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Time Theory Split

Joined
Nov 29, 2011
Location
New Jersey
As all of you know, the split timeline is a very tricky thing, it is more than confusing at times. Here is a theory that I came up with.

It is going to be quite difficult to follow what I am saying so I will be sure to explain things in a way as to where you can comprehend.

What is "time" in Zelda? What is considered the past and what is considered the future? I find myself asking this very question daily here on ZD, but I never brought it to anyone's attention until now. Time has always been a factor for the Zelda series, but where on the canon timeline does our part exist? At the beginning of every Zelda game it starts off as a story being told. Maybe by a tribe or maybe as a mother to her child, whatever or however the story is being told, it is being told regardless. But where is that story being told in the timeline?

Take a look at the hero is defeated timeline split. The whole split is a huge "What If" scenario made up by Nintendo. Now this what if scenario leads me to believe that the present is located sometime before OoT, or even as OoT is occurring, my proof of the theory that it is before OoT is, picture someone telling you the story of the legend of Zelda, but this time the narrator wants to say that the hero is defeated. We don't know who is telling the story, it could be the goddesses planning out the fate of humanity and are consulting each other with their ideas, the story could be told by a tribe outside of Hyrule hearing about Link and his courageous activities (rumors spread that he was defeated) then the story changes. We don't know where in Zelda Time the "present" exists. and I am not here to say that I know where the answer lies, or that I have enough proof to show my theory is correct, but that is what makes it a theory, I believe that the present time is before OoT or as OoT is occurring. I wan't to hear what you as the community think, what your theories are and where you think the present truly lies.

Thank you all for reading. ~BSPURKA ;)
 

Locke

Hegemon
Site Staff
Joined
Nov 24, 2009
Location
Redmond, Washington
Since all the games are legends, I don't think there is a "present". That being said, the series generally follows B-theory of time. All of the timeline exists - the present is no more real (or no less fantasy) than the past or the future. "Present," then, merely relates to one's perspective. Therefore, one could define "present" as whatever part of whatever game one is playing. When merely considering the timeline, I think it's about as useless to define a "present" as it would be to try to find a point in our own history to call "present."

As for the downfall timeline, which I gather is your reason for defining "present" as you did, one must simply change one's perspective - "step back" so that one can see not only all points along one timeline, but all (or at least some) possible timelines.

tl;dr: (really?) ...the "present" is wherever you want it to be.
 
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
I think each of the 3 timelines requires the stories to be told long after the ends, or a time after each story. Not during though. It doesn't fit the way the stories are presented and doesn't allow for acceptable chronology errors that we've come to love and bicker over.

What if the downfall is reality, and the other timelines are the hopeful stories of the people?
 
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Xinnamin

Mrs. Austin
Joined
Dec 6, 2009
Location
clustercereal
I am just having a hard time grasping "present is wherever you want it to be".
"Present time" is whatever time the player occupies during the quest. If the player has just started the journey, then the start of the journey is the present. If the player is fighting a boss, then that fight is taking place in the present. Whatever point you are at in the story is the "present time" relative to you.

The way you were explaining your idea in your OP sounded like you were suggesting if, say, your grandmother was telling you a bedtime story, that the "present time" is always set to before she told the story? Like if she was going to start telling you the story at 9:05 pm, but you were always stuck at 9:00 pm? I'm not understanding what you're defining as "the present time".
 

Beauts

Rock and roll will never die
Joined
Jun 15, 2012
Location
London, United Kingdom
I think the present is whichever game you are playing. You move with the game. I.e. the present in OoT is first as a child, then seven years pass, then the present is as an adult, just seven years later. Other than that, it's pretty self-explanatory. The first game in the chronological sequence is SS, etc.

I just thought about it a bit more though and I guess I get what you're saying- in which case, the present is the last game which we know solidly happened, before the 3 way split, which makes OoT the 'present'
 

Curmudgeon

default setting: sarcastic prick
Joined
Dec 17, 2012
Gender
grumpy
Theoretically, a parallel universe exists for every permutation of every choice ever made. ever. So yes, under that operating theory, time does split at the end of every game. Nintendo just chooses not to make games out of those realities.
 

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