New Nintendo

That Zelda timeline we posted yesterday? Yeah, it’s basically been confirmed, courtesy of resident translator and longtime Zelda community member GlitterBerri. It’s true – the timeline is a three-branch one, with the traditional Adult and Child split we all know and love founded in Ocarina of Time, plus an alternate story that has Link fail to defeat Ganon in the future, thus leading to the events that conclude the Imprisoning War.

Ancient Tales: Skyward Sword → The Minish Cap → Four Swords → Ocarina of Time
Classic Tales: A Link to the Past → Oracles → Link’s Awakening → The Legend of Zelda → The Adventure of Link
Child Tales: Majora’s Mask → Twilight Princess → Four Swords Adventures
Adult Tales: The Wind Waker → Phantom Hourglass → Spirit Tracks

What we didn’t have was a specific explanation concerning the Classic timeline including A Link to the Past…until now.

Branch 1: Link is defeated by Ganon in OoT.
Branch 2: Link comes back from the future in OoT and tells Zelda what’s going to happen, she sends him away.
Branch 3: There is no longer a hero in the future of OoT since Link was sent back.

After Link dies in Ocarina of Time, Ganon obtains the entire Triforce. The Seven Sages seal away Ganon and the whole Triforce as a last resort, but villains with their eyes on the Triforce make for the Sacred Realm, which eventually turns into the Dark World and is filled with evil power. The Seven Sages then try to seal away the Sacred Realm itself, but end up fighting with monsters. This is the Imprisoning War of A Link to the Past.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 → MM → TP → 4 Swords Plus
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　↑
SS → Minish Cap → 4 Swords → OoT → ALttP → OoS/OoA → LA → LoZ → AoL
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　↓　
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 → TWW → Phantom Hourglass → Spirit Tracks

It looks as though the idea is to have the story of people making a grab for the Sacred Realm and the final seals on the Sacred Realm play out after Link’s defeat in this alternate story. Sure, a number of the elements of the Imprisoning War are already fulfilled in Ocarina of Time; this finishes the job, as well as explaining why the Triforce is complete in A Link to the Past.

Source: Hyrule Historia via GlitterBerri