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Hey seibertronians, I've recently started playing Zelda games again, and figured I'd get started on the timeline again. So far I've started to come up with one for myself, and how certain characters may be related and such, but it's far from complete. Anyway, I figured I'd see if anyone else had some good theories.
I'll post my timeline later when I can remember it all...

There's officially two, splitting off from Ocarina of Time (The earliest in the series): Young Link's Timeline, (Link turns in Ganondorf, before he has a chance to ruin everything) which leads into Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess, and Adult Link's timeline, (Where Ganondorf was never turned in and ruined everything, and Link defeated him) which leads into Wind Waker.

Other than that, it's anyone's guess, and even then it's still pretty sketchy. If there even is an official chart detailing the ENTIRE timeline, Nintendo is very reluctant to release it. They prefer to focus on what they're doing now, making new stories rather than retreading old ground. And even that takes a back seat to gameplay.

Funny, I recently dug LoZ and AoL out of my NES collection and was just thinking about where they fit in with the Zelda timeline.

I've discovered that the timeline can vary somewhat, depending upon who you ask. I think it's interesting that the first two Zelda games ever created are actually last in the timeline, and that the Gannon that was defeated in LoZ has not risen again since there has been no sequel to it featuring Gannon. Unless you get Game Over in AoL, that is.

8 bit wrote:Gannon

Ganon. One N. Believe me, some people can be very adamant about this. Like, absurdly unnecessarily adamant.

Shadowman wrote:

8 bit wrote:Gannon

Ganon. One N. Believe me, some people can be very adamant about this. Like, absurdly unnecessarily adamant.

Ha ha...Ooops >.<

I don't think all the games are connected, or if they are there's not enough info to connect all the Links in that chain. OoT, LttP, WW, and all their direct sequels are definitely connected, but I'm not sure if TP fits in there. Ganondorf shows up out of nowhere and they never elaborate on how he got the Triforce of Power. Plus the game doesn't mention any past events like LttP and WW do. Then there's the Oracle games, the 2 original NES games, and the games with Vaati, the 4 sword, and no Triforce or Ganon. I don't think Nintendo had a timeline in mind when they made the games so it's one big tangled mess of contradictions and story gaps.

Evil_the_Nub wrote:I don't think all the games are connected, or if they are there's not enough info to connect all the Links in that chain. OoT, LttP, WW, and all their direct sequels are definitely connected, but I'm not sure if TP fits in there. Ganondorf shows up out of nowhere and they never elaborate on how he got the Triforce of Power. Plus the game doesn't mention any past events like LttP and WW do. Then there's the Oracle games, the 2 original NES games, and the games with Vaati, the 4 sword, and no Triforce or Ganon. I don't think Nintendo had a timeline in mind when they made the games so it's one big tangled mess of contradictions and story gaps.

TP is officially supposed to take place a century or so after Majora's Mask. I still don't know how he got the Triforce of Power, but since it makes him a more powerful antagonist I won't question it. I would assume since Link kept the Triforce of Courage when he went back in time, Power and Wisdom went to Ganondorf and Zelda, though they probably didn't realize it.

In fact TP DOES reference past games. The entryway of the Temple of Time is nearly identical to it's appearance in OoT, including the background music and the Pedestal of Time.

Otherwise, only a few games are ever officially given a place on a timeline.

Evil_the_Nub wrote:I don't think all the games are connected, or if they are there's not enough info to connect all the Links in that chain. OoT, LttP, WW, and all their direct sequels are definitely connected, but I'm not sure if TP fits in there. Ganondorf shows up out of nowhere and they never elaborate on how he got the Triforce of Power. Plus the game doesn't mention any past events like LttP and WW do. Then there's the Oracle games, the 2 original NES games, and the games with Vaati, the 4 sword, and no Triforce or Ganon. I don't think Nintendo had a timeline in mind when they made the games so it's one big tangled mess of contradictions and story gaps.

Didn't you catch the part of the split timeline starting from Ocarine of Time? Let me explain in detail:

Spoiler Alert:
Zelda sending Link back in time so he could reclaim his childhood had a tiny side-effect of the overall timeline splitting in two: the "Child Timeline" and "Adult Timeline".
The Child Timeline has Link warn the Royal Family of Hyrule before Ganondorf rose to power, right after he claimed the Triforce of Power. Ganondorf was captured and Link is traveling to find a "lost friend". Meanwhile, Ganondorf was sentenced to death by the Sages, but his execution was botched because of the Triforce he claimed earlier. The Sages had no choice but to banish him to the Twilight Realm. Put short, the Child Timeline leads into Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess.
The Adult Timeline begins right after Ocarina of Time, with Ganon imprisoned in the Sacred Realm and Zelda sending Link back in time. Within a certain period of time, Ganon somehow managed to partially break through the barrier, causing another disaster. but without Link to stop him, the Goddess saw no alternative but to cause the Great Flood, hiding Hyrule in a vast ocean. You guessed it: it's the starting point for The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.

Got it all? A Link to the Past could fit in the Child Timeline too, but the rest of the games and especially the Four Sword and Oracle series are harder to place. I'd say: don't bother trying.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Evil_the_Nub wrote:I don't think all the games are connected, or if they are there's not enough info to connect all the Links in that chain. OoT, LttP, WW, and all their direct sequels are definitely connected, but I'm not sure if TP fits in there. Ganondorf shows up out of nowhere and they never elaborate on how he got the Triforce of Power. Plus the game doesn't mention any past events like LttP and WW do. Then there's the Oracle games, the 2 original NES games, and the games with Vaati, the 4 sword, and no Triforce or Ganon. I don't think Nintendo had a timeline in mind when they made the games so it's one big tangled mess of contradictions and story gaps.

Didn't you catch the part of the split timeline starting from Ocarine of Time? Let me explain in detail:

Spoiler Alert:
Zelda sending Link back in time so he could reclaim his childhood had a tiny side-effect of the overall timeline splitting in two: the "Child Timeline" and "Adult Timeline".
The Child Timeline has Link warn the Royal Family of Hyrule before Ganondorf rose to power, right after he claimed the Triforce of Power. Ganondorf was captured and Link is traveling to find a "lost friend". Meanwhile, Ganondorf was sentenced to death by the Sages, but his execution was botched because of the Triforce he claimed earlier. The Sages had no choice but to banish him to the Twilight Realm. Put short, the Child Timeline leads into Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess.
The Adult Timeline begins right after Ocarina of Time, with Ganon imprisoned in the Sacred Realm and Zelda sending Link back in time. Within a certain period of time, Ganon somehow managed to partially break through the barrier, causing another disaster. but without Link to stop him, the Goddess saw no alternative but to cause the Great Flood, hiding Hyrule in a vast ocean. You guessed it: it's the starting point for The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.

Got it all? A Link to the Past could fit in the Child Timeline too, but the rest of the games and especially the Four Sword and Oracle series are harder to place. I'd say: don't bother trying.

I guess that makes sense, although in OoT it just shows link close the door in the temple of time. Which I always thought meant that he sealed Ganondorf in the sacred realm while he was still in there searching for the Triforce. So either way he still ended up trapped in the Sacred realm. LttP would be in the adult timeline though, at the beginning it mentions 7 sages sealing Ganon in the dark realm.

Evil_the_Nub wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Evil_the_Nub wrote:I don't think all the games are connected, or if they are there's not enough info to connect all the Links in that chain. OoT, LttP, WW, and all their direct sequels are definitely connected, but I'm not sure if TP fits in there. Ganondorf shows up out of nowhere and they never elaborate on how he got the Triforce of Power. Plus the game doesn't mention any past events like LttP and WW do. Then there's the Oracle games, the 2 original NES games, and the games with Vaati, the 4 sword, and no Triforce or Ganon. I don't think Nintendo had a timeline in mind when they made the games so it's one big tangled mess of contradictions and story gaps.

Didn't you catch the part of the split timeline starting from Ocarine of Time? Let me explain in detail:

Spoiler Alert:
Zelda sending Link back in time so he could reclaim his childhood had a tiny side-effect of the overall timeline splitting in two: the "Child Timeline" and "Adult Timeline".
The Child Timeline has Link warn the Royal Family of Hyrule before Ganondorf rose to power, right after he claimed the Triforce of Power. Ganondorf was captured and Link is traveling to find a "lost friend". Meanwhile, Ganondorf was sentenced to death by the Sages, but his execution was botched because of the Triforce he claimed earlier. The Sages had no choice but to banish him to the Twilight Realm. Put short, the Child Timeline leads into Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess.
The Adult Timeline begins right after Ocarina of Time, with Ganon imprisoned in the Sacred Realm and Zelda sending Link back in time. Within a certain period of time, Ganon somehow managed to partially break through the barrier, causing another disaster. but without Link to stop him, the Goddess saw no alternative but to cause the Great Flood, hiding Hyrule in a vast ocean. You guessed it: it's the starting point for The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.

Got it all? A Link to the Past could fit in the Child Timeline too, but the rest of the games and especially the Four Sword and Oracle series are harder to place. I'd say: don't bother trying.

I guess that makes sense, although in OoT it just shows link close the door in the temple of time. Which I always thought meant that he sealed Ganondorf in the sacred realm while he was still in there searching for the Triforce. So either way he still ended up trapped in the Sacred realm. LttP would be in the adult timeline though, at the beginning it mentions 7 sages sealing Ganon in the dark realm.

OoT final cutscene is in the newly established Child Timeline, with Link going back to Zelda. Supposedly the Triforce had already been taken, but the Sacred Realm was closed off. Thus Ganon's sealing by the Sages never happened in that timeline, because the Sages never needed to be awakened. LttP is indeed in the Adult Timeline, my mistake.

They screwed themselves with The Wind Waker, as it's officially after the Adult Ending, but it references the events of Majora's Mask in the Legend of the Fairy in the Tower of the Gods.

homelessjunkeon wrote:They screwed themselves with The Wind Waker, as it's officially after the Adult Ending, but it references the events of Majora's Mask in the Legend of the Fairy in the Tower of the Gods.

That's because they never cared about the timeline. They didn't "screw themselves" (Whatever that means) because the only canon Wind Waker follows is it's own, just like every other game in the series. (Except for Majora's Mask and Phantom Hourglass, obviously)

Shadowman wrote:

homelessjunkeon wrote:They screwed themselves with The Wind Waker, as it's officially after the Adult Ending, but it references the events of Majora's Mask in the Legend of the Fairy in the Tower of the Gods.

That's because they never cared about the timeline. They didn't "screw themselves" (Whatever that means) because the only canon Wind Waker follows is it's own, just like every other game in the series. (Except for Majora's Mask and Phantom Hourglass, obviously)

It was an interview for the TWW launch in which they confirmed the split timeline at the end of OoT. If they didn't care about the timeline at that point, then specifically addressing it in an interview is a wierd way to show it.

Well, from what I just read, there apparently IS a "master timeline" chart.

Though "Legend of the Fairy" is a curious case, because Termina doesn't even exist in the same dimension as Hyrule.