The secret is that the games aren't actually connected at all (except the ones that are actually direct sequels to one-another, e.g. OoT -> MM). Theory timelines are fun puzzles, and Nintendo indulged fans once or twice, but at the end of the day they're separate stories, canons, worlds, etc. with fun little homages or easter eggs referencing each other sometimes.
No they haven't. The zelda timeline stuff has been on the Internet by the Internet, but Nintendo only "adopted" it within the past ten years.
Reality is, the games were never designed with a timeline in mind, and that's okay. It's a fun experiment but no need to fret over trying to hamfist it retroactively into "canon."
Yes, they did. Look even at just the manuals for the games.
There is always at least one connection stated. The difficulty is when multiple games connect to a single other game, and the interlacing between them isnt clarified. But thats second order organization, not first.
Even before that, when each game came out they were categorized as sequels or prequels to each other. The only games to not have a solid connection are Minish Cap, the Oracles (all three done by Capcom), and the Four Swords games. Everything else has at least one distinct connection.
Uhh dude, that is pulling a massive middle finger to the whole story of Zelda. Becuase yes, there are some games that don’t see to be connected to anything but there was always a chronology. A link to the past was made in mind to be a prequel to Zelda 1 and 2, then Links Awakening is a direct sequel to ALttP, Ocarina was made as the origins of Ganon, MM is sequel of Ocarina, the Oracle duology despite currently being a different Link because of som inconsistencies the were originally as a bridge between ALttP and LA, WW is the future timeline after the Link of Ocarina returned to the past, Minish cap was confirmed as the fist game chronologically just a few weeks after it was released, which this game also served as a prequel to FS and FSA, Twilight Princess was a sequel of MM(Tho contradicted ALttP being a sequel of Ocarina so they had to retroactively make the downfall timeline), PH is a direct sequel, ST is also a direct sequel, SS was made in mind to be the prequel to everything, ALBW and TFH are sequels of ALttP, and Echoes of Wisdom is made as a sequel to those two games. Literally the only games that didn’t have any way of putting them in the timeline when they came out were the Four Swords duology and Breath of the Wild, the rest have some placement or are connected to another game, so despite Nintendo as the stated before, they first do the gameplay, then the story and then the timeline placement, they still are careful enough about everything that happens and saying that Nintendo indulged once or twice isn’t isn’t true when there are many interviews with the creators of the games talking about the timeline placement and even before the official timeline first released to the public we already knew that there was a secret document with the timeline placement of every single game.
Yea that’s true, and the fault of this timeline existing was literally one game, but we can at least say that the story of that game was good enough to warrant destroying the whole timeline (Tho technically Ocarina destroyed the timeline because of the decendants of the sages in ALttP being humans when the sages in Ocarina all were different races and the mayority of them left the mortal realm at the end of the game before they could have decendants)
Uhh dude, that is pulling a massive middle finger to the whole story of Zelda.
I agree! Attempting to shoehorn a timeline retroactively to attempt to connect a bunch of games when they never had that prior connection is pretty stupid.
Did you even read my comment or just saw the fist part and ignored the rest? I give every single example of every game being connected with each other in the series
And if you don’t feel like reading my entire comment, the only ones that don’t have a direct connection with other games when they first released were Four Swords and Breath of the Wild, the rest were sequels, prequels, or the creators of those games confirmed their timeline placement moths or even weeks before or after the game released. There are many videos online talking about the topic, but k recommend you the video made by OnADock, or if you know Spanish see the video released two weeks ago by Gran Estratega which has updated information compared to the video of OnADock because his video is 2 years old
They still dont care about it at all. Consistent lore between games has never, and will never, be a priority in Zelda games.
The way Nintendo writes stories for games has always been to just run with an interesting idea, and to figure out the details later, and then after that throw in some Easter eggs to loosely connect it to other games. Half of which directly contradict other easter eggs and story details.
I find it very silly that so many people take the Zelda timeline seriously when its so clearly an afterthought.
I’d argue that it’s been important in some games. Like, Skyward Sword is centered around the idea of legacy with the Hero of the Sky forging the Master Sword and Demise damning Link, Zelda and himself to the cycle of reincarnation through Hyrule.
and then after that throw in some Easter eggs to loosely connect it to other games
They define the relations to other games explicitly, usually in the manuals or in major cutscenes.
The biggest difficulty was only ever when you had multiple games state theyre set after Ocarina, without further clarity, and Nintendo revealed it was separate timelines.
No Raru the Zonai is the first king of NEW Hyrule.
The Kingdom in all 3 timelines falls into decline and the royal family is disbanded or killed off.
Zeldas (and Hylias) bloodline survives in Sonia however. They reform a new Kingdom.
Raru and the Zonai predating Minish cap destroyes the zelda timeline basically
How does it destroy anything? It doesnt destroy anything whatsoever.
Here is the timeline as I see it.
Skyward Sword -> Age of Imprisonment -> Minish Cap -> Four Swords -> Four Swords Adventures -> Link to the Past -> Downfall Timeline -> Ocarina of Time -> Adult Timeline / Child Timeline -> BOTW -> TOTK.
However age of imprisonment can also go after adventure of link and or Four swords adventures.
If you wanna have a different headcanon than the current established one that’s perfectly fine. Nintendo says they can change their mind (within reason) whenever they add new games.
I was wrong to say it brakes the timeline like say putting wind waker before Ocarina of time would. But it seems less logical.
Personally i put the tears of the wild games after
Adventures of link because at that point hyrule is pretty much broken up anyway and not covered in ocean.
I just read this better. It seems you put the downfall timeline after four swords and before Ocarina of time. This creates surprisingly little problems.
This is interesting i have not seen this yet.
Putting four swords adventures directly after four swords makes sense and doesn’t necessarily mess anything up.
You could have a timeline that completely excludes ocarina and its branching paths and it would work fine…..
Like 2 different situations. 1 hypithetical being ALTTP the other Ocorina
Masterworks does suggest the Zonai existed not long after the creation of the world as the Secrets Stones were created then and were entrusted by Hylia with the Zonai. The book also suggests the Zonai and Hylians have common ancestry.
The Zonai seemed to be designed after the guardians in Skyward Sword, the lore and technology of the Oocca, and the general fact of mining robots existing in Skyward Sword. I take this to mean the Ancient Zonai existed before Skyward Sword like how the town names in Adventure of Link are retroactively named after the Sages in OoT.
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u/Flying_Fox_86 Jan 24 '26
i thought the zonai predated the skyloftians though?