Nintendo Explains The 'Zelda Canon', Declares 'Breath Of The Wild' And 'Tears Of The Kingdom' Are Completely Separate From The Rest Of The Series

The Legend of Zelda series, which has been ongoing since the '80s and features roughly a bajillion games, has long been the subject of (often humorous) online debate concerning its timeline, particularly since games in the series seldom release in chronological order.

Finally, Nintendo has released a graphic outlining the official Zelda timeline, finally proving for once and for all that … The Legend of Zelda series can't really be ordered in a sequential timeline.

The graphic appeared at Nintendo Live 2024 in Sydney, Australia.

As spotted by Vooks.net, the "official" Zelda timeline features a divergent path after Ocarina of Time as the timeline splits into two, and a divergent path within one of those paths for "Child Link" and "Adult Link." Finally, and perhaps most intriguingly, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are off in a completely separate timeline from the "main" timeline.

The image isn't new information, as it reflects the timeline on Nintendo's website, which has been in place since the release of Tears of the Kingdom, but it was many social media users' first time seeing it.

As the image went viral on Twitter / X, it proved two things. The first is something everyone already knew – that the Zelda timeline is ridiculously convoluted – and the second is that the Zelda timeline doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

Many users expressed that trying to fit the Zelda games together logically was a fool's errand, as the games have brazenly shirked continuity throughout most of the series' history, and the recent BOTW/TOTK duology proved that Zelda's creators have little interest in a canonical timeline.

While the "official" Zelda timeline may be a jumbled mess, it likely won't stop passionate Nintendo fans from attempting to cram it all into one sequential timeline that makes sense.