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With the release of The Legends of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom etching closer and closer, everyone’s curious to see where the story writers will slot it into the expanding Zelda timeline. The Legends of Zelda is one of the oldest game series in existence with its storyline spanning over 19 (soon to be 20) iterations released across a period of 37 years.
Fortunately, the two trailers alongside multiple hints released in tidbits here and there have given the community a well enough idea where Tears of The Kingdom falls. This article will cover everything you need to know about TotK’s place in the timelines, and will also answer the looming question of whether the 20th version of Zelda will be the last version we see for the franchise.
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How Much Time Passed Between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom?
Nintendo’s last release of the Legends of Zelda was in 2017. That’s six whole years before the projected release date of Tears of the Kingdom. However, as Legends of Zelda games go, they don’t necessarily follow the same chronological timeline as the release order in the real world.
So, what can we say about the chronological link between Breath of the Wild and its successor, Tears of the Kingdom? As far as we know from the gameplay in the trailer and the hints given in preceding iterations, Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild in the Zelda storyline. Thus, the gameplay will also feel like it’s just a little after where BOTW ended.
Tears of the Kingdom Overarching Timeline
Mysteriously, both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kindom seem to take place at an entirely separate time from the known timelines. This is indicated by how our characters are in Hyrule instead of New Hyrule in BOTW. This version of the game is set around 10,000 years before any of the three branching timelines, and perhaps only Tears of the Kingdom will help elucidate where to lump these two games.
History of Tears of the Kingdom Timeline
Avid fans of the Zelda series know how nuanced and vast is the Zelda timeline. The game has branched into several different points in time in Link and Zelda’s life and different releases often try to fill in the mysterious gaps left by the previous versions.
For those who don’t know, or are new to the Zelda franchise, the game follows a story with four different timelines. These were the Child Timeline, the Adult Timeline, The Fallen Hero Timeline, and the original timeline that started with Skyward Sword. The original timeline eventually split after the Ocarina of Time.
The Zelda timeline can get quite confusing. Sometimes, diving deeper into the game’s storyline and its details can get you even more confused than you originally were. However, one thing’s for certain: Tears of the Wind will clear up most of the things that we’ve been looking forward to.