At long last, Nintendo has given an official Zelda timeline placement for Echoes of Wisdom. One of the top games of 2024, Echoes took the gaming world by storm. It also took avid fans of Nintendo and the franchise by storm, proving to be a worthy title and a surprisingly dense lore-drop. All it needed was an official placement on the timeline, which is as convoluted as any game franchise’s, to seal the deal. Unfortunately, many players didn’t expect it to get one.
Nintendo has said recently that they prioritize gameplay over story with The Legend of Zelda, and they said before Echoes of Wisdom came out that it’s getting harder and harder to place things on the timeline. This wasn’t a big issue before Nintendo attempted to write the chronology, beginning with Skyward Sword. Before that, it was all speculation, but now everything has to have a proper place to appease the community, myself fully included. Fortunately, the company provided just that on a random Tuesday evening two months after the game’s launch.
Where Does Echoes of Wisdom Go on the Zelda Timeline?
We have speculated before about where Echoes of Wisdom might fit on the increasingly convoluted Zelda timeline, but there is no more speculation. Nintendo confirmed it themselves, which is a rare instance. To put it simply, Echoes slots in right after Tri-Force Heroes and before the original The Legend of Zelda. This fits given the storyline and how unknown Link is to Princess Zelda and the King of Hyrule. It would track that some of his exploits haven’t happened yet. It is important to note that it falls on one of the three branched timelines.
Exploring the Zelda Chronology
The Zelda timeline begins with, as mentioned, Skyward Sword. This leads into The Minish Cap and then Ocarina of Time, which is where the split happens. There are three outcomes from that game. One, Link is defeated by Ganondorf. Two, Link defeats Ganondorf and remains an adult seven years in the future. Three, Link defeats the enemy and returns to his younger form. EOW lands on the timeline where Link is defeated by Ganondorf. Obviously, if you beat the game, you have defeated Ganondorf and saved Hyrule. But hypothetically, if you hadn’t, the following games are what would happen.
This is where Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures take place. The two sequels follow immediately after the events of Ocarina of Time with Link failing. Next up is A Link to the Past, which leads directly into Oracle of Seasons/Ages. Then, Link’s Awakening takes place. A Link Between Worlds follows the events on Koholint Island before Tri-Force Heroes happens. That is when Echoes of Wisdom drops in, and this branch concludes with the original game and Zelda II: The Adventures of Link. It was once said that Breath of the Wild was the convergence of the three timeline branches, but that’s since been retconned. Therefore, Echoes exists as part of this now open-ended branch.
In Conclusion
If you have played a few The Legend of Zelda titles, you might have felt like these were all standalone titles. In truth, they probably work better that way even with the few direct sequels. The timeline was demanded by players, though, and Nintendo acquiesced. That was harder than they might have realized, but what they came up with makes sense if you squint and pretend that it does. It is one of the most fascinating parts of this franchise, though, and it’s a welcome sight to see that Nintendo does care about it. It might be convoluted, but they’re doing their best to provide the information players want.
