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"10,000 years"

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Jun 30, 2014
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I'm pretty confused-- honestly, dumbfounded-- as to the belief that the 10,000 years separating the creation of the guardians and the events of BotW occurs directly between BotW and the preceding game on the timeline (whichever timeline that may be).

As though somehow the events of-- humor me-- FSA occurred, and then the guardians were created, the Sheikah thrived, Ganon was sealed away.... then 10,000 years transpired... and then BotW. What?!

It seems clear to me that the events of 10,000 years ago are the events we see in the prologue to SS, for several reasons:

1. Most Zelda games take place only centuries or so apart. This has either been acknowledged by developers in some cases, or generally accepted by fans in others. Why break that rule now? 10,000 years is a period of time exceeding the entire history of human civilization, hell, the entire history of farminng. There's no way Hyrule could have persisted for 10,000 years so unchanged. And don't tell me, "it's magic!" Magic can't undo the corrosion governments, of infrastructure and economies; it can't hinder the progress of technology or human development, either.

2. What do we know about the period preceding Skyward Sword, the Era of Hylia? Mainly, two things: 1. There was an abundance of future era, bluish, robotic technology, and, 2. The Sheikah were prevalent.

What do we know about the era of 10,000 years preceding BotW? I'm not answering that, it's meant to be rhetorical.

3. 10,000 pre-BotW, the guardians and divine beasts were utilized in sealing a monstrous, primal evil, Calamity Ganon. They don't seem to be necessary in combating any other mode of malice, such as that which takes a human form.

Thus, in the instance that the events of 10,000 years ago are in fact the same from SS's prologue, it seems fitting that they would go unused for the majority of other games, as the antagonist in those games was never a formless, mindless essence of evil. Calamity Ganon, then, isn't in fact even Ganondorf, but the essence of Demise, named Ganon by the Hyruliand simply because that is the name most associated with that evil conscience.

This can explain why most characters reference the events of 10,000 years ago rather than referring to the most recent appearnance of Ganondorf.
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
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I'm pretty sure it was clear that the 10,000 years prior takes place after the latest Zelda game on the timeline. So it goes whatever is most "recent" on the timeline, then the 10,000 years, then BotW. How can the events 10,000 year prior to BotW possibly refer to SS? There were no guardians or divine beasts in SS. The 10,000 years prior battle obviously refers to when Ganon first became Calamity Ganon, with a Princess and Hero we have never seen (or have yet to see). The guardians and divine beasts being a part of that battle were the key to their victory. They're an instrumental part of the story, so there's no way they wouldn't have been mentioned. If it refers to SS's backstory, then why would the 10,000 years prior refer to a princess with the Blood of the Goddess? Hylia had not yet given up her divine form in SS's backstory. And there was no Hero in SS's backstory, either. Even Nintendo would not make such a massive error in storytelling.
1. Most Zelda games take place only centuries or so apart. This has either been acknowledged by developers in some cases, or generally accepted by fans in others. Why break that rule now?
Why are you asking that question about the game that was designed to break conventions? And since when was that ever a defined rule? It's pretty clear that the events of BotW and its backstory, including the 10,000 year gap, are all new elements in the series. I don't know why you're confused about this, it's not like any of this was ambiguous.
 
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Joined
Aug 28, 2016
1. Comparing Hyrule to the real world as a whole may not be a fair comparison... there are actually examples of isolated societies remaining relatively unchanged for centuries (Japan itself remained relatively unchanged during its 200+ years of isolation) with this only coming to an end as a result of outside interference, so we have no idea how long it could have gone on for. Hyrule does not appear to have any interaction with other societies, making this a more accurate comparison, so remaining unchanged for over 10,000 years isn't too much of a stretch.

2. The AI of the robots in SS would actually suggest that the older technology was more advanced than what we see in BotW, and beyond the blue energy there isn't really many similarities between the two.
We also have no reason to assume what the Sheikah's situation was during the Era of Hylia... Impa is the only one we see, and we know nothing about them other than that they were Hylia's chosen guardians, and there is no evidence to suggest that they have any connection to the robots.

3. It's actually confirmed in BotW that Calamity Ganon was once a man before he became the entity he is in BotW, so chances are this is referring to Ganondorf, as Demise was a demon with no reference to him ever being a man.
There was also no royal family before SS... the races of the land that later became known as Hyrule followed Hylia, not a royal family, so this does not fit with the battle with Ganon 10,000 years before BotW.
 
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
The Zora Monuments immediately destroy this theory. It straight up says the Hero of Time, Ruto, and "the wicked man from the desert" existed before the Divine Beasts. Not to mention the fact they say that the Zora's Domain they're currently living at was created 10,000 years ago, yet we've never seen an artificially made Zora's Domain in Hyrule before.
 
Joined
Aug 24, 2014
IMO it wasn't a well thought out thing, but the intention was to separate the game from the rest of the series, creating a soft reboot of sorts. With legends, prophecies, etc, the idea is that it is so far removed from the events in other games, it "doesn't matter" what timeline it is in.

That creates all kinds of problems for people who are timeline sticklers, but let's be honest, TPTB are not timeline sticklers. I think they just wanted to make a game that they could put a bunch of references to previous games into, but it also be a fresh start.

All that is to say that yes, I think this game takes place over 10000 years after the chronologically last game in whatever timeline it sits in. That doesn't mean that the technology didn't exist in pre-SS time or whatever, and could have just been uncovered twice over. We just don't know. I hope that the Expansion story deals with more archaeological efforts, post-game. Maybe we can learn more that way.
 

Azure Sage

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That doesn't mean that the technology didn't exist in pre-SS time or whatever, and could have just been uncovered twice over. We just don't know.
Yes we do. Iirc it was stated in-game that the Sheikah of 10,000 years prior to BotW were the ones who created the Divine Beasts, Guardians, shrines, and towers, all to help the Hero of that era defeat Calamity Ganon. Everything in BotW's backstory is a new element in the series.
 
Joined
Aug 28, 2016
Yes we do. Iirc it was stated in-game that the Sheikah of 10,000 years prior to BotW were the ones who created the Divine Beasts, Guardians, shrines, and towers, all to help the Hero of that era defeat Calamity Ganon. Everything in BotW's backstory is a new element in the series.
I think what he means is that just because the Sheikah built all of the technology seen in BotW does not mean they invented the technology that they used to do so... they may have based it all on a far older technology that had been rediscovered... presumably the same technology that the ancient robots in SS are built from (although I personally think that is unlikely, as I don't think the two have enough similarities to be based on the same technology).
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
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I think what he means is that just because the Sheikah built all of the technology seen in BotW does not mean they invented the technology that they used to do so... they may have based it all on a far older technology that had been rediscovered... presumably the same technology that the ancient robots in SS are built from (although I personally think that is unlikely, as I don't think the two have enough similarities to be based on the same technology).
It's said in-game that it is their technology. So why would that mean anything other than it's their technology.
 
Joined
Aug 28, 2016
It's said in-game that it is their technology. So why would that mean anything other than it's their technology.
Just because it's their technology does not mean it wasn't based on another technology.
Look at the Switch for example... the technology that went into it wasn't invented by Nintendo, Nintendo just put that technology together to make the Switch.
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
Staff member
ZD Legend
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Just because it's their technology does not mean it wasn't based on another technology.
Look at the Switch for example... the technology that went into it wasn't invented by Nintendo, Nintendo just put that technology together to make the Switch.
There's no evidence for that, though. This is literally just a game of "what if". Literally anything goes with that logic.
 
Joined
Aug 28, 2016
There's no evidence for that, though. This is literally just a game of "what if". Literally anything goes with that logic.
There's no evidence against it either... both sides of the argument require a degree of assumption.
As I said before, I don't think this is the case, I'm just saying that there is the potential for it to be true.
Either way this doesn't make any difference to the timeline placement, so I think we're getting a bit off topic.
 
Joined
Aug 24, 2014
I never said the people of 10,000 years ago didn't build the divine beasts and the guardians, just that the technology itself could have been uncovered in a cyclic manner. It is obvious that the Sheikah and others of Skyward Sword were technologically adept (the gate of time, the Lanayru Mining facility, the sandship, the ancient cistern, the sky keep) that seems to have been forgotten in later installments. Technology itself seems to wax and wane in the timeline.

I appreciate your enthusiasm, however.
 

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