Get your corkboards and red string ready, let the theories 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 nerve to focus entirely on the game’s story and mechanics rather than playing to the interests of our small group of nerds who are curious about the game. relation to the prison war (we know shame).
When the game comes out on September 26th, we could to get some data on where it fits in the ‘official’ chronology, but don’t get your hopes up. As we said, Nintendo is usually wary of this kind of information, so we wouldn’t expect to see some Echoes of Wisdom dialog where a random NPC tells Zelda, “Link’s gone?! But he just got back from that mysterious trip to Koholint Island!”
Without any official answer, right now we’re doing what we timeline fans do best: creating theories based on probably insignificant details.
Let’s start with our favorite and go from there.
Theory #1: The Hero’s Timeline is Defeated – A reference to the previous prequel
If you’ve ever looked at the official Zelda timeline, you’ll probably be familiar with the “Hero is Defeated” branch. This typical he falls down Ocarina of Time with Link ripping off his clogs and the Demon King cuts the Triforce and is sealed in the Sacred Realm by the Seven Sages. This typical leading to the events of A Link to the Past. Typical.
Why do we keep saying “typically”? Because there’s a good chance that Echoes of Wisdom is a retelling of this timeline’s origins and our first real look at Link falling to the Demon King – unless you succumbed to the old ‘Dorf at the end of OOT and never tried. again.
It’s perhaps the most obvious answer, but it makes a lot of sense. Defeating Link is a pretty pivotal event in the “Hero is Defeated” timeline (whodathunkit?) and from what we saw in the Echoes of Wisdom reveal trailer, the next 2D adventure will be all about that scenario. This branch of the timeline has always been a bit hypothetical, operating under a ‘what if?’ a clause most of us have never seen in the game.
But Echoes of Wisdom could to be its definitive starting point, a true prequel to A Link to the Past. Now that’s exciting!
There is more evidence that points to this branch of the timeline as a potential home for the Echoes of Wisdom. Fans were quick to note that the game’s Hyrule seems to mirror the one we saw in A Link to the Past. Also, Ganon looks all 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” boar model from Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time.
However (and this is quite a big one however), the Echoes of Wisdom reveal trailer differs from what we know about the “Hero is Defeated” timeline in one key aspect: Ganon is too defeated. According to the Hyrule Historia, this branch is supposed to see the Demon King defeat Link and grab the Triforce before the Seven Sages seal him away. It doesn’t seem to work that way here.
Hmm. Can we chalk it up to defeated confusion? Could there be another battle between Link and Ganon at the end of the game? Is it a complete retelling? Maybe another theory is the answer.
Theory #2: Hero is Defeated Timeline – A Link’s Awakening Sequel
Okay, this puts things on the same timeline branch like our earlier theory, but moves the order up a bit and suggests that Echoes of Wisdom could be a sequel to Link’s Awakening.
This is a theory we’ve seen proposed a few times on Reddit, and it holds water pretty well.
There are all the ‘Hero is Defeated’ branch references we’ve already mentioned (similar map, Ganon design, etc.), but we also have a bigger visual connection: this game looks very similar to Switch Link’s Awakening remake.
Now, as we’ve said many times, Nintendo generally doesn’t pay much attention to the Zelda timeline, but when it means we see the same reference in two different games, tend to see the return of the same visual style. 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 share the same art style but aren’t directly related in terms of sequels), but it tends to be Nintendo’s shorthand for “Remember another game that looked like this? This is its sequel.”
We also have a sticky detail of the Zora types. According to the Echoes of Wisdom 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, this adventure took place in Labrynn rather than Hyrule (and there is some dispute as to whether it takes place chronologically before or after Link’s Awakening), but with both suggestions reappearing here, we can wonder if things take place after Link’s Labrynn and envisioned Koholint’s sea routes.
Although even this theory has its holes – what is Ganon of the Sacred Realm doing before A Link Between Worlds? Where was the Deku Tree in ALTTP if it appears in Echoes of Wisdom? – so maybe we’re still barking up the wrong tree.
Theory #3: A New Branch of the Timeline
We can’t stress how much we hope so it isn’t answer, but it can be annoying.
What if Echoes of Wisdom wipes out the timeline as we know it? It doesn’t have to fit neatly into the ‘Hero is Defeated’ branch, either from the ‘Hero is Triumphant’ branches or the original Skyward Sword to Ocarina run that started it all. What if it’s a whole new branch of the timeline that we’ve never seen before?
Don’t worry, we groan at the thought too. But it makes some sense. Almost every timeline theory has its contradictions, and if it predates some of the other mainline entries, where were all the references to ‘That time Princess Zelda used her magic staff to defeat the Demon King’? The ‘Hero is Triumphant’ timeline has two separate branches, so who’s to say Nintendo isn’t doing the same with ‘Hero is Defeated’? One where the Seven Sages seal away the Demon King and one where Princess Zelda steps up to the plate.
That would explain why the Hylian landscape looks like that slightly different from what we saw in LTTP and ALBW, why did Ganondorf come back looking like him, why does Link seem to be wielding a blade that looks almost like Master Sword but not quite. Any continuity question could be answered with a simple “Different timeline, mate”, which, if we were Nintendo, seems like a pretty good way to avoid any potential headaches.
Sure, giving us another branch of the timeline would push the series dangerously close to a multiverse setting (as it hasn’t been since the “official” timeline was released) that would make even the MCU envious. But let’s look at the positive: it makes room for more games where Zelda is the hero.
We’d bet all our rupees that the Hylian King saves Link at the end of the game, but if this is a timeline where Zelda is the protagonist, then we don’t have to look at Echoes of Wisdom as a one-off. Not that we need a whole separate branch for that, but learning the lore of the new timeline wouldn’t be a bad trade-off if it opens the door to more Zelda adventures in the future.