We Might Know Where The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Fits on the Timeline
Although The Legend of Zelda series has a notoriously difficult timeline to follow, it appears that Breath of the Wild already fits on one branch.
Even fans of The Legend of Zelda series can admit that fitting the games together into one coherent timeline is practically impossible. In fact, it’s impossible enough that Nintendo has split the bulk of the games into three separate timelines, then published that in the Hyrule Historia book. Here’s how it went down. Nintendo gave Ocarina of Time two endings (one for child Link and one for his adult self), then added in a third failure ending just to make it all work.
Now, via Eurogamer and ultimately Famitsu, we may very well know which games Breath of the Wild follows. Cast your mind back to The Wind Waker. The birdlike Rito inhabited Dragon Roost Island and are descended from the Zora.
A recent issue of Famitsu has a page confirming that the Rito do appear in Breath of the Wild. Eurogamer speculates that the game could take place before The Wind Waker, but then leans more towards it being a distant sequel.
However, we think they miss a rather important piece of evidence for the latter theory. Spirit Tracks falls into the same branch of the timeline as The Wind Waker. In that game, the Link you play as lives in the new Hyrule founded by Tetra and the other Link of The Wind Waker. As suggested by the title, Spirit Tracks involves trains. A major factor of Breath of the Wild is the Sheikah Slate, technology that seems an awful lot like a magical tablet. Additionally, the Guardians which dot the landscape appear to be technological, not magical.
Just based on the march of progress, it seems like a reasonable assumption that Breath of the Wild follows Spirit Tracks.
Although Skyward Sword also involves technology from the past, the game currently sits at the start of the timeline. Furthermore, Breath of the Wild has already mentioned Ganon as a threat. Ganon as we know him doesn’t really exist until after Skyward Sword.
Next: Culturess' Ranking of the Legend of Zelda Games
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild hits the Nintendo Switch and Wii U on Mar. 3.