Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

The split timeline theory has proven to be true, the catch is its not two but three timelines branching from OOT: Child, Adult and Failure.



I'll admit I didn't want to see them reveal it, but it more or less confirms what I felt about the series for the most part, barring the third branch which is a interesting curveball that makes how those games fit in a bit more palatable than many fan explanations have. a third branch also gives them the creative freedom they'd like to have

[Raydeus]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

So I haven't played A LOT of Zelda games, however I keep hearing I didn't really miss anything. <_<;

Also, what's that about failure timeline? Was Link supposed to do something in Ocarina of time? And yes, I've only played the failure timeline games, sans Oracle series. Whatever that is. XD

[Nandito]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

Failure timeline?!

Well, excuuuse me, Princess!

[Raydeus]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

/slaponthebackofthehead Nandito

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

So I haven't played A LOT of Zelda games, however I keep hearing I didn't really miss anything. <_<;

Also, what's that about failure timeline? Was Link supposed to do something in Ocarina of time? And yes, I've only played the failure timeline games, sans Oracle series. Whatever that is. XD

I think the failure timeline means Hero of Time Link dies and as a last ditch effort Zelda and the Sages seal Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm since its now fucked up anyway.

OOT never said where they sealed Ganondorf, just that they sealed him. Wherever they sealed hime for the Adult Timeline didn't pan out because he came back within what would have been Adult Link's timeline, but since Zelda returned hime to his childhood no one was there to stop him and Wind Waker happens.

In the Child timeline, Hero of Time Link returns to the start of his adventure armed with knowledge of future events and Ganondorf gets sealed in the Twilight Realm before he can cause any trouble, but snuffs out out a sage before going down, so the seal doesn't hold perfectly. Meanwhile Link went out to the lost woods to search for Navi and despite stumbling into Termina, saving that world and returning the the Lost Woods, without a fairy he's doomed to become a Stalfos, so there's a second untimely end for the Hero of Time. This proves the theory that the Stalfos that aids Link in Twilight Princess is the Hero of Time, though, since he has the same sword and shield.

Really, though, with three timelines, you've veered away from timelines and moved straight into a multiverse.

The triforce doesn't even behave consistently in one timeline to the next.

Such a mischievous thing to leave lying around. The Power of Gold... Triforce.

[Raydeus]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

After reading the plots of all the games I've missed it is clear the Triforce of Profit is strong enough to make Ganondorf impossible to kill while puppet Link and puppeteer Zelda do their best to temporarily seal him away. <_<;


Seriously though, reading the full story is way more depressing that I thought. Link is cursed to reincarnate over and over again just for the sole purpose of fighting while losing all of his memories every single time (well, they need to remove his memories, otherwise he would just kill himself soon after reincarnating yet again.) Not to mention they took even Navi away from him, probably the only being in the entire world who actually cared about him. Then little Zelda goes through the same pointless Sage seal crap every single time while Ganon adds more and more minions to resurrect him or corrupt a new dimension for him as time passes.

I feel pretty bad for Link, he needs to find someone balanced enough so they can actually take the whole Triforce those dumbass Goddessses left behind for no good reason. That way he can be freed from it and both Princess-Manipulation and Pointless-Hatred-Reincarnated-guy can stop reincarnating to torment him again every few months.

Hell, he needs to freaking use the Ocarina of time and destroy that f'ing "Sacred Realm" altogether along with the Triforce even before the events of Skyward sword and give the goddesses the finger.

And no, I'm not mad!!

[Malacite]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

Skyward Sword Spoilers

Speaking of the Tri-Force, am I the only one who got uber excited that for once, we actually get to use the damn thing?! Naturally I also facepalmed when Link just haphazardly left it there to venture into the past, completely unguarded and of course at no point does anyone stop and say "Hey, what if we take the Tri-Force back in time and just use it again to wipe out Demise in that time period as well?"

That is, unless there's some kind of silly limitation on what is allegdly the most powerful item in all creation - matter of fact don't they explicitly state in game that it has infinite power, or something to that effect?

Whatever. Kinda cool to see how the whole mythos originated, though it was somewhat disappointing to find out that Ganon is just one of many never-ending reincarnations of Demise.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

Turns out this could be a hoax, but it is said the art book does have a detailed history of Hyrule and a description in it. That image is now confirmed to be a fan mock-up of what is supposedly in the book. Once someone has actually read and translated the contents, we'll know for sure.

New Zelda art book from Nintendo reconciles timeline? -Destructoid

[Raydeus]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

I guess Link's Legendary Curse wouldn't sell that many copies.


PS > The book looks kinda nice though.

[Armando]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

After reading the plots of all the games I've missed it is clear the Triforce of Profit is strong enough to make Ganondorf impossible to kill while puppet Link and puppeteer Zelda do their best to temporarily seal him away. <_<;

Ganon dies in Zelda 1. There's a reason every game released since then is either a prequel, an alternate timeline, or doesn't feature him at all. Never played Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks but I'm 90% sure he was dealt with for good in the Wind Waker and TP timelines as well. Either way, Ganon is in less than half the games as far as I know: Zelda 1, OoT, Wind Waker, A Link to the Past and TP. The latter three shouldn't come as a surprise since they made it clear in OoT you only managed to seal him away for a while.

Not exactly sure how A Link to the Past fits in after OoT though.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

Here's an uglier, but more detailed flowchart from another fan with the artbook. It more or less confirms what the above graphic does, its just lacking on the presentation side.



An important note for the failure timeline is "The Sealing War" which is the conflict discussed at the start of LTTP. This is where Nintendo can say there's a third timeline assuming that Link fails (Game Over) in OOT because the Sealing War was required to lock Ganondorf away in the Sacred Realm, not the Hero of Time.

[Armando]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

An important note for the failure timeline is "The Sealing War" which is the conflict discussed at the start of LTTP.

That bit doesn't sound accurate at all.

Long ago, in the beautiful kingdom of Hyrule surrounded by mountains and forests...legends told of an omnipotent and omniscient Golden power that resided in a hidden land. Many people aggressively sought to enter the hidden Golden Land...But no one ever returned. One day evil power began to flow from the Golden Land...So the King commanded seven wise men to seal the gate to the Land of the Golden Power. That seal should have remained for all time...
... ...But, when these events were obscured by the mists of time and became legend...A mysterious wizard known as Agahnim came to Hyrule to release the seal. He eliminated the good King of Hyrule...Through evil magic, he began to make descendants of the seven wise men vanish, one after the other. And the time of destiny for Princess Zelda is drawing near.

The war was over the Triforce, not to seal Ganon.

[Raydeus]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

Locking up Ganon in the Sacred Realm was a desperate last resort effort after all.

Although it's interesting to see that where Link actually makes a huge difference (at least for the destiny of Hyrule) is in the battle after that. There may be more conflict in the Game Over timeline, but at least Hyrule is still standing by the end of Link's Adventure when he stops Ganon's resurrection. Compared to the absent Link by the time of A Link to the past that leads to Wind Waker.

TL;DR Adult era = Win the battle lose the war.


PS > But even in the "best timeline" Link's curse is going as strong as ever and Ganon is still unstoppable.
PPS > And Zelda keeps screwing up using the same desperate tactics over and over again.
PPPS > Link seriously honestly needs to travel to the past and destroy both the Sacred Realm and the Triforce.
PPPPS > But in order to do that he will probably need the memories from all his past, future and alternative selves in order to solve the freaking mess Zelda and Hater guy created.

---------- Post added at 10:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 PM ----------

PPPPPS > And an overpowered Link like that... would probably also have the Wisdom and the Power to pull it off... wouldn't he?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

I just think its interesting that no matter how you slice it, the Hero of Time meets an unfortunate end. Either he dies to Ganon or he defeats Ganon, then gets lost in the Lost Woods and becomes a Stalfos.

And given that Majora's Mask was all about him getting side tracked from his mission to find Navi and having to save another world, its just sort of sad he never succeeds in what he set out to do. He rescues his horse, redeems Skull Kid and dies never finding his friend and ends up undead. All smiles for the Hero of Time.

And when he succeeds, the seal isn't strong enough, Ganondorf gets back out and since Zelda fucked up and sent him back in time that Hyrule was flooded and replaced. So matter how OOT ends, some tragedy unfolds.

Only part in this other timeline I disagree with is Link's Awakening coming after the Oracle games. I know he sails off on a raft at the end of them, but the old manuals distinctly say after restoring the Triforce and saving Hyrule was when he got lost at sea on a journey to further hone his skills. Plus Nightmare manifested the forms of enemies from LTTP and LA, nothing from the Oracle game.

But I suppose they could go either way and it not really matter, since all of it was in his past..

---------- Post added at 12:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:46 AM ----------

That bit doesn't sound accurate at all.
The war was over the Triforce, not to seal Ganon.

Prior to this game, Ganondorf was the first to enter the Sacred Realm in a long time.[14] There, he killed his minions in order to be the only one able to claim the Triforce.[15] When he laid his hands upon it, the Sacred Realm changed into the Dark World and he changed into a boar-like demon, Ganon.[16][17] However, he was not able to enjoy his new powers for very long as the Knights of Hyrule and the Sages locked him up in the Dark World.[18]

Ganon - Zelda Wiki

[Raydeus]

Re: Nintendo finally reveals the Zelda Timeline in Hyrule Historia collectors book.

Should we call him "Martyr Link" from now on? "Sacrificial Lamb: Link" works too.



And by the way, did they ever mentioned anything else about Navi? Because I'd really like it if she came back with Link's memories so he could do what I said before. <_<