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About The Legend of Zelda Series
The Legend of Zelda (Japanese: ゼルダの伝説, English: The Legend of Zelda) is an action-adventure game series launched in 1986 by the Japanese video game manufacturer Nintendo, created by the renowned game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Set in a fictional fantasy world, the series chronicles the adventures of Link, who appears throughout the series, though the settings and character designs often differ between titles. Most games can be regarded as stories taking place in different eras or parallel worlds with no absolute continuity.
The gameplay is primarily action-based, but incorporates a high degree of puzzle-solving elements. The first title, The Legend of Zelda, was released on the Famicom Disk System on February 21, 1986, and became the foundation of the series.
This series is well-known in the gaming market for its creative gameplay, interesting characters, unique world-building, and massive production budgets. The Legend of Zelda series is one of Nintendo's flagship franchises, with sales outside Asia historically being the primary market, and it has long been beloved by Western players. As of 2023, cumulative sales of The Legend of Zelda series have exceeded 150 million units.
Setting Elements
Hyrule Kingdom
Hyrule Kingdom is a fictional nation appearing in most titles in the series, primarily inhabited by Hylians. Its emblem consists of the Triforce and the Loftwing symbol, and the capital is called Hyrule Castle, though the design of Hyrule Castle varies between games due to differences in terrain and location. Hyrule Kingdom has a tradition where all royal princesses, considered descendants of the Hylian goddess's blood, are named "Zelda." In some versions, Princess Zelda appears directly as the ruler of the kingdom. Additionally, various sub-human races such as the Gorons and Zora often form their own kingdoms. However, the fact that Hylians coexist peacefully with them indicates that Hyrule Kingdom tolerates the autonomy of these tribes, which also aligns with the plot of Skyward Sword (In the ancient war, the Hylian goddess allied with sub-human races to defeat the Demon King).
Parallel Timelines
The series' story is currently split into three parallel timelines, resulting from the ending of Ocarina of Time, which caused a divergence into three major timelines:
Timeline of the Hero of Time's victory, changed future – After the Hero of Time, Link, with the help of the six sages and Princess Zelda, successfully defeats and seals the Demon King Ganondorf, Princess Zelda sends Link back to his childhood seven years prior to compensate for his lost time. The returned Link warns young Princess Zelda of Ganondorf's betrayal, leading to Ganondorf's arrest and execution by the royal family, thus preventing the events of Ocarina of Time from occurring. This becomes the setting for subsequent titles such as The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Four Swords Adventures.
Timeline of the Hero of Time's victory, the continuing era – After the Hero of Time, Link, is sent back seven years, Princess Zelda remains in this future (where Ocarina of Time already happened) to rebuild the kingdom destroyed by Ganondorf. Several hundred years after the Hero of Time successfully seals Ganondorf, Ganondorf revives, but the Hero of Time does not return as legend foretold. In the kingdom's direst moment, the King of Hyrule entrusts the nation's fate to destiny. The gods guide the people to the mountaintops and then unleash a great flood that suppresses Ganondorf, submerging Hyrule Kingdom. The world becomes a vast ocean, and the former mountain peaks become scattered islands. This sets the stage for The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks.
Timeline of the Hero of Time's defeat, the continuing era – If the Hero of Time, Link, falls in the final battle, Ganondorf obtains the complete Triforce and becomes the Demon King. The surviving Zelda and sages do everything they can to seal the Demon King Ganondorf and the Triforce in the Sacred Realm, but the Sacred Realm is transformed into a Dark World by the demon's power. This leads to the Seal War, where the kingdom's knight order fights against monsters surging from the Dark World, allowing the sages to completely close the entrance to the Dark World. This serves as the background for A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Oracle of Seasons/Ages, and others—the timeline with the most titles in the series.
Unclassified timeline – Although Breath of the Wild mentions some people and events from Ocarina of Time in its backstory, the setting is at least over ten thousand years apart, and the official timeline has not yet placed Breath of the Wild into the three timelines above. Its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, involves the land of Hyrule ten thousand years ago, and some people and events mentioned in the story share names with those in Ocarina of Time, but the settings still differ. Therefore, until the official timeline is clarified, Breath of the Wild and its sequel should be considered as an alternative world to the original Legend of Zelda.
Retroactive Story Continuity
According to the current official timeline, the earliest historical game is Skyward Sword, and the most recent is Tears of the Kingdom (though Nintendo has not yet placed this game and Breath of the Wild into the three timelines mentioned above). However, to accommodate the expansion of the world and timeline depth during game development, most story settings in the series are supplemented or corrected retroactively in different titles. For example, the Temple of Time mentioned in the 1998 title Ocarina of Time, which contains a time gate that allows time travel, was not explained until Skyward Sword released in 2011, where the origin of the temple and the time gate was elaborated—a gap of 13 years between the two games. This method of narrative retrospection effectively dissects and expands the Zelda world view time and again, gradually unraveling the plot mysteries of previous titles.
Cyclical Destiny
Aside from certain recurring NPCs used as Easter eggs, the story structure of the series often revolves around the hero Link and Princess Zelda fighting against a demon king (mostly Ganondorf). Consequently, similar characters and plot settings appear frequently across titles. This unique setting was further explained after the release of Skyward Sword. In the final battle of Skyward Sword, the Demon King Demise is defeated by that era's hero Link. Before disappearing, Demise places a curse: that his incarnations of hatred will eternally struggle with those who possess the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero, creating an endless cycle of fate. This special view of destiny connects the series into a grand history and legend, not only echoing the series title The Legend of Zelda but also allowing players to feel the intangible emotional bond between the characters and the protagonist across titles.
History
The first title in the series, The Legend of Zelda (ゼルダの伝説), was released in Japan on February 21, 1986, and later in the US and Europe in 1987. By modern standards it is very simple, but at the time it was a highly advanced work. The innovations of The Legend of Zelda included a variety of different items to use, a vast world full of secrets and exploration, and the ability to save game progress in battery-backed memory. The game also featured a "second quest": after completing the game, players could restart the adventure in another world with more challenging dungeons. Beyond technical innovations, the gameplay of The Legend of Zelda—such as finding items and using them to solve puzzles, real-time combat with monsters, and exploring large environments—was very successful and was later imitated by many games. A modified version of The Legend of Zelda was released in Japan in the mid-1990s, utilizing the Super Famicom's "Satellaview" satellite service.
The second title, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (リンクの冒険), was released on January 14, 1987, and differed from the first game in gameplay. This title changed the perspective from top-down to a "side-scrolling" mode and introduced role-playing elements (such as experience points) not seen in other Zelda games. Additionally, until Four Swords Adventures, this was the only Zelda title where Link could not collect "Rupees" (Hyrule's currency). Due to these fundamental changes, many consider Zelda II a black sheep of the series. Unlike the gray casing of other Famicom games, this title's packaging used a gold-colored box.
Four years later, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (ゼルダの伝説 神々のトライフォース) was released, returning to the top-down perspective (three-quarter overhead view) and introducing the concept of a parallel world, allowing players to explore a Dark World. It was released on the Super Famicom in 1991, later re-released on March 14, 2003, as part of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past & Four Swords for the Game Boy Advance, and then on January 22, 2007, on the Wii's Virtual Console. A Satellaview version titled BS Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets (BS ゼルダの伝説 古代の石盤) was also released in Japan.
At E3 2011, Nintendo released a concept video for a Wii U Zelda title, showing Link fighting a giant spider. Players could not control Link's actions but could switch between day and night, and toggle the screen between a map and the game view.
At E3 2014 on June 11, Eiji Aonuma announced a new Wii U Zelda title, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, to be released in 2015, and showed a clip of Link fighting monsters, emphasizing a vast map and more diverse, non-linear puzzles. After two delays, the game was released alongside the Nintendo Switch on March 3, 2017. In June 2019, Nintendo announced the development of a sequel to Breath of the Wild, and its sequel The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was released on May 12, 2023.