Highlights
- The Legend of Zelda timeline is notoriously convoluted, with fans struggling to make sense of the various games and their connections.
- In 2011, Nintendo published the Hyrule Historia book, which provided the first official timeline, but even that is confusing and nonsensical at times.
- The lack of an early plan and the fact that the first Zelda games were standalone titles contribute to the convoluted nature of the franchise's timeline.
Debuting all the way back in 1986, The Legend of Zelda has 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 are currently 29 Legend of Zelda games, and while some of them don't entirely fit in the canon, the vast majority do, which makes Zelda'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 the Legend of Zelda games were actually connected. But in 2011, Nintendo published the Hyrule Historia book, and inside, fans found the very first official Legend of Zelda timeline. 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 recent Zelda entries fit into the timeline a bit better, there's one big reason why the Legend of Zelda timeline will forever remain convoluted: Nintendo's lack of an early plan.
The Biggest Reason Why The Legend of Zelda Timeline is So Convoluted
Breaking down The Legend of Zelda timeline 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 of The Legend of Zelda timeline. The canon Zelda timeline actually begins with Zelda: Skyward Sword, where the goddess Hylia is reborn as Zelda, and the Master Sword is created. The Minish Cap and Four Swords follow, but the next pivotal moment comes in Zelda: 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 Past is the first game in this branching path, and the first two Zelda games 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 Wild and Tears of the Kingdom technically take place thousands of years after the 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, the Legend of Zelda timeline 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 few Legend of Zelda games were simply just a set of video games, with the only real connective tissue being their characters, setting, and general gameplay.
Though The Legend of Zelda 2 introduced 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 Zelda started 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 to The Legend of Zelda timeline being one of the most confusing in all of gaming.