Part 1
I have only a passing familiarity with the Legend of Zelda franchise. I'm not much of a gamer and, growing up, we had a Sega Genesis; so I never really played any of the games. Even so, I would love to see a movie made based on the games. Furthermore, I love the theme song. I have no nostalgic connection to the franchise whatsoever, but that tune still hits all the right geek buttons for me.
Also, I respect Link as a character. He's just as iconic as Mario, but without being as oddly annoying (to me anyway). He's brave, kind-hearted, noble, and friendly; all good things when talking about a heroic character. He's also my go to fighter on those rare occasions when I play Super Smash Bros.
Beyond that, all I know is that the CD-I games are atrocious and that the timeline for the overall saga is about as convoluted as you can get. While a sequel was made to the first game, they never went beyond that. From there, the franchise would make prequels (including Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, two of the most highly regarded games in the franchise) and sequels to said prequels; but to this day, the timeline has yet to go beyond Zelda II.
With so many games having been released over the years, and the fact that the games jump around chronologically, it's no surprise that the fans soon became confused over how everything tied together.
Heck, even renowned web critic and aspiring film maker, James Rolfe, who is best known for creating the foul mouthed "Angry Video Game Nerd", released a video in which he detailed the convoluted nature of the Zelda timeline.
Well, it seems like Zelda fans have gotten what they wanted as an official timeline was released not too long ago. It starts from before even the earliest prequel and shows you where each game fits in. The fan theory that the events of Ocarina of Time created a split time line are proven correct, though it turns out that there are not just two, but three concurrent timelines.
Not only that, but if you look at the order in which the games were released, you'll notice that not only do games jump back and forth in time, but there are sequels that take place in entirely different timelines. It's no wonder fans were confused, how on Earth was anyone supposed to make heads or tails about this when you're doing stuff like that?
In any event, it seems that the games can be strung together, humorously enough, the CD-I games are excluded from canon. Due to the massive amount of material, this will be split into multiple parts to make it an easier pill to swallow. So grab a drink and a snack because in Part 2, we dive into the rich history of Hyrule and chronicle the Legends of Zelda.
Part 2
The timeline starts with the creation of the world itself. The timeline dubs this "The Era of the World's Creation," a simple name, but an effective one nonetheless.
Then comes Skyward Sword, the most recent Zelda game released on the Nintendo Wii. This takes place in what is referred to as "The Era of the Goddess Hylia". Here, the goddess Hylia is reincarnated. The timeline also makes a vague reference to an ancient battle and Hylia subsequently returns to Earth.
From here, we move on to several eras that have no ties to any of the games. There's the Sky era, where nothing of note happens (seriously, the other side is completely blank on this section), the Era of Chaos where the Sacred Realm is sealed, and the Era of Prosperity, where the kingdom of Hyrule is established.
Following this, we come to the Force era, where the events of The Minish Cap take place. The evil god Vaati is born. I assume he gets killed at the end of that game because the 4 Swords game, which is said to come after shows Vaati being resurrected.
We then come to the Era of the Hero of Time. The Hyrule Unification War occurs between 4 Swords and the following game, Ocarina of Time, at which point, the events of the game transpire. It is here where the Dark World is formed and Ganondorf turns into the demon Ganon, the iconic big bad of the Zelda franchise.
Are you keeping up so far? Good, because here is where things get really interesting. As I said before, the events of Ocarina of Time resulted in a fractured timeline. Now, for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to move through, and finish, each timeline before moving on to the next. Even so, you might want to brace yourself, because in part 3, we jump into the first of the three alternate timelines that exist within the Zelda chronology.
Part 3
This timeline begins with what is known as The Sealing War. Judging by the timeline, I'd say that said war results in Hyrule's decline, especially considering that the timeline has that labelled right beneath the event in question.
We then come to the Era of Light and Dark. Here is where the events of A Link to the Past occur. Most notably, this is where Ganon is revived. Following this come the two "Oracle games: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages (in that order no less). Once again, Ganon is revived. After this comes Link's Awakening.
Hyrule then advances into the Gold era, where the Tri-Force using monarchy does...something. They...use the Tri-force I guess. People who actually play the game probably have an idea of what that one means, but I gotta say, this entry perplexes me more than anything else so far.
After that, Hyrule moves into the Era of Decline, where the first Zelda gets put into a mystical slumber (at least, that's what I assume they mean by "the tragedy of Zelda I").
Then come the events of the original NES Legend of Zelda game where Ganon is revived...again. Get used to seeing that sentence because, trust me, it's going to come up a lot over the course of this series. Following that come the events of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, where Ganon is not revived.
See, that wasn't so bad now was it? This timeline is probably the shortest of the three. It only has a handful of games tied to it and there are only a few eras, making it pretty straight forward. We've still got two more lines to go, so you better not get too comfortable yet.
In part 4 we will dive into the second timeline where the Hero of Time is successful.
Part 4
During the events of Ocarina of Time, Link is sent forward seven years (and aged up appropriately) to fight the coming evil. When all is settled, Zelda sends him back those seven years, to live them out as a child since it wasn't fair to deprive him of those years of his life. While it would, theoretically, be feasible to make one cohesive timeline from this, it is also the cause of the second split in the timeline. Where we have the "child era" and the "adult era". The prior takes place after Link is sent back and shows what happened to him after that, while the latter shows what happened seven years in the future after Link disappeared from that timeline.
As the child era begins, the Sacred Realm is still protected. The timeline notes something called "The Dark World & The Heroes Descendants". I know that all the Links are generally considered to be descendants of each other, but beyond that, I'm not really sure what this is supposed to point out.
In any event, it is here where the events of Majora's Mask take place. It is here where Ganondorf is executed. Question, I know that Ganondorf was a thief who turned into a demon (Ganon), but that transformation already happened. Can he revert back and forth at will? Was his spirit thrown back in time and given corporeal form somewhere in the past? Maybe someone more well versed in the Zelda mythos can clear that one up for me. It's possible that it's just a hiccup that comes with trying to connect a bunch of games who's order was already scrambled and put them into something resembling a linear order. I don't know, it could go either way.
We then come to what is known as the Twilight era (no not that Twilight). It is here where the events of the relatively recent Twilight Princess take place, most notably, something called The Shadow Invasion.
Fittingly, the Shadow Invasion brings us to the Shadow era. It is here where the 4 Swords sequel games take place. At least, I think that's what the line means when they say "4 Swords Plus". There's something called the Hyrule Adventure (haven't these all techincally been Hyrule adventures?) and Ganondorf is reincarnated. Not only that but Vaati is resurrected. Two big bads existing simultaneously? I can't imagine that would be a good thing for Hyrule. Then again, it's a pretty solid guess that both of these problems are resolved in the games. Considering that's where this branch ends, it's as good a guess as any. Either that or that timeline has left fans on a pretty serious cliffhanger.
With that said, we'll move on to the third and final line in the Zelda...timeline in the fifth and final part of this little breakdown.
Part 5
As Ocarina of Time ends, Link gets sent back the seven years after Ganondorf is sealed away. This brings us into the section labeled "The Wind Waker & A New World".
It starts with the Era Without a Hero. As Link had been sent back to the past, he wasn't there to stop Ganondorf when he was (not surprisingly) revived. As a result, the gods flood Hyrule in order to stop him.
This brings us to the Era of the Great Sea. Here, the events of The Wind Waker occur. Once again, Ganondorf is revived. The dude just will not go down.
After this comes the Era of the Great Voyage where the events in The Phantom Hourglass occur. Shockingly, Ganondorf is not revived.
A rather large amount of time passes and this brings us to the Era of Hyrule's rebirth. A new continent is discovered. Shortly afterward, the events of Spirit Tracks and the heretofore unmentioned demon king Malladus is revived.
And that brings us to the end. How well does the chronology hold up? No idea. I'm curious to hear what those more well versed in the mythos think though. I guess it fits as well as one could hope, though considering how jumpy they were, its no wonder fans were left perplexed. I was only able to find one major hiccup, that being regarding the Ganondorf/Ganon transformation. Who knows, maybe this line will raise more questions than answers. When it comes to stuff like this, that often turns out to be the case.
If I may be so bold as to end this article, and series as a whole, with a suggestion to Nintendo and the minds behind the franchise, reunify the timeline and move forward. It will save both you and the fans a lot of hassle. Forward progress is a good thing and its far easier than going about it this way.
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