Hyrule Timeline.md

The Hyrulean History as a Singlular Timeline

Preface

The Legend of Zelda games presented gorgeous fantasies of the Hyrulean universe. Regrettably, Nintendo has officially declared that the events of Ocarina of Time fork the timeline into three distinct branches, only one of which develops into the Switch hits. Severing the continuity of the series’s rich lore is poor news for me and other supporters of self-consistent causality.

Fortunately, as the developers abandon the parallel universes and focus on an age over a millennia after the world’s creation, there is enough consistency and timing between the stories to realign the different sequences to a single continuous chronology. The following is my take on the Hyrule history as a singular timeline. Take my views with a grain of salt, though – I relied on the Zelda Fandom resources (mainly the Zelda Timeline article) to compose these records. At this writing, I have played (0) Zelda games.

Key

• Era
  • Bold: game that took place in Hyrule
  • Bold Italic: game that took place outside of Hyrule
  • Normal: narration
    • Acronyms differentiate distinct generations of characters of recurring names (Link, Zelda, etc.) by the first game they appears in. For example, it is the same hero from A Link to the Past to Oracle of Ages inclusive. Entries between the two parts of Ocarina of Time is exempt to distinguish the long-term time-traveller with Adult Era (before he defeats OoT Ganondorf) and Child Era (after his victory).

Unified Timeline

• Creation of the World
  • The Golden Goddesses gifts the mortals the Triforce.
• Era of the Goddess Hylia
• Sky Era
  • Demise the Demon King sought to seize the Triforce and conquer the world, but Hylia temporarily sealed him.
  • Skyward Sword
    • For that gods cannot wield the Triforce, Hylia reïncarnats as SS Zelda.
    • SS Link defeats Demise for good with the Triforce and seals him within the Master Sword.

    • Though this is not the end. My hate [Ganondorf reincarnations]... never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end! I will rise again. Those like you... Those who share the blood of the goddess [Hylia/Zelda reincarnations] and the spirit of the hero [Link reincarnations]... They are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time! ⸺ Demise’s last words¹

• Era of Chaos
  • Interloper War
    • The Temple of Time and Temple of Light were constructed in the Sacred Realm to house the Master Sword and the Triforce respectively.
• Era of Prosperity
  • King Rauru, Queen Sonia and other SS Zelda’s descendants establish Hyrule.
  • Imprisoning War (TotK)
• Force Era
  • The Minish Legend
  • Vaati unleashed evil upon Hyrule.
  • The Minish Cap
    • tMC Link defeats Vaati.
  • Vaati strikes back but a hero seals him in the Four Sword.
  • Four Swords
    • FS Link reseals Vaati in the Four Sword.

Child Timeline

• Era of the Hero of Time
  • Hyrulean Civil War
  • Ganondorf schemes to obtain the Triforce.
  • Ocarina of Time (Child)
    • The Master Sword seals Adult Era Link for the next 7 years.
    • OoT Ganondorf follows Adult Era Link and obtains the Power but loses the Wisdom and the Courage.
    • Child Era Link arrives from time travel, informs OoT Zelda about Ganondorf’s treason, and then unknowingly leaves.
  • Majora's Mask
  • Child Era Link goes missing and Adult Era Link awakens (no particular order).
  • Ocarina of Time (Adult)
    • OoT Link time travels
  • OoT Sages cannot destroy the Power’s owner, thus instead banishes him to the Twilight Realm.
• Twilight Era
  • Twilight Princess
    • TP Link slays OoT Ganondorf
• Shadow Era²
  • Four Swords Adventures
    • FSA Link is forced to draw the Four Sword and consequently to redestroy Vaati.
    • FSA Ganondorf transforms into the beast Ganon but FSA Link(s) defeats and seals him in the Four Sword.

Fallen Hero Timeline

• Shadow Era?
  • aLttP Ganon obtains the complete Triforce and corrupts the Sacred Realm, but the Sages (ancestors of those from aLttP) seal him there.
  • Imprisoning War (aLttP)
• Era of Light and Dark
  • A Link to the Past
    • With aLttP Ganon slain by aLttP Link; the Zelda family claims the complete Triforce.
  • Link's Awakening
  • Oracle of Seasons
  • Oracle of Ages
    • aLttP Ganon half-revived but aLttP redefeated him.
  • The Triforce pieces returned to their traditional owners once again.
  • A Link Between Worlds
    • aLBW Link kills aLttP Ganon once again; the Zelda family reclaims the complete Triforce.
• Golden Era
  • Tri Force Heroes
  • The Zelda family uses the complete Triforce to bring Hyrule prosperity until Zelda I’s generation where the Courage wasn’t inherited and got lost.
• Era of Decline
  • The “Zelda” name tradition becomes law after a curse befell Zelda I.
  • The Legend of Zelda
    • tLoZ Link kills(?) the newly-revived aLttP Ganon with the Wisdom which tLoZ Zelda hid.
  • The Adventure of Link

Adult Timeline

• Era without a Hero
  • The last master of the Courage scatters the Courage into 8 fragments.
  • tWW Ganon’s seal breaks, but no wielder of the Courage comes forth.
  • Great Flood
    • The Wisdom splits into two halves.
• Era of the Great Sea
  • tWW Ganondorf finds his way to the surface.
  • The Wind Waker
    • The complete Triforce reunites when tWW Link and co. recovers the Wisdom and the Courage and brings them to the final boss battle.
    • tWW King Hyrule uses the complete Triforce to seal Hyrule – tWW Ganondorf in it – beneath the waves for good.
• Era of the Great Voyage
  • Phantom Hourglass
• Era of Hyrule's Rebirth
  • tWW Link and tWW Zelda found New Hyrule on a new continent.
  • Spirit Tracks

Breath of the Wild Timeline

• Calamity Era
  • The second Great Calamity
  • Breath of the Wild
  • Tears of the Kingdom

Footnotes

1. https://nintendo.fandom.com/wiki/Demise?oldid=808199#Demise's_curse ↩

2. https://zelda.nintendo.com/about/ ↩