Summary
Debuting all the way back in 1986,The Legend of Zeldahas been a constant on every single Nintendo console since the NES, whether it’s mainline consoles like the N64 and GameCube, handheld devices like the Game Boy and DS, or hybrids like the Nintendo Switch. There arecurrently 29Legend of Zeldagames, and while some of them don’t entirely fit in the canon, the vast majority do, which makesZelda’s timeline infamously one of the most convoluted in video game history.
For decades, fans had no official confirmation of how, or even if any of theLegend of Zeldagames were actually connected. But in 2011, Nintendo published the Hyrule Historia book, and inside, fans found the veryfirst officialLegend of Zeldatimeline. Spread across the three different storylines,The Legend of Zelda’s canon history is confusing at best, and absolutely nonsensical at worst, and even the most die-hard, dedicated fans sometimes have trouble making sense of it all. And though more recentZeldaentries fit into the timeline a bit better, there’s one big reason why theLegend of Zeldatimeline will forever remain convoluted: Nintendo’s lack of an early plan.
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The Biggest Reason Why The Legend of Zelda Timeline is So Convoluted
Breaking downThe Legend of Zeldatimeline is no easy feat, and there are countless YouTube video essays out there that struggle to do so even under an hour. So for the sake of brevity, here’s a very condensed version ofThe Legend of Zeldatimeline. ThecanonZeldatimeline actually begins withZelda: Skyward Sword, where the goddess Hylia is reborn as Zelda, and the Master Sword is created.The Minish CapandFour Swordsfollow, but the next pivotal moment comes inZelda: Ocarina of Time, where the timeline splits into three branching paths.
The first path, “The Hero is Defeated” timeline, sees the Sages try to lock away Ganon themselves, leading to the Imprisoning War.A Link to the Pastis the first game in this branching path, and the first twoZeldagames are the very last to occur in this timeline. The second path and third paths both follow “The Hero is Triumphant” timeline, but one sees Link remain a child, and the other sees Link stay as an adult. To make things even more confusing,Zelda: Breath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomtechnically take place thousands of years afterthe rest of the series, though which timeline branch they belong to is apparently up for interpretation.
Even with official breakdowns in Nintendo-approved books like Hyrule Historia, theLegend of Zeldatimeline is still incredibly convoluted, with even these official descriptors feeling like they’re reaching at times to try and connect all of the dots. But one of the biggest reasons behind this confusing mess of a timeline is that for the longest time, Nintendo didn’t really have any plan to try and connect the franchise at all. At the time, the first fewLegend of Zeldagames were simply just a set of video games, with the only real connective tissue being their characters, setting, and general gameplay.
ThoughThe Legend of Zelda 2introduced elements like the Triforce and Sages, key narrative devices that would go on to be used in the rest of the series, Nintendo probably didn’t create them back in 1987 with the notion that they would be used as important franchise-building tissue in the future. Much like the vast majority of Nintendo’s other immensely successful IPs,The Legend of Zeldastarted life as just one standalone game, and at the time, the notion of a multi-decade-long franchise just didn’t exist in the gaming world, leading toThe Legend of Zeldatimeline being one of the most confusing in all of gaming.
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