Upscaled to 4K to make it look better than ever in 1080p with redone Unified and Breath of the Wild sections in addition to Tears of the Kingdom! The Legend of Zelda Timeline 20 Games Edition everyone!
But its still confusing if the 3 goddesses and hylea herself are shown through every game until totk how come they mention the zonai/twilight people cause since their descendants of gods and goddesses it just doesn't make sense 🤔 I bet this whole gods and goddesses of hyrule may be like a Greek story but the goddesses created hylea first then the zonai gods continued every thing.
After all the years I still don't understand one thing. How is Malladus connected to Demise? He is described as "The Demon King" Malladus. We know that Ganondorf is Demise's "true" Reincarnation resonate him as the second Demon King. The Question is here..what is Malladus and how long was he sealed?!? Could it be that even before Demise arrived Malladus attacked Hyrule and was sealed by the Golden Goddesses?!? But that means Demise wasn't the first Demon King....or could it be that Malladus was the source of the Monsters who attacked Hyrule in the Era of the Hero of Men later was sealed far away from Hyrule in the Tower of the Gods?!? Questions that needs answers.
As far as we know the Timeline will never end as long as Nintendo keeps coming up with new ideas to expand on the Zelda universe and the stories that each of the games tell will not be forgotten. They will be retold by us to the next generation.
I'm a new zelda player and a huge fan of TOTK. What I've come to understand is Nintendo likes like re-use and re-cycle old ideas and characters. TOTK, imho is the perfect amalgamation of all their old tropes.
I like that you guys decided to just completely throw out the ongoing, and somewhat heated, debate in the fan community about whether Link and Zelda are actually a couple and just went, "They're 100% together and Link is probably the king, now." Respect XD
It is my belief that Ganondorf didn’t truly become the new ‘incarnation of hatred’ until the moment he turned into Ganon. Literally transforming himself into a monster out of sheer hatred.
Here's something to consider. The Great Calamity likely happened several times. So it's entirely possible it's been over 100k years since the events of the other games. And in that time before the calamities the kingdom of Hyrule could have fallen and been re-established with Rauru being the first king of that era of Hyrule. Plus Zelda does reference the events of Twighlight princess so the child timeline is plausible. And the Rito would have had time to evolve up to the point of Rauru's era
I like to think it's still a singular timeline, and that the "split" that everyone believe happens at the end of OoT doesn't actually happen. With Majoras Mask being an actual direct sequel to OoT meaning canonicaly Link goes back in time after beating Ganon to warn Zelda and takes the ocarina of time and runs off with Majoras mask occuring. Now anytime after that, that a Link reincarnation loses, let's say Zelda/The King use the Triforce to seal away Ganon till a new Hero arises. Leading into any "downfall timeline" game occuring. If the Link reincarnation wins, either of the other two" timeline" games occur.
@RlKrav that doesn't add up though. Wind Waker is clearly a different timeline than. Majora's mask and Twighlight princess. The spirit of the hero and the tri force of courage had vanished from the wind waker timeline because of Zelda's actions in Ocarina of Time. It took time for the world to correct that and for a new hero to emerge. Zelda almost screwed over that entire timeline because of the power vacuum she left by sending Link back in time
@Clasher 13 how is it clearly different? Wind Wakers original Link loses the king needs to use the triforce to seal Ganon until a new Link is born and saves the kingdom. Where's the clear difference? There is no direct canonical prequel or sequel with the same Link so it could happen anytime over the timeline. Where are you getting confused?
@@RlKrav wind wakers original link doesn't lose, wind wakers timeline is the one left after link gets sent back in time by zelda at the end of oot, so the spirit of the hero and the triforce of courage are essentially sent to an au where link was like hey what if we instead don't open the temple of time so ganon can't get the triforce
@RegalCorvus but the creators have already said with BoTW that it unifies the timelines back into a singular one. So there are no alternate universes anymore, no more alternate timelines, just a singular timeline starting with SS and ending with as of now ToTK. Which is why in BoTW Zelda mentions games from each timeline, because to her each of those games occured in the past. So singular timeline, no splits at all anymore.
This is the best fan theory of the timeline there is. I also believed BoTW and ToTK takes place in a merged timeline since both games mention events from all timelines.
@@Allen.Christian Except you would have mutual exclusive events dictating the course of history in all 3 timelines lmao all reconverging back at the same point. Some so extreme as to annihilate the kingdom with a ocean...then re-founding the kingdom elseward, but somehow it ends up back where it started with a non erased history the same as all other timelines without any issues to the continuity? To believe this someone must literally shut off their brain... but don't think too hard just consume more product.
I like the idea that Zelda in BOTW was just a spoiled brat at one point but as she nearly met her end by the Yiga, was saved by Link, developed romantic feelings for him and then gain more humility and became just a research geek in the ToTK story but then showed that she would do anything for the person she loved even if it meant sacrificing her humanity, all the friends Zelda made in BOTW were all gone including her father but she awakening her light powers at the moment of Link ready to protect her screamed, "I already lost so much, I will not lose him too!" Then literally having him be healed for 100 years, that's a love that transcends time
this hurts so much knowing what happens in totk. spoiler free comment but gosh i cried so much. her character development is subtly plotted across the two games and it has fleshed her out so much. it makes u realize why they call it the legend of zelda, and not like super link word lol
BotW Zelda was always haunted by her inability to call forth her light powers - the main reason she struggled to get along with Link was the contrast between her ongoing failure and Link's success in becoming the Master Sword's Chosen. She was also always a research geek - getting told off by her father for spending so much time researching ancient technology rather than awakening her light powers, and exploring Hyrule both before and after making friends with Link. For her power's awakening, not only was it when Link was facing death, it was also the first time one of her friends and family faced death right in front of her - the Champions died alone, in single combat with the Blights, and her father died in the Castle before she and Link could get there.
It's either that, or BotW and TotK are in their own separate timeline apart from anything else after Skyward Sword at the earliest and after OoT at the latest.
@@wace9174 It would not even be the first time, since the Hyrule from phanton hourglass and spirit tracks was another kingdom founded with the same name of the last. . Another theory of mine in regards to that about Totk is that is the lack of the Sheikah in Rauru's time. Since they serve the bloodline of Hylia instead of the the kingdom, they proobably only joined the kingdom later in the future when the bloodline of Hylia was introduced to this new Hyrule.
I saw a really interesting theory that took the downfall games, moved them to an alternate timeline after skyward sword, and considered each of those games as “Calamities” leading up to Breath of the Wild, with Hyrule being founded in that timeline by the Zonai, while in the other side being founded by just the Hylians, it was very well done
You know, I thought that 10k years was the start of entire series timeline after Skyward Sword but it makes way more sense if a second Hyrule formed with the Zonai incharge after everything else in the series. With that, it wouldn't contradict a lot of the established lore prior to Totk.
@@Kralamelo Not parallel timeline but just a second hyrule kingdom eons after all of the other game's timeline. Maybe so many years have passed that only the old hyrule's name remained. So, the Zonai refounded Hyrule and become their first king and queen. Or like you said, It could just be a parallel timeline too after Skyward Sword where we could have a Rito and Zora in one era.
Spirit tracks actually talks about that. Spirits from the sky came down to help the people rebuild, helped them seal malludus, created the tracks and tower, used the sword, and sent the lokomo to watch over them when they left for when a hero needed to rise up and defeat malludus.
@@Kralamelonot really, it’s just that Botw and totk take place so far ahead in the future that even totk’s past takes place at the end of the timeline in a re founded hyrule.
@@mrbiscuits001 that doesn't make sense, why would they re foundate hyrule Why there are not zonans in the other games? Your bad theory has a lot of questions
so the hyrulian universe is really old by the time we hit botw/totk. if the calamity was 10.000 years before botw's 2nd calamity, and totk states "hyrule's founding" even takes place aggressively earlier than that, we can assume from there to totk's time is atleast 50,000-100,000 years earlier. and god knows when the ending split events take place from there, say maybe another 50,000-150k years depending on how all the species have evolved since then throughout the series. so i'll say from golden goddess creation to totk, is probably a span of 400-600,000 years at the very least, and that leaves nintendo a lot of room to fill in for, and they have some of the best games ever made to feed off of from the future events now. events so far ahead into the future from the rest, that you can now use those game's lore to connect them back to older game events in future games. im so excited to see what happens, such good lore was released during totk's storyline, and so much is still unexplained from botw, for totk being a direct sequel it barely referances any botw events.
After every release and completion of the game, i return to this channel to watch the timeline, and I'm never ever disappointed. You and the entire team are truly amazing. Fully explained and also entertaining. It's such a great video. Please continue and never stop what you do. You all are amazing.
I’ve been waiting for this, especially with the context of where both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom definitively take place on the timeline
It’s not definitive. They don’t work for Nintendo. It’s a fan theory like all the others. It’s very well done, and it’s a great channel. But it’s not official.
Did anyone notice how when you skydive into the "Army of demons" Bossroom, the silouette it gives from above is the back of mummy ganondorf? (all with red swirly hair and *mwaahahaha* stretched out hands) Ive never heard someone mention it this far but I think its SO COOL
I thought it looked more like a giant heart or something. At least it does to me. Oh wait…Your talking about Ganon himself, right? Not the red thing he’s sitting on? Yeah, I agree with you.
I personally believe in the Dragonbreak theory. If you havent seen it yet i highly recommended it, as its honestly the theory that seems to make the most sense
@@HeroBear64 there’s a video about it on TH-cam that’s more in depth, but basically a dragon break is an event from elder scrolls 2 in which a timeline splits apart but then fuses back together at some point. The theory is that a dragon break-esque event happened in the zelda timeline, splitting when zelda sent the hero of time back in time, and fusing back together around when zelda was sent back in time during tears of the kingdom
@@HeroBear64 Dragonbreak is a term from the game series, Elder Scrolls, that describes any event where time is split into two or more paths creating wildly different timelines within Tamriel, the world the game is set in. To keep a complicated and involved topic short, the time god, Akatosh, is depicted as a dragon and the literal flow of time in the Elder Scrolls world, hence the name dragonbreak. Whenever a dragonbreak happens for whatever reason, reality splits into multiple paths where different events transpire leading to unique outcomes and recorded history. But it is also understood that these dragonbreaks eventually resolve themselves over time, combining back into a single timeline in which all events and histories happened and are true, despite any contradictions they might cause. I imagine trying to make sense of their history is a nightmare for Tamriel's scholars and historians for this reason. The dragonbreak theory is applying that idea to the zelda timelines, that all three combine into one timeline that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom begin in where everything that happened in each timeline are true and historically accurate.
This is the video I’ve needed in my life and didn’t know it. Tears of the kingdom brought back my love for Zelda games but, this video made me realize why I need to finish Skyward Sword.
@smurf3578 My comment was directed at the other guy not you idk why it didnt add the @ thing that time. What does kewk mean anyway i dont know if ive heard that one before. Anyway yeah loz rules
Or she has a weakened version of the Triforce’s power and finally earned it. She was wise and she was powerful but only when she put herself in front of someone else in the case of certain deaths was she courageous enough to have earned the Triforce’s sealing power
@@deangeloenriquez1603 If I remember correctly there isnt much emphasis on the Triforce, neither in BotW, HW:AoC nor TotK. In fact Zelda appears to have all 3 Triforce parts from the get go
@@deangeloenriquez1603well it’s literally stated ingame that “the princess love for her fallen knight awakens her power. But it could be both her love for link gave her the courage too act
Very glad we got one cohesive video to show the new timeline with TOTK added in. The three different theories about the distant past in TOTK will make for a great video in the future, I'm sure.
Now that is a voice I haven't heard in a while, and for some reason I cannot unsee the power armor clad traveller, documenting his findings and history to his trusty Eye-bot EDNA! Damn, a shame to hear that he is retired from voice acting...
When the Light Dragon (Zelda) comes to aid Link from the Demon King Dragon, do you think a part of is not all but lost? I think it was her love to her knight/hero is what saves him…. Even she doesn’t remember any of it.
There is no way the Zonai only showed up in the future (post all games). You see... Rauru's third eye and the tear drop near his nose are the inspiration for the Sheikah symbol.
Exactly, I noticed the connection between the Sheikah symbol and Rauru’s eye as soon as I saw it open up in a cutscene. Perhaps the ancient relationship could also serve as an in-universe explanation for why Sheikah shrines look so similar to Zonai shrines.
Or you know. The OG sheikah symbol was found somewhere by the new Sheikah who act different to the older ones, but are still loyal to the royal family and they merely adopted the symbol. The theory it takes place after everything is the only one that really makes sense.
Yeah, I noticed that too. But I think it's strange that the game doesn't point out any connection between the Sheikah and the Zonai. In fact it seems like TotK goes out of its way to erase any Sheikah references from the game. It's almost as if Zelda's time tampering erased the Sheikah from history and replaced it with the Zonai. But then that raises even more questions. Does this mean Link's memories of the events of BotW are different than ours? The Divine Beasts still appear on the tapestry, and there is still mention of them desipite their disappearance, does this mean their backstory has changed and they're now Zonai devices instead of Sheikah devices? There's also that one Guardian on top of Robbie's tech lab, is that now Zonai tech instead of Sheikah tech?
Honestly this reads as they're just gonna fast forward whenever they want a reboot, and whenever they want a game that's more like the past games they'll just slap one on around the old game's positions.
Man, Zelda in TOTK looks good for her age, like she looked good for someone over 100, but now she's 10s of thousands if not 100s of thousands of years old and still looking good.
You can't ignore hyrule warriors age of calamity. It definitely created another time line in the breath of the wild era which would still face the events of tears of the kingdom except with the old champions instead of the new ones .
@@MiraBoo but it doesn't affect the main timeline of breath of the wild and is the reason why terrako doesn't exist in breath of the wild. Compared to the first hyrule warriors that goes all over the place age of calamity definitely has its own time line which to me is the good ending for breath of the wild . The only thing you can argue it makes complicated is the new champions going back to thier time lines and what they remember happened and if it gets explained to anyone when they get back. But that can be solved by them simply just not remembering or having forced amnesia by magic. Age of calamity is very zelda with time travel and everything
I too believe Age of Calamity is a split in the timeline like has happened before. I just don't think we will be seeing that timeline again so it's not talked about here. I'd love to see it since I like that new timeline. But i don't think Nintendo will use it.
Nope. In this new timeline the seal is not weakened by a hundred years of Calamity, so the cycle of Calamities just continues as usual. Also Zelda doesn't go back in time but that doesn't make sense in TotK alone so...
redounding theory definitely could work, as it has happened in the timeline before already, i also think that the theory of it right after skyward sword could also work as well! also, man i really did TOTK completely in the wrong order lol. I found the Deku tree on accident and that’s how i found the sword from him telling me. Didn’t even get to draconification yet so i just thought “oh sweet new dragon”
Totk says Rauru is the first king of Botw's Hyrule but never explicitly states he is the founder of Hyrule itself. Sometime after the three timelines Hyrule was refounded. It's as simple as that. That lines up well with real life civilizations that have risen and fallen time and time again. It keeps the games still intact, lines up with Nintendo saying these occur at the end, and because Botw and Totk are so far distant down the timeline, keeps things open for the developers in the future.
When Zelda travels back and meets Rauru and Sonia for the first time, Rauru states after Zelda introduces herself "What an unexpected answer. We are the king and queen who founded Hyrule, after all. Or at least we were the last time I checked." Then there's the stone tablets you find all over that, when translated, also confirm Rauru and Sonia as the founders of this Hyrule. The game makes it pretty clear that they founded it, at least the English version does since I don't speak or read other languages.
@@fnaffoxy1987 Yup! Was just about to say this. "We are the king and queen who founded Hyrule". Plus, with BotW having references to Ocarina of Time's events, it's clear there was no 're-founding'... cause otherwise, when Zelda introduces herself to them, they would be like: "Oh, Princess Zelda from a previous Hyrule Kingdom? We have records of that" since the history is still at least semi intact. It is THE Hyrule Kingdom they founded.
@@WindMageMaster just because there are references to Oot doesn't discount Hyrule being refounded. There are references to Wind Waker and Oot in New Hyrule in Spirit Tracks when that was a refounded a whole 100 years after WW. Botw is thousands upon tens of thousands of years after any known installment to the point that every previous games has been designated into one point in time: the distant past. Hyrule was already destroyed in the Wind Waker timeline and on the verge of decline in the downfall timeline. This is a ten thousand year difference (and even then the 10,000 years is just the earliest point of reference in Botw's story. It could be MUCH more distant). It's not really that out there for Hyrule to have fallen at some point in the tens of thousands of years and for the people to pick the kingdom back up. This would allow the games to retain the continuity while also allowing Nintendo to do a soft reboot and the freedom to experiment.
@@WindMageMaster Even more proof is the fact that the Zonai Temple of Time, when sat on the Great Plateau, is sitting where the OoT Temple of Time is currently sitting, so the Zonai Temple came first.
@@fnaffoxy1987 It isn’t, actually. It’s sitting closer to the cliff side whereas, the OoT one is further back. You can still see the OoT one in scenes at certain angles (might be the castle at this point, as the structure looks a bit different).
This must have taken so long to put together😮! Thank you so much for your hard work ; this video is so GOOD! Thank you for not having so many commercials too as these long videos tend to have tons of commercials in them and it both annoys me and pulls me out of the story you're trying to tell. Keep up the good work!❤😊
When Zelda goes back in time it has to be before OoT. Some of the scenes are on the Great Plateau don’t show the ruins of the OoT Castle Town and Temple of Time. The TotK temple of time is where the OoT Temple of Time is if you look at the cut scenes.
Entirely correct. The Forgotten Temple (Clearly the Temple of Light, as it houses the Chamber of Sages) also doesn't have a "Goddess" statue on it. Additionally to add to that one, the bargainer statues below also are in the same locations of the Goddess Statues (and springs) above, with the Wellsprings in the same spot -- deducing that the source of the Springs (Power, Courage & Wisdom) are from the Twilight realm, not from the Goddesses. Evidently, that sort of directly implies a lot of things that many who "love" Skyward Sword aren't willing to accept, either. It's 100% clear that TOTK is in the direct timeline, and there isn't even a timeline "merge" to take place. It cannot happen in the Downfall timeline, the Sacred Realm is not a mirror of the Dark World. So it is on the Child or Adult timeline. The question is which one, and how do we define it? At the end of Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf was sealed in the Twilight Realm (No, really, he was lol, this video is just incorrect lol), and then freed himself within 100 years. In the Child timeline, he went to the Twilight realm willingly. We have a few thought processes and creative ideas to work from. The process here, however, is also understanding that the "lore" from Skyward Sword was potentially never lore from the start, and it was a red herring. Although I think this was actually intended (hilariously) because most of the side adventures deal with this sort of attribute (Intended, or unintended misdirects to plague the audience to the Yiga, or in some cases entirely by misunderstanding and incorrectly remembering how instances occur), the major tell is the Mayoral campaign, where the classic ideals win, with an agreement to incorpoarte "some" new ideas. (That entire ordeal is fun to tackle, however the implication is directly at Nintendo's writers -- not the gameplay mechanic of "open world vs linear", as some will then probably attempt to argue. The format here isn't really a combination, it's simply the BOTW formula worked marginally, whilst the mayoral quest definitively would dictate that it would be predominantly classic Zelda entry with sprinkles of "New cool thing" applied. We do not have this in this instance). But anyway; Deviation entirely aside and to your comment: Yes, we do not see any of these ruins here yet and this comes "before" Ocarina of Time. It also comes "before" any event of Skyward Sword; As I'm sure the story of that likely took place -- but not as intended, at all. I'd proclaim that a large inspiration of TOTK was to correct Skyward Sword to actually fit into the lore of the overarching Zelda universe of mainline entries, instead of trying to make games based "around that lore" (Which was already surface level generic modern "demon vs good guy" anime plot anyway).
@@itsJoshW my theory is that it takes place soon after SS. Sonia is the direct decedent of SS Zelda and Link or her Grandparents. (How Zelda in OoT has light and time powers). This is where I differ from most people. Two events cause a “dragon break” like event where all three events happen at the same time and converge (look up elder scrolls lore it’ll make sense) Zelda in TOTK going back in time and the end events of OoT (downfall, child, and adult) and how events from all three timelines are mentioned and happen and eventually converge.
@@WeAreTheReapers There's only a couple nuanced aspects of that which wouldn't (remotely) work: 1) Hylia is never mentioned, neither Sonia nor Rauru heard of the name "Zelda" before and none of which have heard of the Master Sword before. 2) The "Goddess" statues are nowhere to be found, anywhere, in the past of Hyrule, especially the larger one in the Fogotten Temple (Which coincidently is a temple wherein has a Chamber of sages -- Dare I call this the Temple of Light?). I understand people want to always latch onto a singular entries lore, but the game had lore far before Skyward Sword -- and that game did, in fact, retcon all classic lore to make it work. Zelda has time & light powers due to another reason; Zelda in TOTK likely had Time powers, and her "Light" powers came from the Triforce (As we see in BOTW). It was even hinted at Sonia's response about this; Proclaiming that her Secret Stone is amplifying the one. The Deku tree even alludes to Zelda being "A Goddess" when obtaining the Sword, which in turn depicts her "Draconification" form as being a Goddess; I'd argue they did this as a poetic gesture to the "Hylia" theme -- where the myth of Hylia may even be due to Zelda going back in time (Evidently, like a poetic nod that Zelda became her own ancestral story, which explains why her "powers" never awoke, despite her researching stating the Skyward Sword Zelda visited the wells to obtain her powers). As far as Elder Scrolls Dragon Break is concerned -- there's no need to do that and there's no writing implication to even remotely suggest this. The utilization of Dragon's in the Zelda series isn't new, but it's new to the primary subset of entries -- and it's utilized in the same vein as Japanese mythology. I'd argue that the entire premise of the "Dragon's" was to intertwine ideas from Fujibayashi with the original lore of the series -- as his primary and only notes on TOTK's story was concerned in interviews was about Ganondorf: Fujibayashi proclaimed that he just asked for Ganondorf to "Look cool". Ironic. As this fits perfect with the theme of the Mayoral quest. In this statement, I'd also proclaim Fujibayashi is more like Cece, and Reede is Aonuma/Onozuka. As the one legitimate has gone onto record to state his only input for Ganondorf is for him to "look" badass, and the other has went onto record elaborating the lore of the game is up to the players to decide, but there is an intended location.
It has long been my theory that the Triforce broke when Ganondorf touched it because he literally wished for Power, and was thus granted that piece of the Triforce. Over the next seven years, he aged as he waited for the remaining two pieces to reveal themselves. When he defeated the Hero, he was able to gain the other two pieces of the Triforce as again, wishing for a form that would never truly die. Thus, the Pig-form Ganon we see throughout the Downfall Timeline.
this is such a good explanation of the loz timeline and made every question i had about it clear. thank you so much for the video!! this definitely deserves more likes
You know we were waiting for this. Better late than never. That and the Zelda timeline taught me one thing... Ocarina of Time was where the Dragon Break started and somewhere far in the future was where the timelines merged.
despite what other people think, i like that they’re making a new timeline with botw and totk, that gives them room to do new things and not be held back by continuity “history doesn’t repeat, it rhymes”
@@aylinilya. There has always been a Zelda Timeline, always, just it was never flat out told. For starters, _Zelda II - The Adventures of Link_ was always a sequel of the original _The Legend of Zelda,_ _A Link to the Past_ was always a prequel to the original which took place thousands of years before, and _Ocarina of Time_ was always a Prequel to _A Link to the Past_ which took place 100s of years in the past, partially covering _A Link to the Past's_ prologue but with a different ending, one where Ganon didn't win (and escaped from the Sacred Realm, unlike in _A Link to the Past's_ prologue). And unlike _Majora's Mask_ which was a direct sequel to _Ocarina of Time,_ _The Wind Waker_ and _Twilight Princess_ were clearly sequels to _Ocarina of Time,_ but took place hundreds of years later but were in separate timelines of each other, with _The Wind Waker_ being a sequel to the Adult Timeline and _Twilight Princess_ being a sequel to the Child Timeline, both Taking place in a separate Timeline to _A Link to the Past,_ but around the same time. Miyamoto even joked that the Link in all three games (_A Link to the Past,_ _The Wind Waker,_ and _Twilight Princess_) were alternate timeline counterparts with each other. And so on and so forth. Fact is, there has always been a Zelda Timeline. It's just that it was never flat out told to fans but the hints and evidence is there with in-game lore and developer interviews.
@@enforcerridley158 I suspect the Zelda Timeline was more like the Snyder Cut - a lot of ideas, but not a finished product until shortly before it was first made public. Yes, you can draw connections between individual games, but also if you pay close attention to detail, those connections don't quite work properly. It seems more likely that there was no overall timeline and each game's director made their own decision about how much to tie the game to other titles in the series.
One thing I don't like about the TotK lore is that it states that the royal family inherited the ability of light from being descendants of Rauru and that their own natural ability is time based rather than the getting it by being the direct bloodline of the Goddess of Light and being the only family that the soul of the goddess can be reborn in
@@raskolnikov6443 I wouldn't mind it being a hard reboot. The devs said many times before that the timeline is a HINDRANCE for them in terms of creative freedom. As I see, the Fujibayashi Trilogy (Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom) is the "new" Zelda, disconnected from the old ones. Do you remember when BOTW was thought to be a reboot of Zelda1? The open world, destroyed kingdom, Dueling Peaks, Spectacle Rock, all those hinted at a reboot. The Fujibayashi Trilogy depicts: The origin of the Hylians and The Demon King, The creation of the Master Sword and the seal of the Demon King, The founding of the Kingdom of Hyrule by the Hylians and the Zonai, the reincarnation of The Demon King (Ganondorf), The Imprisioning War, Ascend and fall of the Sheika, The Great Calamity, and lastly The Return of Ganondorf... the rest is just myth.
my timeline theory is: with regards to where botw is on the timeline, the goddesses merged the three timelines due to some event, as they found that flooding didn't work. I think that AOC is canon, taking place in a diagonal-backwordbackword spot from botw, as is time travel shenanigans, thus putting it next to the original calamity. also,I think before totk, all the races were in contact to rebuild Hyrule, and the new champions will have shared the events of aoc with link and Zelda. (Also, I agree with the theory that tp is a few generations down the line from oot, and the link is a descendant of Link and Malon, which is why he knows Epona's song.) lasly, on where totk is, it goes back to the botw, where the goddesses merged the timelines, at that time, the new hyrule was founded, and the zonai existed. the reason there are many references to past things, (other than for nice gameplay :) is because of the timeline merge, the memories of the lands are all there, no known just as ancient/unknown times/ legends. its timeline placement is: before link went to sleep, the events of botw and everything were as we know them. after waking up, the timeline is changed; some version of the calamity did happen, but not the one link remembers. meaning, zelda changed the line from "founding of new-merged-hyrule. and its next to and a bit ahead of botw in its placement.
In Dragon Tear Memory 8, memory, Sonia and Rauru is interested in meeting Link as Zelda speaks highly of him (since I can tell she’s blushing on the Hero of Hyrule and how much she admires his dedication). It may sounded crazy but I feel her ancestors are the kind of parents Zelda needed since her father King Rhoam is always cold towards his own daughter, as well as forbidding her from being A scholar and calls her as "nothing but failure" They would have accepted Link as her boyfriend since the pair do lived together in his childhood home in present day Hateno Village with two seats on the table. Thus, started to educate children as she saw herself through them. Nintendo needs to stop given us hints and suggestions. Zelink needs to be canon since Breath of the Wild and Skyward sword. I hope we it for future DLC.
Her father never called her "nothing but failure". He only referred to the gossip the citizens were having amongst themselves. You're painting him as someone worse than what he actually was, a father and a king torn between his love and duty.
Oh boy get ready for the Zelink hate but true zelda and links relationship goes all the way back to skyward sword but link also loved other people like Illya or that girl from ocarina of time the one who teaches him Eponas song but truly link and im only saying this link from all the timelines he's a twink and a true power bottom.
@@lenninmontiel4539 im not a fav of zelink. I hated ss zelda (more so hylia) because she used link. I never wanted them together partly due to that, but also i like for some b/g relationships to be platonic.
Game Over Jesse needs to do one of these, Commonwealth. I seriously thought they did one a long time ago but I never found one among their playlists on their channel. Excellent job, Commonwealth.
48:45 ever heard of the dragonbreak? a temporal phenomenon that involves a splitting of the natural timeline which results in branching parallel realities where the same events occur differently, or not at all.
It should be written in the timeline that Link was absolutely disgusted by the Tingle hood inside the 8th heroine's statue (that represents him, apart from the 7 sages of old and his sword in my humble opinion). What the heck Nintendo, I felt attacked in Link's stead
This is exactly the timeline that I believe is the answer TOTK couldn’t happen before or after skyward sword because demise is the original demon king and having two Ganondorfs at once doesn’t really work I also think during this re-merging of the timelines the tri-force was forgotten and that’s what a sequel to TOTK could be about
@@haydenjurko If you haven't finished the game, I would _strongly_ suggest deleting this comment. Otherwise, you'll likely get spoiled the ending. Keep playing and then come back.
I mean just like real civilizations has died out so did original Hyrule aswell, I mean look at ancient Egypt, Mayan society, Rome, Ancient greece, and many others...alot of things happen in 10000+ years so the Hyrule Rauru and Sonia established is not the same as in Skyward sword or any other game for that matter (except BoTW). But what connects Skyward Swords to Tears of the TOTK is that the rise of the demon king are more or less the same. Showing that history will always repeat itself one way or another (which also refer to Zeldas time looping in an never ending cycle in TOTK, without her doing that BoTW can never happen.)
I'm gonna need evidence to backup that two Ganondorfs at once cannot work. Nothing in canon has stated otherwise. Ganon is an incarnation of hatred- not spirit. (Even so, we've had a case of two Links interacting). We just faced a Ganon in Botw, and in that game, we're told that Ganon has had a very long history in Hyrule and stirs up conflict time and time again- all the while, the original one from TotK has been dormant. We also have tablets in BotW that reference Ocarina of Time Ganondorf.
@Mage that's because only one male Gerudo can be alive. If one dies, it takes 100 years for another to be born. 2 Ganondorfs can't coexist if both are alive because of that.
Good video, but I feel a timeline video would work better without the in-depth description of every game. Or I wish there was a summary that went over them all more broadly and focused on placement of events along the timeline.
Upscaled to 4K to make it look better than ever in 1080p with redone Unified and Breath of the Wild sections in addition to Tears of the Kingdom! The Legend of Zelda Timeline 20 Games Edition everyone!
It’s here
I really hoped that Zelda and Link become an official romantic couples in the sequel to Tears of the Kingdom!
But its still confusing if the 3 goddesses and hylea herself are shown through every game until totk how come they mention the zonai/twilight people cause since their descendants of gods and goddesses it just doesn't make sense 🤔 I bet this whole gods and goddesses of hyrule may be like a Greek story but the goddesses created hylea first then the zonai gods continued every thing.
Love your videos!
After all the years I still don't understand one thing. How is Malladus connected to Demise? He is described as "The Demon King" Malladus. We know that Ganondorf is Demise's "true" Reincarnation resonate him as the second Demon King. The Question is here..what is Malladus and how long was he sealed?!? Could it be that even before Demise arrived Malladus attacked Hyrule and was sealed by the Golden Goddesses?!? But that means Demise wasn't the first Demon King....or could it be that Malladus was the source of the Monsters who attacked Hyrule in the Era of the Hero of Men later was sealed far away from Hyrule in the Tower of the Gods?!? Questions that needs answers.
As far as we know the Timeline will never end as long as Nintendo keeps coming up with new ideas to expand on the Zelda universe and the stories that each of the games tell will not be forgotten. They will be retold by us to the next generation.
Which is a beautiful thing.
One day when I have kids, I cant wait to introduce them to the Zelda series
I'm a new zelda player and a huge fan of TOTK. What I've come to understand is Nintendo likes like re-use and re-cycle old ideas and characters. TOTK, imho is the perfect amalgamation of all their old tropes.
What new ideas? It’s literally the same exact formula for 90% of all the games
I like that you guys decided to just completely throw out the ongoing, and somewhat heated, debate in the fan community about whether Link and Zelda are actually a couple and just went, "They're 100% together and Link is probably the king, now."
Respect XD
It is my belief that Ganondorf didn’t truly become the new ‘incarnation of hatred’ until the moment he turned into Ganon. Literally transforming himself into a monster out of sheer hatred.
Truly the most hater to ever have hated
"But first, Zelda geeked out..." is masterful writing.
Lmao! I was just gunna type that.
1:03:20
Here's something to consider. The Great Calamity likely happened several times. So it's entirely possible it's been over 100k years since the events of the other games. And in that time before the calamities the kingdom of Hyrule could have fallen and been re-established with Rauru being the first king of that era of Hyrule. Plus Zelda does reference the events of Twighlight princess so the child timeline is plausible. And the Rito would have had time to evolve up to the point of Rauru's era
I like to think it's still a singular timeline, and that the "split" that everyone believe happens at the end of OoT doesn't actually happen. With Majoras Mask being an actual direct sequel to OoT meaning canonicaly Link goes back in time after beating Ganon to warn Zelda and takes the ocarina of time and runs off with Majoras mask occuring. Now anytime after that, that a Link reincarnation loses, let's say Zelda/The King use the Triforce to seal away Ganon till a new Hero arises. Leading into any "downfall timeline" game occuring. If the Link reincarnation wins, either of the other two" timeline" games occur.
@RlKrav that doesn't add up though. Wind Waker is clearly a different timeline than. Majora's mask and Twighlight princess. The spirit of the hero and the tri force of courage had vanished from the wind waker timeline because of Zelda's actions in Ocarina of Time. It took time for the world to correct that and for a new hero to emerge. Zelda almost screwed over that entire timeline because of the power vacuum she left by sending Link back in time
@Clasher 13 how is it clearly different? Wind Wakers original Link loses the king needs to use the triforce to seal Ganon until a new Link is born and saves the kingdom. Where's the clear difference? There is no direct canonical prequel or sequel with the same Link so it could happen anytime over the timeline. Where are you getting confused?
@@RlKrav wind wakers original link doesn't lose, wind wakers timeline is the one left after link gets sent back in time by zelda at the end of oot, so the spirit of the hero and the triforce of courage are essentially sent to an au where link was like hey what if we instead don't open the temple of time so ganon can't get the triforce
@RegalCorvus but the creators have already said with BoTW that it unifies the timelines back into a singular one. So there are no alternate universes anymore, no more alternate timelines, just a singular timeline starting with SS and ending with as of now ToTK. Which is why in BoTW Zelda mentions games from each timeline, because to her each of those games occured in the past. So singular timeline, no splits at all anymore.
IVE WAITED 100 YEARS
I Would wait a lifetime for these videos.
Thank you, again and I hope you know I appreciate your hard work!
Thank you for the kind words! This project was so time consuming.
There it is.
Indeed ;)
@commonwealthrealm I've got to get to work on my own timeline video soon. Keep up the great work!
@@commonwealthrealmtheory video when?
Thank you
There's what?
I’m glad the professionals are just as confused as we are
I love how they just explain the last two zonai by saying “their birth rate plummeted”
This is the best fan theory of the timeline there is. I also believed BoTW and ToTK takes place in a merged timeline since both games mention events from all timelines.
BoTW and ToTK are a self contained timeline.
@@AntiTako all theories are fair game until Nintendo confirms true.
Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of time and the butterfly effect would call absolute bullshit on that.
@@Spartan1312The idea of a merged timeline has no less scientific basis than that of multiple divergent timelines.
@@Allen.Christian Except you would have mutual exclusive events dictating the course of history in all 3 timelines lmao all reconverging back at the same point. Some so extreme as to annihilate the kingdom with a ocean...then re-founding the kingdom elseward, but somehow it ends up back where it started with a non erased history the same as all other timelines without any issues to the continuity?
To believe this someone must literally shut off their brain... but don't think too hard just consume more product.
I like the idea that Zelda in BOTW was just a spoiled brat at one point but as she nearly met her end by the Yiga, was saved by Link, developed romantic feelings for him and then gain more humility and became just a research geek in the ToTK story but then showed that she would do anything for the person she loved even if it meant sacrificing her humanity, all the friends Zelda made in BOTW were all gone including her father but she awakening her light powers at the moment of Link ready to protect her screamed, "I already lost so much, I will not lose him too!" Then literally having him be healed for 100 years, that's a love that transcends time
this hurts so much knowing what happens in totk. spoiler free comment but gosh i cried so much. her character development is subtly plotted across the two games and it has fleshed her out so much. it makes u realize why they call it the legend of zelda, and not like super link word lol
@@josephnazariego6822 Bro... the Master Sword questline... I was ready to cry at what she did in that mission
BotW Zelda was always haunted by her inability to call forth her light powers - the main reason she struggled to get along with Link was the contrast between her ongoing failure and Link's success in becoming the Master Sword's Chosen.
She was also always a research geek - getting told off by her father for spending so much time researching ancient technology rather than awakening her light powers, and exploring Hyrule both before and after making friends with Link.
For her power's awakening, not only was it when Link was facing death, it was also the first time one of her friends and family faced death right in front of her - the Champions died alone, in single combat with the Blights, and her father died in the Castle before she and Link could get there.
@@josephnazariego6822 uhhhh, post credits scene?
Great Work, I agree that the "refounding theory" may be the best fit if you want to include all games.
Same here kind of thought maybe Hyrule was either abandoned then refunded or the history of it was forgotten
It's either that, or BotW and TotK are in their own separate timeline apart from anything else after Skyward Sword at the earliest and after OoT at the latest.
@@wace9174 It would not even be the first time, since the Hyrule from phanton hourglass and spirit tracks was another kingdom founded with the same name of the last.
.
Another theory of mine in regards to that about Totk is that is the lack of the Sheikah in Rauru's time. Since they serve the bloodline of Hylia instead of the the kingdom, they proobably only joined the kingdom later in the future when the bloodline of Hylia was introduced to this new Hyrule.
@@Rafaelrgm ik
I saw a really interesting theory that took the downfall games, moved them to an alternate timeline after skyward sword, and considered each of those games as “Calamities” leading up to Breath of the Wild, with Hyrule being founded in that timeline by the Zonai, while in the other side being founded by just the Hylians, it was very well done
You know, I thought that 10k years was the start of entire series timeline after Skyward Sword but it makes way more sense if a second Hyrule formed with the Zonai incharge after everything else in the series. With that, it wouldn't contradict a lot of the established lore prior to Totk.
Yep, is a parallel time line after skyward
The ancient hero vs the malice
And the born of the last zonan, king rauru
@@Kralamelo Not parallel timeline but just a second hyrule kingdom eons after all of the other game's timeline. Maybe so many years have passed that only the old hyrule's name remained. So, the Zonai refounded Hyrule and become their first king and queen.
Or like you said, It could just be a parallel timeline too after Skyward Sword where we could have a Rito and Zora in one era.
Spirit tracks actually talks about that. Spirits from the sky came down to help the people rebuild, helped them seal malludus, created the tracks and tower, used the sword, and sent the lokomo to watch over them when they left for when a hero needed to rise up and defeat malludus.
@@Kralamelonot really, it’s just that Botw and totk take place so far ahead in the future that even totk’s past takes place at the end of the timeline in a re founded hyrule.
@@mrbiscuits001 that doesn't make sense, why would they re foundate hyrule
Why there are not zonans in the other games?
Your bad theory has a lot of questions
so the hyrulian universe is really old by the time we hit botw/totk.
if the calamity was 10.000 years before botw's 2nd calamity, and totk states "hyrule's founding" even takes place aggressively earlier than that, we can assume from there to totk's time is atleast 50,000-100,000 years earlier. and god knows when the ending split events take place from there, say maybe another 50,000-150k years depending on how all the species have evolved since then throughout the series.
so i'll say from golden goddess creation to totk, is probably a span of 400-600,000 years at the very least, and that leaves nintendo a lot of room to fill in for, and they have some of the best games ever made to feed off of from the future events now. events so far ahead into the future from the rest, that you can now use those game's lore to connect them back to older game events in future games.
im so excited to see what happens, such good lore was released during totk's storyline, and so much is still unexplained from botw, for totk being a direct sequel it barely referances any botw events.
After every release and completion of the game, i return to this channel to watch the timeline, and I'm never ever disappointed. You and the entire team are truly amazing. Fully explained and also entertaining. It's such a great video. Please continue and never stop what you do. You all are amazing.
I’ve been waiting for this, especially with the context of where both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom definitively take place on the timeline
It’s not definitive. They don’t work for Nintendo. It’s a fan theory like all the others. It’s very well done, and it’s a great channel. But it’s not official.
@@JeremySolo they never said it was, just that the game shows a lot of aspects of past games of the timeline, not what the channel says
@@katie-kb6qd I know the video didn’t claim that, the comment I’m replying to did
@@JeremySolowell Nintendo have outright confirmed botw (and by extension now totk) take place on the existing timeline AFTER Oot
@@mrbiscuits001 When?
and give me any links if you can actually produce proof.
Did anyone notice how when you skydive into the "Army of demons" Bossroom, the silouette it gives from above is the back of mummy ganondorf? (all with red swirly hair and *mwaahahaha* stretched out hands) Ive never heard someone mention it this far but I think its SO COOL
My hubby and I played it together side by side and beat it together.
Exactly what we both said.
I thought it looked more like a giant heart or something. At least it does to me.
Oh wait…Your talking about Ganon himself, right? Not the red thing he’s sitting on?
Yeah, I agree with you.
I personally believe in the Dragonbreak theory. If you havent seen it yet i highly recommended it, as its honestly the theory that seems to make the most sense
Link pls?
whats the dragonbreak theory?
@@HeroBear64 there’s a video about it on TH-cam that’s more in depth, but basically a dragon break is an event from elder scrolls 2 in which a timeline splits apart but then fuses back together at some point. The theory is that a dragon break-esque event happened in the zelda timeline, splitting when zelda sent the hero of time back in time, and fusing back together around when zelda was sent back in time during tears of the kingdom
@@notsospecial9012 so it’s like what is the “official” timeline but the merge happens when Zelda goes back in time during the prologue?
@@HeroBear64 Dragonbreak is a term from the game series, Elder Scrolls, that describes any event where time is split into two or more paths creating wildly different timelines within Tamriel, the world the game is set in. To keep a complicated and involved topic short, the time god, Akatosh, is depicted as a dragon and the literal flow of time in the Elder Scrolls world, hence the name dragonbreak. Whenever a dragonbreak happens for whatever reason, reality splits into multiple paths where different events transpire leading to unique outcomes and recorded history. But it is also understood that these dragonbreaks eventually resolve themselves over time, combining back into a single timeline in which all events and histories happened and are true, despite any contradictions they might cause. I imagine trying to make sense of their history is a nightmare for Tamriel's scholars and historians for this reason.
The dragonbreak theory is applying that idea to the zelda timelines, that all three combine into one timeline that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom begin in where everything that happened in each timeline are true and historically accurate.
This is the video I’ve needed in my life and didn’t know it. Tears of the kingdom brought back my love for Zelda games but, this video made me realize why I need to finish Skyward Sword.
What a legendary series. There is none like it. For Hyrule we will forever protect it. 🗡😎🛡
Hey Prince Valiant stop being weird, it’s just a video game
@@andresmendoza2658 naw your the weirdo with weirdo energy replying with lame comments as such. know your place, worm. 🤣
Its just an enthusiastic comment try not to be dramatic
@@colonagray2454 ... that was the point. big kekw. go post a comment then get you some likes then bothering me about mine.
@smurf3578 My comment was directed at the other guy not you idk why it didnt add the @ thing that time. What does kewk mean anyway i dont know if ive heard that one before. Anyway yeah loz rules
Zelda’s love for Link is what awakened her light powers.
Or she has a weakened version of the Triforce’s power and finally earned it. She was wise and she was powerful but only when she put herself in front of someone else in the case of certain deaths was she courageous enough to have earned the Triforce’s sealing power
@@deangeloenriquez1603 If I remember correctly there isnt much emphasis on the Triforce, neither in BotW, HW:AoC nor TotK. In fact Zelda appears to have all 3 Triforce parts from the get go
YESSIR!!!
Or the fact that she knew if she didn’t the world would end. Fight or flight response is a thing.
@@deangeloenriquez1603well it’s literally stated ingame that “the princess love for her fallen knight awakens her power. But it could be both her love for link gave her the courage too act
Very glad we got one cohesive video to show the new timeline with TOTK added in. The three different theories about the distant past in TOTK will make for a great video in the future, I'm sure.
Now that is a voice I haven't heard in a while, and for some reason I cannot unsee the power armor clad traveller, documenting his findings and history to his trusty Eye-bot EDNA!
Damn, a shame to hear that he is retired from voice acting...
words can’t describe how excited I am right now. Thank you
48:45 i just relized that the timelines reconnecting makes a rupee
I always enjoy watching these videos on the Zelda lore, absolutely cannot wait for the theories that Tears of the Kingdom is going to provide!
Princess Zelda geeked out that’s my favorite line 😂😂😂😂❤❤❤
Was waiting for it and it's finally here
Thank you for all the hard work you've put into these videos ♥
When the Light Dragon (Zelda) comes to aid Link from the Demon King Dragon, do you think a part of is not all but lost? I think it was her love to her knight/hero is what saves him…. Even she doesn’t remember any of it.
Agreed. It’s like an instinct. Same for Ganon as a dragon. His hatred still endures even though he has lost himself.
I think so. There was a part of her that remained which is why she never tries to keep Link from landing on her unlike the other dragons.
There is no way the Zonai only showed up in the future (post all games). You see... Rauru's third eye and the tear drop near his nose are the inspiration for the Sheikah symbol.
Exactly, I noticed the connection between the Sheikah symbol and Rauru’s eye as soon as I saw it open up in a cutscene. Perhaps the ancient relationship could also serve as an in-universe explanation for why Sheikah shrines look so similar to Zonai shrines.
Or you know. The OG sheikah symbol was found somewhere by the new Sheikah who act different to the older ones, but are still loyal to the royal family and they merely adopted the symbol. The theory it takes place after everything is the only one that really makes sense.
Yeah, I noticed that too. But I think it's strange that the game doesn't point out any connection between the Sheikah and the Zonai. In fact it seems like TotK goes out of its way to erase any Sheikah references from the game. It's almost as if Zelda's time tampering erased the Sheikah from history and replaced it with the Zonai. But then that raises even more questions. Does this mean Link's memories of the events of BotW are different than ours? The Divine Beasts still appear on the tapestry, and there is still mention of them desipite their disappearance, does this mean their backstory has changed and they're now Zonai devices instead of Sheikah devices? There's also that one Guardian on top of Robbie's tech lab, is that now Zonai tech instead of Sheikah tech?
Oh my god im laughing at the serious voice stating Zelda moved in with Link and then entirely serious " turning Lureline into a restort" Incredible.
Yeah, there's a definite.... difference... in the writing when it gets to the BotW/TotK section.
@@VonSnootingham lol ya they chose to go into a lot more detail for the recent games.
Honestly this reads as they're just gonna fast forward whenever they want a reboot, and whenever they want a game that's more like the past games they'll just slap one on around the old game's positions.
Man, Zelda in TOTK looks good for her age, like she looked good for someone over 100, but now she's 10s of thousands if not 100s of thousands of years old and still looking good.
why you do dis to me CR hahaha. thanks for the upload man
Great video!! You did an excellent job putting the timeline in order, and giving a good, succinct summation of each game. Bravo
I don't think Zelda love Link I think it's platonic
DAMN i didnt expect this would come out so fast!
"Ruto...where Link really dodged an arrow!" 😂
The fact this narrative comes from the shoddy cast fallout actor is 10/10
Now this is what I’ve been waiting for my man!! Thanks!! 🙏🏻
Quality is an understatement for this video. Amazing job to all participants!
CRYING. AM I THE KINGDOM? CAUSE TEARS.
Oh man, you guys are the most MVP of MVPs! I've been rewatching the timeline videos for years now. It's so amazing of you guys to do this update!
I need more of that choir at the beginning
You can't ignore hyrule warriors age of calamity. It definitely created another time line in the breath of the wild era which would still face the events of tears of the kingdom except with the old champions instead of the new ones .
It’s a spin-off with questionable canonization. The BotW team worked on it, but it’s not yet been officially declared as canon.
@@MiraBoo but it doesn't affect the main timeline of breath of the wild and is the reason why terrako doesn't exist in breath of the wild. Compared to the first hyrule warriors that goes all over the place age of calamity definitely has its own time line which to me is the good ending for breath of the wild . The only thing you can argue it makes complicated is the new champions going back to thier time lines and what they remember happened and if it gets explained to anyone when they get back. But that can be solved by them simply just not remembering or having forced amnesia by magic. Age of calamity is very zelda with time travel and everything
I too believe Age of Calamity is a split in the timeline like has happened before. I just don't think we will be seeing that timeline again so it's not talked about here. I'd love to see it since I like that new timeline. But i don't think Nintendo will use it.
AoC was a bad joke
Nope. In this new timeline the seal is not weakened by a hundred years of Calamity, so the cycle of Calamities just continues as usual. Also Zelda doesn't go back in time but that doesn't make sense in TotK alone so...
I think Zelda traveling back to the beginning of the timelines is a pretty good reason for the timelines to blur together.
redounding theory definitely could work, as it has happened in the timeline before already, i also think that the theory of it right after skyward sword could also work as well!
also, man i really did TOTK completely in the wrong order lol. I found the Deku tree on accident and that’s how i found the sword from him telling me. Didn’t even get to draconification yet so i just thought “oh sweet new dragon”
first video i've found of yours and i find it within an hour of posting 😤
I always get excited when you make these Zelda timeline videos
They’re so great
Going to explore the depths while this is playing, also good to see another video from y’all
A other good vidoe dude keep you rock
It has finally arrived
This was the first thing that came to my mind after TotK came out
Totk says Rauru is the first king of Botw's Hyrule but never explicitly states he is the founder of Hyrule itself. Sometime after the three timelines Hyrule was refounded. It's as simple as that. That lines up well with real life civilizations that have risen and fallen time and time again. It keeps the games still intact, lines up with Nintendo saying these occur at the end, and because Botw and Totk are so far distant down the timeline, keeps things open for the developers in the future.
When Zelda travels back and meets Rauru and Sonia for the first time, Rauru states after Zelda introduces herself "What an unexpected answer. We are the king and queen who founded Hyrule, after all. Or at least we were the last time I checked." Then there's the stone tablets you find all over that, when translated, also confirm Rauru and Sonia as the founders of this Hyrule. The game makes it pretty clear that they founded it, at least the English version does since I don't speak or read other languages.
@@fnaffoxy1987 Yup! Was just about to say this. "We are the king and queen who founded Hyrule". Plus, with BotW having references to Ocarina of Time's events, it's clear there was no 're-founding'... cause otherwise, when Zelda introduces herself to them, they would be like: "Oh, Princess Zelda from a previous Hyrule Kingdom? We have records of that" since the history is still at least semi intact. It is THE Hyrule Kingdom they founded.
@@WindMageMaster just because there are references to Oot doesn't discount Hyrule being refounded. There are references to Wind Waker and Oot in New Hyrule in Spirit Tracks when that was a refounded a whole 100 years after WW. Botw is thousands upon tens of thousands of years after any known installment to the point that every previous games has been designated into one point in time: the distant past. Hyrule was already destroyed in the Wind Waker timeline and on the verge of decline in the downfall timeline. This is a ten thousand year difference (and even then the 10,000 years is just the earliest point of reference in Botw's story. It could be MUCH more distant). It's not really that out there for Hyrule to have fallen at some point in the tens of thousands of years and for the people to pick the kingdom back up. This would allow the games to retain the continuity while also allowing Nintendo to do a soft reboot and the freedom to experiment.
@@WindMageMaster Even more proof is the fact that the Zonai Temple of Time, when sat on the Great Plateau, is sitting where the OoT Temple of Time is currently sitting, so the Zonai Temple came first.
@@fnaffoxy1987 It isn’t, actually. It’s sitting closer to the cliff side whereas, the OoT one is further back. You can still see the OoT one in scenes at certain angles (might be the castle at this point, as the structure looks a bit different).
Thank you, Storyteller Jason!
This must have taken so long to put together😮! Thank you so much for your hard work ; this video is so GOOD! Thank you for not having so many commercials too as these long videos tend to have tons of commercials in them and it both annoys me and pulls me out of the story you're trying to tell.
Keep up the good work!❤😊
Waiting especially for this! SO glad that it's finally here!
Honestly, probably the best interpretation of the timeline I've seen considering how debated it is by zelda fans
When Zelda goes back in time it has to be before OoT. Some of the scenes are on the Great Plateau don’t show the ruins of the OoT Castle Town and Temple of Time. The TotK temple of time is where the OoT Temple of Time is if you look at the cut scenes.
Entirely correct. The Forgotten Temple (Clearly the Temple of Light, as it houses the Chamber of Sages) also doesn't have a "Goddess" statue on it.
Additionally to add to that one, the bargainer statues below also are in the same locations of the Goddess Statues (and springs) above, with the Wellsprings in the same spot -- deducing that the source of the Springs (Power, Courage & Wisdom) are from the Twilight realm, not from the Goddesses. Evidently, that sort of directly implies a lot of things that many who "love" Skyward Sword aren't willing to accept, either.
It's 100% clear that TOTK is in the direct timeline, and there isn't even a timeline "merge" to take place. It cannot happen in the Downfall timeline, the Sacred Realm is not a mirror of the Dark World.
So it is on the Child or Adult timeline.
The question is which one, and how do we define it?
At the end of Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf was sealed in the Twilight Realm (No, really, he was lol, this video is just incorrect lol), and then freed himself within 100 years. In the Child timeline, he went to the Twilight realm willingly.
We have a few thought processes and creative ideas to work from.
The process here, however, is also understanding that the "lore" from Skyward Sword was potentially never lore from the start, and it was a red herring. Although I think this was actually intended (hilariously) because most of the side adventures deal with this sort of attribute (Intended, or unintended misdirects to plague the audience to the Yiga, or in some cases entirely by misunderstanding and incorrectly remembering how instances occur), the major tell is the Mayoral campaign, where the classic ideals win, with an agreement to incorpoarte "some" new ideas.
(That entire ordeal is fun to tackle, however the implication is directly at Nintendo's writers -- not the gameplay mechanic of "open world vs linear", as some will then probably attempt to argue. The format here isn't really a combination, it's simply the BOTW formula worked marginally, whilst the mayoral quest definitively would dictate that it would be predominantly classic Zelda entry with sprinkles of "New cool thing" applied. We do not have this in this instance).
But anyway; Deviation entirely aside and to your comment: Yes, we do not see any of these ruins here yet and this comes "before" Ocarina of Time. It also comes "before" any event of Skyward Sword; As I'm sure the story of that likely took place -- but not as intended, at all. I'd proclaim that a large inspiration of TOTK was to correct Skyward Sword to actually fit into the lore of the overarching Zelda universe of mainline entries, instead of trying to make games based "around that lore" (Which was already surface level generic modern "demon vs good guy" anime plot anyway).
@@itsJoshW my theory is that it takes place soon after SS. Sonia is the direct decedent of SS Zelda and Link or her Grandparents. (How Zelda in OoT has light and time powers). This is where I differ from most people. Two events cause a “dragon break” like event where all three events happen at the same time and converge (look up elder scrolls lore it’ll make sense) Zelda in TOTK going back in time and the end events of OoT (downfall, child, and adult) and how events from all three timelines are mentioned and happen and eventually converge.
@@WeAreTheReapers There's only a couple nuanced aspects of that which wouldn't (remotely) work:
1) Hylia is never mentioned, neither Sonia nor Rauru heard of the name "Zelda" before and none of which have heard of the Master Sword before.
2) The "Goddess" statues are nowhere to be found, anywhere, in the past of Hyrule, especially the larger one in the Fogotten Temple (Which coincidently is a temple wherein has a Chamber of sages -- Dare I call this the Temple of Light?).
I understand people want to always latch onto a singular entries lore, but the game had lore far before Skyward Sword -- and that game did, in fact, retcon all classic lore to make it work.
Zelda has time & light powers due to another reason; Zelda in TOTK likely had Time powers, and her "Light" powers came from the Triforce (As we see in BOTW). It was even hinted at Sonia's response about this; Proclaiming that her Secret Stone is amplifying the one. The Deku tree even alludes to Zelda being "A Goddess" when obtaining the Sword, which in turn depicts her "Draconification" form as being a Goddess; I'd argue they did this as a poetic gesture to the "Hylia" theme -- where the myth of Hylia may even be due to Zelda going back in time (Evidently, like a poetic nod that Zelda became her own ancestral story, which explains why her "powers" never awoke, despite her researching stating the Skyward Sword Zelda visited the wells to obtain her powers).
As far as Elder Scrolls Dragon Break is concerned -- there's no need to do that and there's no writing implication to even remotely suggest this. The utilization of Dragon's in the Zelda series isn't new, but it's new to the primary subset of entries -- and it's utilized in the same vein as Japanese mythology. I'd argue that the entire premise of the "Dragon's" was to intertwine ideas from Fujibayashi with the original lore of the series -- as his primary and only notes on TOTK's story was concerned in interviews was about Ganondorf: Fujibayashi proclaimed that he just asked for Ganondorf to "Look cool". Ironic. As this fits perfect with the theme of the Mayoral quest.
In this statement, I'd also proclaim Fujibayashi is more like Cece, and Reede is Aonuma/Onozuka. As the one legitimate has gone onto record to state his only input for Ganondorf is for him to "look" badass, and the other has went onto record elaborating the lore of the game is up to the players to decide, but there is an intended location.
It has long been my theory that the Triforce broke when Ganondorf touched it because he literally wished for Power, and was thus granted that piece of the Triforce. Over the next seven years, he aged as he waited for the remaining two pieces to reveal themselves. When he defeated the Hero, he was able to gain the other two pieces of the Triforce as again, wishing for a form that would never truly die. Thus, the Pig-form Ganon we see throughout the Downfall Timeline.
this is such a good explanation of the loz timeline and made every question i had about it clear. thank you so much for the video!! this definitely deserves more likes
been waiting for this
You know we were waiting for this. Better late than never. That and the Zelda timeline taught me one thing... Ocarina of Time was where the Dragon Break started and somewhere far in the future was where the timelines merged.
Dragon break might be the best analogy for the craziness lol
@@Hk121394 It's appropriately fitting. The Dragon Break began at the end of OoT and it would end thousands of years later.
congrats on the video!
Really nice how you keep expanding this
Nintendo definitely left the story open for a third entry to the series. (They restored links arm and brought Zelda back from being a dragon)
despite what other people think, i like that they’re making a new timeline with botw and totk, that gives them room to do new things and not be held back by continuity
“history doesn’t repeat, it rhymes”
Nintendo was the one who insisted there was a timeline in the first place, no one was making them conform to that except themselves lol
@@ArrakisHeir88 not really, just about every serious zelda fan and theorist was dying to know the timeline
@@aylinilya. There has always been a Zelda Timeline, always, just it was never flat out told. For starters, _Zelda II - The Adventures of Link_ was always a sequel of the original _The Legend of Zelda,_ _A Link to the Past_ was always a prequel to the original which took place thousands of years before, and _Ocarina of Time_ was always a Prequel to _A Link to the Past_ which took place 100s of years in the past, partially covering _A Link to the Past's_ prologue but with a different ending, one where Ganon didn't win (and escaped from the Sacred Realm, unlike in _A Link to the Past's_ prologue). And unlike _Majora's Mask_ which was a direct sequel to _Ocarina of Time,_ _The Wind Waker_ and _Twilight Princess_ were clearly sequels to _Ocarina of Time,_ but took place hundreds of years later but were in separate timelines of each other, with _The Wind Waker_ being a sequel to the Adult Timeline and _Twilight Princess_ being a sequel to the Child Timeline, both Taking place in a separate Timeline to _A Link to the Past,_ but around the same time. Miyamoto even joked that the Link in all three games (_A Link to the Past,_ _The Wind Waker,_ and _Twilight Princess_) were alternate timeline counterparts with each other. And so on and so forth.
Fact is, there has always been a Zelda Timeline. It's just that it was never flat out told to fans but the hints and evidence is there with in-game lore and developer interviews.
@@enforcerridley158 I suspect the Zelda Timeline was more like the Snyder Cut - a lot of ideas, but not a finished product until shortly before it was first made public.
Yes, you can draw connections between individual games, but also if you pay close attention to detail, those connections don't quite work properly.
It seems more likely that there was no overall timeline and each game's director made their own decision about how much to tie the game to other titles in the series.
This is a superior video, and I like that you are updating as the games have come out.
Beautiful video, and game. I waited to finish your video until this morning as i finally beat the game last night.
One thing I don't like about the TotK lore is that it states that the royal family inherited the ability of light from being descendants of Rauru and that their own natural ability is time based rather than the getting it by being the direct bloodline of the Goddess of Light and being the only family that the soul of the goddess can be reborn in
*grabs popcorn and watches the entire video*I love zelda lore
I'm pretty new to the series and a sucker for timelines, so thanks for this video 👍
Great video! Take a drink everytime you hear the word "decisive" 😂😂😂
Been waiting for this to drop😂
Hope you enjoy it! :)
Yes !
I was really hyped for this video.
Amazing
I love Midna's Lament!!!
I've been waiting for this!
It's basically like the Dragon Break from The Elder Scrolls, like Thinking At Max Volume explains in his video. Hi btw
I rather have a reboot than a Dragon Break really
Yep and it is the best solution for the franchise forward!
@@geminisfl it’s a soft reboot and I prefer it to a hard reboot. Also explains the references to events in older games.
@@raskolnikov6443 I wouldn't mind it being a hard reboot. The devs said many times before that the timeline is a HINDRANCE for them in terms of creative freedom. As I see, the Fujibayashi Trilogy (Skyward Sword, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom) is the "new" Zelda, disconnected from the old ones. Do you remember when BOTW was thought to be a reboot of Zelda1? The open world, destroyed kingdom, Dueling Peaks, Spectacle Rock, all those hinted at a reboot. The Fujibayashi Trilogy depicts: The origin of the Hylians and The Demon King, The creation of the Master Sword and the seal of the Demon King, The founding of the Kingdom of Hyrule by the Hylians and the Zonai, the reincarnation of The Demon King (Ganondorf), The Imprisioning War, Ascend and fall of the Sheika, The Great Calamity, and lastly The Return of Ganondorf... the rest is just myth.
@@geminisfl Nah, it's not a hindrance imo
All the ships in Tears of the Kingdom reminded me of Wind Waker.
I was waiting on this video
my timeline theory is: with regards to where botw is on the timeline, the goddesses merged the three timelines due to some event, as they found that flooding didn't work. I think that AOC is canon, taking place in a diagonal-backwordbackword spot from botw, as is time travel shenanigans, thus putting it next to the original calamity. also,I think before totk, all the races were in contact to rebuild Hyrule, and the new champions will have shared the events of aoc with link and Zelda. (Also, I agree with the theory that tp is a few generations down the line from oot, and the link is a descendant of Link and Malon, which is why he knows Epona's song.)
lasly, on where totk is, it goes back to the botw, where the goddesses merged the timelines, at that time, the new hyrule was founded, and the zonai existed. the reason there are many references to past things, (other than for nice gameplay :) is because of the timeline merge, the memories of the lands are all there, no known just as ancient/unknown times/ legends. its timeline placement is: before link went to sleep, the events of botw and everything were as we know them. after waking up, the timeline is changed; some version of the calamity did happen, but not the one link remembers. meaning, zelda changed the line from "founding of new-merged-hyrule. and its next to and a bit ahead of botw in its placement.
In Dragon Tear Memory 8, memory, Sonia and Rauru is interested in meeting Link as Zelda speaks highly of him (since I can tell she’s blushing on the Hero of Hyrule and how much she admires his dedication).
It may sounded crazy but I feel her ancestors are the kind of parents Zelda needed since her father King Rhoam is always cold towards his own daughter, as well as forbidding her from being A scholar and calls her as "nothing but failure"
They would have accepted Link as her boyfriend since the pair do lived together in his childhood home in present day Hateno Village with two seats on the table. Thus, started to educate children as she saw herself through them.
Nintendo needs to stop given us hints and suggestions. Zelink needs to be canon since Breath of the Wild and Skyward sword. I hope we it for future DLC.
Her father never called her "nothing but failure". He only referred to the gossip the citizens were having amongst themselves. You're painting him as someone worse than what he actually was, a father and a king torn between his love and duty.
Oh boy get ready for the Zelink hate but true zelda and links relationship goes all the way back to skyward sword but link also loved other people like Illya or that girl from ocarina of time the one who teaches him Eponas song but truly link and im only saying this link from all the timelines he's a twink and a true power bottom.
@Moonmaster was just gonna say this he literally said "do you know how the gossip mongers refer to you?" And then said she must prove them wrong
@@lenninmontiel4539 additionally, item check girl from skyward sword.
@@lenninmontiel4539 im not a fav of zelink. I hated ss zelda (more so hylia) because she used link. I never wanted them together partly due to that, but also i like for some b/g relationships to be platonic.
Grabbing my 🍿 for this one
Game Over Jesse needs to do one of these, Commonwealth. I seriously thought they did one a long time ago but I never found one among their playlists on their channel. Excellent job, Commonwealth.
Every time I learn more about ocarina of time the sadder it becomes. Link and Zelda deserved so much better. 😭
48:45 ever heard of the dragonbreak?
a temporal phenomenon that involves a splitting of the natural timeline which results in branching parallel realities where the same events occur differently, or not at all.
Thank you for these quality videos!
This DESERVES 5k likes, hope we can get it there!
Thank you :)
I’ve been waiting for this vid to drop 🎉
This guy has the best narrating voice.
Here it is. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WHAT YALL BEEN WAITING FOR
Man, I gotta say, after all these years, those animations have GOT to get updated bro 😭
It should be written in the timeline that Link was absolutely disgusted by the Tingle hood inside the 8th heroine's statue (that represents him, apart from the 7 sages of old and his sword in my humble opinion). What the heck Nintendo, I felt attacked in Link's stead
Gonna miss Jason. He was my favorite narrator
I've watched this video 3 times now and every time Ive watched it your voice has reminded me of the narrator from Lylat Wars (Starfox 64)
This was very well done you guys really did well with your explanation of the timeline
Thank you so much for this gave me chills 😅
This is exactly the timeline that I believe is the answer TOTK couldn’t happen before or after skyward sword because demise is the original demon king and having two Ganondorfs at once doesn’t really work I also think during this re-merging of the timelines the tri-force was forgotten and that’s what a sequel to TOTK could be about
@@haydenjurko If you haven't finished the game, I would _strongly_ suggest deleting this comment.
Otherwise, you'll likely get spoiled the ending.
Keep playing and then come back.
The triforce wasnt forgotten at all. It isnt explicitly the focus of the game, but it is a part of the Royal family., Zelda has it
I mean just like real civilizations has died out so did original Hyrule aswell, I mean look at ancient Egypt, Mayan society, Rome, Ancient greece, and many others...alot of things happen in 10000+ years so the Hyrule Rauru and Sonia established is not the same as in Skyward sword or any other game for that matter (except BoTW). But what connects Skyward Swords to Tears of the TOTK is that the rise of the demon king are more or less the same. Showing that history will always repeat itself one way or another (which also refer to Zeldas time looping in an never ending cycle in TOTK, without her doing that BoTW can never happen.)
I'm gonna need evidence to backup that two Ganondorfs at once cannot work. Nothing in canon has stated otherwise. Ganon is an incarnation of hatred- not spirit. (Even so, we've had a case of two Links interacting). We just faced a Ganon in Botw, and in that game, we're told that Ganon has had a very long history in Hyrule and stirs up conflict time and time again- all the while, the original one from TotK has been dormant. We also have tablets in BotW that reference Ocarina of Time Ganondorf.
@Mage that's because only one male Gerudo can be alive. If one dies, it takes 100 years for another to be born. 2 Ganondorfs can't coexist if both are alive because of that.
Nice another great video to watch while baking donuts 😁
Good video, but I feel a timeline video would work better without the in-depth description of every game. Or I wish there was a summary that went over them all more broadly and focused on placement of events along the timeline.
Yes!!! I’ve been waiting for nearly a month for a lore video!!!