#downfall timeline

I've been procrastinating making this but I finally did it! Here's a doodle of the Downfall Timeline Quartet ❤️

It really does show how much the fate of the world rests on the hero, and how much affect he has on his world

Considering that downfall has so many games because of one link's faliure, causing such destruction that it just takes so so long and so many tries to fix it, and how in the timeline where link suceeds, there is so much less destruction, meaning that there is less burden placed on the heroes of those timelines

Really shows how strong ganondorf and the hatred he harbours really is but also shows how strong link is to face it over and over again, unreleting.

Once her hero died (Time) Hylia became more impulsive, focused on making sure her hero's alive to fulfill their duty. Her obsession didn't happen immediately though, the process was gradual:

Something thats always bugged me in the zelda series is that out of all the games, the adventure of link only really has this logo, as well as the pixellated in-game logo.

This is somewhat the case in the original zelda too, but with that, there was also an alternate logo with details you'd expect in a modern Zelda.

First off is the dynasty from the Downfall Timeline, the Harkinians. They would have initially held power over the Central Hyrulean region from the Dueling Peaks to the Breach of Demise, and been the ones involved in the Sheikah and Yiga splitting—the Yiga combined with the Eyes of Ganon, while Impa and the loyal Sheikah stayed in Kakariko (the latest Impa in the timelines being the one from AoL).

The Great Sea dynasty, the Tetrans are basically the New Hyruleans and moved into the eastern areas, coming from the coasts. The Hateno and Akkala Tech labs were founded partially based on the knowledge from the Lokomo, and eventually integrated with the Sheikah. They also founded Lurelin and helped the Rito migrate to the newly merged Hyrule. The Koroks followed them as well.

The Zeldan dynasty is from the Child Timeline, and can boast the most uninterrupted family line, going back to before the era of the Hero of Time without Ganondorf taking over for seven years (or longer). They initially ruled over the Great Plateau, including the original Temple of Time. They were the ones who first established friendly relations with the Gerudo (who existed in FSA and thus came to the merged timeline through the Child Timeline) and the Zora.

(The Gorons maintained peaceful relations with all parties—they came from different timelines with different livelihoods but to Gorons, a brother is a brother. They accepted the Gorons moving back from Labrynna after the Downfall, the traders sailing in from the Great Sea, and the natives who remained in Death Mountain in the Twilit era, and even ones who claim to be from a strange land called Termina, with very little fuss)

Imagine the wars. The drama. The politics! The final uniting event was the Calamity’s first appearance, when all the branches finally had a common enemy. The Princess who appeared was effectively born a commoner, and while each dynasty raced to establish she belonged to them and they were therefore the “true” Royal family, it turned out she had ancestors from all three dynasties—distant cousins of the family heads, secret liaisons between the children of rivals, marriages for politics and marriages for love and some that weren’t even marriages. The people united behind her, and the dynasties influences’ faded. They still exist up until the second Calamity, mostly as factions and in-fighting.

BotW Zelda’s mother was from the Zeldan faction, while King Rhoam was directly descended from the Princess in the first Calamity. While her mother had knowledge and ability to use the power of the Royal Family, Rhoam was the one with the claim to the throne. When Zelda didn’t manifest her sealing power, many began to whisper that the alleged “main” Royal Family was no longer the true rulers of Hyrule, their blood too diluted. The three dynasties began to rumble and vie for power, wanting to place one of their own on the throne when the “Heir to the Throne of Nothing” failed.

I understand the rock salt theories, but with EoW featuring rock salt as well, it doesn't seem to actually be exclusive to the AT.

15 convincing arguments for Downfall Timeline to me are:

🧚🏻‍♀️ Link dying before botw sets off the events of both games. (Wilds games now also include a death marker on the map so it seems Link dying is a constant reminder that a hero can be defeated.)

🧚🏻‍♀️ Ganon's many resurrections and Calamities.

🧚🏻‍♀️ Master Sword pedestal is in the Lost Woods and not the Temple of Time.

🧚🏻‍♀️ Shiekah culture didn't die out, and Impa is still around.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Royal Knights bloodline is only unbroken in the DT. (I like to think the stripe on the brim of Link's hat symbolizes this as the heroes without the stripe have no blood relation to the Knight Family, needing Knights Crests and special spiritual training to fill those shoes.)

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Temple of Time is explicitly destroyed in the Child Timeline and Adult Timeline but inconclusive if it is in the Downfall Timeline.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Depths have too many similarities to both the concepts of The Underworld and The Dark World.

🧚🏻‍♀️ Goddess Statues made an appearance in Echoes of Wisdom seemingly under a state of repair. Alttp was the first game to mention Hylia in the context of describing Hylians as people of Hylia.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Imprisoning War is a specific event that occurs. (I'm personally convinced that alttp's retelling is a mix up of events of the actual Imprisoning War and OOT because a Ganondorf caused both the Calamities that sent Hyrule into ruin and losing their history.

🧚🏻‍♀️ Lack of defined partner or quest companion. In most DT games the hero is often without any companions like Navi, Midna, or King of Red Lions.

🧚🏻‍♀️ Doubled down on including DT specific enemies by bringing back Gleeoks and mean trees (alttp). Totaling Lynels, Hinox, Gleeok, and Evermean.

🧚🏻‍♀️ The Triforce is incredibly well hidden and completely forgotten about for the safety of the world. Implying a history of waaay too many close calls and a history of multiple sealing events.

🧚🏻‍♀️ There's other Zora Kingdoms. (Originally revealed in the Oracle games)

🧚🏻‍♀️ Mount Hebra returns as a location with lots of caves. (Alttp)

🧚🏻‍♀️ Overall map best fits the DT maps of Hyrule the best without much rotation or headcanons. Including the alttp gimmicks of map layers and mirroring!