The Legend of Zelda timeline: Every Zelda game in chronological order

The future is now Tears of the Kingdom: Zelda’s LegendA timeline can be very simple. It happens in the next moment. Take a deep breath of the wild), but the chronological sequence for the Legend of Zelda series as a whole is… complicated. This is to say the least.

Polygon has announced a Zeldathon for 2023. Follow us as we journey through The Legend of Zelda, starting with the 1986 original game and ending in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.

There’s nearly 40 years of Zelda history establishing that it’s not safe to assume anything about any given game’s timing — or the flow of time in general. Ignoring some spinoffs, there are officially 19 ​​— soon to be 20 — games across 37 years that make up the Zelda series, from 1986’s Legend of Zelda to 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom: Zelda’s Legend. A handful of them fit neatly together — there are a few direct prequels and sequels — but any chronology across the whole series quickly gets muddied by time travel, multiple timelines, and a 10,000-year time skip.

We are very grateful to have the official publication of our first timeline in 2011. Hyrule Historia: The Legend of Zelda. The timeline was created by the Zelda creative team in 2003. It is confidential and eyes only. This official timeline reorganizes the games to create a coherent-ish timeline with three options.

However, things can get more complex when you get there Take a deep breath of the wild. It is stated in the book. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Creating a Champion: “Hyrule’s recurring periods of prosperity and decline have made it impossible to tell which legends are historical fact and which are mere fairy tale.” That doesn’t negate the previous timeline as established in Hyrule HistoriaHowever, it allows you to easily explain inconsistencies using a wave of your hand. Myths and fairy tales don’t have to be perfectly consistent, after all. They’re just stories.

Order chronologically of the Legend of Zelda series

The Legend of Zelda timeline is complicated and open to debate. But there’s still a generally accepted chronology. Here, according to most primary sources — including the definitive tome that is Hyrule Historia — is the timeline for the Legend of Zelda:

Graphic by Jeffrey Parkin/Polygon

Still, even working off of this official timeline, there’s a lot of wiggle room and confusion as to where exactly Take a deep breath of the wildAnd Tears for the Kingdom belong. And then there’s the matter of the three branching paths. Let’s break it all down.

From Skyward Sword to Ocarina of Time

Image: Nintendo

• The Legend of Zelda – Skyward Sword (2011)
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minescap (2004)
• The Legend of Zelda – Four Swords (2002)
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998)

According to chronology, Zelda’s earliest game is The Legend of Zelda – Skyward Sword, where we learn that Zelda is a reincarnated goddess — the goddess Hylia, original protector of the Triforce. Link defeated Demise, and Demise transforms into a protoGanon at the end.

Indeterminate time later, it’s our turn. The Legend of Zelda: The Minescap. Vaati is an evil wizard who seeks to control Zelda’s Light Force (presumably from her reincarnated divine Blood) for his evil purposes. Link wins and locks Vaati for a short time.

Many generations later, in Four swordsVaati escapes, and kidnaps Princess Zelda’s current reincarnation, this time to try to get her married. A new reincarnation of Link — four of him, technically — beats Vaati again, leaving Hyrule safe for a while.

Well, safe until a “countless eras”-long civil war broke out in Hyrule (according to the Hyrule Historia). Then we get to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeHere we will meet Ganondorf. Then there’s some time travel that, as it often does, causes some timeline confusion.

End of Ocarinas of Time, Link defeats Ganon(dorf).

Maybe.

Three Legend of Zelda timelines

According to the official timeline Hyrule HistoriaThis is the result Ocarinas of TimeOne of the three possibilities is that Link loses to Ganon and Ganon wins. Link also wins and travels back to his childhood in order to warn Zelda (dorf) about Ganon(dorf). Or Link wins, and returns to his childhood only to disappear from history. Officially, these are the Fallen Hero, ChildrenAnd Adult Timelines.

Fallen Hero Timeline

Image: Nintendo

• The Legend of Zelda – A link to the Past (1991)
• The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (1993)
• Zelda’s Legend: The Oracle of SeasonsAnd Oracle of Ages (2001)
• The Legend of Zelda – A Link Between Worlds (2013)
• The Legend of Zelda – Tri Force Heroes (2015)
• Legend of Zelda (1986)
• The Legend of Zelda – The Adventure of Link (1987)

Link fell to Ganon at the end of this most dark timeline Ocarinas of TimeGanon, a sworn accomplice in the Triforce claim to all three Triforce parts and became the Demon Kings

After his win, basically Ocarinas of TimeIn order to stop Ganon’s takeover of the world, the Sacred Realm sealed Ganon as well as the whole Triforce. It was opened again many centuries later. The Legend of Zelda – A link to the Past. Link, a new form of Link, appeared and defeated Ganon once more. He then returned the Triforce from Hyrule.

Link — the same Link, probably — went on a little cruise, got shipwrecked, and eventually washed up on Koholint Island during The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. That game was kind of all a dream, though, and that version of Link isn’t heard from again.

Back in Hyrule, Ganon’s adoptive mothers tried to resurrect the Demon King. The lands of Holodrum, Labrynna and Labrynna were sent a new Link (in either the first or second order). Zelda’s Legend: The Oracle of Seasons Oracle of Ages. Link prevailed again.

A few centuries later, Lorule was a mirror of Hyrule.A sorcerer called Yuga attempted to revive Ganon. The adventure was based on painting. The Legend of Zelda – A Link Between Worlds’ Link saved Lorule and Zelda with the Triforce.

Few years later, the same LinkIn different outfits head to Hytopia, a nearby kingdom for fashion-inspired shenanigans The Legend of Zelda – Tri Force Heroes.

The power of the Triforce became a concern to the King of Hyrule several centuries later. It was broken up by him, leaving the Triforce of Power to himself. The Triforce of Wisdom went to Princess Zelda. Meanwhile, the Triforce of Courage was sent off to find Link’s worthy hero.

Ganon again invaded Hyrule with his army, and Link (an incarnation o) defeated him. Legend of Zelda. It happens six years later. Zelda II – The Adventure of Link.

Children Timeline

Image: Nintendo

• The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (2000)
• The Legend of Zelda – Twilight Princess (2006)
• The Legend of Zelda – Four Swords Adventures (2004)

Go back in Ocarinas of TimeLink will need to go to sleep for seven years in order to be the Hero of Time. In this version of the timeline, after Link defeats Ganondorf, Princess Zelda sends him back to his childhood seven years earlier, armed with the knowledge of Ganondorf’s eventual betrayal. In the past, Link warns the Hyrulean rulers, thereby avoiding Ganondorf’s rise to power.

Link leaves the scene after delivering his warning and continues on his adventure. He ends up in Termina — a land parallel to Hyrule — in The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. This Link version is complete after saving the day.

Ganon will be executed for future crimes sometime later in Hyrule. But that doesn’t go according to plan, and a new version of Link has to defeat him during The Legend of Zelda – Twilight Princess.

A few centuries later Ganondorf is revived in Hyrule to seek the resurrecting of Vaati, the mage from which he was born. Minish CapAnd Four swords) during The Legend of Zelda – Four Swords Adventures. The Link(s), from that era, defeat him once again.

Timeline for Adults

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• The Legend of Zelda – The Wind Waker (2002)
• The Legend of Zelda – Phantom Hourglass (2007)
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2009)

To get the Adult Timeline we need to go back. Ocarina and TimeOnce again. This time, Link disappears after he is sent back in his childhood.

In the end, Ganon was unable to take Hyrule back. In desperation the gods drowned Ganon and Hyrule under the ocean. Link is eventually incarnated and joins some pirates on an adventure.The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Link and Zelda beat a new Ganon (dorf), but Hyrule gets destroyed. They set out to find a new place.

After a few months of their quest, the same Zelda & Link embark on some ghost adventures. The Legend of Zelda – Phantom HourglassThen they set up shop on another continent, where New Hyrule was discovered.

Five generations later, during The Legend of Zelda: Spirit TracksA new Zelda, and a new Link battle (and defeat!) a different Demon King called Malladus.

Breath of Wild Tears and the Kingdom

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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Creating a ChampionEvery year since 2018 will have its own timeline. It lumps Everything together under one big question mark called “the distant past” — a period set more than 10,000 years prior.

It tells us something already: Take a deep breath of the wild Tears for the KingdomYou are likely not included in the Adult Timeline because we only see Hyrule within both games. It’s even vaguely similar in geography to versions of the world from earlier games. (This does assume that there weren’t any Triforce wishes to restore the sunken Hyrule, though.)

Image: Nintendo

Many references are made to Hylia and tying Take a deep breath of the wildWe are back at it, or close to it. Skyward Sword. One example is the 13 Hyrule goddess statues that resemble Hylia’s statue from Skyloft. Even monks can be seen in Take a deep breath of the wild’s many shrines are followers of Hylia.

But we can’t tell if Take a deep breath of the wildIs in either the Fallen Hero, or Child timelines. A nice clue would’ve been the state of the Triforce and who possessed it during the events of the game, but, interestingly, the ancient artifact doesn’t come up.

It is the form of the events that matters. Making a Champion’s “distant past” provides some vague hints, though. Specifically how, “in a seemingly endless cycle of darkness and light, Ganon continues to be revived and then sealed away.” Nothing about that is particularly certain, but it reads a little closer to the Fallen Hero Timeline than the Child Timeline.

Image: Nintendo

The only thing we know is that it has been since Tears for the KingdomIt is an obvious sequel to Take a deep breath of the wildIt shares any version of the timeline Take a deep breath of the wild It is now. And that’s 10,000 years after whatever game comes before it.