In 2011, Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, a book that offered a number of behind the scenes details about the series. The book’s most significant contribution to the franchise was the first official series timeline, revealing exactly where and when different games take place. In a new interview with Game Informer, director Hidemaro Fujibayashi was asked about the timeline, and how it factors into development. Fujibayashi acknowledged the fact that fans are very invested in the timeline, but the developers don’t allow it to hold back their vision.ย
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“…we realized that fans have a great time theorizing and enjoy thinking about where things fit on the timeline. That’s something that the development team recognizes and it considers, but to an extent,” Fujibayashi told Game Informer. “And I say, ‘to an extent’ because if we get too into the weeds or too detailed in that placement, it results in kind of creating restraints for our creativity; the process of creating new ideas becomes restricted because we’re so tied up and trying to make this fit into a very specific spot in the timeline. We do consider it, but not to an extent where we feel that our development process feels restricted or constrained.”
Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom
Whenย The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildย was released in 2017, it led to a lot of speculation about the timeline, and Tears of the Kingdom has led to even more confusion. It’s possible Fujibayashi and Nintendo will eventually reveal how these games factor in, but right now it doesn’t seem like there’s too much concern about it.ย Breath of the Wildย andย Tears of the Kingdomย are two of the most well-regarded games in the series, and their placement in relation to other Zelda games isn’t going to change that. Perhaps someday Nintendo will let us know where they fit!ย
The Zelda Timeline
Since its release, the Zelda timeline has been an interesting addition to the series. Hyrule Historiaย established three separate timelines for the Zelda franchise, all connected through Ocarina of Time. Link’s fate in that game would lead to events happening in different ways, resulting in different games. For example, the timeline where Link went back to being a child resulted in the events that take place in The Wind Waker, while the adult timeline resulted in Twilight Princess. Meanwhile, a timeline where Link failed to stop Ganondorf resulted in games like A Link to the Past.ย
Some of the connections between Zelda games make a lot of sense. Anyone that has played The Wind Waker or Twilight Princess can see that those games were always meant to take place after Ocarina of Time, while building on ideas and concepts from that game. However, other parts of the timeline were massaged in wherever Nintendo could fit them. At the end of the day, it’s probably for the best that the timeline takes a backseat to creating a truly great game.ย
Do you have any investment in the Zelda timeline? Do you prefer it when there’s a connection to past Zelda games? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter atย @Marcdachampย or on Instagram atย @Dachampgaming!
