#HOW IS THERE A RITO WARRIOR??? IN A TIME AFTER OOT??? WHERE THERE WERE NO RITO????

[that-one-loz-nerd]

Nintendo casually rewriting pieces of the timeline while us fans go insane pulling at our hair trying to figure out how it could all work

[amiharana]

A very loose prompt: a while ago I found a bunch of Stone tower temple theme covers (especially NostalgiCore's and TheNamelessBard's covers), and that got me in a Revalink mood: first, a pretty straightforward idea of Revali and BotW!Link somehow walking around Stone Tower ruins and wondering just what those ruins were in its prime, and second: the tunes living on, and Revali or Link dancing to one of them while the other is watching (also, the fact that one of the catchiest fan lyrics go "danger lurks around every bend, you cannot succed alone; sing the song, let go of your grief, solider comes whose heart is stone" could be pretty easily made to fit revalink: both Link and Revali have reasons to craft an image of themselves as an unsheakeble warrior (Link literally stopped talking out of fear of saying the wrong thing, and Revali tries to look like the most arrogant Rito to ever walk Hyrule, despite evidence to the countrary) as someone who may as well have a heart of stone, and both of them have things they grieve about, so them going together through Ikana valley - a place that requires putting ghosts to rest - would sound a lot like fulfilling the lyrics. Bonus points if they actually need to solve the Stone Tower puzzles together to go back to BotW and key Ikana characters are still around to help them(not really ship relevant, I just thought it would be lowkey funny when BotW boys would bump into Ikana undead and learn that one of the Hero incarnations had shown up here already).

anon i first want to sincerely apologize it took me so long to answer this ask because (1) i never finished playing majora's mask so i can't write a good enough fic to do justice to mm lore and (2) it was sent during a time when i was probably prepping for an exam. i'm still prepping for exams, i have another one next wednesday 😭

but i still took the time to go find and listen the covers you were mentioned! i hope these were the right ones, because they went kinda hard ☝️😩 they both made me think about a tangled au like flynn rider!revali x rapunzel!link, like that one scene where everyone is dancing together in the town center or whatever lol. i couldn't find the one you mentioned with fan lyrics though but if you'd like to send them, or if anyone else knows where it's from, please do!

iirc, termina is a completely different world from hyrule and oot!link somehow gets in after an altercation with skull kid who has the majora's mask. spoilers for people who haven't played mm? but i just read that termina was a creation of skull kid's own mind so it's not even a real world 😳 so i'm interested to know how link and revali got into the stone tower temple in the first place, or if another temple of the same name perhaps exists in hyrule analogous to the one in termina. like would they run into skull kid somewhere in botw's hyrule? or find the mask on their own (since majora's mask is available in botw as dlc) and somehow termina still exists within the mask? link why the fuck would you put on the mask what da hell?

i would assume that termina's existence relies on skull kid's active envisionment of it and link's constant resetting with the ocarina that causes the perpetual three-day time loop and prevents the moon from falling. and in addition, that termina was created with the purpose of being skull kid's plaything to . hurt and kill people out of his frustration? like i said, i never got to finish mm so i'm kind of iffy on the details of the story sawrryy ✋😭 but it's like. does termina go against the conventions of time? if we assume that termina is a creation of skull kid's imagination, will it be able to continue existing as its own world? will it always be in a three-day loop or after oot!link saves termina, does it continue in a regular continuous flow of time, therefore resulting in the ruins of the stone tower temple? would places like clock town still be thriving thousands of years later? like what if link and revali met skull kid somehow in botw, pissed him off, got dragged in termina, and had to go exactly through what oot!link did in order to escape LMAOOO

i could imagine revali and link bickering about how the other was the reason why they got into this mess, and then they step into clock town from within the clock tower and are completely shocked because they were just in the lost woods and now they're in the middle of a town??? you mentioned wanting to see them meet key mm characters specifically from ikana, but since i don't know any of them (i'm sorry again 😭), imagine link and revali meeting anju at the stockpot inn just trying to get a room to sleep and anju being like. huh. your name is link, too? and having to explain to revali n link that a child in green with the same name and disposition as botw!link had come to termina years ago and saved their town from the moon falling and destroying it. and revali and link are just like. The moon was WHAT? and a CHILD saved you????

link and revali joining in during the carnival of time, and maybe the carnival of time now has a segment where they retell the story of the child in green who saved termina through song and dance, and link gets roped into dancing with the townspeople during the stone temple tower piece. he doesn't know the dance at all, but one thing about link is that he picks up very quickly on everything 😙 so revali is off to the sides of the town center with everyone else crossing his arms, watching link as he begins to catch onto the choreography and keeping in step with the rest of the dancers. he spins and twirls and claps with the other dancers, a smile growing on his face as the song continues, and revali is completely enamored. link had always been beautiful to him, but he was constantly surprisingly revali. this might become one of revali's favorite aspects of link's beauty now.

by the end of the dance, link is panting, sweating, and his cheeks are flushed with a rosy glow. revali's eyes are still on him; they never left link at all. someone nudges revali with their elbow and he glances at them briefly. "that one yours?" they say with a smirk, pointing their chin at link. revali looks back at link, who's smiling brightly thanking and complimenting the other dancers. the little hylian then catches revali's eye, and his bright grin becomes a shy, but warm smile.

revali's gaze softens. "he's not a object to possess," he says to the stranger. he watches as link bows slightly to the other dancers in farewell, then begins to jog back over to revali. "but if there's any possession occuring, it would be his hold on my heart." the stranger says nothing, eyes wide.

once link approaches, his jog falters into a walk. "have fun?" revali says, rather softly.

link nods, smiling. "i didn't think i'd learn it that fast, but it was a really fun dance."

revali hums. "well, it looked like you had fun doing it. ready to turn in for the night?"

"mhm," link replies, and revali can hear the drowsiness beginning to seep into his ever-slumberous songbird's voice. the little hylian then moves forward to cling to revali's wing, and the rito glances at the stranger who's been watching their exchange the entire time.

"enjoy the rest of your evening," revali says primly to him. he tosses his braids over his shoulder as they turn away to walk back to the inn. while he didn't "own" link, it was true, at least, that his heart was for link to own.

i don't want this to get too long and end up misremembering details or something, but imagine some of the lyrics of the stone tower temple song resonating too deeply with revali and link after they think about it later, so they ask anju about it and she tells them about the actual stone tower temple in ikana valley that the song talks about and maybe that's how they end up traveling to the temple, exploring the ruins, somehow getting booby-trapped inside, and having to complete old-school dungeon puzzles to get out 😄

that's all from me for now. if anyone else is interested in writing for this prompt, go for it 🫣

[powdermelonkeg]

Hyrule Brochure: A Potential for BotW’s Future

Hyrule’s map in BotW is pretty sparse as far as cities go. Yes, it’s got more than any other Zelda game, but it also has like, 90% of its map being pure dead space.

So I decided to play around and make what I imagine Hyrule would look like, as far as cities go, if it were allowed to properly rebuild and not get totally wrecked by Ganon again.

Credit to Eragon2589 on DeviantArt for the free-to-use map icons. I love these little buttons so much.

So, these are the canon towns we get in BotW; Hateno, Lurelin, Tarrey, Zora’s Domain, Goron City, Korok Forest, Rito Village, Yiga Hideout, and Gerudo Town. I’m counting Yiga Hideout as a town because if the Yiga were a little nicer, it WOULD be marked one.

Adding the various stables on makes the place look MUCH less empty, but still; what can we do with this?

Well, I’ve spent the last several days locating all the significant ruins and landmarks, with one or two extra things thrown in, that I think would make this place much more populated.

Maps are free to use if you want them, btw. Have fun!

As a general rule of thumb, I want to make the towers and stables their own cities. The towers are a good landmark and beacon of safety, and the stables have all the building blocks to start building up a village.

If I’m particularly inspired, I’ll give some background on what the town is/does!

Starting off with the Rito! Their village has grown into a town, and the stable at its foothill is its own village now. I called it “fledgeling” because that’s where the Rito and Hylians would intermingle most, so the Rito aren’t exactly flying around here.

Beacon City is built around Tabantha Tower; the Rito have turned it into a sort of lighthouse, reflecting light off into the distance to help guide nighttime fliers home. Because of this, it’s a very popular stop for mail carriers, and where they go, development and cultural mixing follows.

Kaysa Town is built around Great Fairy Kaysa’s fountain; it’s a popular tourist attraction, and she gets plenty of offerings, so win-win!

For the Gorons, we’ve only got two more cities: Silversmith Village and Din’s Spire. Silversmith is built around the culture in the southern mines, and it has down-the-road access to the Goron Hot Springs. Din’s Spire is less of a town and more of a landmark, due to the sheer cliffs all around it, but the huge (and notably not in the burning death zone) hot spring lake makes it a popular rest stop for people on their way through.

I decided not to rebuild the northern mines; they’re pretty busted up and lava soaked, so my assumption is that they were abandoned either due to hazards or due to the ore being stripped out.

Korok Forest wouldn’t change much, besides the Royal Family declaring it a protected area. The Koroks don’t seem to have much interest in expansion, and they, as far as I know, don’t live in houses.

Gerudo Territory is MUCH more expansive than the others so far, and with good reason.

Gerudo Town itself is now Gerudo City, and the Kara Kara Bazaar has grown into a town. Canyon Stable has developed a village (mostly full of Gerudo husbands so they don’t have to travel a million miles just to see their families).

The Gerudo have control of one of the towers in their region, and the town built around it is Overlook Town. It mostly serves as a training grounds for young Gerudo warriors.

The City of the Seven developed when the Seven Heroine statues were recovered and restored; the town around them was built to honor them, and then it got a LOT of foot traffic from those wanting to see the legendary statues.

Tera Town rose up much in the same way Kaysa Town did up in Rito territory, centered around the Great Fairy Fountain.

Mesa Village and West Gerudo Town are both smaller Gerudo settlements; West Gerudo sprung up out of access to snowmelt from the Gerudo Highlands, and Mesa Village, because of its relative safety from Molduga and access to oasis water.

Finally, Gerudo Valley, in reference to Ocarina of Time. This town is a Gerudo-only zone, and is more a fortress than a town. It exists both to keep an eye on the Yiga and to gain control of the mountain pass, making people go through Canyon Village to get to Gerudo instead of avoiding Gerudo customs.

Speaking of the Yiga, they’ve taken two new spots for themselves; Gerudo Tower, which they’ve renamed Kohga Tower in honor of their late Master, and Banana Labyrinth, which serves as their highest security area. Imagine if you’d had to go through the LABYRINTH to get the Thunder Helm back.

Up next we’ve got the Zora. Truthfully, their territory spans as long as Zora river and WELL into the ocean, but these are the only cities that, technically, a Hylian with adequate gear can enter.

Mipha’s Landing is an above-water city built expressly for doing trade. It got its name from the late Mipha; since the tower reaches up into the sky, it was hoped that someday, her spirit would sit atop it for a rest and see all that her people had been able to do thanks to her sacrifice.

Lakebed Village is in Lake Hylia, and it’s actually a slowly-repopulating Lakebed Temple, from Twilight Princess. Meanwhile, Great Bay City is a port town above water and an aquatic metropolis below, full of music and dance and exotic wares.

And finally, Hylians.

Hoo boy.

I’ve split this up region by region but

THIS is how many living spots they’ve got.

Silver stars indicate military towns. Red stars indicate military outposts.

I USE THE TERM MILITARY VERY LOOSELY HERE. Hyrule, since it doesn’t interact with its neighbors, only has the Yiga and the various monsters to fight against. Anything labeled “military” means that it’s staffed by royal employ, meaning knights and Sheikah and the like.

Let’s start with Akkala. The northeast labyrinth has been converted into an emergency bunker, in case Calamity strikes and people need a safe place to hide. Not only is it difficult to break into, it also has a completely empty lower level that’s PERFECT for long-term seige.

City Tempest got its name for being near-constantly wracked by storms. Despite this, though, it remains a popular vacation spot for people who don’t mind a little rain; the Skull Lake and the giant flowers are worth it.

Valley Town rose up out of both East Akkala Stable and Robbie’s workshop. It doesn’t get too much foot traffic, but it doesn’t really need to.

Midna Village, I built where the ruins of Shadow Hamlet are. I figured it was a fitting name, and the area is almost constantly covered in the shadow of Death Mountain.

Four Brothers’ Base is a knight outpost that’s up extremely high, spanning huge bridges between the four Tingle isles.

Then Parapa Palace, in reference to Zelda II: Adventure of Link, was built in place of the Akkala Citadel and functions as a mini Hyrule Castle + Castle Town. In real life, monarchs would have several palaces to go between, kind of like how well-off people nowadays would have a summer home. So, I followed that trend! This is Zel’s summer palace.

And you guys know what Tarrey Town is. Although interestingly, as it expands, it goes vertical into the stone column it was built on.

Onto Central Hyrule.

Camp Rauru is training camp and lodging for new knights. Rebonae Village and Kasuto City were made out of the Wetland and Riverside stables respectively, though Kasuto (also an Adventure of Link reference) gets substantially more foot traffic due to being on the way from Castle Town to Dueling Peaks.

Outset Town got its name, lore-wise, from the fact that it’s the first bit of land Link from BotW visited after leaving the Great Plateau, and meta-wise, because it’s the starting point for Wind Waker Link.

Aquame City surrounds the Coliseum, which is how it grew to be so popular. The grand stage holds sparring matches and various other shows regularly, and it’s a pleasant boat trip from Castle Town to get there.

Saria Town was built out of the old exchange ruins, and it’s in walking distance of the ruined Sage Temple—which, at this point in time, would have been rebuilt—and its existence is both an AoL reference and an OoT one (but mostly AoL, I’ve kind of fallen in love with its map).

New Mabe is where you can find the new Lon Lon Ranch! The ruins there are actually called the Mabe Town Ruins in game, and they’re right by the Ranch Ruins!

Eldin’s pretty sparse as far as Hylian towns go. It’s got Gut Check Camp, where Sheikah train for endurance and elemental resistance, and Windfall Town, a place that sees a LOT of gemstones pass through, freshly mined. That includes rupee ore, mind you!

Faron Province is a little more spaced out, due to the nature of the region. Lurelin’s grown since BotW, becoming a trading bay; meanwhile Cora Lake’s Sheikah Tower has expanded into Parache Town, and the Highland Stable has become Malanya Village. Both of those locations are VERY fond of horses, and they’re a bit competitive, especially during archery season.

Ordona Hamlet is a tiny village tucked away into the middle of Faron. It came about due to the Lakeside Stable, and it’s named that because I am STILL salty that the Zeldevs didn’t put an Ordon Village reference in the game.

Eventide Outpost is more of a testing ground for boats than anything particularly significant, population-wise. The even tides that gave the isle its name make it an ideal location to work out the kinks in new watercraft (and occasionally, the lieutenant in charge of that base demonstrates how to launch a raft into the sky with octo balloons).

Hebra’s the most militarized area of Hyrule, and ideally, it functions as a reserve of men and tech in case Calamity rises again. If there’s anything that BotW’s era learned, it’s to never underprepare for Gann’s return.

Fort Lomei is a converted base, just like the Banana Labyrinth is to the Yiga. This one, though, is patrolled diligently by knights who use daily-changing codes, and it’s impossible to navigate without the locals’ help.

Fort Pikida is situated in that weird stone cavern-y area, and it’s a supply stach and Hebran monster patrol site. It’s the soldiers there’s job to make sure that the Lynels that like to roam the region don’t get too close to residential areas.

Hia Miu Outpost is a training spot for knights sent to the Hebra region; any new soldier to the area has to prove they can handle themselves by going into the Hia Miu shrine and taking on the Major Test of Strength Trial. (Fun fact, did you know that the X-test-of-strength trials reset themselves every blood moon?)

Snowpeak Fortress exists both because it makes a fantastic secondary base for the Hyrulean royals to plan, and because i am once again salty about the lack of Twilight Princess in this game.

Sturnida Resort is built around hot springs! It’s a nice spot for people living around Rito Town and Fledgling Village to take a vacation without having to trek all the way across the country to do it.

Snowfield City came from Snowfield Stable, and it’s the Windfall of Hebra; it sees a LOT of people coming in and out of the region, and the view of the northern lights you can get from there? You’d be hard-pressed to find a Hylian that didn’t have it on their bucket list.

New Tabantha was built on the ruined spot of the original Tabantha Village; you can visit there in-game! It’s a quiet town that raises highland sheep for a living, and its team won the Hebran Triathlon three whole years in a row.

Then, the Tanagar Restricted Zone. If you’ve ever been there, you know EXACTLY why it’s restricted.

Most of the Guardians inside have been dealt with, but the ruined temple remains a hazard testing ground for new tech. It’s off limits to everyone but those with the HIGHEST clearance; I’m talking a direct letter from Zelda herself.

The Thyphlo Secret Camp is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s a place for Hyrulean lieutenants to meet for top-secret missions, and it’s one of those places that you need to be SERIOUSLY high rank to even KNOW about.

Over on the edge of Lanayru, we’ve got New Goponga, built where the old Goponga ruins are, and the Crenel Garrison. The Garrison was built to take care of the Lizalfos problems in the waterways, keeping it safe for Hylians and Zora travelers alike. Goponga, on the other hand, is what Lurelin was in game; nice, friendly, and centered around fishery.

In Necluda, we’ve got New Deya where old Deya was ruined (I think BotW Link was born in old Deya!), Watchtower Village built around the lakeside of the Dueling Peaks tower, and then Dueling Peaks City, a HUGE trade hub that was once the Dueling Peaks stable.

Kakariko Village is now a Town, Hateno has grown into a full blown trade harbor, and a tiny village has started to form around the Hateno Tower, making Firly Overlook.

But what I most love is the City of Hylanay.

Back in the game, it was the ruins of the Lanayru Promenade. So I had the promenade rebuilt, then people moved in around it, and now, Hylanay’s basically Hyrulean Venice! I want to visit it.

On the Great Plateau, we’ve got Aboda Town, named after Spirit Tracks’ Aboda Village in reference to the starting point in each game. This Town has access to the original Temple of Time, but because of the nature of the isolated plateau, it doesn’t see a lot of new faces often.

Over around Thundra, we’ve got Tanagar Village overlooking the canyon, built out of the old Tabantha Stable. The village actually builds downwards into the canyon; people have windows carved right out of the cliff face!

Thundra Village is built into the rocky slopes surrounding Thundra Plateau and the Ridgeland Tower. Their houses are built in the shelter of the giant mushroom things that grow so well in the area, and they’re famous for their signature dish of escargot.

The Serenne Exchange is up north, encompassing both the old Serenne Stable and the Maritta exchange ruins. You can buy practically ANYTHING there; if ever there was a supermarket in Hyrule, it would be right there.

The Royal Lab was rebuilt out of its ruins post Calamity, and it’s directed by Purah, who still hasn’t cured her immortality yet. It’s not uncommon to hear explosions as you pass by that place.

And then Camp Rutile is a small observational outpost, meant to keep track of the activity on Satori Mountain. Supposedly, the mountain’s health reflects the state of the rest of the kingdom, so the researchers assigned there are tasked with monitoring it EXTREMELY closely.

And Hyrule Castle. It’s Hyrule Castle.

Now completely bolted into the ground! :D

If we put all these locations together, we get a very nice, very well populated Hyrule, with LOTS to see. This is how I would design the future of BotW’s Hyrule.

Thanks for reading!

[marshmalleaux-queen]

kinda dead horse I’m beating here but I still have some Opinions™ about Age of Calamity that I just feel like sharing. Spoilers ahead, of course - also it’s long fjkdsjgk

Age of Calamity was cool in the beginning, but for me, it didn’t take long before the novelty wore off.

Don’t get me wrong, of the mainline series BOTW is my absolute favorite. I loved the story, I loved the characters, really everything about it. I get that at the time, BOTW was kind of the “it” thing so they were like “ah, let’s make the next Warriors title BOTW-centric!” but it really feels like less of a Warriors game and more like BOTW 1.5, with some Warriors elements sprinkled in it.

The story was fine - I thought the new villain was kind of clichéd but it makes me think of the older Zelda games where the Dragon to Ganon really was just some evil magic guy. I like that there’s more interaction between the Champions because we didn’t get to see a whole lot in BOTW, and I think the explanation for how you can have the ancestors/successors fight alongside them works fine in the context of the story (that is, it doesn’t feel like a total ass-pull like when some games go “oh!! suddenly time travel!!” or something)

The gameplay was neat, characters have their own gimmicks like in the first HW which I like, it makes them stand out more and gives them some extra utility in certain scenarios. Some of them were kind of tricky to wrap my head around, like Zelda with the Sheikah Slate and the Great Fairies but overall I liked how characters played.

I wasn’t a fan of how keeps/outposts weren’t named or made too terribly distinct on the map - but maybe I’m just misremembering that part. Also kind of nitpicky but I didn’t like how elemental rod usage carried over between battles. Made it kind of a hassle to remember where I could pick up more uses and go out of my way to refill it there, before going into another battle where it was easier to use the rods. I would have liked if they reset after each battle but meh. I also feel like the smithy in this game was either too complicated or too far removed from how it worked in the first HW, and I definitely didn’t get the most out of it like I should have, but maybe that’s just me being bad at reading comprehension or my brain going “less thinky thinky, more hacky slashy” adskjf

I think I was most disappointed when it came to the roster. To be fair, you can’t have a BOTW-centric Warriors game without the essential characters - Link Zelda the champions, their successors, etc. But I think there was a lot of missed opportunity as well. Some characters I didn’t fully expect but was happy we got, like King Rhoam, Hestu, Master Kohga, Purah/Robbie. I ended up loving Terrako and Sooga as well. Maz Koshia was neat and I get where they were going, but he’s kind of... there. kdjfhj

I knew that playable Ganon would be hard to incorporate this time around due to the fact that in BOTW he was an absolutely massive abomination, but something about his design and his gameplay this time around just didn’t sit right with me. Maybe it was his unique mechanic, maybe it was the fact that he reminded me of OOT Ganon if someone on deviantart made an edgy recolor of him, or the fact that his inclusion tacked on at the end really made it seem like an afterthought. And honestly, we really could have done without the Battle-Tested Guardian - that one absolutely felt like an ass-pull, and wasn’t very fun to play as.

Entirely personal preference here, but I would have loved for us to get a Lethal Joke Character™ similar to Tingle in the first HW - my vote would have gone to either Beedle or Kilton. I think it’s such a missed opportunity for them to not have included Kass, but maybe they just didn’t want a third Rito? And I can’t fathom why they didn’t make Astor playable when he’s very much an integral part of the story, whole moveset programmed when you fight him and everything... I remember getting excited for Cia/Volga/Wizzro in HW when they finally became playable so I was kind of expecting the same here.

I also would have liked more dialogue for things like getting x amount of kills, capturing a keep, that kind of stuff, or more dialogue between specific characters outside of just the roster, but I can guess a few reasons why they didn’t add more of that. There’s already a metric fuckton of dialogue in the game as a whole, and the backlog for the little messages getting in the way of triggering certain events was probably a big complaint in the first. And also, maybe they didn’t want to bother giving Link a companion to talk for him so they just cut out anything that could be said on his behalf dkjhfg.

There’s more stuff I could ramble about - like the material system, the lack of costumes for just about everyone except Link... but I think this post is long enough. I also still have lots of wishes about the roster in the first HW but that’s an even DEADER horse.

Speaking of the first HW though, I’ve actually been revisiting it recently, and... I feel sad that for such an old game, I’m still enjoying it more than AoC, even after investing countless hours into the latter. Like, even to this day I haven’t 100%’d HW (granted there were long gaps of not playing, but still), and there’s so much replayability. But I pre-ordered AoC, and even before the DLC came out, I literally only had like 1 more sidequest before there was nothing new to for me to do.

Anyway, I complain too much about games that aren’t really relevant anymore - I should probably try to get to bed at a decent hour tonight.

[scatterpatter]

Breath of the Wild (and Hyrule Warriors) take place in the Child Timeline [Theory]

This is 100% Theory and I could be Totally Wrong but hear me out, because this makes perfect sense from my perspective and all it involves is considering Hyrule Warriors as a “main game”, talking about it under the cut cuz this is a long one

Okay so everyone knows that the Zelda timeline is a bit wonky, and should be taken with a grain of salt, but ever since Breath of the Wild came out the biggest question is “What timeline does it fall under?” And at first it seems like it should be an easy answer... except not. Ritos and Zoras co-exist, locations are named after characters that reside in any of the three timelines(even TERMINA), so on and so forth, it seems like it somehow dips into every timeline, which should be impossible... until I blow your mind.

Well one big thing we know is that wherever Breath of the Wild takes place, it takes place at the end of its timeline. So for BotW to have references to each timeline, it seems like there was some sort of... timeline convergence? Except that’s not how time works. Timelines can be split, but not thrown back together.

Here’s where I blow your mind, just roll with me because this’ll make sense once I explain: Breath of the Wild takes place in whatever timeline Hyrule Warriors takes place. I’ll go into detail why I’m convinced of this in a short bit.

First, I just want to throw the canon timeline from the Zelda Encyclopedia on here so we’ve got all our other games into one basket:

The only inconsistency note I’ll make is that Hyrule Historia places Oracles of Ages+Seasons before Link’s Awakening, though I believe this was retconned later on, and since Zelda Encyclopedia came out well after Hyrule Historia, we should believe this version more. But that’s a moot point anyways since that won’t affect my theory, just thought I’d mention regardless

So if we’re going to follow my theory on the fact that BotW is the same timeline as Hyrule Warriors, we need to find out which timeline Hyrule Warriors falls under.

First off, we know that Hyrule Warriors takes place sometime after Ocarina of Time, because Impa recognizes the name “Ruto”, so the events of OoT already happened. Therefore, HW has to take place in one of the three split timelines

I’m convinced that Hyrule Warriors does not take place in the Adult Timeline for the following reasons: 

We don’t see much of the land of HW’s Hyrule, but it seems like a solid continent and not a series of islands, so this likely cannot take place before Spirit Tracks

The Triforce, Ganon, and the Master Sword are not seen since Wind Waker in the Adult Timeline, so this likely does not take place after Wind Waker

While Spirit Tracks is a new continent and a new Hyrule is established, Spirit Tracks introduces a new insignia, which involves a Force Gem, but everywhere in Hyrule of Hyrule Warriors we see the “traditional” insignia with the Triforce. 

So with the Adult Timeline rendered nearly impossible, this leaves the Fallen Timeline and the Child Timeline, and I’m about to explain why HW most likely takes place in the Child Timeline

You see, Hyrule Warriors is an... interesting plot. In that the main antagonist, Cia, opens what’s called the “Gate of Souls”, or “the doorway to time itself”. With her powers, she essentially opens rifts in time and space so that areas such as Skyloft, Death Mountain(OoT’s), and Twilight Field(Hyrule Field from TP) are now within Hyrule Warrior’s world

So we have worlds from Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time, and Twilight Princess opened. The reason why these worlds specifically are because of Ganon. Before the events of Hyrule Warriors, in one of Link’s lifetimes we haven’t seen in any Zelda game(yet), after Ganon was defeated, he was split into four pieces. 3 pieces were scattered across time and space, the fourth sealed away with the master sword that Link eventually uses in Hyrule Warriors. Now let’s take a look at where each piece of Ganon was sealed:

Lake Hylia(Ocarina of Time)

Sealed Grounds(Skyward Sword)

Palace of Twilight(Twilight Princess)

Master Sword(Hyrule Warriors)

What’s VERY important to note here is that while, yes, Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time exist in every timeline, Twilight Princess only occurs in the Child Timeline. It was at this point I realized: the main story of Hyrule Warriors only covers these settings/characters, and makes a Majora’s Moon reference one time, but all other instances of characters from other timelines occur as DLC. And we’ll get to the DLC stuff shortly, but let’s focus on the “main” story first.

It’s quite possible that this Link before Hyrule Warriors, when splitting Ganon into 4 pieces, only had access to his own timeline to seal Ganon away. It isn’t until we get the powerful sorceresses Lana and Cia do we start opening rifts to other timelines. This makes me believe that Hyrule Warriors takes place in the Child Timeline

Side note: Goron Forces appear to be a mix of OoT Gorons with TP Gorons, judging by their tattoos

Also, no Sheikah appear in any of the games of the Fallen Timeline, whereas we have Sheik and Impa(who are both Sheikah) in Hyrule Warriors. This still lines up because even though not-explicit, Impaz from Twilight Princess is implied to be a Sheikah, implying Sheikah traditions are passed down through the Child Timeline and eventually to HW

“But Scatter!” You cry out, frustration setting in “What the hizzity heck does this have anything to do with Breath of the Wild?!”

*Leans in close to you and grabs you by the collar*

~This is the part where I blow your mind~

So now that we’ve established Hyrule Warriors most likely takes place during the Child Timeline, yeah? And I said earlier we’d get to the DLC?

Let’s talk about the DLC.

So we now know that Cia and Lana are capable of opening and closing rifts to other times, even other timelines. Let’s look at some of the DLC characters that are playable in HW as a result:

Marin(Link’s Awakening- Fallen Timeline)

Ravio and Yuga(A Link Between Worlds- Fallen Timeline)

Toon Link, Tetra, King Daphnes, Medli(Wind Waker- Adult Timeline)

Toon Zelda(Spirit Tracks- Adult Timeline)

Skull Kid, Tingle, Young Link(Majora’s Mask- Child Timeline)

These, combined with the SS+OoT+TP characters from the main game, and we have access to settings and characters from all three timelines. 

Now we could assume that after the events of Hyrule Warriors, the main characters never open a portal to another timeline again... but we could also assume the opposite. It could be entirely possible that the people of Hyrule Warriors regularly looked into these other timelines to learn from them. To study their past and alternate timelines really isn’t a farfetched idea when you have the power to do so. 

With these portals opening, it’s quite possible that yes, Zoras and Ritos began living in the Hyrule Warriors world, explaining the co-existing of both races by BotW. With the technology that Spirit Tracks provides, the people of Hyrule Warriors could have eventually learned to build their own vehicles and machines, eventually leading to the Guardians and Divine Beasts. The ancient robots of Skyward Sword could have also contributed to these, alongside possibly paving the way for Sheikah technology, such as the Sheikah Slate, to be developed. Twili technology could also contribute to this, as well as whatever the heck is going on with Ganon in the BotW2 trailer. 

With knowledge and access to other timelines, it makes perfect sense that the Child Timeline would face an immense industrial/technological boom in a very short time, leading to the Sheikah Towers, the Sheikah Slate, the Divine Beasts, the Pillars under the Castle, the Guardians, the Shrines, and more to be made for the battle 10,000 years before the events of Breath of the Wild. Sometime between then and the Great Calamity this technology was mostly lost(Zelda Wiki says this was due to fear over the power of such technology leading the Sheikah to hide their tech away, though I’m not sure where exactly in-game this info is revealed), paving the way for Breath of the Wild to occur.

There is no timeline convergence. Breath of the Wild takes place in a Child Timeline that obtained the ability to open rifts to other timelines.

Also one last little detail- this isn’t solid enough to be “evidence” but doesn’t hurt my theory either: Hyrule Warriors Link is the first Link to wear blue, meanwhile Breath of the Wild Link wears an entirely blue tunic

While this can’t be concrete evidence that the 2 are linked(HAH GET IT BECAUSE LI-), it could be possible that HW-Link started the trend of heroes wearing blue accessories. Again, a bit more of a stretch, but doesn’t hurt my theory either

So there you have it! I firmly believe that Hyrule Warriors and Breath of the Wild are both in the Child Timeline due to this evidence! And I’m so mad that of all games, Hyrule Warriors was the one to tie it all together XD