Get your cork boards and red wire ready, 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 one four-minute trailer, and Nintendo had the nerve to focus it all on the game’s story and mechanics, rather than pandering to the interests of our small group of geeks who are curious about the game’s relationship to Prisoner of War (we know, shocking).
When the game is released on September 26th, we power get some indication of where it is in the ‘official’ chronology, but don’t get your hopes up. As we said, Nintendo is usually sneaky with this kind of information, so we wouldn’t expect to see any Echoes of Wisdom dialogue where a random NPC tells Zelda, “Link’s gone?! But he just got back from that mysterious trip to the Island Koholint!”
Without any official answer at the moment, we’re doing what we timeline fans do best: making up theories based on probably insignificant details.
Let’s start with our favorite and move on.
Theory #1: Hero is Defeated Timeline – Link to Previous Predecessor
If you’ve ever glanced at the official Zelda timeline, you’ll probably be aware of the ‘Hero is Defeated’ branch. This one typically falls after Ocarina of Time with Link kicking out his clogs and the Demon King slashing the Triforce and being sealed in the Holy Realm by the Seven Sages. This one typically leads to the events of A Link to the Past. Typically.
Why do we keep saying “typical”? Because there’s a good chance that Echoes of Wisdom is a retelling of the origins of this timeline and our first real look at Link falling to the Demon King — unless you succumbed to old Dorf at the end of OOT and never stayed to try again.
That may be the most obvious answer, but it makes a lot of sense. The defeat of the bond is a pretty key event in the ‘Hero is Defeated’ timeline (whodathunkit?
But Echoes of Wisdom could to be his final point of departure, the true precursor to A Link to the Past. And that’s exciting!
There is more evidence to suggest that this branch of the timeline is also a potential location for Echoes of Wisdom. Fans were quick to note that the game’s Hyrule seems to completely mirror the one we saw in A Link to the Past. Additionally, Ganon looks big and blue in a way that looks more like 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 it is quite large however), 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 Hyrule Historia, this branch should see the Demon King defeat Link and grab the Triforce before being sealed away by the Seven Sages. Things don’t seem to work out that way here.
Hmm. Shall we reduce it to defeated confusion? Could there be another battle between Link and Ganon at the end of the game? Is this a complete retelling? Perhaps the answer is another theory.
Theory #2: Hero is Defeated Timeline – Continued Awakening Relationship
Okay, now this one puts things on the same timeline branch office like our former theory, but moves the order around a bit to suggest that Echoes of Wisdom could be a sequel to Link’s Awakening.
This is the theory we have seen proposed Reddit a couple of times and it holds water quite well.
There are all the links to the ‘Hero is Defeated’ branch we’ve already mentioned (similar map, Ganon design, etc.), but we also have a bigger visual connection: this game looks very similar to the 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 connection in two different games, weigh to see the same visual style return. 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. It’s not always the case (see Minish Cap and Four Swords Adventure, which have the same art style but aren’t directly related, sequel-wise), but it’s usually Nintendo’s shorthand for “Remember that other game that looked like this? This is its sequel .”
We also have an adhesive detail of the Zora types. From the looks of the Echoes of Wisdom trailer, the upcoming game will feature both ‘Sea’ and ‘River’ variants — something we haven’t seen in a Zelda game other than Oracle of Ages. Of course, that adventure took place in Labrynn, not Hyrule (and there’s a dispute over whether it takes place chronologically before or after Link’s Awakening), but seeing both designs reappear here makes us wonder if things happen after Link’s Labrynn and imagined Koholint’s sea voyages.
Although even this theory has its holes — what is Ganon doing outside of the Holy Realm 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 timeline branch
We can’t stress how much we hope for this it is not the answer, however irritating, might be.
What if Echoes of Wisdom abolished the timeline as we know it? It might not fit neatly into the ‘Hero is Defeated’ branch, or the ‘Hero is Triumphant’ branch, or the original Skyward Sword to Ocarina run 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 sighed at the thought too. But it makes some sense. Almost every timeline theory has its own contradictions, and if this predates some of the other main entries, where did all the references to ‘That time Princess Zelda used her wand to defeat the Demon King’ go? 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 enters the question.
That would explain why the Hylian landscape looks like that little
Of course, giving it another branch of the timeline would slide the series dangerously close to a multiverse setting (like it hasn’t been since the ‘official’ timeline was announced) that even the MCU would envy. 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 Monarch would save Link at the end of the game, but if this is the timeline Zelda is the protagonist, then we shouldn’t look at Echoes of Wisdom as a one-off. Not that we need a whole separate branch for that, but learning a new timeline wouldn’t be a bad trade-off when it opens the door for more Zelda adventures in the future.
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