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He basically loses the battle against Ganondorf/Ganon in the Fallen Hero Timeline, though some fans seem to have a hard time grasping this concept. Frankly the Hero of Time Disappears timeline is the one that baffles me since this is the ending where Link does defeat Ganondorf, so how come he's still around in this timeline?Quote:
Originally Posted by Formalhaut
If this Link has been asleep for a hundred years, do you think he's a previous Link then, or still a new one?
But the Ocarina of Time is a game. That you play. You beat Ganon. So is the entire 'decline' timeline based on the supposition that the hero is defeated during Ocarina of Time, assuming that the player didn't bother playing OoT? I'm still slightly confused by that point, but seeing that does help.
Also, how many times has Ganon been resurrected? He's been back from the dead so many times. I also noticed that not many of the newer games have been located within the decline timeline, so that'd be an interesting path to go down.
Ahhh. So it's something that doesn't really have a cut-scene or anything covering it (at least not in OoT) just them using a what if to place one of the three timelines under. Okay, I get it now.
Basically, Ocarina Time is where the timeline splits. One is the adult timeline where Link defeats Ganon, but comes back to the past to keep being a child and warns Zelda beforehand of Ganon's schemes. So the continuity where he returns results in Ganon's premature execution, and this later leads into Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess. But then, the continuity where he saved the world is left without the hero, since the guy from that period's past is back in a changed past, leading to Hyrule flooding and Wind Waker with its sequels. The first games in the series happened in a hypothetical timeline where Link loses the battle in Ocarina of Time and was killed by Ganon, resulting in the bleak world we see there.
The only times he really comes back is Twilight Princess and the adult timeline with Wind Waker. I kind of don't get why he's back by Wind Waker, but in Twilight Princess it's implied that he's kinda working from beyond the grave. In the original games, he had never died to begin with.
EDIT: No, wait, he's back by Zelda I after being done in in ALttP. Idk, it's all vague. Continuity isn't really the most important aspect of Zelda anyway.
Okay so if I'm getting this straight:
Decline - Link dies in OoT. Everyone's sad.
Child Era - Link is successful in OoT but heads back to the past to remain being a kid and warn everyone.
Adult Era - Link is successful in OoT but... does what? Nothing?
It's the adult era stuff I'm still confused on now.
Ugh, sorry if I'm sounding more dense than I usually am. Ocarina of Time is a complex enough game with a child and an adult link.
Basically, if you get a game over on OoT fighting Ganon and quit you cause the Decline Timeline. I hope you're proud of yourself :p
I don't care much about continuity, either. It's just something Nintendo slapped together because of fan demand, and then the fans got upset by it, anyhow.
Adult Link is absent because he went back in time. Wibbly wobbly timey whimey.Quote:
Originally Posted by Formalhaut
Damn OoT screwed everything up xD
At the end of Ocarina of Time, Zelda sends Link back into the past so that he can live out a normal childhood. Since the Link that became a hero is left in the continuity that is no longer relevant to where he beat Ganon as an adult, that timeline is left without a hero. SO Ganon comes back and floods HyruleQuote:
Originally Posted by Formalhaut
its actually Ganons many sons, not the OG Ganon.
Same with Ling ling oops i mean Link.
and zelda
and.....
yeah you get it.
I'm pretty sure it's a reincarnation thing, at least with Link and Zelda. I don't know if Ganondorf is reincarnated or not.
I suppose what I'm saying is I'm not seeing much of a difference between the child and adult timeline. I'm sure everyone's explaining it great, but I'm still stumped. I'm looking at the Zelda Wiki and everything. It even says here:
Quote:
The presence of the Hero who went back and forth in time generated a fork in history, dividing Hyrule's chronology. The Child Link Timeline is the timeline that follows Link after being sent back to his original time following the defeat of Ganondorf by the Hero of Time
The child and adult timeline sounds identical. Both involve Link being sent back to his original time by Zelda (because he has to live a normal childhood, etc.).Quote:
The presence of the Hero who went back and forth in time generated a fork in history, dividing Hyrule's chronology. The Adult Link Timeline is the timeline that follows the events after Link is being sent back to his original time, following the Hero of Time's defeat of Ganondorf in the final battle
the MM and TP are take place when link goes back and stops ganon before it all.
The other take place continuing after ganons demise without ling ling there anymore cos zelda sent him back
The Goddesses flood Hyrule actually, in order to stop Ganondorf since no one was there to stop him. Yeah OoT screws things up, and technically the Ganondorf from Oot, WW, TP, and LttP are all the same guy, whereas later incarnations are either resurrections or new incarnations. In Skyward Sword, its revealed that Ganon and all the other Zelda villains are different incarnations of a the Demon Lord Demise's curse on Hyrule. So they'll keep coming back until someone can stop the cycle.
Here's a more "updated" timeline as well:
Attachment 68360
Tri-Force Heroes and Link Between Worlds are the only missing entries and they're both in the Fallen Hero Timeline, after Link's Awakening but before the original Legend of Zelda. My guess is the new game is either at the end of the Fallen Hero Timeline or the Child Link Timeline.
Am I conflating the 'link goes back' and 'zelda sent him back' as the same thing? Is that where I'm getting confused?Quote:
Originally Posted by Galuf
They said months ago that there will be a connection to Twilight Princess. Not just with the Amiibo. The true question is now how deep that connection is story-wise.Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno
Adult Timeline is the "Link is gone" Timeline. Link is gone because he left to go to the Child Timeline through Zelda's power.Quote:
Originally Posted by Formalhaut
Ocarina of Time
1. Ganon kills Link
Link is reborn in ALttP
2. Link contronts Zelda, Ganon gets his punishment from the sages (scene from TP) and is "pseudo-defeated" until Zant frees him
Majora's Mask happens
3. Link goes to 2. so Hyrule is left without him after the final battle of OOT
Hyrule gets flooded in WW happens
Basically at the end of OoT, Zelda gives Link the opportunity to live a normal life after he sacrificed seven years of his life to stop Ganondorf in the game by becoming an adult. So she sent him back to the moment when OoT started, but child Link ended up warning Hyrule about the danger of Ganon and he was imprisoned, preventing the events of OoT from happening and creating a split in the timeline because obviously Link still did all the stuff in the Adult Timeline in order to know how to stop Ganon, so the timeline where Link grew up and stopped Ganon didn't disappear by having change the past, instead it just split into a new timeline. So basically Link saved the world as an adult and when he was sent back to relieve his childhood as a reward, he decided to change history by preventing the events of OoT from happening and split time into two different timelines.Quote:
Originally Posted by Formalhaut
In the Missing Hero Timeline, Link doesn't exist anymore because Zelda sent him into the past and he changed history, causing him to live out his days in the Child Link timeline, so no Hero meant no one to stop Ganon when he resurrected, forcing the Goddess' to step in and flood Hyrule to stop him instead before a new Link could reincarnate into this timeline.
In a nutshell:
Fallen Hero Timeline: Link loses the fight against Ganon. OoT took place and Link failed.
Child Timeline: After being sent into the past by Zelda, Link changes time by preventing Ganon's insurrection. Oot never happens cause Link warns everyone about Ganon and he's sealed in the Twilight Realm instead.
Missing Hero Timeline: Follows the timeline Link created by defeating Ganon in OoT. Oot happens but Link disappears to create the Child Timeline, so it's everything in that timeline after Ganon is defeated.