19 replies to this topic

[SOAP]

Okay since now we know what the official timeline is and it's largely been, well, a really hard pill to swallow for most... to say the least. To everyone here and the fan community as a whole, I ask, what now? How many already embarc the new timeline or at least letting it grow on them? Those who don't accept it, how has this changed your opinion on creator intent? Does its still matter to orthodox timeline theorizing? Does being orthodox still matter or should fans have more free range when it comes to placing games together, so long as it "works"?

Personally, I like the official timeline but I'm curious as to what fans can come up with without being bogged down trying to align with creator intent, since obviously we have no idea what their intent was anyways.

Edited by SOAP, 30 December 2011 - 04:08 AM.

[joeymartin64]

Well, like I said partially elsewhere, it's made me more confident than ever that the creators generally care less about the overarching story than fans do (not that that's necessarily a bad thing, mind you), and it's made me feel more assured than ever in my decision to all but ignore them with regards to what I consider canon. The timeline itself hasn't changed my positions on anything whatsoever (since I choose to ignore it), but the hubbub before its release did get me sort of wanting to take another look at things and put together a new-ish timeline. Well, two, actually; one of my stubborn-as-hell, not-letting-it-go single timelines, and one fine-have-it-your-way split timeline. Laziness and other stuff have prevented me from getting around to it quite yet, but I do plan on being the first jackass to posit a timeline after the release of the "official" one. Well, here on LA, anyway.

Also, lolofficialtimeline.

Also also, album version's better.

[Beno]

So far, I'm actually surprised at how much I like the new timeline. I feel like once we get a fully translated version of the timeline, more people will warm up to it. Just right now there is so much "how the hell does this work?" going on because we have a chart but nothing to explain.

I'd like to see the issues with the FSS cleared up as well as a better idea of how the third timeline works.

I think even beyond people making up their own version of the timeline, people are still going to speculate on how things go together and connections between the game. Even though no one had it exactly right, everyone pretty much had the general idea of the order of the games and still had plenty to theorize about.

[MikePetersSucks]

I've never really considered developer intent very important in projects such as the Legend of Zelda, which owes its whole to multiple creative intelligences that aren't responsible for the entirety of the work, and therefore aren't really in the best position to make enlightened judgment calls. Business as usual, for me.

[Hana-Nezumi]

I think this means that any timeline theorizing that happens from now on will be less about trying to figure out some kind of unknowable truth, and more about individual interpretations. I can definitely see fans coming out with their own three-way split timelines and variations on the official timeline. Indeed, there should be more a lot more freedom now since fan timelines will be just that... fan creations that are made for fun. At least, until someone comes along and says their timeline is correct and the official one is wrong/stupid/doesn't count...

[SOAP]

@ Joey. I just might beat you to the punch. I've already started on a timeline, just for the shits and giggles. The only thing is I need to beat SS first as it deals mostly with SS's ending. I already had it spoiled but I want to see it for myself.

@ Hana, I would love it if fans made their own theories just for fun. I like the official timeline but hopefully now people will be less concerned with figuring the "correct" timeline and just do their own thing.

Edit: For example, there seems to be a lot of fans looking for reconciliations between the Sleeping Zelda story being last yet their being many Zeldas born beforehand that have no explanation for them all being Zelda. Especially in the case with Tetra who should be Princess Tetra but instead becomes another Zelda once she learns of her lineage. This wouldn't make sense if it was merely just common royal practice to name princes and princess after past monarchs. It wouldn't apply to her because she was already named Tetra. What right would an ancient have in renaming her unless there was something more special about the name. I posit that maybe LoZ and AoL could take place before OoT and after SS. The only issue is that goes against age old common convention, but fuck common convention, and it means the Sages were named after old ass town instead of vice versa.

Edited by SOAP, 30 December 2011 - 06:59 AM.

[Beno]

and it means the Sages were named after old ass town instead of vice versa.

Or maybe a previous set of sages are also named the same thing (since SS hints at sages being around), and thus the towns are named after them. If there can be multiple same named people throughout Hyrule's history like Malon, why not Darunia, Ruto, etc? Maybe the 7 sages could always be named the same thing.

Edited by Beno, 30 December 2011 - 07:12 AM.

[SOAP]

and it means the Sages were named after old ass town instead of vice versa.

Or maybe a previous set of sages are also named the same thing (since SS hints at sages being around), and thus the towns are named after them. If there can be multiple same named people throughout Hyrule's history like Malon, why not Darunia, Ruto, etc? Maybe the 7 sages could always be named the same thing.

That works too. Actually, that makes more sense in context of the timeline I'm working on.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

Where do we go from now? Um, possibly, just enjoy the games as they come out? And if we insist on trying to make some sense of the timeline, then all we have to do is wait for them to add more games. Eventually, they'll muck the timeline up and then it'll be arguing over which games fit where in the new continuum.

Timeline theorising has always been about individual interpretation, regardless of whether an official timeline existed or not. Let's say no one ever released this timeline in this artbook, what then? Well, you would have argued forever over your own individual interpretations and it would always have been individual interpretations. One of you might have accidentally hit upon the official timeline version, but so what? Without actually knowing, other people would have dismissed your correct timeline as an individual's interpretation.

And for those of you who complain about how the developer's don't care about the story... Of course they never did. If they had, they wouldn't have created so many games where the essential story is so intensely similar.

Minish Cap, A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, all featured a story where the basic premise is... collect X MacGuffins to find/fix a mystical sword with which to defeat an evil villain. Minish Cap, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past all feature a villain that has taken over Hyrule. The basic storyline varies very little to the extent that some critics have basically said that Nintendo are basically re-releasing the same game over and over again but with very small tweaks. This is very evident with A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, with the latter resembling a 3D version of the former, with the only major difference being that there's fewer bosses and there's no Agahnim/Ganon twist.

I'd say learn to live with it. Certainly, this triumvirate irons out the technology issue that I mentioned some years past and the fact that the same thing kept happening to Hyrule without anyone learning anything.

[Fëanen]

I'm fine with the official timeline, though I'm very eager to find out some of the details. The oddities and holes bother me less than the oddities and holes in literally every fan theory that's come out since the FS series. Big-time "sort the games" stuff is probably going to stick around as a sort of fan theorizing even though I'm convinced that the dev. team will go by what's been revealed in the future.

That being said, even within the context of the official timeline we can still do some different sorts of theorizing about things which aren't as explicit. MPS's dharma of Zelda theory comes to mind.

Edit: To anybody who read this: I have no idea why it originally ended in a bunch of #'s. Probably the fault of a cat.

Edited by Fëanen, 30 December 2011 - 02:45 PM.

[Fin]

i agree with mps, and hope hana is right. i'd much rather see conversations about sharing and discussing interpretations than some search for the one true version.

[Moriatti]

IDK, more stuff like the Ikana Canyon background detail speculation would be cool.

[Masamune]

I'm happy. I think it's nice to have something established to work with. Bits of it are weird and I certainly would've done it different, but I'm happy with it. I'm just disappointed that there's so much backlash against it. Things could be a lot more fun if there was a bit more discussion on how to make it work rather than why it doesn't.

[Fëanen]

I'm happy. I think it's nice to have something established to work with. Bits of it are weird and I certainly would've done it different, but I'm happy with it. I'm just disappointed that there's so much backlash against it. Things could be a lot more fun if there was a bit more discussion on how to make it work rather than why it doesn't.

In all fairness, there's not much to discuss until some of the key sections are translated. Right now we have a bare timeline and a couple details, but the most puzzling parts of it are unscanned.

[Arturo]

It has been ages since I last posted here... I had heard of rumours of an official revelation of Zelda timeline, but didn't want to know anything about it till I ended playing SS. And although there are things which look very strange to me (FS--------->FSA), I like other things, like the restoration of the OoT->ALttP relation. It could have been much much worse, and most of the things had already been theorized here

What to do now? Enjoying the Zelda series, would be a nice idea

It's so nice to see there's still the people I discussed with... A big hug to you all from Berlin

[MikePetersSucks]

OH MY GOD ARTURO EXISTS. <3 we luv u

[SOAP]

It has been ages since I last posted here... I had heard of rumours of an official revelation of Zelda timeline, but didn't want to know anything about it till I ended playing SS. And although there are things which look very strange to me (FS--------->FSA), I like other things, like the restoration of the OoT->ALttP relation. It could have been much much worse, and most of the things had already been theorized here

What to do now? Enjoying the Zelda series, would be a nice idea

It's so nice to see there's still the people I discussed with... A big hug to you all from Berlin

ARTURO! My ex-husband! Berlin? Does that mean you're in Germany now?

[Arturo]

Yup

[Showsni]

Arturo? Who's that?

I'm sure we can always find new things to discuss, even if we all take this timeline as read (and some people clearly don't...). I mean, we've had massive discussions on Sheik's actual gender, if I recall...

[SOAP]

Arturo? Who's that?

I'm sure we can always find new things to discuss, even if we all take this timeline as read (and some people clearly don't...). I mean, we've had massive discussions on Sheik's actual gender, if I recall...

She's obviously a man. I never doubted her masculinity for a second