The jumbled timeline of Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series is a confusing document, not helped by its seemingly misnamed timeline branch, the "Adult Era." Despite the "Adult" in its title, this Zelda timeline features The Wind Waker's child-aged Link, which is bound to cause some head-scratching among fans not familiar with the chronology's complexities. Luckily, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time provides a perfectly sensible explanation.

Nintendo first revealed the official Legend of Zelda timeline in 2011's Hyrule Historia reference book. The timeline begins with Skyward Sword, proceeding in a straight line until it splits into three branches at the end of Ocarina of Time. The first is the "Fallen Hero" timeline, beginning with the possibility of Link's destruction in the final boss fight with Ganondorf. The other two timelines both fall under the "Hero Triumphant" umbrella, where Link defeats Ganondorf, and Ocarina of Time's ending proceeds as normal. This scenario creates two timelines known as the Child Era and Adult Era.

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The confusion about Link's place in the Adult Era begins with the Fallen Hero timeline. While the Hero Triumphant branches are based on events players actually see in-game, the existence of the Fallen Hero timeline relies on what is essentially a hypothetical scenario. If a player completes the boss fight against Ganondorf without dying, their playthrough would never have the chance begin a reality where Link fell in battle, but it's a canonical timeline, nonetheless. The fact that an official timeline can be based on a hypothetical, alternate version of Ocarina of Time's events makes the Adult Era's name more confusing than it would be otherwise.

Ocarina of Time Ending Legend of Zelda BeardBear
Image Source: BeardBear/YouTube

After the Ocarina fight with Ganondorf, Zelda sends Link back to the time before Ganondorf took over Hyrule, allowing Link to continue his interrupted childhood in peace. This forms the obvious beginning of the Child Era - Link lives on as a kid, proceeding to the events of Majora's Mask and so on. Because of the Fallen Hero timeline's hypothetical, alternate "Link died" Ocarina of Time ending, one might follow the Child Era's naming logic and assume the Adult Era deals with the hypothetical scenario that Link was never sent back in time, living out his life as an adult. But this is not the case.

Instead, the "Adult" simply refers to the time period itself, not Link's age. Whereas the Child Era explores the events that occur in a reality where Link stayed a child and Ganondorf never rose to power in the first place, the Adult Era follows the events of a reality where Link slept for seven years in the Temple of Time, became an adult, and defeated Ganondorf in their climactic battle. An adult Link no longer exists in this reality, as he was still sent back in time, either way.

Indeed, the fact that there's no Link at all - adult or child - in the Adult Era is crucial to the timeline's stories. Since Link essentially abandoned this branch of reality, there was no hero to be reincarnated into future generations, meaning Ganondorf's reincarnated spirit was able to freely terrorize Hyrule. This is what led to The Wind Waker's flooded world, as the gods covered Hyrule in the Great Sea to seal Ganon away. The Wind Waker's Link - unlike that of Twilight Princess', for example - actually has no relation to Links of previous games, not being descended from the blood or spirit of Hyrule's legendary hero. If Link had remained an adult in the Adult Era timeline, it's possible The Wind Waker and its sequels would never have occurred.

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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time released for Nintendo 64 on November 23, 1998, and for Nintendo 3DS on June 19, 2011.