It’s official – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom take place outside the series’ established timeline.
That’s according to Nintendo itself, which shared the timetable at Nintendo Live 2024 in Sydney.
Whilst every other game slots into either the “Hero is Defeated” or “Hero is Triumphant” timeline, two games are set very intentionally off to the side: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
“Since 1987, Link has starred in the Legend of Zelda series, taking on monstrous foes across multiple timelines,” Nintendo explains, via an image shared by Vooks.
“When evil rears its boarish head, you can bet Link and his long-time co-star Zelda will be there to fight for Hyrule.
“Over the last 37 years, Link has had quite the career – full of numerous adventures and countless enemies.
It then invites players to “learn more about this hero’s journey” in the timeline below, which explicitly sets the series’ latest additions in a completely separate timeframe to that of the rest of the games:
Interestingly, there’s no obvious link between the two latest games, either; whilst the others on the timeline have a line connecting them, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom do not.
If you missed it, Nintendo recently released another trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, giving us our first look at the princess embracing her inner-Link, and wielding a sword and shield.