Nintendo finally adds Echoes of Wisdom to the official Legend of Zelda timeline

Ever since The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom came out this past September, fans began wondering where exactly it fits on the franchise’s infamously convoluted timeline. After months of theories and speculation, Nintendo finally gave us a definitive answer out of nowhere.

A few hours ago, Nintendo updated the official Legend of Zelda timeline on its website in order to add Echoes of Wisdom. The most recent installment in the franchise is part of the “Fallen Hero” Timeline, a branched subsection that takes place in a hypothetical scenario in which Ganondorf defeated Link at the end of Ocarina of Time.

To be more specific, Echoes of Wisdom takes place after the 3DS co-op game, Tri Force Heroes, and right before the events of the original The Legend of Zelda for NES. Although, like most other entries in this franchise, there doesn’t seem to be any direct connections between all three games and the plot of each one takes place thousands of years apart from the others.

Does the placement of Echoes of Wisdom in the Zelda timeline make sense?

The Legend of Zelda’s timeline is infamous for its complexity and branched paths, so it’s important to point out whether the brand-new addition of Echoes of Wisdom makes sense or not, and fortunately, it does. For starters, the “Fallen Hero” Timeline has most of the 2D Legend of Zelda titles in it, from the original NES title to Link to the Past and even A Link Between Words. While Echoes of Wisdom does feature 3D graphics, Nintendo and Grezzo still built it as a 2D game with a top-view perspective, so it still fits perfectly.

On the other hand, this placement isn’t much of a surprise because Link’s Awakening is also on the “Fallen Hero” timeline. Satoshi Terada and Eiji Aonuma recently revealed in an interview that Grezzo’s Nintendo Switch remake of Link’s Awakening was a huge influence on the development of Echoes of Wisdom, so many fans theorized that both games belonged to the same part of the timeline. In case you were wondering about the placement of the other two recent mainline entries, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, you should know that Nintendo keeps them out of the main Legend of Zelda timeline, on their own separate timeline.