User:NotNamedJohn/2D Timeline Theory

A possibility recently occurred to me concerning the Zelda timeline. The idea was this: what if there are, in fact, 3 timelines instead of 2? What if the 2D Zelda games are separated from the 3D entirely? Sounds crazy, right? But if we alienate the 2D games from the 3D games, we get a workable timeline. We already know exactly what the 3D timelines are because Nintendo has been forthright about those the whole time.

3D Adult Timeline -- OoT>TWW>PH>ST

3D Child Timeline -- OoT>MM>TP

But here's what I came up with for the 2D timeline on my own after playing through each of these games several times.

2D Timeline -- TMC>FS>LoZ>AoL>FSA>ALttP>LA>OoS>OoA -- or -- TMC>FS>LoZ>AoL>FSA>OoS>OoA>ALttP>LA

At first you might wonder why I would place ALttP after the original Zelda, when the manual depicts Ganon's origin and "Past" is right there in the title even. Well, the manual depicts a great many things contradictory to the game, including the Japanese manual. And the original title was changed from Triforce of the Gods -- NoA whipped up A Link to the Past. After playing ALttP thoroughly several times over, I have come to the conclusion that the Seal War depicted in the manual is wildly inaccurate. In the game, at no point is Ganon mentioned to be trapped in the Sacred Realm. In fact, Agahnim is Ganon, as seen in the game, and Ganon even refers to him as his alter-ego after transforming from Agahnim into Ganon. I have come to the conclusion that Ganon was free from the Sacred Realm from the very beginning, and he was in fact sacrificing the maidens in order to get to the Triforce. I also think the story of the game and its manual were written by different people. There were no great limitations on disk space to fit all the text and story in, as there had been on the NES, so why the supplemental in the first place?

Now then, once ALttP's manual has been discredited, the timeline meshes together quite well. Aonuma said around Four Swords' release that it was the first in the series, so naturally its prequel The Minish Cap would be even further back. The only game Ganon is seen without his trademark trident is the very first game, so naturally it should predate the games it appears in. Likewise, the game where he acquires the trident should predate the ones he has it in. He is only sealed within the Four Sword in the end of FSA, so the next game he appears in should probably not feature him dead in the beginning -- thus ALttP/LA would predate OoS/OoA. This is not a certainty though, as there are significant gaps between games, and suggesting that some other adventure happened in-between FSA and the Oracle series would explain the discrepancy of being imprisoned in one and dead in the other. OoS/OoA are probably canon enough both ways, but I put Seasons first because it was the first I played and the manuals imply it comes first -- but manuals aren't always canon.