Zelda Timeline

[Overflow]

uh no see that's the thing; he didn't

Because Zelda sent Link back in time, he basically didn't exist there anymore. In the past, Ganondorf is executed for his crimes, but in the future, he's trapped in the Sacred Realm. When he busts out, in the future, there's no Link to save everybody, so the gods totally flood the place.

That's the basic idea, yeah. It also makes sense then that the Link in WW is NOT a descendant of the original Link, while Link in TP probably is, considering how he already has the Triforce of Courage mark on his hand. WW Link has to rediscover the Triforce of Courage. This also explains why the original 2 games probably happened in this timeline: The world being flooded and leaving a desolate wasteland after the waters recede (LoZ), North Hyrule being a new continent created likely by WW Link and Tetra (AoL), the towns being named after the seven sages (AoL), and Link, once again, having to find the Triforce of Courage, since he is not a descendant of the OoT Link.

Someone once mentioned that it's likely that Child Link eventually hooked up with Malon, which makes sense, considering TP Link is a rancher too. I think that in the 100+ years that passed between OoT and TP, Child Link and Malon probably moved far south of Hyrule and created Ordon village. Probably his son--TP Link's grandfather--became a swordsman but was killed in the Lost Woods, becoming a Stalfos. Instead of becoming a monster, though, he's good, considering he is a direct descendant of someone who had the triforce of Courage, and probably even carried it for a while himself. That also explains why the fallen warrior in TP calls Link 'my son'. Maybe it was Link's father, instead, but either way, I think this works. To an extent, anyways

Native Jovian, the idea of a split timeline comes from the fact that when Link was sent back to the past, he probably warned the King of Ganondorf's plans, thus causing him to be executed. Meanwhile, the world that Adult Link left behind continues on, with Ganon being in the sacred realm, eventually busting out, and, since there's no descendant of Link's there, the world is flooded. Many people still vouch for a linear timeline, though, and there's great arguments for both sides.

[Native Jovian]

Edit -- Massive edit. Moral of the story is don't leave a reply open for a long time before posting it.

Native Jovian, the idea of a split timeline comes from the fact that when Link was sent back to the past, he probably warned the King of Ganondorf's plans, thus causing him to be executed. Meanwhile, the world that Adult Link left behind continues on, with Ganon being in the sacred realm, eventually busting out, and, since there's no descendant of Link's there, the world is flooded. Many people still vouch for a linear timeline, though, and there's great arguments for both sides.

I thought Ganondorf went into the Sacred Realm right after Link opened the Door of Time and removed the Master Sword from the pedestal, though. At that point Hyrule was basically screwed until Link grew up; there was nothing anyone could do to stop him until Link would wield the Master Sword properly. That's why Link just up and left for Termina rather than sticking around Hyrule. If that's the case, then there would be no point in warning anyone -- he was no longer around (presumably searching for the Triforce in the Sacred Realm), and even if they could have found him, they couldn't have stopped him.

Who knows -- it's entirely possible that he did warn people and it didn't do any good. It doesn't necessarily result in a split timeline.

[Scufo]

Link up and left for Termina...while he was trapped in the Sacred Realm? What?

The point is there are two endings in OOT.

In the first, adult Link seals up Ganon, and is then sent back in time by Zelda. So we have a sealed Ganon, adult Zelda, and no Link. We also have the seven sages, who were awakened by Link to take the place of the previous sages, who were killed by Ganondorf in his takeover. Everyone's happy, and peace and harmony reign throughout the land for all eternity. That is, until Ganon decides to break out of the Sacred Realm. Only this time, there's no Hero of Time to stop him because Link no longer exists in this timeline. Hyrule is flooded, a hundred or so years pass, and then WW happens. This is the adult timeline.

The second timeline is the child timeline. After being sent back in time, child Link and Zelda have a little talk, which results in Ganondorf's crimes being exposed (or future crimes, whatever). This leads to TP, during which we see Ganondorf's attempted execution. He manages to survive (albiet with a gaping wound in his chest), but is sealed up in the Twlight Realm. A hundred or so years pass, and then TP happens.

Ganon returns about a hundred years later in both timelines, but only in the child timeline (TP) can the Hero of Time's descendant appear to save the day. It's pretty clear that TP Link is descended from OOT Link, because he already has the Triforce of Courage. Meanwhile WW Link has to rediscover it for himself.

tl;dr: This interview (about a quarter of the way down, ctrl+F 'parallel') confirms that WW and TP are parallel on a split timeline.

[Aninymouse]

It's said in Wind Waker itself (probably several times) that the Link you're playing as is NOT the Hero of Time (a descendant of Link's). He is the Hero of Winds, a new lineage.

TP & WW can't be happening at the same time, since Aonuma himself said that WW took place thousands of years after OoT while TP only took hundreds. Though yes, they exist side-by-side in separate worlds.

Also, if you place more importance on the creation/corruption of the Dark World than Ganon being dead (sounds good to me), then I can see how LttP might come before LoZ. I'm not 100% convinced yet, though.

[Native Jovian]

Link up and left for Termina...while he was trapped in the Sacred Realm? What?

Yep. That's the crazy thing about time travel -- you can literally be in two places at once.

[Scufo]

Well, yeah. And the result is two separate universes. Thus the split timeline.