When is This?

I just wanted to write this real quick and talk about the Zelda timeline, Breath of the Wild timeline, Tears of the Kingdom timeline, anything and everything in between. Totally spoiler territory so don’t bother if you haven’t done much of the story stuff yet. I’m not finished the game by any means and something Impa just said has me a little reassured but these two games, BotW and TotK, have made a mess of the whole Zelda timeline. BotW always seemed to be the very end of the timeline, from my perspective, where the timelines converged due to landmarks, buildings and characters referenced spanned from each branching timeline but now TotK throws a whole lot of wrenches into the works. From what it appeared at the beginning of the game is that Zelda is transported through time to the very beginning of the timeline, somewhere before Skyward Sword which is at the moment “the first” in the timeline which would make TotK the end of the current timeline but also the first. Things get a little weird though because Ganondorf that is being held by Rauru’s severed hand is indeed (well, I can’t really say that but I’m pretty fucking sure) the same Ganondorf as in the past that fought with Rauru. I mean it only makes sense, this person is being held by an arm that when attached to Link starts telling him he’s Rauru and it’s his arm and yatta yatta but that means that the Gerudo haven’t had a male child in many many MANY generations. I guess I never quite thought about it. I thought maybe there was a Ganondorf around the time when Link first had to go to the restoration chamber. Maybe there was one during the 10,000 year ago war, when the Calamity first showed up, but even so that was 10,000 years ago! But the events of TotK would suggest it was much longer than that to the point where the Gerudo would’ve probably forgotten all about having a male child once every so often years. But the problem this posses is if Ganondorf was under the castle for untold amounts of years that means that a new Ganondorf could not be born in that time frame and so all the games that take place after Skyward Sword shouldn’t have a Ganondorf. In Skyward Sword the big bad is called Demise (I think) and he curses… something? Everyone? Saying his hatred will permeate throughout eternity and manifest into something, which is how Ganondorf comes to be.

When Zelda first shows up in the past it’s clear that she is the descendent of Rauru and Sonia. Sonia is killed at one point so she HAD to of had a child by now and the events with the sages fighting Ganondorf is called the Imprisoning War. Apparently that war is only mentioned in the “fallen timeline” branch but why are there all these other references to the other timelines? It’s possible that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are a reboot of sorts, I think BotW was technically supposed to be a retelling of the first Zelda game or something? Am I remembering that right? So maybe these two games are a different timeline, similar but different versions of the same events. Like the MCU and the Netflix Marvel series’. But if it is within the “fallen timeline” then those other games shouldn’t have Ganons or Ganondorfs in them and maybe they don’t, I don’t know those games so I couldn’t tell you.

The only other thing I know at this time is that the past events of TotK are not the events depicted on the tapestry of BotW from 10,000 years ago where they had the Divine Beasts and Calamity Ganon was running amuck. But Zelda or a “Zelda” is depicted on that tapestry so Sonia had to of given birth to a child before her passing otherwise BotW Zelda wouldn’t be there. The problem with time travel is you have a few types. Supposedly or what is shown to be “true” in things like Marvel and Stein’s Gate is if you go to the past you essentially create different timelines so you’re not exactly affecting your future/present. But in TotK it seems to be a perfect travel to the past because Link sent the Master Sword back in time to Zelda and she in turn held on to it for all that time until the time of TotK again.

I was thinking at the start that the person under Hyrule wasn’t Ganondorf but Demise and that Ganondorf might play a role in the past, maybe be the “ancient hero” in the tapestry, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Maybe it doesn’t matter because it’s a videogame and we shouldn’t over think this stuff. But I like over thinking this stuff. I like it when things tie together in unexpected ways or things that seem to be separate entities are actually part of the same thing. I don’t know, I’m no Zelda theorist or historian so maybe everything I’ve mentioned can easily be put into a place on the timeline. I’ll just have to wait for the YouTube theorist to get my answers. What do you think? Anything you’ve noticed or uncovered? Are there any corrections you can make to what I said? Let me know below and I’ll be back by some time. Bye bye!

@AztecSauce                                                                         Picture by: Sintell743