Zelda Storyline

[93dt 0]

Please note: This is being quoted from a walkthrough, i didn't want to put it in a quote box as it might confuse you a bit.

Source: http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/n64/file/197770/39517

Nintendo have released 12 Zelda games yet, though not in the

proper order. The "real" Zelda timeline has been a great big

topic of conversation in the Zelda-fan world. I've read

several theories, but before I try to make my own, let's

sort out the facts. I'll do this game-by-game, so we start

with the original Legend of Zelda. I'll type out all the

facts I think are, or can be, important. Here we go!

The Legend of Zelda

Before the game itself, hang on in the title screen saying

"press start". A short screen appears. It says:

"LONG AGO, GANON, PRINCE OF DARKNESS, STOLE THE TRIFORCE OF

POWER. PRINCESS ZELDA OF HYRULE BROKE THE TRIFORCE OF WISDOM

INTO EIGHT PIECES AND HID THEM FROM GANON BEFORE SHE WAS

KIDNAPPED BY GANON'S MINIONS. LINK, YOU MUST FIND THE PIECES

AND SAVE ZELDA..."

Even though we don't know what all these things (Ganon,

triforce, Zelda) are, we keep them in mind. As we play the

game, you'll notice that there is oddly little happening

besides Link cracking the dungeons. Some things I DO think

that might matter are the following:

-throughout the game, you are looking for pieces of the

Triforce of Wisdom, which is indeed broken into pieces.

-in the end of the game, you defeat Ganon, and Ganon DIES!!!

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link

Again, take a look at the title screen before pressing

start. It says that after Ganon was destroyed (killed),

Zelda's nanny, Impa, tells Link someone put a sleeping spell

on Zelda and it can only be broken with the "third Triforce"

inside some palace. To get there, you need to put a crystal

in six other palaces first. Link starts the adventure...

In the instruction booklet is a more detailed explanation

of what happened since Link overthrew Ganon, but most of it

is only important to the game itself, and so we will not

look at that. We will loook at only those parts that are

important for the Zelda timeline: the power that Ganon left

behind was bringing Hyrule down (Hyrule is the land where

most of the Zelda series take place), but in order for Ganon

to return, Link must be sacrificed first. On Link's 16th

birthday, a mark appears on the back of Link's hand.

Long ago, Hyrule was ruled by a king who used the

Triforce to maintain order. When he died, his son could only

inherit a part of the Triforce. He gets news of some

magician that the King once told the prince's younger

sister, Zelda, some information he didn't tell to anyone

else. The prince questioned Zelda, but she said nothing, so

the magician threatened to put Zelda to sleep eternally, but

she held her tongue.

The prince didn't want his sister to sleep forever and tried

to stop it, but he failed. The magician cast the spell on

Zelda, who felt to sleep immediately, but he died of it as

well. To make sure his tragedy would not be forgotten, he

ordered that every girl born in the Royal Family should be

named Zelda.

There is also a scroll in strange writing, saying whoever

wrote it couldn't find anyone with the proper character to

use the Triforce needed to wake Zelda, so he magiced Hyrule

so that a crest would appear on the person's hand with the

proper character, skills and age. It also tells where and

how to find the last remaining Triforce, that of Courage.

During the game, you travel through Hyrule, which consists

mainly of two large islands. There are minions of Ganon's

about, preparing for his resurrection, but that doesnt

happen, as Link survives. You get the Triforce and save

Zelda. Yay... Oh, and Ganon is, once again, DEAD...

A Link to the Past

This is where we begin with the real important facts. Here's

the story:

A wizard called Agahnim has killed the king and his

daughters except for one, Zelda, who is captured and next in

line. Link saves him, collects three gems to get to the

Master Sword. It is in a pedestal in the Lost Woods. Link

takes the sword and slaughters Agahnim. It then appears that

Ganon was the one responsible for Agahnim, so Link kills

Ganon. This was a short summary of the game, but we take a

look at some other things as well. In the title screen,

again wait a while and read the following:

"Long ago, in the beautiful kingdom of Hyrule surrounded by

mountains and forests... legend told of an omnipotent and

omniscient Golden Power that resides in a hidden land. Many

people aggresively sought to enter the hidden Golden Land...

But no one ever returned. One day evil power began to flow

from the Golden Land... So the king commanded seven wise men

to seal the gate to the Land of the Golden Power." Now you

see a picture of six large persons, one small, all in robes

and wearing staffs (sages from OoT???). "That seal should

have remained for all time... ... ...But, when these events

were obscured by the mists of time and became legend..." A

picture appears where the people conjure a strange tile in

the floor. Next scene is in Hyrule Castle, where the king

lives... "A mysterious wizard known as Agahnim came to

Hyrule to release the seal. He eliminated the good king of

Hyrule... Through evil magic, he began to make descendants

of the seven wise men vanish, one after another." Now you

see Agahnim making a girl vanish, "And the time of destiny

for Princess Zelda is drawing near." So far for the intro.

The next thing I like to point out is that a woman in

Kakariko Village (the main town of Hyrule) says that long

ago, a prosperous people known as the Hylia inhabited this

land.

This is as far as my knowledge goes.

Link's Awakening

In my opinion not really an important piece of the series,

but let's look at it anyway. In the intro, you see Link on a

raft, battling a storm, when it is hit by lighting. He wakes

up on an island. At the end of the game, you learn that the

entire island is just a dream of the Wind Fish and you're in

it (don't ask me how). On a side note, in the Staff Roll,

you see the Wind Fish flying in the sky. It looks like a

whale. By listening to a Gossip Stone on the island saying

"The Wind Fish in name only, for it is neither," I conclude

that the Wind Fish is indeed a whale (whales are mammals,

not fish).

Ocarina of Time

One of the most important, if not the most important to the

timeline. Analysing the game will take some time, but hey,

this file is becoming gigantically enormous anyway, so I'll

do it anyway. I'll start with a combination of the

instruction booklet, the movie you see when beginning a new

game file, the events in the game itself and the knowledge

you gain when playing the game.

A long, long time ago, (though NOT in a galaxy far away,)

before life existed, three golden godesses came from the

heavens to the shapeless lands of what was to become Hyrule.

Din shaped the earth, Nayru gave the spirit of law and

Farore created the lifeforms to uphold the law. The godesses

departed from what now was Hyrule and all they left was a

golden triangle, the Triforce, consisting of three pieces,

the Triforce of Power, that of Courage and that of Wisdom.

If anyone with a pure heart would touch the Triforce, It

would nestle inside that person, granting him a lot of

powers, and he would lead Hyrule into a golden age of

prosperity. If the Triforce would be touched by someone with

an evil heart, however, the Triforce would split up into

three pieces. The person who touched it would get the part

he would mostly desire. The other two parts would go to

people chosen by fate.

Next thing recorded in history is just before Ocarina of

Time takes place. A war is being waged in Hyrule of which

nothing is really known (future Zelda game, perhaps?) except

for a woman escaping it with her child, Link. She takes him

to the Deku tree, a huge tree guarding the forest of Hyrule,

and then dies. The Deku tree takes Link to be raised with

the tribe that live with him, the Kokiri. The Kokiri are

children who don't grow who are accompanied by a Fairy.

Link, however, does not have a fairy, even though he and the

rest of the Kokiri think he's a real Kokiri. How the war

ends, we do not know, but when Link gets a fairy, the Deku

Tree soon tells him Link is actually one of the Hylia,

another of Hyrule's species, a mortal one. The Deku Tree

also tells him that the Triforce is kept in a realm only

accessible if you have some stuff, but an evil man from the

desert is trying to get to it. Link sets out to stop that

man. He soon meets Princess of Hyrule, Zelda, and they

discover that the man from the desert, called Ganondorf, is

swearing allegiance to the king. They think Ganondorf's up

to no good, so they try to beat him to it. When Link has all

the keys to the Triforce's realm (the Sacred Realm), he

unlocks the door built by seven sages to guard the Sacred

Realm and performs the final step, to pull the Master Sword

out of a pedestal in the Temple of Time. But then something

happens Link and Zelda had not foreseen. Link is too young

to enter the Sacred Realm, so he is held for seven years.

When he becomes conscious again, he is the Hero of Time, but

he finds that the plan went horribly wrong.

Ganondorf had used the opened gate to enter the Sacred Realm

and touch the Triforce. He then gets the Triforce of Power,

but he wants it all. The Triforce of Wisdom goes to Zelda

and that of Courage goes to Link. Ganondorf kidnaps Zelda

and Link has to save her. Link gives Ganondorf some ass-

whooping. The battle, however, is not over with Ganondorfs

defeat. Ganondorf transforms into an ugly huge creature,

Ganon, and battles Link again. Link gives Ganon some more

whooping and Zelda (the "supreme sage") and the other six

sages lock Ganondorf (who is Ganondorf again) in the Sacred

Realm, but he still has his Triforce of Power. GANON IS

STILL ALIVE!!!. In the Staff Roll, you see Link is being

returned to his normal time, his fairy leaves him again and

the final scene you see is Link standing in Hyrule Castle in

front of Zelda.

Something else in the game is also imporant, and that is the

presence of a horse, Epona, who becomes a good friend of

Link's. Also note that some of the characters have names

that are the same as the names of some of the towns from

Zelda II: Adventure of Link.

Majora's Mask

This game almost certainly takes place after Ocarina of

Time. The Instruction booklet says the following:

"In the land of Hyrule, there echoes a legend.

A legend held dearly by the Royal Family that tells of a

boy...

A boy who, after battling evil and saving Hyrule,

crept away from the land that had made him a legend...

Done with the battles he once waged across time, he embarked

on a journey. A secret and personal journey...

A journey in search of a beloved and invaluable friend...

A friend with whom he parted ways when he finally fulfilled

his heroic destiny and took his place among legends..."

In the instruction booklet of The Legend of Zelda

Collector's Edition, it even says that Link travelled

through time, fought Ganon, and got lost in the Lost Woods.

The friend mentioned in the prologue is, I think, Navi the

fairy. Four other arguments that Majora's Mask follows OoT

are the following:

-the appearance are the appearance of Epona, the horse from

OoT

-Link has a flashback to Zelda teaching him the Song of Time

-when you learn the Song of Storms, you REMEMBER it, as you

also learned it in OoT

-after defeating Majora's Mask, the Skull Kid tells you you

smell like a kid who taught him a song in the woods, and

indeed, in OoT, you can learn Saria's Song to a Skull Kid in

the Lost Woods.

For the rest, it appears, there aren't any real connections

between MM and the rest of the Zelda series. Majora's Mask

is just a side-scrolling game.

Oracle Series

I will treat this as a single game, even though it isn't.

The two games can be played in any order and it won't matter

for the timeline.

One day, Link is drawn to Hyrule Castle and enters it. He

finds the Triforce and it says to him to accept their quest.

Link is warped to a distant land (Holodrum or Labrynna)

where he has to defeat some bad person (Onox or Veran). Now

you have finished one of the games. Then Link finds out that

Twinrova, two witches from OoT and MM, are trying to revive

Ganon (yes, REVIVE, so Ganon is dead at the moment). Link

finishes off the other bad person (Onox/Veran), but Twinrova

are nearly ready to revive Ganon. Link slaughters Twinrova,

but too late, Ganon is revived. Link slaughters him as well,

because Ganon wasn't resurrected properly. At the end of the

second Staff Roll, you see Link departing Holodrum/Labrynna

on a raft.

Wind Waker

This is the intro story:

"This is but one of the legends of which the people speak...

Long ago, there existed a kingdom where a golden power lay

hidden. It was a prosperous land blessed with green forests,

tall mountains, and peace.

But one day a man of great evil found the golden power and

took it for himseld... With its strength at his command, he

spread darkness across the kingdom. But then, when all hope

had died, and the hour of doom seemed at hand... ...a young

boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere...

Wielding the balde of evil's bane, he sealed the dark one

away and gave the land light. This boy, who traveled through

time to save the land, was known as the Hero of Time.

The boy's tale was passed down through generations until it

bacame legend... But then...a day came when a fell wind

began to blow across the kingdom. The great evil that all

thought had been forever sealed away by the hero... ...once

again crept forth from the depths of the earth, eager to

resume its dark designs.

The people believed that the Hero of Time would again come

to save them. ...But the hero did not appear. Faced by an

onslaught of evil, the people could do nothing but appeal to

the gods. In their last hour, as doom drew nigh, they left

their future in the hands of fate.

What became of that kingdom...? None remain who know. The

memory of the kingdom vanished, but its legend survived on

the wind's breath.

On a certain island, it became customary to garb boys in

green when they came of age. Clothed in the green of fields,

they aspired to find heroic blades and cast down evil. The

elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the

hero of legend..."

It's clear that the prosperous land is Hyrule from Ocarina

of Time, but now we know it is no more.

In the game itself, hundreds of years after Ocarina of Time,

you play a boy who was born on that island that has that

green garb customary. In fact, you get green clothes in the

game, and your name is even Link (or it's supposed to be).

The landscape of the game is a great sea with lots of

islands. On your adventure, you discover Ganondorf is at

large once more, with the Triforce of Power, and is trying

to find the descendant of princess Zelda. You find Zelda,

who has the Triforce of Wisdom, and hide her. Then you find

the Master Sword to kill Ganondorf, but you also need the

Triforce of Courage. You discover that it has been split

into eight pieces and scattered across the sea floor. You

also find out that the ancient land of Hyrule is still

there, but it's under the sea in an enormous bubble of air.

The king of Hyrule would rather sink it than give it to

Ganon.

You get the Triforce of Courage and go under the sea to

fight Ganondorf, who has found Zelda and captured her.

Before you fight him, however, the three Triforce pieces

(Power, Wisdom and Courage) become the Triforce again, and

Ganondorf is about to touch it to make his wish come true,

but then the King of Hyrule touches it first and wishes that

Hyrule be flooded, and that happens.

Now you fight Ganondorf and kill him by putting your sacred

Master Sword in his head and making him a statue. You and

Zelda happily float to the surface and resume your lives.

Last thing you see in the Staff Roll is Link on his boat,

setting off from his home island.

Four Swords

Because I haven't played this game , I don't know

anything except for the beginning. Again, I would like

someone e-mailing me the full contents of the Four Swords.

Here is what I do know:

Long ago, a wind mage called Vaati was wreacking havoc in

Hyrule, and a hero stepped forward, used the Four Sword to

become four people, they joined forces and sealed Vaati away

in the blade. In the present, Zelda senses the ancient seal

is weakening. When Zelda and Link take a look, they find

that Vaati has escaped and he takes Zelda prisoner to marry

him. Link takes the Four Sword and splits into four Links.

They set out for Vaati's Palace of Winds.

Minish Cap

The instruction booklet says that a long time ago, evil

spirits took over the land of Hyrule and began wreaking

havoc. Then, the tiny Picori (the Minish) descended from the

skies and gave a sword to the most courageous of men. That

guy destroyed the evil spirits. The people began to worship

the Picori. Every year, the people hold a festival in honor

of the Picori. In that festival is a sword-fighting

tournament. This year's winner is a stranger called Vaati,

and he won with ease.

In the opening scene, you see that the ancient hero is

someone looking a lot like Link, and that the blade he got

from the Picori has been enshrined.During the game, Vaati

turns out to be a Minish wind mage. By fixing the blade

Vaati broke, and turning it into the Four Sword with four

elements Link kicks Vaati's ass. He does that mainly because

Vaati kidnapped his childhood friend, Zelda. Another

"important" thing is the presence of the wind tribe, a tribe

that long ago learned to master the power of the wind using

magic. They departed from Hyrule and went to live in the

clouds.

Four Swords Adventures

I like this game. The instruction booklet, again, is of

importance:

Long ago, the wind mage Vaati kidnapped lots of beautiful

girls and nobody could stop him. Then, a young traveller

appeared. He drew his sword, split into four and kicked

Vaati's arse. When he was one again, he locked Vaati away

and sealed his prison with his sword. This place then became

the Sanctuary of the Four Sword.

Ages after that, Vaati broke free and kidnapped princess

Zelda of Hyrule. Link, one of Zelda's childhood friends,

used the Four Sword to defeat Vaati again. Vaati was sealed

away again. Peace returned to Hyrule. At least, that's what

the people thought... During the prologue of the game, Zelda

senses something is wrong with Vaati's seal. She and six

maidens who guard the sanctuary open the portal to it. A

dark form of Link jump out and draws in the seven girls,

and then he goes back in. Link follows him to the Four

Sword. Link draws out the Four Sword, turns into four Links

and stupidly releases Vaati. In the game, you save the six

maidens. You discover that Ganon is using Vaati to help him

resurrect.

At the end of the game, you defeat Vaati and Ganon, (Zelda

tells you that this Ganon was once a Gerudo called

Ganondorf,) Ganon is locked away using the Four Sword and

the Four Links turn into one again. One more important thing

is that in the sanctuary of the Four Sword, there are four

pillars with a gem-thing on top, the elements you gather in

the Minish Cap.

Also notice that the people that live in the desert look

quite a bit like the wind tribe from the Minish Cap.

Twilight Princess

Twilight Princess is about the adventure of a young man

(Link, surprisingly) living in the Ordon province of Hyrule,

to save the land of Hyrule from the rulership of the

Twilight ruler, Zant. The Twilight world is a parallel world

to ours, with the Twili as the counterparts of the humans.

Zant has conquered the Twilight world, and enslaved the

Twili. He then moved to Hyrule, to cover that in twilight as

well. The majority of the game's plot is irrelevant to the

Zelda storyline, but not all of it.

In a certain flashback, we see several sages trying to

banish Ganondorf to the world of Twilight through the only

connection between the worlds, the Mirror of Twilight.

However, Ganondorf still has the Triforce of Power, and

manages to escape into the world of Twilight with no bonds

and one of the Sages' weapons (a sword made of light), but

with a big fat wound on his chest. It could be that this is

a ol' chapisation of Link finishing Ganon off at the end of

Ocarina of Time (you know, myths change as they are passed

down from generation to generation), or any other game where

Ganondorf is simply "locked away".

In the final battle at the end of Twilight Princess, Link

drives the Master Sword through the wound in Ganondorf's

Chest. Also notable is that during different phases of the

final battle, Ganondorf transforms from monster form (Ganon)

back into his human form (Ganondorf). What happens to

Ganondorf next isn't shown or talked about, unfortunately.

It must be said that the person mostly involved in making

the Zelda timeline at Nintendo, Eiji Aonuma, has said a lot

of stuff about the timeline in different interviews. I will

try to make something out of this...

Minish Cap comes first. After that comes FS (See

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200405/N04.0517.1915.

59084.htm). After that comes Ocarina of Time.

Now I've got some explaining to do: at the end of OoT, Zelda

sends Link back in time to before he set out to save Hyrule,

and he goes off to Majora's Mask.

Now, it's a matter of debate whether the Link from Majora's

Mask has or has not gone through everything Young Link from

Ocarina of Time has done. By sending Link back in time,

Zelda created a copy of the events that took place before

the point where Link is sent back to, but we don't know

exactly whereto, or rather whento, Link was sent. I think he

is sent back to just before he pulls out the Master Sword,

as the Door of Time is opened, Link know Navi and Zelda, and

Link has a shield on his back. Anyway, everything that

follows is confirmed by Nintendo and comes after the Adult

Link OoT or after Majora's Mask. After the Adult OoT,

Ganondorf is locked in the Sacred Realm. After Majora's

Mask, he isn't, but he is harmless because he doesn't have

the Triforce of Power, because he never got into the Sacred

Realm.

Because of the conspicuous lack of signs of Hyrule having

been flooded before Twilight Princess, and there's quite a

bunch of stuff in Twilight Princess that's simply Ocarina

of Time stuff, only a couple of centuries later (the Temple

of Time being one of them; it looks very much alike), I

think it's safe to assume that Twilight Princess is between

OoT and WW.

About the places marked with [ORCL]

These places are the possible locations for the Oracle

Series. Again, I'll explain:

At the start of the Oracles, Ganon is dead and the Triforce

is united in Hyrule Castle. The Triforce is only united

after A Link to the Past, the Wind Waker and Adventure of

Link, but it's probably also united before Minish Cap until

Ganondorf touches it in OoT, but it can't come in there,

because Ganon doesn't exist before OoT...

About the places marked with [FSA]

These places are the possible locations for Four Swords

Adventures. Let me explain:

At the beginning of Four Swords Adventures, Ganon is either

dead or locked away in the Sacred Realm. That means that it

can only come after Adult Link Oot, Wind Waker, A Link to

the past, Legend of Zelda and Adventure of Link.

It cannot come after OoT, however, as there is simply not

enough time between OoT and TP to transform Hyrule and

create a whole new legend, it's only a couple of decades.

It can't come between Twilight Princess and Wind Waker

either, because at the beginning of Wind Waker, Ganondorf is

free, and at the end of Four Swords Adventures, Ganon is not

free.

FSA can also not come directly after ALttP, as Link leaves

after ALttP on his quest of LA.

It can also not come directly after Legend of Zelda, as the

instruction booklet says that Ganon remained dead in between

LoZ and AoL.

GREAT BIG IMPORTANT NOTE:

FSA cannot come anywhere after the Adult Ocarina of Time,

because of the following:

When you (in FSA) find out about the Dekus worshipping

someone, you learn that up til then, the people think that

Ganondorf is not an evil person, so Four Swords Adventures

cannot come after a game in which Ganondorf reveals himself

as an evil guy. The only solution to our current problem

of where to put FSA is to move all the games after Wind

Waker (except perhaps the Oracles) to the timeline of

Majora's Mask. Thus, we have:

Thus, we no have but one option as to where to put FSA,

before A Link to the Past, because it can't come after it!