As far as the timeline is concerned, I know I discuss it in different places on the site however, I'm not sure to what depth I truly address the issue completely,

the timeline should essentially be separated into separate timelines. As well the GameBoy games should really be put into an entirely separate category except for maybe Link's Awakening, but even that game I always felt belonged in an alternate timeline or "universe" as the comic nerds would say.

The Timeline such as it is I believe is as follows:

Timeline 1 (The First Age)
The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time (Probably connects with Timeline 2)
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Could Possibly connect with Timeline 2 or 3 after Z2:AOL not enough evidence to support this though, more to support Timeline 1 connection)


Timeline 2 (The Second Age)

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening


Timeline 3 (The Third Age)

The Legend of Zelda
Zelda II: The Adventures of Link
Zelda 2005? (Unreleased)


Now understand that the games are only vaguely and loosely tied together, nevertheless the series has borrowed a lot of storyline from itself and previous game releases. Primarily this is the domain of Fan Fiction people to fill in the gaps, but there are some facts stated in the games that can allow for connections to be drawn as well as contradictions that have to be sorted out logically.

In A Link to the Past Sahasrahla, the Introduction to the Game, and the Book of Mudora talk of a prior time, and of the Imprisoning War, and the combined effort of 7 sages to seal Ganon into the Golden Land which became the Dark World once he corrupted it. It also states that much of the memory of this time was lost to the fogs of time. Ocarina of Time confirms that legend however it does deviate or leave a lot to assumption. The destruction of Hyrule Castle in Ocarina of Time with the replacement of Ganon's Tower and the lake of fire, could have happened during the 7 years of the imprisoning war, and then at the end of Zelda 64 Ganondorf who is transformed into Piggy Ganon is sealed into the Sacred Realm/Golden Land and alternate dimension.

I also have a lot of Nintendo related material that I use to support this, old stuff like the official Zelda Strategy Guide, The instruction manuals to all the games, various issues of Nintendo Power from the late 80's and some other gaming magazines.

It's quite obvious that Hyrule of "The Legend of Zelda" is again a world ravaged by Ganon and a husk of A Link to the Past's Hyrule, there is a large graveyard, and most everyone that's left lives in caves or inside dungeons hiding underground. It's likely that those that lived left this area via Death Mountain to the north and spread across the greater country or World of Hyrule that appears in Zelda II, I do believe that I read that in Zelda II, you can actually see the area where Zelda I takes place toward the very bottom of the map on the western continent below Death Mountain. There is even a "boulder" that they call Spectacle Rock, and you can see the shape of Lake Hylia from the First game. There's just basically a sandy patch there, cause it's basically been leveled from all the wars with Ganon over the centuries. Zelda II could be taking place in a world 1000 or more years in the future, just like in our world today, we find relics of previous societies like the Maya or the Akkadians buried under the dirt or hidden under the forest it's likely many people don't know of the timelines involving Ocarina of Time or A Link to the Past by the time Zelda II comes around, you have an entirely different society with a completely new political structure. The world of Zelda II is a world inhabited by pre-renaissance decendants of Hylians, and includes impressive palaces and temples across to major land masses (3 if you count Maze Island).

However Zelda II acknolwedges Ocarina of Time with the naming of Towns after the 7 Sages of the Imprisoning War, but with A Link to the Past not acknowledging those seven sages, and calling them Wise Men, there is a contradiction. The 7 Maidens of of A Link to the Past are decendants of the 7 Wise Men that sealed Ganon into the Golden Land according to A Link to the Past, however we know that in Ocarina of Time, these 7 "Sages" (which is synonymous with People of Wisdom or Wise Men), are of 7 completely different races, so it makes you wonder how 7 girls of the same race can be descendants of the seven sages of Ocarina of Time. My theory, it's left field, but basically the transmigration of souls from the Sacred Realm/Golden Land into the Light World across a Hylian Space-Time continuum. That's the only plausible theory, albeit esoteric as to why they are somehow connected. These 7 maidens including Zelda are reincarnates. You see the gods of Hyrule dictated a balance of forces between wisdom, power, and courage, and in times where one becomes out of balance the other two compensate to return equalibrium to the world.

In Ocarina of Time, the gods of Hyrule are referred to as coming from a distant Nebula to bring forth life upon Planet Hyrule, it's a safe assumption that these Gods are actually very advanced alien entites perhaps evolved beyond a society like ours by potentially tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years that basically can manipulate matter and energy on a planetary scale and create an artifact of technology, the Triforce that exists in a co-temporal subspace to Hyrule and acts as the force that maintains a balance of equilibrium upon this world through indirect temporal and physical manipulation. It plays a role in the reincarnation of Link, Zelda, and the appearance of Ganon as it shapes the growth of the beings that inhabit it. Does this explain talking Trees like the Deku Tree, or Zora's and such, not at all, but that's all artistic license.

Realistically, this is just a damn video game, but when I was young I used to know comic book nerds who could tell from what dimension this hero came from, and explain what multiverse was, and how this one got his super powers and who's body was fused with adamantium and such, so I guess to each his own. If you're a hardcore fan of this series of games, like the people that visit sites like this one and mine, undoubtedly this kind of wacky almost trivial discussion comes up and people like reading about it.

THE ODYSSEY OF HYRULE