Ever wondered the actual timeline for The Legend of Zelda? It’s either one of Nintendo’s most guarded secrets – or they just didn’t think it through that well.. The sequence of events in the fictional Hyrule Kingdom is finally revealed in a lavish art book celebrating the franchise’s 25 year legacy, which kind of explains why the timeline is so polluted!
Nintendo’s official art book for the Legend of Zelda is roaming around now in Japan (sadly only available in native language) and the book shows off, in glorious detail, paintings and illustrations of Link, Ganon and the title Princess Zelda as well as familiar scenery and weapons. But buried within – a never before seen timeline of the events we’ve been playing out on NEW, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii and most recently 3DS – spanning over the last quarter of a century.
Many die-hard Zelda gamers question the fluidity of the story. Why is the future in The Phantom Hourglass so different from that in Link’s Awakening? That’s because (translation tells us) during Ocarina of Time, you may rememeber there are two potential endings. At this point the timeline actually becomes split and two parallel universes are birthed. Mind – Blown!
The 1986 original game The Legend of Zelda and 1987 follow-up Zelda II: The Adventure of Link actually appear at the later end of the timeline with recently released Wii adventure Skyward Sword acknowledged as being the start point of all Zelda history with a section dedicated to “The Origin”. This looks like a must-own item and an superb companion to the epic gaming saga!
The Japanese price for The Legend of Zelda art book is ¥3255 which equates to roughly £28 of our Great British coins and it’s officially on sale from tomorrow (December 22nd).
Kotaku has kindly put together a timeline based on the art work in the book, which gives us an idea of how The Legend of Zelda plays out:
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Image Source: Kotaku