The latest game in the The Legend of Zelda franchise, The Legend of Zelda has amassed a web of history despite each game's retelling of the same events - Link defeating Ganon in order to save Zelda and/or with the help of Zelda. This has led to the development of a central timeline which ultimately splits into three separate paths.
The three timelines split off after the events of Ocarina of Time, at which point the main timeline breaks off into two major categories - "The Hero Is Defeated" and "The Hero Is Triumphant." The latter timeline splits into two other branches coined the "Child Timeline" (Ganon's Plot Is Stopped) and the "Adult Timeline (Ganon Is Defeated)". For the longest time, it was believed that these three timelines existed independently from one another. When Breath of the Wild was released in 2017, Nintendo originally placed it outside of the pre-established timelines. However, fans have noted the amount of material overlap found in Breath of the Wild with the other games in the franchise, leading some to speculate that the newest game acts as a convergence point between all of the titles.
Breath of the Wild seems to feature elements from a slew of different game, each existing in its own separate timeline. For example, players are able to collect Rock Salt which prompts information about an "ancient sea," likely referring to the remnants of the Great Sea found only in the Wind Waker game. Koroks were also originally introduced into the Zelda franchise in Wind Waker alongside the Rito species.
However, conflicting with that is the presence of Spectacle Rock, Lynel, and Ganon's lack of a human form. These three point to the Defeated Timeline, which contradicts the Triumphant Timeline Wind Waker is a part of. In of this connection, the Zora tablets in Breath of the Wild speak of Princess Ruto's achievements as a Sage which could not have occurred in the Child Triumphant Timeline as she was never awakened to begin with in this chronology.
To further connect the timelines, according to Mirror of Twilight in Twilight Princess. From the same game, Midna (Ruler of the Twilight Realm) speaks to a hero of legend appearing as a Divine Beast, and in Breath of the Wild, one of the player's main quests is to awaken animal themed Divine Beasts. This all points to the Child Triumphant Timeline. Check out the video below:
One of the main species players interact with in Breath of the Wild is the Zora. Although this race of creatures seemingly exists across all three chronologies, they are extinct in the Adult Triumphant Timeline. Furthermore, in the Defeated Timeline, the Zora are noted to have regressed into a monstrous and aggressive species, very different from the friendly humanoids seen in Breath of the Wild. So, in order for Zora to exist in such a state, the game would have to take place in the Child Triumphant Timeline. All of these factors validate the possible convergence of the timelines in Breath of the Wild.
Breath of the Wild's director Eiji Aonuma and series producer Hidemaro Fujibayashi have both stated that they're not actively looking to find a concrete placement for the game among the timelines. It's been encouraged for fans to find their own meaning in the franchise and use their imagination to determine the true relationship between the games. With the amount of connections between Breath of the Wild and other Legend of Zelda titles, it's difficult to discredit that the newest game may be the converging point in the Zelda universe. With Breath of the Wild 2 on the horizon, fans will be given another piece of the puzzle to solve and figure out how these timelines truly connect with each other.
Source: Game Theory/YouTube
