Board 8 > Where does BotW fit into the timeline?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I dont recall ever seeing this come up in discussions. Hey, this can be a break from the durability subject!

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At the end
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The very end after the convergence of the separate timelines

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redrocket posted...

Hey, this can be a break from the durability subject!

I see what you did there

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It's like Mega Man Legends that it's thousands of years later but they never specified which timeline it's in. They used to say that all 3 timelines and up at BOTW eventually but they probably retconned that too.

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ninkendo posted...

The very end after the convergence of the separate timelines

Wait, does that actually happen? How?

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By being SO far in the future that none of the differences in the timelines matter anymore; they all end up in the same place
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It doesn't

at least not until Hyrule Historia 2 pulls a fourth timeline out of nowhere made by the other three converging somehow

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redrocket posted...

Wait, does that actually happen? How?

Jakyl25 posted...

By being SO far in the future that none of the differences in the timelines matter anymore; they all end up in the same place

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SSJSephirothGokuX123 posted...

It's like Mega Man Legends that it's thousands of years later but they never specified which timeline it's in. They used to say that all 3 timelines and up at BOTW eventually but they probably retconned that too.

.....Mega man had multiple timelines?

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I think he was just saying it's thousands of years later like Mega Man Legends, then started talking about BotW specifically when talking about the timelines which is different from Legends

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although you could say MMBN and Star Force are an alternate timeline where Dr. Light pursued networking technology instead of robotics

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theres undeniably, possibly some AU shit going on but SSJSephy made it sound like there was something more definitive. but again, it could've just been the wording


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as for Zelda, they try to bring back TP Ganondorf in the trailer for part 2, right?

Does that help anything? At the very least they seem less concerned about Timeline stuff and just want more fanservice in BOTW

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Huh all this time I thought it was the failed timeline end

guess that shows what I know

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The timeline is kind of a joke anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2DMiZ1e574

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Zelda has a line that suggests the same timeline as TP.

Koroks suggest another timeline.

Could be anyone of them, but definitely in the future.

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CassandraCain posted...

The timeline is kind of a joke anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2DMiZ1e574

Hyrule Warriors being the thread that merges the timelines together would be some Nomura-ass nonsense.

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The timeline is made up

Official site says it's at the end of all timeline branches.

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I don't think there's anything Zelda designers care less about than the timeline

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I dont think they ever made an official statement other than saying that they wont say.

However, the idea of timeline convergence is both the most supported, as the game has elements from all three timelines, and the one that causes the least headaches. Effectively BotW allows people to start from there and disregard previous continuity, while keeping that lore intact and allowing for followups.

The funny thing is, Nintendo had said when the timeline was published that every new game would clearly be placed on the timeline, which was true for a while. They went back on it with BotW because they wanted people to theorise and discover stuff on their own, just like the game itself.

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The official website depiction of the timeline places it at the end. Maybe that's not an official statement, but it's a statement made through an official medium.

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if anything it's a nifty way for nintendo to solve their split timeline dilemma for a few years and just make games that come after everything else

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Heres a much better timeline video than MatPats that fixes the rest of the timeline aside from BotW

https://youtu.be/KNrbD4Igr38
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I've always been partial to this one

https://youtu.be/Q-25c8Rsobw

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Well of course, BDG can solve anything
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Zelda timeline arguments only make me think of this.
https://i.imgur.com/LufhiFN.jpg

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Anagram posted...

Zelda timeline arguments only make me think of this.
https://i.imgur.com/LufhiFN.jpg

When people want to talk about video games as art, I think that conversation needs to begin here.

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To this day I'm baffled Nintendo even let an official timeline exist

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https://youtu.be/Q-25c8Rsobw?t=182

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pjbasis posted...

To this day I'm baffled Nintendo even let an official timeline exist

Theres a pretty deliberate (split) timeline between OoT/MM/TP/TWW/PH/ST

The rest, yeah, outside of the clear sequels like ALTTP/ALBW or Zelda 1 and Zelda 2
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It made sense because that was the time they actually started taking it seriously. And to be fair from Phantom Hourglass to Triforce Heroes every single entry was very clear about where it was relative to other games, and how long had passed. And then with BotW they were effectively doing a soft reboot.

Really I never understood the fuss. Every game in the series is clearly connected to another except for Oracles. If that one hadnt come out I doubt things would be so debated.

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@FFDragon I think we need the FINAL FINAL Zelda timeline.

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I was totally on board with the split timeline theory before Hyrule Historia made it official, but to this day I still don't understand the reasoning behind the "Hero is Defeated" timeline. The child era and adult era are both accounted for in OoT's ending, and a split there makes sense. Any further splitting just feels totally arbitrary and extra - like, why not have "Link dies" timeline splits in every game at that point?

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Right after Smash Bros. Ultimate.

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Xiahou Shake posted...

I was totally on board with the split timeline theory before Hyrule Historia made it official, but to this day I still don't understand the reasoning behind the "Hero is Defeated" timeline. The child era and adult era are both accounted for in OoT's ending, and a split there makes sense. Any further splitting just feels totally arbitrary and extra - like, why not have "Link dies" timeline splits in every game at that point?

To resolve a continuity error made by Four Swords Adventures. Should have just made it the ALttP prequel they were originally going to.

Basically Ganon is dead (covered by Twilight Princess) at the start of FSA and at the end gets sealed in the sword. They should have just had him be sealed in the sacred realm, then you only need one child timeline. But they didnt want to hew too close to timeline stuff back then so they made it not a prequel anymore and here we are.

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Mewtwo59 posted...

@FFDragon I think we need the FINAL FINAL Zelda timeline.

This was my peak.

If I can find the original, I'll highly consider it.

edit: thanks past-ffd for the foresight
https://board8.fandom.com/wiki/The_FINAL_Zelda_Timeline

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Punnyz posted...

.....Mega man had multiple timelines?

Yeah, they're minor though.

There's the timeline Quint from Mega Man 2 on Game Boy is from. He's from an alternative future where Dr. Wily has truly reformed into a good person, and the still evil Wily from the present travels to that future, kidnaps the Mega Man from that timeline (who was degraded back into a household chore robot assistant) Wily weaponizes that Mega Man with a... jackhammer and makes him fight against the current Mega Man. It obviously an alternative timeline since the present Wily obviously never reformed since we have Zero and the Maverick Virus to thank him for that.

Then there's MMX Command Mission which is an alternative timeline since it takes place in 22XX, the same century as the Zero series. It's also speculated that X7 & 8 are part of that timeline since the Zero/ZX game don't seem to acknowledge events that happened in those games unless you think Model A is Axl, when the A actually stands for Albert. And the Mega Man Zero timeline made for the DS Zero collection doesn't have X7/8 on it.

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Xiahou Shake posted...

I was totally on board with the split timeline theory before Hyrule Historia made it official, but to this day I still don't understand the reasoning behind the "Hero is Defeated" timeline. The child era and adult era are both accounted for in OoT's ending, and a split there makes sense. Any further splitting just feels totally arbitrary and extra - like, why not have "Link dies" timeline splits in every game at that point?

I like to think of the Downfall timeline as the result of all the times where Link traveled back to change something as Young Link and then traveled forward again. Now the Adult Hyrule has changed but what happened to the one he left and never came back to?
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Yea, The "Hero falls" is just abstract IMO, what happens differently that he just randomly fails? And why is it happening at the same time as the one where he succeeds? Apparently they're BOTH Just as real to each other if they made them both happening at the same time Canon

If they established in another game some villain went back in time and fucked with shit to make Link lose, then I can accept it to a degree, but its just dumb as is. or just have them acknowledge it to ANY degree in ANY game.

I feel like they did this third timeline just to fuck with people since most people already had their own Timelines figured out by them. They didn't want to print what people already figured out and wanted to sell more Historias with a shock factor

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Yeah I never liked the fallen hero concept. I felt it was better when it used to be assumed that the NES/SNES games took place after Twilight Princess in the child timeline. A third timeline felt unnecessary especially for the vague reason why it splits.

Also that reminded me of a time I was playing Hyrule Warriors and I was Young Link, and Marin complimented me with "Are you always this successful?"

...Boy that is rather morbid considering which timeline she comes from.

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Jakyl25 posted...

Theres a pretty deliberate (split) timeline between OoT/MM/TP/TWW/PH/ST

Yeah they should have just left it in the games where its explicitly stated.

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Lightning Strikes posted...

Really I never understood the fuss. Every game in the series is clearly connected to another except for Oracles. If that one hadnt come out I doubt things would be so debated.

The Oracles are Link's journey of enlightenment which took place in between A Link to the Past and Link's Awakening.
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Weren't the Oracles game retconned again to be a separate Link from the LttP/LA Link that takes place after Link's Awakening and before Link Between Worlds?

Update- yeah they place after Link's Awakening now.

https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/zelda_gamepedia_en/b/b8/E_Timeline.png?version=c5400a6e595aef154f79b88938566a7f

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who fuckin cares

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Eddv posted...

who fuckin cares

Me :(


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It's at the (current) end of whichever timeline you think it's in.

Personally I think Fallen Hero timeline fits best due to comments on the sages in BotW1 (the OoT sages were not woken up in the child timeline, only adult and fallen hero).

Child timeline can still fit, though I think some retconning would be in order to explain why the OoT sages were woken up when Ganondorf was sent off for execution and Link never did anything in that timeline except speak to Zelda and then try to find Navi before enlisting in the army then dying.

The only one I don't see any possible reasoning for it being in is the adult timeline, since Hyrule gets flooded and washed away forever there. They'd need to write up a hell of a story to explain why they would undermine Wind Waker's ending to put BotW1 and 2 here.

I don't want them to bother with a convergence timeline since they went ahead and put effort into having three separate timelines. But I guess that's also possible.

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It could be the adult timeline with New Hyrule simply not using trains anymore.

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