How Tears of the Kingdom Fixes The Zelda Timeline [TotK THEORY][SPOILERS] 

I like that you colored the dragonbreak timeline purple, because in a way, its like the void of the triforce, the upside down blank triangle in the middle. Some fans depict it as the invisible "4th piece" (and colored purple thanks to 4 swords) entirely invisible, and separate, but still connected to all 3 parts of the triforce like an invisible glue holding its iconic shape together. And just as the void is invisible on the triforce, so are the events of the void timeline. The timeline that doesnt exist, but is connected to the other 3.

I think people get really hung up on Rauru being the "first" king of Hyrule. He doesn't have to be the first king of ALL of Hyrule. He's the first King of the Hyrule Zelda in BOTW is born into. That kingdom could have risen and fallen many times before the Zonai show up at all.

For those who still don't understand it, a good way to think of it is that the 3 timelines are a undone zip, but when totk zelda travels back in time, she does the zip up, combing them

There is a really interesting theory that I heard that essentially states that the Downfall Timeline was the first and original timeline. It wasn't until the end of "A Link to the Past" when Link wishes on the Triforce to undo all of Ganon's evil that the Triforce actually undoes Link's defeat at the end of "Ocarina of Time", whether that is a simple act of saving him or changing the events of the game to be what the player experiences. I thought that was a really neat theory.

The weird thing about TotK that still gets me is the clear presence of Fi in the master sword when she talks to Zelda

I like to think the Golden Goddesses got tired of dealing with three timelines, so they just squished them together, realized nothing made sense and hyrule fell into anarchy, so they sent messengers of the gods, the Zonai (If Hylians have long ears to hear the gods, the Zonai’s longer ears could hear the gods better) to fix all the crap.

Tears of the Kingdom also represent the 3 states of Hyrule. The sky (adult), Hyrule (child), the depths (downfall) and represented by their colors of the triforce blue (sky, wisdom), green (Hyrule, courage), red (depths/gloom, power) all stacked on top of one another.

I think all three timelines being true at once also helps explain why the Rito and Zora can coexist in the same game. The Rito not existing in the Downfall and Child timelines, and the Zora evolving into the Rito in the adult timeline. I assumed ToTK's past events were after Skyward Sword and before Minish Cap (with the founding of Hyrule) but I think this makes a lot more sense when you consider Hyrule is constantly being destroyed and refounded.

The better example of the TOTK causality loop would be how Ganon wakes up at the start of the game with memories of Zelda and Rarus warning about link, there by meaning that Zelda had always gone back in time to cause the past and present we see in the games.

I’m so glad you referenced a “Dragon Break”. They call it that because the female dragons were temporal beings that traveled through time and fixed abnormalities. The dragons fix the break. That’s also why none are seen in Skyrim, only male dragons are seen because there aren’t any real temporal anomalies at that time, just threats to the mortal plane, Mundus.

I figured that the Dragonbreak ends when Hyrule Kingdom dissolves in all three timelines; they merge together because all three reached the same conclusion, leaving only ‘how did Hyrule fall’ with contradictory histories. The Kingdom of Hyrule is then revived or re-founded by Sonia and Rauru- with Sonia being a descendant of the original Hyrulian royal family. Additionally, the Imprisoning War mentioned in TotK results from Demise’s curse becoming so powerful as the result of the stolen Secret Stone that Demise outright revives himself.

This theory also adds up to the reasoning behind many areas being named after many former timeline's areas as it is mashed up. Rito Village being an extremely tall mountain which could be an island if that Hyrule was flooded (akin to dragonroost island), Goron City from various games living in the various Death Mountains of the former timelines, Zora's Domain with 2 lakes representing Mikau and Lulu, Zora lovers. While the Gerudo didn't have a "town" so to speak, the ocarina's Valley housed their fortress, which could count as their town since, beyond that, is a desert. Twilight Princess's Arbiter's Ground return as a quicksand area in totk, and many, many more. Another thing that solidify the causal loop theory is that, in the beginning of the game, there are 3-4 murals which are blocked by boulders, hiding the details of the imprisoning war, Zelda receiving the Master Sword in the past, and the past Zelda performing Draconification. While Impa stated that the geoglyphs appeared out of nowhere all over Hyrule, I'd actually believe that those were there the whole time, but could only be seen when the upheaval happens in the present time, otherwise why is there a chamber depicting said geoglyphs if those weren't created in the past, remain invisible while Ganondorf is sealed, but appears when he returns? (I don't want answers as the question is rhetorical)

Using The Legend of Zelda to explain concepts of time travel and quantum therories at the same time, I love it.

This actually makes a TON of sense when you also consider the developers citing the elder scrolls as inspiration, and the fact that a DRAGON is involved. And the logo of the two dragons in a loop. Damn.

Didn't think it was possibly to make sense of how BOTW and TOTK fit into the timeline but this was actually a really great explanation.

This is awesome, I like this theory a lot. It also would explain why you can find items from all across the timeline in these two games, they're literally relics of legends past rediscovered in the fused timeline.

Referencing Dragon Breaks is a big brain move, explains the theory really well too. Hella good video chief, can't wait to see more discussion come from this.

I really love this theory in general but I particularly love the bit about the new remembered singular timeline in relation to the zonai. It feels like there's a new "people of the gods" in every zelda game, particularly the oocca in TP. So the people of Hyrule "mistaking the zonai for gods" wraps all of that up in a neat bow, because the zonai could have been literally all of them at once; the wind tribe, the oocca, and twili. In other words, all of these different "tribes of the gods" DID exist as seperate completely valid races, but after the closing of the timeline split, they all converge into one "race from the gods", the zonai. Keep up the zelda content!!!

This blends damn well with the fact that the Zelda parts of the mural in the starting of TotK are blocked off by rocks, basically it’s very own Schrödinger’s cat, who is to say if it’s the same what’s happening as when we are able to break them, also an argument for that temporal causality loop for the sage of time

This is a pretty good way to solve the convergence of the timelines. You did a good job explaining it, and I'm really glad that people aren't going around telling others that TotK pretends that the events of Skyward Sword didn't happen.

I've never heard of dragonbreak before but it is fascinating how many stories that have branching paths do this as well with either differing names or just an independent but identical concept

I think that the reason the Child Timeline splits off is because Zelda sends the Hero back in time with the Triforce of Courage already split within him. The Triforce being such a metaphysically significant object, having a split Triforce return to a point in time when the Triforce exists as an intact whole in the Sacred Realm could create a branching timeline (the Child Timeline). The Triforce of Courage is conspicuously visible on the Hero's hand in the final shot of the game where he is warning Zelda - I believe this is a deliberate clue. This splitting of the Triforce is also the reason for the 'divine prank' in Twilight Princess (which is in the Child Timeline), which is when Ganondorf's execution by the Sages is prevented by the Triforce of Power awakening within him. It seems that when the Hero is sent back with his piece of the Triforce, the other two pieces go to Ganondorf and (presumably) Zelda.

The fact that you almost have to be a quantum physicist to understand the LoZ timeline makes me love the franchise even more than I thought I could

An old theory I heard years ago is that the power of the triforce shard of courage is Quantum Immortality. Link always wins as they Triforce always brings him back. However with time being weak due to time travel, the possibility of Ganondorf killing Link was possible. Creating the downfall.

I love everyone attempting to make this lore make sense! And this video is a legendary theory! I’d love to see more theories from you! Particularly Tears of the Kingdom related theories!

Wow! This explains the contradictory histories of skywardsword and the zonai, the imprisoning war and ocarina of time! It makes so much sense! And if you want to get extra meta you can also say the botw games from other regions that mention the downfall, child and adult timelines are correctly in those timelines but when this game happens it collapses them all together and was just the thing to fully collapse them together!

I think this is the best possible solution for the timeline mess so far. Thanks. I’m 100% with you in this one.

This is great. I've been arguing for the "Dragon Break" style timeline theory since Breath of the Wild came out. A lot better than I could have put it and very neatly ties in Tears of the Kingdom, which I was struggling with. I was of the opinion that Tears was a massive retcon of lore, but this pairs really well with the Wiz Catches Lightning video and tidies it all up nicely.

I like that much more than having TotK's past be right after SS, basically retconning every game (including our fav random king Gustav being the first king of Hyrule.), as it seemed to do, but perhaps (hopefully) not. TotK's past playing so far in the future, that Hyrule is simply re-founded (because it fell, got wiped out, what have you), Rauru being the "first" king, and then everything you said about how it combines the three timelines into one.

Zelda's time travel is different to the song of storms because she has a clear beginning and end. Zelda's path began at her birth and then she did all of the stuff in botw and then when it came to totk she was sent back. After she was sent back, she did all of the stuff in the past, became the light dragon and then lived to the present where she turned back into Zelda and lived on. You can follow the path of one Zelda here but with the song of storms it's not that easy. Link learns the song as an adult from the windmill man. He then goes back in time and plays the song to him as a child. This creates a loop because there's no beginning or end to the song, unlike Zelda. Whilst Zelda's timeline could fix the split, it's not a paradox.

I love that this also explains the coexistence of zora and rito

Great job tackling a really tricky topic. Time travel, time loops, causalities. I think you made it about as clear as possible.

I think it actually would be very fitting for Zelda to have "broken" the timeline by forcing her Link back in Time and then eventually being forced back in time herself, fixing the timeline. This would also explain why the future in TotK is entirely deterministic (the Light Dragon existing at the start of the game, when Link drops into the GSI necessitates that he sends the MS back in time), which would normally contradict OoT, since OoT has 3 different endings to its story that co-exist.

A simpler reason for why the people in the timeline remember only a certain history: Hylia has the power to affect memory. Also, the first Zelda in the timeline is Hylia, everything Starts with the Goddess of Time.

At first I thought that TOTK was a simple retcon of the series (and in Nintendo's eyes it may as well be), but I really like the concept of Dragonbreak since it gives value to past events instead of throwing everything into a weird "era of legends". I think your solution gives importance to Zelda games prior to Tears. Very nice video through and through!

It's certainly an interesting theory, but what I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is the notion of Zelda changing realities when she travels back in time at the start of TotK. There can be two instances of Zelda and the Master Sword simultaneously based purely on the usage of time travel without there being a traversal from one reality to another. A very good comparison would be Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban since you have Harry and Hermione both existing in the background while their past selves go through certain events, and they operate behind the scenes to ensure certain outcomes occur, creating a causality loop that ends with Harry and Hermione returning to the Infirmary just as they're leaving for the past, all without any suggestion of an alternate reality being created (or if it was created, we the audience never see it). Another example being in Futurama where Fry goes back to the past and becomes his own grandfather by sleeping with his grandmother, all without changing reality at all because it's part of the same universe (and that show already explored the concept of the multiverse in other episodes). The same is true for Zelda and the Master Sword existing in the background during the events of both BotW and TotK. Zelda's time travel does not necessarily suggest her traveling to alternate time lines. However, I do think this theory does open up an interesting potential for Nintendo to formally close the dragon break by having a prequel game detailing the arrival of the Zonai and the Sacred Stones, and the creation of the Hyrule Kingdom, or more accurately "New Hyrule" since Hyrule Kingdom already existed in the various time lines. For this convergence of time lines to occur though, something must have happened that resulted in Old Hyrule being destroyed in every time line, and the Zonai to emerge from the heavens in every time line to rebuild. Perhaps then this prequel game would involve all iterations of Zelda in each time line using their power as the Sage of Time, in conjunction with the combined power of 3 sets of Triforce (one from each time line) to wipe the slate clean and converge time either with the aid of the Zonai, or to empower the Zonai to form New Hyrule with the power of the Sacred Stones when all is said and done. Then again, given how Nintendo isn't really all that interested in rectifying the various Zelda timelines, and has just kinda hand-waved things to say BotW and TotK occur at the end of all timelines, without further explanation, they may not be all that interested in formally closing the dragon break.

I’ve seen so many shows/movies/games/books about time travel and stuff that like. It’s clear in my head on how this all works, but I struggle to be able to explain it to other people. 😅 so I’m glad there’s people like you that are smart enough to lay it all down carefully and slowly for others

A fun idea I like to think about is the fact that dragons are canonically immortal and considered divine in the Zelda series, meaning the dragon forms of Zelda and Ganon are as close to their origins as Hylia and Demise as they have ever been. It’s entirely possible that Link failing to kill dragon Ganon is the catalyst for the events of skyward sword perpetuating the cycle unendingly.

I really love this explanation. I was trying to figure out how to put it all together but this makes sense and is very well explained. great video!! :)

What I really like about this theory is that it explains the existence of both rito and Zora, which made absolutely no sense in botw, since they were either Zora or rito in the three timelines

one thing that's a bit odd is this. King Rauru and queen Sonia founded Hyrule and became their first king and queen, Sonia was killed by Ganondorf and Rauru sacrificed his life to seal him. Unless they already had kids before Zelda traveled back in time the royal lineage would just end with the imprisoning war

This theory is so wonderful, and as a Zelda fan who's been obsessed with the timeline FOREVER, it absolutely scratches my brain so well. thank you for this wonderful video < 3

I have my own interpretation at this: the time was split so the goddesses sent their envoys (zonai) to fix it under the guise of "creating the kingdom of hyrule". As we know in the events of TotK(past) Rauru found someone with time powers(as the stones only amplify their powers) Sonia. This could mean that Sonia is both Zelda's successor and predecessor as sage of time and the timeline was fixed by divine intervention rather than causality.

This makes alot of sense. Like we've seen the kingdom of Hyrule's end multiple times in the past as even in the adult timeline we seen them rebuild the kingdom on new land. So with that in mind, the past of TotK was the Hyrulians rebuilding their kingdom and the Zonai turned up to help them after all the other games that happened. And then everything you said about Dragonbreak happened when Zelda went back in time as a Sage of Time.

FIRST VIDEO? mf you explained the theory so damn well, you somehow made time paradoxes easy to understand, amazing theory and video

Something I noticed just by accident kind of, that can probably be ignored as a case of "it just looks cool and doesn't mean anything" is the runes/markings on Twili people from Twilight Princess looks very similar to those of the ones on the Zonai arm, but that probably doesn't mean anything.

I think you explained this perfectly! My brain was seriously melting trying to figure all the timelines! Thank you for taking the time !

subbed for all of the hard work and good graphs, thanks buddy :3

The Imprisoning War (the past in Tears of the Kingdom) takes place before the downfall timeline; it is implied that the Zonai were present after the hero of time is defeated and before a Link to the Past.

THIS IS SO GOOD!! as a fellow overthinker this made everything make sense, can’t wait to see your channel grow!

Before tears of the kingdom, I always imagined that all the games happened, but because of the passing down of legends and all, the stories become warped and what we got in the games is that "passed down" legend. It's a way to explain the existence of things like Majora's Mask, and the names of many landmarks. But the idea that this split in the timeline makes sense because of a dragonbreak is also a quite possible theory. I do hope they go back and add more games to each of the timelines, since I would love a continuation of the Adult and Child timeline

I like how the Zelda loop is basically a recursive function call without a return statement.

Has been my theory since BotW, TotK largely confirms it. Will note that even before the timeline merger, all three timelines have parallel histories: Ganon is imprisoned by the Six Sages, breaks free, and is imprisoned again but harder this time, until finally breaking free entirely just in time to get wrecked by a new Link and Zelda. All these are collated with the merged timeline into the Imprisoning War of ToTK, and the unification of Hyrule by King Rauru is the retroactive version of the Hyrulean Civil War in the backstory of OoT.

FINALLY someone brings up the princess Zelda time paradox !!!! NO ONE ELSE HAS MENTIONED THIS!

One thing I don’t understand is where the light dragon is in botw. I’d like to think she sealed herself off in the depths and came back out after the upheaval. I also think her subconscious mind had her travel around all of the towers because she knew link would be visiting them for travel. This just makes sense to me.

If this is your first video, hats off to you man. This is sick. Looking forward to future uploads.

It's an interesting theory, but I don't think it's necessary to say that there are multiple instances of BOTW Zelda. I think the bootstrap paradox is already enough on its own - when you look at Skyward Sword's time travel, it works very similarly. The amber crystal in the Sealed Temple is visible from the first time Link visits the location in his personal chronology, even though its existence isn't caused until certain future actions of that same Link come to pass. Similarly, the fact that Ganondorf already knows Zelda's name before she first travels to the past from her perspective means that those events always had to have occurred, and nothing was actually changed as a result of the time travel. 3:47 Slight correction also, Zelda sending Link back in time can only happen after Link defeats Ganondorf. So Child branches from Adult at the earliest point, Downfall branches from Adult during the final battle, and Zelda sending Link back in time happens after Link is successful in the Adult timeline. Because the Child and Downfall timelines each depend on events occurring in the Adult timeline, it also follows that the Adult timeline is the "original" version of events. Interestingly, this means that OoT Zelda's interference with time actually works differently than time travel in SS/TOTK: as far as I know, there is no required intervention by time travel required for the original events of the Adult timeline to have occurred. Zelda's use of the ocarina makes irreconcilable changes in the past, rather than facilitating events that were predestined all along.

It's crazy how the ending of Ocarina of Time really does lend itself to the timeline split, at least for the "Adult" and "Child" branches, because the final scene shows the Child timeline being established, but obviously something has to happen to the Zelda that just sealed Ganon seven years in the future, assuming they didn't intend for us to believe that those events got erased by virtue of Link preventing them. Regardless, this game is the first one to end with Link travelling through time, it makes sense that it would create alternate timelines, because each game before Ocarina had a single, definitive ending in a single, definitive timeframe. Ocarina has two, so it's only logical that there are two continuities that got continued in future games. I do wish that there was more cohesion between the games, however. Since A Link to the Past came out before Ocarina of Time but takes place in the "Fallen" timeline, there's nothing tying them together. Plus Zelda 1 and 2 being the last games in that timeline feels random, as do either of the Four Swords/Minish Cap, like what significance do they have in their respective timelines? The 3D games and DS games handle the story the best, I think. Spirit Tracks really shows the aftermath of the world as seen in the Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess only makes sense in a world where the flood never happened. The Adult timeline has no Link anymore, so there's no hero when Ganon breaks from his seal, therefore the flood happens. The Child timeline *does* have a hero when this happens, so no flood. It works. I would even go as far as to say that the events that caused the flood are what in an alternate timeline would be Twilight Princess. Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom don't contradict Skyward Sword any more than Skyward Sword contradicts Skyward Sword. We can see that the surface already has an ancient history with technology, the Temple of Time, and the literal Hylian royal crest. This is where Skyward Sword sort of fails as a prequel, because we don't see any of this get established. Its biggest contributions to the canon are the existence of Fi and Demise's curse. Otherwise, we don't see the establishment of Hyrule or an explanation for most things left ambiguous by previous games. However, the fact that Link and Zelda are the ancient figures as told by legends through paradox is cool. Them being the first Zelda and Link duo is logically sound. Anyway, Rauru being the "first King of Hyrule" could mean anything. Could be the King of the ancient surface before Demise, could be the first King of a newly-established Hyrule as in Spirit Tracks.

This is a very elegant way to fit everything back together again. The bit at the end where the timelines remerge reminds me of Chainfire, a spell that rearranges the memories of people to exclude the target and restructure memories as if the target had never existed.

I really like this theory, i think you also explained your thoughts on it quite well, Great Job! :D

I like this theory. I've always been a proponent of the merged timeline for BOTW, and this helps fit it together nicely. (I'm also a huge Elder Scrolls lore nerd.) I want to add that in regards to your theory that the merged timeline "remembers" a unified past, that I think that the long period of tens of thousands of years in the interim plays into this. That the majority of Hyrule specifically don't remember at all. It's largely all been lost to history, which makes the paradox easier for mere mortals to swallow, so to speak.

This is my favorite theory regarding the Legend of Zelda timeline. In how it all ends up working out in the end by connecting all the timelines with dragonbreak. It would literally be like the three pieces of the tri-force joining once again into one. Awesome first video. Excited for what is to come hopefully.

All you had to say was "Crazy Triforce magic and Zelda time sage powers" and I'd have been sold

I love this, this is so good, an amazing explanation.

That's a damn good theory! Looking forward to seeing what else you can pick apart in other zelda titles if that's the way you're gonna go, keep it up

What an awesome theory, connects so many dots, excited to see future content from you ✌🏻

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing your theories wiith us!

I love the visuals and all the explanation. This video definitely made me think in a good way and help put pieces together that I thought were a thing

The theory of the other games being legends doesnt disrespect them and makes the most sense. I think it’s quite clear that’s what they’re going for especially because they have said as much. That the other games are legends as of BOTW with how far away it is from the other events.

this video has the quality of a larger youtuber. if you keep making videos with this same quality, your channel will grow substantially because this video was genuinely enjoyable to watch. advice for later, prepare for immense channel growth.

Your thoughts put my suspicions into words. I am only just past the water temple in TOTK and just started the Girudo fight with the gibdos. When we see Zelda just before the fights tells me she’s checking on the philosophical cat in the box. Thank you for your video!

Amazing video, I have been enlightened. I am a longtime fan myself but I never really bothered to try to understand the timeline until I watched this video. I was still confused at some parts (you gotta be a quantum expert to really get a grasp of this insanity 😂) but I love your explanations & theory, it has sound reasoning and some research to back it up. Time travel is so fascinating and insane to think about. Holy Hylia I love Zelda, and the types of discussions it can bring like this one

how does this not have more views? what a great video. this is cannon to me rn lol

i feel this is also supported by tears itself, seeing as we can find "relics" that should only exist in one of each of the timelines.

I enjoyed this, thank you for sharing your thoughts. I think it makes sense, even though it can hurt your brain thinking about something so deep and infinite like a casual loop.

Your video, together with Wiz Catches Lightning's video, restored my faith in theorizing about the timeline after TotK. I thank you very much for that. Your reasoning sounds very logical, and has convinced me that BotW and TotK play long after the other games and the 3 timelines, in a new iteration of the Kingdom of Hyrule. It avoids most of the logical inconsistencies and contradictions, and keeps theorizing fun and meaningful. I love this interpretation!

I think that this also explains the strange absence of the Triforce in BOTW and TOTK. The Triforce is only reference in the Hylian Shield, a few statues found in Hyrule castle, the Royal Family's crest, and in Zonai clothing. Everywhere else it's never seen or mentioned. It did exist at one point, but since the timeline has been so thoroughly thrashed with time travel shenanigans it was forgotten by all except those within the royal family, namely scholars, or was written out of existence.

I like it! My thoughts always was "it's a legend it changes depending on the people telling it" but this convinced me that it all could have happened

This has probably been the smoothest and most coherent theory I've heard for LOZ in a long time, well done!

Great vid man, keep it up!

I really think people are too hung up on the lines about the zonai "founding" Hyrule. Nintendo stated that the new games take place so far in the future everything from the previous games is only known as myth and suddenly having plot taking place before skyward sword seems contrary to their design philosophy. As well as the cutscenes of the past sharing the same hyrule as breath of the wild it most likely that hyrule was created by skyward sword link and zelda, the timeline plays out until very very far into the future when nobody remembers hyrule, the zonai come in and found a new kingdom of hyrule believing to be the first as there was no record of it before. It just feels neater to slip in the past from tears of the kingdom way after the final games from the other timelines where they converge. Creating new timelines or splits just to slip tears of the kingdom before skyward sword is needlessly complicated.

Another way to understand the merging timelines is that the major events of each timeline would be seen by people in different regions. The child timeline has Hyrule remain where it is; by the end of the downfall timeline, Hyrule proper has been abandoned, and the Kingdom has been moved north; and in the adult timeline, a New Hyrule was established somewhere far away.

Great theory man it made sense to me. Good job using that head of yours to put this together

this is my favorite timeline solution. good job 👍

I really like this video. There's just one thing I want to talk about, and that's why there is a three-fold fork in the timeline. In the video you said it had to do with the Triforce, which I think is partially correct. However, I think the real reason is that each timeline has one of the three bearers of the Triforce. At the end of Ocarina of Time, the child timeline has Link (but not the Zelda or Ganon from the fight on top Hyrule Castle), while the adult timeline has Zelda (with Ganon sealed away effectively dead), whereas the downfall timeline has Ganon. If Ganon is victorious at the fight on top of Hyrule Castle, then he'd end up killing both in order to attain the Triforce. My theory is basically that Zelda must help Link in order for Ganon to be defeated, and if she dies before helping Link in that battle then Link's doomed to lose.

This timeline put-together actually looks good

Feels like you should call it the "Triforce Split/Fuse" theory. This is fucking great dude. I'd love a video about all the evidence in TotK and BotW that the 3 timelines were mashed together, as a bit of a follow up and evidence video. I've 100% observed these things in the journals, but I'm sure we all missed evidence along the way.

Great video man 😊 subbed up

I can't believe someone else thought of the dragon break like I did for the Zelda timeline

This still doesn’t take into account the fact that Zelda travels to the past when the Kingdom of Hyrule was supposedly founded. (Before Ocarina; supposedly) If we are to assume that Link and Zelda from Skyward Sword were the ones that founded Hyrule, then the current story as it is makes no sense; Dragonbreak or otherwise, because why would we need Rarru and Sonia? I think that this IS a part of the timeline. But not in the way that we’d expect. I believe that this is a sort of parallel timeline in which everything that occurred in the original timeline has happened in this timeline, just with different outcomes. There is a timeline split earlier on than we realize in the time line that hasn’t been properly explored yet. One way before the events of Ocarina of Time. This one takes place in Skyward Sword near its climax. In the present; Link defeats the Imprisoned Demise by dropping the sky island on it; crushing it to death. Girahim then steals Zelda and travels back to the past to summon Demise with Zelda’s power. Demise is successfully reawakened in the past and freed from his imprisoned form. Link then defeats Demise; in which he curses Link with the famous curse, and then Link returns to the Present to found the Kingdom of Hyrule. HOWEVER. It is not the Present time that takes the point of interest, but rather the Past time, because in both; Demise is defeated, but because Demise was defeated in the past time, there’s no Skyward Sword. No hero to show up. Nothing. This is the timeline split I wanted to look at and I believe that Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom belong to this timeline. The one where Demise was defeated in the past and the curse of Demise was never an intrinsic part of it, because Link went back to the present timeline, where the curse would’ve followed and did what it did.

Ow, my brain. Excellent theory btw, very well-thought out and explained.

My hot take... Zelda is actually transported back to shortly before the events of Ocarina of Time begin. One of the memories actually has Ganondorf kneeling to King Rauru in his palace. This reminds me of the scene Princess Zelda shows Link in OoT. As viewed from the courtyard. And the storyline going on in the background could easily be explained by Zelda's memories of the past. Remember, in OoT, you never actually meet or even lay eyes on anyone from the ruling class, let alone the king. And the sages you save are only sages in the future.

The answer is in the name: Legend. Within each game, all the other games are simply legends (i.e. stories) of one another.

I also feel that if totk resolves the dragon break link in the fight with ganon it would have been awesome if ganon saw all of links ancestors from all the time lines it would be sick.

I actually really like this concept. While playing through TotK, my headcannon started formulating this other theory: "What if the beginning of the timeline started with the Goddess Hylia - In order to be more effective/efficient at creating Hyrule and the world in general, she split herself into 3 beings: Din, Farore, and Nayru. These goddesses did their thing as we see in OoT, and then "left" leaving behind the TriForce (be it a byproduct/accident of their power or intentional I'm not sure). Them "leaving" is the interesting part, because for 1) We don't know that they were Human/Hylian for sure. We never really see their faces/humanoid forms IIRC. 2) Which means, those three dragons we see in BotW/TotK, if you recall they have Zonai ears, which means that the goddesses perhaps just became the dragons (thus the near identical names which can be a product of "telephone/hearsay" throughout thousands of years of passing down). I think several things (though not all) can be explained using the telephone concept. When you pass down legends and stories and even written history from person to person, generation to generation, some details can be altered. Like Zora/Rito, or the goddess names (or the fact that they and Hylia were one and the same), or even the fact that Ganon/Ganondorf/Demise are all the same "malevolent entity". The Legend of Zelda is a story of reincarnation. The Demon King, Demise as he was known back then by nickname, Ganondorf by birth, cursed the land as his final act and in doing so, brought his rage back in reincarnate form time and again as we see in the other games as Ganon/Ganondorf. But, through the TriForce/Goddesses, as a counter-measure, so too were Zelda and Link brought back time and again reincarnated to stop that evil, since all three possess 1/3 of the TriForce in their spirits. One final (unconnected thought): At first I thought they were going to lean into a really cool concept which I kind of hope they do in the future - When the game opens you play as Link, but there was a brief moment when it almost seemed like they were going to pass the control over to Zelda, and my initial thought was "Oh my gosh. What if the whole game is ACTUALLY playing as Zelda?" (and then when you gain control of Zelda the title screen would come up, with a nod/emphasis on The Legend of ZELDA, and you would actually be playing the game as her for once. Just a thought, I do love my Link though. I'm a guy but I honestly wouldn't mind getting to play as Zelda for a change.

This is up there with Legacy of Kain’s time chicanery. “History abhors a paradox”

This timeline you propose is wrong. Although technically TOTK has parts that take place prior to BOTW, it should always follow BOTW on a timeline as the changes Zelda made in TOTK suddenly appeared in Hyrule after her disappearance (the geoglyphs, upheaval, Zonai islands/relics). These weren't things that had always existed in the timeline, but were the result of the butterfly effect Zelda had on the past. These contents of TOTK never existed before the TOTK events took place (dragon zelda, 2nd master sword etc), therefore to say TOTK takes place both prior and after BOTW is canonically incorrect as would contradict the events of BOTW. TOTK always takes place after BOTW in the timeline. Your timeline currently renders BOTW as non-canon by placing it between TOTK.

I think the three timelines outright being merged together instead of just "reaching the same state of affairs because of time passing+fate" also explains how ganondorf is way more powerful in totk than any previous game. Its because the vestiges of him from across all the timelines are suddenly fused together. Adult timeline ganondorf was sealed beneath the great sea and downfall timeline ganon is seemingly resurrected every other week, its only child timeline ganondorf that is seemingly dead for real and even then he came back to life the FIRST time he should have been killed for good thanks to the triforce of power. Even if no one part is in any shape to do anything anymore, imagine what happens if they're all crashed together? He is a single "composite ganondorf" going up against individuals from various individual timelines. It would also explain how and why Totk Ganondorf is way more evil than any of his previous 'Dorf incarnations. Its because a third of him is full on demon pig.

The best explanation for merging the time lines

this is exactly how i was thinking about it i am so happy that someone could put it out there