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Nintendo has suggested The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom aren't part of any previously confirmed Zelda timeline but instead the start of something new.
A presentation at Nintendo Live 2024 in Sydney, Australia, shared by @Wario64 on X/Twitter, outlined The Legend of Zelda history and its myriad timelines, but the two latest games were placed separately to the three previously confirmed narratives.
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.
Fans have therefore theorized where exactly Breath of the Wild falls since its release in 2017. The game introduces a quite different Hyrule that doesn't fit neatly under any of the timelines, but because that's not stopped Nintendo before, fans have persisted in trying to figure it out.
Tears of the Kingdom arrived in 2023 as a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, meaning a connection between the two was obvious, but still it didn't help definitively place the pair on any of the three Zelda timelines.
Nintendo has now suggested they're part of a completely new timeline, however, and perhaps one that isn't fully established yet. While there's a canonical link between every other game, these two sit on Zelda's timeline completely separate, not connected to anything else or even each other.
The pair are likely part of a brand new Zelda timeline as a result, but where or why or how it connects to the rest of the games remains to be seen. Nintendo could be embracing the multiverse approach of recent years to justify their existence, or it's perhaps waiting to connect them elsewhere later.
Fans will therefore be eager to see how it deals with this new timeline, or not timeline, or whatever else. Another game is right around the corner too, as The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom launches on September 26, 2024.
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.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
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