The Truth Behind the Miyamoto Timeline

As most of you are aware, it was 1998 when Miyamoto supposedly gave his infamous statement in Nintendo power issue 116, saying the timeline was OoT-LoZ/AoL-AlttP (LA?).

Ocarina of Time is the first story, then the original Legend of Zelda, then Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and finally A Link to the Past. It's not very clear where Link's Awakening fits in--it could be anytime after Ocarina of Time.

Source: http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman...s/111998.shtml

This caused many theorists of the time to call Miyamoto a nut case who did not know the timeline. These theorists insisted that the timeline was OoT-AlttP-LoZ/AoL, supported by "an official box" and their own common sense. But in 1999, the unthinkable happened. Dan Owsen, the translator of the Miyamoto timeline came out and admitted to the public that the box was wrong.

The truth is, the text on the box (and possibly the Nintendo Power guide) is wrong. D'oh! If you just ignore the box text, the stories fit together better. Basically, the events in Ocarina are the "Imprisoning War" described in the SNES version's story. The Golden Land was the Sacred Realm before Ganondorf corrupted it. The order of the stories is: Ocarina, Zelda 1, Zelda 2, A Link to the Past. Since Link's Awakening was a dream (or was it?) it's hard to say where it fits.

Source: http://www.miyamotoshrine.com/theman...s/031899.shtml

Generally this caused many disputed among theorists. Some claimed the ALttP came before LoZ, some claimed the opposite. Did Miyamoto truly know what he was saying? The following analysis proves that not only did Miyamoto have no clue what he was saying, but that his translator (Dan Owsen) had no idea what he was saying either.

To look back to the Miyamoto timeline, we must first look back to this "official box" that I mentioned earlier in this article.The localized version that arrived among North America stated:

Venture back to Hyrule and an age of magic and heros. The predecessors of Link and Zelda face monsters on the march, when a menacing magician takes over the kingdom.

This is the box that Dan Owsen stated to be wrong. The box that blatently showed that the order of the games was ALttP-LoZ/AoL. While poorly translated however, this box was NOT mistranslated. The original Japanese text is thus:

今度の舞台はリンクが活躍した頃よりも遥か昔、ハイラルが、まだ一つの王国であった時代。

"In this game, this stage is set far before Link started his adventures; a time when Hyrule was still united as one kingdom."

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Note from the translator: The stage is the game itself. The Link referred to here is the one from LoZ.

So why did Dan Owsen lie to the public, stating the box was wrong? For one reason: Miyamoto did not know the timeline.

Originally Posted by Dan Owsen

Heh, well, all I can tell you is, when I asked Mr. Miyamoto about the order of the games, he admitted that he didn't know!

source(s):http://www.zeldalegends.net/files/te...n-miyamoto.txt ; http://forums.legendsalliance.com/to...-the-timeline/

Furthering the state of confusion, in 1999, Miyamoto gave another interveiw, this time to the Japanese magazine Dengeki64.

Miyamoto stated:

(Ocarina of Time -> A Link to the Past) then comes the original and "The Adventure of Link" in turn.

So which was the official source? Nintendo power's interview or this new Dengeki one? The answer lies within the magazines. I give you now, a snippet of text from the official zelda.com.

If you’re a subscriber to Nintendo Power, be sure to check out the January Volume 116 Bonus Issue for more of our interview, including Mr. Miyamoto’s reflections on the upcoming games of 1999.

However, if one looks through this issue, it can be clear that this Nintendo Power issue contains no timeline - not even an exclusive interview with Miyamoto. The only website that actually contains the order stating OoT-LoZ/AoL-AlttP is Miyamoto shrine. According to TSA, the quote was taken down per request from Miyamoto on the official Nintendo website.

It can be clearly deduced what happened from this point onwards:

-Miyamoto was asked a question he did not know (the timeline).
-He made up the response - the order of the games being OoT-LoZ/AoL-AlttP
-Theorists protested, shouting about the box.
-Dan Owsen stepped in and stated his boss was right (rather than wrong) to save his boss's skin, and by extension, his own.
-Miyamoto realized he was wrong about his timeline of OoT-LoZ/AoL-ALttP.
-He ordered the timeline to be taken down.
-Nintendo power never got the interview because Miyamoto deemed it unfit for the magazine.
-First thing 1999 (January) Miyamoto fixes his mishap with the timeline in another magazine.

While people would swear blind Miyamoto had no clue what was going on in 1998, it goes to show that even Nintendo can make mistakes. Hopefully this has rectified your understanding of the Miyamoto order, and perhaps even given you insight, into the timeline beyond.

~Pinecove

I think although he could have a rough outline, that document he has is to make Zelda fans happy, to keep them deeply involved with the series. When in reality people on here might have a more accurate time line than he does. Miyamoto saying that is almost like me saying I have a 40" dick. I wish it was true, but it's not.

No doubt they proabably do have something to go off of, and each new game they fit into a little time line somewhere, but how much thought was put into it. Don't forget they won't remember everything they put into a game, they don't have much time to play games because they're too busy developing, so maybe they could forget things that happen within the games when they make their timeline.

What I say is, be confident there is a time line (so you can retain interest in the series and have a nice past time) , but don't be too confident we'll ever see what it is.

:/ I say leave the timeline stuff to Aonuma. I don't really care about the Miyamoto order anymore, seeing as how he doesn't really know the order too well.

@Watties: I'm talking about the original intent here.

Originally Posted by Pinecove

@Watties: I'm talking about the original intent here.

Interesting you say that because I actually got something out of it in my little form.

And I think Nintendo started making a time line maybe starting Ocarina. Before that they were just making games, and that was the original intent. Make games, make money. Starting Ocarina people got confused, and thats when everything you posted happened I THINK (not saying I'm right). That's when Miyamoto froze and said something he didn't mean, and that's when confusion happend. This is possibly when a document was created. In my opinion, until Ocarina there was no time line. Well there was but... not to the extent... right then.

So, original intent wise, I'd say it goes OoT -->ALttP-->LoZ-->AoL. The main reason I say this is the "at the end of ALttP" thing that gets argued over so much. The master sword. The other reason I say that is it makes sense if OoT is the IW, Ganon gets sealed, he escapes, ALttP kills him, and then with LoZ a new Ganon I guess is born.

Sorry Pine, I'm completely lost with myself right now typing this. In fact I've no clue really what I just said. Sorry I probably missed your intent again

Sorry Pine, I'm completely lost with myself right now typing this. In fact I've no clue really what I just said. Sorry I probably missed your intent again

Haha, no prob, I do that all the time.
I'm saying Miyamoto didn't know the timeline of his own series in 1998.

I think that's where I was going with it, in between all the pointless rambling