Nintendo only made the timeline to sell Hyrule Historia. I'm a fan of the theory that each game is - get this - a legend. That each game is a retelling of the same ancient legend which is warped by countless retellings and the culture it is told in. For example, Spirit Tracks had trains kind of out of nowhere. That doesn't make much sense until you realize that the culture has warped the old legend based on there new industrial technology. Let's take this a step further, what if the weird three way split in the timeline isn't a chronological split, but a cultural one? What if the ideologies of those telling the story split, resulting in three different versions? This happens a lot in real life. Early on in Christianity the church was split because people disagreed about what Jesus actually was. Then you have environmental influences, like the Wind Waker version of the legend. The people in that culture likely had to deal with a cataclysmic event, like a major area becoming permanently flooded, so the legend changed to reflect that.
Ha, sorry about the rant post. I should probably wake up before interneting today.
Heck, they even put a disclaimer in Hyrule Hystoria stating that they know their timeline is inconsistent and wrong, but "to enjoy it for what it is". Or something like that. At this point, they may as well just be considered separate legends, except for those that are direct sequels to one another.
Like EOTW said, the "official" timeline was likely just made to drum up Hyrule Hystoria.
It makes sense if you focus on the general story and idea of the timeline, but falls apart when you notice the several inconsistencies. It's the "small" details that kill it.
@EOTW: Ultimately, I have the same opinion. However, there are some areas of the timeline that make sense. For example, I really like the idea that a two-way split is created by Ocarina of Time, that the Adult Timeline doesn't have a true Link anymore, that Skyward Sword is the first, that Majora's Mask link makes an unexpected appearance in TP, etc. A lot of this stuff is not only in-game canon, but is the basis of the game's story. But while individual stories may relate to others, a complete timeline is often way too messy.
However, on Zeltik's timeline theory video , his personal opinion is that BOTW is on the downfall timeline immediately after Ocarina of Time, and I gotta say: since Nintendo's probably going to have to peg BOTW somewhere, I would love it if they decided on this. My main complaint with the timeline is that the idea of Link dying and starting a new timeline seems like a cop-out, because, you know, why have Link die here when he could have died anywhere? But, if they made BOTW a game about resurrecting this fallen hero and sealing up Ganon for good, it would give much more significance to this split of the timeline, and I might feel a bit better about the official timeline.
All in all, though, the timeline is kinda dumb. A retelling of the same story across different cultures fits perfectly with a series that has so many different styles.
Am I misremembering things or did Hyrule Historia come out after Skyward Sword? Because that game establishes the reason why there's a timeline in the first place, if I'm remembering the ending right. Besides that, a chronology exists in the series since the very beginning, when we got direct sequels to previous titles.
Even if the older titles didn't have that strong of a connection between them, it seems Aonuma and his team are trying to knit each new installment tighter to the others. This has been the direction the series has been moving towards since Twilight Princess, it's an attempt to "modernize" the series.
I think there's going to be a much stronger connection and overall story to each Zelda game since skyward sword. Now they have an official time line that they can better fit each game into. Instead of just making a game and sort of just placing it where they think it fits
The timeline exists insofar as Twilight Princess, The Wind Waker, and Majora's Mask are all after Ocarina of Time, which itself is after Skyward Sword. And Link's Awakening is after A Link to the Past, and probably one more I'm forgetting because I could never suffer all the way through the older sections of the collector's edition disc.
But that's not much of a "timeline," really. Just an order of events.
@Tsurii Yeah, pretty much everything falls into place, the NES games being the more dubious entries. Then again, plenty of NES games have been either retconned or forgotten entirely. NES Metroid's lore is all over the place, for example.
Back on topic, my money's on the downfall timeline. Given that it's the 30th anniversary and that BotW is heavily inspired by Zelda 1, it wouldn't surprise me if they chose to tie it heavily to the NES game.
My money is on it being connected to Zelda 2 in some way. Maybe it's an alternate universe where Link dies, his blood is used to revive Ganon and the world goes to hell?
Or maybe not. Could also be an alternate timeline from the Wind Waker final boss, where Ganon gets his wish to conquer Hyrule!
Heck, they even put a disclaimer in Hyrule Hystoria stating that they know their timeline is inconsistent and wrong, but "to enjoy it for what it is".
Can someone find this? I've never read it but I was saying since the start they just made this stuff up at the time and had never thought about it back when making the games.
I just completely ignore the timeline stuff really. Except when there are direct connections between games that are explicitly mentioned like Ocarina->Majora. Wind Waker->Phantom Hourglass.
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