Another Zelda timeline discussion!

[OB1]

With Minish Cap almost out I thought it would be fun to make another discussion/debate about the Zelda timeline. I'll only touch upon a few things at first, to make clear a few facts about the timelime.

First of all, Minish Cap is the first Zelda game, chronologically-speaking. Eiji Aonuma said so in a fairly recent interview:

NoE: How does the Minish Cap fit into the Zelda chronology? Is it a prequel to the upcoming The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures on GameCube?

Aonuma: Yes, this title takes place prior to The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, and tells the secret of the birth of the Four Sword.

Now I bet you're thinking "ok it takes place before FSA, but that doesn't mean that it takes place before all of the other Zelda games." And you'd have a point, but earlier this year Aonuma said in an interview with Game Informer that they consider Four Swords (GBA) to be first Zelda game in the timeline:

EA: The GBA Four Swords Zelda is what we’re thinking as the oldest tale in the Zelda timeline. With this one on the GameCube being a sequel to that, and taking place sometime after that.

So from these interviews we can safely say that the early timeline goes like this:

Minish Cap
Four Swords
Four Swords Adventures

Unless of course Nintendo changes their minds in the future. ;)

Alright, onto the next bit of info.

We all accept that Link's Awakening takes place after LttP, right? And I know that some of you consider the Oracle games to be "alternate universe" tales and not a part of the real timeline. Well without spoiling too much stuff from Minish Cap, I'm going to provide enough evidence that the Oracle series are indeed cannon.

The fairies that ask for you help in the beginning of each Oracle game are in Minish Cap. You first hear about them in the form of figurines in a shop in Hyrule Town:

Syrup: A wizard who lives in the Minish Woods. She sells magic items with odd powers. She's looking for an apprentice to whom she can teach her mystic spells.

Din: She's looking for a house in Hyrule to move into. She is a famous dancer from the land of Holodrum.

So Holodrum and... that other town... are cannon in the Zelda universe. But there's more! When you get the final ending of the Oracle games, Link sets off in his boat which perfectly blends into the intro of Link's Awakening. See for yourself:





(that black thing is supposed to be a boat)

(excuse the horrible quality of the first picture, but I couldn't find anything better)

It's obvious that Nintendo and Capcom wanted the Oracle games to fit into Zelda chronology and they found the perfect way to blend them into Link's Awakening.

Now argue over the rest of the timeline, and where everything fits. Here's how I think it goes:

Link I
Minish Cap
Four Swords
Four Swords Adventure

Link II
Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask
New GC Zelda

Link III
Wind Waker

Link IV
Link to the Past
Oracle of Ages/Oracle of Seasons
Link's Awakening

Link V
The Legend of Zelda
Link's Adventure

I'm pretty sure that's how the timeline works, but I might be wrong about some of the Link orders (namely the last two).