You know, the Zelda timeline is one of the longest-running topics I've covered on this channel and after all of that time, there's still one game that I've yet to fit into this thing. It's the small little independent spin-off called the Epic of Stew. The under appreciated adventure of yet another green clad hero of legend out to save a princess. True to its name this game Looks pretty epic. Stew could battle his way through a whopping FIVE intense levels of copyright neutral octoroks and tektites until finally reaching the princess, and then he had to complete a dating simulation at the end to woo her. I mean she can't just go along with any errant Knight who comes her way after all (I know that would be weird). You know the two people who created this game They're probably out to do some pretty great things together. And hey, if nothing else at least it was better than the CDI games [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] [MUSIC] [MUSIC!!] [MUSIC!!!!] [MUSIC!!!!!!] [MUSIC!!!!!!!!] [MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!] [MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!] [MUSIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] Just a quick note on that opening gag By the way Epic of Stew was a game created by Stephanie and I it was actually our first ever group project together and we've been working on group projects together ever since. (random crowd says aww) Anyway, hello Internet Welcome to game theory, the show that has no problem going back and rethinking the Zelda timeline. Just like Nintendo Apparently in case you haven't heard the timeline it changed yet again. According to the Hyrule historia Which was the definitive source for all things Zelda lore for a while, Link's Awakening used to come after Oracle of Ages and Oracle of Seasons, but in the most recent Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia released just last year as the third and final installment in what's known as the goddess trilogy of canonical Zelda lore books Link's Awakening now comes before Oracle of Ages and seasons. Blasphemy! Over-exaggerated outrage! #CancelZelda! Seriously, though; It's an odd change certainly, but nothing too important, right? I mean, it's not like they invalidated the concept of a definitive timeline existing at all, right? Oh wait Yeah That's exactly what they did on the bottom of the page right there for all of us to see quote Attentive readers may note that the timeline shown here differs slightly from the one found in Hyrule historia The timeline can be interpreted a number of ways and may change depending on new discoveries that may come to light and on the players imagination in quotes Oh, you see it's basically telling us that Nintendo's what an intend wants at any moment Nintendo could just hit shuffle on the Zelda franchise and just announce a new version of the timeline just because they made some new Discoveries what's even mean? You guys know all this stuff you program these games or what? Are you waiting on us to discover the deep lore myths here? Because let me tell all you guys at Nintendo get ready to Re-release this thing because I've made some new discoveries and I've let my imagination run wild And their combined forces are about to drop a bombshell on your timeline You're ready for a Nintendo get this Hyrule warriors a game that you have gone on record Time and time again to say that isn't canon should in fact be considered canon and may in fact be the single most Important missing piece in your entire timeline. It is the game that quite frankly solves everything corrects every problem and challenge that this thing has so as you guys start and revving up the hype train for breath of the wild tunes the Breath just got Wilder and as the Internet continues to salivate over rehydrated ganon consider this theory a pitch a solution to the problem you created for yourself when it comes to this timeline a way for me to Contribute to a game series that I have loved for my entire life. Shall we begin? here's a little bit of context for those of you who don't know what the problem is in addition to changing up the order of A few games and adding the addendum imagine something and if it's good enough We'll make a can and if there was one other big announcement Nintendo made about the Zelda timeline They named the placement of breath of the wild. It's Drumroll, please At the end surprising Literally no one they chose to place it down here ich vaguely somewhere at the bottom Disconnected from literally everything else but sitting right down here as they said in an interview Translated by Silicon era. Well, of course, it's at the very end, but I get what you're asking It's which timeline is at the end of that's up to the players imagination Isn't it high rules history changes over time when we think of the next game of what we want to do with it? We might think oh, this will fit well and place it neatly into the timeline But sometimes we think oh crap and have to change the placement. Actually the decided history has been tweaked many times So really they gave us a grand total of zero Answers that we were actually looking for but you know what? Like I said earlier, I'm gonna give you guys a reason to tweak it again Remember that at the end of ocarina of time? Hyrule story actually splits in three directions depending on if link wins or loses against Ganon in the quest The first time line is where link dies leading to Ganon's take over an ultimate downfall of Hyrule This is the path of some of the darkest early games in the franchise Like the original Legend of Zelda and Link to the Past on the happier side of the timeline spectrum There are two separate timelines created if link wins against Ganon the first one follows link as he returns to his original timeline the child timeline leading to Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess And the last one is made of the adult world that he leaves behind Now without their hero opening the door to the likes of Wind Waker and Spirit Tracks now as I covered in my last breath of the wild timeline episode the biggest challenge with placing this one game in any Individual segment of that timeline is that it makes reference to everything up here There are elements of all three timelines in this one game now I'm not gonna go over all the evidence that I covered last timeline episode. Trust me I would love to I would love to extend the watch time of this video artificially But for the purposes of today's Theory I will refresh you on some of the highlights which include breath of the wild having rocksalt Couric's and rito which were all left over from the great ocean We travel in wind wakers part of the timeline Then there's the existence of Lionel's spectacle Rock being in the world and a yellow brimmed hero hat alongside the absence of Ganon's inform which would all point towards the downfall timeline and then finally Zelda's Passing mention of the glowing embers of Twilight in one of the memories that you end up unlocking over the course of the game Which obviously alludes to Twilight Princess and thus the child timeline now that last one may sound like it's the weakest Right and admittedly I was a bit quick to dismiss it in the past episode so let me just give you a bit more to chew on as far as how it relates to the child timeline cuz shockingly it's actually One of the strongest in breath of the wilds quest a fragmented monument link is asked to find fragments for a structure That looks exactly like the mirror of Twilight from Twilight Princess Now that alone would be pretty strong evidence. But we're not done also in that same game Midna ruler of the Twilight Realm Explicitly says that her people believe that the hero of legend would appear as a divine beast And what do we have as our primary? Mission throughout breadth of the wild a quest to awaken ancient machines all with animal themes in order to defeat Ganon and what are these giant animal mechs called divine? beasts Zelda even says that Divine beast was actually built by people lastly breath of the wild has the presence of a friendly Human-like Zora species now that at first might seem weird for me to call out since it feels like Zora Exists across all the different games equally, but when you actually look at the timeline, it isn't true in the adult timeline It said that the Zora have gone extinct and have given rise to the rito the bird people so knows or is there knocking out? That part of the timeline and then over in the downfall timeline The Zora are no longer friendly, but have actually regressed into the form of monsters according to the Hyrule Encyclopedia quote by the era of a Link to the Past the kingdom of Hyrule is in decline and relations with the Zora have soured Greatly their bodies change from blue to green and they become increasingly Aggressive towards outsiders by the era of The Adventure of Link the Zora are outright monsters end quote So essentially the Zora become enemies due to the lack of communication between themselves and the hylians So for breath of the wild to have friendly, highly Cognitive Zoras like we see in the game. It would need to take place in the child timeline so honestly There you go three time lines with three really solid buckets of evidence each supporting breath of the wild standing at the end of each of those time lines, which means honestly, It's most likely intended to be the descendant of all of them, which I totally get that's fine Probably what the Zelda team intended as they try to move beyond the time line baggage of all the past games But it still leaves us with one problem. We still have to find a way to unite the three timelines I mean if breadth of the wild is gonna exist somewhere on this chart Which clearly Nintendo is still intending to have happen then somehow those three timelines need to be merged together once again to produce breath of the wild So how do you do that sort of thing without an end game level of time heist this my friends is the missing link Of the timeline in quite a literal sense We've had our hero of time hero of legend hero of Twilight hero of the skies Heck there's even been a hero of trains because you know what modes of transportation need heroes, too So who then is our hero of the multiverse, who is the one that brings it all together? enter Hyrule warriors a game that shares a special connection between not just one but all three of these separate timelines a game whose entire plot revolves around multiple moments from Zelda history all merging together into one series of climactic battles a game that stands to be the missing piece to connect breath of the wild to the rest of the Timelines for those of you who haven't played it Which is probably a lot of you since it was originally released on the Wii U First off the definitive edition is available right now on the Nintendo switch all DLC included and it is great. It's a hack-and-slash Dynasty warrior style action game which means it is non-stop So if beating up thousands of Zelda series enemies using Link's iconic weaponry after they've been roided-up to the max Sounds like fun to you. Then Hyrule warriors is Absolutely worth a playthrough, but more importantly for the theory today. We're not interested in the gameplay We're here for the story in Hyrule warriors there exists a sorceress named SIA. No, not that SIA This one is tasked with maintaining the balance to the Triforce not interpretive dance performances accompanied by catchy pop melodies hair bows Although I gotta say they do both hide their faces quite a bit Anyway, this task allows her to see across all timelines The thing is she's not supposed to interfere But while watching the different timelines for so many thousands of years three things always stand out to her as the constant spirit of darkness Spirit of heylia the hero she eventually falls in love with the hero But she knows that she can't have him because zelda always shows up when darkness starts going up on the rise This jealousy is all Ganon needs to come in possessor and drive a rift in her soul Eventually splitting her into two different people Lana the righteous good and pure half and sia the prideful lustful evil half in this story Ganon soul was broken into four fragments and scattered throughout the timelines to ensure that he couldn't be Resurrected honestly, probably the smartest idea that anyone's ever had in his elder game But because of this he ends up manipulating SIA into merging the timelines together in gathering the pieces of his soul TLDR here thirsty time sorceress unites the multiverse for love and then resurrects Ganon instead Whoopsy now you can already see where this is headed right in order to explain Everything we see present and breath of the wild. We need a game to unite three timelines into one We need an ocean to appear to produce rock salt We need Zoras to not be evil, but also not be extinct so they can exist alongside the Rito We need Lionel's and spectacle Rock in a world with core rocks in the mirror of Twilight sand in Hyrule warriors we have exactly that we have ourselves a game where Timelines interact but the evidence doesn't just end with a simple explanation of everything Jumbled up We also know specifically that elements of all three timelines are Mixed in this one game a game mind you which takes place at the end of the child timeline We know it's at the end of the child timeline because of all the Twilight Princess references One of the pieces of Ganon soul is hidden in the Twilight Realm. We refight Zant from that game It also features locations like Faron woods before the multiverse is even introduced a location mind you that only appears in Skyward Sword Twilight Princess and wouldn't you know it breath of the wild now when she emerges the timelines she explicitly combines the Skyward Sword era the Twilight era and era of time none of which would actually point us in the direction of any additional timelines merging in since two of the three are already happening in a United timeline before the split even happens and the third one is happening in the child timeline Where we just established the game clearly takes place But then you start looking a bit closer at what's in this game by the end of it a fourth major Scenario gets mixed in the Great Sea from the adult timeline becomes the final major Quest and what we might not outright visit an event from the downfall timeline It is Actually present here throughout the game iconic recurring bosses are called in for climactic final battles King to dongho's go mom But there's one in particular that stands out the four headed men Handler planned an enemy whose origins date back to the first ever Zelda title and who has ever since appeared in games? specifically from the downfall timeline That and its appearance in Four Swords Adventures, but honestly that game shouldn't fit there in the timeline anyway So I'm choosing to ignore that one and not only that but we can actually find lasting effects for how the events of Hyrule warriors Carries over into breath of the wild first off the maps share some pretty striking similarities geographically with breadth of the wild I mean we did a whole thing on how maps in the Zelda series have a hard time staying consistent even the one that we ended up settling on was But that was also because we didn't consider Hyrule warriors as canon There are a lot of places that stick out across these two maps quite honestly The Lost Woods are directly north of Hyrule Castle on both maps death mountain is northeast on both maps Kakariko village is southeast on both maps But what I find to be particularly strange is the location of the valley of seers Located just northeast of Death Mountains the base of operations for sia who originally is in possession of the Triforce of power Now what happens to be around the same location just northeast of Death Mountain in breadth of the wild the spring of power I mean they had an entire map to place this thing But then they just settle on that specific spot which has strong connections with the Triforce of power in one and only one game and that game happens to be Hyrule warriors so weird coincidence if you ask me, but it's just stuff on a map. You say how does Hyrule warriors explain? Why there are items found across all timelines in breath of the wild? Well, like I said in the game's epilogue phantom Ganon steals CEA's powers and brings the great seed Hyrule thus the great scene now exists in the same timeline as the Twilight Realm it explains how the Rito end up in a timeline where they don't exist and how medley from Wind Waker ends up getting a divine beast named after her vom meadow in a timeline where she Also doesn't exist and most importantly of all that explains how rock salt from underneath a great sea ends up all over Hyrule that never had a great sea to begin with it also helps explain one other inconsistency across these games Ruto princess of the Zora Ruto is so revered as a legendary ruler of the Zora that she's called a sage in breath of the wild But that's kind of an issue if you stop and think about it ruto only becomes a sage in the adult timeline And yet she's regarded as one on the Zora Tablets in breath of the wild our clue comes from the following section from the tablet quote It is said that Ruto awoke as a sage facing this foe alongside the princess of Hyrule and the hero of legend all of this gets explained away if Hyrule warriors is truly canon Because now in the game and older fully sage doubt Ruto literally fights Ganon alongside Zelda and link It is a thing that happens in this game and as such could totally be the thing that this Zora tablet is talking about Let's also take a minute to look at the champions tunic from breath of the wild its flavor textu reads quote in ancient Hyrule this garment could only be worn by one who had earned the respect of the royal family and quote now if we take a quick look at all the hero garbs across all the separate timelines and I mean super quick because This is really obvious to see there isn't a single Tunic that uses the color blue in it and no protective rings or Zora tunics. Don't count since they're either accessories or completely different outfits altogether But you know where we can see blue as a part of the heroes garb shouldn't come as a surprise at this point It's the heroes tunic in Hyrule warriors Which features an extremely similar shade of blue by way of the blue gloves and trendy scarf? This would be the first Instance of this color ever on a chosen hero and that's not all even the story of how link gets this outfit also matches the breath of the wild Description at the end of one of the early missions links heroic actions earned the trust of Impa in her quest to rescue Princess zelda and she has a consort to the royal family rewards him with the heroes clothes which in turn shows complete trust in him to become the hero that Hyrule needs link has earned the respect of the royal family and has thus earned himself the colours which then Translates to the champions tunic when it comes time for breath of the wild centuries upon centuries upon centuries. Later But I do think that there's one other interesting set of similarities here to point out in Hyrule warriors We see two very distinct forms of Ganon his normal human form Ganondorf as well as the pig demon Ganon both have very specific designs Noticed the crown with five chains over his head all leading to a central gem on the forehead and now pay attention to the hair Super long and fiery with the beard connected up to the hairline now Let's look at the animal form Ganon here is a wild beast. He's a boar who truly stands and attacks on four legs So with all that in mind, let's check out some close-ups of Ganon and Ganondorf from Twilight Princess We have ourselves a crown with five chains leading up to a central gem on his forehead here That's certainly shorter But pretty full and looking like if you waited a couple of centuries to be revived could end up looking like we see in Hyrule Warriors a pig form that is truly animalistic and attacks on all fours. Now. Let's check out the Ganondorf from the downfall timeline Oh wait, we can't because he doesn't exist why change back to human form when you've already won. He stays a bipedal Armored pigs throughout the rest of that timeline. So then how about Ganondorf over in the adult timeline like Wind Waker? well He's wearing a crown but it's definitely a different crown and it kinda looks like he needs some Rogaine Looking like you're kind of going bald there, buddy So Ganon's design and hyrule warriors definitely seems to be a direct continuation of what we saw in Twilight Princess Which is great it coincides with what we said about it happening in the child timeline But admittedly it's a bit odd for a game that they are so vehemently denying to be canonical It feels like a pretty direct connection, but they're just like nope. Shut it down But then there's one other dot that I think's interesting and that I think we can connect here take a look at this It's a close-up of : ganon in the final moments of breath of the wild You notice anything a connected beard and hairline red and fiery and a crown with four chains but room for five all connected to a central jewel on the Forehead or maybe our noticing the final beast form of Ganon here which isn't a bipedal armored pig but is instead an actual wild animal yet again on four legs this my friends this feels very strongly as twilight princesses Ganon who has a direct design connection through Hyrule warriors Hyrule warriors doesn't just help explain why so many time lines appear mixed up in breath of the wild It is the piece that we've been missing that connects literally Everything in these games it explains some of the seemingly new Out-of-the-blue things that show up in breath of the wild like links blue tunic that apparently belonged to champions of the past and Ganon's Wildly new form it explains the strange occurrences Scattered throughout Hyrule like the rock salt the Zora tablets the naming of the divine beasts, though Nintendo keeps claiming this game as non-canon I'm not so sure about it anymore Hyrule warriors fills in nearly every gap that makes breath of the wild so ambiguous and it just so happens to be the last major zelda title that was released before breath of the wild totally changed everything about this series the Breadcrumbs were there the whole time? We just needed to pick him up and follow him back to where they all Converged and also get the game on a system. That wasn't the Wii U so we would actually play it so make it official Nintendo Hyrule warriors link is the hero of the Multiverse and interestingly enough as a side note If this game did suddenly become canon who also have the inclusion of linkle who would be the first female Link the first female destined hero So this game would also be woke without even realizing it Nintendo and hey You know what if I'm wrong it came to light from my own imagination, which makes it a valid assertion Anyway, isn't that right Nintendo? You see why that sort of thing is frustrating But hey, that's just a theory a game Theory thanks for watching and hey If you want to see my past Theory going into more detail about breath of the wise placement in the Zelda timeline stab the Box to the left with your master mouse or click the box to the right and make yourself the hero of the Notification Val truly the most valuable hero to all of us who work on the channel I'll see you all next week again for that fine-ass episode that I promised and just took longer to write than I expected
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Can’t believe he didn’t bring up the sequel’s trailer. The Ganon showed there has a stab wound in the same area where TP’s Ganon was stabbed. Not to mention the hair and crown
But what about the TIME BREAK???
Fun episode I just wish he had Brian David Gilbert, the only scholar of Time Break Studies on!
This is my favorite video so far
I want to piggy back off of this to point out that Warrior's placement also explains Link's new Time Slow power.
Cia holds the Triforce of Power by the end of the game with Lana. If they give Link a new superpower to slay Calamity Ganon, they can have him. The Triforce of Power basically does whatever you want it to, and granting a power like this seems well within it's (vague) capabilities.
After all, Link and Zelda are only bound together because of Demise's curse, if Link wins and Ganon/Demise is permanently removed from the picture, the curse is lifted, and Link's next incarnation (which would still contain the Hero's Soul, and Link's default Heroic Personality Lana/Cia are so fond of) would not be bound to Zelda anymore. So they can just go down and actually date/woo him without messing with the Triforce's balance (Which in BotW is in Zelda's care).
Cia get's revenge on Ganon for manipulating her, removes Zelda from the romance picture in a completely harmless way, and now can go get her hero, free of guilt!
I feel happy MatPat made justice to Hyrule Warriors. It is so endgame and has such a different gaming style than the other LoZ games, I always thought it deserved to be canon. Though yes, the story is just basic Zelda with witch of dimensions coming for that hylian, green booty, it is a perfect example of a cataclysmic event, that unbalances everything in the whole history of the franchise. TL;DR: HW is The Legend of Zelda: Endgame, it deserved to be canon, thank you, Matpat!
P.s.: also, Ruto is back. Some say they fell in love with Mipha, others, with BOTW Zelda, and some, with Malon, from OOT. But all of us know Tsundere Thicc fishy Princess is the best.
Does anyone know what the yellow on the theory logo means?
new intro, and the "player 3" slot in the logo is yellow? new channel confirmed? or is matpat doing another arg?