- Joined
- May 7, 2015
I'll be honest. I was always a strict one-timeliner back in the day. However, I was extremely annoyed at others in that boat because of this weird belief that Hyrule suddenly magically re-appeared out of the ocean... a belief that IMO, negated the King's wish for the children's future in the Wind Waker. In a weird way, Wind Waker was a story about learning to let go of the past, and the idea of Hyrule somehow reappearing cheapened it.
When a certain interview after Twilight Princess canonized the split timeline, I questioned it quite heartily (even though I was internally celebrating that it finally ended the whole unsinking hyrule nonsense). Before TP was released, Miyamoto had said in an interview that TP was between OOT and WW, and I held to that. Was it possible there were internal disagreements in Nintendo?
Due to this, I came to the "no real timeline" conclusion.
So, what changed my mind?
I'll be honest. When many of these games were originally made, I seriously doubt Nintendo had any intention of split timelines. They were simply, as suggested, loosely connecting stories together to set the tone for the current one. No, it's not a Final Fantasy thing...The realm of Hyrule is always the same, whereas JRPG series tend to change planets over and over again. The only one with any real continuity is Star Ocean, which heavily parodies Star Trek, so it can get away with having a consistent universe. You can save "the world" over and over again and have it all tie together with no real issues. (Just assume other planets are involved.)
What changed it for me is that Nintendo is making a definite effort to consolidate and set the timeline in stone. Newer games are feeding off this lore, and the story is starting to feel less chaotic and more intentional. Like in Star Trek where Spock pretty much blew up time, things are different now, even if that wasn't the intention when many of these games were initially made. Whatever the case, the split is the canon *now*.
But feel free to call Nintendo on it if they try saying it was intended to be this way all along. XD
When a certain interview after Twilight Princess canonized the split timeline, I questioned it quite heartily (even though I was internally celebrating that it finally ended the whole unsinking hyrule nonsense). Before TP was released, Miyamoto had said in an interview that TP was between OOT and WW, and I held to that. Was it possible there were internal disagreements in Nintendo?
Due to this, I came to the "no real timeline" conclusion.
So, what changed my mind?
I'll be honest. When many of these games were originally made, I seriously doubt Nintendo had any intention of split timelines. They were simply, as suggested, loosely connecting stories together to set the tone for the current one. No, it's not a Final Fantasy thing...The realm of Hyrule is always the same, whereas JRPG series tend to change planets over and over again. The only one with any real continuity is Star Ocean, which heavily parodies Star Trek, so it can get away with having a consistent universe. You can save "the world" over and over again and have it all tie together with no real issues. (Just assume other planets are involved.)
What changed it for me is that Nintendo is making a definite effort to consolidate and set the timeline in stone. Newer games are feeding off this lore, and the story is starting to feel less chaotic and more intentional. Like in Star Trek where Spock pretty much blew up time, things are different now, even if that wasn't the intention when many of these games were initially made. Whatever the case, the split is the canon *now*.
But feel free to call Nintendo on it if they try saying it was intended to be this way all along. XD