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Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Timeline Problems and Solutions

Conclusion and Hope

by Justin Berube - February 28, 2014, 9:15 am EST

The conclusion of this Zelda timeline discussion.

When Nintendo announced A Link Between Worlds I really thought it was going to fit into their existing Hyrule Historia Timeline and everything would be airtight. Instead, the placement ended up causing many more problems on their official timeline.

I played through A Link Between Worlds with the Hyrule Historia Timeline in mind, but was constantly confused and left scratching my head. This is even after consulting the big book many times to make sense of it all. As you can probably see, after some research, I found that Nintendo’s placement of A Link Between Worlds just doesn’t make sense.

The strange news is that after placing A Link Between Worlds on my own timeline, it magically fills in some of the only gaps I had and somehow manages to make the plot flow better. This came as big shock to me as I thought the release of a new game on this branch of the Zelda story would have destroyed everything I tried to fix with my own version of the timeline.

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In fact, with how many problems the placement of A Link Between Worlds created on Nintendo’s own timeline, it’s crazy to think about how they haven’t completely destroyed the ability to piece together a working story by now. My guess is that Aonuma probably isn’t the guy who is worried, or cares, much about the timeline. There are probably a few Zelda lore masters in house at Nintendo that have come up with a timeline similar to my own. I feel that fans may be taking Aonuma’s word on a lot of timeline related things when they shouldn’t be because he consistently appears to not know what he’s talking about.

Overall, I’m still hopeful that Nintendo will someday release a revised version of their timeline. In the meantime, I just hope no future game will throw a wrench into the whole thing and unravel the entire plot.

May the way of the hero lead to the true timeline.

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Talkback

Bman87301February 26, 2014

To me, the idea that Link warns Zelda about Ganondorf when after returning to the past is so flawed, I cringe every time I read it. Zelda already had a premonition about Ganondorf, warned her father, and he didn't believe her. So her going to her father again after being told by Link what she already knew, doesn't make a lick of sense. In addition, Link clearly returned to the exact point when he drew the Master Sword  (the Door of Time is open and the three Spiritial Stones are present), which happened AFTER Ganondorf attacked and Impa ran off with Zelda. Not to mention, that there would be two Links present at once if he were sent back earlier. The scene at the end of the credits was simply replaying the moment where Link meets Zelda for the first time, it wasn't showing new events. I understand how easy it is to misinterpret that scene, but the other facts clearly make that the only valid interpretation. So when Link returns the Master Sword to the pedistal (which closes the seal), Ganondorf is already in the Sacred Realm, thus creating the history for A Link to the Past where Ganon has the full Triforce but is unable to return to the Light World.

pokepal148Spencer Johnson, Contributing WriterFebruary 26, 2014

Quote from: pokepal148

The ending of OOT as I think of it also makes little sense. Link's goal is to prevent ganondorf from entering the sacred realm and acquiring the triforce so let's break down the three endings

Hero falls: Link dies and ganon is sealed in the sacred realm with the triforce of power.

Future timeline: Ganon shows up again and hyrule gets flooded, again he has the triforce of power.

Link's childhood: link returns and somehow convinces the king not to trust Ganondorf when his daughter, who apparently has some gift of prophecy that people know about is unable to do so herself.

Later on the sages try to execute ganondorf and learn that he has somehow gained the triforce of power because... I dunno,
http://thereadist.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/tiomey-wimey.gif?w=640

Either way he failed all three times, way to go hero.

It only makes sense if link is telling her not to open the sacred realm and to instead hide the ocarina so ganon can't reach it, even then

Bman87301March 01, 2014

Quote from: pokepal148]

No, that doesn't make any sense either since all of that already happened BEFORE the point in time that Link returned to. Now, you could argue that Link told Zelda (after enough time had passed with nothing else happening so Impa would have brought her back out of hiding) that he had sealed Ganondorf in the Sacred Realm, after which, the King sent the Sages into the Sacred Realm after him, and that's where the whole execution took place... The only problem there is that Hyrule Hystoria specifically says he never entered the Sacred Realm.

JLRTENJACMarch 22, 2014

There are a lot of ways to look at OOT's ending. I typically look at it as that Link tells Zelda of his quest, and they convince the King to come to the Temple of Time. When there, the King learns of Ganondorf's true motives and together with Link his army manages to capture Ganondorf (Perhaps because Ganondorf hasn't quite learned how to control the Power of the Gods yet, I mean, if Ganondorf were powerful enough by himself to take on the full might of Hyrule, then he would have done that instead of pretending to be loyal) and is thus taken to the arbiter's grounds to be executed (And, most likely, the Hyrule army wiped out the Gerudo while they were at it in order to quell any uprising - hence the fact that they do not exist in Twilight Princess.) However, by the time they get him to the Mirror of Twilight for his execution, he is figuring out this new power of his, and thus he is able to use the Triforce of Power against the sages.

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