When it comes to Zelda, nothing drives fans nuttier than the placement of a game’s in the Zelda timeline. Ever since fans demanded the creation of one in the first place, the timeline has been a means to start an argument and come up with their own wild imaginations, due to the official one not meeting our personal preference.
One game in particular that has really made the arguments fly in the last couple of years, is none other than The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Even before the game released on March 3, 2017, Zelda theorists made plenty of videos on YouTube, speculating where the game falls on the timeline and it’s only gotten worse ever since.
That’s not to say the theorists don’t have good ideas, but the open difference of opinions showed no time of slowing and it really didn’t help that even the devs behind the game, including Hidemoaro Fujibayashi, went on record to say that its “up to the player’s imagination, isn’t it?”
But an answer has finally arrived and just like the recent retcon of Link’s Awakening, which was moved before the Oracle games, instead of being set after them, the placement of Breath of the Wild is also sure to turn a few heads. According to the timeline on the Japanese Zelda site, Breath of the Wild does in fact take place at the END of the timeline, only it does not connect to any timeline splits, which you can see for yourself, in the image below:
At this time, Breath of the Wild is still absent from the timeline on the American version, but it does appear that the theory of the game taking place at the end of the timeline, is the one that holds water. As for how it might be more directly connected, it seems we might just have to wait for more instalments and see if any of them connect Breath of the Wild to the other games from the Zelda series.
Still, just because this is not the definitive answer Zelda fans have been asking for, it is step in the right direction and links to both timeline sites can be seen below. Happy reading:
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/character/zelda/history/index.html
Source: nintendo.co.jp
