and the two timelines is probably the most important and debatable point in Zelda timeline discussion and this is the part of my timeline that requires the biggest leap of faith to make it work. You see, at the end of Four Swords Adventures Ganon is locked in the Four Sword while he starts off A Link to the Past locked in the Sacred Realm. So perhaps they sages/maidens tossed the Four Sword into the Sacred Realm for good measure, to double the amount of time it takes for Ganon to break out this time, because he always does break out.
Some would say that this fits in better with Ocarina of Time adult timeline ending because Ganon actually does get locked in the Sacred Realm in that game but I prefer this timeline for a number of reasons. The sages in Ocarina of Time come from various species, while in A Link to the Past the descendants of the sages who locked Ganon away were Hylian, and I really hope that inter-species breeding happens in Hyrule. The maidens that lock Ganon away in Four Swords Adventures, on the other hand, are Hylians, meaning that one doesn't have to worry about thoughts of how a Hylian and Goron mate (and I really hope no one just picked up a pencil after having read that last sentence).
The legend at the start of A Link to the Past also mentions knights, plural. The only warrior who defeats Ganon in a Ocarina of Time is Link, on the other hand in Four Swords Adventures there are four Links which is more fitting with the legend you are told in A Link to the Past.
There're also a few things about the world. There is no Deku Tree/Sprout, no Gorons and no Sea Zora. The Gorons and Zora have abondoned their duty to the King of Hyrule. The Gorons and Zora are still around in Twilight Princes and according to Wind Waker the Zora seemed to have stayed around in Hyrule until the end, and A Link to the Past certainly doesn't take place after the Wind Waker.
And lastly, the fact that Ganon has his trident in this game supports the idea that it comes after Four Swords Adventures.
As a side note, the map is near identical to that of Ocarina of Time when rotated a bit. - Link's Awakening
Direct sequal to A Link to the Past. Not really relevant to the timeline. - The Legend of Zelda
For whatever reason Link seems to have taken the Triforce out of the Sacred Realm at the end of A Link to the Past and brought it to Hyrule. It is later split up into its 3 parts and put in different places around Hyrule. Ganon manages to get the Trifore of Power ands sets after the others. This is the first game released and the only time Ganon is really killed. The map doesn't resemble that of any of the other games at all. It probably takes place in some remote corner of Hyrule (there aren't even any towns). Ganon is killed in this one for real because he never gets the full power of the Triforce, so for once he doesn't gain immortality before Link kills defeats him. - The Adventure of Link
Direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda. Seems to take place in Northern Hyrule. Ganon's followers attempt to resurrect him using the Triforce of Courage, but fail, haha. - Oracle of Seasons & Oracle of Ages
The last two games in my timeline that I believe where actually made by Capcom and as such are thought of as non-canon by many fans (also because of the improbable appearance of the Master Sword as a side quest. But then again, the Triforce was taken out of the Sacred Realm in this timeline so maybe they figured that the key to the realm wasn't all that important anymore). Ganon's followers try to resurrect him again and fail again (they bring back his body but not his mind).
Twinrova actually appear in these games, pretty much confirming that it's in the child timeline (if it was the adult timeline Link would have killed them a long time ago). They must be pretty ancient by this game. They also kill themselves in this game making them dead in both timelines.
I hope that after me writing all that crap someone is willing to discuss this timeline thing with me.
*waits for first tl;dr*
*k I'm going to read that wall of text but I did read the games in order of and I agree with you on it.
