The Game Theorists Claim They Have “Fixed” the Zelda Timeline

The Zelda timeline has been a central point of Zelda theorizing for numerous years, and debate around it probably won’t be going away anytime soon. Every canon game so far has either a definitive placement or general area on the official Zelda timeline that it probably won’t stray far from. However, Breath of the Wild is the only exception. While we know the game is at the end of one of the three timeline splits, we still don’t know which one it is at the end of. The Game Theorists‘ Matpat has recently released a video claiming he has “fixed” the official Zelda timeline by rectifying Breath of the Wild‘s placement.

In this video, Matpat brings up Zelda Encyclopedia‘s explanation for moving Link’s Awakening on the timeline as a focal point of his theory. That explanation says the timeline could potentially undergo future revisions in light of new evidence, and it also validates other interpretations of the timeline that Zelda fans can imagine. From there, Matpat points out that Breath of the Wild does seem to reference games on all three of the timeline splits, and those references could all make sense if Nintendo made Hyrule Warriors a canon game placed before Breath of the Wild. In summery, Matpat suggests that because the plot of Hyrule Warriors merges the three timeline splits, it would be the perfect game to lead into Breath of the Wild, and if it were made canon it would fix the timeline. The notion of canonizing Hyrule Warriors is a fair interpretation because of the Zelda Encyclopedia passage he mentioned.

Personally, I don’t agree with this theory at all. However, rather than trying to point out the flaws in it, I feel that it needs to be specified that Matpat’s theory isn’t exactly new. Being a Zelda theorist myself, I’m usually up to date on the theoretical topics that fly around. As I was watching Matpat’s video, I began to notice many of his points coincide with an article that was published last year on the website Two Guys Playing Zelda. I personally do not think the similarities between Matpat’s video and that article are coincidental. It appears to me that the article influenced a good portion of his video, though he didn’t credit it. If this is a case of parallel thought, however, we can say, at the very least, that the ideas presented in the video aren’t entirely original.

So, what do you think of Matpat’s video? Do you agree with the theory he is referencing? Tell us in the comments below!

Charles Xavier

Charles is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. He is a Visual Development artist focused on enviroments and pitch paintings. Check out his Instagram and Twitter to see his latest artworks, a lot of which is Zelda fan art! His favorite candy is Skittles – he feels the world should know this.