Because Ganondorf was sealed by the OoT sages only in the Adult Link timeline and LttP talks about the Imprisoning War (OoT) and you meet those sages descendants, it would only make sense for LttP/LA/LoZ/AoL to happen after the Adult Link timeline. Which would place them in New Hyrule after Wind Waker.

I think it would be three timelines.

Minish Cap>Ocarina of Time>Majora's Mask>Twilight Princess
Minish Cap>Ocarina of Time>Windwaker>Phantom Hourglass
Minish Cap>Ocarina of Time>Four Swords>A Link to the Past>Links Awakening>Zelda 1>Adventure of Link

I remember when Link to the Past came out it was clearly a prequel to the first game. Even more than that, though, when Ocarina came out it was clearly a prequel to A Link to the Past. Throughout Link to the Past you are reminded the guy you have to fight is Ganon, banished to the Golden Land, which he made into the Dark World. Later, you're told he was originally a thief named Ganondorf that was transformed by the Golden Power into the monster Ganon.

Fast forward to Ocarina. You meet Ganondorf. You fight him, you think you kill him, but he's not dead. Instead, he transforms into the beast Ganon. You still cannot beat him, so he is banished to the Golden Land (important fact: NOT the Twilight Realm. Hence different timeline). It all is set up perfectly to lead into Link to the Past. There's even seven sages that banished Ganon, leading to the seven maidens that need to be saved in Link to the Past.

Nintendo started jumbling things when Wind Waker came out and was clearly a sequel to Ocarina. Twilight Princess of course only muddles things even more.

But Minish Cap is most definitely the origin of the hero, while Ocarina is the origin of the great evil (Ganon). From there it splinters, which is fine. I like better what was once said--that it's what it says in the title, a legend. There's a legend that repeats itself throughout history of a great evil that sweeps the land, a princess that sees the land be taken to the brink, and a hero that rises up to save the day.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/29488.html

Let's just call them all "The Legend of Zelda: Another Link's Adventure". We won't have to worry about the time line anymore.

Does anyone actually believe there was always some storyline, or that this was an afterthought years later to try and explain them all once fans demanded it? Almost all of you can't seem to figure out up from down in these timelines, and if you really begin to nitpick you realize no matter if it's a direct sequel or not, your Link character never has any of his weapons from previous games, almost never has any knowledge of previous events and Hyrule always looks completely different each time when you visit it in different games. It makes for a great gaming experience, but a pretty lousy connected timeline. I personally feel Miyamoto and company are jerking our chains on this matter and just throw in small connections between games when it appeals to them. I don't think there's some grand scheme where as more games release the timeline will become clearer and more concise. It would probably seem more convoluted than it already is. Great games though.

I do think there was a time line originally, yes. I just think that they have broken away from it in the newer games a bit to give the best gaming experience you can in a 20 year old franchise, and figure out how it fits in later.

Its connected because it has Link in it.

Nuff' said

I don't understand how OoT splits the timelines at all. After Link defeats Ganondorfs in the future, he goes back to his childhood. It can only be assumed he tells Zelda about Ganondorfs plot and he is stopped then. Which makes everything adult Link did cease to exist. Which means, that none of that even happened. So, the only timeline spawned from OoT is when he is a child.

Really there was no point in questioning a timeline (at the time) because for the first 14 or so years of Zelda, it had already been a neat and concise timeline. The games made explicit mention of when they took place amongst each other. Adventure of Link was after LoZ. A Link to the Past was a prequel to LoZ. Link's Awakening is a direct sequel to LttP. Ocarina of Time was a prequel to LttP, it was the Imprisoning War told of in that game. Majora's Mask is a direct sequel to OoT. Basically, if you followed the games' storylines it would be hard not to know when they took place.

This didn't really become a problem until around the Oracle games and Wind Waker. The Oracle games because they didn't seemingly fit between the others (and made no mention of it), and Wind Waker because it validates OoT's "split timeline." Any argument that there is no timeline or that its a mess, basically has to center on OoT's ending because it's the only thing that makes every other aspect confusing.

But that's exactly why there's a split timeline. Because Link went back and altered his future, he altered history and effectively split the timeline to the world he went to and the world he eventually grew up in. A theory of alternate realities. One does not cancel out the other, but instead they branch off. It also stops a paradox about Link never becoming the Hero of Time if he stops Ganondorf from taking over.

Cause Zelda is made of Win. That's all you need to know.