Zelda timeline questions

Nintendo prints three branches after Ocarina of Time, plus one shared history before that split. The wild-era section is not labeled a fourth branch.

The web chart on Nintendo's site is official. Hyrule Historia called its chart information believed true at the time. Books and the web page have diverged, so I date both.

Nintendo's official chart adds an alternate defeat outcome to the adult and child histories created by the ending. Defeat is not a separate playable ending of Ocarina of Time.

In the section The Great Calamity and the Upheaval, after a second founding and 100 years after a second Great Calamity. Tears of the Kingdom follows it.

On the downfall path, after Tri Force Heroes and before the 1986 game. IGN reported the placement in November 2024, and the 2026 page still shows it.

The 5 Nov 2026 Switch 2 release retells the 1998 story. The chart still has one Ocarina node. I have no Nintendo sentence that says the remake merges the branches.

The Era of Prosperity says Hyrule Kingdom is established. The wild-era section says Rauru and Sonia found a kingdom. Nintendo does not print the phrase two foundings. GameRant used that frame on 6 Nov 2026.

The English timeline page did not contain the words Hyrule Warriors on 10 Nov 2026. Age of Imprisonment is discussed separately because IGN calls its story canon to Tears of the Kingdom.

Skyward Sword is the first playable game on Nintendo’s chart. The Minish Cap and Four Swords follow before Ocarina of Time.

The Legend of Zelda debuted on the Famicom Disk System in Japan on 21 February 1986. Its NES release followed in North America and Europe in 1987.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is the final game shown on that branch. Echoes of Wisdom and the original Legend of Zelda precede it.

Majora’s Mask, Twilight Princess, and Four Swords Adventures, in that order. The earlier Four Swords is a different game in the common history.

The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks. This is the adult world that continues after the Hero of Time is sent back to childhood.

A Link to the Past, Link’s Awakening, the two Oracle games, A Link Between Worlds, Tri Force Heroes, Echoes of Wisdom, The Legend of Zelda, and Zelda II. The Oracle games share a placement rather than a required internal order.

Hyrule Historia places the Oracle adventures before Link’s Awakening. Encyclopedia and the current web chart reverse that order. The difference belongs to the source editions and is preserved here.

No. Four Swords originated on Game Boy Advance and appears before Ocarina of Time. Four Swords Adventures is a GameCube game at the end of the child branch.

They share an earlier Ocarina of Time history but occupy different branches. Twilight Princess is on the child branch; The Wind Waker begins the adult branch.

Yes. It follows the returned child Hero of Time on the child branch. That does not put The Wind Waker after Majora’s Mask on a single line.

No. Chronological order is one optional way to explore the series. The order page offers editorial starting points; release order is a separate list.

No. The original 1986 game was released first but occurs late on the downfall branch. Skyward Sword released in 2011 yet appears first in the story.

Wild Era is a community shorthand used on this site. Nintendo’s English heading is The Great Calamity and the Upheaval.

The current public chart does not explicitly say that the branches merge. A shared epilogue and a separate continuity are competing interpretations, so the theories page labels them.

Its present-day adventure follows Breath of the Wild. Its memories depict a much earlier founding and war; that flashback structure does not reverse the order of the two games.

A remake can have a new release date and platform without adding a story node. The current chart still has one entry each for Ocarina of Time and Link’s Awakening.

Nintendo Japan’s Chronicle page presents the lore chronology. Its separate History page is a release history. The Japanese-timeline page on this site links and compares both.