Each link is different they are not the same.

Anybody that states that every Link is different clearly doesn't know their Legend of Zelda.

However, there are quite a number of them.

By what I understand, it seems the timeline goes as follows. Whenever you see a group of games together in bold/unbold, those ones have the same Link.



Timeline A:
Minish Cap > Ocarina of Time > Majora's Mask > Link's Awakening > The Legend of Zelda > The Adventure of Link > Four Swords Adventures > A Link to the Past > Oracle of Ages/Seasons

Timeline B:
Minish Cap > Ocarine of Time > Twilight Princess > The Wind Waker > Phantom Hourglass > Oracle of Ages/Seasons

Four-Swords Adventures is italicized because there's no evidence to tell if it's the same Link or not as the previous games. A Link to the Past is a ways down the road, however, as Hyrule has recovered from the events of the previous games and the story about Ganon being sealed away has become legend.

If you pay close enough attention to the games, this is a sound interpretation. I've played every single one numerous times, so I can assure you - this is pretty accurate. Of course, Nintendo hasn't stated a canonical timeline, but they have stated that Ocarina of Time was the first... before Minish Cap came out. Minish Cap pretty much makes it clear that it's definitely before Ocarina of Time. Then, if you connect the events in each game from there (every game makes obvious connections, some more obvious than others), you can make this assumption with little doubt.

You won't find a better timeline than the one above.

every link is a diffrent link!! i think some links are the same though!!

Shouldn't Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess be in the same timeline?  In the adult Link ending of OoT, Hyrule Castle and Town were destroyed, so TP could not have taken place after this.  TP, just like MM, should take place in the timeline based on the child ending of OoT.

From what I understand, Link warns Zelda of Ganondorf's intentions in the child ending of OoT, and they then banish him to the Twilight Realm, which leads to him escaping and wreaking havok in Twilight Princess.  

I can't really comment on the timelines on the whole, because I've only beaten OoT, MM, WW, and TP, but I think MM should go in Timeline B, rather than TP being moved to Timeline A.  Hyrule Castle does still exist in WW afterall, despite being in a bubble under the ocean.  So Timeline B seems relatively correct, given my limited knowledge of the entire series.  Correct excluding the lack of MM, that is. :P

No way. The OOT & TP Links are different. The one in TP is just a boy from a quiet village outside of Hyrule, nothing in the game AT ALL points to him being the same Link as in OOT. It's pretty clear that TP takes place a long time after OOT anyway, with Kakariko in ruined state, no Gerudos anymore, the sages... :S Have you even played TP? :s

Also, the Link from OOT/MM is different from ALTTP/LA. Also, LA comes after ALTTP. It states so in the manual of that game, as well as the fact that it was released next after ALTTP and kept a lot of things from that game. In ALTTP Link defeated Ganon, then he went on some sort of journey to deal with all that's happened, and then when he decides to go back he gets shipwrecked in a storm. 

It's also pretty clear that ALTTP takes place after OOT, but before the NES games. It just fits perfectly. Every single bit about ALTTP tie with OOT. For example, how Ganon was imprisoned by 7 sages but finds a way to break the seal and escape using the sorcerer Agahnim. ALTTP is the ONLY game in which this is ever mentioned, in others, like the original LOZ, Ganon is just there, no mention of where he came from. So TLOZ and TAOL couldn't possibly be after OOT but before ALTTP, because Ganon had to be freed from the Sacred Realm first in ALTTP before he could appear in TLOZ. 

So, well, your explanation doesn't make any sense.

Aaaaanyway. :p To be honest, there is no definite chronological timeline in the Zelda series anymore. Before, it was plausible, even probable, but now, with all the different games and versions and storylines, there are just far too many plotholes, twists, gaps and things that don't add up or make any sense to connect it all. That's also why Shigeru Miyamoto has said that they don't really think about the connection between the different games anymore. When they make a Zelda game, the story is really not that important. He said he just sees every game as a single world with a story, and the Legend of Zelda is more like a continuous retelling of the struggle between light and dark. So when the developers themselves don't even care about the interconnecting storylines or chronological order, why should we? It's obvious there is no longer any greater storyline spanning all games and binding them into a connected whole. Just enjoy the games and their separate stories, and leave the storyline between them for what it is. Unimportant and nonexistent.  

Proof?  The thread ends here if you can put proof to that statement.

I didn't even notice that he said it was the same Link throughout those games. >_<

Doesn't TP take place ~100 years after MM?

Wow, all these comments are getting me very confused...Ahhh
I agree with Cheebee. Let's just not think the games are connected any more, because after Zelda Wii is released, it will be even harder to make sense out of all this.

so where does animal crossing on the ds fit into the time line? One of the characters says they have a crush on link (a boy in green cloths with a magic boomerang that they met in another town) and you can buy the master sword from the shop

:p

This is probally acurate, Im guessing all the Zelda's are related unless the one family got overthrown and there is some reson the new royals kept with calling the daugters Zelda.

Link - Not Related

Zelda - Most Likely related

Tingle - Guess there has to be more than one as he was in Wind Waker and Minish Cap which are different time frames.