Spoiler My Personal Split Timeline Theory

[TheGermanLegend]

First of all, sorry for any grammar or spelling errors. I’m from Germany and I started learning English a few years ago, so it might not be perfect.


Let’s start:


My timeline starts with TMC which shows the Origin of Vaati and the Four Swords.


After TMC I place OoT as it shows the Origins of Ganon. At the End of OoT after the sages have sealed Ganon in the Sacred Realm Zelda sends Link back in time where he informs the younger Zelda about Ganons plans and they together convince the King of Ganon being bad, so he commands the sages to execute him. After that Link travels to the Lost woods in search for Navi and MM takes place.


Some centuries after MM TP takes place. In this game Ganon is finally killed.


On the adult timeline Ganon escapes the Sacred Realm and in order to stop him the three goddesses send a flood which leads into WW. Ganon is killed in this game and after WW PH takes place.


After PH ST takes place

……………../--WW/PH--ST
TMC--OoT
…………….\MM--TP

Next I would like to place the Oracle games. I’ll place them after TP because Twinrova appears in them. But they were killed on the adult timeline so it has to take place on the child timeline. And because Ganon has to be dead it must take place after TP


LA comes after OoX. It could possibly also go after ALttP but I place it after OoX, cause in the end of OoX Link sails away, something there’s no reason for him to do in ALttP.

………………/--WW/PH--ST
TMC--OoT
……………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA

Ok, this was the easy part. The biggest problem I have now is the backstory from WW. So I’ll show you some important sentences.


“Long ago, there existed a kingdom where a golden power lay hidden. One day, a man of great evil found this power and took it for himself, and with it at his command, he spread darkness across the kingdom. But then...just as all hope had died, a young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere. Wielding a blade that repelled evil, he sealed the dark one away and gave the land light. This boy, who traveled through time to save the land, was known as the hero of time. This boy's tale was passed down through the generations until it became legend.”


This is pretty much the story of OoT, except that the Hero of Time didn’t sealed Ganon. The sages did it. The intro also talks about the OoT story becoming a legend passed from generation to generation.


“And then a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom, and the great evil once again crept forth from the depths of the earth. The people believed that the hero of time would come again to save them, but the hero did not appear...”


“From the depths of the earth”? Shouldn’t Ganon have escaped from the scared realm? “From the depths of the earth” sounds more like he was dead and then reborn. And “A fell wind”? Wasn’t Vaati a wind mage? And one more thing I want to point out: Just imagine you were Ganon, there was a flood and all people are traveling to the mountain tops. Would you just sit there at Hyrule Castel or would you try to escape to the mountains too? What I think happened between OoT and WW, is Ganon died and was reborn, which explains his different backstory in FSA. After he stolen the trident, he got all his memories back and tried to conquer Hyrule. FSA takes place. When the WW intro talks about no hero appearing, they mean no hero strong enough to kill Ganon. He was only able to temporary stop him with a seal while the flood was coming. And do you remember the FSA-Hyrule being surrounded by water. Well, the flood already stared.
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“What became of that kingdom...? None remain who know. The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on the wind's breath. On a certain island, it became customary to garb young boys in green when they come of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspire to find heroic blades and cast evil down. The elders wish only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend…”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This part of the intro shows us, that only one island was left to remember parts of the legend. It also talks about the legend “survived on the wind’s breath” Doesn’t sound like a very solid way to tell a legend to me. So it’s very much possible that the people of Outset Island messed parts of the legend up, forgot something or mixed some legends into one.[/FONT]


………………/--FSA--WW/PH--ST
TMC--OoT
……………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA


I’ll place FS directly before FSA, as in my opinion the golden goddesses had weaken Vaatis seal on purpose to test if there was a hero able to kill a great evil force. They didn’t find one, but at least someone able to stop Ganon temporary like said before.


Now there is one problem: There is no reason for Ganon to die between OoT and FSA. Something must have happened between these two games. What could have happened? How about ALttP? It has Ganon sealed in the Sacred Realm at the beginning and dead at the end. Its backstory also is very similar to OoT. And if there are some of you who say that OoT isn’t the backstory of ALttP because in OoT the sages were all from different races and the ancestors seam all to be human, I have an explanation for this problem. There’s no problem with Zelda, Nabouru, Saria, Rauru and Impa. We know the ALttP-Zelda being an ancestor of the OoT-Zelda. The other Maidens aren’t too old for being a Kokiri, the Gerudo-Maid just simple dyed her hair and there is no reason for the maiden not being hylian or shiekah. The only problems are the Goron und the Zora maid. The Zora maid can be explained rather simply. The Zoras evolved into the Ritos between OoT and WW. In ALttP we see something between a Zora and a Rito with a skin-colored skin and no fins just like a Rito, but also with no bill and wings just like a Zora. (This may be the time when they used the Grappling Hook). The Goron is harder to explain. We know Darunia and the Hero of Time being Sworn Brothers. What if one of Darunia's ancestors also had a sworn brother but no children on his own? The ancestor of his sworn brother would be the maid. As this whole being-a-sage-thing seems like a kind of magic to me, there is no reason for it to be passed down from father to son or something like this.


I also want to note, that Ganon has his Trident in this game. What if he sealed his memories in it, so that if he dies, he can get his memories back after being reborn?


………………/--ALttP--FS/FSA--WW/PH--ST
TMC--OoT
……………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA


Now only three games left: LoZ, AoL and SS


AoL is a direct sequel to LoZ


The only thing important for the timeline we know about SS at the moment is, that it shows the creation of the master sword. To place it we have to place another event first: The interloper war. I place it before TMC because the Triforce is shown at some places in this game, but never mentioned. So the people might know about it, but because they don’t know where the light sprits have hidden it, they don’t tell Link anything about it.


In OoT the Triforce is sealed in the Sacred Realm with the Mastersword. This could mean the Light Sprites have hidden it in the Sacred Realm and then they have sealed it with the Mastersword. To seal something with the Mastersword, the Mastersword must exist. This means SS takes place before TMC


…………………..…/--ALttP--FS/FSA--WW/PH--ST
SS--TMC--OoT

…………..………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA


Before I place LoZ/AoL I’ll have to explain something first; Ganons deaths and Ganon being revived. After OoT the timeline splits in the adult and in the child timeline. So there are two timelines. But Ganon dies in five games: LoZ, ALttP, OoX, WW and TP. OoX has an already dead Ganon that is revived by Twinrova and killed by Link a few minutes later. As mentioned before I have placed it after TP.


In Order to revive Ganon Twinrova used a very complicated Ritual that failed in the end so that Ganon was nothing more than a mindless beast that could theoretically be killed with the wooden sword. But in AoL the only think you have to do to revive Ganon is pouring Links blood on Ganons ashes. If it is so simply, why would Twinrova perform just a complicated ritual do revive Ganondorf?


The only reason I could think of is, because Ganon was killed differently in the games before them. In LoZ he was killed with the silver arrows. In TP he was killed with the Mastersword. But we don’t know about any situation one of these two attempts to revive Ganon succeeded. So there must be a third way to revive him. As mentioned before in FSA he was reborn as a simple Gerudo and got his memories back when he had stolen his trident. In the game before FSA, which is ALttP he was killed with the silver arrows. What if pouring Links blood on Ganons ashes is just a way to rush his rebirth and the only think necessary to revive Ganon is the person who killed him being dead? It would mean that Ganon would be reborn after Links natural death. With this in mind we can place LoZ/AoL rather easy.


The towns of AoL are named after the sages from OoT, so it must take place on the adult timeline. Ganon is killed in the game with the silver arrows, so it must take place before a game where Ganon is reborn as a simple Gerudo or where his origins aren’t explained. So the only place it fits in is between ALttP and FS/FSA. In LoZ Ganons origins aren’t explained so it can be placed after ALttP where he was killed with the Silver Arrows without problems.


And now my timeline is finished:


…………………..…/--ALttP—LoZ7AoL--FS/FSA--WW/PH--ST
SS--TMC--OoT
…………..………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA


Do you agree or disagree with it? Do you have any questions? Please tell me!

 

[MrLuigi]

You just did everything I hate in a time line.

But you did a good job explaining yourself and I hope you are at good at defending yourself, some people here are cRaZy.

 

[Mases]

Hi TheGermanLegend, welcome to the forums,

First off, excellent theory. I don't agree with a couple of things but it was thoroughly laid out with reasoning. There are a few things I'm concerned with.

1. The relationship between Link's Awakening and A Link to the Past seems to be too close to one another to have listed on separate timelines. Based on the in-game material, as well as some publications, it seemed that at the time, Link's Awakening was a direct sequel to A Link to the Past. I think it is a bit unnecessary to separate them in the way that you did.

2. The second issue is the placement of A Link to the Past. Now, it's not a majority opinion, but I do personally think it takes place after Ocarina of Time as well. I do think there is too much that was deliberately linked up between Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past for them not to be related closely together. On the flipside, I'm not sure I quite got the connection to ALttP--FS/FSA and that of TWW. Most theorists and also what the in-game material refers to, seems to me that no game could fit in between Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker. (I'm sure other people could explain this point a bit more thorough).


Overall though, I do like your timeline and while I disagree with some of the other minor issues that I may get into later on, you did a decent job explaining it.

 

[JamesBond007]

I can't agree with your timeline (and any other similar timelines), becuase Ganon appears with the Trident in the Oracle games. In my opinion, the Trident is very important as a timeline item. If FSA doesn't take place before OoT, each game with the Trident should take place only on one side of the timeline.

The Trident appears is these games:
The Legand of Zelda (that's ambiguously canon, becuase it appeared only in BS Zelda remake)
A Link to The Past (first released game with the Trident)
Ancient Stone Tablets (again, the game is ambiguously canon)
Link's Awakening (Nightmare's Ganon form)
Oracle of Seasons/Ages (Linked ending)
Four Swords Adventures (Trident's origin)

 

[Djinn]

I can't agree with your timeline (and any other similar timelines), becuase Ganon appears with the Trident in the Oracle games. In my opinion, the Trident is very important as a timeline item. If FSA doesn't take place before OoT, each game with the Trident should take place only on one side of the timeline.

I am not so sure that the appearance of the trident alone is enough to make any Ganon the same as the one from FSA. As he has a trident in LttP and the 16bit remake of the original LoZ. And it appeared to be nothing more than the weapon he happens to be carrying at the time. LttP is still within the same line as OoT. As Ganon of LttP owned the triforce.

 

[Locke]

This is pretty much the story of OoT, except that the Hero of Time didn’t sealed Ganon. The sages did it. The intro also talks about the OoT story becoming a legend passed from generation to generation.

“And then a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom, and the great evil once again crept forth from the depths of the earth. The people believed that the hero of time would come again to save them, but the hero did not appear...”

“From the depths of the earth”? Shouldn’t Ganon have escaped from the scared realm? “From the depths of the earth” sounds more like he was dead and then reborn. And “A fell wind”? Wasn’t Vaati a wind mage? And one more thing I want to point out: Just imagine you were Ganon, there was a flood and all people are traveling to the mountain tops. Would you just sit there at Hyrule Castel or would you try to escape to the mountains too?

emphasis mine.
This is a story, a legend, not an encyclopedia entry. Don't look too deep into the specifics. The Sages were behind-the-scenes characters, so few would remember them, while Link was the one going around helping everyone, so of course he'd get the credit for defeating Ganondorf.
the "fell wind" is most likely just part of the theme of WW. Ganondorf talks a lot about the winds of Hyrule and of the Gerudo Desert; of life and death. This is one of those winds. It's impressive that you were able to connect that to Vaati (it does make sense taken out of context), I think it's best to follow Occam's Razor here.
Also, you admit that the story may have been messed up later in your post. Try to stay consistent. If you take one part of the legend literally, do that for the whole thing. If you think it may not be accurate, then don't trust it for any specific information.

Keep in mind that there were two seals between OoT and WW. First, the Master Sword sealed Ganondorf's Mazoku ("You see, it [the MS] is also a sort of key... a most wretched little key that has kept the seal on me and my magic intact!" - "it is also the annoying seal that was sealing my Mazoku" in the Japanese text, meaning the moblins and darknuts you see in the castle, among other minions). I'd assume he was also caught in this seal. The flood seal came afterward, hiding Hyrule away from everyone who had been commanded to climb to the mountaintops. (There is also a third seal, cast by Ganondorf, around his tower. It's not clear when this one was erected.) What I'm trying to say is that Ganondorf was never told about the flood and he was incapacitated by the first seal so he couldn't do anything about it.

I’ll place FS directly before FSA, as in my opinion the golden goddesses had weaken Vaatis seal on purpose to test if there was a hero able to kill a great evil force. They didn’t find one, but at least someone able to stop Ganon temporary like said before.

It's best not to base theories on opinions. Try to find evidence to support this placement. I'd suggest starting with FSA's intro, and maybe looking at some developer quotes

…………………..…/--ALttP—LoZ7AoL--FS/FSA--WW/PH--ST
SS--TMC--OoT
…………..………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA

OoT (Ganon sealed)
LttP (Ganon escapes, is killed)
(Link dies, Ganon is revived)
LoZ (Ganon is killed)
AoL (Ganon is still dead)
FSA (New Ganondorf takes Trident, retains old Ganondorf's memories, is sealed)
(Flood)
WW (Ganon escapes, is killed)

(Ganon timeline my addition, as a summary)

Actually, I'm impressed that you were able to put that together. It looks like you put a lot of thought into it and explained it very well, and it almost works too.

My main problem with it is how many assumptions you make. There is absolutely no reason to believe that Ganon is revived when Link dies. "Because it fits better in my timeline" is not a reason. On the contrary, we are told several times that the triforce remains in balance. If Ganon returns with the ToP, then either Link or a different hero would return with the ToC. LoZ Link is the "ancestor" of LttP Link. These games are very distant.

Look at the Triforce throughout your timeline too. After OoT, it's split. In LttP, it's whole. In LoZ, it's split again. It's not present in FSA. It's split at the beginning of WW. Daphnes explains that after the HoT left Hyrule on his journey through time [MM], the ToC was split into eight pieces, and remained that way until WW. Therefore it is impossible for any game featuring a whole ToC (LttP and AoL) to be between these two events.

 

[TheGermanLegend]

@Mases
1)As mentioned before LA could go after ALttP but I prefer to put it after OoX because I couldn’t find any in-game material that suggests that LA is a direct sequel to ALttP. Nightmare took the form of Agahnim but Link fought against him in ALttP and in OoS (Dancing Dragon Dungeon). But I found something hinting the OoX/LA-Relation I forgot to mention above. If you look at the official Artworks for the ALttP-Zelda, the OoX-Zelda and Marin you’ll notice that the ALttP-Zelda is blond, while Marin and the OoX-Zelda have red hair. And at the beginning of LA Link mistakes Marin for Zelda.

2)Ok, I’ll try to explain my ALttP—FSA—WW connection. The first think I wanted to point out is that the intro of WW speaks of an event that resembles FSA, that the FSA-Hyrule is surrounded by Water and that the fact that Ganon is sealed in the Four Sword explains why he wouldn’t escape to the mountains like everybody in Hyrule did during the great flood. This is the reason why I placed FSA between OoT and WW. The only problem left was that the end of OoT and the beginning of FSA didn’t fit, because at the end of OoT Ganon is sealed in the Sacred Realm and at the beginning of FSA he was dead and reborn as a simple Gerudo. To fix this problem I placed ALttP between them because it shows Ganon escaping from the Sacred Realm and then his death. And I couldn’t find anything that doesn’t allow other games to take place between OoT and WW. (If anyone did, please tell me)

@JamesBond007 First of all, I never played FSA, but I researched a lot. I agree that the Trident is very important, but I don’t agree that FSA shows the origin of the Trident. I have my one theory about the Trident but I didn’t mention it above.
I think the Trident makes his first appearance in OoT. At this time it was simply a weapon used by Phantom Ganon. After the battle with him Ganon “banishes him to the gap between dimensions” (can someone please tell me where Ganon banishes him in the Japanese Version, because in the German Version he talks about banishing him in the “Hades”, the Greek hell, so I’m not sure about this point). What I think is that this gab transported the Trident in the Sacred Realm, where it was found by Ganon after being sealed. He then sealed his memories in it at used it to battle Link. After his defeat I think Link gives the Trident to the Gerudo-Maid, who then hides it in the Pyramid. On the child-side Phantom Ganon isn’t defeated. I think went berserk after Ganon being executed (that’s what everybody except the sages thought) and killed most Gerudos until he could be sealed in the Arbiter's Grounds. (Phantom Ganon = Death Sword). Twinrova then took his Trident and gave it to Ganon in OoX.

 

[Mases]

For the A Link to the Past > Link's Awakening connection, there are a couple of resources outside of the game material that show this. However, many of these it depends on how important you value their information. For example, the official Nintendo Player's Guide gives a synopsis for the Link's Awakening story and it says the following.

Link's Awakening tells the tale of the hero of A Link to the Past and how after his first great victory he set out on a mission of training, to hone his skills, sharpen his wits and master techniques of battle from around the world. Link sailed to foreign lands where he disciplined his mind and body. When he felt ready to ready to Hyrule, he bought a small sailboat and headed across the Great Hyrulean Sea. The journey ended in a storm that crushed and sank Link's ship. Clinging to a a piece of flotsam, our here floated toward a mysterious tropical shore, unconscious and barely alive.

The story continues, but the main portion is obviously the direct mention that this was the hero of A Link to the Past and this tells the tale of his journey back to Hyrule. The game manual tells a similar story, but it doesn't name A Link to the Past by name.

I personally hold this official Nintendo publication to be important, in addition to the in-game evidence of the nightmares of Ganon and Aghanim. I think this makes ALttP/LA a pretty solid connection. (OoX could be argued as going in between, but this is more-so about the relationship of ALttP and LA.)


Then again, this is a Nintendo Player's Guide and some don't hold it as important. Just my take on it.

I personally take the in-game evidence such as the nightmares of Ganon and Aghanim,

 

[DekuNut]

"On the contrary, we are told several times that the triforce remains in balance. If Ganon returns with the ToP, then either Link or a different hero would return with the ToC. LoZ Link is the "ancestor" of LttP Link."

Could it be possible that the ToC passed along the family tree to the LttP Link and beyond? That also helps when you think about the other Links with the Triforce symbol on their hands. If, for some reason, a descendant of Link does not seem worthy, Farore may take the ToC, but most likely that did not happen. Also, no one knows exactly what happened between these games.

 

[Anemos]

First of all, sorry for any grammar or spelling errors. I’m from Germany and I started learning English a few years ago, so it might not be perfect.


Let’s start:


My timeline starts with TMC which shows the Origin of Vaati and the Four Swords.


After TMC I place OoT as it shows the Origins of Ganon. At the End of OoT after the sages have sealed Ganon in the Sacred Realm Zelda sends Link back in time where he informs the younger Zelda about Ganons plans and they together convince the King of Ganon being bad, so he commands the sages to execute him. After that Link travels to the Lost woods in search for Navi and MM takes place.


Some centuries after MM TP takes place. In this game Ganon is finally killed.


On the adult timeline Ganon escapes the Sacred Realm and in order to stop him the three goddesses send a flood which leads into WW. Ganon is killed in this game and after WW PH takes place.


After PH ST takes place

……………../--WW/PH--ST
TMC--OoT
…………….\MM--TP

Next I would like to place the Oracle games. I’ll place them after TP because Twinrova appears in them. But they were killed on the adult timeline so it has to take place on the child timeline. And because Ganon has to be dead it must take place after TP


LA comes after OoX. It could possibly also go after ALttP but I place it after OoX, cause in the end of OoX Link sails away, something there’s no reason for him to do in ALttP.

………………/--WW/PH--ST
TMC--OoT
……………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA

Ok, this was the easy part. The biggest problem I have now is the backstory from WW. So I’ll show you some important sentences.


“Long ago, there existed a kingdom where a golden power lay hidden. One day, a man of great evil found this power and took it for himself, and with it at his command, he spread darkness across the kingdom. But then...just as all hope had died, a young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere. Wielding a blade that repelled evil, he sealed the dark one away and gave the land light. This boy, who traveled through time to save the land, was known as the hero of time. This boy's tale was passed down through the generations until it became legend.”


This is pretty much the story of OoT, except that the Hero of Time didn’t sealed Ganon. The sages did it. The intro also talks about the OoT story becoming a legend passed from generation to generation.


“And then a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom, and the great evil once again crept forth from the depths of the earth. The people believed that the hero of time would come again to save them, but the hero did not appear...”


“From the depths of the earth”? Shouldn’t Ganon have escaped from the scared realm? “From the depths of the earth” sounds more like he was dead and then reborn. And “A fell wind”? Wasn’t Vaati a wind mage? And one more thing I want to point out: Just imagine you were Ganon, there was a flood and all people are traveling to the mountain tops. Would you just sit there at Hyrule Castel or would you try to escape to the mountains too? What I think happened between OoT and WW, is Ganon died and was reborn, which explains his different backstory in FSA. After he stolen the trident, he got all his memories back and tried to conquer Hyrule. FSA takes place. When the WW intro talks about no hero appearing, they mean no hero strong enough to kill Ganon. He was only able to temporary stop him with a seal while the flood was coming. And do you remember the FSA-Hyrule being surrounded by water. Well, the flood already stared.
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“What became of that kingdom...? None remain who know. The memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on the wind's breath. On a certain island, it became customary to garb young boys in green when they come of age. Clothed in the green of fields, they aspire to find heroic blades and cast evil down. The elders wish only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend…”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]This part of the intro shows us, that only one island was left to remember parts of the legend. It also talks about the legend “survived on the wind’s breath” Doesn’t sound like a very solid way to tell a legend to me. So it’s very much possible that the people of Outset Island messed parts of the legend up, forgot something or mixed some legends into one.[/FONT]


………………/--FSA--WW/PH--ST
TMC--OoT
……………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA


I’ll place FS directly before FSA, as in my opinion the golden goddesses had weaken Vaatis seal on purpose to test if there was a hero able to kill a great evil force. They didn’t find one, but at least someone able to stop Ganon temporary like said before.


Now there is one problem: There is no reason for Ganon to die between OoT and FSA. Something must have happened between these two games. What could have happened? How about ALttP? It has Ganon sealed in the Sacred Realm at the beginning and dead at the end. Its backstory also is very similar to OoT. And if there are some of you who say that OoT isn’t the backstory of ALttP because in OoT the sages were all from different races and the ancestors seam all to be human, I have an explanation for this problem. There’s no problem with Zelda, Nabouru, Saria, Rauru and Impa. We know the ALttP-Zelda being an ancestor of the OoT-Zelda. The other Maidens aren’t too old for being a Kokiri, the Gerudo-Maid just simple dyed her hair and there is no reason for the maiden not being hylian or shiekah. The only problems are the Goron und the Zora maid. The Zora maid can be explained rather simply. The Zoras evolved into the Ritos between OoT and WW. In ALttP we see something between a Zora and a Rito with a skin-colored skin and no fins like a Rito, but also with no bill and wings like a Zora. (This may be the time when they used the Grappling Hook). The Goron is harder to explain. We know Darunia and the Hero of Time being Sworn Brothers. What if one of Darunia's ancestors also had a sworn brother but no children on his own? The ancestor of his sworn brother would be the maid. As this whole being-a-sage-thing seems like a kind of magic to me, there is no reason for it to be passed down from father to son or something like this.


I also want to note, that Ganon has his Trident in this game. What if he sealed his memories in it, so that if he dies, he can get his memories back after being reborn?


………………/--ALttP--FS/FSA--WW/PH--ST
TMC--OoT
……………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA


Now only three games left: LoZ, AoL and SS


AoL is a direct sequel to LoZ


The only thing important for the timeline we know about SS at the moment is, that it shows the creation of the master sword. To place it we have to place another event first: The interloper war. I place it before TMC because the Triforce is shown at some places in this game, but never mentioned. So the people might know about it, but because they don’t know where the light sprits have hidden it, they don’t tell Link anything about it.


In OoT the Triforce is sealed in the Sacred Realm with the Mastersword. This could mean the Light Sprites have hidden it in the Sacred Realm and then they have sealed it with the Mastersword. To seal something with the Mastersword, the Mastersword must exist. This means SS takes place before TMC


…………………..…/--ALttP--FS/FSA--WW/PH--ST
SS--TMC--OoT

…………..………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA


Before I place LoZ/AoL I’ll have to explain something first; Ganons deaths and Ganon being revived. After OoT the timeline splits in the adult and in the child timeline. So there are two timelines. But Ganon dies in five games: LoZ, ALttP, OoX, WW and TP. OoX has an already dead Ganon that is revived by Twinrova and killed by Link a few minutes later. As mentioned before I have placed it after TP.


In Order to revive Ganon Twinrova used a very complicated Ritual that failed in the end so that Ganon was nothing more than a mindless beast that could theoretically be killed with the wooden sword. But in AoL the only think you have to do to revive Ganon is pouring Links blood on Ganons ashes. If it is so simply, why would Twinrova perform just a complicated ritual do revive Ganondorf?


The only reason I could think of is, because Ganon was killed differently in the games before them. In LoZ he was killed with the silver arrows. In TP he was killed with the Mastersword. But we don’t know about any situation one of these two attempts to revive Ganon succeeded. So there must be a third way to revive him. As mentioned before in FSA he was reborn as a simple Gerudo and got his memories back when he had stolen his trident. In the game before FSA, which is ALttP he was killed with the silver arrows. What if pouring Links blood on Ganons ashes is just a way to rush his rebirth and the only think necessary to revive Ganon is the person who killed him being dead? It would mean that Ganon would be reborn after Links natural death. With this in mind we can place LoZ/AoL rather easy.


The towns of AoL are named after the sages from OoT, so it must take place on the adult timeline. Ganon is killed in the game with the silver arrows, so it must take place before a game where Ganon is reborn as a simple Gerudo or where his origins aren’t explained. So the only place it fits in is between ALttP and FS/FSA. In LoZ Ganons origins aren’t explained so it can be placed after ALttP where he was killed with the Silver Arrows without problems.


And now my timeline is finished:


…………………..…/--ALttP—LoZ7AoL--FS/FSA--WW/PH--ST
SS--TMC--OoT
…………..………..\MM--TP--OoX/LA


Do you agree or disagree with it? Do you have any questions? Please tell me!

There is more than one Ganon. The true origin of "Ganon" is yet to be defined. We have to wait until Nintendo finally answers the question "Why are all the Ganons similarly evil?"

"he informs the younger Zelda about Ganons plans and they together convince the King of Ganon being bad," ...Was bedeutet das?

It looks like a pretty good theory. Fairly good use of reason too...

 

[Satsy]

Anemos: It isn't actually certain that there's more than one Ganon. Unlike each Link and Zelda whose stories are told to the newer generations through legends, Ganon is, where mentioned, usually linked to the legend itself (like Wind Waker and Twilight Princess). We also know all Ganon can be resurrected with the blood of the hero spilled on his ashes. Unless it's been specifically mentioned somewhere that there is more than one Ganon, be that in game or in developer interviews, then its just another theory, sadly.

 

[TheGermanLegend]

"he informs the younger Zelda about Ganons plans and they together convince the King of Ganon being bad," ...Was bedeutet das?

Do you speak German?

@Locke I'll respond to your comment later, I have to do some research first

 

[Kombatgod]

This is very interesting, and I too always felt like the water level in FSA could have been a reference to the coming of the flood, but considering that in that game you don't play in the map, but it is made to select the levels, it could just be an image with no meaning in the story... What I should take as timeline stuff are the lots of things FSA has in common with OoA and ALTTP, that makes it look like it happens between them, like in an evolution: Lon Lon Ranch in OoT and in FSA, but no more in ALttP, like if they went away (maybe to Holodrum); many common enemies that are nowhere to be seen in OoT appear in FSA and again in ALttP; Also the Gerudo not only go away before ALttP, but even the desert's name evolves, being Gerudo Desert, then Desert of Doubt and then Desert of Mystery!

Other than that your timeline is unarguable to me.

Well, I think you may like the "What if" theory that I'm going to post soon... Check out the new threads!

Oh, about the Trident, nice idea, another clever try to explain why Ganon's story is different in FSA! I'm guilty of being one of those who believe FSA to be the origin of it, but recently I'm beginning to change my mind since I've noticed that... THE TRIDENT WAS IN OCARINA OF TIME! But this is such a big information that it need its own threat too...

I also agree with LA being after OoX. Many people are for some reason stuck saying that LA is after ALttP, but the only thing that bonds those games is the order of release! There's NOTHING ELSE! Ok, they got some enemies, characters or objects in common, but the Oracle games have much more stuff in common! But even if you say that LA is right after ALttP there's no problem, the Oracles could just be between them! LA manual says that Link is RETURNING from a jurney, so there would be a missing event between ALttP and LA anyway! Maybe the Oracles where made as a prequel to LA, that's it.

 

[TheGermanLegend]

Keep in mind that there were two seals between OoT and WW. First, the Master Sword sealed Ganondorf's Mazoku ("You see, it [the MS] is also a sort of key... a most wretched little key that has kept the seal on me and my magic intact!" - "it is also the annoying seal that was sealing my Mazoku" in the Japanese text, meaning the moblins and darknuts you see in the castle, among other minions). I'd assume he was also caught in this seal. The flood seal came afterward, hiding Hyrule away from everyone who had been commanded to climb to the mountaintops. (There is also a third seal, cast by Ganondorf, around his tower. It's not clear when this one was erected.) What I'm trying to say is that Ganondorf was never told about the flood and he was incapacitated by the first seal so he couldn't do anything about it.

This one is hard to explain but I’ll try. We know the Mastersword got his power from the girl sprite we saw on the SS Artwork. But after the Seal in OoT Link travels back in time and takes the master sword with him, so there is no Mastersword on the adult site on the timeline. The ALttP manual talks about the hylian creating the Mastersword. This explains why there is a Mastersword in ALttP and WW. But this MS doesn’t have a sprite it’s just an ordinary sword. So they used the Power of Fado and Laruto to give it the power to bane evil. But after Ganon killed them the MS lost most of his power. This is why I think they had to use the Four sword to seal him, the MS only had enough power to stop some of his minions.

My main problem with it is how many assumptions you make. There is absolutely no reason to believe that Ganon is revived when Link dies. "Because it fits better in my timeline" is not a reason. On the contrary, we are told several times that the triforce remains in balance. If Ganon returns with the ToP, then either Link or a different hero would return with the ToC. LoZ Link is the "ancestor" of LttP Link. These games are very distant.

The Ganon-revives-when-Link-dies part was just a suggestion I made to explain the problem that Ganon dies in four games (LoZ, ALttP, WW and TP) but is only tried to be revived in two Games (AoL and OoX) and both of them failed. It would work if the timeline splits in four timelines but it splits only in two. So there must be a third way to revive him didn’t seen yet. As it is very easy to revive Ganon after he was killed with the silver arrows (pouring the blood of his murder on his ashes) and very complicated after he was killed with the MS (the ritual Twinrova uses) the third way is performed very likely after a silver-arrow-death.

Look at the Triforce throughout your timeline too. After OoT, it's split. In LttP, it's whole. In LoZ, it's split again. It's not present in FSA. It's split at the beginning of WW. Daphnes explains that after the HoT left Hyrule on his journey through time [MM], the ToC was split into eight pieces, and remained that way until WW. Therefore it is impossible for any game featuring a whole ToC (LttP and AoL) to be between these two events.

At the end of OoT Link leaves the ToC in the adult site (if he wouldn’t there would be four Triforces on the child and only two on the adult site) and travels back in time. We don’t know of any person as brave as Link so it’s very likely the ToC returns to the Sacred Realm. During the battle with Ganon in OoT he uses the ToP to get into his beast form. But during the sealing he was in his human form. The only reason I could think of why he was in this form, is because after his battle with Link he was very weak and not worth to have the ToP anymore. It left him and went back to the Sacred Realm. I’m not sure why the ToW went back to the Sacred Realm, but she used it to send Link back in time so it’s possible she sends it in the Sacred Realm to close the gate between times. This explains why it was whole in ALttP. Between ALttP and LoZ the AoL backstory takes place which explains it’s split in LoZ. After AoL the sleeping Zelda may had convinced Link to hide the ToC like her father did and she may also had used the other two to rule the land together with the LoZ-Zelda. That’s why it is split in WW. Daphnes wasn’t present in OoT so he, or whoever told him about the Triforce could have massed up the OoT-Story and the AoL-Story.

 

[TheGermanLegend]

I found even more evidence for FSA taking place between OoT and WW. It's the shield Link gets from his grandma at the beginning of the game. It's said that this is the shield used by "the hero" himselfe. If WW would be a direct sequel to OoT then the Hero of Time would have used it. But he didn't. The only other Links who we know were using this shield are the MC-Link and the FSA-Link. As the MC-Shield was eaten by Biggoron the only shiel left is the FSA-Shield. As said in previous posts I'm sure the legends of OoT and FSA got messed up between FSA and WW. Another prove for the OoT-FSA-WW connection.