the fact that the events of every zelda can be tied to one another(except for the oracles which are debatable) proves that theres a chronology. the zelda master document does seem false and soemthing they made up just to tease fans, something like the jesus family in the da vinci code.

I can still make a pretty cohesive argument about Twilight Princess being a retelling of the events of Ocarina of Time rather than a split timeline sort of thing, especially since Link apparently died in combat in that backstory.

the thing is, if you tell me TP is a retilling of OOT, then OOT is a retelling of ALTTP. it would make lots of sense especially since in the ending

SPOILERS

midna goes away, so link may go to search for his friend(like in MM)

END SPOILERS

but doing so would mean no new sage's(which are the ones who imprisoned ganon) and that would totally destroy the timeline

Yes, there are some parts and games that can be tied together. It's a fact that Majora's Mask follows immediately after Ocarina Of Time, and that Twilight Princess obviously takes place sometime after Ocarina of Time. And Wind Waker as well, for that matter. And it's a given that Phantom Hourglass follows Wind Waker. There are some other minor examples, but the exact chronology and way all games fit together (there are 14 officially) is pretty much guesswork. There are far too many different possibilities, and far more inconsistencies and gaps to make anything of it. When even Nintendo themselves say there's no official chronology or timeline, people should just let it rest. Enjoy every game in and of itself. If they wanted the series to have an official, cohesive and logical timeline and all fit together, they'd have made them so. They didn't.

I wonder if there will ever be a time during Wind Waker's era when Link will have to retrieve the Master Sword to vanquish a foe, thus releasing Ganondorf once more.

I think it would create an interesting dilemma for the young (or maybe older...) hero. Retrieve the sword and release a great darkness into the world, or let the previous evil continue on it's destructive rampage.

When Phantom Hourglass was first revealed, I thought that maybe that would be one of the story elements in the game, but it never happened. But it's still a viable plot for that era. :3

(Yes, Ganondorf is my favorite video game villain of all time I can never get enough of his organ playing goodness)

Isn't there another Zelda game being released for the Wii. I hope it's difficulty is more like Zelda1 or Zelda2. I found TP a too easy by far.

if you are a true zelda fan than you should know about the timeline theories. there is the 1 link theory, several link theory, and the split timeline theory. I can go into more detail on each theories but thats gonna take me a while to type up. zelda those have a chronicle order though with minish cup being the first zelda sorry if i mispelled that. in that game link dosnt wear the famous green cap and is to be the first to wear it.

oh not to mention the evil link theory.

Interesting discussions going on here!

First, I think Ovyovyoyv or however one spells that has written down exactly my thoughts about Phantom Hourglass, what he wrote is also what I don't like about that game.

Now to talk about timelines... I think the two timelines theory is rubbish, either you can link the games somehow or you can't is my opinion, but creating multiple timelines is not really my thing.

It's been quite a while since I've last played a Zelda game, so I don't have all the facts of the plots present currently, but I try to write down my thoughts anyway.

It is clear to me that there must be several different Links - I guess we all agree on that. Still, there are some games in which we see the same Link again, the direct sequels.

Direct sequels are, in my opinion:

TLoZ: Link's Awakening to TLoZ: A Link to the Past
TLoZ: Majora's Mask to TLoZ: Ocarina of Time
TLoZ: Phantom Hourglass to TLoZ: The Wind Waker

I'm not sure about that one, but I think Link's Adventure is also a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda. Am I right?

Also, the two Oracle games are also sequels, but it's debatable to which game their are. They have to be because the Link in those games is an already proven hero. I think it's either a sequel to Link's Awakening or to Majora's Mask, but I'm not sure what Link does at the end of those games and if a sequel for those would be possible.

So this actually makes it six Links. Here are the games they first starred in:

Legend of Zelda
A Link to The Past
Ocarina of Time
The Wind Waker
The Minish Cap
Twilight Princess

In all of those games, a normal boy becomes a hero, while in the others, Link already is one. So all we have to do now is sort those games.

I think Ocarina of Time is really the one that starts everything, there is no mentioning of any previous events in the game and in the manual, there are also things written about the creation of the world, so this clearly is number 1 for me.

Now it gets difficult since I don't remember all the plots. I think though the next one which I'd put here is Legend of Zelda. I have forgotten what makes me think that way though.

After that, we either have the "water games" starting with Wind Waker or we have Minish Cap... I really don't remember which would fit better first though. However, I think they are 3 and 4 respectively, I just don't know in which order.

After that, I put Twilight Princess. I don't know how that water could vanish again, but if it can come from somewhere, it can also disappear, right? So this is my number 5.

The last one should be A Link to the Past. I think that was also stated by someone at Nintendo sometimes (don't remember if it was eji or shigeru though...) and it also makes sense since there's a lot of back stories in the game, and it definitely plays after Ocarina of Time because of the sages thing. Also, I feel that Twilight Princess is a prequel to ALttP because of the whole parallel worlds thing. This is also the reason why I put Twilight Princess after Wind Waker.


These are my thoughts summed up. Whar are your opinions about them?

LA is indeed a direct sequel to TLOZ. i've being in plenty timeline discuscussions myself, atleast IMO this is how the timeline looks like

                                                           majoras mask(child timeline)----twilight princess----a link to the past(and links                                                              awakening)---the legend of zelda(and links adventure)

The minish cap-------ocarina of time

                                                           the wind waker(adult timeline)--------phantom hourglass

the oracles can be placed either after links awakening or phantom hourglass.