Speculation on what Zelda 2005 is about

I'm sorry if this has been talked about already. I skimmed some of the posts but I didn't really see anything. Basically I wanted to post some of my speculation about the new game.

According to the screen shots here and the trailer that was shown at E3 I think that there are a few things that we can assume about this game:

1. The pictures clearly take place in Hyrule meaning that the game either takes place between MM and WW or after WW (since according to the timeline on this site, the water was drained and Hyrule was eventually restored).

2. The Link featured in the game is the Hero of Time. If you look at picture 3 he is clearly holding the shield from OOT and MM. Also if you look at picture 6, he looks more like OOT Link than WW Link (I popped in WW to check).

So what's the conclusion from all of this?

From these shots and the rumors about who is leading the development of the game, I'm betting that it takes place after MM and before WW. We will finally get to find out if Link came back from Termina for certain, how Gannon broke the seal, etc...

Why do I think this?

I think that the whole idea of Hyrule being buried and forgotten didn't sit well amongst the hardcore fans and so Nintendo wants to recapture some of the popularity of OOT. Also there is defenitly a story to tell for the events between MM and WW, and it releasing this game for the cube would be perfect to satisfy the people who didn't like WW and who want to know what happened to their favorite hero. It just doesn't make sense for them to release a new game for the cube when they are going to show off their new system next year. I think that they will make this and then make a true sequel to WW for the new system.

Tell me what you guys think.

Welcome to the forums, slimchopra.

First things first..


1: The timeline on this site is far from official. it's basically a glorified fanfiction that the webmasters foolishly try to pass off as correct. It is completely untrustworthy and unreliable.

That being said, we don't yet know for sure that it takes place in Hyrule, though the architecture and symbolism suggests it is likely.

Based on that evidence, it could take place almost any time. After all, it's always possible that we'll have a game set before OoT, thoguh I doubt it.

I am of the belief that Nintendo will find a way to have the water drained or removed somehow from Hyrule after tWW, but it's far from official.

2. Your second point is more or less moot. If my memory serves, his hairstyle in the name game is more reminiscent of tWW's, and his clothing is very different from both OoT's and tWW's. And he has a different eye color then the Hero of Winds did.

Were you to look closer at the shield, you would find that it's not the same shield he had in OoT.

Based on looks though, it's mostly impossible to get any evidence, since any changes/similarities could jsut be put down to style change.


Personally, i hope this does NOT feature the Link from OoT. Despite the tendencies the Zelda community has to believe otherwise, he is no better or more interesting then any other Link. I don't want to feed the OoT fanboyishness which I despise by reusing the Hero of Time.


Anyways.... my final conclusion is that it is more or less impossible to determine anything until more details are revealed.

Thanks for the welcome, lord-of-shadow.

You have some good points, but why would Nintendo already want to abandon what they setup with WW? That just doesn't make sense. I mean after completely writing the Zelda mythos, you really think they will just destroy all of that? And keep in mind that WW was really popular with the mainstream crowd, so is Nintendo just going to abandon all of those fans who are expecting more of WW?

You're right that you can't tell for certain when the game is set based on the pictures, but I think that we can at least agree that it seems like it takes place during OOT, MM time.

And why don't you want Nintendo to reuse the Hero of Time? I really think that Nintendo is on its last legs. Sunshine and WW sold a lot but they didn't have the same level of quality that their predecessors had. I truely believe that Nintendo wants to reignite their fans by bringing back the Link that was popular. Remember, OOT sold the most of the entire series.

Would someone please explain to me why anyone would consider a common shield of the Hylian soldiers as solid evidence in claiming that it must be a certain Link because only that Link could have the shield? Well if any old Hylian soldier can have it then what does that say about the uniqueness of the shield? If it were highly similar to the Mirror Shield then that'd be a different story, but even then items such as shields and swords have much longer life spans than average flesh and bone...

Originally Posted by slimchopra

And why don't you want Nintendo to reuse the Hero of Time?

Becaue that would suck. LoS is right, hes not that cool. All of the Links have equal "badassness", IMO.
And how are you able to determine that it looks like Hyrule from OoT, when all we saw was a 1 minute trailer? Half of the footage was inside of dungons, and alot of places looked nothing like OoT.

Ooo, it's because he "looks" the same. Well guess what? He looks like Link to me, and that is all that I care about. Technically they've been reusing "Link" since LoZ, he's always been the Hero of Time because it is in the destiny of "Link".

At this moment we don't have enough information to where or what this game will be.
But I think that this Link is new one.His hair color and style has change.
Who knows what we wil get.

As I said before, your right that we cannot know for sure, but all i'm saying is that doesn't it seem that it most likely takes place in Hyrule? I mean where else would it take place? All of the main games on the consoles so far have taken place in either Hyrule or above water in WW. These screenshots look more like Hyrule.

As for the shield thing, I didn't know that all hyrulian soldiers had them, I forgot that in OOT those shields were pretty expendable, so you are right about that.

And why don't you want Nintendo to reuse the Hero of Time? I really think that Nintendo is on its last legs. Sunshine and WW sold a lot but they didn't have the same level of quality that their predecessors had. I truely believe that Nintendo wants to reignite their fans by bringing back the Link that was popular. Remember, OOT sold the most of the entire series.

Over the years, I've sen countless morons obsessed with OoT, that somehow believe he is better or "cooler" or more "badass" then the rest of the Links. And, worst of all, many seem to think he is the "original", or only "true" Link.

I want to crush these fools' hopes into dust by never using the hero of Time again.

Plus, we've never had the same Link span more then two games, so why should se start now?

And what makes you think Nintendo is on it's last legs? It's more popular now then it was during the N64 years, and it makes a higher profit from it's system then either Sony or Microsoft. Quality-wise, perhaps they're not doing so well, but that's mroe or less irrelevant, commercially.

And the average consumer has no idea that there are multiple Links at all... they won't know or care if it's the same Link from OoT.

"Link" was the Hero of Time and "Link" will be staring as our next hero, don't worry people, everyone can have their cake and eat it too.

Originally Posted by lord-of-shadow

Over the years, I've sen countless morons obsessed with OoT, that somehow believe he is better or "cooler" or more "badass" then the rest of the Links. And, worst of all, many seem to think he is the "original", or only "true" Link.

I thought that OOT was a prequel to all the other games. So then that makes that Link the original one. Correct me if i'm wrong.

Perhaps in the timeline he was the first Link, but he is not the "one true Link" or anything, as many seem to think.

On top of that, OoT was the fifth game in the series, and at least two Links were created and thought up before that game was even announced.

Didn't you guys notice the tunic of this Link looks different? It's not the Link from OoT, it's either a new one or the one from The Wind Waker, but grown up.

Yeah, I did notice that. And like LoS mentioned, his hairstyle is very simaler to WW Link. I would be willing to bet that it is WW Link.

Originally Posted by lord-of-shadow

Perhaps in the timeline he was the first Link, but he is not the "one true Link" or anything, as many seem to think.

On top of that, OoT was the fifth game in the series, and at least two Links were created and thought up before that game was even announced.

Why not? Why can't the first Link be considered the 'one true Link'? It makes sense to me that the original character would be the milestone for all of the rest. And as for the other two Links, Ocarina was more popular (in terms of sales) so it makes sense that Nintendo would want to focus on him.

Except this is NOT the "original" character. The Link from LoZ is. And I don't see anyone calling him the one true Link.

As as I said, what Link it is would have a negligible effect on sales - the majority of people who play Zelda think it's all the same character anyways. Those who know better are an extreme minority, and wouldn't have any large effect on total sales at all.

So then no on is even a little curious to find out what happened between MM and WW?

Originally Posted by slimchopra

Why not? Why can't the first Link be considered the 'one true Link'? It makes sense to me that the original character would be the milestone for all of the rest. And as for the other two Links, Ocarina was more popular (in terms of sales) so it makes sense that Nintendo would want to focus on him.

If there were to be any focus on him, you would think the game TWW would have been, and FSs and FSA and TMC, would all be about him. But they aren't, and the point is you don't beat a dead horse.

Second thing is, who cares what 'Nintendo' wants. The creators of the series haven't wanted him to return and as such he hasn't. If Nintendo was pushing around internal developement teams to meet specific play and storyline demands there probably wouldn't be the same elation still when Miyamoto or Aonuma addresses a crowd speaking on the series.'

And MM and TWW, are completely seperate.

(Aonuma)
You could say that The Wind Waker takes place 100 years after the ending in which Link was an adult.

Meaning that MM and TWW are unrelated, except for the Link having been in his child world when the people in the adult world needed a hero, hence flooding the land.

I never really though about it, but being trapped in another dimension or even just leaving time, owuld be jsut about the only reason a hero doesn't arise to fight evil, must have been some funky stuff that would have let him stop it.

Edit: Forgot one detail. That 100 years has been interpereted to be a mistake of translation, odds are what was meant to be said was hudreds of years but human error screwed that ordeal up.