Get your corkboards and red string ready, the theories are about to begin…
Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Timeline: Three theories
That’s the ultimate question, isn’t it? At the time of writing, we’ve only seen a single four-minute trailer, and Nintendo had the audacity to focus all of it on the game’s story and mechanics instead of playing to the interests of our small group of nerds who are curious about the game. relations with the War of Prisoners (we know, shocking).
When the game comes out on September 26th, we can get some indication of where he stands in the ‘official’ timeline, but don’t get your hopes up. Like we said, Nintendo is typically cagey with this kind of information, so we wouldn’t expect to see any “Echoes of Wisdom” dialog where a random NPC says to Zelda, “Link’s gone?! But he just came back from it mysterious journey to Koholint Island!”
With no official answers right now, we’re doing what we timeline buffs do best: theorizing based on possibly irrelevant details.
Let’s start with our favorite and go from there.
Theory # 1: The Hero is Possible Duration – A link to the Past Foreword
If you’ve ever glanced at the official Zelda timeline, you’re likely aware of the ‘Hero is Possible’ branch. it in a typical way falls after Ocarina of Time with Link pulling out his clogs and the Demon King sharing the Triforce and being sealed in the Holy Realm by the Seven Sages. it in a typical way leads to the events of A Link to the Past. In a typical way.
Why do we keep saying “usually”? Because there’s every chance that Echoes of Wisdom will be a retelling of the origins of this timeline, and our first real look at the bond falling into the hands of the demon king — unless you give in to ol’ Dorf at the end of OOT and you never stopped to try again.
It’s probably the most obvious answer, but it makes a lot of sense. The Missing Link is a pretty pivotal event in the Hero Is Defeated timeline (who knows?) and from what we’ve seen in the Echoes of Wisdom reveal trailer, the upcoming 2D adventure will be all about that scenario. This branch of the timeline has always been a bit hypothetical operating under a ‘what if?’ clause that most of us have never seen in play.
But the Echo of Wisdom can to be his ultimate starting point, a true precursor to A Link to the Past. Now that’s exciting!
There is more evidence pointing to this branch of the timeline as a potential home for Echoes of Wisdom as well. Fans were quick to notice that the game’s Hyrule seems to closely mirror what we saw in A Link to the Past. Plus, Ganon looks big and blue in a way that more closely resembles his appearance from Oracle of Ages/Seasons, A Link Between Worlds, etc. than the ‘realistic’ pig model from Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time.
However (and it is quite large STILL), the Echoes of Wisdom reveal trailer differs from what we know about the Hero is Defeated timeline in one key respect: Ganon is also defeated. According to the Hyrule Story, this branch is supposed to see the Demon King defeat Link and grab the Triforce before the Seven Sages seal him away. That doesn’t seem to be how things are going here.
Hmm. Shall we put it in a defeated mix? Could there be another battle between Link and Ganon at the end of the game? Is this a complete retelling? Perhaps another theory is the answer.
Theory #2: Hero is possible Duration – Continued awakening of a link
Okay, now this puts things in the same timeline BRANCHES like our previous theory, but it shifts the order a bit to suggest that Echoes of Wisdom could be a sequel to Link’s Awakening.
This is a theory we’ve seen proposed on Reddit a few times, and it holds water pretty well.
There are all the ‘Hero is Possible’ branch connections we’ve already mentioned (similar map, Ganon design, etc.), but we also have the biggest visual connection: this game looks LOT similar to Switch Link’s Awakening remake.
Now, as we’ve said many times, Nintendo doesn’t generally pay that much attention to the Zelda timeline, but when it’s implied that we’re seeing the same Link in two different games, we tend to see the same visual style make a comeback. This is what we saw with Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass, Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. This isn’t always the case (see Minish Cap and Four Swords Adventure, which have the same art style but aren’t directly related, per se), but it tends to be Nintendo shorthand for “Don’t forget that other game that looked so This is its continuation.”
We also have the adhesive detail of the Zora types. From the looks of Echoes of Wisdom’s reveal trailer, the upcoming game will feature both ‘Sea’ and ‘River’ variants – something we haven’t seen in a Zelda game outside of Oracle of Ages. Of course, that adventure took place in Labrynna, not Hyrule (and there’s some dispute as to whether it takes place chronologically before or after Link’s Awakening), but seeing both models appear again here makes us wonder if things take place after Labrynna- s of Link and imagined sea voyages to Koholint.
Although even this theory has its holes – what is Ganon of the Holy Realm doing before a connection between worlds? Where was Pema Deku in ALTTP if he is appearing in Echoes of Wisdom? – so maybe we’re still barking up the wrong tree.
Theory #3: A new timeline branch
We cannot stress how much we hope this Its not the answer, however annoying, may be.
What if Echoes of Wisdom did away with the timeline as we know it? It may not fit well into the ‘Hero is Defeated’ branch, the ‘Hero is Triumphant’ branches, or the original Sword Skyward to Ocarina that started it all. What if this is a whole new branch of the timeline that we’ve never seen before?
Don’t worry, we’re groaning at the thought too. But it makes little sense. Almost every timeline theory has its own contradictions, and if this predates some of the other major entries, where have all the mentions of ‘That time Princess Zelda used her magic wand to defeat the Demon King’ been? The ‘Hero is Triumphant’ timeline has two separate branches, so who’s to say Nintendo isn’t doing the same thing with ‘Hero is Defeated’? One where the Seven Sages seal the Demon King and one where Princess Zelda steps up to the plate.
This would explain why the Hylian landscape appears LESS unlike what we saw in LTTP and ALBW, why is Ganondorf back as he is, why does Link seem to use a blade that looks almost like the Master Sword, but not quite. Any continuity question can be answered with a simple “Time difference, dude,” which, if we were Nintendo, feels like a pretty good way to sidestep any potential headaches.
Of course, giving it another branch of the timeline would slide the series dangerously close to a multiverse setup (as if it had never happened since the ‘official’ timeline was released) that even the MCU would envy. But let’s look at the positive: this makes room for more games where Zelda is the hero.
We’ll bet all our rupees that the Hylian monarch will guard Link at the end of the game, but if this is a timeline where Zelda is the protagonist, then we should not look at Echoes of Wisdom as a single. Not that we’d need a separate branch for that, but learning a new timeline wouldn’t be a bad trade-off when it opens the door for more adventures with Zelda protagonists in the future.