Game Theory - How Zelda Breath of the Wild SOLVES The Zelda Timeline!

Episode Date: May 14, 2023

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD is a stellar addition to the series. But ever since its release, Breath of the Wild has plagued fans with one big question - where does this fit into the Zelda Timeline? Well, after hours of gameplay (followed by even more hours of research), I have solved the puzzle! And Breath of the Wild may reveal more about Nintendo's Zelda timeline than we could ever imagine.

Ooh, you're all just jealous. Hello internet, welcome to game theory, the only show that's consistent across all the Zelda timelines. So today's theory's been a long time coming, and I'm finally ready to cover Zelda Breath of the Wild's timeline placement. Now, for those of you who haven't played Breath of the Wild, well, it means you probably don't have $300 to burn on a switch, since literally everyone who has a switch has played this game. But it's a game you gotta play, so pause this video, find someone who has a switch, befriend that person by giving them food and compliments, invite them to a sleep over to play games, wait for them to fall asleep, grab their switch, move to a different state, and change your name. It's as easy as that. Don't worry this video will be here when you get done. Great, you've unpaused the video meaning that you're now a wanted criminal, and that you're finally ready to talk Breath of the Wild's timeline placement.

So in the game you play as Link. No big surprises there as he wakes up from a hundred-year nap to find Hyrule devastated by Calamity Gannon. Basically it's Gannon on evil energy steroids. Swole and roided up. And it's up to you to reawaken four ancient Power Rangers'ords. Go-Go-Go! Hiroo! Champions! And defeat Ganon once and for all. But before we can properly identify where this is in the timelines, we need to understand the basics of those timelines.

Now I'm not gonna go too in depth here. The timeline starts with Skyward Sword and remains linear up until Ocarina of Time, at which point it splits in three. During Ocarina, you travel through time with the Master Sword, being a child in the past, and an adult in the future. At the end of the game, three timelines are created, because time hopping always causes a problem. One follows the adult timeline that you just saved from Gannon. The second follows Link as he transforms back into a child at the end of the game, and finally, the third one's where he failed to defeat Gannon, you die and the giant Pigman takes over the Tri-Force. That's right, every time you blow yourself up with your own bombs, Gannon goes on to rule High Rule.

Way to go, Sarcastic slow clap. Alright, so now that you're all caught up with the timeline, what do we know for sure about? about Breath of the Wild's placement. In an interview with Game Informer in February before the release of the game, legend of Zelda director Aegeanuma was asked if Breath of the Wild takes place before or after Ocarina of Time. His response...

Ato-des. Great! Super helpful there, buddy. Which means it's time for us to put on our tunics of the theorist and get to dig in. Now before we get too deep into this, there's some quote-unquote evidence that we need to take off the table, amoeboes. Any weapon, piece of armor, or wolf version that comes from a mime. is taken off the table since amoebo items are more like Easter eggs than canon.

I mean, you can't really trust treasure chests that pop out of thin air. To make sure that we are staying as canon as possible with this one, we are only using items and clues that can be physically found in the game. Oh, sorry there, buddy. But who's a good boy? Who's a cool boy? Who wants to chew on tingle's leg? Yeah, you do. Before the game's release, the biggest piece of evidence was salt. And no, we're not talking about Rivali's saltiness for having to assist you in your journey.

journey. I mean, it's just asinine. We're talking about rock salt, found by smashing mineral deposits. According to the flavor text, rock salt is quote, crystallized salt from the ancient sea commonly used to season meals. Ancient sea, you say. Online Zelda theorists immediately concluded that this could be referring to the Great Sea, the flooded overworld as your main setting in Wind Waker, which would put the game pretty solidly in the adult era timeline. The adult era was then further supported by two races that Link interacts with only in Wind Waker. The Rito, a bird race, and the Korok, leafy-faced forest spirits. And it was easy to tie the Korox from Breath of the Wild

to the Korok's of Wind Waker because they look almost identical to each other. And for a series that changes the looks of the races with almost every game, this is saying a lot. Then you have the Rito who came into existence in Wind Waker. According to Aegeanuma in the Japanese only publication Zelda box the Wind Waker fan book, quote, We set it up so that the Rito tribe was the evolved form of the Zora tribe that appeared in Ocarina of Time, and the Kokiri tribe left the forest and became the Khorox. Their appearances are different, but they share the same bloodline." End quote.

Cool. That's totally cool. I could never come up with a video game that is as influential as you guys, and I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job or anything, but have you never heard of Charles Darwin? The Zora evolved from aquatic animals to birds when Hyrule is now almost completely water! Anyway, between the rock salt and the races, It seemed like there was a good case for Breath of Wild taking place sometime after Wind Waker or at least there would have been if Wind Waker was the only appearance of all of these things You see, while the Korok only seemed to show up during the events of Breath of the Wild and Wind Waker

The Rito can actually be found in the other two timelines. In the child era timeline you can find a stone relief in Twilight Princess's Castle town that shows child link meeting with the Gorons Zoras, Hylians, Waka's, and lastly the Rito. Not only that but in the failed hero timeline we have the Faka F-O-K-A. The Faka, or giant humanoid bird-like enemies found in the great palace of Zelda 2. These enemies could very well be the ancestors of the bird-like Rita warriors, placing Breath of the Wild sometime after the Adventures of Link. Finally, the Rocksalt's reference to an ancient sea could refer to Wind Waker's Ocean. Sure, but it could also be referring to the ocean that used to exist in the Lenehru ruins from Skyward Sword. And you don't have to listen to me, take it from Feast.

Since Heaven knows you didn't listen to her the first time you were playing the game. We've arrived at the Linneiru Desert. The terrain in this area changed dramatically as climate forces rapidly turned it into a desert. And since the major dungeon of this area is a derelict pirate ship, it shows that this area was once covered in water. Which means at this point, Breath of the Wild could still be in any of the three timelines. So let's return back to Breath of the Wild. Another big clue we get from the game comes in the form of Link's memories. While adventuring across the lands of High Rule, Link will find certain locations that trigger long-forgotten memories from before he took that hundred-year nap. In front of Hyrule Castle, a small ceremonial circle is home to memory number one.

In this memory, Zelda is dubbing Link the new hero of Hyrule and says this. Whether skyward bound, adrift in time, or steeped in the glowing embers of twilight. Now skyward bound and adrift in time are obviously referring to Link's battles in Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time, both of which are constant across all timelines. But it's that glowing embers of Twilight that's kind of specific to the events of Twilight Princess. In all the games that occur across all the timelines, Twilight Princess is the only game where Link deals with the Twilight Realm. So the fact that Zelda mentions this particular event is a pretty big hint towards Breath of the Wild landing in the Child era timeline. This is also further supported by Hyrule Castle itself.

Look at the castle from Twilight Princess. And now to Breath of the Wild. Now to Twilight. Now to Wild. Twilight, me. Twilight, me. The castle is now a giant stick of Old Spice. Link is on a horse. Backwards.

In a shower. Anyway, as you can see, the architecture of both castles is very. is very similar, especially compared to that of a link to the past and Wind waker. But that's about it. This is kind of where all the proof for the child era ends. And I gotta be honest, it doesn't feel like there's a whole lot to stand on there. So going back to Breath of the Wild, we still haven't accounted for a lot of the physical clues that are present in this game. Clues starting with Hyrule's geography. If you take a look at every map of Hyrule, geography is one of the least consistent things across games. Apparently, Hyrule's tectonic plates are lit A-F as they say. But comparing maps across a all the games, Breath of the Wild does have major geographic landmarks that line up with the games falling into the failed hero timeline.

If you take a look at Breath of the Wild's map compared to that of linked to the past, you'll notice some significant similarities. In both maps, we can see that the desert is to the southwest, Death Mountain is to the north, the Lost Woods, also north, and Lake Hylia is to the south. I mean, granted, they're not perfectly aligned, but there's no denying that there are a closer match than anything found in any of the other games. And not only that, but Spectacle Rock, a rock formation looking like glasses can be found in Breath of the Wild. This particular mountainous formation is only found in the games falling in the failed hero timeline. And evidence for the failed hero timeline doesn't stop there.

Breath of the Wild's most deadly enemy, the half horse, half lion, pain train of death, the Lion has only appeared in five other games throughout the Zelda series. Their first and most known appearance was the original legend of Zelda, but they also show up in Link to the Past, the Oracle games, and the recent link between worlds. Whether or not they appear in a given Zelda game is inconsistent at best, but one thing is true of all the games they've appeared in They're all part of the failed hero timeline You never never see them in any of the other games outside of this one branch Which strongly suggests that the Lionels were only recruited into Gannon's army once he managed to defeat Link during the events of Akarina of time

And speaking of enemies, let's talk the demon king himself Gannon seen before called Calamity Ganon, a Ganon that has gone full-on rage mode. But the clue here isn't what is present, it's about what is it? In both the child era and adult era, Ganon is often seen in his Garudo form, Ganendorf. Even after transforming to the Beast and Twilight Princess, we see that he can't maintain the form after getting beaten down by Link. Instead, we see him preferring his Garudo form for the final fight, and he's sealed as Ganendorf. Wind Waker is the same way.

Sure, there's a puppet of Ganon, but who you're really fighting in this. game is Gannondorf, but Calamity Gannon is a demon through and through. He has no humanoid form. And in what timeline do you never see his Gurdow form? The failed hero timeline. And that's official. According to the Hyrule Historia, when he takes over an Akarina, he decides to shed his Geroot form once and for all. Quote, at last Gannendor found himself in the possession of the Triforce of Wisdom that dwelt within Princess Zelda and the Triforce of Courage that dwelt in Link. His true power achieved he transformed into the Demon King. End quote, Demon King Gannon. And that's the kind of Gannon we're fighting in Breath of the Wild,

a Gannon that has shed all forms of humanity to become the manifestation of evil. That after being sealed time and time again would be enraged enough to give up on reincarnating entirely, as we hear Zelda say before we fight as dark beast form. He has given up on an incarnation and assumed his pure enraged form. And it's 100% true. By the time the events of Breath of the Wild occur, Gannon's revival had become a century-old tradition. It's like Christmas, except every present is the potential of death. We see that Gannon Dorf is revived twice in the adult era, reincarnated once in the child era,

and that the Demon King Gannon is revived four times. Four times in the failed timeline. I mean, hey, I just skipped to rage mode at that point too. But to me, the most convincing piece of evidence comes when you complete one of the hardest challenges in the game. By finding and conquering all 120 shrines, which is exhausting, by the way. I mean, why am I standing on this platform naked waiting for the blood moon? Just to get another orb? What would he do?

A man only needs so much stamina, guys. Or does he? By conquering every shrine, you unlock three special chests, which contain the tunic, cap, and trousers of the wild. They're some of, if not, the best equipment items. And you know they're gonna be an important reward because they're the prize for pretty much completing the game. I mean, I know my buddy Gerard, the completionist, would argue that you can also collect all the corox seeds and iPad pictures and level up all the armor, but seriously Beating every dungeon is usually where most people are gonna draw the line there. Anyway, I'm sure you're all asking what's so important about these items. It's just Link's green outfit, right?

Wrong. Let's see if you can spot what I'm talking about. Look at this art from the first ever Zelda game. Here's Zelda 2, Oracle of Ages and Seasons. Link to the past? Link between worlds Now look at Link from Twilight Princess, Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, Majora's Mass, Did you see it? The yellow stripe in the hat. In every single game from the failed hero timeline, Link's hat has that signature yellow band in it. But in every other timeline, he only has a straight green hat, not Twilight, not Majora's mask, not Wind Waker or Phantom Hourglass.

And look once more at the Hat of the Wild, Yellow Stripe. This blew my mind. I was so floored finding this, because for years all as Zelda fans were assuming that Nintendo just threw together this three-split timeline because they needed a solution for something that they had never actually planned out but that the fans were begging them for We thought it was a cop-out, but no This detail proves not only that Breath of the Wild belongs to the failed hero timeline, but that Nintendo has been keeping track of their continuity From the very first game in the series And there you have it taking in all the evidence the scales greatly tip in favor of Breath of the Wild being at the end of the failed hero timeline

Yes, there's still that reference to the Twilight, but in foreign translations of the game, Zelda also mentions sailing the high seas So maybe the Triforce of Wisdom gives her vision across all the different timelines? I don't know, but I can totally see it being a thing Regardless, I'd say that the physical evidence is rock solid Spectacle rock solid the only pieces of evidence that can't be explained away via appearances in other timelines all Point to the failed hero branch. So there you have it. Feel free to confirm it Nintendo and heck if you're upset with the results just be glad we didn't find a way to tie it into the CDI timeline. Oh no! Oh no! He's got a yellow strap! But hey, that's just a theory! A game theory! Thanks for watching!