The placement ofThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomandBreath of the Wildhave been contentious topics since the release of both games, but a new official timeline from Nintendo provides an unexpected answer. With their open-world,nonlinear approach to gameplay and exploration,BOTWandTOTKwere massive departures from theZeldagames that preceded them, giving them a unique position in the series — and even outside of gameplay, parts of the games' lore have made them hard for fans to fit into a continuousZeldatimeline.
While mostZeldagames are implicitly designed as standalone games first and foremost, they can also generally fit together in a generaltimeline of events, with fans having pieced together an unofficial sequence well before Nintendo officially established a timeline for the series in 2011’sHyrule Historia. However, bothBreath of the Wildand its direct sequel,Tears of the Kingdom,have been troublesome to fit into a timeline, owing to details likeBOTWreferencing events in different split timelinesand the introduction of the ancient civilization of the Zonai.
Tears Of The Kingdom Proves The Official Zelda Timeline Is Meaningless
The Legend of Zelda timeline is already convoluted, but the release of Tears of the Kingdom proves that it’s actually meaningless in the end.
Nintendo Confirms The Placement Of BOTW And TOTK On The Timeline
New Official Zelda Timeline Separates BOTW And TOTK From The Rest Of The Series
However, the Nintendo Live 2024 event held in Sydney, as shown by@Wario64 on X, has unveiled a new official timeline for theZeldafranchise,showing bothBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomas separate from the rest of the timeline. While this is consistent with the games themselves, as neitherBOTWnorTOTKfit neatly into what was established beforehand,it does directly contradict the previous most popular way of reconciling them with the timeline, which placed them an extremely long amount of time after the previous games.
Previously, any discussions of a unifiedZeldatimeline would try to place all the games in a single timeline, piecing together small details and references across the games to place them in sequence with each other. In some cases, this did lead to splits in the timeline, such as the “Adult” and “Child” timelines afterOcarina of Time, which were first pieced together by fans and then later confirmed by Nintendo, but there was still a generally established sequence that most games could fit into.
Previously, because of the small references made inBOTWto different parts of the timeline, and the expanded backstory of the Zonai inTOTK,the most popular theory placed both games at the very end of the timeline, possibly even representing a “convergence” of the split timelines. With the reveal that both games are essentially in their own “rebooted” timeline, though, any hints or references to otherZeldagames need to be looked at in a new light.
Without DLC, Zelda: TOTK Didn’t Build On One Of BOTW’s Best Ideas
Tears of the Kigndom ignored one of the best ideas to emerge from Breath of the Wild by not implementing a similar feature as part of a DLC package.
The Separate Timeline Could Mark A New Approach For Zelda
More Zelda Games After TOTK Could Take Place In Completely Distinct Timelines
Moreover,the unveiling of the new timeline does have some implications for the future of theZeldaseries— while it’s relatively clear that Nintendo prioritizesZeldagames as standalone experiences first and pieces of a continuous story second, the separate timeline ofBOTWandTOTKset a precedent for future games to disregard the established timeline entirely. The upcomingEchoes of Wisdom, or another open-worldZelda, for example, could be designed without considering their place on the timeline at all.
And, while thetimeline is fairly popular amongZeldaenthusiasts, it could be a good move to give future games as much breathing room as possible. The timeline already factors very little into each individualZeldagame, practically none of which requires knowledge of the others, so allowing future games to disregard the need to have any sort of continuity for the timeline could make for better individual games and stories.BOTWandTOTKwere already awkward fits for the established timeline, so separating them from it is a move that makes sense.
Tears Of The Kingdom’s Zonai Ruins Have A Subtle Connection To Zelda Lore
The ruins of the Zonai seen in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild provide subtle connections to classic franchise lore.
Currently, it’s unknown if the entirely separate timeline ofBOTWandTOTKis indicative of a new direction for the series, or just a unique circumstance for the two most recent games — and while the separation does make some sense, it also directly contradicts the most prevalent theory regarding the placement of both games on theZeldatimeline. Ultimately, only time will tell if the next mainlineZelda, following up onThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, either directly or indirectly, will expand on Nintendo’s handling of the unifiedZeldatimeline.
