Ahh the Zelda Timeline, some hate it, some loathe it! I joke.

But then there was a fair amount of disagreement when Nintendo, during Zelda’s 25^th anniversary, published the official timeline (in the pages of Hyrule Historia). Fans had been theorising about it for years and so when the official chronology was revealed, some people disagreed. I’ve never had any objection to it, but largely because I was then a little kid and I hadn’t played any of the games. I only became a fan after the timeline was released. So, when I looked up the timeline, and there it was, I didn’t (at the time) have any theories myself and thus no reason to dispute it. If it were released now, I would probably disagree. But as it is, I took it at face value and have always accepted it. I am being a bit anecdotal here. As I said, I was new to the series (and also to the internet) so I only became aware of this debate retrospectively. But for all that, I maintain that the official Zelda timeline makes perfect sense. I’m sure I’ll make a lot of posts about the Zelda timeline in future (because whenever I had exams, I would end up theorising about the timeline and have subsequently built up quite a few theories over the years), for now, however, I just want to talk about the timeline split and the downfall.

There had long been speculation, before the official timeline (again this is anecdotal, I wasn’t there for this), about a timeline split following Ocarina of Time (OoT). The game featured a lot of time travel elements and (spoilers) ended with Link going back in time to prevent the game’s events from occurring. People theorised, as such, that the series chronology was split into a child timeline (where Link uses time travel to avert the game’s events) and an adult timeline (where he doesn’t). This would account, as well, for the radically different and sometimes incompatible settings seen in the other games, such as the Great Flood in Wind Waker (a sequel – or one of the sequels – to Ocarina) which isn’t featured in or compatible with most of the games. When the official timeline came out, it did include the expected adult/child timeline split but also, to great surprise (or so I’m told), a third timeline!

Shock Horror!

The new unexpected timeline was termed the “Downfall timeline”. It includes most of the classic top-down Zelda games, like Link to the Past (LttP), and was described as a timeline in which Link was defeated by Ganondorf/Ganon during the events of Ocarina. The question that arose was, if the potential exists for Link to be defeated, why don’t all the games have a downfall timeline where Link/the player fails (or just doesn’t finish the game, I guess)? There was some opposition and confusion about this. But I think the downfall timeline make perfect sense. It’s a logical outcome of Ocarina’s time travel mechanic and I don’t think I’m the first person to say so – I’ve noticed a few people defending it on YouTube and Reddit. There is a lot of time travel in Ocarina of Time, not just at the end. The downfall timeline is basically, and other people have made very similar arguments, what happens if no time travel had occurred at all. It is, effectively, an averted timeline.

I also think it makes sense within the context of A Link to The Past. Oot was originally intended as a prequel to LttP, that would tell the story of that game’s Imprisoning War (described in its manual) when Seven Wisemen/Sages managed to imprison the Demon King Ganon in the Sacred Realm/Dark World, whilst the Knights of Hyrule fought a costly battle to protect them from Ganon’s hoards. But none of that happens in OoT. It has some of the base elements, the Seven Sages do appear (brought together by Link) and they do seal away Ganondorf. But it deviates in other ways: there’s no devastating battle and Castle Town isn’t completely destroyed but simply abandoned (it doesn’t appear in the downfall timeline and LttP has some ruins in its approximate location, implying its destruction). Moreover, whilst Ganondorf does briefly become Ganon, he ultimately changes back – despite being Ganon in all the downfall games. A timeline in which Link dies, however, may resolve all these inconsistencies.

In the downfall/averted timeline, where Link doesn’t use any time travel whatsoever, I reckon that he still gets trapped in the Temple of Time for seven years, he just never travels back in time to aid his adventure. That is, he doesn’t solve problems in the future by constantly altering the past and, as a result, the story takes a wildly different path. Link still manages to awaken the Seven Sages and perhaps rallies the remaining Knights of Hyrule as well. But he’s not able to stop Ganondorf from becoming Ganon (I also reckon that Castle Town is levelled during Ganon’s transformation). The Sages then presumably assembled in Kakariko village to conduct their sealing magic and Ganon subsequently launched an attack on the village to stop them. Link would then lead the Knights in a defence of Kakariko and the Sages but is killed in the ensuing battle. And that’s the imprisoning war. There is some small backing for this outline in the official timeline. It lists the Imprisoning War (the original pre-Tears version) as an event which occurs between Oot and LttP – implying that it’s not properly depicted in the game. Regardless, in the original timeline (perhaps a better name?), Ganon is sealed away but Castle Town is destroyed, Link dies in the battle, the Knights are nearly wiped out and Kakariko village is all that remains of the Kingdom.

Fortunately, Link makes excessive use of time travel throughout the game and thereby prevents the destructive conflict from occurring.

And that’s all I got. Bye-all!

– Dexter.