Zelda Timeline

Legend Of Zelda timeline theory is perhaps the object of greatest debate amongst fans of the series. Nintendo's unconventional formula of "Gameplay first, Story Later" has produced some of the greatest games of all time, but it has also resulted in a messy chronology, full of loose ends, contradictions, and general confusion. Luckily, this has only motivated fans to do all they can to sift, sort, and organise the LoZ canon. The results, while certainly not perfect, are still quite impressive.

Overview

Since the days of pong, Videogame storylines have endured an amazing evolution, moving from simple "slay the dragon" conflict, through "save the princess" heroism, and into wonderfully deep epics. Early instalments of LoZ emerged at a very interesting point of this process; a point where the market was devided between casual platformers and plot-focused RPGs.

Zelda found a niche gamplay market somewhere in the middle. This is directly reflected in the storyline of such games as AoL and AlttP; simple and yet inspiring. Over the years, Nintendo has kept to this trend. Developers focus first on gameplay and theme, and build the stoyline in nearer to the completion of the process. Resulting games are well connected to the overall Zelda universe, and consider elements of games past, but do not present immediate or obvious chronological connections.

In the early stages, this worked wonderfully. The first five Zelda releases were easily understood and organised. In 1998, the timeline had room even for the content of the Zelda television show and manga, as well as the mistakes of NoA, which would later be considered non-canonical.

Unfotunately, as time went on, the sheer amount of information being introduced into the Zelda canon made a complete understanding less possible. Games such as The Wind Waker and Fours Swords Adventures seemed to cut the connection between older games, and many fans began to wonder whether the Four Swords Series had a place in the timeline at all.

English fans of the series wanting to learn more of the Timeline began to diccuss the concept on alternate forums (most commonly internet message boards), slowly coming to conclusions on those issues which could be resolved and falling into bitter debate on those which could not. They continue to argue, as they eagerly await the relase of TP and PH.

Timeline principles

Timeline theory is often accused of being a collection of irrelevant fan fiction with no actual truth to it. In truth, a large part of our timeline knowlege is strictly canon, a good deal more consists of simple, well supported inferences based on this canon and the imtentions of Zelda's creators. These prinicples are held to be true by all Timeline theorists:

Canon

A canonical statement is one which is undeniably "true" is the Legend of Zelda universe. To be more specific, when an official Zelda authority (a "canonical source") makes an informed, intended statement, that statement must be considered a fact in the timeline. Furthermore, when such a source makes such a statement, it is assumed to be intended and informed (and, therefore, canonical) unless an excellent argument is made to the contrary.

Those sources ageed upon as Canon as priniple are:

• The Legend of Zelda Original release: Properly translated textual Game content and Manual
• Adventure of Link Original release: Properly Translated textual Game content and Manual
• A Link to the Past Original release: Properly Translated textual Game content and Manual
• Link's Awakening Original release: Properly Translated textual Game content and Manual
• Ocarina of Time Original release: Textual Game content and Manual
• Majora's Mask: Textual Game content and Manual
• Oracle of Ages: Textual Game content and Manual
• Oracle of Seasons: Textual Game content and Manual
• The Wind Waker: Textual Game content and Manual
• Four Swords: Textual Game content
• Four Swords Adventures: Textual "Hyrulian Adventure" content and Manual
• The Minish Cap: Textual Game content and Manual
• Twilight Princess: As-of-yet-uncontradicted Developer announced placement
• Phantom Hourglass: As-of-yet-uncontradicted Developer announced placement

Intent

When trying to understand a creation, one should always consider the creator. Shigeru Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma, and there cohorts at Nintendo provide the best possible perspective on the Timeline because their own intention shape the series. When these intentions can be understood, they provide an excellent (albeit incomplete) blueprint for theorists and are followed with due care.

Genral Knowledge Through the study of Canon and Intent, theorists have come to the following conclusions, which they fail to be almost as "true" as the canon itself.

• LoZ and AoL center around the same Hero.
• Alttp and LA center around the same Hero, and precurse LoZ/AoL.
• OoT and MM center around the same Hero, and precurse AlttP/LA.
• TP stars the newest Hero, and suceeds OOT
• OoS and OoA center around the same hero, and succeed AlttP/LA.
• tWW and PH center around the same hero, and succeed TP.
• TMC, FS, and FSA occur in that order, and are a part of the timeline. They precurce AlttP.
• There is a "Fierce War" precursing OOT.
• There is a "Seal War" precursing AlttP (which may or may not be represented in OoT)
• There is a "Conquest War" precursing LoZ.
• The curse of the "Legendary" Zelda of AoL succeeds AlttP/LA.
• Vatti attacks Hyrule a fourth time, between TMC and FS.

We can combine this information and conceive three timeline "arcs"

• OoT/MM - TP - tWW/PH
• TMC - FS/FSA - Alttp/LA - LoZ/AoL
• OoS/OoA

Beyond that, all timeline theory is an attempy to combine these arcs and acheive an final chronology.