The Hylia

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I know I haven’t really written an article in a long time – it is because I’m so busy working on getting our site back to full capacity. But there is another reason – I had writer’s block and I couldn’t think of a topic to write about. But when in doubt, always go back to what you know best. So I figured I’d give another go at the timeline issue. Don’t worry, I’m not arguing for any theory this time. Rather, this is about the only two truths us fans can ever expect to know.

- There is a timeline connecting The Legend of Zelda games in some manner. - You, as a fan, will never know it unless magically Miyamoto or Aonuma reveals it, and even then we will all scrutinize it to death and not accept it.
Will anyone decipher the Zelda timeline?
So, there’s a timeline, and we’ll never know it. Then why do we, as fans, continually argue this point to death over and over again. Many of us, who have been around for a long time, find it pointless to argue in this debate anymore. It’s an endless cycle. You debate the timeline furiously and passionately, thinking you will be the one to finally crack our version of “The Da Vinci Code”, and then one day you realize how futile it is on your own power. You eventually resign yourself to defeat and accept the truth. Then, you watch as newcomers who don’t know any better join the fight. They argue what you’ve argued before. You may chime in at first, but then you realize it is just beating a dead horse.

There’s no stopping it. There’s no way it will end. So much like The Matrix movies posed the theorem that all life, all purpose stems from the question “why?” and not the choices we make. It’s understanding the choices we made and coming to grips with that reality. So why do we argue about the timeline? That’s like asking why people continue to argue over if there is a god or not. It can’t, so far as humanity is concerned, be proven one way or the other. Even “conclusive” evidence would be met with the most meticulous scrutiny (like say, god appearing to us all or some scientist proving god can’t exist based on some conclusive evidence). The answer is: we’re human.

And because we’re human, we have needs. One of those needs is the need to belong, to associate with others and engage in lively discussion. Greeks used to sit around all day arguing about life, death and everything else. Here we are in the 21st century, and we’re still arguing all day, about life, death and everything else. Zelda fans, like every other person, engage in this endless debate because it makes us feel connected. You enjoy being a part of something, a part of the community.

But, that’s not the answer I think you were looking for. So, there is a more complicated answer, and that’s what I’m going to get at. Yes, we all need to engage with others to feel wanted and to belong, but we all have our own special way of doing this. Some of us argue the timeline because we truly are mystified by the Zelda series. We’d like to know why the games occur in the way they do. Or we just want to have all the answers because we hate not knowing something. Some of us debate it because we love to argue. Whether it is the timeline or which girl or guy Link should end up, we just need to argue and get it out of our system.

Some of us think arguing the timeline (looks at self) makes you extremely knowledgeable about Zelda and proves just how much you know. To be more specific, the need to compete comes into play. Whether you just want to show you know more, that you can win any argument, or just because you’d like to show up that idiot who doesn’t know what he’s talking about with this multiple timeline crap, there’s a bit of competitiveness in this whole ordeal.

There are many mysteries in the Zelda franchise. But the allure of solving the timeline is the king of them all. To the fan who solves it lays eternal glory and your story will be passed down in legend much like the games’ stories themselves, and maybe one day fans will argue what really happened during your era. Point is, it’s the Holy Grail syndrome. Something that probably doesn’t exist, but the knowledge of what it might bring to the finder is what drives one to seek it out.

I’m no psychologist, but I guess probably everyone who engages in timeline debate wants to know the answer to it all. Even if you’re just there to egg on people to start a good fight. But, does this competition for the ultimate prize amount to what we dream of. Sometimes, reality is a lot harsher than we think.

So I pose a more important question to you, Zelda fans. Just like Ian Malcolm posed to John Hammond in Jurassic Park, Zelda fans are so pre-occupied with whether or not they could solve the timeline that they didn’t stop to think if they should. Should the Zelda timeline, the greatest mystery in this illustrious franchise, ever be revealed? Stop and think about it for a second.

I’m not going to bother trying to answer this. This is a personal question and I’m sure there are many feelings over this issue as there are timeline theories themselves. But if it were solved, then what happens? We don’t have a timeline debate anymore. Does having this mystery add to Zelda’s mystique? Or would solving it really benefit the series as a whole, and fans could move onto the next great Zelda mystery.

If you’re wondering why I don’t argue the timeline anymore, except that there is one and we don’t know it, perhaps now you know why I don’t. I feel it is beyond me to solve, and I think trying to solve it is impossible for anyone. It probably adds spark to the Zelda community, and it’s still the hottest topic around after all these years, but sometimes, enough is enough.

That is the peace I have obtained with this issue. The best theory is your own, and your own theory is as good as it gets. So don’t give up on your theory as to what the timeline is, but just know it is not correct for others. There’s thousands of possibilities for the timeline debate, each as correct as the next. So in a sense, we all have solved the timeline debate, but yet we haven’t. That’s the truth.

Have you missed out on any of our E3 media coverage? Here's a quick reference for all the footage we got at ths show, including exclusive footage from Phantom Hourglass and Twilight Princess.