Zelda Timeline



Legend of Zelda Timeline theory is perhaps the object of greatest debate amongst fans of the series. Nintendo's transcendental and thorough method of incorporating the tried-and-true formula of "gameplay first, story later" has arguably produced some of the greatest games of all time, but it has also resulted in an incoherent chronology - full of loose ends, contradictions, and general confusion. Fortunately, this has motivated fans to do all they can to sift, sort, and organize the Legend of Zelda canon. The December 2011 release of Hyrule Historia in Japan revealed a detailed and official chronology of the series. Hyrule Historia is a compilation of official sources with Eiji Aonuma as its chief editor and therefore represents the developer's view of the chronology most accurately.

''Although evidence points strongly in its favor, all information pertaining to the timeline sourced in Hyrule Historia is translated from the Japanese edition. An official English version does not exist at this time; there may be discrepancies in translation between the English and Japanese languages that may change the overall intent, structure, or perception of this information and/or timeline.''

History of the Zelda Timeline
Since the days of Pong, video game storylines have endured an amazing evolution, moving from simple "slay the dragon" conflict, through "save the princess" heroism, and into wonderfully deep epics. Early installments of the Legend of Zelda series emerged at a very interesting point of this process; a point where the market was divided between casual platformers and plot-focused RPGs.

Zelda found a niche market somewhere in the middle. This is reflected in the storyline of such games as The Adventure of Link and A Link to the Past, which are simple and yet inspiring. Over the years, Nintendo has kept to this trend. Developers often focus foremost on gameplay and theme, and generally only decide on a definite storyline close to the completion of development. Resulting games are well-connected to the overall Legend of Zelda universe - and consider elements of games past - but do not often present immediate or obvious chronological connections.

In the early stages, this worked wonderfully. The first five Legend of Zelda releases were easily understood and organized. In 1998, the timeline had room even for the content of the Legend of Zelda television show and manga, as well as the mistakes of NoA, which would later be considered non-canonical.

Unfortunately, as time went on the sheer amount of information being introduced into the Legend of Zelda canon made a complete understanding less possible. Games such as The Wind Waker and Four Swords Adventures seemed to strain the connection between older games, and many fans began to wonder whether the Four Swords series had a place in the timeline at all.

Fans of the series wanting to learn more of the timeline began to discuss the concept on the Internet, slowly reaching conclusions on those issues which could be resolved and falling into bitter debate on those which could not. The debate continued for years, with fans dissecting Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, and Skyward Sword. On December 21, 2011, Nintendo of Japan published an official chronology of the Legend of Zelda series in Hyrule Historia, outlining how the games in the series are related to one another.

Creation of the World
Hyrule was formed many ages ago through the works of the three Golden Goddesses: Din the Goddess of Power, Nayru the Goddess of Wisdom, and Farore the Goddess of Courage. Before spirits and life existed, these three goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule. Din, with her strong flaming arms, cultivated the land, created the red earth, and was thus responsible for the creation of the geography of Hyrule. Nayru poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world, bringing order to a formerly chaotic realm. Farore, with her rich soul, created all life forms that would uphold the law established by Nayru.

The Era of the Goddess Hylia
When the labors of the three great goddesses were completed, they departed the world for the heavens. It was in the Sacred Realm that the three goddesses left behind a symbol of their power, the all-powerful relic known as the Triforce, which when mastered in its entirety would grant the heart's desire of its holder. They trusted their ultimate power, the Triforce in the hands of Her Grace, the Goddess Hylia, to protect it. The Demon King Demise, wanting to make the world his own, gathered an army of monsters and together launched an attack against the people of the surface, murdering them and causing misfortunes in an attempt to get their hands on the power guarded by Hylia.

To prevent the great power from falling into the hands of Demise, Her Grace gathered the surviving humans on a piece of land and sent it to the heavens, beyond the clouds and out of reach from the evil plaguing the land. Now that the humans were safe, the goddess and the five tribes who lived on the surface joined forces and sealed away Demise, restoring peace to the land.

The Era of Chaos
Following the defeat of Demise, the world created by the Golden Goddesses and guarded by the Goddess Hylia, became known as Hyrule, Kingdom of the Gods. Hyrule knew many years of peace, however, the legend of the Triforce and its power was lusted after by many people, and a wave of chaos descended upon the land of Hyrule as people tried to take this power for themselves. To protect the sacred power, Rauru, the Sage of Light, sealed the entrance to the Sacred Realm within the Temple of Time, with the Master Sword and the Spiritual Stones securing the barriers to its entrance. In the Sacred Realm, Rauru build the Temple of Light as the resting place for the Triforce.

The Era of Prosperity
Those with the blood of the Goddess Hylia, reborn as Zelda, established the kingdom of Hyrule. Hyrule Castle was build at the center of the land, watching over the Temple of Time, which was protecting the Sacred Realm and the Triforce. Within the Royal Family of Hyrule, as descendants of the Goddess, many were born with magic-infused blood, endowing them with psychic powers and skill in wizardry. It is also believed that the Hylians' pointed ears allow them to hear the messages of the gods. Those blood-related to the Goddess, became known as the chosen people: Hylians.

The Hero of Men
As ages went by and the Kingdom of Hyrule continued to develop in peace, one day the land was suddenly overwhelmed by evil creatures that descended upon it in swarms, driving the world into shadows and bringing the kingdom to near-ruin. As Hyrule neared the brink of collapse, the tiny Picori appeared from the sky and gave the Hero of Men the Picori Blade and the magical Light Force. Using these two special gifts, the Hero drove the beasts back and restored light to the land of Hyrule.

To ensure the beasts could not bring further destruction to the land, the Hero of Men sealed them all within the Bound Chest. Sealing the chest with the Picori Blade itself, the Hero of Men was able to bring the destructive war to an end and brought peace to the kingdom. The Light Force was embodied within the princess of Hyrule to prevent its misuse, shining forth upon the lands within its ruler.

The Hero of the Four Sword
One year, in celebration of when the Picori last came to Hyrule 100 years ago to the day, the festival was unusually grand. Hyrule Castle was hosting a tournament of sword-fighting skill that calls to mind the heroes of legend. That year’s champion was a mysterious man by the name of Vaati. He won the tournament with an almost magical ease, and all of Hyrule was abuzz with rumors about this shadowy figure. During the ceremony following the sword competition, Vaati shattered the sacred Picori Blade and opened the Bound Chest, which, for an age, had been sealed by the Picori Blade, trapping evil monsters within. Vaati was after the Light Force, that golden light that was once wielded by the hero mentioned in the legends of the Picori. He subdued the castle guards and turned Princess Zelda to stone before making a speedy departure.

King Daltus asked the young Link to seek out the Picori and ask them to reforge the sacred blade. Traveling to the Minish Woods he met Ezlo, who helped him find the Picori, or Minish as they called themselves now. Link met with the elder of Minish Village, who told him that in order to reforge the sacred Picori sword he would require the four Elements, the embodiments of the sacred powers of earth, fire, water, and wind. Once he had gathered the Four Elements, Link brought the Picori Blade —now the White Sword— to the Elemental Sanctuary hidden within the courtyard of Hyrule Castle. There he infused the White Sword with the Elements, fully restoring the sacred Four Sword; a legendary blade with the power to split one warrior into four.

Meanwhile, Vaati had brainwashed King Daltus and shrouded Hyrule Castle in darkness. He had discovered that the sacred Light Force had actually been passed down through Hyrule’s princesses, and so he prepared to extract the Light Force from Princess Zelda. Link rushed to her rescue, and, after vanquishing Vaati, he used the Four Sword’s evil-banishing power to restore Princess Zelda. Vaati had been a Minish, an apprentice of Ezlo, who was also a Minish. Ezlo had made a magical cap with the power to grant wishes, but Vaati had stolen it and used it to become a powerful sorcerer. He had transformed Ezlo into a hat himself, then proceeded to hunt down the Light Force. Now that Vaati had fallen, the wishing cap could be used to restore Hyrule. Princess Zelda put on the cap and wished with all her heart that Vaati’s cruelty might be undone. With her righteous wish and the power of the Light Force that still dwelled within her, many miracles happened as a result and peace returned to the land of Hyrule.

The resurrection of the Wind Mage
Peace returned briefly to the kingdom of Hyrule, as Vaati was presumed dead, but suddenly he re-appeared to terrorize the land once again. No longer remembering his days as a Picori, or his lust for the Light Force, he made himself a home in the Palace of Winds and he named himself the The Great Sorcerer of the Wind, Vaati. He could bend the wind to his will and goes on a rampage, using this awful power to terrorize many villages of Hyrule. In his assaults on the villages, Vaati would kidnap any beautiful girls who caught his fancy.

Many knights from the castle and other brave men set out to subdue the sorcerer and rescue the girls, but each one fell in turn to Vaati's awesome power. Just as the people had begun to lose hope, a lone young boy traveling with little but a sword at his side appeared. When this boy heard what was happening, he said only, "I will defeat this sorcerer." He boldly entered Vaati's palace, mystically trapped the evil sorcerer inside the blade of his sword, and returned the young girls to their villages. The boy then went deep into the forest and disappeared.

The villagers asked the girls how a boy so young could have saved them all and defeated the sorcerer when no one else could. The young girls told a story of how with just a wave of his sword, the boy's body shattered into four pieces, each of which then formed a complete copy of the boy. These four young boys then worked together to defeat the sorcerer. The people did not believe the story, but they called it the Four Sword nonetheless. As rumors of the blade's power to divide a person into four entities spread, the people built a shrine to protect it.

Defeat of the Wind Mage at the hand of the Four Heroes
For generations Zelda and her descendants managed the seal of the Four Sword, but one day the seal weakens. Zelda was in Hyrule Castle when she sensed that something unusual was occurring at the Four Sword Shrine. She asked a boy named Link, whom she trusted above anyone else, to accompany her to investigate the happenings at the shrine. As they approached the shrine to check on the seal, suddenly a dark figure grabbed princess Zelda. The seal on Vaati had weakened over time, and Vaati managed to break out of his prison within the Four Sword.

Having still no memory of his time as a Picori, or the power of the Light Force, Vaati did not recognize the princess and saw only a fair maiden. He decided she was to become his bride to commemorate his return and took off with her to his palace. After being instructed by fairies, Link takes the Four Sword from its pedestal and is split into four, as the legend foretold. The Great Fairies could help Link to get to the Palace of Winds, but not until he proved himself courageous enough. After traveling over three different lands and the dungeons they contained, Link and his three other selves confronted the wind mage in the Palace of Winds, the seat of Vaati's power. After an arduous battle between the sorcerer and the heroes, Link was able to reseal Vaati into the Four Sword's blade.

The Era of the Hero of Time


The Kingdom of Hyrule knew many years of peace, until a conflict between the Gorons and the Zora threw the entire land in a fierce war. During this war, a Hylian woman fled the fires of war and entered the Kokiri Forest, giving her newborn baby, named Link, to the Great Deku Tree to be raised as a forest spirit, a Kokiri. Finally the war ended and the King of Hyrule unified his country.

When the baby had become a young boy, he had many restless nights as nightmares of an evil man from the desert plagued his sleep. One day, The Great Deku Tree sent the Fairy Companion Navi to summon him and after defeating the monster Gohma, the Deku Tree revealed that he had been cursed by the evil Ganondorf and implored Link to take the Spiritual Stone of Forest, the Kokiri Emerald, to Princess Zelda at Hyrule Castle. Link hurried to Hyrule Castle to meet Zelda, who told him that Ganondorf had designs upon the sacred power of the Triforce. She and Link schemed to obtain the Triforce before Ganon could. Link would gather the other Spiritual Stones needed to open the Door of Time, and she would play the Ocarina of Time to open the door.

After retrieving the two remaining Spirtual Stones, Link returned to Hyrule Castle only to meet Zelda fleeing from Ganondorf. During her flight, Zelda threw the Ocarina of Time into the moat for Link to find. After a brief confrontation with Ganondorf, Link retrieved the Ocarina and proceeded to the Temple of Time. With all the keys in hand, he opened the Door of Time and lifted the Master Sword from its pedestal, opening the entrance to the Sacred Realm. As Link was too young to be the Hero of Time, Link's spirit was sealed in the Temple of Light for seven years.

With the gates of the Sacred Realm unguarded, Ganondorf was able to enter and take the Triforce for his own. Although his heart was not in balance, and the prince of thieves was left with only the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf was able to use it to conquer the land of Hyrule, as the Hero of Time slept for seven years. After seizing the Triforce and corrupting the Sacred Realm, he caused that corruption to seep into the temples of the Sages, which became infested with all kinds of monsters, so that the Sages-to-be would not be able to fulfill their duty and aid Link.

As Link awakened after seven years, he found Hyrule in ruins. Led by Rauru's and Sheik's instructions, Link managed to cleanse the temples and help each Sage to gain their power. Upon Rauru's advice, he then returned to the Temple of Time, where he found Sheik waiting. His mysterious ally revealed himself to be none other than Princess Zelda, keeper of the Triforce of Wisdom and the seventh Sage, leader of them all. The reunion was cut short when Ganondorf came and abducted Zelda. With the Sages help, Link fought his way to the top of Ganon's Tower, clearing the path to Ganondorf for the final showdown between the Hero of Time and the King of Evil.

'Defeat of the Hero': The Downfall timeline
The Downfall timeline is a scenario in which Link, the Hero of Time, despite his best efforts, was defeated by Ganondorf in the final battle. This turn of events created the timeline containing A Link to the Past, the Oracle series, Link's Awakening, The Legend of Zelda, and The Adventure of Link.

The Imprisoning War


After the Hero of Time is defeated at the hands of Ganondorf, the king of evil extracted the Triforce of Courage from Link and the Triforce of Wisdom from Zelda. Obtaining the true power of the complete Triforce, he is transformed into the Demon King Ganon. In a desperate last resort, the Seven Sages seal Ganon along with the complete Triforce away in the Sacred Realm. Unable to escape the Sacred Realm, Ganon tainted the Golden Land with his evil and turned it into the Dark World. Hyrule enjoys a brief period of peace, but as rumors spread of the Golden Power lying in the Sacred Realm, many greedy people traveled to the Sacred Realm seeking it, but never to return. Within the Dark World, they were transformed into monsters by the power of the Triforce and became a part of Ganon's army and as Ganon's army grew larger, it poured forth from the Sacred Realm and attacked Hyrule.

The King of Hyrule eventually convened the council of the Seven Sages as well as the Knights of Hyrule that served to protect the Hylian royalty and commanded them to seal the gateway to the Dark World shut in order to stem Ganon's invasion of the kingdom. Both groups would play pivotal roles in the hope of reaching this goal, with the Seven Sages bearing the responsibility of creating the seal itself while the Knights of Hyrule would protect them as they did their part to halt Ganon's invasion of the kingdom.

The Knights of Hyrule took the full brunt of the attack from Ganon's monsters, and while they fought courageously to the end, they were nearly wiped out entirely as they did their duty. Their lives were not lost in vain however, as they bought the necessary time for the Seven Sages to create their seal, trapping Ganon's forces in the Dark World and halting the invasion. Though it had come at a very high cost, with this, the war was ended in a victory for Hyrule. The people of Hyrule rejoiced nonetheless at the restoration of order and peace to their kingdom, thanks to the efforts of the Seven Sages and the Knights of Hyrule.

The Gold Era


Following the defeat of Ganon and the vanishing of the Dark World, Hyrule entered a Golden Era of peace, in which great and wise rulers governed the land with the strength of the united Triforce at their command.

The Tragedy of Princess Zelda


When the last of the kings ruling the country using the Triforce anticipated his death, he hoped to find someone with the innate qualities that were fitting of a worthy possessor of the Triforce for if it were to fall in the wrong hands, evil would befall Hyrule. Unfortunately, he was unable to find any such person during his lifespan and, since his own son did not fit this archetype for being worthy to possess the one true Triforce, the King elected to split the relic into its three component parts. The King maintained peace in Hyrule using the Triforce; however, he passed away, and although the prince should have received the Triforce in full, he only received a part of it. The prince frantically searched in vain everywhere for the remaining piece, but then a wizard came to the Prince and told him that his younger sister, Zelda, knew the location of the mystical object. The prince demanded that Zelda turn the information over to him, but Zelda refused and, in a rage, the wizard put Zelda into an eternal sleep, with him dying in the process. Overcome with grief, the prince sealed his sleeping sister in the North Castle and ordered that all female descendants of the Hylian monarchy were to be named Zelda.

The Evil Creeps in
Many years later, an evil army attacked the peaceful kingdom of Hyrule and stole the Triforce of Power. This army was led by Ganon, the powerful Prince of Darkness who sought to plunge the World into fear and darkness under his rule. Fearing his wicked rule, Zelda, the princess of this kingdom, split up the Triforce of Wisdom into eight fragments and hid them throughout the realm to save the last remaining Triforce from the clutches of the evil Ganon. At the same time, she commanded her most trustworthy nursemaid, Impa, to secretly escape into the land and go find a man with enough courage to destroy the evil Ganon.

Braving forests and mountains, Impa fled for her life from her pursuers. As she reached the very limit of her energy she found herself surrounded by Ganon's evil henchmen, until a young lad appeared who skillfully drove off Ganon's henchmen. Hearing Impa's story, this young traveler, Link, set out to recover the eight pieces of the Triforce of Wisdom, and after doing so fought his way to Ganon's lair in Death Mountain, where he destroyed the King of Evil, recovered the Triforce of Power and saved Princess Zelda.

The Hero's Quest to reunite the Triforce
Although Link had defeated Ganon, the power that the vile heart of Ganon had left behind was causing chaos and disorder in Hyrule. What's more, even after the fall of Ganon, some of his underlings remained, waiting for Ganon's return. The key to Ganon's return was the blood of Link - the valiant lad that overthrew the King of Evil. Ganon would be revived by sacrificing Link and sprinkling his blood on the ashes of Ganon.

Meanwhile, Link remained in the little kingdom of Hyrule and lent his hand to its restoration. But circumstances did not look very good. One day a strange mark, exactly like the crest of the kingdom, appeared on the back of Link's hand as he approached his 16th birthday. Link went to Impa, Princess Zelda's nursemaid, who was shocked and frightened when she saw the birthmark. She took Link to the North Castle and told him of the tragedy of a Princess Zelda of old, and of the Triforce of Courage hidden in the Great Palace in the Valley of Death. Impa entrusted Link with six crystals and a scroll bearing the mark of the Royal Family and Link set out for the six palaces to defeat their Guardian Deities and dispel the barrier around the Great Palace. After defeating the final Guardian, and his own shadow, Link retrieved the Triforce of Courage and awoke Princess Zelda from her sleep.

With the Triforce reunited, the revival of Ganon was prevented and peace finally returned to the Kingdom of Hyrule.

'Victory of the Hero': The Child timeline
The presence of the Hero who went back and forth in time generated a fork in history, dividing Hyrule’s chronology. The Child timeline is the timeline that follows Link after being send back to his original time to warn Zelda, following the Hero of Time's defeat of Ganondorf in the final battle. This turn of events created the timeline containing Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Four Swords Adventures.

'Victory of the Hero': The Adult timeline
The presence of the Hero who went back and forth in time generated a fork in history, dividing Hyrule’s chronology. The Adult timeline is the timeline that follows the events after Link is being sent back to his original time, following the Hero of Time's defeat of Ganondorf in the final battle. Ganondorf is sealed within the Sacred Realm by the Seven Sages but with Link sent back in time, the world is left without a Hero. This turn of events created the timeline containing The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks.