http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/28755

Someone at Nintendo can't beat OoT and thought it would be a good idea to make a third time split in the Zelda universe called Hero of Time Fails.
Also the Zelda timeline canon . Honestly someone just need to back in time and stop Zelda from sending Link back or just downright kill her she's messing up Hyrule's timeline.

There is no real timeline in Zelda, they probably just did this to shut the fans up.

It makes sense. If Link fails, it opens up the possibility of Ganons return for the other games.

Of course... he returns anyway.

Zelda games died to me a long time ago......so I can't say I care.

It makes perfect sense. The Chamber of Sages exists outside of time. When Link got to the Master Sword, the sages yanked him out of time itself, then plopped him back in seven years later. I think that's the first split, so now we have the failure timeline, wherein Link just up and disappears, and the other where he's back in Hyrule as an advlt. Then, of course, Link travels back and forth in time within the same timeline and eventually saves Hyrule from Ganon. After that, Zelda sends him back to his childhood, splitting the childhood timeline away from the advlt one. So now we have one timeline where Link wasn't around to stop Ganon, one where he disappears after saving Hyrule, and one where he grows up as a child and goes to Termina.

/Zelda nerdery

Pretty much this. At this point Ganon find so many mysterious loopholes and flaws that at this point it's just a constant merry go round of 'BWAHAHAHAHA! IT IS I, GANON. I HAVE RETURNED!' *Link stops Ganon after he or one of his many mooks has assumed control of current plot world* *Ganon is sealed again* 'I sure am glad we'll never see HIM again.' 'BWAHAHAHAHA! IT IS I, GANON. I HAVE RETURNED!'

Its just like friday the 13th only I dont hate it, for the reason you described.

I've never once played a Zelda game.. So I really have no opinion...

As someone commented, what the hell is the purpose of a "Ganon wins" timeline? If that's the case, there should be one for every single zelda game, and if not that, at least Oracle of Ages.

SO. CONFUSING.

Each new game is essentially a remake or in a few cases, sequel.

Maybe its just me, but I never imagined a timeline. Just alternate realities. I have only played WW and TP, but havent saw anything to suggest there is any connection between the games.

There certainly is a timeline of some sort. Nintendo has referenced it before and there are countless subtle (and not so subtle) hints as to where each game takes place. It was obviously established after the fact, but most sequels are.

As for this timeline, if it's what Nintendo says is official then I'll go along with it. One could argue that there'd be an alternate timeline for every instance of Link's failure to defeat Ganon (as well as others to cover the infinite possibilities), but that doesn't mean Nintendo has to build from each. Ocarina of Time being the point in time where the timeline splits anyway is a logical place to highlight one instance of said failure.

Either way, I'll continue to speculate since it's still a fairly interesting topic.

IMO there's only two timelines one is where Link goes back as a kid to relive his childhood which leads us to Majora's Mask-->Twilight Princess---->then ending at A Link to the Past. The other timeline is caused by Zelda's mistake by sending Link back to which Ganon escapes and starts to destroy Hyrule which causes the Gods to flood Hyrule thus taking us to the events of Wind Waker. The whole Hero of Time fails timeline seems like a what if senrio and shouldn't be consitered canon.

Disregard my last post; I was wrong. I've just learned that the book explicitly states that the "Link fails" timeline is a what-if. Which irks me a bit. The classic Zelda games--all of them that were made before Ocarina of Time--are officially non-canon, if this book is to be trusted.

I don't think that "timeline" is official at all. If you play through OoT and then through ALttP, you'llnotice that the "past events" referred to in ALttP are the very events you played through in OoT. Therefore, ALttP would actually be in the "Link defeats Ganon - advlt branch", if there was an actual timeline at all.

They had no timeline in mind when designing the games, so this is just the games shoehorned into a timeline after the fact, there's going to be inconsistencies. They should just finally settle it and explain how there's no Zelda canon, besides the games that have direct sequels.

References to past games does not mean there's a canon timeline, the Link in most of the games is a different person altogether. You could also say each game is a different "legend" about the same event. (namely, the defeat of Ganon)

I didn't know Zelda had timelines or canon at all. I though almost every Zelda game was independent of the other.

The real fail here is attempting to link them together.

Like I said, it was established after the fact. Most sequels in gaming are an afterthought. Also, you can't just say each game is a different legend of the same events because many of the games refer to past games' events in one way or another. These games are obviously taking place in the same universe, mostly in the land of Hyrule. Hyrule is always a very different place, with those differences playing directly into key events in the Zelda timeline (such as the Imprisoning War, the Great Flood, legends of the Hero of Time or Hero of Men, etc.).

Skyward Sword makes this very clear (big spoilers):


I don't think anyone that's familiar with Zelda's lore could say that the vast majority of the games aren't part of some sort of timeline.