For some reason, fans of
The Legend of Zelda series have always wanted to place each game in a particular timeline in order to make sense of the whole history of Hyrule, even when early games were not necessarily sequels to each other.
The first two
The Legend of Zelda titles followed the story of the same hero, but later entries began doing their own thing as each told a completely different story but using the same main characters: Zelda, Link, and Ganon. Eventually, Nintendo released an official timeline when Dark Horse Comics'
The Legend of Zelda Hyrule Historia was published back in 2011; although some fans still don't think the timeline works, as official as it is.
We do know that
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the very first story and that, allegedly,
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is right at the end of the timeline, from a chronological standpoint. But the fact that
Breath of the Wild may currently be at the end of the timeline, does actually take away from the story the development team wanted to tell.
Long-time
The Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma explains in
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Creating a Champion book that
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's placement in the timeline will never be revealed, and he actually has a pretty good reason for it; and that's because "
it would eliminate room for imagination".
"
The final thing I’d like to convey to all of our players is that video games, not just Zelda, can go much, much farther! We got a lot of responses from adult players who said they felt the same way playing this game[Breath of the Wild] as they did when they used to be hooked on video games when they were younger".
The main reason for this is because
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is probably the game that takes the concept of Legend more literally than any other of the previous entries in the series; giving us hints at previous adventures that, in the context of this game, are already considered legends.
"
We realised that people were enjoying imagining the story that emerged from the fragmental imagery we were providing. If we defined a restricted timeline, then there would be a definitive story, and it would eliminate the room for imagination, which wouldn’t be as fun", explains Aonuma.
He totally has a point, especially since that helps make the experience for players an even more immerse one without alienating those who are newcomers to the series.
"
We want players to be able to continue having fun imagining this world even after they are finished with the game, so, this time, we decided that we would avoid making clarifications. I hope that everyone can find their own answer, in their own way".
Hopefully this puts an end to the whole
The Legend of Zelda timeline since, truth be told, it's never been about making sense of it, but about enjoying each entry as its very own, unique, and special thing.
No kingdom. No memories. After a 100-year slumber, Link wakes up alone in a world he no longer remembers. Now the legendary hero must explore a vast and dangerous land and regain his memories before Hyrule is lost forever.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is currently available for the Nintendo Switch.