Nintendo Lays To Rest Zelda Timeline Mystery

Keane Ng

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Nintendo Lays To Rest Zelda Timeline Mystery



For years Zelda fans have tried to formulate a possible timeline for games in the series, and now, finally, Nintendo has laid all the wild speculation to rest with a conclusive statement.

For a long time now fans of The Legend of Zelda have been trying to solve a mystery that might seem petty to outsiders but is of vital importance to people who love the franchise with a passion. What's the timeline for the games in the series? Time has been a recurring theme in the franchise for some time now, and the chronology of the games themselves seemed appropriately convoluted.

This speculation has led to thoroughly reasoned and researched theories like the "alternate theories [http://www.zeldawiki.org/Split_Timeline_Disciplines], and among the people who care about this stuff, it's serious business.

One of those people, a YouTuber by the name of "ocarinahero10," produced an exhaustive video [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2g65jL3HDg] on the split timeline theory, one that was apparently so authoritative that he decided to send it to Nintendo to get their take on it. What he got wasn't what he wanted.

Nintendo didn't give him a brief, "you're stupid go away" response, but a statement [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5FozOuwQjI] with a brief summary of these facts: the beginning of Windwaker states that this game's story is but one of many "legends," and series producer Eiji Aounuma (speaking on behalf of Shigeru Miyamoto and others), declared that the Link in each game is a different Link, unless it's made clear that it's not. Nintendo concluded:

"This means that - unless otherwise specified - each new game represents a new Link and that there isn't a true frame of reference or timeline possible for the series."

So there is no timeline. Years of speculation, thousands of words of text in argument and speculation, the hopes and dreams of Zelda fans, cast into oblivion by a single sentence. This is why you don't get attached to things you can only speculate on, people. I learned that lesson with Duke Nukem Forever.

Ocarinahero10 isn't ready to give up, however. He's peeved that Nintendo didn't seem aware of many of the arguments he made in his submitted video, and he seems to think this rebuff indicates that the company has no love for the series or its fans.

So he's going to fight the power in the way that all angry gamers seem to be doing nowadays: he's made a petition [http://ocarinahero.googlepages.com/petitionforthelegendofzelda]. "If we can get enough names then there's a chance that Nintendo will give the timeline a chance and not abandon Zelda," he wrote. I can understand how heartbreaking it is to see your work go to waste, but I think it's time to let it go.

[Via Destructoid [http://www.destructoid.com/there-is-no-zelda-timeline-stop-trying-139498.phtml]]


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z0nbie

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Jan 20, 2009
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Yeah I've always just taken it as they were different universes ( like Spiderman and Ultimate Spiderman ) ... there's always subtle similarities between them , but they're always "different" Links
 

hopeneverdies

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I think you have the split backwards, child goes to Majora, adult goes to Wind Waker which explains why Ganon was able to come back without a hero to deal with. Yes I do have a timeline, it's not bad.
 

L.B. Jeffries

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Nov 29, 2007
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Speaking as someone whose played almost all of them, I thought the games were pretty blunt about the fact that there is no continuity. Link, Zelda, and Ganon just get reincarnated over and over.

That, and the fact that your main character never talks, which makes you wonder what would even be the point of having them all link up anyways.
 

AboveUp

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Wait, wasn't it already sure within the timeline theories that each new Zelda had a new Link?

Didn't Ocarina of Time already prove this by saying that the 3 Goddesses created a Hero to rise up when needed? Link to the Past even had old legends of EVERYTHING that happened in Ocarina of Time and it took place hundreds of years before the Gerudo Thief became the evil lord of the sealed Magic Land, which there was known as the Dark World.
Heck, Link to the Past had the descendants of the sages you save in Ocarina of Time in it. Do unless Link is hundreds of years old, its logical that he is reborn because the Gods felt he was needed.
I mean, storywise anyway.

Then again, the only Zelda games that really play into the possibility of a storyline are Ocarina of Time and A Link To the Past.

I guess Nintendo made a mistake by hinting to a story they didn't want to enforce later on.
 

Internet Kraken

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Mar 18, 2009
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I thought it was obvious that none of them link up. How the hell would all of the main characters keep coming back to life?
 

Zombie_Fish

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Mar 20, 2009
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Okay, here's the line, and he's just crossed it.

Seriously, I have never cared about the timeline of any videogame series. It's like trying to put the Mario games in chronologial order, it just would be impossible to do.
 

Arkhangelsk

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Feels so empty, to know that you aren't controlling the same Link. Although I always knew that they were different Links, considering the time-line between OoT and Wind Waker. Must feel really shitty for Ganondorf, to be beaten by a bunch of kids in green coats. He should destroy the green coats industry. And kill every boy that knows how to wave a stick around, yelling "Yaah!"
 

la-le-lu-li-lo

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The video was pretty amusing but, I digress, this is silly and we should just enjoy the games. I can't believe people have spent so much energy discussing this matter.

Ah well, can't say I haven't had lengthy discussions concerning video games before.

Good luck with the petition...?
 

Generator

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May 8, 2009
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If the guy's timeline made sense, why didn't Nintendo just adopt it and make him happy? When they come out with a new game, they don't have to make it fit; just let the fanboys take care of that.

Edit: Upon watching, the guy is kind of a pretentious jerk, so I guess he deserves to get shot down by Nintendo.
 

Littaly

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So this is kind of Duke Nukem Forever being released... and turns out to suck?
 

la-le-lu-li-lo

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crazyhaircut94 said:
Feels so empty, to know that you aren't controlling the same Link. Although I always knew that they were different Links, considering the time-line between OoT and Wind Waker. Must feel really shitty for Ganondorf, to be beaten by a bunch of kids in green coats. He should destroy the green coats industry. And kill every boy that knows how to wave a stick around, yelling "Yaah!"
You make a fine point sir, Ganondorf got the shit straw on that one. /:

Back to OT: I remember Wind Waker making a point to say it was a Legend, so I assumed it wasn't the same Link. I thought everyone got that.
 

resultsmayvary

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I always thought it was the same story, just told a different way. Just varying accounts of the same legend...of Zelda.
 

BehattedWanderer

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Jun 24, 2009
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Pompous little twat, isn't he? Assuming that he knows the story better than the creators of the game? Now that's just plain weird... Anyways, Nintendo's response makes much more sense--different legends, different Links. Good job, Nintendo.
 

JC175

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Feb 27, 2009
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I think the only two that could be linked are OoT and Majora's Mask, as they take place in seperate worlds and seem to follow each other.

("Could be linked?" Hehehehe.)