Chronology
The chronology of the Legend of Zelda series is subject to much debate among fans,[11] but the producers have confirmed the existence of a confidential document, which connects all the games.[12][13] Certain materials and developer statements have partially established an official timeline of the released installments. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a direct sequel to the original The Legend of Zelda, and takes place several years later.[14][15] The third game, A Link to the Past, is a prequel to the first two titles,[16][17][18] and is directly followed by Link's Awakening.[19][20] Ocarina of Time is a prequel that takes the story many centuries back; according to character designer Satoru Takizawa, it was meant to implicitly tell the Imprisoning War from the manual of A Link to the Past.[21][22] The ending of Ocarina of Time caused the timeline to split; the child era depicted in the game leads into the direct sequel Majora's Mask,[23] and Twilight Princess set more than 100 years later.[24][25] The Wind Waker is parallel, and takes place in the other timeline branch, more than a century after the adult era of Ocarina of Time.[24][25] Phantom Hourglass is a continuation of the story from The Wind Waker,[26] and is followed by Spirit Tracks, which is set about 100 years later.[27] Skyward Sword will be a prequel again, and will take place before Ocarina of Time.[28] At the time of its release, Four Swords for the Game Boy Advance was considered the oldest tale in the series' chronology, with Four Swords Adventures set sometime after its events.[29] The Minish Cap precedes the two games, telling of the origins of villain Vaati and the creation of the Four Sword.[30] There have been no statements about the placement of the Oracle titles, or about which timeline branch some of the earlier installments are meant to be set in.
In the early 2000s, Nintendo of America released a timeline on Zelda.com, the official website of the Legend of Zelda series, which interpreted all stories up to the Oracle games as the adventures of a single protagonist named Link.[31] At one point, translator Dan Owsen and his coworkers at Nintendo of America had conceived another complete timeline and intended to make it available online. However, the Japanese series developers vetoed the idea so the timeline would be kept open to the interpretation of the players.[32]
