There is no Zelda timeline, stop trying

For years people have been trying to piece together a time line for The Legend of Zelda. With stories this epic there has to be an overarching time line, right? They can’t just be plopping us down in a random world, with a random Link every time. A few months ago YouTube user ocarinahero10 tried to piece together a theory on the time line of Zelda. He used the (evidently) widely accepted “split time line” theory in which there are two Zelda time lines that are created in Ocarina of Time. One of these time lines leads to the Wind Waker games and the other leads to the NES games. It’s actually a pretty well done vid on the subject and you can check it out after the break.

Evidently the video got a bit of traction (despite us not hearing about it for two months) and ocarinahero10 decided to send it into Nintendo to see if he could get a response. They replied with what is pretty clearly a stock response, but that stock response should really put an end to the question of how everything fits together as it read, “there isn’t a true frame or reference or time line possible for the series.” That’s right, it’s just a bunch of random adventures without any truly direct ties (well, except for the direct sequels one assumes). There is no time line.

ocarinahero10 is a little upset about this, but for me it makes sense. The Zelda games aren’t about Hyrule and Link and Zelda and Ganon, but what they stand for. As I’ve discussed before in a previous incarnation, each character and the world in general are just symbols for heroism, knowledge and power. It’s these themes that tie the Zelda games together, not an overarching timeline. Still, a bit of me is kind of sad, and is just hoping that Nintendo is pulling the wool over our eyes for some reason.

[Thanks, Ryan M.]

Original time line video

Nintendo’s response