I have only a passing familiarity with the Legend of Zelda franchise. I’m not much of a gamer and, growing up, we had a Sega Genesis; so I never really played any of the games. Even so, I would love to see a movie made based on the games. Furthermore, I love the theme song. I have no nostalgic connection to the franchise whatsoever, but that tune still hits all the right geek buttons for me.
Also, I respect Link as a character. He’s just as iconic as Mario, but without being as oddly annoying (to me anyway). He’s brave, kind-hearted, noble, and friendly; all good things when talking about a heroic character. He’s also my go to fighter on those rare occasions when I play Super Smash Bros.
Beyond that, all I know is that the CD-I games are atrocious and that the timeline for the overall saga is about as convoluted as you can get. While a sequel was made to the first game, they never went beyond that. From there, the franchise would make prequels (including Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, two of the most highly regarded games in the franchise) and sequels to said prequels; but to this day, the timeline has yet to go beyond Zelda II.
With so many games having been released over the years, and the fact that the games jump around chronologically, it’s no surprise that the fans soon became confused over how everything tied together.
Heck, even renowned web critic and aspiring film maker, James Rolfe, who is best known for creating the foul mouthed “Angry Video Game Nerd”, released a video in which he detailed the convoluted nature of the Zelda timeline.
Well, it seems like Zelda fans have gotten what they wanted as an official timeline was released not too long ago. It starts from before even the earliest prequel and shows you where each game fits in. The fan theory that the events of Ocarina of Time created a split time line are proven correct, though it turns out that there are not just two, but three concurrent timelines.
Not only that, but if you look at the order in which the games were released, you’ll notice that not only do games jump back and forth in time, but there are sequels that take place in entirely different timelines. It’s no wonder fans were confused, how on Earth was anyone supposed to make heads or tails about this when you’re doing stuff like that?
In any event, it seems that the games can be strung together, humorously enough, the CD-I games are excluded from canon. Due to the massive amount of material, this will be split into multiple parts to make it an easier pill to swallow. So grab a drink and a snack because in Part 2, we dive into the rich history of Hyrule and chronicle the Legends of Zelda.