A Link to the Past Timeline Placement

[bradley]

I just don't understand how one can place ALttP after an un-flood of any kind, it's like forgetting everything that happened. Hyrule just goes back to normal, the MS is found and given a pedestal and placed in the Lost Woods, Lake Hylia just goes back to being Lake Hylia, another desert emerges, and a new Kakariko Village exists again? It just doesn't make too much sense to me. The only Hyrule-based games that could possible occur after ST is LoZ and AoL, seeing as how messed up and completely different their overworlds are, which would make sense after a flood of that magnitude washes away. Heck, AoL's map has a ton of water, none of it being Lake Hylia.

I'm also sorry if this has all been said, I quickly skimmed the other posts, and didn't pay too much attention.

I personally place ALTTP on the child timeline. The people of Hyrule in ALTTP seem to know there history, pretty well.

In the adult time, the flood wiped out any historical records. Only the legend of the Hero of Time survived, and the version of the Hero of Time story that was told in Wind Waker made no mention of the Sages.

And from what we've seen of the New Hyrule so far in ST, does not seem to connect to the Hyrule in ALTTP. Plus the Master Sword is at the bottom of the ocean.

It could very well be that the Great Flood started the 'Dark Ages' of Hyrule, so to speak. After some of the waters receded, there were discoveries of new knowledge, and landmarks an such were named in tribute to the ancient land.

 

[VeNoM316]

Hello all! I'm new to the forums and just wanted to add my 2 cents here about where ALttP takes place in the timeline.

I always believed ALttP to take place after TP.

ALttP does not take place between OoT and TWW because at the end of ALttP it said the Master Sword sleeps again FOREVER. In TWW you use the MS again and it's found in Hyrule Castle instead of the Lost Woods.

Since I believe ALttP takes place after TP, it is the last Zelda game chronologically on the child side to have a Link wield the blade itself because of what it said at the end.

 

[AwesomeLink86]

I'm new to the forum too.

Retcons people, it's called retcons!

I personally place ALttp, OoX & LA inbetween OoT and WW, but here's a few suggestions:

1. Someone earlier posted an exert from the BS of WW: this is but ONE of the legends in which people speak! Why did the people pray to the Hero of Time then? Maybe it was because the other Link(s) were not as popular.

2. If Link went back in time at the end of OoT to relive the seven years he lost, then how is there a link in ALttP and how was there no link when Hyrule was flooded? This seems to be the biggest controversy and honestly biggest stretch on my part. You see in my timeline, ALL the Link's are related!! How you ask? Well in OoT Adult Timeline, Link could have hooked up with Malon (or other hylian female or your choice) and after Link left at the end to go back in time, Malon could have realized she was pregnant (again big stretch I know). Therefore, the ALttP link and the OoX/LA are of the same bloodline. After LA, Link gets lost at sea. There is no evidence that he returns to Hyrule, so maybe he lives the rest of his life on an island far away from Hyrule. No Link to stop Ganon later when he is revived, because Link's descendants now live away from Hyrule............so Hyrule gets flooded. The Link in WW could still then be apart of the hero's bloodline (I might write a fanfic about this sometime).........and miraculously it all fits........barely.....

3. How is the Triforce assembled together in ALttP?? Easy: Gannon had the ToP, Zelda had the ToW when Agahnim sent her to the dark world and he could of took it from her, and the ToC was probably lost somewhere and didn't travel back in time with Link. Agahnim could have found it or Link's ancestors or maybe even his parents and Agahnim could have killed them and took it. Agahnim could have very likely taken the pieces of Wisdom and Courage, to the dark world and place in the pyramid with the ToP!

I find it very unlikely that there was another Imprisoning War that happened similar to that of the event of OoT. In it's time OoT WAS the prequel to ALttP. ALttP has simply put just been retconned by both WW and certain events from OoT. You may not like my suggestions above, that's fine. Those are just one fan's speculations.

 

[Locke]

I'm new to the forum too.

Welcome!

Retcons people, it's called retcons!

I personally place ALttp, OoX & LA inbetween OoT and WW, but here's a few suggestions:

WW placed itself directly adjacent to OoT (as in no games in-between) when it was released, and there has been nothing since then to retcon that.

1. Someone earlier posted an exert from the BS of WW: this is but ONE of the legends in which people speak! Why did the people pray to the Hero of Time then? Maybe it was because the other Link(s) were not as popular.

There are also the legends of the creation of Hyrule, the Triforce, and the Master Sword; those of the pre-OoT wars and probably SS's story; and a multitude of more obscure topics such as Tingle, probably some stuff about the Sheikah, etc. But really the thing that keeps legends depicted by games to be between them is the consistency of the Triforce and Ganondorf. Ganondorf is sealed with the ToP in OoT, and released with the ToP during the flood war. No game with Ganon/dorf or the Triforce can happen there because they're both sealed in the SR.

2. If Link went back in time at the end of OoT to relive the seven years he lost, then how is there a link in ALttP and how was there no link when Hyrule was flooded? This seems to be the biggest controversy and honestly biggest stretch on my part. You see in my timeline, ALL the Link's are related!! How you ask? Well in OoT Adult Timeline, Link could have hooked up with Malon (or other hylian female or your choice) and after Link left at the end to go back in time, Malon could have realized she was pregnant (again big stretch I know). Therefore, the ALttP link and the OoX/LA are of the same bloodline. After LA, Link gets lost at sea. There is no evidence that he returns to Hyrule, so maybe he lives the rest of his life on an island far away from Hyrule. No Link to stop Ganon later when he is revived, because Link's descendants now live away from Hyrule............so Hyrule gets flooded. The Link in WW could still then be apart of the hero's bloodline (I might write a fanfic about this sometime).........and miraculously it all fits........barely.....

I think the simpler explanation would be that it's just a different Link descended from the Knights of Hyrule. But again, Ganon/dorf and Triforce.

3. How is the Triforce assembled together in ALttP?? Easy: Gannon had the ToP, Zelda had the ToW when Agahnim sent her to the dark world and he could of took it from her, and the ToC was probably lost somewhere and didn't travel back in time with Link. Agahnim could have found it or Link's ancestors or maybe even his parents and Agahnim could have killed them and took it. Agahnim could have very likely taken the pieces of Wisdom and Courage, to the dark world and place in the pyramid with the ToP!

Ganondorf is stated to have acquired the entire Triforce during the Seal War. The Triforce of Courage was broken into 8 pieces and scattered around Hyrule when OoT Link left, and it's still in that state during WW.

 

[AwesomeLink86]

Welcome!

Thanks!

WW placed itself directly adjacent to OoT (as in no games in-between) when it was released, and there has been nothing since then to retcon that.

I wasn't saying WW has been retconned. I was referring to the placement of ALttP being retconned by future games i.e. WW. Originally OoT was supposed to be a prequel to ALttP, but OoT's ending retconned that by having the Triforce split at the and Link going back in time. But other than these two things everything else was set up perfectly: Ganondorf touched the Triforce, there is an implied war between him and Hyrule, and the 7 Sages seal him in the Sacred Realm. Now with titles like WW and TP, ALttP doesn't really fit into the timeline at all any more. It's like Aonuma hasn't even acknowledge it since OoT. I just try to fit it in with MY OWN theory, though it may be a stretch. I do it this way since I prefer ALttP over WW anyway.

There are also the legends of the creation of Hyrule, the Triforce, and the Master Sword; those of the pre-OoT wars and probably SS's story; and a multitude of more obscure topics such as Tingle, probably some stuff about the Sheikah, etc. But really the thing that keeps legends depicted by games to be between them is the consistency of the Triforce and Ganondorf. Ganondorf is sealed with the ToP in OoT, and released with the ToP during the flood war. No game with Ganon/dorf or the Triforce can happen there because they're both sealed in the SR.

The BS of WW does not actually say that during the time of the "flood war" he was released from the Sacred Realm, it just says that the great evil once again crept forth from the depths of the earth. To me, it actually sounds more like Hell/Death but that's probably irrelevant anyway. Another thing to consider is that during the time of ALttP & OoX Ganon never stepped foot in Hyrule. So maybe the people who passed down the stories never knew he came back from those games. Also "one of the legends" could probably mean there are other variations to the story.

BTW, with this I'm not trying to say that you're wrong; I think anybody can interpret the Zelda time line however they want to. I just hope that maybe somebody might learn from mine and take some consideration in it.

I think the simpler explanation would be that it's just a different Link descended from the Knights of Hyrule. But again, Ganon/dorf and Triforce.

Again your theory my theory. Agree to Disagree.

Ganondorf is stated to have acquired the entire Triforce during the Seal War. The Triforce of Courage was broken into 8 pieces and scattered around Hyrule when OoT Link left, and it's still in that state during WW.

The Seal War was mentioned in the ALttP backstory which I have already said I felt it has been retconned.

The only thing that I'll admit you have me on is the ToC bit. After further research I realized that the King of Red Lions told link in WW about the ToC splitting into 8 parts after Link "the hero of time" left on another adventure. Maybe the King was a little misinformed on the legend? If not, I'll have to do some further thinking and theorizing on that one, but I'm not giving up on my time line yet.

I understand that most everybody says that WW is a direct sequel to Adult Link OoT. In Eiji Aonuma's mind, that's probably the case as well. But I just can't see ALttP going anywhere else in the time line. To say it goes somewhere else is to say OoT does not depict the events of the Seal War. If you accept that fine, I just can't accept it personally.

 

[Satsy]

The more I look into it, the less its position is confirmed. One of the big things is that the people in LttP are not Hylian, whereas the people in OoT are. A lot of the legends that LttP held that OoT was to cover, are described as ancient, and the very legend that starts the whole thing is obscured by time anyway.

And the Triforce, by LttP, isn't such a highly revered object anymore. Not only is its name not really given till you reach the Dark World, even parts of the old seal that had once kept people from getting to the Sacred Realm are simply considered treasures left behind -- so many of those legends have since fallen from the minds of the people.

One thing of lesser note, but worth taking into account, is how people gauge the timespan. Naturally 'ancient times' comes up often enough, but for some pre-game happenings, one person mentioned how it was about 7 or 8 generations ago. I think it was in reference to the Wise Men who first put on the seal. Those would either be some short timespans, or the game is set much, much further into the future of the legends than you, and I, first thought.

(I considered between OoT and WW myself, but I'm seeing how that wouldn't be the case).

 

[Locke]

one person mentioned how it was about 7 or 8 generations ago. I think it was in reference to the Wise Men who first put on the seal.

NoA mistranslated "ages ago" to "3 or 4 generations ago."