Nintendo Adds More Confusion to the Zelda Timeline

[Canadamus Prime]

I wish they'd make up their bloody minds. At one point they said there was no timeline and now they're saying there is one. Which is it Nintendo? AUGH!
Fuck it! I don't care what Nintendo says, as far as I'm concerned the games are all separate unconnected entities, with the exception of a few titles that are obviously linked.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

I'm not a huge fan of Zelda games taking place before Ocarina of Time. I feel like the Link in that game set the standard that all other Links have been aspiring to since then. I mean, it's pretty heavily implied that that's the case for both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.

 

[Rednog]

The secret is that there really is no timeline and they're just making it up as they go along, and for some reason instead of coming clean they are just digging themselves a bigger and bigger hole that will make them look like asshats when they finally spew out some timeline and gamers who have been dissecting and analyzing for years will call foul when it doesn't really fit the details.

 

[SirCannonFodder]

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

...but they are [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/History_of_the_Pok%C3%A9mon_world#Contemporary_history]. Gen 1 (Red/Blue/Yellow) and 3 (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald) are set at the same time, Gen 2 (Gold/Silver) and 4 (Diamond/Pearl) are both set 3 years after Gen 1&3, and Gen 5 (Black/White) is set a few years after Gen 2&4. All the various spin-off games take place throughout the timeline.

 

[Zeraki]

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

Yeah... I just couldn't help myself.

When it comes to continuity in the Zelda series, I don't even bother trying to understand it anymore. I just treat every game like it's taking place in it's own little standalone universe.

 

[Electric Alpaca]

I'm one of those not fussed - Zelda for me has never really been about an overarching story, more about the little ones that help build each individual game.

I place a lot more weight on the Kafei and Anju sidequest in Majora's Mask than I do on whether Link wasted half his childhood on a boat before or after he grew an alarming amount of body hair.

 

[dstryfe]

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

...there is. Ever played Pokemon Gold? It's set a few years later than the originals. How about Ruby? Ash is described briefly (which got me to assume it was later, but he's never referred to by name, so it might have been someone else, I suppose). I can't speak to either of the two newer generations, though. Also...there is a 'world map' with every area on it.

I never even tried to puzzle out the Zelda timeline. I've never actually been terribly involved in Link's journeys. If it is one timeline...what an awful life Link has lead.

 

[Innegativeion]

...there is. Ever played Pokemon Gold? It's set a few years later than the originals. How about Ruby? Ash is described briefly (which got me to assume it was later, but he's never referred to by name, so it might have been someone else, I suppose). I can't speak to either of the two newer generations, though. Also...there is a 'world map' with every area on it.

I never even tried to puzzle out the Zelda timeline. I've never actually been terrible involved in Link's journeys. If it is one timeline...what an awful life Link has lead.

I've always been a fan of "Link is the avatar" theory of a new hero of time (and consequently new Zelda) reincarnating every so often to combat Ganon coming back over and over again.

It's kind of hinted at in the series that the protagonists are at least not the same Link/Zelda in most games, like when Ganon says "come back to torment your descendents" in OoT.

 

[GeorgW]

The only thing I know about the Zelda timeline is that the second game is the last one chronologically, which always seemed weird to me. Why not make something after that in stead of confining yourself in a set 20-ish years when all those years have long since run out, and they have to make up more timelines?

I guess that in the end they'll make a game where they explain that all the games are different incarnations and they all have to band together to fight. Imagine, a game with 20 Links, Zeldas and Ganons.

 

[Kopikatsu]

Er...isn't Skyward Sword the very first game chronologically? Because the Master Sword gets created during the game.

If it's the first game, then it wouldn't mess up the timeline at all, right?