Friday Frivolity: The "Linked Timelines" Edition!

So I have always liked the Legend of Zelda games, but I always thought the series never made sense as a series.  They kept pretending that, hey, this is a guy who never had an adventure before, who then suddenly goes on an adventure and saves the world, or something.  So if there was any continuity, it totally escaped me.

(So off I am to save the world again, for the first time...)

But apparently in Japan, they have released a Legend of Zelda encyclopedia and art book, and if IGN is to be believed (and even they are not sure...), there is a method to all the madness:

Keep in mind this is based on reports from Japan that have then been translated. We have not seen direct scans or pictures of this information in the book (so far). There is some room for error. 

With that in mind... 

The Zelda series starts with a simple progression. The first four games in the timeline, from earliest to latest are: 

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword 

2. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap 

3. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords 

4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 

Here's where things get complicated, because Ocarina deals with a leap in time and technically only spells out one of those timelines with its ending. However, if these reports are to be believed, Nintendo has generated three scenarios based on Ocarina of Time. 

The first, which we'll call Timeline A, assumes Link actually fails to stop Ganon. How or why this is a logical storyline path is a bit lost on us, because the game resolves that battle, but regardless, here are the games that follow Timeline A: 

5-A. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 

6-A. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons/Oracle of Ages 

7-A. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening 

8-A. The Legend of Zelda 

9-A. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link 

So there's that - many games based on an odd presumption. Regardless, the next path, Timeline B, works from the presented ending of Ocarina of Time, featuring Link returning to live through his childhood. As we all know, Majora's Mask picks up shortly after Ocarina's ending, leading to these games: 

5-B. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 

6-B. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 

7-B. The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures 

One more timeline for you. This one starts with Ganon's defeat in the Ocarina of Time era, and progresses from there - from the time that Link advanced and eventually left so he could be a child once again. Here are the games in Timeline C: 

5-C. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 

6-C. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass 

7-C. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks 

So there you go.

Indeed.  Honestly, if this is the official word on the subject, it sounds like ex post facto bull,   But it’s an interesting attempt to make a senseless series make sense.

And it doesn’t stop the games from being great games.

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