The Legend of Zelda: A complete history

Find out the full story before diving into Tears of the Kingdom

Contents

1. The Hero of Time timeline
2. The Fallen Hero timeline
3. The Child timeline
4. The Adult timeline
5. The Great Calamity timeline

The chronology of The Legend of Zelda series has long been debated. The stories don’t seem to fit together, and many of them contradict themselves. However, Nintendo claims that all 22 games are part of the same canon, and are just spread across five alternate timelines. This is enough to make anyone’s head spin, but between our team we’ve played each and every Zelda game.

Here’s a full rundown of the story so far to get you ready for Tears of the Kingdom.

The Hero of Time timeline

This timeline is one of the more upbeat ones in Hyrule’s history. It still has its dark moments – this is Zelda, after all – but if you are looking for upbeat stories where Link always saves the day, this is the timeline for you. Four games make up this timeline and follow on from each other.

Skyward Sword

Zelda and Link are living in Skyloft, a town that floats above the clouds. Zelda is kidnapped by Girahim and brought to the ground in order to revive Ganon – our series antagonist. Link goes to rescue Zelda, led by a sentient sword. Lots of time travel shenanigans ensue, until Link eventually slays Ganon, and the Hylians come down to Earth.

Minish Cap

Capcom makes good Zelda games. That was true in the Game Boy era, and remained true into the Game Boy Advance era. Minish Cap takes Wind Waker’s art style and turns it into a wonderful pixelated world. The sprites are full of character, and the game is Zelda through and through. Minish Cap doesn’t feature Ganon. Instead, you’ll be battling against Vaati with the Picori Sword, in a story that doesn’t fit neatly into the Zelda timeline, but is timeless nonetheless.

Four Swords

After the spirit Vaati breaks free and captures Zelda, Link pulls the Four Sword from the stone, which immediately creates three copies of himself. The four Links fight alongside each other to rescue three great fairies, enter Vaatis temple and re-seal him inside of the Four Sword, which is then returned to its pedestal

Ocarina of Time

Ocarina of Time might borrow Link to the Past’s three-then-eight dungeon structure, but it marks a number of firsts for the series, including its first 3D adventure, the first Ganondorf appearance, and the first time Link actually has friends. The world falls into ruin after Ganondorf acquires the Triforce, and Link travels back and forth in time to put a stop to the Demon Prince’s evil plans. Ocarina of Time is dated by today’s standards, but its complex puzzles, creative dungeons, and memorable bosses mean it’s still a classic worth playing at least once.

The Fallen Hero timeline

If dark, depressing drama is more your thing, then you’ll want to get your teeth into The Fallen Hero timeline. Nintendo obviously loves the dark, brooding side of Hyrule too, because eight games make up this timeline – so far. Here’s the history.

A Link to the Past

As the King of Hyrule loves to mess up his land, he hires the dark wizard Agahnim as his chief advisor. Agahnim then uses his position to lock away six maidens in the Dark World, and awaken Ganon to cause mischief. Despite the fact that Link is just a wee lad living with his uncle, it’s up to him to travel between worlds, save the maidens, and seal Ganon away once more.

Link’s Awakening

After the events of A Link to the Past, Link himself sets sail across the sea, but gets into a bit of trouble during a storm. He awakes in a house on Koholint Island, a strange place with familiar people that don’t recognize Link at all. There are even Mario enemies for a little bit more surrealism. Link’s mission is to get off the island safely, but that might do more harm than good to its inhabitants. One of the strangest and most memorable games in the whole series.

Oracle of Seasons

Saving the world is hard work, so Link decides to vacation in the neighboring land of Holodrum. Surely nothing could go wrong! Until it does. A new villain styling himself Onyx, General of Shadows, abducts a woman named Dyn – part-time traveling performer, full-time Oracle of Seasons who keeps nature in balance – throwing the world into chaos. Link sets out to save her and eventually gains power over the seasons and recruits a giant lizard or punchy kangaroo as an ally. There are plenty of references to Ocarina of Time, including some bonus boss fights against Twinrova and Ganon if you link to Oracle of Ages. However, it’s more of a mechanical sequel to Link’s Awakening, using a similar structure and toolset and improving them substantially.

Oracle of Ages

One half of a duo that was meant to be a trio, Oracle of Ages has Link traveling to the land of Labrynna, where he assists Nayru and Impa to stop the Sorceress of Shadows from royally screwing with time itself. Mechanically similar to Link’s Awakening, the Oracle games were Capcom’s first foray into the Zelda series. Each game has its own quirks and strengths, and Ages might just beat out Seasons in terms of enjoyment. They’re best played together, though, with special bonuses for linking up between the two games.

A Link Between Worlds

A sequel of sorts to A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds is perhaps my favorite Zelda game of all time. It sees a young Link working his way through the kingdoms of Hyrule and Lorule to save Princess Zelda and restore peace. Zelda has been kidnapped by the evil sorcerer Yuga, who wishes to do the same with the Seven Sages in order to use their power and bring back to life the demon king Ganon.

Triforce Heroes

Nintendo

Triforce Heroes often gets a bad rap, but it’s a greatly evolved take on the classic Four Swords, just with three Links instead of four. It’s technically a sequel to A Link Between Worlds (the best Zelda game) but is totally playable without any context needed. Team up with three friends to traverse dozens of levels, craft fashionable outfits, and solve some of the best environmental dungeon puzzles in the series. We can only hope that an enhanced Switch port is made someday.

The Legend of Zelda

In Link’s first-ever adventure, he scours Hyrule to collect all the pieces of the Triforce so that he can open the gate to rescue Zelda. Zelda is of course trapped by Ganon, and Link must visit the eight dungeons in order to face him. One of the more difficult Zelda games, and one that inspired modern open-world games.

Adventure of Link

The most maligned entry in the mainline series, Adventure of Link is different. It’s heavily inspired by JRPGs of the era, and even includes a world map where an oversized Link dodges foes and navigates towards towns and dungeons. While in a town, dungeon, or combat, you’ll take a side-on perspective as Link, jump over projectiles, and stabs foes with a tiny sword. It’s a very different game, but Adventure of Link stands out as one of the most unique, and uniquely fun, games of its time. This is technically the first appearance of “Adult Link” (he’s sixteen, close enough) and takes place six years after The Legend of Zelda. Link must hunt down the Triforce of Courage with six crystal macguffins leading the way.

The Child timeline

While The Fallen Hero timeline is dark, somehow The Child timeline is even darker. Majora’s Mask in particular is blamed for giving several children nightmares. If you don’t have a stomach for the fantastically weird you might want to leave these three games alone.

Majora’s Mask

Link goes on the search for Navi with Epona, when he is approached by two other fairies. Their friend Skull Kid has stolen Majora's Mask and in three days the moon will fall on Clock Town. Link has to awaken the four giants to stop the moon, using the Ocarina of Time to rewind the clock everytime the moon is about to fall.

Twilight Princess

It’s too easy to look down on Twilight Princess now. Compared to The Wind Waker, it lacks characters. The turn to a more realistic art style ended up feeling more bland than anything else. It’s a crying shame, especially because the game itself is actually great. Say what you will about hunting tears as Wolf Link, but the dungeon design in Twilight Princess is excellent, with the grittier story that fans thought they wanted. In a vacuum, Twilight Princess is incredible, even if the pacing is a bit off in places. This all takes place in Hyrule, many years after the events of Majora’s Mask. Ganondorf’s revival once again causes chaos, and of course, it’s all up to one boy from the forest to sort it all out.

Four Swords Adventures

Zelda tries and fails to strengthen the seal on Vaati, and after Link is forced to use the Four Sword once more, Vaati is unleashed on the world again. With the knights of Hyrule being captured and replaced with dark versions, the four Links set out to defeat Vaati. Except, surprise! It was actually Ganon the whole time. The Links obtain the Dark Mirror to seal away Shadow Link before going on to defeat Vaati and Ganon. The Four Sword is then sealed away once and for all.

The Adult timeline

As a pick-me-up from the creepy child timeline, The Adult timeline is some of the most uplifting and whimsical games in the series. There are just three games here, all with a delightful artstyle and heart-warming story.

Wind Waker

Link is younger than ever, is a toon version of himself, and has a friggin’ talking boat that bears some baggage from its past. Traveling through an incredibly cool waterworld-version of Hyrule more or less freely, we must once again solve secrets and search for more power and stronger gear to save the world from the machinations of Ganon – but we get to explore mysterious islands and board pirate submarines along the way, yarrr.

Phantom Hourglass

Phantom Hourglass takes everything that was great about Wind Waker, adds some fresh new mechanics to take advantage of the DS’s hardware, and delivers one of the best handheld titles the series has seen. Set directly after Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass has Link traveling all across the flooded Hyrule to discover the secrets of the mysterious Temple of the Ocean King and forge the mythical Phantom Sword. 

Spirit Tracks

While trains can’t replace the freeform sailing of Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks is genuinely great. The dungeons are layered and interesting, and there isn’t a central dungeon you’ll need to traverse the entirety of repeatedly. Plus, Spirit Tracks lets Zelda’s character shine brighter than any other entry in the series. Set in the newfound land of Hyrule 100 years after Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks is one of the most peaceful games in the entire series, with fairly low stakes and great gags.

The Great Calamity timeline

Breath of the Wild almost stands alone in its own timeline, only bolstered by the side stories of Hyrule Warriors. Tears of the Kingdom’s story will follow on directly from here, so this is where you should focus for your Hyrule history.

Hyrule Warriors

I bet you didn’t know that Hyrule Warriors tells stories from the Zelda canon? Cia, who is in charge of the sealed parts of Ganon, manages to be deceived by him by having her weakness for Link exploited. Link then has to gather all the heroes from across timelines in order to try and keep Ganon back once more.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Age of Calamity uses the Warriors style to tell a Breath of the Wild prequel story. Link, Zelda, the Champions, and Impa travel around Hyrule to rough up some Moblins and stop Calamity Ganon with an impressive array of skills and weapons, including Zelda’s tablet of death. The story takes a drastically different approach to the Calamity, with an ending that would turn Breath of the Wild on its head if it were part of the established timeline. You can tell it isn’t canon, though, since Zelda is actually playable.

Breath of the Wild

Link awakens from his 100 year slumber in a healing shrine. With no recollection of what has happened, he embarks on an epic journey to solve the mysteries that await him in the 120 shrines around Hyrule, recover his memories, save the four champions of the past and prepare for his imminent fight with Calamity Ganon. One of the richer stories in the Zelda timeline, it's one you need to play through to understand the intricacies.