Zelda Timeline – Where is Zelda Tears of the Kingdom?
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Anyone with a knowledge of the Zelda franchise will know the timeline can be a little fuzzy in places. So with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom a semi definitive timeline of these games makes the story a little easier to follow! We have a short explanation of this for you.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in the timeline
Officially The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be taking place directly after the containment of Calamity Ganon in Breath of the Wild. Both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are set more than 10,000 years after the rest of the games in the series. They are taking place in the far future, very end of the overarching Zelda series.
In Breath of the Wild, we learn that Calamity Ganon was defeated over 10,000 years ago and was then resurrected 100 years before the events of this game, causing the Great Calamity. Link is injured in this fight and forced to sleep 100 years in the Shrine of Resurection starting Breath of the Wild in this Shrine.
The overarching Zelda Timeline
Those who have been with Zelda from the start will be aware of the confusing series timeline with how it splits into three following the events of Ocarina of Time and are probably wondering which of these Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will be sitting in. These are the current Zelda timelines:
- The Fallen Hero Timeline
- The Adult Timeline
- The Child Timeline
Unfortunately, this hasn’t been clarified by Nintendo so we just don’t know the answer yet. One of the most popular theories that we have found is that all three of the timelines come together again after 10,000 years, placing Tears of the Kingdom at the end of all three timelines, which with the future technology being shared in screenshots of Tears of the Kingdom and items such as the Sheikah Slate in Breath of the Wild this wouldn’t be too far fetched!
The Adult – Child – Fallen Hero Timeline Split
The Adult and Child timelines split after the events of Ocarina of Time. The Child Timeline continues from when Link returns to the past and prevents the rise of Ganondorf, while The Adult continues on from Link within that game.
In the Child timeline, Link experiences the events of Majora’s Mask, at the same time as Adult Link take part in the distant future in Wind Waker. The Fallen Hero timeline is where Link is ultimately defeated by Ganondorf, ending in the events of Link to the Past, Link Between Worlds, and the original Legend of Zelda.
Either way we are excited to get our gliders out and sail across the lands of Hyrule once again, to explore new maps, use new vehicles and fight more enemies. Who knows maybe The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will end up explaining these converging timelines.
