Greetings, Zelda fans. As for a short introduction, I began playing Zelda at the release of LttP, and am slightly more than obsessed with the series. The time line theories I have seen today are all very interesting. I might have missed it, but I don't believe my belief has appeared in full yet. I stress that this is a belief based on knowledge of games, not all of which I have completed. Perhaps...
Hyrule is based upon several themes: wisdom, power, courage, time, and wind. Time can further be broken into ages, seasons, and secrets. Each of these last three is associated with each of the first three. So we have:
Wisdom -> Ages
Power -> Seasons
Courage-> Secrets
Wind
Note that originally there were supposed to be three oracle games, but it was reduced to two during development, leaving "secrets" where we might have had a slightly more time-inspired word.
Now we can begin.
Hyrule is created by the three golden goddesses. Stress on Hyrule at this moment, because the other realms used within the game series were likely beyond the Goddesses control. Then the goddesses left Hyrule through a single point, which became the entrance to the sacred realm. A short list of their creations:
Fairies, Dekus, Hylians, Piccori, Gorons, Zora, Kokiri, Gerudo, Light Spirits, and lesser creatures (monsters). Notice that the races can exist before they are in games, and that there are seven major races plus the piccori.
It is my believe that the Legend mentioned in Adventure of Link happens here, along with the setup to Minish Cap. The Light Spirits intervene by allowing the creation of a magical sword, the Piccori Blade, which is used in tandem with the Twilight Mirror to end all evil in the world, sealing away the twili and all monsters. The King of Hyrule is given his throne, and the world is at peace.
Enter Vaati, Link A, and Zelda II.
GAME I : The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Vaati is sealed with the foursword. Link becomes a famous hero, and his picture (costume, mostly) is never forgotten. But more importantly, the goddesses return to watch the battle. After the battle, the goddesses split ways, each traveling to a different realm, not exiting through the one point as they did before. This opens three new gates to Termania, Labyrnna, and Holodrum. Remember the reference earlier about the goddesses associating with different parts of time? This is where time becomes important.
Link has saved the day, but it has become obvious that a system was needed to protect the Triforce: it could no longer be past down within the bloodline. Thus the King called for the seven wise men, presumably one of each of the major races, minus piccori. The seven wise men (sages) took the Triforce from within the princess and sealed it within the Sacred Realm. They worked together to craft the Master Sword, the Sword of Evil's Bane, and then sealed the Sacred Realm with the Master Sword. They then built the Temple of Time and sealed the Master Sword behind the Door of Time using the Ocarina of Time. They also created a new royal guard, the Shiekah. Were they thorough enough? Enough to get some attention.
A long time passes, and the Awakening War begins as Ganondorf, the legendary Gerudo, is born.
Some time later, Link B is born, his mother is dieing because of a war, and she leaves him with the Deku Tree. He is raised as a Kokiri. All Kokiri dress like the hero of legends, Link A, as decided by the Deku Tree.
The Awakening War ends. The King of Hyrule makes a shaky aliance with the neutral Kokiri, Goron brothers, and Zora King by giving them the three spiritual stones. The Gerudos stop fighting and the Deku people break alliances with all other races. Upon breaking away from the other people, there sage is replaced by a member of the Shiekah. Link B is about ten, if I remember correctly.
Split A: Zelda's Timeline
GAME IIA: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Link's childhood, he meets Zelda III, he receives the Master Sword, and is ... sealed? Rauro awakens you. Does the game ever say that he's a Hylian? Either way, I think the job of the fairy sage was somehow passed to him. Link eventually awakens the descendants of the original sages and stops Ganondorf, who is transformed by evil into Ganon. Ganon(dorf) is sealed using the power of the sages. Zelda sends Link back in time, so he can have the life that was taken from him. Link B is send to Split B: Link's Timeline. Zelda III remains in a broken world to rebuild it.
The story of the Hero of Time is past down it's not a very long time until Ganon somehow breaks the seal and the gods, not the goddesses, flood the land to prevent Ganon from gaining control. Enter...
GAME IIIA: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Long story short, Ganondorf is sealed by Link C and Zelda IV, but not before the King of Hyrule wished for Hope. They wait just long enough for Link to pawn of his items and stop training long enough to lose all his skills before heading off on a new adventure.
GAME IVA: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Only one thing amazing happens here: Wind meets Time. The Hero of Winds must use the Sands of Time to make the Phantom Sword. While we don't know exactly which dimensional rift they fell through, I like to think that Termania was also flooded and they were sent there, mostly because it balances the traveling in both timelines. It's also important to note that the spirit of courage is also the spirit of time. This separates courage from power and wisdom.
After generations, the waters recede, and Hyrule becomes the great nation it once was.
Going back to the end of the Awakening War...
Split B: Link's Timeline
When Link B is sent back in time, he has all his memories, but none of his friends. He doesn't wait around for Navi - he looks for her (why I will never know). Eventually he takes Epona and the Ocarina and heads out on his own quest, presumably to find Navi. He knows he doesn't fit in here.
GAME IIB: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
When Link B goes off to Termania, there is no one to stop Ganondorf. He eventually finds a way into the Sacred Realm, but the sages act without a hero and try to seal him using the twilight mirror from the days of the twili. The "divine prank" mentioned in Twilight Princess occurs at the exact moment in time when the Gonondorf in timeline A touches the Triforce and gains the Triforce of Power. All of this is leading up to events just over a generation later ...
(in the meantime, some disaster destroys Kakariko village ... perhaps a fire that Link and Shiek never stopped... and the city begins to rebuild itself.)
GAME IIIB: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Zelda V surrenders to Zant. The Triforce that would have been had by the Hero of Time is forfeited to Link D, a cowboy, because Link B has become trapped within Termania. I actually think that the Hero's Shade in Twilight Princess is not from Ocarina, but instead from Minish Cap. So many people taught him skills, and his one regret was never to pass those skills to another. This is also the hero mentioned as the hero of legend, and the reason you wear a green tunic.
The Ooccoo in this game just might be the descendants of the sky people in Minish Cap. How? The same way the Zora got their wings and became Rito in the other timeline. Since the world wasn't flooded, the Zora remained, and this transformation was completed, rather strangely, on the Ooccoo.
With Twilight Princess over, the world is at peace. Link B finally returns from Termania, but hundreds of years have past in Hyrule. Somehow, Link's return from Termania places him in both timelines at once.
Riding Epona, the same horse he went to Termania with, he finds the undisturbed Triforce from the post Twilight Princess World and the undisturbed Triforce from the Wind Waker world, even though he still has the pre-split triforce. He is sucked into one of two realms, which begins...
GAME V: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of (Ages/Seasons)
The other two worlds visited by the other two goddesses get their own games, culminating in the fusion of the timeline and the resurrection of Ganon. This fusion also links the Twilight Realm to the Sacred Realm, creating the "Golden Land." Link B and Zelda VI return to Hyrule. Link, in a completely unfamiliar world, follows the princess to check the seal on the Foursword. With the wind waker and all those statues that "howl with the sound of the wind" suddenly existing in one world, the seal on Vaati has weakened... and then it breaks.
GAME VI: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords
At some point after TP and before right here, the Zora's become evil, or at least go rogue like the Deku did.
Not much to say here, except that I think its still Link B. Having completed this mission and become a hero in his own land (finally), Link B settles down, just south of Hyrule Castle, and has a son about the same time that Zelda VII is born. When Link B dies, a good friend takes care of the baby Link E, and eventually becomes known as the boy's uncle.
But Ganon, from within the Golden Land, controls Aghnim and begins to bridge the gap between that world and Hyrule. Because a mirror existed that would send beings from this world into the Twilight Realm, it makes sense that another mirror would exist to send someone back. This mirror was hidden within Hyrule.
GAME VII: The Legend of Zelda : A Link to the Past
Link E finds the mirror, rescues the descendants, and eventually stops Ganon. Ganon uses his power to curse the magic mirror. Once filled with evil, it becomes the Dark Mirror.
GAME VIII: The Legend of Zelda : Four Swords Adventures
While some people put these games in the opposite order, saying that Ganon got the Trident from this game to use in LttP, I figure they're different tridents. Anyway, Link E saves Zelda VII again, stops Vaati and Ganon, and destroy the cursed mirror, breaking the last connection between Hyrule and the Golden / Twilight / Sacred Realm.
GAME IX: The Legend of Zelda : Link's Awakening
This is currently the last game to mention wind in any amount worthy of recognition. After this, the elements from the beginning have been restored - almost.
GAME END: The Legend of Zelda & Zelda II: Adventure of Link
I don't really know enough about these game to give solid reasons as to why they should be last, except that Zelda II seems to be a sequel of Zelda I and Zelda II solves the Legend from the beginning of the storyline. They might involve Link F and Zelda VIII, or they might continue with the same ones from LttP, I'm not sure. Either way, the story raps up, there is no Ganon, there is no Vaati, Zelda is saved, there is one timeline, and the world is rebuilding.
Thank you, Zelda fans. Let me know if you found this useful. It likely has several errors from things I don't know or missed.
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:P;)
