A Link to the Past Placement

The ALttP time line placement. Where does it go? What game best fits the back story? Is there one?

This is something argued on many a thread, and probably a pre-existing thread, but let us review this again.

How this should work:
- Complete non-bias
- Show points for why it could work, AND what may prevent it from working
- Remember, if there was an original intention stated (i.e OoT seal war) you can't explain why it does not fit (because at one time it did). Rather, you must explain why another game took its place, or why can absolutely no longer work.

Example:
AT Positives
- OoT could be Seal War

AT Negatives
- The flood, can all those ancient Hylian structures stills stand?

CT Positives
- Explained Master Sword in the Lost Woods

CT Negatives
- No seal war, where can this happen?

Double ALttP Positives
- Backstories change around a little, each being able to possibly support a time line

Double ALttP Negatives
- Aside from the Four Sword Palace, the circumstances present in ALttP would be exactly the same on both timelines.

Above are all points you can use, but in your post you should have all the topics above, with several points under each.

At the end of your post, say where you put ALttP, and use evidence from your chart to defend that position.

Lol. This is like every thread relating to OoT, the Seal War, aLttP, LoZ/AoL, and the Timeline. They all revolve heavily around this question.... good luck

^ I know, just this time I'm trying to get an un bias answer, which no one gives around here.

Unbias answer: It goes EVERYWHERE.

Lol, so here's beem's now time line:

OLttP

AT: WLttP/PLttP --->

CT: MLttP--->TLttP

Oh...

Ocarina Link to the Past
Majora's Link to the past
Twilight Link to the Past
Oracle of the Link to the Past
Oracle of the Link to the Future
A Link to the Link to the Past
A Link to the Past
Link's Link to the Past
Wind Past
Phantom Past
Spirit Past
The Minish Link to the Past
Four Pasts
Four Past Adventures
The Legend of the Past
Adventure of Link to the Past

and the upcoming Past Wii!


But, really, ALttP can only fit in a few places:

.......... - WW/PH - LoZ/AoL - (ALttP)
OoT
...MM -- TP - (ALttP)

Basically it could go anywhere after either PH or TP with reasonable theorizing.

That's too true. The thing is I wanna see people use all 3 possibilities, because no one does, they only back one theory. Hell, I do that.

Does anyone have anything?

TP's Interloper legend is very congruent with the first half of the LttP SW story. This opens the possibility of the SW to both timelines. FSA contributes the Ganon-related part of the SW to whichever side of the timeline it is on if it is connected to LttP.

Originally Posted by Watties

Does anyone have anything?

CT Placement.

ALttP/LA
ALttP is the direct prequel to LA. This was stated at the time of the release and made obvious from the specific references made in the NoA version of the manual. More recent intent surrounding LA may have appeared since, namely OoX, but this it is not clear how definitive this intent is.

S&D = ALttP
S&D is the "true prologue" of ALttP, in that it tells the events of ALttP (the "catastrophe," Agahnim's takeover of the castle and kidnapping of Zelda, and Link's childhood) in more detail. These details are all accurate, even where they appear to be creative licenses not carried over into ALttP itself. S&D also indicates that in the backdrop of ALttP the Triforce was held by the Royal Family. This is also correct (see my notes on ALttP's placement relative to LoZ).

OoT=IW
OoT is the prequel to ALttP, and tells the Imprisoning War. This was stated by multiple developers at the time of OoT's release. It is still relevant, and here's why I believe so:

1) No viable alternative has surfaced on the Adult timeline to clarify the story post-TWW; FSA may "set up" for ALttP on the Adult timeline, but doesn't really feature "the seven sages"

2) Even though TP makes references to ALttP, we know that

a) TP was originally meant to prequel TWW; these references may be leftover from that stage of development (rather how The Legend of the Fairy remains in TWW despite the split timeline)
b) TP has the same problem that TWW had in terms of a chronological connection to ALttP in that the Ganon who stole the Triforce was killed in the endgame,
c) in TP's history there is no evidence of a 'Sages' seal,' and
d) the Triforce is already absent from the Sacred Realm by TP, so it seems highly unlikely that the Imprisoning War could (much less would) take place after TP
e) the interloper event is most likely NOT the Imprisoning War, as the main elements of the Imprisoning War are absent from the story (opening of Sacred Realm, spreading darkness, monster attacks, Sages' seal)

NOTE: Suffice to say that I think putting the Imprisoning War after TP creates more problems than it solves. For one, it was directly stated in the GBA ALttP manual that the Triforce "still rested" in the Sacred Realm when the gateway was opened, certainly indicating that it remained there constantly after the creation and before the Sacred Realm was opened. While Ganondorf escaping and being defeated certainly complicates the story, I do not believe TWW's situation to be any different than that of any other game (TP included and especially) in this respect. I would rather have a complicated story than a blatantly contradictory one.

LoZ-ALttP
ALttP is after LoZ. This is the most recent statement on the subject of these games' timeline placements by the developers. This timeline also removes the inconsistencies between ALttP's and S&D's story about where the Triforce was prior to ALttP.

OoX-ALttP
ALttP is after OoX (which in turn is after LoZ). OoX is the only game to actually depict the Triforce being contained in Hyrule Castle. This further legitimizes S&D's story (as S&D is the only other place where this is shown in the series) and would appear to indicate that OoX comes before ALttP.

FSA-ALttP
ALttP is after FSA, and FSA seems to be its direct prequel, with Ganon's sealing in FSA resembling depictions of the sealing in original ALttP artwork.

TP-ALttP
ALttP may now be intended to follow TP, based on numerous references to ALttP seen in TP. However, concrete ideas as for how TP connects to ALttP (or ALttP falls on the Child timeline) in terms of plot have yet to be explored by the developers in any of their works.

^ Now that's what I want Arte. Thank you, that was helpful as hell.

I've spent a long time fine-tuning what I think about ALttP, so thanks. ^_^

It cannot take place between OoT and WW for these reasons.

1.) The end of ALTTP blatantly shows us that the Master Sword will never again be used, so it cannot take place before any game with the Master Sword, including WW.

2.) ALTTP ends with the total destruction of Ganon, so he could not have been alive in order to escape the Sages' seal prior to WW.

3.) OoT =/= the Imprisoning War, because OoT does not involve Ganon getting stuck in the Sacred Realm after wishing on and obtaining the full Triforce.

4.) No hero appeared between OoT and WW.

It cannot take place any time AFTER WW for this reason.

1.) At the end of WW, the Master Sword is buried beneath the Great Sea, along with all Hylian culture. Because Hylian culture is all over the place in ALTTP and the Master Sword rests within the Lost Woods, this game cannot take place after WW.

It CAN take place any time after TP for these reasons.

1.) The Master Sword is seen resting in the Lost Woods in TP, setting itself up perfectly for ALTTP.

2.) The Seal War is not an issue, seeing as no game has ever accurately depicted it, regardless of what the developer intent was 11 years ago.

3.) A new Ganon can still emerge after TP, seeing as his "essence" has been known to survive after Ganondorf is killed, and this would make sense if FSA happens after TP, but FSA still isn't necessary in this equation. Every aspect of the Imprisoning War can take place completely offscreen in between games.

4.) The Sages' seal spoken of in ALTTP may not have anything to do with Ganon at all. It only referred to sealing the Sacred Realm because evil was flowing from it. Which could have taken place at any time, even before OoT. So by TP, the Seal War could still have occurred, seeing as ALTTP's canon backstory says Ganon got stuck in the Sacred Realm quite a while AFTER the Seal War.

5.) ALTTP was made as a distant sequel to LoZ and AoL, in which the Triforce was NOT in the Sacred Realm. So the text where it says "still rested" means nothing.

6.) TP connects loosely with OoX, with the Noble Sword being in the Lost Woods before being powered up to become the Master Sword, Midna was quite clearly designed with Veran in mind, and Twinrova isn't dead in OoX, and she died on the adult timeline. She never died AT ALL, as far as we know, on the child timeline, explaining why she is alive in OoX. Which may prequel ALTTP with FS/FSA in between.

7.) The Interloper War could very well be the Seal War. We know it involved dark corrupting powers being used to try to conquer the Sacred Realm after people began to "Quarrel and fight" and a "great battle ensued," where the back stories of TP and ALTTP are pretty much identical up until this point. The efforts of the Interlopers could very well have been responsible for the evil flowing from the Sacred Realm, so as the Knights of Hyrule and the Sages took care of the evil, the Light Spirits and Goddesses handled the Interlopers personally.

8.) The above war would then end with the creation of the Temple of Time and the Master Sword, explaining why they exist in OoT and this works, because the Sages created them as a seal on the Sacred Realm. And you could argue that the Sages' seal of ALTTP was designed to keep evil in and not out, whereas the ToT does the opposite, but why can't it do both? Just because the Seal failed with OoT's Ganondorf doesn't mean it failed with ALTTP's Ganondorf.

^ There as well. Thank you.

*sign*
Place your AlttP, where ever you like. As it should be known now by everyone here in this vast and huge forum, our Miyamoto-sama don´t think so deeply for story like we do.
This granted we should seperate the 2D Zelda´s from the 3D Zelda´s.
Why? Because those kind of topics makes me weary, to read or to debate in those.
Guess how many topics we have like the one you did not long ago?
More than a dosen of Topics which are desperatly trying to connect the so much dreaded Seal War with Ocarina of Time and a lot of another of fruitless attemps, to explain why is this so, in the way we have been it presented by Nintendo.
One month later and we will see thousands of another threads which turns around about that Seal War. Just wait and see.

Before I forget, there is another infamous debate in uncountable topics. Debate also your brain off when we talk about the One Trident of Power. I just say, throw it in the Mount Doom that damned Trident.

My bias is to put it AT as I am an old Single Timeliner and very pro OoT being the SW.

HOWEVER.

When I re-jigged my timeline relatively recently I found that the ONLY piece of evidence for this being the case is a very old developer quotation, whereas everything else seems to suggest CT in current canon.

I'd love to be proven wrong and my original (and wanted) placement to be correct, but given current evidence I can't accept it on the AT more than CT. Roll on ST.

^ Meh, ST won't give us ♥♥♥♥ except maybe a small Ganon canon cameo.

ZWii is what we need to look forward to. Ever coming out?

ZWii? Yeah, it'll come out...but only 3 years from now after Nintendo has released a whole new slew of meaningless handheld Zelda titles that mean nothing to the overall timeline/storyline.

I'm exaggerating of course, but a console Zelda game does take a considerably long time for Nintendo to finish.