This topic has Spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess... ...I ca'nt obscure the following information through the use of spoiler tags/censors/whatevers because I do'nt know how to use those. I checked the rules thread and the link to the guide for spoilers is'nt working so this warning is the best I can do.
So... at the end of Ocarina of Time Link and The Sages banished Ganon to The Sacred Realm. Afterwards, Zelda returns Link to his time. Link, after returning to the present as a child goes up to Zelda and we assume he tells her of Ganon`s plan to seize Hyrule Castle, thus eliminating the need for him to turn into an Adult and overthrow Ganon.
This is where The confusion begins. Some people say that The Time-line breaks into two branches; One leads to Wind Waker, The other leading to Twilight Princess.
According to this theory, Wind Waker is following The "Adult" Time-line (I'll just call it that from now on. It's easier.) where Link seals Ganon into the Sacred Realm and vows to exact revenge on his descendants... which he tries to do in Wind Waker.
Twilight Princess supposedly follows The "Child" Time-line where Link (as a child) tells Zelda of Ganon`s plans and he's sentenced to death because of it... The Execution is shown in Twilight Princess.
Others say they're all part of one Time-Line, Ocarina of Time being 1st chronlogically, Wind Waker being 2nd and Twilight Princess being 3rd.
So, uhh... what do you think? Is it one continuous time-line or two seperate, branching ones?
The way I always viewed the Zelda series was that, for the most part, each game is completely separate from the other, and that Link, Zelda, and Ganon reincarnate, with fate repeating itself over and over again. The Wind Waker Link is a completely separate individual than Ocarina Link and Twilight Link, although they may be each others descendants, etc, excluding OoT Ganon, who I think is the same as the one from A Link to the Past. The only exceptions are sequels (OoT and Majora's Mask, WW and Phantom Hourglass).
I agree. I think the godesses reincarnate Zelda and Link (but not Ganon, he just comes back all sorts of ways) whenever ganon rises again so they can strike him down and bring peace to the land once more.
But what's your opinion on the chronology of the story?
Well. I think, of the ones I will list here, OoT/MM came first, then ALttP, then TP at some later point. I haven't played WW, so I don't know the specifics toward the flooding of Hyrule, but, as it remained underwater at the conclusion of the game, it either takes place after TP and hasn't happened yet at that point, or it takes place earlier and Hyrule was restored. No mention of the flood is given in TP, so I tend to lean toward the first.
Or you can treat each game continuity as a separate take on an ancient fairy tale, with no story, from OoT's, to WW, to TP being the absolute truth of the mythos of Hyrule, but each being a fanciful take on the same inherited myth.
That's interesting... and since you have'nt played Wind Waker I SHALL INFORM YOU. The opening talks about Ocarina of Time and basically confirms that WW takes place after OoT. It talks about Ganon returning to spread darkness without a hero coming to vanquish the evil so the people appealed to The Gods, the story stopped there. (SPOILERS AHOY!)
Later on in the game The King of Hyrule explains what happened to Hyrule. The Gods flooded it to stop Ganon, but they knew to flood Hyrule like that would be granting Ganon`s wish to destroy Hyrule (or something like that) so they chose people to move to mountain-tops and... after a few centuries of people living up there Wind Waker came about.
and I have'nt played A Link to the Past but I'm going to assume it involves Link saving Hyrule from Ganon... which would rule both A Link to the Past and Twilight Princess happening between Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, but Nintendo may have changed their minds during the making of Twilight Princess so I'm not sure...
...but I'm inclined to lean toward the time-line split theory since it would explain everything pretty nicely.
And the "re-telling of the same story but different thing" sounds plausible but... the games reference and tie-in with eachother somewhat so I'm not so sure...
Not to be nitpicky, or anything... >_>
In A Link to the Past, Ganon tracks down and sacrifices the descendants of the seven sages that put him away at the end of OoT, thereby returning to this world from the Sacred Realm (where he was sealed in OoT) in the pig form from the end of OoT. In essence, OoT was intended to be a prequel to ALttP.
And I suggest the mythos version because, the more you look at the chronology of the LoZ series, the more it becomes apparent that you aren't really supposed to make sense of it.
...Nintendo's being weird.
I geuss not thinking about it too hard would work...
But I wanna get people`s input on this...
... like I got yours.
...I also like ellipsises... >_>
Z( o> o )Z .... ..... .... .... ... ... ..
^
Ellipse Cannon
AWESOME! *Gos Pac-Man and Eats all the dots*
AVGN did a video about this (find it yourself)
Also the infamous steampunk Zelda going around where the legend hero of time does not appear so an insane person who thinks he is Link is the main character that tries to fight evil to which you control.
Huh. Looks like this will clear up the events leading up to Wind Waker. Also, I look forward to the more industrial Hyrule than the medieval setting we're so used to.
If its real that is. Lots been saying it is a clever hoax.
Arrrgh, hoaxes. Why must you tempt me with your sweet promises of innovative plot design?
I hope it's real though.
I wish I had saved the "promotional image" that I saw weeks back.
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/29488.html
AVGN video. Of course swearing, but no where near as much as his normal ones.
See, I figured linking AVGN videos would be technically off limits, but easy to find. Eh whatever.
You have to enter your age to see the content. Easy to cheat? Yes... but then you are a liar and would have found and watched the video on your own anyway.
Yeah, I pretty much agree with what he said at the end there.
...I'm a "splitist", I geuss.
That video also gave me an idea.
At the end of Wind Waker, Tetra and Link set off to find The New Hyrule. (There was this wish on the triforce and... yeah.) So maybe they found it, got everyone settled on it and it became the hyrule seen in Zelda I and II.
I really consider every game like reading a diffrent story with the same character kind of like link being a movie star & playing the same role just in diffrent ways I mean it seems like the continuity restarts every know & then I mean I can see how all the nes & super nes games go together & even how OOT & MM would be in the same timeline but i thought the "TOON LINK" games were an entierly difftrent continuity, & as for TP Its kinda stand alone if you ask me.
Foooooooooooound it.
Interesting. Who's that, though? @ dude on the tower there.
I'm just so freaking blown away right now...
...I hope it's not a hoax.
Too much freaking Brown is Real there, tho. Are colors meaningless?
Also, the guy on the (water?) tower looks like he has a beak. Next-gen version of the bird-people from WW?
The bird people are called Rito... just to let you know.
And that dude DOES look rather bird-ish... o_O
I used quotes on the words "promotional image" for a reason.
Still caused quite the ruckus beforehand that is true.
Oh, I knew you know it's fake. I just wanted to edumacate everyone else who might otherwise throw caution to the wind.
Just had to ruin the fun, eh?
The real question is if you know whether or not I knew you knew that I knew it was fake.
I feel so rickroll'd. 
