Most legit continuation of the unified timeline?

[Sheiken]

As I am sure everyone is aware, The Legend of Zelda consists of three seperate timelines due to a split caused by the ending events of Ocarina of Time. All of these are considered canon, but which one is the most legit continuation of the Unified Timeline?

Many would speculate that the Downfall timeline would be the most canon of these timelines, due to most of the games in that timeline consisting of the originals. However when you look at the actual lore of the franchise, this may not be the case. In Skyward Sword Demise cursed the spirit of the hero Link, bloodline of the goddess Hylia, and the burning hatred that was born from his very being to an endless cycle of reincarnation.

I have done a lot of thinking on this, and came to the conclusion that it is actually the Child Timeline that is the most legit continuation of the Unified Timeline. Why is that though? Because this is the only timeline that follows the direct bloodline of the Hero of the Goddess.

Now some of you may think that this is a bold statement, but the writing is on the walls in this case. Look at Link and Zelda's relationship in both The Minish Cap and Four Swords. In both of these games Link and Zelda are close childhood friends, same as Skyward Sword. It would make sense that their reincarnations would develop this relationship naturally through fate. It is not until Ocarina of Time that they begin to drift apart. This is largely due to the Hylian Civil War that resulted in the death of Link's parents and himself ending up in Kokiri Forest.

On that note however, the true connection actually comes from Ocarina of Time itself. As we all know Link is the only person that can draw the Master Sword from its pedestal. Now in A Link to the Past and A Link Between Worlds (the only two downfall games that the Master Sword is obtained), you have to get the medals of power, wisdom, and courage before Link can even pull the sword out himself. This is because the Hero of Legend and the New Hero of Legend are not direct decendants of the Hero of the Goddess, even if they are related to eachother. The reason for having to prove themselves is to prove that they have the spirit of the hero due to them being from a different Bloodline. The Wind Waker follows the same logic, where Link must prove himself to the gods before being able to draw the Master Sword himself.

So what makes the Hero of Time so different and why can't the Hero of Legend be related to him? Well it is simple really. In the Downfall Timeline Link dies before he can have any kids and therefore his line has ended. Some might say that he could have had relatives outside of his mother and father that survived the war, but based on the very fact that neither of the two Downfall heros were able to use the Master Sword without first obtaining the Hero Medals, I find this unlikely.

So what does all of this have to do with the Hero of Time? Well the major difference would be the fact that he was able to draw the Master Sword without the aid of the hero medals. Now before you say anything about the spiritual stones, think about it. He only used them to gain access to the chamber where the Master Sword was being held, and does not have them on his person when he actually draws the sword. I believe this is because Fi recognizes the Bloodline from the Hero of the Goddess and therefore Link had already been chosen by fate from birth. This is supported by the fact that the Great Deku Tree was able to sense the destiny of the Hero of Time when he was just a baby.

Now lets fast forward to Twilight Princess, where we follow the known decendant of the Hero of Time. Here Link is not only able to get to and use the Master Sword without proving himself, but the Triforce of Courage that the Hero of Time had previously acquired found him naturally. This is something that has not happend with any other incarnation of Link in the franchise, and is a direct indication that Fi still recognizes the bloodline from the Hero of the Goddess.

While there is no direct indication of whether or not the Link in Four Swords Adventures is a decendant of the Hero of Twilight, it is safe to assume that he is based on the general pattern of this timeline. This makes the Child Timeline the ONLY timeline that has the bloodline of the Hero of the Goddess. It is also important to remember that while the Adult Timeline follows the future of the events of Ocarina of Time, the Child Timeline is the only timeline that follows the Hero of Time himself.

With there being only one timeline that follows the lineage of both Hylia and the Hero of the Goddess, it is only natural that this would be the most correct continuation of the Unified Timeline. This does not make the other two timelines any less canon, but does put into perspective which branch the other two branches were split from and which branch could be considered the original.

I hope you all liked this theory and please feel free to comment what you think about it!

 

[Allredgoron]

I like the logic for this a lot. You could even strengthen it with the Hero's Shade in Twilight Princess. Hyrule Historia states he is the Hero from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, continuing to teach skills of his bloodline. And addressing him as "son" could potentially be used to help this claim as well.

That being said, I have always thought of the timelines as a continuation of the weilder of the broken Triforce. As you have pointed out, the child timeline continues the story of the Hero's bloodline. Quite obviously, the defeat of the Hero and the continuation of the Failure timeline would be a focus on Ganon's line of the timeline. Every game, excluding Link's Awakening and Tri Force Heroes, focuses on defeating Ganon or preventing the resurrection of Ganon. Finally, the adult timeline focuses on Zelda's actions after Ganon is defeated, rediscovering who Zelda is, and finally finding a new land and reestablishing a New Hyrule.

Each one somewhat strongly shows what happens after each holder of the Triforce decides what to do. Because of this, I do not agree in naming the splits in regards to Link's status, but rather who led what happens next. Even in the case of the Child Timeline, had Link done nothing, the events of Ocarina of Time would happen again. So, I believe that no timeline is better than the other, it just simply depends on which person you want to lead the next events.

 

[Sheiken]

Yeah I actually have a few good theories as to what caused the downfall timeline as well, but going off of the Triforce logic you have pointed out is a great one.

Basically when Zelda sends Link back in time, it causes the split. However since Zelda has the Triforce of Wisdom in the adult timeline and Link has the Triforce of Courage in the child timeline, it is possible that the third defeated timeline was formed by the Triforce of power to for the sake of keeping balance. That means each timeline has one of the ORIGINAL pieces of the Triforce.

 

[magnann]

I think the most legit timeline so far is the adult timeline:
1. It's a short timeline, so it requires less metal gymnastics to connect all the games
2. WW's backstory directly references OoT, its preceding game
3. ALL 3 games in the timeline are DIRECT sequels to one another. No other timeline is like this.

I don't think it's ever stated that the heroes in each game are blood relatives, they're just reincarnation of the Spirit of the Hero whenever evil arises, so I'm not too sure about that argument, although the fact that the Hero of Time himself appears in both MM and TP make a solid argument for the child timeline alone. These 2 timelines make the most sense as they can coexist. The "hero falls" timeline is a lame cop-out in my opinion, as it seems that most of the games that have no obvious relation to one another fall here, and the timeline is actually just a "what if" scenario. You can't have Link living and dying as two separate timelines existing at the same time. The child and adult timelines can run in parallel, because they're two continuations happening from the perspective of characters in each distinct timeline. Link either succeeds, or fails in OoT. You can't have both. Since we've seen him beat Ganon in OoT, it's safe to assume that the child and adult timelines are what actually occurs in the overall canon of the games' universe, and the "hero falls" timeline is a hypothetical as to what would happen should Link fail. Though the games in that timeline are barely connected anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

 

[Spirit]

All 3 are canon so im not sure how one can be more legit than the other. I see the point but still think its rather... pointless.

To some the most legit continuation will be the adult timeline because Majora's Mask came out after OoT so will feel like a natural continuation of the series even though its the first game in a new split.

For others The Wind Waker will be the game where a split in the timeline actually felt like a split because its so different from what came before.

Still, i dont think any is more legit than the other, some splits more than others have weaker reasoning like the downfall timeline which still feels like it was magicked out of nowhere because it uses story elements that the games just dont mention... though if BotW is going where most people think it is (between OoT and ALttP) it might make the timeline feel more legit.

So, id say the child and adult timelines feel legit just because we have solid info linking them.

 

[Dio]

The most legit is the adult timeline because that features the original Hyrule we see in SS and Minish cap. If you imagine you were just an immortal in the world of Hyrule and experienced the events of SS and minish cap and then the time comes for the events of OOT to occur.

Link comes along and draws the Master sword from the pedestal and is sealed for 7 years, re emerges as and adult and defeats Ganondorf and then goes back to what he thinks is his 'own time'. To you he just dissapeared. You experience the events of the Wind Waker don't you? Because you didn't travel with Link. Instead you stayed in the original Hyrule which you have always been in. It is link himself that has moved and we know link is not the centre of the multiverse who makes every Hyrule he graces with his presence the canon Hyrule. That would be absurd to think so as we know there are multiple links.

The Hyrule link goes back to is a separate reality entirely. It isnt his own time because he didnt time hop 7 years into the future. Those years actually passed whilst he was sealed and he aged at the normal rate. Therefore the events of MM and TP are not a natural continuation of the unified timeline but a result of links universe hopping.

 

[Sheiken]

I think people are taking the word "legit" the wrong way. This theory is based on the bloodline of the Chosen Hero of the Goddess, not what timeline is more canon than another. Of course all 3 are canon, as I already stated in my post.

 

[Spamomanospam]

This theory is quite interesting. I think the bloodline of the original hero isn't something most people consider when thinking of the timeline; I know I didn't. Also the idea of an original Triforce piece creating each timeline is very intriguing. I think it gives a little more legitimacy to the idea of the downfall timeline, since a big problem I have with this idea is that theoretically Link failing in any game could result in an alternate reality. This idea works well with it, though, since alternate futures aren't just something that grows on trees, but it takes a significant power such as that of the Triforce to create one.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

The child timeline certainly is the best continuation, although being an Alternate Reality.