The chronology of The Legend of Zelda series was a topic of much debate and confusion among fans until the 2011 bestselling book Hyrule Historia finally featured a detailed timeline detailing the order of events as they transpired. So it comes as no surprise that the time period of Breath of the Wild currently has fans scratching their heads once again.
The game’s director and longtime Zelda veteran Eiji Aonuma spoke to Waypoint, and whilst he wasn’t too explicit, he did offer the following hint about when exactly Breath of the Wild takes place:
I wouldn’t say that it obviously fits into any one part of the timeline, but if you play the game, you’ll be able to work out where it fits. As you probably saw in the trailer, the most recent trailer, there’s a woman’s voice, and she says: “The history of the royal family of Hyrule is also the history of the Calamity Ganon.” And as you know, the Zelda series, up until now, is a history of repeated attacks by Ganon. So, there’s food for thought there. I don’t want to say anything more as I’d like players to work it out for themselves, to play the game and see what they think.
So yeah, it doesn’t say much, but he does seem to be describing the conflicts that previous incarnations of Link have had with Ganondorf in the past, implying that the game takes place after most other entries in the series. This would also fit with how it appears to be set in a somewhat post-apocalyptic version of Hyrule that’s fighting a losing battle against the forces of the Great King of Evil (yes, that really is how Ganondorf describes himself. Subtlety, eh?).
It’s also worth mentioned that whilst Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule still appears to be a Medieval fantasy type world, we’ve seen from the footage that there’s a ton of high tech equipment on display, including cryogenic chambers (pictured above) and what even appears to be an iPad (pictured below). In an earlier interview, Aonuma addressed the presence of sci-fi elements, saying:
“There is a little bit of a sci-fi element to it. Link basically adventures through a ruined world. I wanted to add technology as the opposite side of that. I thought it would be interesting for Link to use technology to explore through this wild and ruined world. I figured that would add another layer to the game.”
And yes, the Zelda series has always played fast and loose with technology in period settings (Wind Waker had full colour cameras in a world that had barely invented the wheel) but whilst Breath of the Wild hasn’t gone full on Star Wars, its abundance of more advanced machinery once again indicates that it’s set much further along in the history of Hyrule.
Either way, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be coming our way on Wii U and Nintendo Switch on 3 March 2017.
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