The time line for The Legend of Zelda has finally been revealed

[Maynard_Tool]

Mr Khan said:

supermario128 said:
The only problem I have with this 3 way split is that if you have one game where Link can fail to beat Ganon then he has a chance to fail in every game. Why does it only split at OoT when it should theoretically be able to split at every game?

Time travel. Link's failure prevents the timeline split, in essence creating a third timeline. Really the failure timeline is the "main" line, where history effectively ran its course as it should have, without link being removed from the line (as in the Adult line) or without preventing Ganondorf's rise (as in the child line). Here we see Ganondorf conquer, but the hero's legacy endure (despite the hero dying, but this is a reincarnation thing)

This... I like this. I hope this is the explanation nintendo gives in their timeline