Prof. Wolfsbane's Lab

Echoes of Wisdom: 

Null has basically the exact same backstory as Demise. Except Demise escaped being sealed under Hyrule. It’s not that hard of a stretch to imagine that Null only became Demise after escaping. So Echoes of Wisdom has to be a timeline where Null didn’t escape. 

The adult/downfall timeline swaps: 

The backstory for Wind Waker has the hero of time being a 12-year-old who shows up, defeats Ganondorf and then leaves, still 12. This goes against what we see during the end of Ocarina of Time, and what has been stated about Ocarina Link’s canon age/s during the game. Ocarina Link has been stated as being 9-10 during the child portion and 16-17 during the adult portion. We never saw him as 12. Placing WW’s backstory in the downfall timeline, however, fixes this by simply having Mido, who was older than Link, possibly looking 12!, take up the sword in revenge after learning of the deaths of not only his crush Saria, but also his friend/rival Link. This fixes the inconsistency with the hero of time’s age. Also, having you save Hyrule, only to learn that it ended up being destroyed with countless deaths anyway always messed with the supposed happy ending of OoT. Having the eventual destruction of Hyrule take place in the downfall timeline works better imo. There’s no reason for Ganondorf to become Ganon in the downfall timeline, as he had already learnt of the death the chosen hero, and likely didn’t truly believe that Mido was even a threat until it was too late. With the seal on him only lasting about 100 years or so, is probably because he wasn’t sealed by the true hero. 

Placing WW in the downfall timeline also explains why the Master Sword is suddenly half the length. We learn in BotW that the Sword and the Hero are connected. We see this in the memories where Link is mortally wounded and the sword looks like it’s been drenched in acid for a week. It heals over the 100 years at likely the same rate as Link. It’s not much of a stretch that if the Hero suddenly dies, the sword would also be affected. If it snapped in two, Mido would have to had gotten it reshaped/reforged and it would have become the significantly shorter sword that we see in WW. This also explains why it lost its power and has to be re-blessed by sages during WW. 

Finally, the downfall timeline explains how the Triforce of Courage got shattered into eight parts and scattered. In the moment of death, Link felt such complete fear that the Triforce couldn’t handle it. It broke as it left his body, and instead of returning to the Sacred Realm, it scattered. 

Nintendo insists that Link had to have died during the final battle against Ganon, mainly so they could justify putting the Ganon games on the downfall timeline. Personally, I believe that there’s no reason for Link to die then, when he’s at his strongest. Ganondorf had already been mortally wounded. He was coughing up blood (recoloured green though), and only became Ganon out of desperation. It’s far more likely that Link died earlier in the adult portion. He was suddenly taller, gangly and clumsy, riddled with teenage awkwardness. He easily could have tripped and fell headfirst into Death Mountain Crater. Tripped and fell into the bottomless pits during the Dampe race. Drowned in the Water Temple cause he didn’t defrost King Zora and get the Zora Tunic. Or entered the hedge maze in the Sacred Forest Meadow expecting Deku Scrubs, only to be faced with a charging Moblin and got impaled before he could react. Mido was close enough to hear his strangled scream, and was brave enough to investigate.  

Ganondorf only truly became Ganon in the adult timeline. He was defeated and sealed as Ganon. The scene where Ganondorf reappears to curse Link has him floating in a white void, which I always took as being him sorta screaming internally into the void, not changing back into a human. So this is likely the only timeline where he stayed as Ganon. 

The split adult timeline: 

Nintendo has Ganon dying no more than 3 separate times on their official downfall timeline. Once in Link to the Past, once in Link Between Worlds and again in the original Legend of Zelda. Not counting the brief incomplete revival in a linked Oracle game. No reason is given for his apparent revival the other two times. Splitting the timeline helps to fix this. 

There’s evidence both for and against the Oot Sages living versus dying. Part of the evidence for dying is the fact that several go into the boss room and are only seen later being about to turn into light, presumably as spirits. But the death of Nabooru confuses this, as Koume and Kotake didn’t intend to kill her, only send her to another room to re-brainwash again later. I personally have it as this: 

The Sages all died. Nabooru was killed because the witches both assume that they were sending her to the same room, but both had their own idea of where that room was. So she was ripped in two. Poor communication kills. Everyone else was eaten or whatever shortly after entering the boss room. 

The Sages all lived. Rauru used his power to save Saria right before she died. They both saved Darunia before Volvagia ate him. The three rescued Ruto as Morpha rose up to kill her. The four saved Impa before she encountered Bongo Bongo, or fell into one of the invisible traps throughout the temple. And before the witches' spell hits Nabooru, there’s a flash of white light and she disappears, the two spells hitting the spot where she was a second later. This easily could have been the other Sages rescuing her. 

So basically, yes. The Sages easily both lived and died, creating a split in the timeline. 

Did they or didn't they: 

If the Sage lived, the resulting timeline is bright, colourful and happier, with the danger to Hyrule coming from outside, specifically Lorule. This less overall turmoil, so that Link didn’t have to deal with the issues in Labyrnna and Holodrum (so far... oracle remakes when Nintendo?) Ganon was briefly unsealed, but AFAIR it’s not made clear if he was Hyrule’s Ganon or Lorule’s Ganon. Eventually though, Hyrule fell into decline, leading to the events of the first two games Legend of Zelda, where Ganon was killed properly and Adventure of Link. 

If the Sages died, the timeline is darker, with more trouble and strife. A wizard, searching for more power, ends up completing a ritual to revive the fable witches Koume and Kotake, who guided him on unsealing Ganon. After the wizard’s defeat and Ganon’s death, the witches fled, splitting up and visiting other lands, causing problems and leaving Link to have to deal with them. They briefly revived Ganon with an incomplete ritual, but he didn’t last long. 

The splits after the convergence event: 

Things get murky here, because TotK clearly has an alternate version of the Ocarina Era going on in the tear memories, but also has references to BotW. So whatever happened to make it so similar yet so different has to be some convergence/divergence shenanigans.

The only way I’ve been able to explain why Ganon and Ganondorf both seem to exist at the same time in Tears of the Kingdom is by the convergence event combining the timelines, bringing dehydrated Ganondorf into contact with the defeated and torn apart Ganon, and then splitting away again, taking elements of both. Possibly, there’s another dehydrated Ganondorf still sealed under Hyrule Castle in the BotW timeline, but that Link and Zelda didn’t go and explore the catacombs so he hasn't woken up. Yet... 

The final split is because of the time-travelling mini-guardian robot that goes back to before the Great Calamity, warns them and they are able to defeat the calamity without needing a do-over 100 years later. This, despite Nintendo’s intentions, creates a split timeline. One where they failed and Breath of the Wild happened. One where they succeeded in Age of Calamity. The results of that timeline are currently unknown, and depend on if any future games can be placed there. 

Tears of the Kingdom: 

The fact that both calamities are referred to indicates that the ancient and great calamities both occurred. However, the presence of Ganondorf in human form states that he never became Ganon (the pig beast). The story also has no mention of him becoming Ganon. So for both Ganondorf and Ganon to exist, the timeline has to converge with the Ganon timelines however briefly, and then resplit away again. As the tapestry for the ancient calamity exists in TOTK, the split had to happen after it was made. Along with this, the form that Ganondorf takes in the second phase of the battle is far more similar to Demise than any other Ganondorf has taken. So I placed this in the Demise timeline originally, with an alternate Ocarina taking place as seen in Zelda’s Tears memories during TotK, and with the calamities and Ganon being picked up during the brief convergence before the timeline split again. The lack of ancient Sheikah tech in TOTK could be a result of the ancient Sheikah either not hiding their tech well enough, so it was discovered and destroyed out of fear after their exile, or they hide everything too well, and they weren’t found in time for the Great Calamity. It could also be that they didn’t get a chance to build a lot of things before being exiled. Hence why the Shrine of Resurrection cave is narrower in TotK than it is in BotW, despite the walls not being coated in Sheikah tech. 

EDIT: The alternate Ocarina is going to be covered in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment! It fits perfectly into my timeline, I didn't even have to think about it! I'm so damned happy right now!

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Finally, having three branches of the timeline works with the Triforce.

The Imprisoned strand: the everlasting adventure of the spirit of the hero. A story of humble beginnings. A story of Courage.

The Demise strand: the burning fury of the Demon King Demise and his natural successor Ganondorf ravages the land. A story of rage. A story of the search for ultimate Power.

The Null strand: the journey of a temporarily disgraced Princess as she travels to save her kingdom, clear her name and rescue her father. A story of the strength that comes with Wisdom.

Together, they are the story of the Triforce.