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| Part of a series of articles on the Zelda Timeline | |
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History of the Zelda Timeline Research: Interpretation: | |
In the wake of recent developer confirmations regarding the Split Timeline, theorists have branched out in a number of different directions. Though a number of splitists had predicted the Twilight Princess placement, and were thus able to retain their traditional theories, both former linearists and splitists with alternate TP placements were required to change their theories to fit with what is now accepted as fact.
This influx of linear thinking combined with the views of long-time splitists caused two major timeline disciplines to emerge: the New Adult Story and New Child Story disciplines.
One thing that remains to be seen is how the ALttP background story of the Knights of Hyrule fits and perhaps even bridges the timelines, or creates it's own timeline where Link from OoT was never separated from his mother and always knew he was a Hylian. The absence of the Knights of Hyrule from OoT creates a disconnect between the Imprisoning War that Sahasrahla mentions in ALttP and what many theorize to be the actual war in OoT. A solution to this would be for Nintendo to create a game where the player controls the surviving member of the Knights of Hyrule during the war that took place when the seal was created. The knight would have been alive 3-4 generations before the Link in ALttp and would have been his great (great) grandfather. Sahasrahla mentions that the Knights of Hyrule not only protected the Hylian royalty but also the Pendant of Courage. None of the 3 Pendants of Virtue were seen in OoT, creating yet another reason to make such a game that could document the introduction of the Pendants and actually display the role of the Knights of Hyrule.
2D Child Timeline
The "2D Child" Timeline is a discipline of the Split Timeline that proposes that all of the older (2D) titles are to be placed in the Child Timeline, along with MM and TP, and that the Adult Timeline serves as a separate story apart from the older games and thus completely free to continue into its own chronology.
Since many split timeline theorists placed the 2D games in the Child Timeline prior to the split's confirmation, many of them continued to do so after TP's release.
Typical 2D Child order
Child: OoT/MM – TP - FS/FSA – ALttP/LA – LoZ/AoL
Adult: OoT – TWW/PH - ST
(NOTE: The Oracles placement is debatable and irrelevant to this issue, and the same is true for the placement of TMC. For reference purposes, most theorists place the Oracle games either after ALttP/LA or after LoZ/AoL, and most place TMC either before OoT or immediately before FS/FSA.)
Strengths of the 2D Child order
- There are significant similarities between TP and ALttP.
- The resting place of the Master Sword in ALttP is accounted for in TP, and TP appears to bridge OoT and ALttP's Master Sword locations.
- Documented existence of a hero's bloodline exists in TP as well as ALttP.
- The implication of the ending of TWW is that Hyrule is gone, which would have placed the 2D games in the Child Timeline by default at the time, which can remain true until a new game indicates an alternate placement.
- Sometime between the OoT and TWW, a group of Zora moved to Dragon Roost Island and evolved into the Rito and all other Zora presumably went extinct, thus no game following TWW should contain Zora. This timeline is in agreement with this.
Weaknesses of the 2D Child order
- No documented existence of a sages' seal on the Sacred Realm in the Child timeline, and this must be speculated as a separate event.
- There is no cohesiveness regarding the state of the Triforce between TP and ALttP.
2D Adult Timeline
The “2D Adult" Timeline is a discipline of the Split Timeline that proposes that all of the older (2D) titles are to be placed in the Adult Timeline, along with TWW and PH, and that the Child Timeline serves as a separate story apart from the older games and thus completely free to continue into its own chronology.
Since most linearists placed these games after TWW/PH anyway, many linearists decided immediately on this order when they began to adopt Split Timelines after the confirmation.
Typical 2D Adult order
Child: OoT/MM – TP
Adult: OoT – TWW/PH - ST - FS/FSA – ALttP/LA – LoZ/AoL
(NOTE: The Oracles placement is debatable and irrelevant to this issue, and the same is true for the placement of TMC. For reference purposes, most theorists place the Oracle games either after ALttP/LA or after LoZ/AoL, and most place TMC either before OoT or immediately before FS/FSA.)
Strengths of the 2D Adult order
- There is documented existence of a sages' seal on the Sacred Realm in the Adult timeline.
- The state of the Triforce appears to be consistent between TWW and ALttP, assuming the Triforce returns to the Sacred Realm.
Weaknesses of the 2D Adult order
- The resting place of the Master Sword in ALttP is unaccounted for in TWW.
- The sages' seal on the Sacred Realm in OoT may be difficult to connect to ALttP because Ganon from OoT is defeated in TWW, so a new seal and Ganon would have to exist (and Ganon would need to enter the SR again) for ALttP's backstory to occur, which would make the original OoT connection redundant.
- TWW's ending, and the new Hyrule of ST, indicate that no games that take place in the original Hyrule will occur after TWW, due to its destruction. This conflicts with the fact that ALttP's Hyrule is extremely similar in history, geography/landmarks and many other features, to OoT's Hyrule. This includes the Master Sword lost at the bottom of the ocean, and the Sacred Realm (and Triforce) that was linked to the old Hyrule.
- Sometime between the OoT and TWW, a group of Zora moved to Dragon Roost Island and evolved into the Rito and all other Zora presumably went extinct, thus no game following TWW should contain Zora.