Chronology
The chronology of the fictional Zelda universe is debated among fans. As time progressed and more games were released, the order of the games in an overall timeline became complex and heavily disputed.
On November 13, 1998, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto was interviewed by Nintendo Power Magazine. When asked where the Zelda games fall when arranged chronologically by their stories, his response was:
Ocarina of Time is the first story, then the original Legend of Zelda, then Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and finally A Link to the Past. It's not very clear where Link's Awakening fits in--it could be anytime after Ocarina of Time.
Official Zelda.com Old Interview,
(NOTE: This interview has since been revealed to have been mistranslated. Nintendo of America, Inc no longer endorses the quote and Shigeru Miyamoto says it is not the timeline nor was this the timeline he meant to convey) [If anyone could provide a source for this it would be greatly appreciated.]
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Despite how daunting trying to figure out the chronology of the Zelda games is today this was not always the case. It goes without saying that when there was only one game in the series, The Legend of Zelda, there was no problem. Its sequel, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link caused no problems either, simply taking place no longer than a short few years after the original game's story.
The third game in the series, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, is where the chronology of the series started to get interesting. This was actually a prequel, set in ancient times before the original two games (as was advertised on the back of the Japanese edition's packaging). The game told the origin of the series' villain, Ganon, and that he was once a thief named Ganondorf. The fourth game in the series, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening was made clear in the opening prologue in the instruction manual to take place a relatively short time after A Link to the Past, this is supported in the game which features a few visual references to it.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time expanded upon A Link to the Past's opening prologue, showing Ganon back when he was merely the thief Ganondorf and how he first came into contact with the Triforce and was subsequently sealed into the tainted Sacred Realm by the Seven Sages. These events establish the game as a prequel to A Link to the Past. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask took place a short time after Ocarina of Time.
This was the last point at which the full chronology of the Zelda series would remain simple. The next games, The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, which were released simultaneously and featured linked storyline through a password system, proved to be the most ambiguous Zelda games yet as far as the chronology of the series is concerned. They did not take place in the same era as Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, nor the era of The Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link, because they featured a different version of the character Impa.
It is established in the two Oracle games that the Triforce is whole and resting in Hyrule Castle and that Ganon is dead and needs to be revived through magic. Ganon had been killed in two of the previously released Zelda games, The Legend of Zelda and A Link to the Past, and the Triforce was united by the forces of good at the end of two previously released games also, The Adventure of Link and A Link to the Past, so the Oracle games were likely intended to take place at one of these points. Also of note is that the prologue to The Adventure of Link tells of a time when the King of Hyrule ruled the land with the whole Triforce, which would take place chronologically an unspecified amount of generations before the original The Legend of Zelda game.
There has been some debate as to what relationship the Oracle games have with Link's Awakening, and by extension A Link to the Past. The final scene in the true ending to the Oracle games showed Link leaving the land on a small ship that resembles the ship Link is travelling on in the intro sequence to Link's Awakening. The ship in the Oracle games' true ending sequence is also being followed by seagulls, which are of great symbolic significance in Link's Awakening. The references to the defeat of Ganon in Link's Awakening's prologue and the visual reference to Agahnim within the game itself could, in theory, be retroactively applied to the two Oracle games with no problem. This leaves three possibilities:
1. The Oracle games feature the Princess Zelda from A Link to the Past and star the Link from A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, taking place chronologically between the two games.
2. The Oracle games star the Link from Link's Awakening and retroactively cut the ties Link's Awakening originally had with A Link to the Past. This could be because the developers of the Oracle games wanted all of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color Zelda games to feature one unique Link who does not star in Zelda games on other consoles.
3. The Oracle games do not star the Link from Link's Awakening and the ending sequence was a coincidence or a mistake.
It should be noted though that in the two Oracle games Princess Zelda does not seem to be familiar with Link and has to introduce herself to him, whereas they had already met in A Link to the Past where Link saved her and Hyrule from the clutches of evil. Furthermore, it can be inferred from dialogue in A Link to The Past that Zelda already knows link in that game, perhaps placing Link's Awakening before A Link to the Past, and the Oracle duology before it, with Ganon requiring reviving due to his death in 2003's The Wind Waker
Also of note is that whilst Link shares the same design in the official artwork of both A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening, the Link of the two Oracle games has a slightly different clothing design in the official artwork. They do however all share the same design of shield in the official artwork, which only features in these three Zelda games.
Curiously, in the Game Boy Advance version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, only one sprite was altered from the original version; the witch's assistant was changed drastically in order to resemble Maple - the assistant of the witch named Syrup in the two Oracle games. This may or may not provide a clue as to when the two Oracle games take place chronologically.
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords was a bonus multi-player game included on the cartridge of the Game Boy Advance version of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. The designs and art style used for Link and Zelda borrowed from the then yet to be released The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker game. The storyline to Four Swords was relatively simple but introduced two new important pieces of lore to the series; the Four Sword and the villain Vaati. In this game Link and Zelda were childhood friends, other than that little is known of what kind of time period this game takes place in, but it is generally assumed that this game introduced a new Link and Zelda, not featured in any previous games. Completing the game allows access to a bonus dungeon named Palace of the Four Sword in the other game on the cartridge, A Link to the Past. The Palace of the Four Sword could be found in the pyramid in the Dark World and was a new addition, not featured in the original version of A Link to the Past. In it Link must collect the four separated versions of the Four Sword and then battle four shadowy counterparts to unite the Four Sword once again.
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker firmly established itself as taking place many centuries after Ocarina of Time, making many big references to it, as well as a few small references to Majora's Mask, but also proved to be the most controversial game in the series when it came to the overall chronology. This was because it was seemingly irreconcilable with A Link to the Past. In A Link to the Past Ganon was still trapped in the Dark World after being sealed there centuries ago by Seven Sages (as later shown in Ocarina of Time). In The Wind Waker however Ganon is said to have escaped the seal by means unknown, which lead to the Gods flooding the whole of Hyrule and sealing it away from the world. Hyrule became but a faint memory carried by legend and the descendants of its royalty lived as normal people. By the end of the game it seemed as though Hyrule, Ganon and the Master Sword were gone forever. One could assume that The Wind Waker was the last game in the series chronologically and every other game, including A Link to the Past, happen long before it. However that leaves a lot of awkward problems as well, because only Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are referenced, as though none of the other games had happened. One of the most notable incidents of this is the situation with the Triforce; Ganon possesses the Triforce of Power and it is implied that he had kept it in his possession ever since he first obtained it in Ocarina of Time, the Triforce of Wisdom was passed down through the descendants of the Zelda from Ocarina of Time and it is implied that it never left the possession of the royal family in that time and finally the Triforce of Courage was said to have left the Hero of Time (Link from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask) when he embarked on another adventure and was split into eight pieces which the Link in The Wind Waker had to recover. With that in mind it seemed impossible for the events of the other games in the series to take place between Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker, they certainly couldn't take place before Ocarina of Time either and if they were to take place after The Wind Waker it would have left a very large gap and a lot of anomalies that couldn't be satisfactorily explained. This left a lot of fans divided on the issue, with the following possibilities proposed:
1. The Wind Waker occurs chronologically before A Link to the Past. Some time after The Wind Waker either Hyrule is recovered or a new Hyrule is founded, Ganon somehow recovers and ends up trapped in the Dark World again along with the Triforce and the Master Sword is recovered.
2. Every other Zelda game occurs chronologically between Ocarina of Time and Hyrule getting flooded whilst The Wind Waker occurs last chronologically. The legend of the Hero of Time is held on to more so than any other legend and the Triforce pieces somehow end up with the owners they belong to in The Wind Waker.
3. The Wind Waker takes place in a separate continuity from the rest of the series.
4. The Wind Waker takes place in an alternate timeline created when Link returned to his childhood at the end of Ocarina of Time.
The latter and most controversial theory originated from fans’ interpretations of an interview with Eiji Aonuma, the relevant extract is as follows:
Q: Where does The Wind Waker fit into the overall Zelda series timeline?
Aonuma: You can think of this game as taking place over a hundred years after Ocarina of Time. You can tell this from the opening story, and there are references to things from Ocarina located throughout the game as well. Miyamoto: Well, wait, which point does the hundred years start from? Aonuma: From the end. Miyamoto: No, I mean, as a child or as a... Aonuma: Oh, right, let me elaborate on that. Ocarina of Time basically has two endings of sorts; one has Link as a child and the other has him as an adult. This game, The Wind Waker, takes place a hundred years after the adult Link defeats Ganon at the end of Ocarina. Miyamoto: This is pretty confusing for us, too. (laughs) So be careful.
[NOTE: The translator of the interview incorrectly opted for the interpretation of “one hundred” rather than “hundreds” as is evidenced in the game.]
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures was a sequel to the first Four Swords game, and like the original the character designs of Link and Zelda borrowed from The Wind Waker, but the rest of the game’s graphics borrowed heavily from A Link to the Past. The game took place an unspecified amount of time after the events of the first Four Swords game, leaving it uncertain as to whether or not it featured the same Link and Zelda from that game.
Four Swords Adventures’ place in the overall chronology of the series proved confusing because of its depiction of Ganon. In this game Ganondorf had only recently departed from the Gerudo tribe, who seem to have known of him since his birth. This seemed to conflict with the origin and history of Ganon shown in Ocarina of Time. Whilst it was very common in the Zelda series for different versions of characters to exist over many centuries, Ganon was the exception; in all of the games Ganon appeared in it was always the same character, unlike Link and Zelda. Four Swords Adventures seemed to present a new Ganondorf who had a different history with the Gerudo and sought after a different power.
Later in the game it was told that Ganondorf had taken a trident from an ancient pyramid. The inscription on the resting place of the trident read as follows:
"… … … Seek …you…the world? Seek you…power?
Does your…soul…despise Peace and… thirst for… More?
Does you soul…cry… For…destruction and… Conquest?
We…grant you… power to … ruin…the world. The power of…darkness.
Evil… spirit of Magic trident.
You are…the… King of Darkness."
Later in the game when Princess Zelda met the trident-wielding Ganon (in his pig form, the only one shown in the game play) she referred to him as an “ancient demon reborn”.
This knowledge of an evil creature named Ganon from long ago would seem to suggest that Four Swords Adventures chronologically takes place an unspecified amount of time after Ocarina of Time, as does the existence of the Dark World in Four Swords Adventures, which was known only as the Sacred Realm until Ganon tainted it with his evil in Ocarina of Time.
Ganon had previously wielded a trident in A Link to the Past, BS Zelda (a remake of the original The Legend of Zelda game) and both Oracle games. Some fans had theorised that the magic trident in Four Swords Adventures is the very same trident from the previous games and that the “evil spirit of magic trident” was the spirit and power of the original Ganondorf. They further theorised that the Gerudo named Ganondorf in Four Swords Adventures was a different one from the other games and that once he acquired the ancient trident he was imbued with the original Ganondorf’s spirit and power.
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap was a prequel to Four Swords, chronologically taking place many generations before. If the Palace of the Four Sword dungeon in the Game Boy Advance version of A Link to the Past is to be taken as canon then The Minish Cap would have to predate that by generations also.
Regardless, the exact order of the games and how many timelines exist remains a mystery. However, Eiji Aonuma promised he will do his best to patch it all up and hopefully reveal the timeline someday, and Shigeru Miyamoto publicly stated there is a master document containing the timeline.
Other fans say that the chronology of the series should not be so rigid. Just as real-world legends are retold with different variations, each game could merely be a different retelling of the same story. With each advancement in videogame hardware and the ever-changing desires of the consumer, the base story of Link saving Zelda from Ganon and recovering the Triforce is embellished, modified, and out-right changed. Just like any other legend, The Legend of Zelda changes as it is retold through the years.
Either way, the creators have repeatedly insisted Zelda has a set timeline, but due to the poor translation protocols in the 1990s and the constant debate over what counts as being canon, the timeline at this moment is not known and it is unlikely anyone will know it anytime soon.
The upcoming Nintendo GameCube game, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is said to take place a few decades after the Ocarina of Time
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