Nintendo Adds More Confusion to the Zelda Timeline

[Logan Westbrook]

Nintendo Adds More Confusion to the Zelda Timeline

Everything you thought you knew about the Legend of Zelda timeline might be wrong.

Legend of Zelda series overseer Eiji Aonuma has added even more confusion and uncertainty to the discussions [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_302/8789-Ocarina-of-Timelines] about the Legend of Zelda timeline. Hardcore fans of the series will know that the chronological order of the games has been the subject of much debate over the years; debates made even more complicated by conflicting information coming from Nintendo.

Speaking about the series' music with GTTV [http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/gametrailers-tv/138?ch=1], Aonuma said that all the games took place in a single timeline, but that it was secret and he couldn't tell people what it was. This might not seem like such a big deal, but it possibly contradicts previous comments that he made that the series' timeline split after Ocarina of Time, with Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess on one branch, and Wind Waker and its sequels on the other. Exactly where the other games fit on the timeline is the source of plenty of debate, but it seemed that that handful was at least set in stone. Of course, Aonuma could just be re-iterating that the series does have a chronological progression and isn't just a series of isolated stories, but the ambiguity of his statement is sure to reignite some old debates.

I'm starting to think that if there is a timeline for the games, it's the vaguest thing in the world. It's not a case of "Well, Skyward Sword is set two hundred years before Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess comes a hundred years after," but rather, "Skyward Sword is near the beginning, and Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time are kind of in the middle somewhere. Ocarina probably comes first though."

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BSC54I/ref=s9_simh_gw_p63_d1_g63_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=10E44SESS2QHS770YEH0&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846], which definitely (probably) comes before Ocarina of Time, comes out for the Wii on November 20th.

Source: via Shacknews [http://www.shacknews.com/article/70872/aonuma-zelda-series-fits-within-one-timeline]


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[Atheist.]

I wish Zelda wasn't a Nintendo game. I don't like their products. Aside from Zelda anyways. Still, I'm tempted to finally buy a Wii just for this game.

 

[wooty]

I gave up trying to decypher the timeline after Windwaker, simply because if Hyrule is flooded in the past, then how can it be the past if the other games take place in the future ..............argh!!!!


I now just accept the Zelda games as pure challenging fun and to hell with the timeline.

 

[twaddle]

oh what a tangled web we weave. i just going to ignore his last comment about all the games on one timeline, Unless each zelda is in an alternate universe, which would explain everything.

 

[VoidWanderer]

... But that have actually stated that there is no timeline that unites all of the games.

I doubt if there actually is.

It's like saying the Pokemon games are on a set time line.

It doesn't matter. They are games. You will always be the young hero to save the princess.

 

[Broady Brio]

I never bothered with a timeline. For this reason.

Shigeru Miyamoto wasn't expecting the first LoZ to be popular enough to have a sequel. If HE didn't know about any time-line, how do you people fabricate the order of the Zelda games go? And be right?

 

[mjc0961]

Screw the timeline. We don't need one. The games are already fun and plenty interesting without one.

I never bothered with a timeline. For this reason.

Shigeru Miyamoto wasn't expecting the first LoZ to be popular enough to have a sequel. If HE didn't know about any time-line, how do you people fabricate the order of the Zelda games go? And be right?

By being really full of yourself and ignoring official statements, like that jack-off on YouTube who made a video he calls the "official" Nintendo timeline despite the fact that he has no proof, that he's misusing the word official, and that Nintendo confirmed that his timeline is wrong. So yeah, the only thing official about that guy's video was that it's incorrect, and yet he goes around claiming it's the "official" correct timeline anyway. Sadly, YouTube doesn't seem to take as big an issue with the misleading video title as I do, because they never pulled it or forced a title change.

You just have to realize that such people are idiots in denial and ignore them.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

My conclusion is the whole timeline thing is stirred mostly to keep the series in public mind in the years between games, much like releasing OoT again and again.

 

[aba1]

... But that have actually stated that there is no timeline that unites all of the games.

I doubt if there actually is.

It's like saying the Pokemon games are on a set time line.

It doesn't matter. They are games. You will always be the young hero to save the princess.

But you aren't always trying to save the princess and they never said that they were all individual stories I am sure some people have but the guys in charge of it all certainly never said that.

 

[Krakyn]

If anything, they are a huge distance apart, and it's a curse that anyone named Link and Zelda are destined to have shitty lives. Maybe they are reincarnated every millennium so they can do the same shit again.

Otherwise, there is no way that Link would be surprised that there is such a thing as the Master Sword like 10 times. I'm pretty sure he would've remembered something like that.

 

[Harker067]

Honestly the timeline is more like numerous revamps of the same tone and themes over and over again.

 

[aba1]

I never bothered with a timeline. For this reason.

Shigeru Miyamoto wasn't expecting the first LoZ to be popular enough to have a sequel. If HE didn't know about any time-line, how do you people fabricate the order of the Zelda games go? And be right?

well ya but the first games plot is really simple and straight forward after that the second game was a direct sequel and from there it was obvious the series was doing well so a timeline would have been easy to keep up.

 

[Baresark]

I wish Zelda wasn't a Nintendo game. I don't like their products. Aside from Zelda anyways. Still, I'm tempted to finally buy a Wii just for this game.

I'm sure the WiiU will have backwards compatibility to the Wii, so you might as well wait for that. If you haven't bought a Wii yet, I wouldn't buy one now. I can't believe you didn't play the first Wii game (which title I can't think of for some reason, despite it being an awesome game).

OT: I would figure that Windwaker would be absolutely last... you know, after global warming has covered the world with water from melted ice caps and all (not that it would happen that way if the ice caps did melt(The japanese didn't have the benefit of Mr Wizards World)).

 

[aba1]

If anything, they are a huge distance apart, and it's a curse that anyone named Link and Zelda are destined to have shitty lives. Maybe they are reincarnated every millennium so they can do the same shit again.

Otherwise, there is no way that Link would be surprised that there is such a thing as the Master Sword like 10 times. I'm pretty sure he would've remembered something like that.

It takes place over many generations I can't remember which game it was but basically it explains that there is a tradition of naming princess's Zelda within the royal family hence why there is always a Zelda. As for link well you name him in all the games and they never reference his name between games or even in the games they always just mention some kind of hero from the past or the name you decided to give him.

 

[Vault Citizen]

I think that at some point Nintendo should actually reveal the timeline, I'm not entirely convinced that it actually exists.

 

[Zhadramekel]

Just when I finally thought I understood the timeline
Oh well, the game will still be awesome.

 

[Fappy]

I think a far more potent question that has yet to be answered is: What is in fact the chronological order of the Mario series??? When did he become paper? When did he fight that kung-fu master cricket, Jinx? When did everyone learn how to play base ball???

WE NEED ANSWERS NINTENDO!