(Pre-comment Edit: Wow, I made this comment way, way longer than I expected to. Uhh… Sorry in advance? Hey, it just means your video was good enough that it gave me a lot to say! That’s a good thing, right…? Okay, now on to the actual comment) Hmm… I’m not entirely sure you could call those points “evidence”, but I definitely like this a lot. It actually solves one of the biggest contradictions in SS, IMO: the ending time travel bit. Time travel is _weird_ in Skyward Sword; part of the time, it’s a predestination type time travel (even on your first visit to the Sealed Grounds, you can find Zelda’s crystal behind Old!Impa, if you look properly) suggesting time travel is preordained, and everything is basically following a script of what already happened before. It can’t really be changed, since it technically already happened. On the other hand, there’s situations where time travel allows the present to change drastically, such as the plot with the Thunder Dragon. If time travel is preordained, you shouldn’t need to take that seed to the temple and plant it in the past; the tree should already be there. And sure, Groose suddenly acts like it’s always been there when talking to him, but Link could see Zelda’s crystal before she formed it, so he should see the tree before it’s planted. Similarly, if Link defeated Demise in the past and sealed him in the Master Sword, then the Imprisoned shouldn’t exist to be a reoccurring boss throughout the game. The points you made are good connections and parallels, but that wouldn’t quite qualify as “evidence”, I don’t think. For evidence, I’d say the fact that you can find the various Springs that SS!Zelda visited and prayed at when exploring BotW, almost one-to-one like their SS counterparts, as well as the Skyloft Goddess Statue in that temple all serve as better examples. Other ‘reference locations’ that you can find, such as Lon Lon Ranch, while looking similar, always had pieces that struck me as a bit off (which could also be evidence they aren’t the same exact places from the other game, just similar places that happened in parallel), whereas those springs were almost exact. The real question, though, is ‘which Skyward Sword timeline is which history timeline?’ Personally, I’d say the Present Time line would be more likely to be the one to continue on to the “Wild timeline”, as you called it, considering the Goddess Statue was called down in that timeline, and it would make some sense for Sonia to be that Link and Zelda’s descendant, especially considering there was nothing about creating any sort of kingdom implied in the SS ending, so that could come later. Furthermore, the Past time timeline was the one where Demise set his ‘curse’, so it would make sense for him to be constantly incarnating and fighting the various Heroes in that timeline, as opposed to incarnating once, being sealed right away, and various problems caused by his leaking malice instead. Of course, this causes some problems with the origin of the Master Sword, as Link forged it from the Goddess Sword in the Present time, brought it into the past to seal Demise, then brought it back to the present time to rest. That means the Past time never had any reason to forge it. Although, there’s nothing to say that _that_ Master Sword wasn’t forged later. It could even be an explanation for why, in BotW, it’s a ‘known thing’ that the Master Sword has a spirit inside that talks/communicates with its wielders, whereas that was never a thing in any previous games; that Master Sword is different, and Fi didn’t grow like she did in the other time. Furthermore, Hylia doesn’t actually have much of a roll in the other games, so having them take place in the timeline where her statue never came down to the surface, and thus left her relatively unknown, contrasting to the BotW timeline, where she has statues everywhere and the Three Golden Goddesses are much less talked about. And, wow. Was just looking back at this to pre read it before posting, and noticed how long this ended up. Probably gonna put an apology/disclaimer at the start… sorry if it seems I went in and on in random thoughts and directions like that. I meant it all in a good way! I promise!

@ganonfan

2 ай бұрын

There is nothing to apologize about. I enjoyed reading your thoughts, and I didn't care how long it was because you made excellent points that I didn't cover in this video. I feel like I always miss some things when planning these videos because there is so much the Zelda series covers, and I feel like even the large Zelda KZread channels miss certain things as well. Thats why I enjoy reading comments like this from the viewers; They help me remember some parts I missed or forgot to add. Don't worry, there is no need for an apology. These are the exact comments I look forward to, and you did an excellent job. Thank you so much!! To other viewers: (This comment is so worth reading, and you should all check it out! There are really good points made here that I didn't cover in the video itself.)

@KRP71390

2 ай бұрын

@@ganonfan So, fun fact to note: I was just watching a ‘first time playing Twilight Princess’ stream cut after this, and I noticed when they got to talking about the Master Sword, they specifically said it was created by the Sages. And, yeah, I know. It’s probably more of a case of ‘this is retconned for the sequel’ and all, since I doubt they had SS all planned out and finalized at that point, but still! It could work?

@ganonfan

2 ай бұрын

@@KRP71390 I read your comment a while ago, and it got me thinking about it a lot. I even grabbed my copy of the Hyrule Historia book and watched the ending cutscene in Skyward Sword. Then an idea came up: Link put the Master Sword away in the past (where Botw and Totk would eventually take place), so how can the Master Sword be in any other Zelda game? Possibility that the sages created a new Master Sword, but Fi wasn't a part of it. (hence why we never hear her call in any Zelda game but Botw and Totk). If the sages creating the Master Sword isn't a retcon version, then I believe this is the best explanation.

@darkdagger5237

2 ай бұрын

@@ganonfanthe sage medallion symbols appear in the temple of hylia in skyward sword and link did not forge the sword from scratch he tempered an already existing sword so if the sages forged the goddess sword and then link turned it into the master sword then both origins are true

@darkdagger5237

2 ай бұрын

you said the tree should be there from the start but the problem with that is that it was only there because link planted it for the fruit so if the tree was already there then link would not need to plant it because the fruit is right there and because link would not need to plant it then the tree would never have been planted and thus the tree would then be a paradox as such the tree not being there is not a mistake or inconsistency its preventing a paradox the same reasoning holds true for why the amber is missing in the ending scene and why the master sword placed into its pedestal before heading back to the future does not appear until link, zelda and groose return to the now present day

I said this on reddit some time ago and got downvoted. Most people forget that the idea of different timelines was crazy before Hyrule Historia made it official.

@ganonfan

2 ай бұрын

That's unfortunate that you got downvoted, but I'm glad you got to see this video to prove you weren't the only one with this timeline idea.

@cfunited6885

6 күн бұрын

Ur first problem is that ur on Reddit

@ganonfan

6 күн бұрын

@@cfunited6885 I'm not sure if your talking about me or darkusLegends, but just to be clear, I got this theory from my own knoledge on the Zelda series. I never use reddit.

@cfunited6885

6 күн бұрын

@@ganonfan lol not you don’t worry. Excellent video

I also think that link sleeping for 100 years in BOTW parallels link being sealed for 7 years in OOT

@ganonfan

2 ай бұрын

I agree. There is honestly so many more parallel events I haven't discussed in this video that could be used as evidence.

could have included extra stuff like the great flood, evolution of Rito, the fact The Zora had a Princess Ruto, etc...

@CoachCarter94

9 күн бұрын

True but it’s been done to death by so many different people. I appreciate his being more concise than most. I’m not too big on the Zelda timeline because of all the blanks that have to be filled in by us/the gamers. And those filled-in blanks aren’t readily agreed upon. (Part of me is like what’s the point sometimes?) but every once in a while I get interested - like this time where I clicked on this video lol and I liked it quite a bit!

Also, the Great Flood and the Twili Invasion are those time timeline equivalents of the Imprisoning War, where Ganon makes his first attempt at conquering Hyrule after being sealed and FSA, LttP, WW are Ganon's second attempt on Hyrule after being sealed

I've been thinking for the longest time that BOTW and TOTK are thei own timeline after Skyward Sword with all of the changes to gameplay and lore and how it mostly just connects to Skyward Sword with the rest of the games just being fan service mentions or costumes/ items/ references etc.

This was interesting. I’ve seen other people using a similar explanation to try to rationalize where it fits in despite COMPLETELY contradicting Ocarina of Time. Let’s hope that Nintendo use this explanation. A while ago I watched this video talking about the history of the Zelda timeline and it was definitely interesting seeing how it’s changed overtime. It’s kind of a mess and TOTK would mess up the continuity. Nintendo by their own admission don’t really think about where the games will fit in the timeline because they don’t want to be confined to it and figure things out later. Even though a lot of the things don’t exactly fit together it’s still really interesting to look into and I LOVE looking at the various fan theories people have to make sense of the games. The tone is also all over the place with some being really dark, while other games are ridiculous by design. I’m personally fine with that and care more about the games as individual experiences with gameplay being most important to me. My favorite of the timelines is the Wind Waker one. Such a shame there’s only 3 games set in it. There’s a lot of cool storytelling potential with it. The other best timeline is the one with Wand of Gamalon and Zelda’s Adventure🤣. If it were up to me Nintendo would canonize those because it would be the funniest thing in the world.

@mkjjoe

11 күн бұрын

There's the simpler interpretation of a re-founding of Hyrule: no matter the timeline, Hyrule is lost, then Rauru founds a new Hyrule. There are descriptions of events from OOT in BOTW's Zora scriptures, references across the map and in Zelda's ceremony, and TOTK has ancient relics all over the depths, sure it is vague fan service but still it would fit as remnants of things that happened at some point. Creating a 4th timeline may seem cleaner but we've seen that before and it creates more conditions with time magic, while the convenient time gap we already had between old games and BOTW can do the job.

I’ve had this idea for ages, it makes the most sense. If the Hero of Time can break time in three ways then it makes just as much sense that the Demise paradox in SKyward Sword broke time as well.

I accept this theory. It also suggests the Triforce must exist in this timeline, binding Zelda, Link and Ganon by destiny just like all the others.

@ganonfan

2 ай бұрын

I'm glad you agree with me on this, and I will also be making a separate video on where the Triforce is based on this timeline, so I hope you look forward to that.

Thanks Hylia someone made this in a objective way instead of a 40 straight minutes video. it was pretty enough to make more sense than any other theory.

@ganonfan

2 ай бұрын

Thank you for the great feedback! It shows me that I am doing good for the Zelda community.

This makes much more sense than it just floating around and it also makes sense because that specific timeline in the past in skyward sword was just abandoned

OK, I wasn't sold on previous arguments made for this idea. But you make a solid case. I will consider this more… Good work! 👏 ✨️

you gotta turn your music down my guy

@ganonfan

6 күн бұрын

I do make that mistake with a few of my videos, but I don't want the music to be too quiet, so I always think that the audio is fine. Turns out it is not.

You got my subscription. You're the only one who made sense dude

@ganonfan

6 күн бұрын

Thank you very much! I make sure to research as much as I can before making these videos.

Show this to James so he won't be chronologically confused anymore

@ganonfan

2 ай бұрын

Who is James?

@xanderszunsol9963

2 ай бұрын

​@@ganonfan James Rolfe aka AVGN or Nintendo Nerd.

@ganonfan

2 ай бұрын

@@xanderszunsol9963 Thanks! I'll look him up now.

Just a random shout out, but just had to let everyone know that today, on March 16, is my channels birthday.

@Cliffordlonghead

2 ай бұрын

First

Honestly, I agree - Skyward Sword, BOTW and TOTK feel like a trilogy to me, and the evidence you bring forward really helps solidify that belief.

@ganonfan

2 ай бұрын

If you think about it, those three games are also classified as the "Fujibayashi Trilogy", so it's good to keep that in mind.

Very cool indeed.

while disturbing, I think the obly eveidence I could not refute would be the part with the rise of ganondorf. i'll explain: zelda curse is to be reincarnated in multiple occurences in her descendents, because she's the goddess hylia. link's curse is to have his spirit (not memory) passed to different heroes (not always blood related). ganondorf curse is to never die, only to be defeated, and come back again. we see only once this cycle being broken: in windwaker, ganondorf is killed. not sealed, killed. and, in the two following games, his name is forgotten, and other villains appear, which are clearly not demise wrath related (heck, even the master sword does not exist.) this can be explained by the king's wish for hope, and specifically for the curse to be broken (he probably did not think about demise's curse as it has been lost to time, but still). meaning, after windwaker, ganondorf can be reborn, but not resurrected. in totk, ganondorf is still ganondorf. this could only happen in timelines where he did not change to a boar (if he was resurrected) or if that's a new ganondorf (either after windwaker, or in a new timeline). in every single timeline, ganondorf holds the triforce of power, which should have obliterated zonai magic (triforce above all). meaning, ganondorf in totk does not hold it. again, either new timeline, or windwaker far futur. what leads me to doubt is that, we hear fi in botw (or at least, something that could be fi), but the master sword can break. heck, even in totk it can, after resting for millenia, feeding from zelda's power. this mastersword is quite weak compared to the others (and especially the one from skyward sword). the only other mastersword I know that is weak would be the one from wind waker, as it *might* be human fabricated (so not the og one). I would personnally place the games after spirit track, however I would place it in old hyrule territory (not new hyrule), mostly because there's still a mastersword, a deku tree and other very well known races (and no races exclusive to spirit track are found).

I always thought that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom were meant to be a Remake (like FF7 Remake style) of the first two games that came in the 80's.

I've been thinking about something exactly like this, with important events happening in the 4th branch and leading to breath and tears; good video. But, if nintendo insists in not making a clear conection with the rest of the games, i think that the 3 timelines would lead to breath and tears, because similar events would happen in each one of the 3 timelines. And rauru saying that he is the king of hyrule means that hyrule was founded again, like some people say.

@ganonfan

6 күн бұрын

I guess it just depends on how people look at it.

i do find the timeline now very and i mean very stupid, mostly because of the stupid thing of having all timeline unite on a single one, just because they want to say BOTW and TOTK, happen in the end of all,

But how do the Zonai appear? Or were they already a hidden race in Skyward Sword and just happen to go extinct before the Founding of Hyrule in the Original Timeline?

@ganonfan

2 ай бұрын

I love this question, but I don't want to give away the answer because I will discuss this in my next video on how the Triforce is in Tears of the Kingdom. Stay tuned for that video in a few weeks if you want to know more.

It has to be a split from Skyward Sword. Great stuff man! Can't wait for the Triforce upcoming theory video 👀

@ganonfan

Ай бұрын

I am slowly working on the Triforce video, but at the same time, making sure everything in the theory sounds correct. Glad to hear your excited for it!

your the first youtuber I've seen that actually pieced together that its a fourth timeline I had already made the connections for the fourth timelines existence before I found your video and you did pretty good with this the major flaw is that you placed the defeat of the bringer of demise as a timeline split impas bracelet already proves that wrong however you were close the skyward sword timeline split would be the imprisoned escaping and destroying the gate of time preventing the final battle other than that your fourth branch is solid

@ganonfan

Ай бұрын

I feel like in Skyward Sword, there are several events that can cause a change in the Zelda timeline. Its just a matter of what the player does I believe.

@darkdagger5237

Ай бұрын

@@ganonfanwhat other events are you thinking of because the imprisoned escaping has an alternate ending this of course leads to a game over to reset you to the start of the fight but it still exists no other event in the game has that and the time travel is proven to not split the timeline

been trying to put 2 and 2 together since I started playing TotK because I'm kinda annoyed at everyone trying to fit it into the Nintendo's Official Timeline™ (which as a long time player I refuse) and this either proves TotK's placement on it or completely disproves the timeline because it's the same logic as OoT the algorithm was SO real for this rec

Pretty sure BotW/TotK, both their "Present" and "Past" events occur AFTER all the other games we've seen so far. Various places are named from characters in the other games. Raaru's founding of Hyrule is just the 2nd (or Third, because of Windwaker) time it has happened. Also, I think Zelda's timeloop is a closed timeloop, not creating any branching. I am intrigued to hear what your theory on where the Triforce is at this point though.

@Ahouro

Ай бұрын

The Tri-force is in Zelda in Botw/Totk.

@ganonfan

6 күн бұрын

The Triforce video has been out for a while if you haven't seen it yet!

@mazhiwezakizo3513

6 күн бұрын

@@ganonfan neat, i'll have to check it out. I actually only got into BotW and TotK shortly after TotK came out.

Counter Theory: With what we know from WInd Waker, the Saplings which the Koroks had planted would turn into massive trees that would over time make their islands become big enough to the point where they become one land mass. And in TotK, we see gigantic roots in the depths. Most likely hinting at how the quest did matter in the end. And with how BoTW and TotK seems to be the result of timelines converging, we should wonder if the original Hyrule Warriors(The one which was on the Wii U that got ported to the switch) being non-canon is even a good thing. Since HW does have different parts of the timelines ending up in the same place. Also to anyone who says that totk Rauru's Hyrule Contradict this. The Kingdom of Hyrule could have fallen long before the Zonai descended from the sky. With legends of the Kingdom of Hyrule being what caused Rauru and Sonia to name their Kingdom after it. And even then, the Zonai being in the Sky can be easily explained as them being a race which stayed in the Sky since Skyward Sword before eventually descending to the surface.

Neat

Skyward Sword is an Elder Scrolls style Dragonbreak where the timeline splits and merges back into one. The ending of the game clearly shows that.

BotW excplicitly references Ocarina of Time in multiple sections. Ruto the wster sage existed so Ocarina has to happen in the same timeline. The truth is, Ninetendo just doesnt care that much. They didnt have a plan, they are not FromSoftware.

@Droobie03

Ай бұрын

Same with Tears of the Kingdom. I think one of the stones Sidon wrote he mentioned himself to be a descendent of Ruto.

@pablogonzalez8770

21 күн бұрын

What if this Ruto is another ruto. What if the sage of water in TOTK has the same name?

@ganonfan

6 күн бұрын

This could be...

@LittleAl016

Күн бұрын

​@@pablogonzalez8770 She doesn't. We can extrapolate that from the Divine Beast Helms.

You’re close. But Skyward Sword starts at the end of its own timeline. Link defeats Demise in the present of that timeline, goes back in time and creates the actual Zelda timeline. he defeats Demise there and then returns in the timeline after the Twilight Princess but before the BotW and TotK games. The Capcom games aren’t canon, and shouldn’t be considered. However, if they were to be included, they would go at the very end of all of the games in the timeline.

@ganonfan

6 күн бұрын

Thats an interesting thought I never heard before. I guess you could consider the Capcom games as spin-offs, but Nintendo counts them as canon, so I do as well.

@bagofshhh

6 күн бұрын

@@ganonfan Philosophically: do they though? I mean they acknowledge their existence, but are they canon? I’m definitely not as familiar with the Capcom games as the Nintendo developed ones, which is why I ask. But I’m thinking about all of the historical treasures/items hidden in TotK, and it seems like the Nintendo developed games have artifacts, but the Capcom ones (as far as I know, maybe I’m wrong) do not (e.g., no four sword, no Minish Cap).

a lot of things would make sense if totk and botw werent in the same timeline imo

Nice video but for the title i don't think you need the "(4 minutes)" part. People can see that when they look at the video. If you just have "SOLVED Zelda timeline Explaned" that's way better then the rest of the stuff even the "zelda speculation" part. Being a minimalist for youtube will get you more views lol. Id rather click on "SOLVED Zelda Timeline Explained" then your title right now. Just the "SOLVED Zelda Timeline Explained" sounds more professional. Id also turn down the music a bit. Its hard to focus for people on the music and your voice making people click off. The audience retention would be better if the music was more quiet.

@ganonfan

6 күн бұрын

I put the "4 minutes" in my title so it could be found easier when people search "zelda timeline explained in a few minutes" or something like that. I have learned to make my titles shorter, but for Zelda theory videos, there is such a thing as too short of a title.