#timeline merge zeldas

[tv-gh0st]

Zeldas Design part 1- Timelines merge

love them all but drawing them in one speific way all of them would kill but you can still tell there designs so it doesn't really matter

anyways below the cut are all the designs of Zelda for my own links meet au in no speific order

Aurora

Links adventure

Heros fall timeline

19 years old

the second Princess in her era

i don't actually know much about the first two zelda games but i decided shes a bad ass cas i said so

Dawn

The Legends of Zelda

the hero falls timeline

16 years old

the first Zelda of her era

very formal

very intrested in baking

but cant do it alot due to the lack of ingredients in her Hyrule

Tetra

Wind waker

The Phantom Hourglass

adult timeline

15 years old

badass pirate

is imune to motion sickness

Specter

Spirit Tracks

Adult timeline

a litteral ghost but presents 14-16 years old

Direct descent to Tetra

very much pretty princess who will also rock your shit

alot of the zeldas are like that

Fabel(And Worlds to!)

A Link to the past

A link between Worlds

Triforce Heros

Hero falls timeline

Worlds sister

also talller then worlds

wnd dyed her hair

Loves to dress up

also can rock yourshit

theater kid

idk much about her cannonicly

indulges ravio

Delilah

Breath of the Wild

Tears of a kingdom

Contiued timeline(look here! for explanation)

21 years old

but also like thouseds of years old it sure is something

a little crazy but arent we all

tends to give herself breakdowns but jts okay

Melody

Age of Calamity

Discontiued Timeline(Look Here! for explanation)

18 years old

works with Delilah to study the timeline shtuff

also a little crazy but its okay

wants to become a scientist

there is the first round of them! there will be more soon

Master post!(Coming soon) Links design! Zelda designs part 2!(coming soon)

[chai-en-kaadhale]

ik botw is supposedly what merges the timeline but also isnt there only references to twilight princess i mean there is the ww armour but like. does that even count

i mean what would even be the logistics of the timelines merging anyways i mean w/ oot there was an ocarina and shit but botw didnt have anything and if it was just a common story every timeline had, then why did the other two timelines reference twilight princess? like the logic is not logicing unless there was another story about that but i mean we don't know that

ngl it'd make more sense to me if it was in the child timeline and that was it yk? (me when im 6 years late to making a post)

[timelines-merge]

NEW LINKS-MEET AU : TIMELINE MERGE

Hiiiiiiiiiii!!! my name is TV my main blog is @tv-gh0st(i have a few posts on that account about it no theivery) u can call me TV

im currently cultavatint a links meet au if u could t tell, this is also a Zeldas meet au this has yet to become some sort of series or comic but thats kinda my goal id love to share this with the fandom i hope u likey :>

TAG: Timeline merge au

ARCHIVE BELOW

✨Lore/Information✨

Offical Timeline

✨Links Profile✨

Nothing yet...

✨Zeldas Information ✨

Nothing yet...

✨Side story/writing✨

Nothing yet...

✨Doodles✨

Nothing yet...

[jheselbraum]

Nintendo is stupid here's my new better timeline:

Skyward Sword

Legend of Zelda

Adventure of Link

Minish Cap

Four Sourds

and it's sequel Four Swords Adventures

A Link to the Past

Link's Awakening (edited, whoops)

A Link Between Worlds

Ocarina of Time

The Hero is Defeated Timeline: Oracle games and Triforce Heroes that's it.

Child Timeline: Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess, as usual, easy peasy, for once no notes Nintendo

Adult Timeline: Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks once again pretty easy, no notes

11. Breath of the Wild 12. Tears of the Kingdom

[onefey]

ok actually i really like doing these. here's a fairly random one for you,

[cizzle-freezy]

(He’s a damn madman.) [He’s a depressed fool.]

(Is that the one you truly want to be?) /[Abandon him and we could live so free.]

Tempys may be a sweet bean but DANG I love imagining AUs with varying villain arcs that both want the same thing but doing drastically different methods to achieve it <3 their worst nightmares are each other

[sage-nebula]

T*ars of the K*ngdom gifs on my dash and ughhhh that game fucking suuuuucked (in terms of story / characters)

[faelapis]

okay look, calming down - i understand why some people would want zelda to be a protagonist in like a totk-style 3d zelda. that would be great! the reason i predicted 2d for playable zelda is because its a smaller gamble for nintendo - imo, its realistically what we could get. especially at the end of the switch' life cycle AND so soon after totk.

BUT i'm very happy, for a few reasons:

1. it IS mainline zelda. its not called "triforce heroes" or "tingle's rosy rupeeland", its not a peach-style spinoff or side game. its a real zelda game. its called THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: ECHOES OF WISDOM. that alone, giving the mainline zelda brand prestige to this, IS a risk. and its one i super appreciate nintendo taking!!!

2. i disagree that just because it has the links awakening toy-style aesthetic, that automatically makes it a "lesser" or unserious game. links awakening IS a good game! its some peoples favorite! it added interesting lore to the zelda series, its a canon part of the timeline, its mechanically fun, and it has the fun psychological element of analyzing it in terms of links feelings about the dream. like how even the boss monsters are fearful of "dying", begging link not to destroy the island. which of course isn't "real" since its a dream, but its interesting that link would THINK that. also, marin 💔

3. like i said in the prediction post, this could be understood as a testfire for the concept. IF its as successful as any other 2d zelda game (and thats a big if! i already see people calling it more niche or for babies. i hope that doesnt catch on too much and depress hype 😞), maybe nintendo WILL see it as less of a gamble to make zelda the protagonist in a full-on, "serious" 3d title. nintendo is, after all, a business. trying it out with a smaller game makes total sense.

also... it looks like a good game? when a link between worlds was released, everyone thought the wall merging ability was brilliant and a great way to turn 2d zelda into a more unique experience.

this, to me, looks to have similar potential!! the fact that zelda can essentially order enemies to fight for her and use her environment to think of intelligent solutions to any problem is very in-character! it's fitting both for a princess and for the bearer of the triforce of wisdom.

also, its not just building/environment traversal! she does fight!

idk y'all, this looks like a great time to me! i don't know why people would presume its any "lesser" than any other 2d zelda... when we've literally seen another 2d zelda with this exact artstyle. and its an original game!! its not a remake!! :D

[linderosse]

Guys.

Super long post; read at your own peril (tl;dr at the end).

But I just had a brilliant possible idea about where Echo (the new Zelda from Echoes of Wisdom) fits in the Wisdomverse, so I’m documenting it in case I decide to use it.

See, merging Echo into Fable would be cool. They seem very similar already (relevant post), and it’s a good option.

Yet there are a few small problems with this. I can get around them, but they’re still something to consider.

Fable’s already in four separate games (Most Zeldas get one game or less). Adding EoW makes a fifth.

Fable is already quite powerful amongst the Zeldas. Adding EoW makes her a bit OP. I’ll have to balance that carefully.

Fable has a planned story arc in the Wisdomverse. This might conflict with EoW (for example, this is why LU decided against adding TotK to Wild)

So while I still think it could be cool to merge Fable and Echo, I’m also looking for other possibilities. I don’t want to introduce a new Zelda between Fable and Dawn unless I have to.

And then I realized:

There is already a canon Zelda between Fable and Dawn.

I’ve literally already introduced her.

I have plans for her that could totally work with what we see in Echoes of Wisdom.

She’s vastly underpowered and could use the abilities from EoW very well

I could totally see myself writing her personality into EoW Zelda— it’s a different take than how I’ve depicted Echo before, but it would work equally well imo

And she’s also the Zelda with the least canon information; the one we know the least about overall— especially since we never meet her in her own time.

Guys, if Fable doesn’t work out, I think it might be awesome to merge Echo with Aurora— Hyrule’s second Zelda.

Imagine this:

Aurora woke up centuries in the future, after the Great Decline. She’s trapped in a vastly different world with Dawn and Hyrule as her only solace. She loves them, but she’s not from here; and she can’t shake the dread that she’s left everything behind: her friends, her realm, her brother, who she still cares about despite everything he did to her— and also, of course, her Link, who she loves, and went on an entire adventure to save.

When she was Echo, she was a hero. But as Aurora, she’s an echo of the past; a mournful ghost of a bygone age

Tl;dr: What if Echoes of Wisdom is the era Aurora came from— and where she desperately longs to return?

Masterpost

(More thoughts on the timeline under the cut.)

So— Echoes of Wisdom seems (so far) to take place around the time of Legend’s era, with enough ambiguity that it could be either before or after Legend’s era of ALttP/Oracles/ALBW/TH.

Currently leaning towards “EoW before Legend” considering the similarities to OoT, but I could very well go with “EoW after Legend,” which would be necessary for the Aurora merge. The Oracle games, after all, have a lot of similarities with OoT in terms of races and characters present (Zoras, the Deku Tree, Zelda’s design, etc), and they come after ALttP, which doesn’t have quite as many. Same thing with FSA, which is canonically after Twilight Princess but obviously resembles Four Swords more, and both Wisdomverse and LU have shifted the timeline to match. So there is precedent for similarities to skip a generation or two, even in canon.

I also doubt EoW is going to include a Prince of Hyrule (the one character we know of from Aurora’s backstory). This is fine, because I’m confident I can come up with a reason the Prince was away during the events of EoW. Perhaps during the events of EoW, the Prince left on a journey of his own and first encountered the Wizard that leads to Aurora’s downfall.

Anyways, these are just tentative plans. We’ll see what happens when the game comes out!

[lace4forest]

The Guardian of the Triforce

I was thinking about this the other day, the last person we know for a FACT had the Entire Triforce on them in the timeline was the Hero of Hyrule.

And because of the Timeline merge, there SHOULD be two Hero's Spirits, SO- The Child Timeline Hero's Spirit went to the Hero of the Wild, where the Downfall Hero's Spirit becomes the Guardian of the Triforce.

If you need it for ANY reason, you have to Dual The Hero of Hyrule, One on One, Just like the Dark Link fight in Zelda 2, but 3d and a MILLION Times harder.

Dark Souls Lvl Boss-

Its fitting that Zelda 1 Link is the Guardian of the Triforce...

Version without Text below

[occasionallyprosie]

Thinking about the Hero's Spirit

Okay, so, when Time left the Adult Timeline... he took the hero's spirit with him. There was no hero's spirit to reincarnate when Ganondorf re-emerged and (as of the goddesses flooding the world) no other spirit born that could become the bearer of the Triforce of Courage.

Until Wind. Wind, whose spirit is its own spirit, came and becomes the embodiment of courage unlike any other hero. He forges his own spirit into one unbreakable, restores the Triforce, and defeats Ganondorf at the age of twelve.

But his hero's spirit is stubborn in a way everyone else's is not. He doesn't need the goddess to bless him with reincarnation, he wasn't even born with the Triforce of Courage (due to the fragmentation) he restored it and out of sheer will became the one to bear it and he knows it. So out of sheer will and stubbornness, he reincarnates.

Enter Spirit. Spirit, who is a hero in every right, but he doesn't follow the beaten path because Wind's hero spirit doesn't do that. He chooses to be an engineer instead of a hero or a knight.

But then the timelines merge, and suddenly, there's two hero's spirits? What? Well, obviously First's goes to Warriors, but where does Wind's go?

Linkle. Linkle, because their spirit doesn't follow the beaten path, it makes its own path, it sails through the waves rather than with it, it forces the winds to yield to its call and its power, the limits of death does not bind it, the expectations of ghosts of the past does not force its hand.

First's, Sky's, and every other hero's, their spirit is one of tenacity, one of pain and suffering, one that can take every hit and still stand and fight. They share a spirit of determination, one of courage, one that is unbreakable because it will stand in the way and be the immovable object that will always be there to hold back the darkness.

But Wind's spirit? Wind's, Spirit's, Linkle's, their spirit is also one of determination, but theirs is one born of choice, theirs is a spirit of free will, of stubbornness and a need to stand their ground. They were not forged by pain like the others, but by love (for Aryll, for Phantom/ST!Zelda). They take every hit, but they don’t stand because they can and they must, they don’t get back up because they have this undying need to endure and to persevere, they get back up because of their loved ones and the people they protect. They are the unstoppable force that drives darkness back.

Don’t get me wrong, the original Hero's Spirit is still stubborn, those heroes are still an unstoppable force, they are still seeking to protect the people they love, but if you have a hero hated by all, a hero who has nobody they should logically be trying to protect? They would still fight because that's what's right, that's what their heart is like, the whole world could hate them and they'd still protect it because 'the people in that world deserve to be saved'. The Adult Timeline's spirit is much of the same, they are similar in spirit, but there are differences.

The original spirit is a forest, one that will never truly be destroyed because something will always survive and that something will regrow and restore the forest that once stood.

The second spirit is a river, carving its path through mountains and valleys, overcoming insurmountable odds and creating great canyons. Nothing can stop them for good.

[tv-gh0st]

Rant about clothes

im back again with my silly timeline merge guys

am i designing zeldas yes very very slowly

that being said i red did Wilds design twice because the guy needed it and i am very glad witht he end result but i am going to over explain it because i simply can

Notes

"Doesnt work" his scared ear doesnt work

"from champions leather" all the darker leather armor and belts are from champions leather

"Tunic of the Wild" its the tunic of thr wild hes wearing

"Purah made it" purah made the prosthetic

"Bunny ears" there floppy like bunny ears!

"both sheika design" botht thr sleve on his amputated arm and under shirt are of sheika origin

"Still has sages" he still has the sages(thr braclet/rings) is nit there because i forgot to draw it

"Heart and stamina contanire" i thought it be cool if he actully had necklesses of them rant is underneath if you want to learn about my specific choices

reasons as to why Wild is now wearing green So first off youll notice he is infact not wearing the champions tunic when everyone else is wearing there main tunics

thats because age is wearing ig and I specifically do not want Wild wearing the champions tunic for not just that reason but hes not a knight anymore atlest in this au there is ni more princess or queen and no more Hyrulien army there sre no more champions which is also why i wsnt Age and Wild to be very distictly diffrent because there worlds and lifes are so different

now originally I still had Wild in blue

For one no part of it was my design yes all of them are in there own tunics from game or whatever but there slightly personalized and designed to my liking in this design the only thing that is mine is the design of the hood that is an exact copy of the zoras tunic and thr royal gaurds pants which i hated so much

so just do your own design of the zoras armor

but why the zoras armor

it was a random choice really maybe cas it was blue or maybe cas it was made by mipha but thats not like a ship im going for and ive already established i want age and wild to be as diffrent as possible so why did i do it

i have no fucking idea

but i do know another reason i hate it is a similar problem the designers had in making link originally its noted in the creating a champion book that they needed to keep him regatnixable as link, and zoras armor if your in the fandom sure but if your not then thats not link to you.

so its a big no go

the next design isnt even worth showing you

But i can talk about it

its when i finally used the tunic of the wild. Now why did i choose the tunic of the wild, its although not thr most popular armor still his green tunic, diffrent from age and very very very easy to play around with and differentiate from the other links. But also the meaning that the tunic has not only is it described as a tunic that diffrent adventurers wore it also proves the hard work he did that he deffited sll the fucking shrines he collected wll the koroks wnd just helps add to that wild i fucking did it sll nature hes supposed to have

But okay wtf was this 2nd design

i just added a bunch of diffrent aspects of different outfit peices ontop of the champions. Tunic, and i fucking hated it. I had the logic of oo i cant draw him in every single outfit so ill just put them all into one snd it was ugly also again no originality to it

so i settled on the one i showed you at the top

i still added refrences to the champions leather but i just though it looked better this way more simple

i did do a design of him in the champions lesther tho

Now im able to get away with it looking diffrent from age cas its cannon that zelda had to remake the tunic so it can be new and diffrent

I made ages simpler and more like the game cas i felt it fit better no spefic reason really

i also did not relize i used the same undershirt as in the champions leather cas i based it off of the orginal one

So yeah that is my silly reasoning as to why i redesigned wild 3 times and why he is now in green

[twin-pisces-art-bin]

Light [FSA Link] for my Zelda AU stuff

(info bellow cut)

Light is part of a Zelda AU that is kinda tied together with my other Zelda AU stuff. The AU involves multiple Links, Zeldas and others from across the timelines in a more modern day setting, reincarnated but with their past life's memories. Light is based on the FSA Manga. The chaos caused by the 4 Links big personalities in the FSA manga is probably what drew me in most when I was younger, I always felt kinda sad they had to become one again even though it is objectively for the best... so I made an AU where it's terrible for them-! ...well it's not really terrible, but it's rocky at the start anyway~ ÒwÓ Originally Green was meant to be the main personality of the AU, with the 4s minds separating and struggling to deal with each other sharing a body but I also had an idea floating around for a 5th link made up of whatever personality traits were left over after the split. Traits deemed unfit for a hero to have (mostly apathy or fear). I eventually decided to just merged it with the AU. Due to Lights more negative traits, the AU shifted to the 5 becoming a sort of system dealing with each others struggles day to day and helping each other with their respective strengths and weaknesses. e.g. Green covering for Light/Vio being unsocial or Red boosting everyones morale

AU is very much underdeveloped, especially compared to my Minish Cap AU but I love FSA so I might make art for it here and there. This was mostly to get it out of my head www

I will tag stuff I post for this AU as FSAFL [Four Swords Adventures: Fractured Light]

[timelines-merge]

OFFICAL TIMELINE

✨BEFORE THE SPLIT✨

Sky ward sword

Loft & Feathers

Minish cap

Mini & Dot

Ocarina of Time

Ocarina & Sheik

✨HEROS FALL TIMELINE✨

Four Swords Adventure

Forge & Wildflower

Oracals of Ages/Seasons & Links Awakening

Oracals & Dove

A Link to the past, A link between worlds, & Triforce Heros

Worlds & Fabel

Legand of Zelda 1&2

Travelar, Dawn, & Poppie

✨CHILD TIMELINE✨

Majoras Mask

Mask, Lullaby

Twilight princess

✨Childs timeline(Diversiob)✨

Hyrule warriors(All timelines diverge to one)

Captain & Athena

Hyrule age of Calamity

Champion & Melody

Botw & ToTK

Archer & Delilah

✨ADULTS TINELINE✨

Wind waker & Phantom Hourglass

Sailor & Tetra

Spirit tracks

Conductor & Specter

[crowroboros]

Tears of the Kingdom, Master Works, and the Zelda Timeline

Okay! So the Tears of the Kingdom Master Works has dropped and some translations have popped up online, including the Hyrule Chronology section of the book.

Why am I making this post? Simply put, I just want to get my thoughts on how the lore presented here and other materials such as interviews have changed my perspective on how Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom fit into the greater Zelda timeline.

Before TotK's release, I was in the camp that Breath of the Wild was in one of two places; At the end of the Child Timeline long after Four Swords Adventures in the same Hyrule. Or in a convergent timeline. I leaned more towards the Child Timeline placement however, as there being no mention of an inciting event that would merge all three timelines didn't sit right with me. Furthermore, I didn't think that the old world—the Hyrule that was established after the Interloper War—would survive such an event, and everything we had up till that point suggested that this was the same Hyrule as the past games.

With Tears of the Kingdom's release, I no longer believe that to be the case.

This stance has only been backed up as more and more lore details have been released. Everything points to the Hyrule we see in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom to be a separate kingdom than the one present in the old games. So what makes me think this?

Well to start, let's cover Hyrule's history as seen in the old games and compare it to the history that Tears of the Kingdom presents.

The Repopulation of the Surface and the Birth of Hyrule:

After the events of Skyward Sword, humans returned to the surface after millennia and began settling alongside the Goron, Parella, Kikwi, and Mogmas. These different groups end up developing and creating their own civilizations with the Triforce in the hands of the Hylians. Now, despite the defeat of Demise and the Era of the Sky having mostly faded into myth and legend, word of a powerful artifact still floated around the surface. These rumors fed into the greed present in some people, wishing for power to do with what they wish. Of course, the artifact in question was the Triforce. A group of sorcerers known as the Dark Interlopers began to organize and raged war against the Hylians in order to obtain the Triforce.

This is what is known as the Interloper War, and which led to the birth of the Kingdom of Hyrule.

To protect the Triforce, the Three Golden Goddesses sent in the Spirits of Light—Faron, Eldin, Lanayru, and Ordona—to use the Mirror of Twilight to banish the Interlopers into the Twilight Realm. After the Banishment of the Twili, the Hylian ancient Sage of Light Rauru hides the Triforce within the Temple of Light within the Sacred Realm, which could only be accessed from the Sealed Grounds within the Light World (Hyrule). Rauru then constructs the Temple of Time over the ruins of the Sealed Grounds and uses the Master Sword, the Pedestal of Time, and the Door of Time as a gateway and the Three Spiritual Stones serving as keys to opening that gateway.

To protect the Sacred Realm, the Master Sword, and the Temple of Time, the descendants of Skyward Sword Zelda—the Goddess Hylia reborn—then establish the Kingdom of Hyrule and entrust the Three Spiritual Stones to the Zora, Gorons, and Kokiri as a showing of trust between the groups.

This is the birth of Hyrule as we see it in every Zelda game prior to BotW/TotK. With the Kingdom being established long after the events of Skyward Sword, and before the events of The Minish Cap. So how does this compare to what Tears of the Kingdom and it's book Master Works presents?

The Zonai, The Imprisoning War, and the birth of Hyrule:

To start, we actually have to go back to the Creation of the World. The Creation Myth of the World presented here is pretty much identical to the one seen in Ocarina of Time and other Zelda games with one key addition: The Golden Goddesses also created the Secret Stones and put them in the care of the Goddess Hylia.

While the Triforce isn't mentioned here, I have no doubt that it exists as well in the same state as it did in the past games: Triforce imagery is seen all throughout Hyrule in both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. So while it isn't directly mentioned, I don't doubt that it exists as well.

Long after the Secret Stones and the Triforce were created and the Golden Goddesses left the world to the Heavens, Hylia entrusted the Secret Stones to the Zonai people to protect and use them wisely. The Zonai then populate the surface and the depths, beginning their own civilization and mining operations for Zonaite to power their machinery. Eventually the Zonai abandon the surface and ascend to the sky, however their mining operations in the depths continue. During this period many different tribes spring up and form communities on the surface; The Rito, Gorons, Zora, Gerudo, and Hylians.

Facing the danger of a collapse, the Zonai abandon the depths and begin mingling with the surface people. They help out where they can using their knowledge and powers, however their population rapidly declines. Eventually, Rauru of the Zonai people and a Hylian Priestess Sonia meet and fall in love. The pair get married and begin the Pilgrimage of Light, purging the surface demons and placing Shrines of Light over the demon's point of destruction to prevent its reappearance.

The two, having gained a lot of respect and trust for their efforts to protect the surface-dwellers from dark forces, ascend as King and Queen of the Hylian people in a new Kingdom known as Hyrule.

However, not everyone on the surface is happy about the cleansing of the demons: Ganondorf, King of the Gerudo, sees the change as the weakening of the surface-dwellers. He believed that only the strong had the right to exist, and that by exterminating the demons and dark spirits that terrorized the people of the surface that it would weaken the world and those within it. Thus he began a plot against Hyrule and the Zonai, which we see in Tears of the Kingdom as The Imprisoning War: Sonia is killed by Ganondorf—who takes her Secret Stone and becomes Demon King Ganondorf. The Gerudo split into two groups, those who are against Ganondorf and those who are with him. The Rito, Zora, Goron, and anti-Ganon Gerudo meet up with Rauru and the Hylians to stop the world from falling back into the war-filled, chaotic land it was before the Pilgrimage of Light. One member of each tribe becomes a Sage entrusted with a Secret Stone to help fight against Ganondorf. Rauru sacrifices his life to seal Ganondorf in the Temple of Light deep in the depths underneath the surface, and Zelda transforms into the Light Dragon to repair the decayed Master Sword that was sent back in time.

How does this connect?

So we have two very different origin stories for Hyrule that have some strong parallels: A Sage of Light named Rauru is alive to see the birth of the Kingdom and a war against dark forces; the war centers around mystical, powerful artifacts created by the Golden Goddesses; The Temple of Light plays a major role in the war; and stone-like artifacts are entrusted to different tribes across the land as a sign of trust and community.

What do I make of this? If one thing is clear, it is that these two origin stories parallel each other. One of the meta themes of the Zelda series at large is the idea of the cyclical nature of the world: The Curse of Demise, the rebirth of the Spirit of the Hero, the way Hyrule is locked in a cycle of prosperity and decline, etc.

It is my belief that the Hyrule we see in Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild are yet another example of this. It is a kingdom that mirrors the Hyrule from past games with a similar, yet notably different, history.

Under no circumstances can one claim that these are the same event. Even if you ignore all the differences between the origins themselves, the aftermath still shows that these two stories surround two different Hyrules: In TotK's Hyrule, after the Imprisoning War the Gerudo outright banned any male Gerudo from being king and established the Chieftain position to take over rule. This cannot happen if these two Hyrules are the same as in both Ocarina of Time and Four Swords Adventures, Ganondorf is the King of the Gerudo before becoming Ganon. Hyrule Castle was also built over the Temple of Light to hide away Ganondorf's sealed body and Rauru which survives over 10,000 years till the events of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Whereas in the other Hyrule, there are several different Castles that are destroyed and built elsewhere. These cannot be the same origin story and these kingdoms cannot be the same Hyrule. But when what about the clear references to games such as Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, A Link to the Past, and others? How can they be referenced as real events while also being in a different Hyrule?

Well that is when we turn to an interview with series director Eiji Aonuma and the director of Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom Hidemaro Fujibayashi. When asked about how this version of the Hyrule origin story connects to the version seen in the past games, Fujibayashi states that the lore and story of the series is meant to fit together and not to collapse on itself. He says that perhaps there was a Hyrule before the kingdom we see in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, that maybe it was destroyed and forgotten to time.

So is that it? Case closed? Maybe! But I'm hesitant to say so, what could've caused such an event? Why was it forgotten to time yet events that came before it wasn't? Well, it is this and Master Works that push me to two different ideas for how BotW/TotK fit into the overall Zelda timeline: A timeline convergence, and a new timeline split. Each with their own pros and cons and evidence.

The Timeline Convergence Theory

I think the Timeline convergence theory is the easiest one to articulate so lets start there.

It really is just as it sounds; Sometime long after Adventure of Link, Four Swords Adventures, and Spirit Tracks the three timelines converge into one, collapsing the civilizations of the Old Worlds and bringing things to a similar state seen back during the Era of the Sky. From there, everything we get in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom occurs. Legends and myths of the world long past still persists, but no one is able to prove that these events actually occurred. I have made a graphic to show what the timeline would look like in this scenario.

(You may have noticed that I put Echoes of Wisdom—a game that has not released—on the timeline after Four Swords Adventures. I'll make a comment thread on this post explaining why I think that the game might take place there. That too is just a theory.)

What does this theory have going for it? Well it seemingly explains any contradictory evidence: A Link to the Past, Twilight Princess, and Wind Waker are all heavily referenced despite all three of those games taking place in separate timelines? Not a problem if all of those merged back into one! An event such as that wouldn't be smooth sailing for the people alive during it either, Hyrule is in such a different state in all three branches of the timeline that if they were to converge again it would be akin to a universal reset. It also follows the series trend of death and rebirth and story parallels: The convergence—which I have called "The Great Consolidation"—would be a parallel to the three Golden Goddesses creating the world. The event would have killed off the Old Worlds, yes, but it allows for something new to spring up in its place—which the series again is no stranger to with the Adult Timeline.

Things like the Rito and Zora coexisting, the Tunics of past heroes found in the depths, locations referencing characters across the series; It can all be explained if it all simply happened.

But my biggest issue with that theory was this; Why would the timelines converge? What event could cause this and why is there not even a hint of such a thing occurring? It just doesn't make sense to me that three timelines with hundreds of years worth of history would all be remembered and passed down through legend, yet the incident that brought them together with such force and chaos would be completely forgotten.

That just doesn't sit right with me, and I have no answers to any of those questions even though it is what I had settled on for the past year or so.

Which leads me to the next theory.

The Era of the Goddess Hylia Timeline Split Theory

This theory proposes that the events of Skyward Sword—much like that of Ocarina of Time—create a timeline split. This one however as a result of Link's use of the Triforce at the end of the game.

Just like with the timeline convergence theory, I made a little graphic of what the Zelda timeline would look like if this theory would end up being true.

Like I said earlier, this theory centers around the idea that a timeline split occurs during the events of Skyward Sword when Link uses the Triforce to kill Demise in the present day. Now to be honest, before recently I did not subscribe to the idea. I just didn't think there was much merit to it. But recently I had thought about it a bit more, and I'm much more open to the idea now.

It isn't killing Demise in the present with the Triforce that is the cause of the split, but rather the aftermath. To recap the end of Skyward Sword for anyone who hasn't played it or may have forgotten; After using the Triforce to eradicate Demise, Zelda awakens from her slumber and reunites with Link, Groose, and Impa. Ghirahim however is pissed that his Master is dead and thus swiftly incapacitates the four before taking Zelda through the Gate of Time and thousands of years into the past during the Era of the Goddess Hylia, shortly after Demise was imprisoned in the Sealed Grounds.

It is here that Ghirahim uses Zelda's soul to bring back Demise, freeing him from his prison and revitalizing him. Groose and Link follow Ghirahim and Link fights Demise. Using the Master Sword, Link kills Demise in the past—freeing Zelda's soul—before returning with Zelda and Groose to the present day.

The theory is pretty self-explanatory now isn't it? It is a similar premise to the Child/Adult Era split in Ocarina of Time; Something happens in the future, and characters do something in the past that would stop that future from occurring—splitting the timeline as a result. In this case, rather than closing the Door of Time and then warning the Royal Family of Ganondorf's plans, it is the killing of the Demon King Demise in the past that splits the timeline. He can't die in the present if he's already dead after all.

This would then lead to a completely different history, one that mirrors the one that we have come to know in love over the past 38 years of this series. Hyrule is established—this time by the Zonai—Ganondorf threatens the Kingdom, and the Princess and Hero group up to stop him time and time again. It allows for both the TotK Hyrule origin story to occur as well as the original Hyrule origin story without having the big massive question of how the timelines could converge and not be remembered.

But what about the Twilight Princess references? Or the Wind Waker references? Or the Tunics we can find? What about the "Whether Skyward Bound, Adrift in Time, or Steeped in the Glowing Embers of Twilight" line from Breath of the Wild? This theory doesn't explain why the past games are referenced time and time again, it only explains the two different Hyrules...right? Well that's where we return to the idea that this series likes to tell stories that parallel each other. With TotK's Master Works again confirming that there were many appearances of Calamity Ganon before the creation of the Divine Beasts, I believe that the past games did also happen in this timeline—or at least, a version of them.

Let's go back to the beginning when I was comparing how similar the two versions of Hyrule's origin story are and how they're distinctly different enough to clearly be two different events despite their broad similarities. Well, the story of The Imprisoning War doesn't just reflect the Interloper War; It also reflects the story of Ocarina of Time.

After a failed attack on Hyrule, King of the Gerudo—Ganondorf—swears fealty to the Royal Family of Hyrule. This is a ruse, however. One that conceals his true plan to betray the Royal Family and steal a mystic artifact that the Royal Family safeguards to gain godlike power and to take the land for himself, shaping it with his own views. Zelda sees through this ruse, and tries warning the King of Hyrule to Ganondorf's plan. The King of Hyrule doesn't take action however, leading to Ganondorf taking the artifact and gaining immense power. Ganondorf with his newfound power wreaks havoc across the land, forcing other groups living in Hyrule—including the Gerudo—to band together and form the Seven Sages and defeat Ganondorf. There is also the Master Sword traveling through time.

Which story did I just explain? The answer is both Tears of the Kingdom's Imprisoning War and Ocarina of Time. Of course, there are some differences; The Sages in OoT are Light, Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit, and Zelda (implied to be time). In TotK the Sages are Light, Time, Wind, Fire, Water, Lightning, and Spirit. Notably there is no Hero present during the Imprisoning War, which is likely a reason why the Sages were getting their asses handed to them until Rauru sacrificed himself. Not much time travel happens beyond Zelda getting sent to this era from the future before the War broke out and the decayed Master Sword being sent to Zelda from the future shortly after the War. And King Rauru is also aware that Ganondorf is not to be trusted, while the King of Hyrule in OoT outright rejects the idea.

But the broad strokes still remain, and it cannot be denied that Ocarina of Time was a major influence on the story of the Imprisoning War.

So if these major events can be paralleled, then why not others? Again, we know that there were many appearances of Calamity Ganon; Perhaps one of those appearances broke the barrier between the Light world and the Twilight Realm? Maybe another caused the Hero to have to traverse the seas beyond Hyrule to try to stop it? Maybe another caused the Royal Family and the Hero to journey to the Sacred Realm? Under this theory there is still a Hero of Twilight, a Hero of Winds, a Hero of Legend, etc. But they aren't the ones we're familiar with. All the references to past characters and events are still canon, though the stories surrounding them might be a little different.

It could explain why the Rito and Zora can coexist; In this timeline, they simply evolved separately rather than the Rito evolving from the Zora. Perhaps they shared a common ancestor in the Parella in this timeline rather than just the Zora evolving from them.

Now there are a few issues with this theory as well.

For starters, I admit the idea of the references to the past games not actually being the past games but rather some similar version of the past games kind of feels like a cop-out and likely wasn't the original idea when making Breath of the Wild (whether that changed later on is to be debated).

Furthermore, the Gate of Time was opened when Link killed Demise in the past, and we know that the Door of Time was constructed over the Sealed Grounds where the Gate of Time used to be. So it could be argued that it follows similar rules to the Door of Time in which if the Door/Gate is opened, then one can freely do what they need in the past and the future that has already been created would then reflect that. But I don't think that alone disproves this theory. If that is the case, then Demise being killed in the past should then completely change everything that happens after. Skyward Sword as it is occurs because Demise isn't dead and is Imprisoned in the Sealed Grounds.

Killing Demise in the past means that Link then wouldn't need to go on the journey to find Zelda in the present because she never would've been captured to begin with.

It's a paradox.

And while the series isn't new to tackling paradoxes (The Song of Storms and the events of BotW/TotK are both examples of Bootstrap paradoxes; With Adult Link learning the Song of Storms from Guru-Guru and then going back in time to teach Guru-Guru the same song; and Zelda in TotK going back in time to help imprison Ganondorf which led to the creation of Calamity Ganon and the events of BotW which then led to Zelda finding Ganondorf and getting sent back in time), I don't think that this aligns with those paradoxes. The two deaths of Demise is much more similar to Link preventing Ganondorf's rise to power at the end of OoT, thus preventing much of OoT from happening. And yes, that happened after Link closed the Door of Time so it can be argued that it wouldn't have caused a timeline split if he did it beforehand. I just think that it makes a bit more sense that a reality following Demise's death in the past would be created separate from the reality we follow throughout most of Skyward Sword.

However there is another issue with this idea: At the end of Skyward Sword, Link puts the Master Sword in her pedestal in the past before returning to the present, where the Master Sword still stands in the very same pedestal—suggesting that it is the same continuity as the one in which Demise was killed in the past.

This one I admittedly have no answer for.

All I can say is that we again see a similar thing in Ocarina of Time. Link takes the Master Sword back to the past and puts her in the Pedestal of Time and then the timeline splits, yet the Master Sword still exists in the Adult era. Maybe the sword's status as The Sword of Time means that she isn't bound by time and is a constant in every timeline? I'm not sure.

The TotK Master Works book is also ambiguous as to how long after the Creation of the Secret Stones by the Golden Goddesses it took for the Zonai to then populate the surface and the depths. It could be a few hundred years, or a few hundred-thousand years. There just isn't enough to say.

Conclusion:

As of right now, these two theories are what I operate around when it comes to the placement of Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom in the Zelda timeline. I've been a massive fan of this series for most of my life, and it really sparked my love for storytelling and lore. So while the contradictions and confusion that Tears of the Kingdom's lore and story has caused in the Zelda community has admittedly been terrifying, I do think that it still has its place and that the Zelda universe is still in one cohesive piece.

I'll definitely be making adjustments to this when Echoes of Wisdom releases and I can really dive deep into that game! There are already parts in the trailers that has me questioning if this game has any lore connections to Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild and I'm excited to learn more about the Zelda universe when that game releases. Maybe it'll completely change my stance once again.

[crazylittlejester]

Sometimes, when I'm sad that the Hyrule Warriors games aren't canon to the Zelda timeline, I think about the fact that there is a bridge named after Proxi in botw

I find it fun to imagine Warriors, Artemis, and Proxi's reaction to that fact that that bridge exists. Like, yeah we can barely find anything that resembles us other than that one ceremonial uniform that the Champion and Scientist claim apparently existed but AT LEAST PROXI GETS THE ATTENTION SHE DESERVES!

WAIT PROXIM BRIDGE????

how the fuck did i never make that connection-

nintendo not making HW canon makes me so saf for so many reasons like: 1. AWESOME story line, 2. EXPLAINS HOW THE TIMELINES COULD MERGE