Where does Breath of the Wild fit in the Zelda timeline?
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been available for only a few short days so far, but it’s already captivated fans and critics alike. Its vibrant open world, challenging gameplay, and compelling story (that has a full voice cast now) is definitely one for the ages. It also has a large mystery surrounding it that is pretty compelling.
As fans of the series will already know, the timeline of The Legend of Zelda series is full of recurring histories. Zelda, Ganon (in one form or another), and Link, the Hero of Time, appear again and again to do battle and decide if good or evil will prevail. That timeline has several branches that each sprouted from Ocarina of Time, the first N64 installment that has long been considered by many fans to be the best the series had to offer. Each of those branches contains their very own series of games that keep the story moving forward, and now many are wondering where The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild fits into the whole thing.
After playing through the game and doing some research, we’ve come up with two possible placements for this latest entry in the grand scheme of things. Each one is very plausible, and we’ll have to wait for Nintendo to finally give up the details (which will take years if their past responses on the topic are any indicator), but these are both strong prospects.
There will be a few spoilers ahead in order to make the connections, so if you have yet to play the newest game and would rather experience the narrative yourself, we recommend not letting your curiosity get the better of you. If, however, you’re not the type to be ruined by spoilers, and are just itching to see the possibilities, then read on.
SPOILERS AHEAD! FINAL WARNING!
Well After the Wind Waker (Hero Is Triumphant Timeline)
Where does Breath of the Wild fit in the Zelda timeline?
Okay, hear us out on this one. I know that many are you are thinking that’s impossible, and one of the main reasons can be the fact that the world isn’t an infinite sea stretching out all around you. However there are some similarities between the worlds that spring out and can contribute to them being in the same continuity.
The first is the presence of the Koroks in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. These small, wooden creatures are hidden all around the world and they even take the same form that they had in Wind Waker, though they all appear to be a bit more green than before (a minor difference). What’s interesting about this piece of information is that the reason for the Koroks’ form is that they needed to adjust after the Great Flood that you see dominating Wind Waker’s world. Originally they were humanoid. They had no other reason to evolve in such a fashion in any of the other timelines, which is a strong case to be made for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s presence after this GameCube entry.
The piece of possible evidence as to the game’s placement comes in one of the cooking ingredients: Rock Salt. The description for this simply item reads:
“Crystalized salt from the ancient sea commonly used to season meals. Cannot be eaten in this form.”
Seems simple enough, since salt is commonly found in the sea, but you curiously find it in places such as mountain peaks and other high areas that the current water level clearly doesn’t reach. The developers also made the point of saying it’s from the ancient sea, which is completely unnecessary to describe salt in a game with hundreds of different ingredients.
Another point to consider is that Breath of the Wild takes place in a world where the hero has been triumphant at several points in the past, but Breath of the Wild’s backstory begins with his failure.
Ganon is a recurring threat that appears every few thousand years, and the Hylians, along with the other iconic races that the series has always included, figured out a way to beat the powerful evil. Using technology that they developed after thousands of years and reaching the peak of civilization, they were able to quickly and easily subdue Ganon 10,000 years prior to the events of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. However, 100 years before the game starts, Ganon figures out how to take over that technology and uses it to defeat the Hyrule Kingdom, taking control of the world.
It could be that although this is the timeline where the hero was triumphant, it didn’t remain that way forever. After all, even in the Hero is Defeated timeline, Link does eventually win. The fact that the very beginning of Breath of the Wild’s story focuses on Hyrule’s victories before the major defeat is a bit telling.
Our one final possible clue is the inclusion of Beedle the merchant. This charismatic young man with the large backpack only appears within Wind Waker’s timeline. Yes, he does appear before the split (which is marked by Ocarina of Time), but after the split, he’s only in the adult, triumphant era led by Wind Waker. The fact that he’s present and that several character likenesses closely resemble those found in Wind Waker cannot be just some mere coincidence.
Or course, Breath of the Wild wouldn’t be directly after Wind Waker. Phantom Hourglass is a more direct sequel, and still involved quite a bit of water. It most likely takes place after Spirit Tracks. That entry takes place during the end of the Hyrule Rebirth, after a new Hyrule is founded to replace the one that was sealed and flooded. Spirit Tracks is also one of the first entries in the series, and the first in this particular timeline, to show a large leap in technology for the Hylians and those around them. It makes sense that it would be the founding for what would eventually become Breath of the Wilds’ high-tech civilization (they have tablet computers and everything).
An Entirely New Branch
Where does Breath of the Wild fit in the Zelda timeline?
Recently, some fans got to thinking that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild may be a re-imagining of the very first game from 1986, largely due to the mysterious language used in the game. That same script is present around the outside of the special edition of the game, and when translated to our own alphabet reads The Hyrule Fantasy backwards in a repeated loop. That was the original name for The Legend of Zelda in Japan. Making this theory seem more plausible was the planning method used for the game. The 2D sprites the team used to test ideas strongly resembled the very first adventure Link ever embarked on.
However, if you really think about it, all of the games are sort of re-imaginings of the first Zelda title. They contain the same struggle, and the same characters do appear in most of the games. The timeline placement is decided based on which side succeeded. Yet, the similarities to the world of the Wind Waker do present an interesting predicament. What if this is actually an alternate Wind Waker timeline? You sill have the adult Link, there was triumph in the past, with Ganon being sealed after the events of Ocarina of Time. Only this time, there was no great flood, at least not one that lasted as long as it did in the current Wind Waker Timeline. Instead, the Hyrule Continent was already well established, providing ample time for the Hylians to develop magnificent technology, the likes of nothing we’ve ever seen in the series.
We have computers (though they’re not called that), powerful automatons – which are ancient, meaning that they’ve had advanced tech for quite some time – and the surrounding kingdoms are allied, each offering up their unique strengths with their own technologies. This is a very different world when compared to what we’ve seen in the series before, one that can potentially be the start of something entirely new on the horizon.
This potential for an alternate history, a history where technology can be combine even more with the fantasy world than it has before, can work wonders for the series. It’s connected enough to where it doesn’t ignore what came before it, but it relinquishes the constraints set by the previous games in the franchise. This one is a very strong possibility, especially if Nintendo is of the mind to continue the series (which they undoubtedly are). We’re curious to see what form Ganon may take next, after being trounced by a Link it thought it laid to waste.
Hopefully Nintendo confirms the placement in the timeline soon, so we can piece together what may come next.
If you’re looking for more on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, check out our ever-expanding wiki.
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