Alright, here's my timeline theory. I post it at risk to myself, but let's keep it friendly, okay?
_______________________________________________
Minish Cap (Link 1): Vaati first appears and is defeated; Four Sword first used.
Four Swords (Link 2): Long after Minish Cap; Vaati is defeated again.
Ocarina of Time (Link 3): Ganondorf turns into the monster Ganon; Ganondorf is sealed away; Skull Kid is first met. After the Hero of Time seals Ganon away, Zelda sends Link back seven years to relive his childhood, where he immediately accuses Ganondorf. The Sages seal him away, thus splitting the timeline.
TIMELINE A
Young Link has Sages seal Ganondorf away; no Hero of Time
Majora's Mask (Link 3): Happens right after Ocarina of Time; Skull Kid finds mind-controlling Majora's Mask, but is defeated and Majora's Mask is destroyed.
Four Swords Adventures (Link 4): Right after Majora's Mask (maybe while the other Link is gone?); Vaati is defeated again; Vaati frees Ganon again, but he is quickly defeated again and sealed away by the Four Sword, which Link has used again.
Zelda I (Link 5): Ganon returns in monster form and is defeated again.
Zelda II (Link 5): Mysterious sorcerer kidnaps Zelda; is defeated.
Link to the Past (Link 6): Ganon returns and is defeated again; Four Sword is briefly found but never really used; Aghanim gets his 15 minutes of fame as Ganon's other form.
Link's Awakening (Link 6): Link gets shipwrecked; saves the Wind Fish from the Nightmares (including Shadow Aghanim).
Oracle of Ages (Link 7): Link defeats Veran; rescues Nayru, Oracle of Ages; Twinrova starts trying to bring monster Ganon back.
Oracle of Seasons (Link 7): Link defeats Onox; rescues Din, Oracle of Seasons; Twinrova succeeds in bringing a rudimentary, not-so-smart form of Ganon back; is defeated.
(Ages and Seasons have no canonical order, and Twinrova bringing Ganon back happens in whichever is second. Also, these could really go in either timeline, although they probably belong in this one due to the intentional gap between Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker.)
Twilight Princess (Link 8 ): 100 years after Ocarina of Time; Ganon gets Zant to free him and make the normal and twilight realms collide. Ganon is sealed away again.
TIMELINE B
Hero of Time seals Ganon away
Wind Waker (Link 9): 100 years after Ocarina of Time; turns out Hyrule is flooded; Link accidentally "unseals" Ganondorf; Ganondorf turns into Monster Ganon yet again (but maybe a little weaker); Hyrule is completely flooded; Ganondorf dies?
Phantom Hourglass (Link 10): Link and Tetra try to find the new Hyrule, and Tetra gets kidnapped by the Ghost Ship. Bellum attempts to escape by killing the Ocean King and the Spirits of Power, Wisdom, and Courage. Link defeats him.
Evidence: On the Wikipedia article for "The Legend of Zelda (series"), there is a section about chronology. It says that a person from Nintendo has stated that Twilight Princess is in a split timeline, therefore confirming the split timeline theory by implication. Also, people from Nintendo have also stated that Twilight Princess (I think) and The Wind Waker are both 100 years after Ocarina of Time. Nintendo did state that Ocarina of Time was the first in the series, but this was before Minish Cap and Four Swords came out. In Four Swords Adventures, it is strongly implied that Minish Cap and Four Swords come centuries before it, and Four Swords Adventures is probably somewhere in the vicinity of Ocarina of Time, as the Gerudo there talk about Ganondorf coming from their village. I do not count the Game and Watch games, the Super Smash Bros. series, Soul Calibur II, Link's Crossbow Training, Zelda BS (a Japan only couple of games that were using some kind of experimental video-game-by-TV-broadcast system), the mangas, the battle modes or second quests of any of the games, the Master Quest of Ocarina of Time for Gamecube, any fan-created material, and CERTAINLY not the cartoon series or CD-i games. I consider the Game Boy Advance update of A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening DX as the definitive versions of their respective games in the same way that the DVD release of the Special Edition of Star Wars is considered the definitive version of those movies. In all other cases, I consider the original games to be the definitive versions. I don't know what to do about Tingle's Balloon Fight or Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland.
Problem: I don't actually know what to do about Four Swords Adventures, because I found it confusing that it seemed to be so close to Ocarina of Time.
Log in to comment