Zelda Fans Debate Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom Chronology After Timeline Image Goes Viral [IGN]

A presentation at Nintendo Live 2024 in Sydney, Australia, as originally reported by Vooks, outlined The Legend of Zelda history and its myriad timelines, but the two latest games were placed separately to the three previously confirmed narratives. It quickly touched off a frenzy among fans and various news outlets.

However, as this video points out, it’s not entirely new info. Series producer Eiji Aonuma is quoted as saying, “In books like the recently released The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia, we revealed where each Zelda game fell on a timeline and how their stories related, but we didn’t do that for Breath of the Wild. There is a reason for that. With this game, we saw just how many players were playing in their own way and had those reactions I just mentioned.”

“We realized that people were enjoying imagining the story that emerged from the fragmental imagery we were providing. If we defined a restricted timeline, then there would be a definitive story, and it would eliminate the room for imagination, which wouldn’t be as fun.”

Aonuma said that he hopes “everyone can find their own answer, in their own way.”

Zelda canon is, dare we say, a touch messy, as while Nintendo insists the games all connect to each other, they only doing so via three alternative realities. It all begins with the events of Skyward Sword, followed by Minish Cap, Four Swords, and eventually Ocarina of Time.

Zelda timeline at Nintendo Live 2024 (Sydney) shows that Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild are placed separately from past Zelda titles https://t.co/2xw3t3yPyM pic.twitter.com/wBYQsS5TnW

— Wario64 (@Wario64) August 31, 2024

But it’s here the timeline splits in three. One path sees protagonist Link succeed in saving the kingdom of Hyrule and remain an adult, choosing not to return to his life as a child through the game’s time travelling shenanigans. Things later go south, however, and Hyrule is flooded, spawning The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks.

The timeline where Link succeeds and returns to being a child is immediately followed up by Majora’s Mask, then later Twilight Princess and Four Sword Adventures.

The dark timeline, however, where Link is defeated altogether, spawns A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages, A Link Between Worlds, Triforce Heroes, and finally and ironically the final two games of The Legend of Zelda and Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link.

As for Breath of the Wild, Aonuma has confirmed previously that it takes place after Ocarina of Time, but Tears of the Kingdom makes things more murky. In an interview with IGN, Aonuma himself said he didn’t put much stock in the series timeline.

“This is a series that really lends itself well to each person playing, then thinking back and interpreting the story elements in their own way. We have these major players in each game, with Zelda, and Ganon, and Link, and they each surface and play their roles in potentially slightly different ways in each title,” he said.

“But personally, I don’t like to put too much stock in the chronology of the series, because from the design perspective, that can kind of box us in and limit where we’re able to take the story as we continue making games in the series. And so I do think it’s something that is best for people to interpret on their own. And yeah, I was kind of agreeing with many of the things you said.”

Either way, another game is right around the corner. Naturally, timeline speculation began the moment Echoes of Wisdom was revealed in June, but this game, not just because of its 2D nature and art style, appears to take place in the dark timeline where Link was defeated, somewhere around A Link to the Past or A Link Between Worlds. One way or another we’ll know when Echoes of Wisdom releases on September 26.

Update: A previous version of this story suggested that the timeline image offered new info on Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom’s place in the timeline. It has been updated to reflect that the timeline info was well-known prior to the image making the rounds.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.