Okay, I am no huge Zelda fan (I’ve only played the 3D games and only beat WW). But something that does interest me is the timeline of the games. To me it seems that there are three Links (possibly four) and here is how I see it going, please correct me where needed
Hero of Time Link is the main Link. The original and coolest of them all, I haven’t read the split timeline forum, but I assume this is the Link that splits the timeline. The timeline I’ve assembled here is unbroken.
It all starts with Ocarina of Time, where the hero of time gets his start. After going into the future and banishing Ganondorf into the Dark Realm, I would assume he goes back into the past to be his kid self.
Discovering himself a hero, Link goes out into the world and finds trouble in Termina, where ?Majora’s Mask is threatening to bring down the moon and crush the world into dust. Using his trusty Ocarina of Time, he saves Termina from peril.
That’s when Zelda gets kidnapped by Gannon, in the original Legend of Zelda, and Link has to refind the Triforce pieces to confront Gannon and banish him again into the Dark Realm.
In Link’s Awakening, Link gets shipwrecked on Koholint Island. While on the island, Link finds out the only way he can leave is by recovering the eight Instruments of the Sirens and waking the Wind Fish.
Too bad when he gets back an asshole sorcerror puts Zelda into a coma, and Link must find six crystal shards to enter his castle and stop him from reviving Gannon in Legend of Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link
Then using the power of the Triforce he transports to far away lands to save the Oracle of Ages and the Oracle of Seasons, to keep evil from spreading to Hyrule.
When he returns an evil sorcerer named Agahnim gains control of Hyrule and uses his power to free Ganon from his prison in the Dark World. After rescuing Princess Zelda from Agahnim’s grasp, Link frees the descendents of the Seven Sages and strengthens the magical seals designed to keep Ganon safely locked away in Link to the Past
After that the King of Hyrule sends Link on a quest with the Minish Cap, to do whatever he does in that tiny world
Then Link finds the Four Swords, to split himself up and save Zelda from Vaati, a wind demon… and then has to fight him again after he rescues Zelda in Four Swords Adventures
Then there are the other two Links
Wind Waker Link only has one game, but originally Nintendo said they has another game in it’s style coming out, but who knows if we’ll ever see that. And it could be possible that this Link is the one in Link’s Awakening, but probably not
Then There’s Wolf Link from what we can see so far, this Link is a new Link like the wind waker
Im not sure but i think that the link in twighlight princess is the same link in ocarina and majoras mask, he s just older and moved to another vilage, but im only guessing since i dont have much info to base this on.
Windwaker happens WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY after all the others. Havent wasted time on gba games.
Windwaker was too easy. I think that zelda actually fits in into twilight princess (somehow o_O) but im not sure. Wolf Link pwns. The series rocked. Wolf Link pwns. The revolution controller hasnt been finished yet. Wolf Link Pwns. and i likie zelda.
To top this all off with something relevant for a change. I think that windwaker is the equivalent of Fusion. (Ya know both pretty much absent from the general storyline.)
Once again, I don’t see everyone’s dislike of windwaker. It was one of the better zelda games. Those who say the sailing was ridiculous, you gain the ability to teleport not far into the game. Also, the endless amount of sidequests makes the game go on forever. I still haven’t gotten everything. As for comparing it to Metroid Fusion as not “being part of the timeline”…where the hell did you pull that one from. Fusion is the last in the metroid timeline. After Super Metroid. Windwaker has been identified as being 100 years after Ocarina of Time.
Overall, the zelda universe is better when not thought in any kind of chronological order. It’s not an ongoing story like Metroid. There’s not one hero, or one princess. The reoccurance of characters in multiple games, even if they’re said to be centuries between the two, should show that the games aren’t supposed to be ordered. Lon Lon ranch characters like Marin and Tarin are in at least three games: OoT, MM (which happens directly after OoT, yet is in an alternate dimension of some sort), and Minish Cap, which uses the windwaker style Link.
So, really, don’t even bother trying to order them. There’s no point and all it does is confuse the hell out of you.
Alright, not to sure about the 2D games, but from reading interviews with the creators of the 3d zelda games, I figured this out for sure. Link saves Hyrule (ocarina of time) and then goes on a journy looking for a long lost friend. (majora’s mask) And then I have absolutely no clue about wind waker. But they also said that on Twilight princess, that the link in that one (in the same words as the producers) is not, in fact, Link the hero that we know. He is a reincarnate of the hero, but does not know that. You start out as a teenager and stuff, and do a few things, and suddenly get pulled into a dark world. Which then introduces that link is a lycanthrope. Da end. Well… until I play twilight princess.
edit: Oh, and Zelda is quite the ongoing story… you just don’t see it in any sort of plain light. You just gotta read as many interviews with nintendo peoples as you can to figure it out.
well, i’m a big zelda fan too, and i found MANY, MANY flaws in your timeline theory. and for not playing all the games, it would seem pretty good, but its wrong. although i do not completey accept this theory, but it makes a little more sense i guess, although i dont like the idea of a split timeline. i would show my own version of the timeline, but im too lazy . anyway, here is the split timeline theory, that makes a little sense … i guess … go HERE
. anyway, here is the split timeline theory, that makes a little sense … i guess … go