The Legend of Zelda Moving Forward

I think we’re at a bit of a turning point in the Zelda franchise. Nothing as major as a reinvention and it probably won’t mean any significant changes to the standard formula we’ve seen in every Zelda game, but a slightly new flavor in terms of the setting and story. I wrote a broad article about the future of Zelda in the past, but that was pre-Skyward Sword, and involved a lot of speculation and conjecture based on numerous factors such as what we knew about Skyward Sword at the time, developer statements, and my own personal feelings. This article isn’t like that.

No matter how you look at it, we’ve reached the end of an era for Zelda. It has been 25 years since the original Legend of Zelda came out, and Nintendo has made the 25th Anniversary into a major event. Skyward Sword – a prequel to every game in the series – has released as part of the anniversary, and for plenty of people it has become their new favorite Zelda game. Hyrule Historia also came out, a book that details many elements of Zelda lore and finally establishes an official timeline. And then, of course, there are new Zelda games on the horizon for the Wii U and 3DS.

These five different things coinciding like this is incredibly proper and fitting, and I definitely think Nintendo planned it. It’s a fact that the release of Skyward Sword and Hyrule Historia are a part of the 25th Anniversary celebration, and they mark some important closure for the current Zelda storyline. Skyward Sword, being a prequel to the entire series, establishes the groundwork for the Zelda universe as we’ve always known it, and while it leaves some mysteries, it has shown us much of the origins of the Triforce, the Master Sword, Ganon, the Royal Family and the Kingdom of Hyrule.

Meanwhile, Hyrule Historia attempts to finally bridge all the remaining timeline gaps and form all existing games into a single progression of events. While I maintain that there are flaws in these connections, the Hyrule Historia timeline overall is pretty nice, and it definitely marks a closing of all existing plot arcs in the Zelda series.

Examples of this include there being a fairly conclusive death for Ganon on all three of the timelines, some detailing of most artifact and character origins, and tying up many other loose ends in the lore, like the Dark Tribe. It’s still not completely clear how much the Demons of Skyward Sword were intended to match up with the mysterious Dark Tribe of the Zelda series, but there are enough similarities to at least claim that there is a relation (and I will likely discuss this in-depth in a future article.)

As for Ganon, I’ve always said that his death is completely meaningless, and this is proven to be true by the Oracle games and Adventure of Link, all of which deal with Ganon being revived from death. Regardless of whether he comes back or not, his death on all three timelines allows for a more open plot, and those who’ve witnessed the ending of Skyward Sword are no doubt speculating on whether Ganon will return in future games or be succeeded by a new evil.

Now, some people have come to the same conclusion as I have here in this article, but also venture to say that this means the next Zelda game will be a complete reboot. I don’t think this will be the case at all. I find it difficult to believe that Nintendo would finally set the timeline in stone only to totally disregard it and re-do everything. These exist as two contradictory measures that would be done for the same reasons; you can fix issues in the timeline either by officially declaring the timeline and making the connections yourself, or by restarting everything and disregarding the original. Doing both together makes no sense.

No, regardless of whatever new direction the continuity of the Zelda series might take, it will build off the newly established timeline. How exactly it will do so is unclear. Perhaps Nintendo will gradually build onto the three existing split timelines, adding games to them and expanding into the future of the story. I do think it’s unlikely that, for the time being, we will see a prequel or a game taking place between existing titles. I expect that at least the next major console release on the Wii U will occur at the end of one of the timelines.

So what would that mean for the next Zelda game? Taking place at the end of the timeline? A potential absence of Ganon? A disregard of established plot elements of the series in favor of new concepts? A brave new world for Zelda? I don’t think we’re looking at a potential for anything drastically different, and even if we were it’s likely that we’d see a return to familiarity sooner rather than later. I think there is a fair possibility, however, that the upcoming Zelda games will feel fresh and unique in their own ways like Skyward Sword did, but also possibly taken further. Old ideas with refreshing tweaks.

In my Hyrule Historia video, I addressed some major concerns about the future of Zelda with the timeline, worrying that either Nintendo is going to ignore the timeline and it’ll just get overwritten like previous timeline connections always have, or Nintendo is going to adhere to the lore and not be as creative with the storytelling. I maintain that these are possibilities, but I can acknowledge that neither outcome will necessarily end up as bad as I’m making it out to be. That said, if the next Zelda game indeed does take place at the end of the timeline and move forward from there, it might strike a nice balance and allow the game to be loosely based on the established history of previous games, but move in an entirely new direction and become a creative new legend.

That’s the key word with Zelda, isn’t it? It’s a legend. Major events discussed in the backstories of Zelda games are never really directly shown. Major plot connections between games, like the Dark Tribe, the Dragons and Light Spirits, and the Four Sword aren’t illustrated within any games, leaving room for interpretation. All we know for sure is the specific events in each game, and these are always simple, enjoyable, whimsical adventures. The Legend of Zelda leaves room for mysteries so it can create and invent new ideas.

I can accept more prequels and delving into the stories and questions left by the existing games in the series, but I really like the idea of Zelda ditching the idea of prequels for a while and moving forward to explore new territory and forge entirely new legends. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think that this is exactly what Nintendo is going to do when they just did the greatest prequel of the series’ history and tied up the timeline’s loose ends. Truly, what more is there to say about the existing story that needs to or should be elaborated upon?

Skyward Sword was an exciting chapter in the Zelda franchise. Waiting for the game to come out, speculating about it, and playing it, has marked some of the most fun I’ve had with the Zelda series in a long time (and I would be lying if I said Zelda Dungeon and the Zelda Community in general didn’t have something to do with it.) But now, thinking about an open future for the series, I think I’m getting even more excited. What is Zelda going to be like on the Wii U, the 3DS, and future consoles to come? It’s exhilarating to speculate about the future of such a great and beloved series. What are your hopes and expectations for the future of the Zelda series? How much do you think it could relate to the Hyrule Historia timeline or existing plotlines and elements of the Zelda universe? How different might it be? We’ll have to wait and see, of course, but until then we can talk about it and speculate on what’s to come.

Author: Axle the Beast

Axle has been on Zelda Dungeon for several years and runs the site’s video mailbag, the Curiosity Shop, and also does other videos on the site’s YouTube channel regularly. He frequently writes articles and can also be found on Twitter, Facebook, deviantART, and his own personal YouTube channel.