Zelda's Multiverse

[Vysen]

So, a few years ago I learned that not all of the Zelda games take place before, or after, the others. Some take place at the same time as the others happen, while some take place before or even after but in different universes! The most mind boggling discovery of it all? Zelda II: The Adventure of Link? It takes place after Ocarina of Time but in a universe where ganon WON during OoT. He beat Link and sent Hyrule into chaos! OoT was my first Zelda game and learning that, before OoT even came out, that you were once destined to lose in your favorite and first Zelda game? Not only was it disheartening but it was fascinating! It's like "what if" had happened and became real. The whole Multiverse concept that the creators of Zelda did only made me love the series all the more.

So, onto the point of this thread, who else knows about the theory and what do you know about it? I've not looked extremely deeply into it and I want to learn more, as well as help others learn about it through this thread.

 

[Pandaxclone2]

Any long-staying fan of Zelda knows about the multiverse timeline since Hyrule Historia was released and gave us the information. (Actually much earlier but I'll get to that below.)

Spoiler: Zelda Timeline

This doesn't include the two new games which have since been released at the time of this post, A Link Between Worlds and Triforce Heroes which take place in order between Link's Awakening and The Legend of Zelda.

That being said, whether or not you accept this timeline is an entirely different matter. Some people call this timeline a cop-out seeing as Ocarina of Time never had a special game-over that suggested this third "Downfall Timeline." While they do have at least half a point they apparently haven't heard of the concept of retconning, as cheap as that might sound.

Not all franchises are perfect when you get into the nitty gritty details. Heck, retconning of certain lore in the games can be found as early as Adventure of Link where the Triforce of Courage was first introduced, making the set of three triangles; originally Triforce just referred to the triangular structure of those individual pieces (which it still does,) not all three of them together.

Before this timeline it used to be known that there was at least only two timelines: Adult and Child, with many fans attempting to piece together the known games at the time into these two alone, Ocarina of course always being the exception. Even before that, the timeline at around OOT's release was as follows:

1. Ocarina of Time
2. Link to the Past
3. Link's Awakening
4. The Legend of Zelda
5. Adventure of Link

Which as it turns out, still retains its chronology if you follow down the Downfall timeline, just with a small handful of extra games sandwiched in-between them. Even OOT itself got into some retcon action with the Imprisoning War talked about in Link to the Past, which seemed at the time to contradict LttP's story. This of course caused a lot of arguments between fans about the authenticity of OOT's place in the timeline.

Hope this sheds some light on the timeline and its history for you.

 

[KnighddDd]

Yeah the Zelda timeline can be kinda confusing, but i understand why they split the timeline into 3. because it would have been difficult to make all those games just follow the same universe >.< i actually found this when i first picked up hyrule historia back then some years ago now

 

[oshul]

what would happen if link didn't tell young zelda what happened with ganon?