Appendix Chapter 1: I Time, a legend of zelda fanfic

Edited: Mass mostly grammar edits March 21, 2015.

I'm not as embarrassed by this thing existing as I once felt :/

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A.N. This exists mostly because once upon a time a fic writer got lost in her own story and realised she needed a map.

Appendix is a personal reference: a collection of canon and headcanon and au-specific stuff. Anyone is welcome to use it – just give credit where it's due, and if you have anything you'd like me to add I'll do the same for you.

I've never gone from loving a game to apathy before: Nintendo, I don't like being a pin ball! I never really disliked Skyward Sword, but it got rather repetitive and put me off finishing this, but I'm back. It didn't really add much. At all. Also note that with regards to the Hyrule Historia, I won't be using it as except maybe as comparison, but things like my timeline have been pretty long established in my head by now. I did try to work in timeline number three though, but since Appendix belongs to head-canon I don't really need it. I'll also add that I don't take the appearance of the Hero into consideration (much) as Nintendo is known for being lazy in character design. And even the Zelda team has said that the 'official' timelines change, I have no problem doing my own thing, especially since this is for a story arch I've been musing on for a very long time. On the other hand, between the timeline and SS I feel mostly vindicated – a fair bit matched up. ALBW didn't change much either.

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Appendix Contents:

A (H) is for a section that is more of an info dump so that I don't do it in a story: sometimes info dumps are done well, but that's rare and I hate slogging through information all the time in fun reading. It will also keep my A.N. sections short in actual fictions: it's called Appendix for a reason.

[1] Timelines (H)

[2-3] Geography (H)

[4] Magic (H-ish)

[5-7] Gods, lesser gods, and Ganon

[8] Time-keeping

[9] Races of Hyrule (H)

[10] Redead Survival Guide

[11] Extra: About Sheik

[12] When Plants Attack (H)

Map of Hyrule (dot = . ): serendipitous-way dot deviantart dot com/art/Map-of-Hyrule-almost-done-357951355

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What Time Is It? No, really.

Time Lines

(If you want the end result scroll to the bottom)

This is the first problem anyone that must be addressed before looking at explaining anything else in Hyrule. I mostly ignore the official line since Nintendo admits that the timeline is subject to change – and possibly with prejudice since they make a game and then figure out where it goes. And meanwhile there are many fan theories concerning the order in which the various Legends of Hyrule occur, but there are very few fixed connections that we know, and only a few more general ones, never mind the stories we've yet to be told. But what there are, are here:

1) The Legend of Zelda (I) is followed by Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. This is the easiest connection, and directly stated. They even have the same Hero.

2) A Link to the Past was originally billed as the predecessor of I and II, but Miyamoto afterward said it followed those two and Ocarina of Time, which may or may not be the 'Imprisoning War.' It is now said to be after OoT but before I and II. Still, this ends as a matter of opinion in the eyes of the players. The official timeline places this after OoT if the Hero failed, which could fit the back-story, but then a lot of games can fit the back-story (so can the Hero-not-a-failure timelines if the Hero had help). Meanwhile A Link Between Worlds is from about the same time period - about a century later, or a little less.

3) Link's Awakening could in theory follow any title where Ganon is the titular villain, but generally is thought to follow A Link to the Past. Link also leaves the linked Oracle game in a similar boat to the one in AL, so this is a choice as well, although he neither saved nor left Hyrule.

4) Oracle of Ages (manga and wiki source – I keep looking for these games) is first in what was supposed to be three, but only has Oracle of Seasons after it. Beyond that, it has a hero who has gone on adventures before, but who is still young. Can follow everything but the Wind Waker series (not ocean based!) Skyward and Ocarina (unless that Zelda has more than one attendant named Impa).

5) Ocarina of Time is a monster, and the reason for most of the debate around the timeline. OoT is early, as it has the origins of Ganondorf and the most complete Triforce story. But it is usually seen as having formerly two (now three) possible timelines branching from it – the adult and child, as well as a world where the Hero failed. In the child timeline, after being sent back in time Majora's Mask follows immediately, and from there (presumably) Twilight Princess. (See #6) Alternately, does TP follow the Adult while ALttP follows the Child? Or is this the onset of Ganon's escape and the Flood?

[Official Timeline: I'm personally tempted to ignore the third time line here (the Hero dying) on the grounds of cheapness – almost any Hero except the SS one could fail to lead to this timeline, why does it have to be the OoT one? Besides which, how did they seal Ganon? Was Zelda enough in Hyrule? Were there other people of sufficient power or ability to help Zelda as she channeled the Sages power or found another way? (Considering that the only people we see in the future are hiding behind walls, the dead-to-the-world Sages, and the Gerudo who never seemed to have left the desert and were more concerned with protecting their own sovereignty.) I mean, she was alone in the presence of the god-thing which was Ganon after the Hero died, and after her own imprisonment was not likely to be in any shape to do much... Really, I just see the world ending at this point, which once again leaves us with two timelines rather than three. Mind, if there was a plan B...]

6) Twilight Princess comes at some indeterminate point after OoT, in either timeline, although it can fit elsewhere. Historically, it is not clear past that there was a) an ancient hero, b) another hero recent enough that TP!Link is looked down on for wearing the Hero's green before people learn who he is and c) Ganondorf was sent (not sealed) away at one point by the sages. I'm increasingly tempted to place TP in the adult time line, or in the generation immediately after another serious war due to lack of small settlements and many damaged fortifications in outlying areas.

7) Wind Waker (followed by Phantom Hourglass then Spirit Tracks) is believed (and Historia confirms) to follow OoT, normally in the adult timeline since the Hero's time traveling is known, whereas the people of the child timeline shouldn't know anything about that, and he left after sealing away Ganon. However it could be in any of the three. If it's the child timeline, does Hyrule know what could have been despite Zelda's innocence and then Link fails to return from Terminia, leaving Hyrule in a lurch? Or could he return, but only in time to lead people up the mountains? Or does the Flood occur much later, after the Hero of Time's time? Is the seal on Ganondorf weakened with the removal of the Hero from the adult timeline, resulting in imminent doom, or is that later again, as suggested by the age of the king Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, who one would presume 'died' at the age he appears? And finally – OoT!Link is not the only time-travelling Hero! The Oracles Link time-travels, although his Ganon had to be brought back from the dead while WW involves a Ganondorf who never died – who actually seems saner than he was in OoT.

The final option: I would have thought that, of the games, WW is one of the two most likely to follow a Hero's failure. One guy who just seems to be going around being helpful (all those errands he runs) doesn't really equate a hero in most people's eyes, much less the Hero. So if one day he stops coming around and the world starts falling apart (more than it already was) it would be seem as though the Hero did not come at all, and while their prayers for salvation went unanswered another friendly face was lost to wicked world. Meanwhile to explain a Hero who travelled through time and sealed Ganon (Ganondorf being something else) we place the Oracles prior to OoT, and to have the Royal family survive OoT in some form, like Zelda a) escapes the flood and later has a child or more likely [already mentioned the alone with a god-thing bit] b) had already had a (very young) child which was spirited to safety before or after she died. To explain the crossing time mentioned in the WW back-story: maybe the legends got mixed up – someone knew about the Hero crossing time, but reports and stories mixed him with someone who came before or after, and ultimately the myth looks like a successful adult timeline through sheer serendipity. (This sort of thing happens a lot, sometimes even on purpose – to lift confusion or boost a reputation. The Aeneid is a really good example of this: it has two founding myths of Rome combined into a new one which did double duty by glorifying Augustus.)

8) The Minish Cap, Four Swords, and the Four Swords Adventure (in that order) were a placement problem before SS was released. They still are, in part. There is an ancient Hero mentioned, and many years later MC occurs, followed by (again presumably many years later) FS, and then FSa involves the same Hero and Princess. When FS occurs is problematic though, since all we really know is that it is much later – since long ago a Hero who could divide in four appeared – and that the Palace of Winds has floaty elements strongly reminiscent of Skyward Sword islands in the sky, but now clearly abandoned, unlike in MC. (Connections to the TP City in the Sky?) As for MC: the grave of Hyrule's unifying King is still known, there is a shrine for a sword from the sky which is NOT the Skyward/Master Sword, there is a settlement floating in the sky, there are bird statues in the shape of Loft Birds (Where the whirlwind to the Wind Palace is. Incidentally, who has considered the TP bird statues leading [albeit in a less direct manner] to the sky? They look different, but they're also quite old and worn.) wind and light as a means of travel to the sky, and a blue bird called Zeffa can be called to carry you. And then there's all this talk about Wind Tribe, favoured by the first king Gustaf, who live in the sky which leads me to...

[Offical version aside: Why does the official time line place FSa after TP but FS (the stated immediate prequel – same Link and Zelda even) so much earlier?]

9) Skyward Sword: the very reason for updating. Skyward Sword itself didn't actually change as much as it confirmed most of my choices. SS is one of the first legends, the earliest we know though it too hints at an older one. MC is not too long after that, (a few decades to a few centuries,) so early in the timeline rather than late (the sky is inhabited by people other than Oocca). This is not the War of the Bound Chest mentioned in MC, the Master Sword is forged in blood and the fires of the Gods (which just sounds cool, doesn't it?) and the stage is set for the Hyrule we know...

That is the interpretation I'll be using, but consider an alternative: what if Skyward Sword isn't one of the first? Zelda does say this: "You know, they say that the goddess gave the Sailcloth to her chosen hero long ago." And given that SS!Link's time-traveling is to a point after the land and sky were parted, it cannot be him. SO: SS gives a history including an apocalypse temporarily averted, (and then we avert it again and again ad infinitum...) and a rumour of another Chosen Hero of the Goddess, and from other games apocalypses that rather needs averting. No reason that Skyward can't follow something else. Imagine Skyward is last. Imagine that the Hero fails- or fails to appear at all: the Princess, Sages and people pray for salvation and Hylia, rather than deciding water fixes everything, sends her people to safety while dealing with the threat, the Master Sword is reduced, and years later SS comes around... Anyway, it's an idea.

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Introducing a third timeline effectively shot my timeline in the foot, since while it clarifies several things it really just muddies the waters more ... And it doesn't help that time is so fluid in Hyrule. As it stands, the subsequent placements are only the guidelines I use which seem most logical – for now, anyway.

_# is an unknown Hero, [] is the same Hero in different tales, () is a shaky placement.

So we have [_; SS;] ([[_; MC;] [FS; FSa;]]) [OoT; MM;] TP; [OoS; OoA;] [ALttP; ALBW;] [LoZ; ZII;] LA; [_; WW; PH; ST] in no particular order.

Down to business.

ALL: _1; SS; _2; MC; FS; FSa; OoT

_1 is the Chosen Hero of the Goddess Hylia mentioned by Zelda in SS. Could argue it is SS!Link what with the time travel, but the people have already been sent to the sky by the time Zelda seals Demise in the Sealed Grounds, so how would the people of Sky Loft know about him? They wouldn't – there's another guy.

Skyward, as mentioned, is the earliest legend we've learned so far.

_2 is the Hero of Men from the War of the Bound Chest mentioned in the history of the Minish Cap: this Hero is from Hyrule but his sword was sent from the sky – it may have a common origin with the Master Sword (because what are the odds two über magic/holy swords of evils bane from the same region are from different sources?).

The Minish Cap is early – near enough to the return of Hylians to Hyrule that visitors from the sky coming for festivals don't stand out overmuch but they have already left ruins behind elsewhere. The Kingdom of Hyrule seems underdeveloped and young: the capitol city streets are dirt rather than pavers; small 'local' type maps for the kingdom; the neighbours lack of contact and/or development (the scattered Gorons and complete absence of Zora); the small size of Lon Lon Ranch (Malon and Talon as local/family names?); memory of the founding king, King Gustaf, and the continued maintenance of his grave all indicate relative recentness. And then there are additional details like the Loft Wing statues, wind crests, Wind Tribe, travel by sailhat, and the bird Zeffa.

Four Swords (with immediate sequel FSAdventure – none of this TP sequel crap – same characters worrying over the new seal they made) follows next because a male Gerudo by the name of Ganondorf goes into the desert against his people's laws to claim a powerful artefact, using it against Hyrule and ultimately failing. And because if someone prominent bearing a unique name royally fucks up in such a visible way the name has a way of going out of favour, and as there are three games with a male Gerudo by the name of Ganondorf who's actions could have serious repercussions for the Gerudo people who, generally, either did not approve (all FS Gerudo and Nabooru) or were not really involved (all FS and OoT Gerudo appear in the desert)...

He's OoT Ganondorf. Personal theory is he wanted a tool to overcome the Royal family's magic in order to expand into Hyrule and support his people (that WW back-story) but lost control (either 'power corrupts' or my head-canon where Ganon ≠ Ganondorf) and failed besides. He eventually, over the course of whatever a generation is to Hylians (about 15-25 years if their lifespan is similar to humans), redeemed himself to his people, became king as was his birth right and began negotiations with the new king of Hyrule (FS!Zelda's husband, presumably) but at some point he heard about the Triforce...

At which point time breaks.

CHILD:_1; SS; _2; MC; [FS; FSa;][OoT; MM;] ([OoS; OoA;]) TP

Link is successful, and Zelda sends him back in time. Navi leaves and the Hero's search for her leads into the events of Majora's Mask in the alternate dimension of Terminia. This is the immediate sequel to OoT – there is no debate. Presumably Ganondorf/Ganon got thumped somewhen near then.

The Oracles, (mostly manga-verse) although there are numerous places it can theoretically go (really as long as Ganon has been vanquished at some point already) have been relegated to the child line for the following reasons: Oracles are the adventures of an established Hero (presumably one a known one) of a relatively peaceful and prosperous Hyrule (so the Hero can afford to travel and Hyrule has international ties) who knows his Zelda and her Impa (Impa's representation is debateable, it may just be the traditional name or title of attendants to the princess dating from SS); two, Twinrova (who have only appeared in OoT and an alternate reality in the same timeframe) summon/resurrect Ganon against a (three) Hero who can manipulate time but is younger than adult Link of OoT – I can't see there being many time-controlling Heroes. The other games it could theoretically (though none have as much in common) follow are TP, MC, ALttP, ALBW, and LoZ I+II. The Four Swords series Hyrule is too weak to be sending agents that far abroad. Twilight is possible, but the hero may actually finish his adventure a bit too old – the oracles Hero is very young. The last four might work with regards to the hero's age, but lose ground for Hyrule's stability which is debatable.

At this point I would like to point out that Ganondorf's death is what is most confusing. He has died at least twice (TP, WW), possibly more (Post-Fail!Hero). But the series will sometimes offer a partial distinguishing feature: he takes the form of both the thief king or Prince of Darkness Ganondorf, a powerful semi-immortal, (he does age) and the Dark Lord Ganon, the revivable entity of pig-like countenance (who has died six times, I think...). For my purposes these are related but distinct entities (who get their own chapter). The distinction came about from the presence of the boar-thing not equating the presence of the man, and from Ganondorf's regret (and sanity) in WW.

Twilight Princess is in the child line because if Ganondorf was sent into the Twilight Realm he was not sealed in the Sacred Realm by the Sages, Hero and Zelda as in the adult timeline. This is a different fate for the same lone individual. It is the time that elapses in between the games that is questionable: is the possibly possessed Ganondorf immortal, as if he is it may have been a very long time. If he is not it may be within a generation or two of OoT which seems implied (mockery over the Hero's green, the Hero's Shade, Skull Kid). The Hidden Village may have been founded by OoT!Impa (who was in a position to be influential regardless of timelines)if he was immortalish, or by a common ancestor of Impa and Impaz if he was not. The Hylian Guard is kind of useless in both, so it's not indicative but maybe a hint. There are also other structures: the Forest Temple-Deku Tree, Temple of Time-Forest Temple, Link's tree house, the South Field is about the same shape as OoT's Hyrule Field, and the frozen domain a reminder of what almost was.

ADULT: _1; SS; _2; MC; [FS; FSa;] OoT; [ALttP; ALBW;] [LoZ; ZII;]

There is a very simple reason to the above choice – town names and back story. In ALttP – already a precursor to LoZ I and II – there are a number of towns named for the sages of the OoT adult timeline. And it must be the adult timeline as there would be no reason to awaken these sages in the child timeline. Presumably the previous sages are in place already. (I call them the useless tools from TP.) These towns, Saria, Nabouru, Darunia, Ruto and Rauru would have no reason to take those names otherwise, so the child timeline is not a possibility. As mentioned earlier, the Failed Hero's timeline is a possibility, but that requires another workable counter to Ganon when Zelda really really didn't seem up to the task – I mentioned the world ending? – and since this Legend had a successful end to OoT this is ergo, not the doomed reality. The Hero of Time probably got melded into the Knights in the narrative (for one does not invade a heavily armed and guarded fortress to face a dark lord single handed) so the mention was lost. As to Zelda the first (if it's a traditional name creating a naming law makes no significant difference) in LoZII, she could be any time prior to this but after OoT, really, since that was when the Triforce was recovered, or ALttP, when it was last intact.

As an aside, WW can still follow here if you take the increasingly watery maps to be significant.

DOOMED:(_3;) [WW; PH;] ST

_3 may or may not exist – I described how "but the Hero did not appear" could be the Hero of Time failing above, but on the off chance there was another way that means a tale is missing with its Hero or one of the other known Heroes could have failed. Or there never was a Hero, period.

And of course by WW the gods have buried Hyrule under the waves and Ganondorf (without the mad Ganon) appears to cause problems. He is killed by the Hero of Winds who goes on to help the pirate/princess Zelda re-establish a Kingdom of Hyrule. ST presumably takes place within a century.

OTHER: LA

Link's Awakening involves a Hero who faced Ganon (as Nightmare takes the pig-thing's form) and was consequently known to the people. Otherwise, take your pick. As a matter of preference, I like to imagine Link's Awakening revolving around the Hero of Time, or even Twilight Princess' Hero. It can also fit in the blank before the Wind Waker to splice the doomed Hyrule in anywhere but after SS and the WW trilogy. But whatever Hero he had left Hyrule for whatever reason after having already saved the country, following wanderlust or looking for peace or adventure or simply a place Ganon's followers would not appear to try and kill him, and shipwrecked alone in the middle of nowhere. The likelihood of being rescued is not particularly strong, though luck tends to run with Heroes it does run out eventually. The Awakening is easily Zelda's most tragic story.

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tl:dr ; tl:dr ; tl:dr ; tl:dr ; tl:dr

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And so, finally, this is the timeline I will fall back on until the next timeline glitch:

CHILD:_1; SS; _2; MC; [FS; FSa;] [OoT; MM;] ([OoS; OoA;]) TP

ADULT: _1; SS; _2; MC; [FS; FSa;] OoT; [ALttP; ALBW;] [LoZ; ZII]

DOOMED: (_3;) [WW; PH;] ST

_1. During the Wing Ceremony a Hero is mentioned in Zelda's explanation of her role as the goddess: the goddess gave the Hero a sail, and act which the ceremony is modeled on. As this was prior to Skylofts' creation, this cannot be the Skyward Hero.

_2. The Hero of Men from the War of the Bound Chest. (It would be interesting to see this story take form.)

_3. "... But the Hero did not appear."

LA is removed since it is too ambiguous – in theory it could go nearly anywhere.

The Doomed timeline is moveable too.

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Ugh.

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My Original Timeline: _ being a missing Hero, [] around a single Hero, () around something uncertain

Child: SS; (_; MC; [FS; FSa;]) [OoT; MM;] Oracles; TP; (_; MC; [FS; FSa])

Adult: SS; (_; MC; [FS; FSa;]) OoT; ALttP; [LoZ; ZII;] LA/ _; [WW; PH;] ST

Official Timeline:

Child: SS; _; MC; FS; [OoT; MM;] TP; FSa

Adult: SS; _; MC; FS; OoT; [WW; PH;] ST

Failure: SS; _; MC; FS; OoT; [ALttP; Oracles; LA;] [LoZ; ZII]