Zelda Timeline/Singular Timeline

Creation of the World
Hyrule was formed many ages ago through the works of the three Golden Goddesses: Din the Goddess of Power, Nayru the Goddess of Wisdom, and Farore the Goddess of Courage. Before spirits and life existed, these three goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule. Din, with her strong flaming arms, cultivated the land, created the red earth, and was thus responsible for the creation of the geography of Hyrule. Nayru poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world, bringing order to a formerly chaotic realm. Farore, with her rich soul, created all life forms that would uphold the law established by Nayru.

The Era of the Goddess Hylia
When the labors of the three great goddesses were completed, they departed the world for the heavens. The three goddesses left behind a symbol of their power, the all-powerful relic known as the Triforce, which when mastered in its entirety would grant the heart's desire of its holder. They trusted the ultimate power in the hands of Her Grace, the Goddess Hylia, to protect it. The Demon King Demise, wanting to make the world his own, gathered an army of monsters and together launched an attack against the people of the surface, murdering them and causing misfortunes in an attempt to get their hands on the power guarded by Hylia.

Hylia gathered the surviving humans on a piece of land and sent it to the heavens, beyond the clouds and out of reach from the evil plaguing the land. In order to keep it from falling into the hands of Demise, Hylia also sent the Triforce to The Sky and hid the portals to three pieces of the Triforce within Sky Keep, and enshrined the Goddess Sword inside the Statue of the Goddess, to be found by a chosen hero when the time was right. Now that the humans were safe, the goddess and the five tribes who lived on the surface joined forces and sealed away Demise, restoring peace to the land, although the goddess had suffered "grave injuries".

The Sky Era
Skyloft remained in the sky above the clouds for generations, with knowledge of the Surface and the origins of Skyloft becoming mere legend. Despite their dwindling knowledge of their origins, the people of Skyloft still knew of the Goddess Hylia and believed she watched over them to that day, unaware that she was living among them in a mortal form.

On the day of the 25th anniversary of Skyloft's Knight Academy, Zelda is taken to the surface by Demon Lord Ghirahim in an attempt to revive Demise. That night, Link is awakened by the voice of a mysterious spirit, who reveals itself as the sword spirit of the Goddess Sword, created by the goddess Hylia for the purpose of assisting Hylia's chosen hero in fulfilling his destiny. Guided by Fi, Link travels to the Surface in search of Zelda, who herself is guided by Impa to purify her body at the goddess statues to reawaken as the incarnation of the Goddess Hylia. As Zelda and Impa escape from Ghirahim to the past, Link quests to purify the Goddess Sword and power it to become the Master Sword. After traveling to the past, Zelda reveals her true identity to him, and as such must remain in a deep sleep to keep Demise imprisoned within his seal. Link travels back to the present and after learning the Song of the Hero finds the Triforce and successfully wishes upon the destruction of Demise. After Zelda awakens from her sleep, an enraged Ghirahim kidnaps her back to the past, where Demise is still alive. Link follows Ghirahim to the past for a final showdown, but is unable to stop the ritual to revive Demise. The ancient Demon King escapes from his seal, swallows Zelda as The Imprisoned and returns to his original form. Demise announces his intention to take the world as his own now that Hylia is gone, but gives Link the chance to duel him in another realm for the fate of the world. After a fierce fight, Link bests Demise and fatally wounds him. The Demon King stumbles to his feet, congratulating Link, but warns him that it is not over, and that his hatred would be reborn as a being to pursue domination of the world, and those with the blood of the goddess and spirit of the hero in a cycle without end. Link raises his blade and absorbs the remains of the Demon King into the Master Sword.

Link returns from the battle to find Zelda and Groose, and the three return to the Temple of Hylia, where they meet with Impa and prepare to return to their own time. At Fi's behest, Link plunges the Master Sword into a pedestal in the Sealed Temple, leaving it and his partner behind now that her purpose to guide Link had been completed. Saying goodbye to Impa before she destroys the Gate of Time, the three return to their own time where peace has returned and residents of Skyloft take their first steps on the Surface.

The Era of Chaos
Following the defeat of Demise, the world created by the Golden Goddesses and guarded by the Goddess Hylia, became known as Hyrule.

Those descended from the people who were living in ancient times under the protection of the Goddess Hylia were known as Hylians. They were born with magic-infused blood, endowing them with psychic powers and skill in wizardry. It is also believed that the Hylians' pointed ears allow them to hear the messages of the gods.

Hyrule knew many years of peace, however, the legend of the Triforce and its power was lusted after by many people, and a wave of chaos descended upon the land of Hyrule as people tried to take this power for themselves. To protect the sacred power, Rauru, the Sage of Light, sealed the entrance to the Sacred Realm within the Temple of Time, with the Master Sword and the Spiritual Stones securing the barriers to its entrance. The Temple of Light, located at the center of the Sacred Realm, became the resting place of the Triforce, while Rauru remained in the temple to protect the sacred relic.

The Era of Prosperity
Those with the blood of the Goddess Hylia, reborn as Zelda, established the kingdom of Hyrule. Hyrule Castle was built at the center of the land, watching over the Temple of Time, which was protecting the Sacred Realm and the Triforce.

Many years passed after the kingdom's establishment. Within the Royal Family of Hyrule, as descendants of the Goddess, many were born with a special power that existed deep within the bloodline and the queen would often be named Zelda after the historical legend.

The Hero of Men
As ages went by and the Kingdom of Hyrule continued to develop in peace, one day the land was suddenly overwhelmed by evil creatures that descended upon it in swarms, driving the world into shadows and bringing the kingdom to near-ruin. As Hyrule neared the brink of collapse, the tiny Picori appeared from the sky and gave the Hero of Men the Picori Blade and the magical Light Force. Using these two special gifts, the Hero drove the beasts back and restored light to the land of Hyrule.

To ensure the beasts could not bring further destruction to the land, the Hero of Men sealed them all within the Bound Chest. Sealing the chest with the Picori Blade itself, the Hero of Men was able to bring the destructive war to an end and brought peace to the kingdom. The Light Force was embodied within the princess of Hyrule to prevent its misuse, shining forth upon the lands within its ruler.

The Hero of the Four Sword
One year, in celebration of when the Picori last came to Hyrule 100 years ago to the day, the festival was unusually grand. Hyrule Castle was hosting a tournament of sword-fighting skill that called to mind the heroes of legend. That year's champion was a mysterious man by the name of Vaati. He won the tournament with an almost magical ease, and all of Hyrule was abuzz with rumors about this shadowy figure. During the ceremony following the sword competition, Vaati shattered the sacred Picori Blade and opened the Bound Chest, which, for an age, had been sealed by the Picori Blade, trapping evil monsters within. Vaati was after the Light Force, that golden light that was once wielded by the hero mentioned in the legends of the Picori. He subdued the castle guards and turned Princess Zelda to stone before making a speedy departure.

King Daltus asked the young Link to seek out the Picori and ask them to reforge the sacred blade. Traveling to the Minish Woods he met Ezlo, who helped him find the Picori, or Minish as they called themselves. Link met with the elder of Minish Village, who told him that in order to reforge the sacred Picori sword he would require the Four Elements, the embodiments of the sacred powers of earth, fire, water, and wind. Once he had gathered the Four Elements, Link brought the Picori Blade—now the White Sword—to the Elemental Sanctuary hidden within the courtyard of Hyrule Castle. There he infused the White Sword with the Elements, fully restoring the sacred Four Sword; a legendary blade with the power to split one warrior into four.

Meanwhile, Vaati had brainwashed King Daltus and shrouded Hyrule Castle in darkness. He had discovered that the sacred Light Force had actually been passed down through Hyrule's princesses, and so he prepared to extract the Light Force from Princess Zelda. Link rushed to her rescue, and, after vanquishing Vaati, he used the Four Sword's evil-banishing power to restore Princess Zelda. Vaati had been a Minish, an apprentice of Ezlo, who was also a Minish. Ezlo had made a magical cap with the power to grant wishes, but Vaati had stolen it and used it to become a powerful sorcerer. He had transformed Ezlo into a hat himself, then proceeded to hunt down the Light Force. Now that Vaati had fallen, the wishing cap could be used to restore Hyrule. Princess Zelda put on the cap and wished with all her heart that Vaati's cruelty might be undone. With her righteous wish and the power of the Light Force that still dwelled within her, many miracles happened as a result and peace returned to the land of Hyrule.

The Resurrection of the Wind Mage
Peace returned briefly to the kingdom of Hyrule, as Vaati was presumed dead, but suddenly he re-appeared to terrorize the land once again. No longer remembering his days as a Picori, or his lust for the Light Force, he made himself a home in the Palace of Winds and he named himself The Great Sorcerer of the Wind, Vaati. With the power to bend the wind to his will, Vaati goes on a rampage, using this awful power to terrorize many villages of Hyrule. In his assaults on the villages, Vaati would kidnap any beautiful girls who caught his fancy.

Many knights from the castle and other brave men set out to subdue the sorcerer and rescue the girls, but each one fell in turn to Vaati's awesome power. Just as the people had begun to lose hope, a lone young boy traveling with little but a sword at his side appeared. When this boy heard what was happening, he said only, "I will defeat this sorcerer." He boldly entered Vaati's palace, mystically trapped the evil sorcerer inside the blade of his sword, and returned the young girls to their villages. The boy then went deep into the forest and disappeared.

The villagers asked the girls how a boy so young could have saved them all and defeated the sorcerer when no one else could. The young girls told a story of how, with just a wave of his sword, the boy's body shattered into four pieces, each of which then formed a complete copy of the boy. These four young boys then worked together to defeat the sorcerer. The people did not believe the story, but they called it the Four Sword nonetheless. As rumors of the blade's power to divide a person into four entities spread, the people built a shrine to protect it.

Defeat of the Wind Mage
For generations Zelda and her descendants managed the seal of the Four Sword, but one day the seal weakened. Zelda was in Hyrule Castle when she sensed that something unusual was occurring at the Four Sword Shrine. She asked a boy named Link, whom she trusted above anyone else, to accompany her to investigate the happenings at the shrine. As they approached the shrine to check on the seal, a dark figure suddenly appeared and grabbed princess Zelda. The seal on Vaati had weakened over time, and Vaati managed to break out of his prison within the Four Sword.

Having still no memory of his time as a Picori, or the power of the Light Force, Vaati did not recognize the princess and saw her only as a fair maiden. He decided she was to become his bride to commemorate his return and took off with her to his palace. After being instructed by fairies, Link takes the Four Sword from its pedestal and is split into four, as the legend foretold. The Great Fairies could help Link to get to the Palace of Winds, but not until he proved himself courageous enough. After traveling over three different lands and the dungeons they contained, Link and his three other selves confronted the wind mage in the Palace of Winds, the seat of Vaati's power. After an arduous battle between the sorcerer and the heroes, Link was able to reseal Vaati into the Four Sword's blade. Princess Zelda and the people of Hyrule once again kept a watchful eye on the Four Sword.

Hyrule Kingdom in Chaos
For reasons not specified, Hyrule entered into a period of fierce war. During this war, a Hylian woman fled the fires of war and entered the Kokiri Forest, giving her newborn baby, named Link, to the Great Deku Tree to be raised as a Kokiri. Finally the war ended and the King of Hyrule unified his country.

The Boy Followed by a Fairy


When the baby had become a young boy, he had many restless nights as nightmares of an evil man from the desert plagued his sleep. One day, The Great Deku Tree sent the Fairy companion Navi to summon him. After defeating the monster Gohma within the Deku Tree itself, the guardian of the forest revealed that he had been cursed by the evil Ganondorf and implored Link to take the Spiritual Stone of Forest, the Kokiri Emerald, to Princess Zelda at Hyrule Castle. Link hurried to Hyrule Castle to meet Zelda, who told him that Ganondorf plotted to appropriate the sacred power of the Triforce. She and Link schemed to obtain the Triforce before Ganon could. Link would gather the other Spiritual Stones needed to open the Door of Time, and she would play the OoT3D: to open the door.

After retrieving the two remaining Spiritual Stones, Link returned to Hyrule Castle only to see Zelda fleeing from Ganondorf. During her flight, Zelda threw the Ocarina of Time into the moat for Link to find. After a brief confrontation with Ganondorf, Link retrieved the Ocarina and proceeded to the Temple of Time. With all the keys in hand, he opened the Door of Time and lifted the Master Sword from its pedestal, opening the entrance to the Sacred Realm. As Link was too young to be the Hero of Time, Link's spirit was sealed in the Temple of Light for seven years.

The Awakening of the Hero of Time
With the gates of the Sacred Realm unguarded, Ganondorf was able to enter and take the Triforce for his own. However, since his heart was not in balance, the Prince of Darkness was left with only the Triforce of Power. Despite this, Ganondorf was able to use it to conquer the land of Hyrule, as the Hero of Time slept for seven years. After seizing the Triforce and corrupting the Sacred Realm, he caused that corruption to seep into the temples of the Sages, which became infested with all kinds of monsters, so that the Sages-to-be would not be able to fulfill their duty and aid Link.

As Link awakened after seven years, he found Hyrule in ruins. Led by Rauru's and Sheik's instructions, Link managed to cleanse the temples and help each Sage to gain their power. Upon Rauru's advice, he then returned to the Temple of Time, where he found Sheik waiting. His mysterious ally revealed himself to be none other than Princess Zelda, keeper of the Triforce of Wisdom and the seventh Sage, leader of them all. The reunion was cut short when the princess was abducted by Ganondorf. With the Sages help, Link fought his way to the top of Ganon's Castle, clearing the path to Ganondorf for the final showdown between the Hero of Time and the King of Evil.