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Majora's Mask Is MM in the Wrong Timeline?

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Location
Inside the Moon
(I thought about putting this under theory, but the artificial nature of the timeline and the apparent intentional contradiction of Nintendo's part seem to make it a general topic)

Hyrule Hystoria places MM on the Child Timeline. It occurs after Link goes back to his Childhood in OoT. The game features Link departing Hyrule and ending up in the strange world of Termina. The game was also a direct sequel to OoT released in 2000, only 18 months after OoT came out. Just two years later, The Wind Waker came out. The intro depicts the Hero of Time departing on his horse (recall he was riding his horse in the MM intro) and never returning to Hyrule. it also shows Ganon from OoT seizing control of Hyrule in his abscence. That lead to the gods flooding Hyrule and the plot of the Wind Waker evolving. It seems to me that Nintendo intended for MM to be in the same timeline as WW. What are your thoughts?
 

DekuPrincess

Are you serious?!?
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Location
In a bottle
I've often thought that MM could be a multi-timeline game due to the manipulation of time in Termina. Additionally--and please correct me if I am wrong on this--I don't recall anything being confirmed about the amount of real time Link is absent from Hyrule. Thus, he could easily go to Termina after having been sent back to his childhood, return to Hyrule without any Hyrulian (Hylian?) time having passed, and then either continue through the events of OoT and the Adult Timeline a second time (no matter how many times Zelda sends him back he eventually has to grow up), or protect the Sacred Realm and continue with the child timeline and attempted execution of Ganondorf. This doesn't seem inconsistent with either the in-game timelines or with the timeline that was released by Nintendo (other than the fact that MM wasn't placed before the Child/Adult split when the hero is successful).

EDIT: I just realized this doesn't make sense since Link is looking for Navi at the beginning of MM and obviously cannot continue onto the Adult timeline without her.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Nintendo doesn't care. They are pulling the timeline from their butts and have been making it up as they went along. The sooner you accept this, the less confusing your life will be.
 

DekuPrincess

Are you serious?!?
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Feb 6, 2013
Location
In a bottle
I'm looking at the HH timeline, and MM is not part of the Adult timeline. That's the issue here, but it really has to be in or the other.

Yeah, I realized why it can't be in both after I had already hit post (hence the edit). I actually think it really can't be on the Adult timeline because that relies on Link not being sent back in time and continuing on in a post-Ganondorf Hyrule (until the necromancy starts up again), so putting MM on the Adult timeline would mean the events of MM have to occur during the events of OoT. Maybe it's Link's Awakening's alter ego and the whole thing is a dream he has while asleep in the Sacred Realm. I don't have a good way to reconcile this with the backstory given in TWW...like many things timeline related.
 

HylianHero

Gardener of Elysium
Joined
Jan 21, 2013
Location
Academia de Hyrule
It also shows Ganon from OoT seizing control of Hyrule in his abscence. That lead to the gods flooding Hyrule and the plot of the Wind Waker evolving.

SPOILER ALERT

No, the Link from MM is the same Link that is sent back into his childhood in OoT. He tells Zelda what will happen and Ganondorf is set to be executed (leading to the events in TP). Link has to leave Hyrule because him staying is what led to Ganondorf taking over. So, Link sets out on a journey to find Navi. He wanders into the Mysterious Woods and the events of MM happen. He then leaves Termina. In Hyrule, no one remembers him as a hero because he prevented the events that led to him becoming the hero from happening, and no one is there from Termina (save maybe the HMS) to remember him saving that. He dies with the regret that no one remembers him s a hero. He becomes the Hero's Shade and teaches TP Link the Hidden Skills to pass on his knowledge. So MM is right is the place it should be.

TWW happens on the adult timeline, the timeline Link left when Zelda sent him back in OoT. Ganondorf breaks free of the seal, Link isn't there because he left, and the events of TWW happen.

And while I don't quote it directly, I'm staring at my copy of HH as I write this.
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
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Inside the Moon
Looking at my copy of HH, it would appear that that was not the original intention. A more logical, most likely the original, idea is that WW was the direct sequel to MM. Link's departure to Termina like a perfectly logical way to do that. TP could have had Ganondorf's appearance and execution be a new incarnation or simply an escaped Ganondorf from the Sacred Realm. TP was made later, and it never tells us anything about the Hero of Time other than the fact that he existed. It seems wholly impossible that this story makes sense. WW and MM make more sense together, and TP can be placed at any point after OoT on any timeline without any real problems.
 

Xinnamin

Mrs. Austin
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clustercereal
It makes perfect sense that WW and MM are on separate timelines. Recall that Link in WW is stated to be completely unrelated to previous incarnations of Link; he's just a regular boy, not the hero re-incarnated. The reason for that is that Link ceased to exist on the adult timeline, and thus there was no hero left to re-incarnate, and why no hero showed up to stop Ganondorf from taking over Hyrule. For TP, I can't remember exactly but I believe it went something along the lines of Link, as a child, was able to successfully warn Zelda about Ganondorf, allowing them to act preemptively to capture him before he could betray the King, thus leading into the TP execution scene (generic sages because the physical sages didn't have to be awakened or something like that).
 

HylianHero

Gardener of Elysium
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Academia de Hyrule
@ihateghirahim

Ok, everyone has their own personal theory on how the timeline should be.

And the games weren't made with clear links between them, Nintendo kind of had to make those up. The official timeline makes sense to me, but if it doesn't to you that's ok.

Its good to know you own a copy of HH, I recommend it for any Zelda fan. But questions like this can easily be answered by just reading the chronology, so you should probably do that in the future. I mean, I don't want to burst your bubble, and the way you are presenting it is just the way it makes sense to you, but the chronology in HH is right, regardless of previous intentions or anyone's opinions.

Again, I don't want to be overly harsh, but the timeline in HH is the simply way it is, the way the creator's of the games have decided to place the games in relation to each other.
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
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Jan 16, 2013
Location
Inside the Moon
I know you mean well HylianHero and that you clearly appreciate Zelda with an intelligent eye, but that doesn't mean we can't point out these flaws and inconsistencies when they are generated by the creator's stupidity. We Star Wars fans have made a career out of it. We don't have to accept everything they give us like a Star Wars Fan might accept the prequels and the retconning of the original trilogy. George Lucas is a disgrace, but to accept his work would be to lower myself to a position beneath Twighlight fans. It would insult my intelligence; or anyone's for that matter. We fans can take a stand.
 

HylianHero

Gardener of Elysium
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Jan 21, 2013
Location
Academia de Hyrule
I know you mean well HylianHero and that you clearly appreciate Zelda with an intelligent eye, but that doesn't mean we can't point out these flaws and inconsistencies when they are generated by the creator's stupidity. We Star Wars fans have made a career out of it. We don't have to accept everything they give us like a Star Wars Fan might accept the prequels and the retconning of the original trilogy. George Lucas is a disgrace, but to accept his work would be to lower myself to a position beneath Twighlight fans. It would insult my intelligence; or anyone's for that matter. We fans can take a stand.

I can respect that :yes:




















.....but I still think you're wrong:D
 
Joined
Jan 29, 2012
Location
Clock Town
Good observation. When I first played The Wind Waker I wasn't super into Zelda yet and well-versed in all the timeline mumbo-jumbo so I wasn't even thinking of a split timeline and interpreted things in the simplest manner: OoT-MM-TWW in one straight timeline. I think The King of Red Lions even says something to Link in The Wind Waker about the hero leaving on a personal quest but I could be mistaken. If somebody knows for sure, please confirm or deny this.

The way TWW and MM are placed on two separate timelines makes sense, but the question here is whether this was the original intention or not, and I think it's a valid question.
 

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
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I always saw the subtle connections between the two games...

- The bombers and the Killer bees
- Character importance
- Pictograph
- Tingles appearance
- WW-MM (Upside down thing going on :/)
- A young hero etc.

I know these are pretty loose comparisons but I certainly noticed them and even though Wind Waker firmly makes sense that it takes place on the Adult Timeline, maybe it was Nintendo's original intention for this to somehow connect with Majora's Mask.
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
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Hylian Champion
MM is on the right timeline, worry you not. You see, after the events of OoT (meaning when Zelda returned Link to his own time), the little green hero told the "past" King of Hyrule of Ganondorf's plans, and the G Man got sent to the chopping block (Arbiter's Ground, as you can see in Twilight Princess). That Hyrule knew peace for a time. But, in TWW's opening, it depicts the Hyrule that Link left over (the one that was all in despair - the one where Ganon was still around). Two different Hyrules, two different fates.
 

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