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[Mistle]

They've paid enough attention to plenty of minute details over the years. I highly doubt that they haven't had a plan for a very long time now, given all the specificity in every game. (some translations have fucked some things up compared to what has been said in the JP versions of the game though, so this will even further clarify things).

What things have been screwed up because of translation?

Keep in mind that I only know the bare basics of the timeline, so if it's really intricate details, I'll spare you the time of writing it out and say don't worry I am interested though. I'm just moreso in the camp that's "Nintendo does give some effort to creating a timeline, but they really do not take it anywhere near as seriously as some people think"

 

[Lord Ghirahim]

Any source other than ruliweb?

 

[Xun]

They've paid enough attention to plenty of minute details over the years. I highly doubt that they haven't had a plan for a very long time now, given all the specificity in every game. (some translations have fucked some things up compared to what has been said in the JP versions of the game though, so this will even further clarify things).

I think they've had some sort of plan, but not as thought out as people think.

Worth noting that the background picture is fan art, so the picture is most likely not from the book.
Yours truly, Captain Obvious.

I assume it's just a translation.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

My feeling is they had some disconnected sense of continuity but they did not really take it seriously (see Miyamoto going Zelda 2 > LA > Zelda 2 ololololol) until the advent of the internet and fans discussing it to great lengths (then the cash register sound triggered as they felt there was a market of fans who will get the game to find its palce). I'd say 2002 is when they started taking thinking about it making a games story is how to fit it into their timeline design at some point in development (notice how now they usually say, oh it happens after x) being in Hyrlue kind of means you have to put the pieces in similar places and will see re-occuring set pieces. The split timeline came form watching Dragon Ball Z wanting to make sure PH and TP could co-exist I would guess and they can always do more splits but having time traveling hero.

Assuming the book goes for 3 timelines you see most the old games lumped together including Oracles; which Flagship probably did all the story for with the Miyamoto rubber stamp slapped on the end. I felt Oracles messed things up back in the day.

What things have been screwed up because of translation?

Only thing I can think is hudred/hundreds maybe a few times. The Japanese numbnering is vauge. Though IIRC that was Spirit Tracks and the US and EU versions contradict each other.

 

[MoogPaul]

Since we know that Links Awakening Link is the same as A Link to the Past Link, I guess Oracle Link is the same one too. Interesting.

 

[Fat Goron]

Kotaku has posted this:

http://kotaku.com/5869993/this-might-actually-be-the-official-zelda-timeline

This is so absurd and unthinkable..... that I believe it's true. :lol

 

[Red Liquorice]

I don't know why people are hung up on a timeline for Zelda. To me, each game is like a retelling of the same local hero myth, and much like our mythologies, we have similar themes and events in many stories all over the world, but each mythology is shaped by the culture of those who tell it.

Zelda isn't that kind of game, and this timeline is clearly retconned recently because of the internet obsessives who constantly bug Nintendo about it.

 

[BGBW]

I remember making the joke that if we accept the argument of a two way split what prevents us form having even more splits...

 

[Bit-Bit]

Holy shit, it's actually pretty ingenious. All these years, the red herring into a split timeline was because of A Link to the Past.

But a third split would easily include A Link to the Past and would therefore fit the rest of the games in the series.

Fuckin hell.

 

[SpacePirate Ridley]

Did someone thought of the thre split timeline before it became official?
I always heard that the split was two.

 

[BGBW]

So people who said to ignore the older games because the timeline was only serious business after OoT were kind of right.

If that is indeed what the book tells us then;
The whole Trident business in FSA leading to aLttP was a no go then.
People studying the terrain layout in ST were wasting their time.
ALttP Link has the most games with four.

Tingle not only transcends times but timelines as well.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

I remember making the joke that if we accept the argument of a two way split what prevents us form having even more splits...

Split 4. Link fails to save Termina.
Though Termina gets destroyed in Adult Link timeline anyway if we think about it like that...

 

[Fat Goron]

Split 4. Link fails to save Termina.
Though Termina gets destroyed in Adult Link timeline anyway if we think about it like that...

We all know that Nintendo is hiding the 4th timeline..... the one that includes Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon.

 

[BGBW]

Split 4. Link fails to save Termina.
Though Termina gets destroyed in Adult Link timeline anyway if we think about it like that...

Termina is destroyed leaving Tingle as the only survivor. With nothing but jugged landscapes and water everywhere Tingle must brave this wasteland against the rise of monsters in... Tingle's Ballon Fight!

 

[ASIS]

I still don't understand how the third timeline happens. It's just so crazy!

 

[Fat Goron]

Now that I'm thinking about it.... Take a look at the chapters of the book:

The Timeline of Hyrule, Kingdom of the Gods………………………………..68
The Legend of Gods and the Hero of Time…………………………………….70
The Downfall of Hyrule and the last Hero………………………………………..92
The Twilight Realm and the Hero’s Descendant…………………………… 110
The Hero of Wind and the New World……………………………………………..122

If the scans we have are any indication, there is no way that a single game could fill 18 pages of the book.

What if "Downfall of Hyrule and the last Hero" is about this timeline where the Hero of Time fails? The last hero could very well be, ironically, the first Link.

Makes sense if we think about it.... one chapter for the 'pre-Timeline Split Era', and a chapter for each timeline after OoT.

 

[Meikiyou]

This is so absurd and unthinkable..... that I believe it's true. :lol

Are you sure of this?

 

[Starwolf_UK]

I forgot timeline split 5. Super Smash Bros (its a joke about Sakurai acts like OOT is the only Zelda game).

I still don't understand how the third timeline happens. It's just so crazy!

Given how many OOT players got stuck in the Water Temple that is how it happens. Or maybe he fails the Ganon castle escape sequence or something random.

If the sages played a bigger role it might make the whole villages named after them (see Zelda 2) make sense in a non-sensical way. Makes me wonder if the sleeping Zelda II is the OOT Zelda...oh no, not more Sheik theories *runs into corner crying that the thread is now ruined*.

 

[Meikiyou]

Now that I'm thinking about it.... Take a look at the chapters of the book:

The Timeline of Hyrule, Kingdom of the Gods………………………………..68
The Legend of Gods and the Hero of Time…………………………………….70
The Downfall of Hyrule and the last Hero………………………………………..92
The Twilight Realm and the Hero’s Descendant…………………………… 110
The Hero of Wind and the New World……………………………………………..122

If the scans we have are any indication, there is no way that a single game could fill 18 pages of the book.

What if "Downfall of Hyrule and the last Hero" is about this timeline where the Hero of Time fails? The last hero could very well be, ironically, the first Link.

Makes sense if we think about it.... one chapter for the 'pre-Timeline Split Era', and a chapter for each timeline after OoT.

But all chapters have more than 10 pages, excluding timeline of hyrule.

 

[Fat Goron]

But all chapters have more than 10 pages, excluding timeline of hyrule.

And all of them talk about at least 3 games. This "Downfall of Hyrule" chapter was the only one that we had no idea what it would talk about.....

It couldn't be 18 pages about the flood of Hyrule, and there was no "last hero" between OoT and WW.

 

[[Nintex]]

Woah this makes total sense a smart way to solve the timeline.

 

[Phenomic]

I still don't understand how the third timeline happens. It's just so crazy!

The Kotaku article explains it rather well actually and it some how makes sense....

"Note that the "split" is due to Ocarina's time differences and assumptions based on the different ways that story could have ended and branched off from his two ages: the Link to the Past split is Link failing, the Majora's split is Link defeating Ganon and branching off from his boyhood and the Wind Waker split is Link defeating Ganon and branching from his older years."

 

[Davey Cakes]

I never actually considered that any timeline could be caused by Link's failure. I guess over the year's video game logic has told me that the main character's failure is non-canon.

 

[TommyT]

So uhh... was there someone that was ordering these or helping them get to the US? I can't read Japanese for the life of me but would love to have this book :\


edit: I see they're on ebay for ~$90, is that about right?

 

[Android18a]

Well, Zelda 2 has a canon "bad end" when you die, doesn't it? Ganon laughs and actually takes over Hyrule! Although you can try again, it's still an ending beyond "Game Over", its an actual consequence to the event of Link's death. So perhaps a future Zelda timeline could come out of that one.

 

[MatthewB92]

Well, Zelda 2 has a canon "bad end" when you die, doesn't it? Ganon laughs and actually takes over Hyrule! Although you can try again, it's still an ending beyond "Game Over", its an actual consequence to the event of Link's death. So perhaps a future Zelda timeline could come out of that one.

Yes! More split timelines!!!

 

[Shin Johnpv]

I suppose one could look at Link failing in OoT as then becoming the back story of ALttP.

Let's say Link dies fighting Ganondorf, and now the bastard has Zelda prisoner. It could be the final straw that leads to the different people of that world (Humans, Zoras, Gorons, etc etc) joining together and creating an army to take Ganondorf down. Then it falls completely on the power of the sages to seal him away. That could end up becoming the imprisioning war talked about at the start of ALttP.

Just a thought though.

 

[EVH]

Would love to see Link to the Past as the hero saving Hyrule before the gods call the hard rain. But also would love to play the "Link to the Past" where you actually fail and the hard rain happens.

 

[Green Mamba]

Since we know that Links Awakening Link is the same as A Link to the Past Link, I guess Oracle Link is the same one too. Interesting.

Oracle Link can't be the same Link as ALttP Link--Link meets Zelda for the first time in the Oracles.

 

[Jocchan]

I assume it's just a translation.

Yes, but why using a fan art and making it look like a page from the book, when the fan art is clearly not going to be there?

I don't know why people are hung up on a timeline for Zelda. To me, each game is like a retelling of the same local hero myth, and much like our mythologies, we have similar themes and events in many stories all over the world, but each mythology is shaped by the culture of those who tell it.

Zelda isn't that kind of game, and this timeline is clearly retconned recently because of the internet obsessives who constantly bug Nintendo about it.

To say this, you have to actively ignore the unskippable cutscenes, returning characters and references throughout every single game following Ocarina of Time. I guess you could do it with any game around, but it would be kinda silly.

 

[[Nintex]]

You know it makes a ton of sense to place A Link to the Past in the OOT timeline like this. If you consider that the Dark World is the Sacred Realm controlled by Ganon and Ganon actually takes over the Sacred Realm and covers it in Darkness in OOT by using the Triforce hidden behind the door of time.

 

[Levyne]

Triple Split?

:O

I liked it better when there were two ganons "Gerudo" and "Trident" where Gerudo Ganon dies in WW/TP and Trident Ganon is "born" in FSA and is the Ganon in LTTP, Oracles, and the NES games.

Edit: Do they use the word "Gerudo" in LTTP? I know they use the word thief, but he gets a trident...

 

[[Nintex]]

Triple Split?

:O

I liked it better when there were two ganons "Gerudo" and "Trident" where Gerudo Ganon dies in WW/TP and Trident Ganon is "born" in FSA and is the Ganon in LTTP, Oracles, and the NES games

They can pretty much explain every Zelda story with Skyward Sword's ending.

 

[Steaks]

That article Kotaku posted is confusing as hell and horribly written haha.

So timeline is just "Link messed up" or whatever?

By the way this would be the absolute perfect time to troll with something like this so I'll take it with a grain of salt for a while.

 

[Jocchan]

Edit: Do they use the word "Gerudo" in LTTP?

Sort of, but not about Ganon.
http://www.zeldawiki.org/Geldman

 

[Levyne]

Sort of, but not about Ganon.
http://www.zeldawiki.org/Geldman

Ah, was just thinking maybe the two Ganon thing blown up if they said "The Gerudo Thief, Ganon" or something

 

[Phenomic]

Ah, was just thinking maybe the two Ganon thing blown up if they said "The Gerudo Thief, Ganon" or something

I think they do say his full name though in the manual. It says his last name I believe as well.

Ganondorf Dragmire.

 

[apana]

Kotaku has posted this:

http://kotaku.com/5869993/this-might-actually-be-the-official-zelda-timeline

My god, triple branching! This is not possible, no I refuse to accept it. How did Link fail in Ocarina?

 

[Golden Darkness]

How Link in Ocarina failed, I don't know.

However, considering the original LttP backstory claims that there was no one worthy to weild the Master Sword, that may be where the failure lies.

 

[[Nintex]]

How Link in Ocarina failed, I don't know.

However, considering the original LttP backstory claims that there was no one worthy to weild the Master Sword, that may be where the failure lies.

He failed collecting a Sword and a Shield because Fi wasn't there to tell him where he could find them.

 

[Nyoro SF]

I thought the split timeline occurred because of Zelda using the Song of Time at the end of OoT.

How does it magically split once more if no more time shenanigans were involved? Just losing doesn't cause a dimensional rift.

 

[Exterminieren]

How Link in Ocarina failed, I don't know.

However, considering the original LttP backstory claims that there was no one worthy to weild the Master Sword, that may be where the failure lies.

OoT Link failed to stop Ganondorf, and so he wasn't worthy to wield the sword. Add to that some technicality that the Master Sword didn't truly become the Master Sword until

Spoiler

Demise is sealed up in it

in Skward Sword and it works well.

 

[Jocchan]

I thought the split timeline occurred because of Zelda using the Song of Time at the end of OoT.

How does it magically split once more if no more time shenanigans were involved? Just losing doesn't cause a dimensional rift.

Every time Link went back in time throughout the game, a different timeline without him was created?

 

[Levyne]

I thought the split timeline occurred because of Zelda using the Song of Time at the end of OoT.

How does it magically split once more if no more time shenanigans were involved? Just losing doesn't cause a dimensional rift.

I guess its more of a "what if" scenario? Instead of having a split time line where both series of events happen, it's more one or the other?

 

[linkboy]

I thought the split timeline occurred because of Zelda using the Song of Time at the end of OoT.

How does it magically split once more if no more time shenanigans were involved? Just losing doesn't cause a dimensional rift.

I think its this.

Timeline 1
The original timeline when you start the game. When Link pulls the Master Sword, he is trapped in the Sacred Realm for 7 years. This removes him from this timeline, placing him in timeline 3 until he replaces the Master Sword.

Timeline 2
This timeline is created when Zelda sends Link back at the end of the game, she sends Link back to a childhood timeline, but its not the one that he originated from.

Timeline 3
Occurs when Link is awaken after the 7 years. When he restores the Master Sword, he goes back to timeline A, and when he pulls it, he goes to timeline B.

You know have this situation.

Timeline 1 is the original timeline the game starts off with, however since Link was removed from this timeline when he pulled the Master Sword and since he was never properly returned to it, this is the failure. Ganon discovers an entrance to the Sacred Realm and the Triforce, but is sealed by the 7 wise men (the backstory to A Link to the Past)

Timeline 2 is the timeline that Link is sent back to. The Door of Time is never opened, Link never pulls the Master Sword, but Ganon attacks anyways. He's arrested and the events of Twilight Princess happen (after Majora's Mask).

Timeline 3 is the Adult Link timeline. Ganon is sealed at the end of Ocarina, and then the events of Wind Waker happen.

 

[Levyne]

So timeline 1 and 3 would respectively be "fail" into LTTP (not worthy to yield, he was too young) and "not fail" into WW essentially? That's convoluted but makes some sense.

Edit: The more I read it the more sense it makes.

 

[Foffy]

Wait, what? The triple split thing is true? D:

 

[thetrin]

I don't know why people are hung up on a timeline for Zelda. To me, each game is like a retelling of the same local hero myth, and much like our mythologies, we have similar themes and events in many stories all over the world, but each mythology is shaped by the culture of those who tell it.

Exactly. Zelda is the video game version of oral story telling. It's the same story retold a billion times, changing every time it's told. The way I see it, each game is a new generation telling the story.

 

[Blueblur1]

Yeah, that timeline is too far-fetched for me to care.

 

[BGBW]

Exactly. Zelda is the video game version of oral story telling. It's the same story retold a billion times, changing every time it's told. The way I see it, each game is a new generation telling the story.

You're an idiot and deserve a virtual kick in the nuts forevermore. The games themselves refer to the stories of previous games.

Or was the hero of time just a television superhero in Wind Waker who the King of Hyrule was such a big fan of he erected a statue in the Grand Hall to show his fandom.

And Spirit Tracks was just a retelling of the Phantom Hourglass with Link setting off to find the new Hyrule that Spirit Tracks is set in for this retelling to occur.