The Legend of Zelda franchise has been one of the most classic franchises in the history of gaming which has indeed endured the test of time and has not only stayed relevant but has also been a pinnacle that has inspired many more that came after it.
The one thing that can be confusing about the franchise is it's timeline due to 15+ games in the franchise and a whole load of hidden details in each game, one can get intimidated thinking where to start.
With this year being the 35th Anniversary of the beloved franchise, I'll be trying to explain the entire timeline of the franchise from the very beginning of time in the Zelda universe.
And if it was not clear Spoiler Alert.
Zelda Timeline
Unified Timeline
Creation
3 Goddesses - Din, the Goddess of Power, Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom and Farore, the Goddess of Courage descended from heavens to create the world.
They leave behind the Triforce, an artifact strong enough to grant any wish of mortal beings who has a balance of the 3 virtues - Power, Wisdom and Courage. If the possessor doesn't have the balance of the 3 virtues, the Triforce splits itself into 3, with the possessor getting the part he/she embodies the most. 2 random beings are chosen from the Goddesses to possess the other 2 pieces. By the way, the Triforce doesn't distinguish between good and evil.
Another Goddess, Hylia is given the responsibility of guarding the Triforce. It was all good until Demon King Demise wishes to take the Triforce from Hylia. To protect the people, Hylia creates floating islands of Skyloft where Demise can reach to hurt the people.
Hylia then goes on to seal away Demise in the Sealed Temple, which unfortunately weakens her greatly. Knowing very well that the Demon King will once again come back breaking her seal, she creates the Goddess sword capable of being only wielded by a hero "who possess an unbreakable spirit", before being reborn as a girl named Zelda, enabling her to use the Triforce if Demise gets lose again.
Legend of Zelda : Skyward Sword
Decades after the events that sealed away Demise, generations pass by, at the point which Zelda, a girl who possess the spirit of Hylia is dragged to the surface world by the demon lord Ghirahim, a worshipper of Demise who wants to use Zelda to get the Triforce for Demise.
Link, a kid from Knight's academy is visited by Faye, the spirit of Goddess Sword informing him that he is the chosen hero. Link then proceeds to take the goddess sword and go save Zelda on the surface world, where he goes in the past to purify the sword with the 3 sacred flames and finally after receiving the blessings of Goddess Hylia that is, Zelda the goddess sword turns into the most iconic weapon in the franchise - The Master Sword.
Using the Master Sword and the Triforce, Link went to confront Ghirahim, only to discover that Ghirahim was the spirit of Demise's sword. Link faced Demise and with the Master Sword defeats the evil that is Demise.
Upon defeat, Demise curses that he'll be reborn in a never ending cycle for his desire to obtain the Triforce along with the hatred for chosen hero and the reincarnation of Hylia are eternally bound to be reborn with him. Demise is said to be sealed inside the Master Sword hence the sword came to be known as "the sword that seals the darkness.
The people of Skyloft return to surface and hence Hyrule is formed. Many years of peace follow. However, the legends of the Triforce and it's power brings in an era of chaos.
To protect the Triforce from getting into wrong hands, Rauru the sage of light, makes himself the guardian of Light temple in the sacred realm and then seals the Triforce in it from Hyrule, placing the entrance in a new temple of Time. He seals the Master Sword away as well and scatters the keys across Hyrule.
Legend of Zelda : The Minish Cap
The descendants of Zelda become the royal family of Hyrule and protect the temple of Time they built their castle around the temple of Time. All was going in peace when out of nowhere came evil that cause trouble in Hyrule. The Picori descent from the sky and gives the hero of man the Picori blade and the Light force which is used by the hero to seal all the evil in a bound chest, closed tight by the Picori blade.
Centuries pass by, when Vaati, an evil mage wins a competition that grants him a chance to touch the sacred Picori blade, which he ends up breaking, setting lose the evil in the bound chest and turning princess Zelda who has the light force into stone(talk about first impressions).
The only way to break Zelda's curse was to restore the Picori blade, which could be only done by the Picori themselves, who could only be seen by children. So, Smith the blacksmith volunteers his young apprentice Link to get the job done, who travels across Hyrule, fixes the Picori blade and gets 4 elementals which he uses to restore the legendary Four Sword, which gives it's user the power to split the user into 4.
Link uses the newly obtained Four Sword defeats Vaati and princess Zelda's curse is lifted and destruction of the kingdom is undone.
Legend of Zelda : Four Swords
One generation later, Vaati is resurrected, although with no memory of the light force ordeal. He overtakes the palace of winds, claiming himself as the wind mage and a hero comes along to defeat him using the Four Sword and seals him in the sword and enshrining him in the sanctuary.
After several more generations pass, the seal becomes to weaken. Princess Zelda and Link go in to check on the seal, to find it broken and Vaati swoops in and kidnaps Zelda and takes her to the wind temple to marry her(the most cliché thing ever).
Link pulls out the Four Sword and ends up splitting up into 4 Links. The 4 Links then travel to wind palace, honing their skills on their journey, defeat Vaati who is again sealed into the Four Sword, which after it's use is returned to it's pedestal. Link becomes 1 person once again.
Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time
For some unknown reasons, Hyrule descents into civil war for countless eras. In the midst of all this trouble, a woman flees from Hyrule to the forbidden forest with her infant child and at the dying moments she entrusts her infant boy to the Great Deku Tree. The child's name, you guessed it, Link. About 10 years pass when the Great Deku Tree, instructs Link to travel to Hyrule, where he meets princess Zelda.
Together, they find out that Ganondorf, the leader of the Gerudo, was after the Triforce and that he was faking his allegiance with the King of Hyrule. They go out and gather all the spiritual stones that can open the entrance to sacred realm.
Although, Ganondorf comes to know of this and attacks the castle, making Zelda to flee and Link rushes to the temple of time and opens the door using ocarina of time. He lifts the Master Sword, not knowing that this opens the sacred realm. Due to him being too young, Link goes for a 7 year long nap, leaving the sacred realm wide open for Ganondorf to get the Triforce, though he only gets the Triforce of Power. He still manages to conquer Hyrule and corrupt the sacred realm.
Link after 7 years wakes up. Restores the sages and then tries to restore the wrong that Ganondorf did Link's absences. Finally, to save princess Zelda and Hyrule, Link heads to fight Ganondorf at the castle. Here, Zelda gets the Triforce of Wisdom and the Triforce of Courage chooses Link.
Now, this is the most critical point in the entire timeline. Whatever happens from here, splits the timeline moving forward, based on the battle between Link and Ganondorf.
So, Link wins the one-on-one battle, but Ganondorf in his last ditch effort transforms into his true evil form Ganon using the last of his Triforce powers.
If Link succeeds in defeating Ganon, he transforms into his human form Ganondorf, who is then sealed off in the sacred realm by the sages, along with the Triforce of power. Zelda feels responsible for Link's lost 7 years. She uses the ocarina of time to send Link back in time, so he can live his childhood. This creates 2 timelines - Child Era and Adult Era.
The Child Era takes us through the time, following Link, who is sent back in time to relive his childhood.
The Adult Era takes us through the time, following Zelda, where all the events occur post what happened during Ocarina of Time.
There also exists a third timeline split however, that branches the darkest eras of Hyrule in it. This occurs when Link fails to defeat Ganon and dies during his fight. Ganon obtains the full Triforce making him unstoppable and in their last ditch effort, the 7 sages seal the demon Ganon and the full Triforce in the sacred realm.
Well that is it for now. I'll be posting each split timeline in the coming days as explaining all in a single post would be a big stretch and I don't want to drag this post and make it boring.
Next up I'll post in all the events that happen during the Child Era. Hope you guys would read this and like this.
Peace Out
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i love the tloz games i always loved that all their games were connected it is a wonderful world and each game has an excellent story when i played skyward sword for the first time i was really excited about how the master sword was created.
Yeah, the legend of zelda is a very thought franchise. Thank you for reading and do checkout the next post where we'll go through the Child timeline and Adult timeline.
Really great write-up, never played the Zelda franchise, after reading this I feel like I should atleast give it a try.