The COMPLETE Lore of Zelda!

Echoes of Wisdom recently received an official spot in the Zelda Timeline, but Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom remain unplaced, leaving major inconsistencies in Nintendo's timeline documentation.

• Nintendo released Hyrule Historia in 2011 with a definitive timeline • The Zelda Encyclopedia released 7 years later changed the established timeline • As more games released, fans questioned where new titles fit

Nintendo placed Echoes of Wisdom definitively in the downfall timeline but refused to do the same for Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, claiming it's up to the player's imagination.

The video aims to create a definitive timeline solution that satisfies both Nintendo's creative constraints and maintains fan satisfaction with a cohesive lore structure.

The Zelda Timeline splits after Ocarina of Time due to time travel, creating three distinct branches based on Link's success or failure against Ganon.

After defeating Ganon, Link returns to his original timeline as a child, leading to games like Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess.

Link traveled forward to defeat Ganon but returned to the child timeline, leaving this timeline saved but without a hero, resulting in games like Wind Waker and Spirit Tracks.

Link fails to defeat Ganon, allowing him to take over and ruin the world, leading to games like the original Legend of Zelda, Link's Awakening, and Echoes of Wisdom.

Nintendo placed Echoes of Wisdom in the downfall timeline between Triforce Heroes and the original Legend of Zelda.

• Uses the same map as A Link to the Past, expanded with aged archaeological sites • Features the echo of Blue Pig Ganon, connecting to the villain's presence in downfall timeline • Maintains all three pieces of the Triforce, before the third piece is lost by the original Legend of Zelda era

Areas from A Link to the Past like the Desert Palace, Swamp Palace, and Eastern Palace appear as withered and broken archaeological sites.

The placement makes logical sense within established downfall timeline lore and requires no major contradictions to the established canon.

Creating a Champion sources place Breath of the Wild 10,000 years in the future, but Nintendo presented it as separate from all three timelines rather than at the end of one.

Elements from multiple timelines appear together: rock salt implies the adult timeline's flood, Zora and Rito coexist rather than one evolving from the other, and the Mirror of Twilight exists alongside Lanayru and Creeria.

Unlike Echoes of Wisdom, Nintendo refused to canonically place Hyrule Warriors into the timeline, preventing the natural timeline convergence that would explain Breath of the Wild's mixed elements.

Nintendo claimed the placement is left to player imagination, contradicting their definitive treatment of other games and creating inconsistency in their approach.

Hyrule Historia stated Zelda's descendants from Skyward Sword founded Hyrule, but Tears of the Kingdom shows King Rauru and Queen Sonia as the founders, creating a direct contradiction.

• Sonia is revealed to be a Helan with markings depicting Sheikah eyes and the Triforce • She is a descendant of Zelda from Skyward Sword, not a replacement • The Masterworks confirms Zonai mingled with surface dwellers after returning from the sky

Link and Zelda's real names were likely forgotten over time, remembered only as titles like 'Hero of Time' or 'Goddess's Chosen Hero,' similar to how historical figures lose their names to legend.

The royal family tradition of naming daughters Zelda hadn't begun with Rauru and Sonia; Zelda's visit to the past may have started this tradition.

A Link to the Past's Imprisoning War occurs after Ocarina of Time in the downfall timeline, but Tears of the Kingdom's Imprisoning War must occur before Ocarina of Time due to Hyrule's founding.

• Both feature Ganondorf obtaining ultimate power through the Triforce or a Secret Stone • Both involve seven sages including Zelda and the sage of light Rauru sealing Ganon away • Both result in Ganon being trapped in a dehydrated or sealed form

A dehydrated Ganon exists beneath Hyrule throughout the entire Zelda timeline in Tears of the Kingdom, but other Ganons constantly resurrect elsewhere, creating a fundamental contradiction.

Either there were two distinct Imprisoning Wars at different timeline points, or Ganon's resurrection rules must be reworked, both creating additional complications.

Rito first appeared in Wind Waker as human-like bird descendants of the Zora, evolving after the great flood in the adult timeline.

Rito in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom look far more bird-like than their Wind Waker counterparts, suggesting significant evolutionary divergence.

Rito exist in both the past and present of Tears of the Kingdom at the same time as the Zora they supposedly evolved from, making standard evolution explanations impossible.

Bird-like Rito may have mingled with the Zora to create the hybrid Rito seen in Wind Waker, then largely disappeared like the Gerudo did in the downfall timeline.

Nintendo canonized Link's failure in Ocarina of Time as creating the downfall timeline, but why stop there when other games feature Link or other heroes failing?

• In Echoes of Wisdom, Link falls into the Still World, failing to restore peace and allowing Zelda to become the hero • In Breath of the Wild, Link is defeated and revived 100 years later, leading to Calamity Ganon's continued threat • Each failure could create new timeline branches rather than contradictions

If failure and success both create canon outcomes, any game's events can open new timeline branches without contradicting established lore.

Echoes of Wisdom demonstrated that other important characters like Zelda can affect outcomes, expanding whose actions might create timeline branches.

Demise from Skyward Sword shares a striking resemblance to Ganondorf after he receives the power of the Secret Stone in Tears of the Kingdom's past.

The prologue states that one dark day the earth cracked and malevolent forces rushed from the fissure, describing Demise seeking to rule the world.

Rauru succeeded in sealing Ganon away beneath Hyrule during the Imprisoning War, but what if he had failed and Ganon broke free from the underground?

If Rauru failed, Ganon would have destroyed Hyrule and the Zonai, prompting Hylia to lift surviving Hylians to the sky—exactly what Skyward Sword depicts, creating a new timeline branch.

• Demise Timeline: Rauru failed to seal Ganon, leading to the destruction of Hyrule and the rise of Skyward Sword's events • Imprisoned Timeline: Rauru succeeded in sealing Ganon, allowing Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom to occur separately

Skyloft and the Zonai never interact in Skyward Sword because the Zonai's return to the surface only happened in the Demise Timeline where they were destroyed along with surface-dwelling Hyrule.

After defeating Demise and returning to the surface in Skyward Sword, there is nothing left from the previous Hyrule, allowing descendants to establish a completely new kingdom with no memory of the past.

The first Imprisoning War technically doesn't exist in the Demise Timeline because Rauru failed, but the concept was passed down until the Downfall Timeline attempted and succeeded in sealing Ganon again.

In the Imprisoned Timeline, Rito existed alongside Zora in the past and continued existing as the timeline progressed, without Wind Waker's flood-driven hybridization event.

Rock salt covering the Imprisoned Timeline's landscape implies a flood, but it could be a completely different flood unrelated to Wind Waker's great flood, allowing for entirely new explanations.

The Temple of Time and Lon Lon Ranch from Ocarina of Time appear in Breath of the Wild's Imprisoned Timeline, possibly existing in parallel with their Downfall Timeline counterparts.

The Imprisoned Timeline can have entirely different history from the three main branches, allowing similar elements to exist with completely different origins and explanations.

By accepting that failure and success create separate timeline branches, Nintendo gains creative freedom to place Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom within an Imprisoned Timeline that doesn't contradict established canon.

• Multiple branching points allow for vastly more story possibilities without upsetting the fanbase • Games can use elements from any timeline without contradicting established lore • Even non-canonical games like Hyrule Warriors, Tingle series, and CDI games can fit into alternative branches

This framework allows any combat combination of game elements to fit within one of the many timeline branches, giving developers much more creative latitude for future games.

The location of non-canonical games in this expanded timeline web is left to theorists and fans to determine in the comments, maintaining community engagement with the lore.