Wait, Did Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom De-Canonize Ocarina Of Time?

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is set directly after the events of as its sequel, but aside from that, its position on the larger timeline for the franchise is unclear. Of course, this isn't unusual when it comes to games, considering how convoluted even the official timeline is, especially since it splits into three branches. But there are some events included in that raise questions about how they might affect the events of other games.

takes place across thousands of years, featuring both present day Hyrule and the time period when the first king and queen of Hyrule lived. The segments regarding the distant path are seen through Zelda's Dragon Tear memories, which Link collects around the map using the locations of geoglyphs. However, having the narrative split across such a long time period combined with the names of events that happened during them could potentially muddle similar events that are mentioned in other games.

The Imprisoning War is an event that appears more than once in history. Its first reference appears in, and it talks about the time that Ganondorf was sealed in the Sacred Realm, which he then corrupts, turning into the Dark World. Ganondorf is sealed as a result of the Imprisoning War, which occurs after the events of in the Fallen Hero timeline, in which Link is defeated, so the Sages resort to sealing Ganondorf away to keep him from destroying Hyrule. Of course, that might not have been a great idea, since he then corrupted the Sacred Realm instead of destroying Hyrule.

In, the Imprisoning War is somewhat similar in terms of what happens. It still refers to an event that led to Ganondorf being sealed. However, this time, Ganondorf is sealed under Hyrule Castle instead of in the Sacred Realm, and he remains there until Link and Zelda find and free him while exploring the ruins under the castle. This event already leads to timeline questions in and alone, because there would technically be two Ganondorfs existing at once in , which shouldn't happen since the Gerudo are