Your theory works and all, but I honestly think it's simpler than that. BotW was thrown thousands of years into the future, specifically so that previous lore wouldn't be an issue; I seriously doubt they'd do a 180 on that in the very next game.
The way it seems to me, TotK's ancient past still takes place some time after, for example, AoL. Long enough that Hyrule can disappear completely, be re-established, and so forth. There are better options, of course, but we all know what company we're dealing with here.
This is similar to what I've been thinking. I think the Kingdom of Hyrule disappears because all three main timelines merge back together somehow, but the land of Hyrule still remains, and its people are thus called Hyruleans (example: Sonia is not a Zonai, and is referred to by Ganondorf as a "Hyrulean woman"). At some point, the Zonai descend from the sky and Rauru refounds the Kingdom by taking Sonia, who happens to be descended from a previous Zelda (or multiple Zeldas if the timelines have indeed merged), as his wife.
It makes sense for Ganondorf being there, too, since he died in all three timelines, but was tied to the cycle of reincarnation due to his meddling with the Triforce. Now, just like Link and Zelda, Ganondorf gets reborn every time he actually kicks the bucket (it just took him tens of thousands of years after dying in the three previous timelines, because he had to do a lot of time in Super-Ultra-Mega-Hell for all of the people he murdered).
That additional timeline split makes sense and could explain the alternate timeline BotW/TotK appear to occur in.
My personal headcanon is that the same way Link and Zelda are reborn endlessly, Ganondorf is the same way and is the vessel for Demise.
The early age Zelda travels back to in TotK is Skyward Sword's ancient past and the Lanayru robots are actually Zonai constructs. This is a timeline where Demise took the form of Ganondorf earlier than the other timeline where we first see him in OoT and Link wasn't there to stop him, so the imprisoning war played out differently.
Link eternally reincarnates.
Zelda is just the name given to pretty much all the girls born in the Hyrule royal family, it is the Divine Power of Hylia that is passed down through the generations.
As for Ganondorf reincarnating? He never has before. He has been resurrected by his followers or by Vaati, depending on which timeline it is.
Not to mention Ganondorf is not focused on the Triforce anymore. He instead is going for the secret stone of the Zonai.
But TotK also contradicts known facts from BotW.
Zelda says that Ganon has given up on reincarnation... but TotK reveals that Ganondorf never died so he never reincarnated in this continuity, so is that line just a localization from Japanese to English translation error? Or is it an oversight by the writers?
But is that a translation error where they meant to say resurrected but the process of carrying over to English and western cultural localization accidentally created a false context? I've never played FSA because that required four friends IRL who liked Zelda so that was a no go.
well firstly you can play it single player, and secondly it's 2-4 people, not 4 people exactly
and 3rd it's learned from the gerudo that ganondorf was born in this version
well firstly you can play it single player, and secondly it's 2-4 people, not 4 people exactly
and 3rd it's learned from the gerudo that ganondorf was born in this version
Still, it makes no sense in TotK's logic.
Because the statement that the games of BotW/TotK/HW-AoC take place eons after the events of the other games; other games that are now considered legend by the era 10,000 years prior to the gameplay events of BotW, is a highly contradictory statement.
Ganondorf's first known life was in Ocarina of Time; an era where the Kingdom of Hyrule was already long-standing.
TotK has it established that Ganondorf is now living his life near the very beginning of the Kingdom of Hyrule during The Imprisoning War.
With Ganondorf being sealed away in the end of the war resulting in a long-standing era of peace since there was no other individual who was worthy of the title and evil of The Demon King. No Vaati, no Malladus, no Bellum; nothing.
Rauru and Sonia state that they are the first King and Queen of Hyrule and correctly assume that Zelda is from the future since they are the first in the bloodline of Hyrule as a kingdom.
Which directly contradicts the notion that all the other events of the other games pre-date those of BotW/TotK, since Rauru and Sonia would logically KNOW of these events as Legends and the name of Hyrule would not be so original and new.
So the writers are writing their story while immediately forgetting what was written in the literal previous game.
(and seeing as there is no explanation for as to why The Great Calamity of 10,000 years prior is now known as The Imprisoning War AND the lack of any knowledge or concern as to the whereabouts of the Divine Beasts have vanished to; this seems to be very much the case.)
Honestly, the events of the game should be declared as taking place an in alternative timeline that runs parallel to the other known timelines in order to avoid further confusion and embarrassment.
It is a fitting cop-out, seeing as I already pointed out that there should be an abandoned timeline made by accident as a result of our adventuring in Skyward Sword.
There is no more timeline because Nintendo decided to retcon and delete all the past traditional Zelda games, all the games that came before the Switch titles, all the actually good games:
The fanbase should be very mad about that. Because that means Nintendo is erasing over 30 - 40 years of Zelda games and centuries if not millenia of Hyrule history.
And remember how Disney got a crap ton of backlash and pushback from like 98% of the fanbase when they decided to erase over 40 years of Star wars history, overnight, for no damn reason, and made the absurd, insane claim that the old EU, over 40 years of Star Wars lore and centuries or millenia of Galactic history, the best of Star Wars, is no longer canon, just like that, overnight, for no damn reason, that we have to get over it and that their new Disney crap "canon" with the awful movie sequel trilogy, the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" TV show that breaks continuity and established lore in episode 4 and the gory lame cartoons are now the canon? Heck George Lucas was horrified by the movie sequel trilogy, said it wasn't his Star Wars. Also, even J.J. Abrams, Jon Favreau, Mark Hamill and the whole cast of actors admitted that the sequel trilogy and the Disney new crap "canon" are awful. The trilogy written by Timothy Zahn (Heir to the empire, Dark force rising, and The last command) is the better sequel trilogy, the better sequel to episode 6, and the better episode 7, 8 amd 9.
So the folks at Disney decided to retcon and delete decades of history and lore for no damn reason and stupidly complained when they got backlash and pushback over it.
Well guess what? Nintendo is doing the same thing with The Legend of Zelda now, they are retconning and deleting all the traditional Zelda games of the past, all the Zelda games that came before the Switch titles, all the actually good games and just REBOOT Zelda:
For the second video, you must click on the link "watch on Youtube" to watch the video.
People do and should get mad about this.
Mega corporations like Nintendo and Disney should face massive backlash and pushback over their compulsive retconning/deleting/rebooting of everything that came before the most recent titles, they really should. They can't expect people not to get mad and to just take that well. I support people who are boycotting those two mega corporations and other corporations for their compulsive retconning/deleting of everything that came before the most recent titles. I might not be a huge Star Wars fan but I like to read the old EU novels, they are interesting enough to keep me reading them. And I might not play Zelda games anymore, but I still love watching a Let's Play of the new game on Youtube and chatting with the community in the chatbox, binge Zelda theorizing videos, and write a Zelda fanfic once in a while. So the boycotters and protesters have my support on this. Your fandoms provide the distraction and entertainment we need during dark and trying times like the global pandemic so for the sake of our mental health and catharsis they are worth fighting for.
........Nintendo hasn't made an announcement of a departure from the established lore.
They have always written contradictory statements in their games because each game has been made with the idea of it being focused on the localized arc rather than an overarching timeline of events. The timeline that was drafted up in Hyrule Historia and refined in the Zelda Encyclopedia has been just a mostly well crafted solution (I say mostly because the Downfall Timeline should not be 'Link was defeated' but instead be 'Link unintentionally abandoned the timeline when going back in time to the Spirit Temple, forcing Zelda's hand to go with plan b: seal away Ganondorf with only the Sages and not the aid of the hero'.)
And Disney is just a greedy mouse who did a lot of stupid stuff over the past decade in general because too many people reached the upper echelons of the company that should've remained mid-tier bodoofians.
95% of Star Wars became non-canon because the new writers that were taking over were not hardcore fans so they wanted to make their movies without need to worrying to be simply adapting a book or videogame or making new stories in the form of a movie. They realized that they could make money by giving people lightsabers and special effects and saying "look it's Staa Waas!".
My point I am making here is that in order to prevent Nintendo from making a similar mistake to what has happened to the likes of Halo and Star Wars is to simply exploit the fact that the timeline can still be upheld rather than making a needless retcon that will replicate the effects of what happened to turn Star Wars into Staa Waas and Halo into Armor McGreeny The Second.
(and seeing as there is no explanation for as to why The Great Calamity of 10,000 years prior is now known as The Imprisoning War AND the lack of any knowledge or concern as to the whereabouts of the Divine Beasts have vanished to; this seems to be very much the case.)
It is a fitting cop-out, seeing as I already pointed out that there should be an abandoned timeline made by accident as a result of our adventuring in Skyward Sword.
I refuted your assertion that there is an alternate timeline spanning from Skyward Sword in my previous post that you've seemed to completely side step.
I refuted your assertion that there is an alternate timeline spanning from Skyward Sword in my previous post that you've seemed to completely side step.
Can you explain the discrepancy as to how Zelda's Amber she is sealed within can exist prior to Link's arrival to the surface and Zelda's initial time travel back into the past then?
Because as I understand it she has awakened her powers and memories of Hylia by the time she ventures into the past, she has regained her office as Goddess of Time. Any alterations she makes to the timeline will retroactively make adjustments to ensure that the timeline is still singular.
Meanwhile when mortals meddle with the Gate of Time, we end up making timeline splits.
Ocarina of Time resulted in three splits.
Skyward Sword logically would split as well due to Link venturing into the past to plant the Lifefruit Tree seed, and we see that as evident with Groose's dialogue changing entirely.
The tree wasn't there at the beginning of the game, but Zelda's Amber has been there since the start.
Ergo, any changes to the timeline made by a mortal who is not one with dominion over time will result in timeline splits; whereas changes made by Hylia or her reawakened form will retroactively fix the timeline.
Can you explain the discrepancy as to how Zelda's Amber she is sealed within can exist prior to Link's arrival to the surface and Zelda's initial time travel back into the past then?
Meanwhile when mortals meddle with the Gate of Time, we end up making timeline splits.
Ocarina of Time resulted in three splits.
Skyward Sword logically would split as well due to Link venturing into the past to plant the Lifefruit Tree seed, and we see that as evident with Groose's dialogue changing entirely.
The tree wasn't there at the beginning of the game, but Zelda's Amber has been there since the start.
Ergo, any changes to the timeline made by a mortal who is not one with dominion over time will result in timeline splits; whereas changes made by Hylia or her reawakened form will retroactively fix the timeline.
You're really overthinking it, they can't have the life tree already in the Sealed Temple before it's moved because it eliminates a whole questline anyway. It's more likely that the Gate of Time creating a sustained bridge between these timeframes means any changes in the past happen instantly after and keep things running singular rather than splitting.
I will give you that your theory that Zelda awakening as Hylia means her influences on time happen faster than instantly after being done, existing before she technically has done them, but that still doesn't mean the mortal tampering Link is doing in this instance causes a split.
You're really overthinking it, they can't have the life tree already in the Sealed Temple before it's moved because it eliminates a whole questline anyway. It's more likely that the Gate of Time creating a sustained bridge between these timeframes means any changes in the past happen instantly after and keep things running singular rather than splitting.
I will give you that your theory that Zelda awakening as Hylia means her influences on time happen faster than instantly after being done, existing before she technically has done them, but that still doesn't mean the mortal tampering Link is doing in this instance causes a split.
I don't see how it does not cause a timeline split?
Zelda with her powers and memories of Hylia restored can meddle with time and not cause a timeline split, instead retroactively making changes to the past that affect the present singular timeline; as evident by the existence of both Zelda's amber and bracelet being in the Sealed Temple from the starting moments of the game.
But we have seen what happens when a mortal who meddles with the Gate of Time tries to alter the past: we get a timeline split event.
Ocarina of Time featured Zelda send Link back into the past using the Gate of Time so that he could live out his childhood. This version of Zelda did not have her memories & powers of Hylia reawakened within her, instead using what little divine power she had access to in order to achieve this goal.
Without the knowledge she would've possessed by reawakening Hylia's dormant memories that lie hidden within her bloodline, this Zelda did not know how to send someone back in time to alter events in the past without causing a timeline split. Because as this Zelda understood it, she was sending Link into the past to live his childhood years and warn the King about the future; hoping to cause the future to be altered in order to prevent the past 7 years of Hyrule's despair.
Instead we now have two timelines that followed that event - Adulthood and Childhood. The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess.
We see the same type of event happen in Skyward Sword.
A mortal who does not have a complete understanding of time's flow makes use of the Gate of Time to make alterations to the past. Alterations that become evident as when we return to the present.
There has to be a timeline accidentally abandoned because Link ventured into the past and made a change that caused a new future to exist from that moment onwards. As soon as that seed is planted, we have a new timeline branching out as a result of a mortal meddling with the Gate of Time without absolute knowledge of time's nature.
This timeline has to exist, one where Link accidentally abandoned the world to a terrible fate.
And all I am saying is that given all the new information that TotK provides, it makes the most sense to put its' story here in order to prevent the retcon of the past 37 years of beloved stories.
Is it possible that this whole thing is on the Adult Era Line just really far out and Rauru and Sonia are the first king and queen once the flood recedes? It would also mean that since the OOT Ganondorf was stabbed in the head in Wind Waker that we would have a new Ganondorf with new rules right? Up to that point and the other timelines just use the same Ganondorf, with Zelda and Link re-incarnated but the Adult Era has him killed, with the possibility of reincarnation.
