Still confused about Hyrule Historia’s timeline? Well, no more!

The picture above is not the official timeline, do not fret. But to newcomers to the Legend of Zelda series who are interested in learning about the timeline might think this a little confusing, not unlike the timeline above. And I’ll be blunt, it is confusing. There are three alternate timelines, characters spanning multiple games, the evolution of a species, and three or four separate worlds throughout the entire series. Even if Hyrule Historia gave you a lot of answers, I’m sure a lot of your questions were not answered. Fear not, brave Hylians! A kind soul who goes by the name of Zach Potts, has provided us with a detailed breakdown and dissertation of Hyrule Historia’s Zelda timeline! However, you’ll have to read it after the jump.

The analysis can be downloaded here. The analysis is rather long, spanning 20 pages, but it covers the entire timeline from Skyward Sword to The Adventure of Link. Fans will be able to see this guy knows what he is talking about, as the analysis is really accurate with its insight and knowledge of the games. Be warned though, there are spoilers and take your time and try to absorb what the timeline truly is.

Some things to note:

He goes over each game’s backstory, tells a short summary, then analyzes the game in the timeline.
He notes in the intro that he is playing the Japanese games as the translated versions tend to get some stuff mixed up
It is noted in the intro that because the series is ongoing the games get retconned all the time, so what may be accurate now, may not be sometime in the future.
Some things have been translated from Hyrule Historia that we now know are official and facts. The analysis was finished a little while ago, so it may not be up to date, but it hits everything and every aspect of the game, especially the more debatable topics.
Finally, towards the end he goes in detail about the alternate worlds presented in every game (Twilight Realm, Dark World, Silent Realms, and Sacred Realm). You may be surprised by the similarities…

I highly recommend reading the book. If you have not played one of the Zelda games its nice to see the plot summarized so simply and easily to understand, and then you will be able to fit in the missing puzzle pieces to determine where the game fits in and why it fits in that spot. His explanation of why there is a third timeline is rather interesting too, and honestly, I like the way he explains why Link died better. It makes more sense than the way Hyrule Historia explains it anyhow.

Enjoy the read and tell us what you think in the comments below.