Last verified: 2026-11-10

The Zelda timeline split

Nintendo divides history after Ocarina of Time into three branches: defeat, the adult world left behind after victory, and the child world to which Link returns. The defeat branch is an official alternate outcome; it is not a separate playable ending.

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

The split is not a fan diagram pasted on top of a straight line. Nintendo's own page stops the single column at Ocarina of Time and labels the outcomes. Defeat is one path. Triumph is then told twice, because the ending sends the child back while the adult world continues without him.

I use the short names Downfall, Adult, and Child because those are the words people type. The page's own phrases are closer to “the hero is defeated” and “the hero is triumphant.” Both vocabularies are on this site. The wild-era section is not a fourth outcome of the duel.

• Downfall: fallen hero, from A Link to the Past to the NES games.
• Child: Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, Four Swords Adventures.
• Adult: The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks.

• Downfall
• Child
• Adult
• Ocarina of Time