Why Rauru's Kingdom Wasn't FIRST (ft. @wizcatcheslightning ) [TotK THEORY] 

Go check out Wiz's video! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XBZuKEunF24.html (EDIT: Wiz's video got copyright claimed so this is the new link. Sorry for the trouble) EDIT: There's also another piece of evidence we learned while making these videos (sorry to the commenter who told us, I can't find your username. That's my bad). Historia actually points out how in Zelda 2: Adventure of Link, it tells of how Zelda the First was put into an eternal slumber, but if you look closely you'll realize this happens AFTER the Golden Era, meaning they forgot about every Zelda who came before. What does this mean? Either this kingdom after ALttP is a new iteration of the kingdom, or this kingdom forgot it's own history. EDIT: @mrbiscuits001 had a very good point on Wiz's video: "I think something that flat out proves this is something we learn from Ganondorf's character profile in TotK. Whilst malice will always leak out and cause a Calamity, the only thing that actually damages the seal is Hyrule castle being damaged. Hyrule castle being damaged in BotW is actually the first time Rauru's seal was weakened. And because we see Hyrule castle get flat out destroyed multiple times this means that Ganondorf couldn't be sealed down there during the older games. We know for a fact that BotW and TotK are connected to the existing timeline so them (past & present) taking place after is the only explanation that works."

what's funny about the Gorons is that they have basically gone unchanged since Skyward Sword, meaning that they are pretty much as perfect as they can get

Another solid argument that supports this theory is that in BoTW, it was stated that a male Gerudo hasn't been born since the first King who became the Calamity. Ganondorf was only sealed, not killed, so it stopped him from reincarnating. This then contradicts the different reincarnations of Ganondorf in the three timelines. So this means that ToTK and BoTW can only happen AFTER the timeline merges.

Not to mention that Sonia (an obvious descendant of the blood of the goddess/Zelda) was not acknowledged to be a royal blooded member before being married to Zonai Rauru she was mentioned to be a Hylian Priestess (obviously because of her goddess bloodline powers like manipulating time). So that means that after all the timeline convergence something happened to the former royal family that may have gotten lost in time until they came back to their status as royalty through Sonia marrying Rauru and founding Hyrule’s kingdom again.

I never really thought that the Rauru of TOTK was the actual very first King of the land called Hyrule. What I got from the story line while exploring and collecting the tears and armors was that Rauru (TOTK) was the first King of the modern Hyrule; the Hyrule of BOTW, and TOTK. Throughout one’s play through of TOTK, weapon sets and clothing sets of past Hero’s (Links) can be found and worn. That’s a clear indication that there were many heroes and Kingdoms that existed before Rauru and Hyrule of TOTK. Where exactly does this modern Hyrule fit in the timeline I don’t know for sure but I think it’s safe to assume that it’s probably the most recent Hyrule/Zelda and Link.

That Molduga bit was great, both for how entertaining it was but also because it’s a pretty good point. Heck the closest we see to a molduga is at the end of the splits while the start of the splits and before it even they look nothing like Molduga. You ain’t gonna convince me that I’m only a short span of time it went from a badass scorpion to a giant sand worm to a small green pathetic looking worm thing only to centuries later return to the sand worm.

This makes A LOT of sense, it is either a timeline merger or a whole new timeline, but for it to happen before OOT makes no sense, it also makes no sense for there to be 2 ganon's existing at the same time such as one that is sealed while the other one is causing issues in hyrule.

Theres also the fact that Sonia's "Light" stone became Ganon's "Darkness" stone. So the "Element" isnt something locked as a specific one. Meaning Sagehood only requires a individual, and that individuals "Element" is personalized based on thier personality. So you could have a forest sage or a wind, or a water or even a second Fire if theres already a fire sage. Much like how everyone has their own name. but you may find someone with that same name elsewhere

Another piece of evidence for this (might be mentioned in Wiz’s video, haven’t watched it yet) In Ganondorf’s character description in TOTK, it says the seal was broken due to the damage to the castle from the great calamity. That, in addition to the plaque we find beneath hyrule castle, makes it very clear that the structural soundness of the castle is extremely important to keeping demon dorf sealed. That makes sense, the great calamity is meant to be the greatest tragedy for hyrule in recent history. Key point, recent history. We see damage to hyrule castle on the level of the calamity, as well as takeovers of hyrule castle, MANY times before the events of BOTW, examples including the rising of Hyrule castle in OOT, the flooding of Hyrule in WW, and the twili invasion in TP. So my question for pre-minish cap believers is what makes the calamity’s damage so special. The real biggest issue is definitely Hyrule castle in OOT, where not only is the castle raised into the sky JUST LIKE HOW IT LOOKS IN TOTK, but the entire castle also gets entirely FLATTENED, not just damaged. If demon dorf was sealed pre-OOT, then how on earth was THAT not the catalyst for his reawakening?

I had a similar conversation some time ago. If we ignore the part where Aonuma just doesn't care, and these aren't 'clues' so much as 'plot holes' then the only logical conclusion would be that Rauru considers himself to be the first king and founder of Hyrule, because he doesn't think any of the previous versions were real. It would be like if someone founded a kingdom of Camelot today. Sure Camelot has a lot of history, too much history, contradictory history, seeing as it's long past copyright; but did it ever really exist? Who knows? When did it exist if it did? Iunno? Now, some time _after_ this new Hyrule's founding, mythology from beforehand seeped in, and that's why the 'current' (yet tens of thousands of years old) Hyrule has references to all other points in time and all other timelines. There was either a 'Dragonbreak' (merging of the timelines) or a 'Mandela Effect' (people remembering things from different timelines) or maybe simply events so similar to the games we've seen happened in all three timelines that after so long they all kinda look the same and it doesn't matter anymore.

It even says in game that the Zonai found a bunch of artifacts in this case all the DLC items for the previous heroes) and hid them in their mines in the Depths. Personally, I theorize that the convergence happened once the Triforce is reunited in all 3 timelines, since the Child Timeline never actually reunited theirs.

Well done, the refounding theory is the only one that makes sense to me.

This timeline chronology is basically the same thing I thought when I played through totk. Hyrule was literally flooded at one point. It's not like it hasn't been refounded a bunch of times.

One fun piece of evidence that I’ve uncovered myself but haven’t noticed anyone mention yet, is the map of Spirit Tracks. The map of Spirit Tracks, in particular the official artwork map found in Hyrule Historia, looks almost EXACTLY like BOTW/TOTK’s map. And Spirit Tracks takes place in a newly founded Hyrule. So it’s possible this is the Hyrule where the Zonai descended way after it’s collapse.

I like all the points you dudes made! Also, Urbosa mentions in BOTW that a king hasn't been born to the Gerudo for 10k yrs. So, if Ganon of TOTK was right after skyward sword, how could there be other Ganons while he's stuck in magic zombie coma? (he can't? because others couldn't get reborn while he's not alive/not dead..... so, yeah). Thanks dudes!

One thing that usually doesn't get taken into account with timeline theories is that when talking of the Rito and Zora, no one considers the possibility that, although the Rito evolved from Zora and that the freshwater Zora couldn't survive the change into the saltwater ocean of the great flood, the Zora from Termina lived in the ocean and we're therefore saltwater Zora. There's no reason they couldn't eventually find the gateway to Hyrule and migrate there, where the great flood made for the perfect environment for them. As the flood gradually dried, those Zora could have evolved to survive in fresh water, either via magic in the way Zora became Rito, or by evolution over time. This would explain how we can have both Zora and Rito at the same time. The Zora have a history of drastically evolving, considering how they appear in the original Zelda, a Link to the Past, and a Link between worlds.

This is the most convincing evidence for timeline placement that ive heard. Great job, guys.

Not sure if you got a new editor, or if you’ve just improved, but the editing in this video is super stand out :)

The other thing about the Gerudo too is that their first appearance in the series was literally Ocarina of Time, which lends itself further to BOTW/TOTK being a reconvergance, not being placed after SS

The one nitpick/wrench I will throw at this is how heavy-handed Tears of the Kingdom is in pointing out that the past events are the Imprisoning War, which is the start of the Downfall Timeline, as currently printed. They could have called it anything, but they specifically have each Sage recall it as the Imprisoning War.

I'm not a huge game-theory fan but I do really like matpat's explanation on how all the different references from all the past Zelda's come together in breath of the wild. He suggests that at some point all the branching timelines blend back together for Hyrule Warriors, because the game's plot revolves around drawing past characters into one universe - which could also include many other things like places and items and characters - so then going forward it would make sense that that could be the land that appears in Breath of the wild and subsequently Tears of the Kingdom

12:25 The Forest Temple in OoT was originally planned to be the Wind Temple but was later changed to the Forest Temple. The Forest Medallion's design is a leftover hint at this being the case as it depicts wind, but since the Temple itself had very little to do with Wind being a mechanic, they decided to change the name of the Temple, but left the Medallion unchanged. Good video! Subbed and keeping my eyes peeled for more TAMV content. 👍

Perhaps after the collapse of hyrule, the new Hyrule that was founded appearred to be a stronger alliance between smaller nations that formed. After all, the races of Hyrule are far more united than many of the other games where they lived much more isolated lives. The Zora even have their own king despite them all being in the kingdom of hyrule, suggesting that hyrule is an alliance between all these different nations/territiories.

I definitely agree with what you’re saying in the video. In fact, Disney’s setup with the events described in Frozen 1 & 2 is the same prequel to sequel setup we see in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

Hmmm. I head-fanon'ed that the Rito we know now were a people who used to live in Hyrule long before the series even began, but left for eons before coming back to their ancestral home. The Rito from the Windwaker were a short-lived species who called themselves the same thing, but their kind didn't last for very long. It's a loose theory, but I roll with it. EDIT: Since I had a nice talk with Wiz Catches Lightning, I felt it was fair to Subscribe to your channel as well as theirs. :)

This video and the channel itself should get more views and exposure. Very well made and logically explained

A detail that I don’t see mentioned is how the elements assigned to each of the golden goddesses changes from skyward sword to the next game they appear in. Typically the association is; Din-Fire, fayore-wind/forest, nayru-Water but in skyward sword they are linked to; Din-Fire, Fayore-Water, Nayru-Lightning. Which would imply some kind of pantheon shuffle early in the timeline where fayore relinquished the water to Nayru for some reason.

So quick question, when Zelda knights Link she references the past games (through time, embers of twilight, etc.). Wouldn’t this mean she and other hylians know of the events of the past 3 timelines and thus the past Hyrules? If so, shouldn’t Rauru have known that he wasn’t the first king of hyrule?

I didn't at all get the feeling that this was the FIRST Hyrule ever and honestly thought it was really weird that people got that impression. I've always felt like botw and totk is at the end of the timelines that we have been officially given. It just seemed like the logical conclusion. We've also now seen 2 bootstrap paradoxes in these games. So literal timeline merging isn't out of the realm of possibility. Clearly hylia's time powers are INCREDIBLY powerful.

I’ve been trying to argue this since the game came out lol there’s just too much evidence. It’s great to see someone actually make a video on it!

while playing totk this was my headcannon cause there was no way the ancient events took place before all the other games. But then there´s something that doesn't add up. While everything else makes a lot of sense, in the game it is stated that the Temple of time from the great plateau, which is basically the same one from OoT, was built in representation of the TT in the great sky island. but then the great plateau's TT was built way before the one in the sky.

Great video! I always thought that TOTK past was after all the other games but never even thought of most of the points you made here.

Your theory is actually the only plausible theory and I've been saying that since I could make sense of TotK. Great job.

Awesome video man, keep it up!

The new Zelda timeline is just like in The Good Place. It’s a Jeremy Bearimy.

Counterpoint: the sheikah eye symbol is clearly based on the Zonai's literal physical 3rd eye. Young Impa is already using it in Skyward Sword so make of that what you will. (And if we take the idea that all Gerudo descend from the red haired topaz eyed pointy eared Groose as true maybe they did start out with pointed ears, lose and then regain then though even that doesn't fit with young impa and the sheikah eye)

At the moment, the best timeline theory I've seen is that TOTK's past is a re-imagining of Ocarina of Time. At some point after Skyward Sword, the timeline splits. Then the events of Breath of the Wild and latter TOTK take place.

It takes serious talent to talk about the headache that is zelda lore without well, causing a headache and making it enjoyable. Basically, good work, youve got a natural talent for these kinds of videos

the insane amount of rock salt could mean that it was after wind waker.

So far, this timeline makes the most sense out of the various ones I have seen. Good vid and good work!

I used to think that the explanation for why the geography changed sometimes radically between games is that the final battle between Link and the Big Bad would be so catastrophic that it caused the topography to change. It would explain why, for example, there was such a massive difference between OoT and TP despite there only being around two hundred years between those two games. That’s not long enough for geography to naturally change so radically. But there’s only five or six years between BotW and TotK but the geography isn’t changed all that much despite the catastrophic fight at the end of BotW. So Hyrule is just naturally very geographically active.

at 17:05 there's a shrine from totk, but that was in a memory so shouldnt that not be there? and at 20:48 / 20:43 you can see sonias hand has the triforce also the master sword has the triforce on it. AND in whatever tear of the dragon 17:05 is i think there is a triangle that raurus hand is in, also sonia tells zelda to put her hand like she does on rauru. 3 people, the triangles of the triforce?? AND you can kinda see that at 1:50 raurus 3rd eyeballs eyelash is golden just like the light dragon; as well as some of the light dragons pattern / hair with raurus. ofc this is just me being me with theories

I've allways liked the idea that in each timeline eventually the cycle of hatred will repeat enlugh times that rouphly adjacent events will happen in each timeline. So events simmilar to TP could eventually happen in the Dpwnfall timeline. Personally it would make the most sense if the eventually the child timeline in particular had the other two happen in it with the adult timline happening at the end. So Child timine happens, then a new hyrule civil war breaks out with a new Ganondorf but he wins like in the adult timeline. Adult time line stuff keeps happening till yet another civil war breaks out and Gannondorf loses like at the start of the adult timeline and eventually new Hyrule is founded and then it gets FUCKING WIPED FROM THE ANELS OF HISTORY! Then the zonai show up and BOOM! Now TOTK can happen. Is effectively a timeline merger but with some meat on it's bones instead of "Ya they must have fused at some point. IDK. "

OMG!!! I am so here for this!!! Thinkingoutlodatmaxvolume I watched your video that’s a month older than this first and you guys also thought of several points I put in the comments there!!! I’m going to go watch wiz’s video now if it’s in the suggestions below or your video description/pinned comment.

I watched both yours and Wiz's videos and can I just say thank you?? I've always assumed BotW took place after a timeline merge considering the embedded lore hints from past games, as well as the armor sets/weapons you can get--which is also why I agree that BotW/TotK are NOT a full reboot of the Zelda series (and also that it just makes the most sense). Everything you guys covered in both videos are points I've been thinking about, but haven't stringed together coherently, so I feel vindicated that I'm not alone in it! One thing that I found interesting in TotK that might serve as some additional "evidence" is the armor sets found in the labyrinths in particular: you have to go through a LOT just to unlock the 3 pieces of Phantom Ganon's armor, and when you finally do they rise from the ground in what could almost be described as a protective shrine or altar. In my mind, these pieces of armor were discovered by the Zonai and locked away because of the evil associated with them--possibly passed down through legends told by the Hylians of a time long past from an unknown era. ....But then again, since you can get the same set in BotW albeit differently, that might be reaching! I also kind of think the same thing applies to the weapons/armor found in the Depths (particularly in the colosseums), but again that could be a stretch if they're just meant to be fun Easter eggs and side quests. But again, thank you guys!!

Nintendo not bothering to fill up the history of Gorons doesn't mean they didn't have an interest in history or had historians. The Skyward Sword Gorons you have featured (Gorko and Golo), have been described as archeologists interested in History in the very same game. Don't intend to nitpick, but this was bothering me. (another minor nitpick would be you not mentioning Fokka or Fokkeru who more closely match BotW/TotK Rito, but eh that's fine).

They really should have done the work to make rauru's hyrule actually the first without causing timeline issues just so zeldra and the master sword could hit harder on the reveal. It would actually be pretty sad thinking about how long that Zelda would be trapped either being sealed or dragon'd.

Oh wow this theory is actually really good! And great video in general to

Simple, because if it was it retcons the timelines. 30+ years of video game lore, and culture wasted. Similarly, Zelda cannot be a direct descendant of Raruu and Sonia because if the Zelda got her light and time powers from them, it retcons every Zelda in the timeline that had time and light powers. Especially OOT Zelda, as she displayed both light and time powers by producing the light arrows, helping during the final battle by holding Ganon with her light powers, and then BREAKING THE CYCLE OF REINCARNATION IN THE ADULT TIMELINE by using her time powers to send Link back in time with the the Ocarina as a catalyst.

I love this video and it’s so much fun to theorize all this but I have a sinking feeling that Nintendo really doesn’t know and Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka have been winging it the whole time and just borrowing ideas from all the other games and throwing them in a blender

Totk also completely breaks the lore that botw tried to implement. Calamity Ganon is a plague on the kingdom of hyrule every 10k years. But we've seen that Calamity Ganon is made of malice after Daddydorf was sealed under ground. The ancient hero depicted in the botw tapestry and who was confirmed to have existed due to the armor in totk, the ancient hero was a Zonai who fought against Calamity Ganon. But in totk Rauru and his sister are the last Zonai and the game acknowledges that they are the last. So how can the ancient hero exist after Gannondorf is sealed? The only possible explanation is that Rauru and his sister secretly went "Alabama mode", but I highly doubt that's the case. Also it's possible that the timelines merge, and I used to believe that as well. But the evidence isn't really concrete. The only evidence we have is in game armor. But that armor could only be a reference, just look at the remakes. Nintendo clearly isn't afraid to put in references for fun, even if it isn't accurate to the lore. So we can't say for certainty that the armor in game like the dark link set and the others are lore friendly. The only other references left is Zelda's inauguration speech for Link becoming a champion in botw. Her references are skyward bound, adrift in time and in twilight. Skyward sword is history in all timelines, Oot is also history in all timelines, so those two don't count. And lastly Twilight.... the interloper war happened before Oot. They were sealed away into the Twilight realm for trying to get the triforce. Most likely by the the Hyrulian royal family, which is tasked with protecting the Triforce. So we can clearly see that all "evidence" is either a reference that Nintendo added for fun to surprise us fans, and things that are canonically history in all possible timelines. Now.... We do now for a fact that this Zonai named Rauru, one of the last Zonai, founded the current iteration of the Hyrule kingdom. There is only one possible timline where that is even remotely possible..... The Downfall timeline. The last game in that timeline is Zelda 2, and we can clearly see that, that version of hyrule is gone. Now, there is a possibility that one of the other timelines has the kingdom eventually get destroyed, but that heavy af speculation. Plus that kinda invalidates the whole point of the downfall timeline. So that's one point for botw and totk being in the downfall timeline. The next point is obvious.... Lynels! Lynels canonically only exist in the downfall timeline. We also have actual evidence of this being true. Zelda 1. With all that in mind, there is no doubt that botw and totk, are squarely, far into the future of the downfall timeline. The only hiccup is that bit with the ancient hero that I explained earlier. Nintendo kinda messed there. Someone might bring up the fact that the rito haven't been seen in the downfall timeline so far. And that's completely true, but I believe that can be overlooked, because the history of the destroyed Hyrule from Zelda 1 and 2, is so far in the past that Zonai Rauru thinks he founded Hyrule. Plus he's the 2nd last of his kind, which obviously had hundreds, even thousands of years to develop into a highly advanced society, only to slowly fade away. So with all that passage of time. It's reasonable to assume that an offshoot of Zora split off from the main group, and eventually evolved into the Rito. Just like how the Yiga split off from the Sheikah.

Also I doubt we’ve ever seen the zonai mention hylia, how would they name the kingdom hyrule if there’s no hylia that they know

Rarru: We were the ones who founded Hyrule last time I checked. Me: NOT SCIENTIFICALLY POSSIBLE! Edit: I never believed that it was reboot but people were down playing my observations for the simple reasons of their wants, they told me to basically shut up and accept it but I never will.

Yo WIZ! haha I settled down to watch this and didn't even realize you were part of this vid. So cool man! Great video guys! Tons of questions bother me at night when thinking about this timeline. Where'd the cats go? They were in every timeline in one form or another, so where are they? Why are Kotake and Koume in TotK memories? And why do they have the "new" pointed ears, but the old green skin tone? The way I've been seeing the post-BotW timeline, is that all the past games exist in this space of Legend. The histories have been re-told so many times and for so long, that the true history doesn't even really exist in past games. The splits never happened, they (like the games within them) only represent various different re-tellings of the past, but not a true account. It's the only way I'll get any sleep haha

I like to think that so much time has passed that history and events keep repeating itself. This series is an endless loop after all.

You know, this vid together with the complimentary vid of Wiz Catches Lightning helped me make sense of the discrepancies between Zelda before and Zelda after BotW. The time convergence may actually have happened with the first Hyrule Warriors and the chaos still strange with it just mellowed out and faded to where we are now. So, if we assume Forest and Wind might be the same we have 1. Light, 2.Forest/Wind, 3. Fire, 4. Water, 5. Spirit, 6. Lightning, 7. Shadow and 8. Time and way back, we had 8 pieces of the Trifoce to collect. Nice nod to Zelda 1 and Wind Waker by extension. Now, if we put together that Zelda actually got the same secret stone Zonai-Rauru used to have on his backhand and Ganondorf has the same used be Sonia, we get 2. Next we have 1 for Mineru, Yunobo, Riju, Sidon and Tulin to add another 5. Wonder if there might be an 8 one too (minus the 3 that would allegedly have been swallowed by Dinraal, Farosh and Naydra). Definitively matches the other seven sages though. It's interesting what you notice sometimes, even if it is late.

For a timeline merge to happen it would need two things someone that knows that there’s a timeline split (which would be normally impossible) and some sort of very powerful magic more so then the tryforce itself more then the golden goddesses also due to the three timelines being so different from each other a timeline merge would’ve ended in complete chaos and disarray

You don’t need the timelines to converge. You just need a long enough amount of time that it becomes unclear which timeline we are seeing. It could be any of the three. No convergence needed; just enough time

Finished up a playthrough of OoT yesterday, noticed something kind crazy - when you defeat Ganon and it cuts to Rauru in the temple of time, he has a little monologue where he specifically calls upon the Ancient Creators of Hyrule to seal Ganon. I'm curious if this was one of the places where they took inspiration for the idea of the Zonai, could be nothing... But the fact that it is Rauru who says it really got my attention.

Honestly I think that the totk took place before skyward sword. Because in skyward sword, hylia lifted up pieces of Hyrule to become skyloft, so she could protect her people and fight the war going on. I'm thinking that the Hyrule before hylia lifted the land up was when Rauru was the king. It makes sense to me because we know Rauru and his wife had a kid due to Zelda and Rauru's wife (I'm sorry I forgot her name lol) are from the same bloodline. I'm guessing that unknown kid would be hylia, and because of the 2 powers combining when was born, and the zonai's strange power, Hylia would be had goddess-like powers. Another reason I think it takes place before skyward sword is the secret stones. In the cutscene wheb the sages get appointed, it's the stones that turn them into the sages. And I'm thinking that those were the first sages. And then there's just the advanced tech of the zonai. Which also has a very similar theme to the little robots and their theme in skyward sword (zonai created the robots and possible relation to the time shift stones?). The type of powers and tech the zonai posses haven't been seen in any other games before totk (that in aware of). Except for some similarities in skyward sword, which was the first in the timeline.

Great video. I've felt like this is the only explanation that makes any sense. I was willing to believe Raaru when he said he was first until they brought out the Rito Sage. The Rito screwed that all up. This video puts everything I believe into the best set of words and examples.

Don't have anything witty or smart to say. But I do agree with this and hope that is the case.

All you have to do is listen to Denise's curse to get exactly what happened. Ganadorf was born first with the hatred of the kingdom but the blood of the goddess hasn't been born and the spirit of the hero hasnt risen yet. The curse just needed the spirit of the hero and the blood of the goddess so it took Zelda back in time to warn Rauru and get him to seal Ganondorf, while giving Zelda a way to come back to the present with a repaired Mastersword. As soon as Link, Zleda, and the physical body of Ganondorf were in the same space the curse can finally play out as it should, but then that brings the question as to why these characters were born at different points in time instead of together like the curse says it should?

This is one of the best timeline vids i’ve ever seen holy shit

I’ve been thinking about how the timeline merger could work, and the best I can come up with starts something like the plot Hyrule Warriors. (Just a quick heads up, this comment got way longer than I thought it would, and it is probably a mess of run on sentences, but you’ll probably still get the idea) Some villain (possibly a reincarnation of Ganandorf) could open “gateways” to the other two timelines (or all three if this is starting in a new one) like how Cia did with the worlds/times of Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess. This could be in an attempt to steal the triforce from those timelines, or some other power/artifact. Then if the hero(s) lost, the gods could intervene by closing/destroying the gateways before the villain could fully complete their plan. The inhabitants of the different timelines who came through said gateways would now be stuck, and the land would be plunged into such a terrible darkness that nothing would remain of Hyrule but legends, along with a few artifacts lost to time (the master sword, and the amiibo armour/weapons from previous titles). After an extraordinary amount of time the Hylians, unable to defeat the monsters/evil, would be reduced to a much more primitive civilization, who the Zonai could eventually meet, and work with to bring peace to the land. Eventually a new kingdom would emerge with Raru as its king, taking the name of Hyrule from the kingdom of the people’s stories. Between the lack of any remaining historical evidence of this previous kingdom, and different groups telling conflicting stories of its history (since they originate from different timelines), it is assumed that this Hyrule is nothing more than myth, with Raru’s being believed to be the first true kingdom of Hyrule. Not only does this give a way for all the races/species to actually exist in the same timeline, but it also explains why they look different from before. The smaller subset of the population that got stuck in this timeline would only have a portion of their race/species’ whole genetic diversity, causing them to evolve differently (basically a genetic bottleneck/founder effect). This is more than enough to explain the Gerudo’s different eyes and ears, and if you add hundreds/thousands of years adapting to a new environment to the mix, you’ve got an explanation for the new look of the Zora and Rito (more specifically the Rito looking much more like birds and less like humans with beaks and stuff after living in the cold mountains). Put enough time between the merger and Raru’s Hyrule and you’ll even get an explanation for the landscape having stuff from the different timelines, since if the landscape was messed up by plopping stuff from the different timelines down in the same place, they would start to look like they fit together more and more after a long (looooong) period of natural geomorphologic processes acting on them. The commonalities of the stories would inspire traditions, such as there being princesses named Zelda, the continued worship of Hylia, the three dragons being named after the three golden goddesses, and the image of the triforce persisting. At some point after the Imprisoning war, the Shekah would become a very technologically advanced civilization. They would continue to advance until about 10000 years before BOTW, at which point a prophecy is discovered warning of the Great Calamity. The Sheikah begin creating the guardians and divine beasts as a preparation, and eventually a new princess Zelda is born as a reincarnation of the previous ones, while the hero’s spirit is reincarnated as a Zonai, who returns to Hyrule, rediscovers the master sword, and fights in the first calamity. 10000 years later you get the events of BOTW.

In other words; the writers ignored massive amounts of previous information and simply created a story that completely contradicts the preset history of Hyrule and the established time-line. Why am I not surprised?

Based on a recent interview with aonuma this theory looks even more plausibile. He said that a possibility that the founding of hyrule in skyward sword was "retconned" was that there was a history of destruction before the memories in totk. Meaning that there could've been many refoundings and cycles of destruction.

Oh your right, thanks for bringing that up. And yes nobody new Kotake the witch (green eyes) Blue Gemstone was of the same Race MajoraS Mask Tribe.

To add to your theory. The BOTW Temple of Time is in pristine condition 100 years ago in AOC, making it newer than the OoT/TP Temple of Time in ruins. Zelda Encyclopedia states that OoT Ganondorf was the first and explicitly not born between SS, MC, and FS. And finaly TOTK states its version of Hyrule Castle was undamaged for eons in Gandorf's profile and a monument beneath the castle, while the OoT and TP castles were clearly damaged.

My question is how does the timelines merge? Is it Zonai magic? Or is it yet another split? There's a potential timeline split in Skyward Sword. You obliterate Demise in the present, and then go back to the past and defeat him in one on one combat. By defeating Demise in the past, you basically change history. So, if Demise was defeated in the past and the Hylians were still up in the sky, the time period where Link defeated Demise would be very different from the current timeline we have now. The Hylians in the sky eventually evolve into Zonai because all of them can harness the power of the Triforce. Remember, the Triforce is still in the sky during this time. What's stopping a Zonai from entering Sky Keep and getting the Triforce? In this timeline split, the Rito are not Zoras evolved. They're evolved Loftwings. The Ritos in BotW and TotK look very similar to Loftwings in SS, or like actual birds. The Parella evolve into the Rito regardless of which timeline they go into. The Kokori evolve into the Korok. Now, the Zonai could see the other timelines, and they wanted to transport into one of them at any given moment, but the experiment goes wrong and it ends up fusing the 4 timeline splits together. This only leaves very few of the various races from all timelines left, especially the Zonai since they were closest to the blast. Only a male and female Zonai survive, and they give birth to Mineru and Rauru. Eventually, they made their way down to the ground, and they found other races, like the Hylians, Zoras, Ritos, and Gerudo. We know Rauru marries Sonia, a Hylian, to form Hyrule. I think that's the only way all of this makes any sense.

Great vid. Subbed.

Interesting theory! It works pretty well but when would the original founding of hyrule take place?

I feel autistic trying to understand the eyes and ears evolution

Secrets stones can be explained in terms of the triforce, where it is likely that they draw out the powers of the triforce dwelling in both the heroes and ganondorf

The main question posed is where the heck do the zonai come from then and how is hyrule so regressed if it wasn't at the beginning of the timeline

You are all wrong, because Zelda BOTW and TOTK are part of a reboot of the series, this is the beginning of a new Zelda Universe, that's why they doesn't fit on the timeline, is not a merge, it's a reboot.

Did someone noticed that we don't have any clothes or weapons from the Four Sword Era? No four sword, no Ezlo hat or references to the minish.

See I’m a believer of the convergence theory where somewhere in the timeline, possibly due to the tri-force not being a physical object anymore or a byproduct of a great event, is likely a soft reboot for the timeline before botw/totk but after the three most recent games in their redirecting timelines. There’s a whole expansive timeframe between games and we just don’t know anything more yet

Moldugas exist in a part of the gerudo desert that we have not explored in any of the games. It seems to me the only parts of the gerudo desert we have explored was from where current gerudo town is and all the way to the arbiter grounds and the entrance of gerudo desert. Even in breath of the wild the gerudos don't normally explore where the moldugas live. Then I could only assume that normally that part of the desert would be off limits.

To be fair, calling the ancient TOTK sages, sages, is more title only versus actual Destiny role the OOT / TWW sages were.

The way I'm thinking about it is that the Gerudo overall changed due to evolution and connecting with Hylians and the Goddesses, while Ganon is the same guy from the original tribe he came from. Since he's the only guy who is pretty much immortal unlike Link and Zelda (who are reincarnates and descendants) he retains his physical traits because he is the SAME PERSON.

OK so what I have been thinking, is there is a merging of the timelines yes, (likely a final wish from the triforce), but also an additional timeline merges, which is Raoru's, that has always existed outside of the others, and is now being added to ours. That way he can always have been "the first king" in his timeline. Also when he says first king, does he really mean "original" or were there multiple kings in his timeline?

I've been thoroughly convinced of this view of the timeline already, but I want to mention a potential point against the Gerudo and their ears - if TOTK's flashbacks are the earliest point we see after SS, it could be argued that simply not enough time has passed to allow for their epigenetics to have developed round ears. The working theory is after all that they share the same common Skyloftian ancestors as Hylians, Sheikah, and other groups like the Interlopers/dark tribe etc. So they may have started with the pointed ears as with the rest, then lost them over centuries following Ganon after Demise's curse, then regained them after disavowing him at a later point.

My only issue is that the zonai were not explained. Where do they come from then if just they suddenly just appeared after so long?

The only thing that makes sense is that the kingdom of Hyrule Rauru founded was just renaming the land that had forgotten where it originated from because even the past of totk and its founding is still set so far in the future of zelda, its still past a convergence point of all the timelines. The Gundam franchise ran into a similar thing with the creation of Turn A Gundam. Turn A was written to be set so far in the future that every other series (this means both the universal century, and OTHER GUNDAM UNIVERSES created afrer the fact) take place before Turn A witch the exception of g-reco and is labeled as "the dark history". In the specific ep we learn about the dark history, we see gundams from different points in the universal century, as well as different gundam universes. I personally believe the same thing is happening here. Big difference for Turn A is, a reset button was hit, which reduced humanity back to an industrial revolution because all technology was reduced to dust. Prior to this reset happening, humanity was a technologically advanced space faring race. Some zelda/nintendo fans have a hard time accepting this convergence even with totk in the picture. I think its insane that people are even arguing about it because nintendo didnt care about a timeline let alone multiple for zelda. There were sequential releases, but thats it. The fans made the timeline, and nintendo ran with it. Botw and totk are just extra middle fingers on the fuck you sandwhich that we made ourselves.

Nice work and I actually understood all that so he’ll ya

Still have the head-canon that Hyrule Warriors was canon, and the timelines were all merged back together because of it.

I'm gonna keep it short .... Awesome video ....

A refounding of Hyrule makes perfect sense in the Wind Waker timeline. Eventually, for whatever reason, the gods unflood Hyrule. Allowing the people in that time line to found what is basically an entirely new kingdom to them. Also another point for evolutionary lines. It's implied that Kikwis were ancestors to Kokiri and Kokiri were ancestors to Koroks and Koroks are what we have in TotK. Although small nitpick on your ears point, in the clip you show of Twilight Princess Ganondorf, he has pointed ears

I like the theory that the game takes place way in the future and the past is basically repeating itself and starting over. I think of it as our world where we've had civilizations get so advanced beyond our imagination and they just dissappear or experience a cataclysm and we start again, we call it a great reset. Maybe there was a point in time where Ganon or demise managed to destroy hyrule and the world. And we're playing thru not so new events cause if the curse was never broken then ofcourse eventually a new villain and heroes would be born. But I also think Nintendo doesn't care about timeliness and are just giving us our favorite franchise with our favorite characters. Kinda like how black mirror or love,death, robots is. You can basically start anywhere in the series and not miss out on much.

What convince me the most about TOTK taking place after a timeline merging is thinking about Zelda's journey as a dragon. If TOTK past takes place so early in the timeline and then the split happends... Then what happend to her? Her decission to become a dragon is because she needs to travel from Rauru and Sonia's era to her own era, while also restore the master sword to eventualy deliver it to the Link she knows. Sure, she didn't really know if things where going to go as planed and hoped for the best, but the way its presented in the game its pretty straight forward for me: She lived in a mostly unaltered world until she was released from her dragon form. Would have been the same if we include the timeline split? I mean, one of the timelines talks about a big flood and hyrule being refunded in another continent so her efforts would be in vein. Even if we put BOTW at the end of a specific timeline, theres still evidencie in game that implies that the three timelines happend. Also we have to think that the three timelines have the same past, so if we place BOTW under a specific timeline and think that TOTK past happends after SS, then that would mean that in the other two timelines Zelda would be still roaming the land as a dragon. Also, I want to point out the legend that we heard about in BOTW about the first calamity: At some point the sheikah became an advanced civilization that knew that Ganon would return and create the divine beasts and guardians in order to stop him. Where do we place that? I think ancient sheikah technology is heavyly inspired by the zonai tech and the design of the four divine beasts takes inspiration of the sages of fire, water, wind and lightning. This to me implies that those sheikah where around or close to Rauru's era (I mean... We know those sages continue to live long after Zelda becomes a dragon and Mineru puts herself into the Purah Pad, but the dialogue in game kinda also implies that Rauru and Mineru were the only Zonai that were around at that time), so the first calamity probably happend some time after Ganondorf was sealed. If you think as BOTW and TOTW as they own entity (Without thinking about the timeline) then the story told makes perfect sense as a casual loop of Ganondorf being sealed and then the calamity raising as his way to free himself from that, only to the events of BOTW to happend and later on Tears of the Kingdom. Trying to put this into the timeline it would only make sense if it is at the end of the merging timelines. It cannot be at the beggining because we need the events of SS to happend... (I mean, BOTW Zelda was struggling to awaken the sacred power she was suposed to have from being one of Hylia's reincarnations), and put it in the middle of the timeline after SS would only create a lot of plot holes. (Sorry if I said something wrong, English is not my first language)

I already said it in the comment section of Wiz's video but, what if Zonai where simply Evolved Minish ? Same architecture, and, if BOTW/TOTK take place after the merged of the three timelines, it would make sense since the minish don't even got any information about the Master Sword or the Triforce. It will also make sense about that (don't know if u mentionned it already, i'm just arriving on the video)

The title of the six Sages in totk Was given down through the tribes of rito, goron, zora etc etc so there never could have been a kokiri sage like in OOT. The kokiri have already turned into the koroks by the time of botw so that means that the only instance where there ever could have been a kokiri sage was before the Events of King raurus rise to Power. Therefore, an earlyer hyrule must have existed since otherwise, the Events of OOT wouldnt make sense

I always thought that the timelines merge to do a lot of the smilar things you talked about. I wonder if the there was a wish on the triforce in each time line at the same moment the merge them all together. Kind of like a hyrual warriors type of thing were they all exist at once but then folded on each other making a new one.

For me, Hyrule's spirit keeps reincarnating just like the Goddess, Demise's hatred, and the Hero. It's part of the cycle too.

The point about the geography was brilliant. I love the dramatic “MOLDARACH” part 😂 I always find it odd that the Triforce would be used for the royal crest, but never mentioned or lusted for in the beginning of Hyrule. Where did the triforce go? Pretty sure word spread not long after the founding, so what happened?

Actually all that happens in BOTW, TOTK, and AOC takes place in the era of the wilds section of the Zelda timeline so they aren’t related to older games

Think of the possibility of BOTW and TOTK being after the time Link went back and eradicated Demise, leaving the world without the need of a hero, leaving the Goddess Sword in the statue, and Sky residence evolving into Zonai. There were still people on the ground and also the Dragons. Every time I try to challenge this theory, I just add another jigsaw piece to my puzzle and it bothers me because only HMK hit it on the money. Why would skyward sword hd release only for Nintendo to contradict it

Não creio que a Nintendo sequer pense, de fato, em uma linha do tempo que seja totalmente coerente. Muitos jogos são "experimentos", feitos para serem divertidos, e não para serem um universo expandido em si. Assim como em diversos casos, eles simplesmente não pensaram no que aconteceria em um futuro com dez, ou vinte jogos da franquia. Nesse sentido, Tears of the Kingdom representa um recomeço para toda franquia, mas sem "deixar de lado" o passado, sempre fazendo referências, seja no mapa, seja em armaduras especiais, armas, itens de amiibo, etc. Só para citar algumas contradições: quando em 1998 joguei Ocarina of Time (meu primeiro contato com a franquia) não consegui, mais tarde, fazer ligações claras com A Link to the Past, nem tampouco com Link's Awakening - percebi que um deles era um spin off, e que o outro não se encaixava como "antecessor", Ocarina não era uma continuação direta dele. Quando joguei, em 2000, Majora's Mask, pude notar novamente um "spin off", mesmo que possa ligá-lo diretamente com o final de Ocarina onde Zelda devolve Link para seu passado enquanto criança. Tentei me aventurar nos títulos mais antigos, nos dois primeiros, foi muito estranho, haviam "duas Zeldas" em Link's Adventure, um mundo aberto e pós-apocalítico em The Legend of Zelda, nada fazia muito sentido, difícil de juntar as peças enquanto jogava e tentava entender a história. Mas quando coloquei minha mãos em Wind Waker em 2002, então tudo ficou muito confuso. Parecia, claramente, que a Nintendo estava seguindo um novo norte, recomeçando a franquia ali, naquele instante. Quem eram os Ritos? Evolução dos Zoras? Como, isso não fazia sentido algum. Tudo havia sido alagado, o herói não havia aparecido para salvar o reino (talvez uma proto-idéia da linha onde o herói foi derrotado e do ciclo depois descrito em Skyward Sword onde o Herói o Vilão e a Princesa sempre reencarnam), os deuses o inundaram para que Ganondorf não realizasse seus planos malignos, o passado era apenas uma lenda. Naquele momento, todos os jogos anteriores eram uma lenda, passados de geração em geração, com detalhes sendo modificados, informações perdidas, e aquilo era muito interessante! Parecia um novo começo...e talvez o fosse. Talvez tenham existido diversos novos começos, ideias paralelas, as coisas não se encaixem no fim das contas. Olho para os dois últimos jogos, novamente, como quando em 2002 tentei entender toda história de Wind Waker. O passado distante é uma lenda, informações se perderam, talvez nem tudo tenha sido como "ouvimos falar", isso é bastante interessante, nem sequer precisamos de uma linha do tempo coerente (e me arrisco dizer, que não teríamos de forma alguma, pois eles não pensaram em um universo expandido desde o início e são muitas incoerências desde então).

I honestly see the geography not being changed as like either forgetfulness or they didn't think it would make much of a difference As for Ganon, I really just assumed he found to way to go back into the past as Zelda did. I never thought Ganon was reincarnated. I whole heartedly believe he was only reincarnated once and that was OoT, all other times he was sealed away and never properly killed hence why no men were after born after. I will admit though, the only confusing thing for me is the Rito