Last verified: 2026-11-10

Official Zelda timeline, era by era

Nintendo's public chart starts with the goddesses and Hylia, places Skyward Sword first among the games, splits history after Ocarina of Time, and shows a second founding before Breath of the Wild.

Key art © Nintendo, used with a link to the product page. Chart art on this site is original.

I am following the section labels on Nintendo's English timeline page as checked on 10 Nov 2026, not the order the games were sold. A plain view of that page shows one path at a time. The era names below are the ones printed there.

Before any branch

• The Legend of the Goddesses and the Hero covers creation and the era of the goddess Hylia.
• Sky era: Skyward Sword.
• Era of chaos: the Sacred Realm is sealed.
• Era of Prosperity: the page says “The establishment of Hyrule Kingdom.” I treat this as founding number one.
• Force era: The Minish Cap, then Four Swords.
• Era of the Hero of Time: the Hyrulean Civil War, then Ocarina of Time.

The split

After Ocarina of Time the page offers two outcomes in its own words: “The hero is triumphant” and “The hero is defeated.” Triumph then divides into an adult path and a child path. Defeat is the downfall path. That is three playable histories, not four.

Downfall path

The printed sequence runs through decline, an imprisoning war, A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, the Oracle games, A Link Between Worlds, Tri Force Heroes, Echoes of Wisdom, a Golden Era, an era of decline, the 1986 Legend of Zelda, and Zelda II. Echoes of Wisdom sits before the 1986 game.

Adult path and child path

Adult path: The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks. Child path: Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, Four Swords Adventures. The child path is the one where the young hero is sent back with the warning that prevents the adult future.

The wild-era section

The last section is titled The Great Calamity and the Upheaval. It says the kingdom is founded by King Rauru of the Zonai and Queen Sonia. That is a second founding statement, not a rename of the Era of Prosperity. Then come the Demon King, an Imprisoning War, the Great Calamity, 9,900 years, a second Great Calamity, 100 years, Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom. Nintendo does not call this a fourth branch.

On 10 Nov 2026 the string Hyrule Warriors did not appear on that English page. Those games are listed on the games table with a different status, not inside this era list.

• How the three branches work
• What changed from 2011 to 2026
• Every game in one table