Kori Krc

‘’’Summary of the game’’’

The Legend of Zelda is an epic of a boy named Link, chosen from a young age who is prophesied to help Princess Zelda save the realm from the forces of evil. Along the way, you pick up skills, items (such as swords, instruments, bow and arrows, etc.), and friends that help on your path to It is an action, adventure, roll playing game that consists of 16 interweaving plot lines. It is a game that has inspired many to put together timeline theories in which game began the story and which ones continued it from there on.

‘’’Summary of Zelda’s Historians: Canonizing Fictional Chronologies’’’

PastPlayer, the author, has a very interesting point of interest when it comes to The Legend of Zelda. He focuses on what millions of people have tried to dispute for years and years, timeline theory. Timeline theory is basically centered around the idea that the series has a continuing story line that goes on in a specific order. While each game acts as a stand-alone game and you do not need to play all of them to get the whole story (as they change with different generations), there are links and a clear tie between all of the games. However, not all can agree on a specific order of the games. The author brought up the fact that for a while, the creators wanted to keep the timeline a secret from the fans, mostly because they had not decided where the franchise and story were headed. He points out that with this strategy of game making, it can completely change the timeline depending on where they decide to have the characters end up in the storyline. Since the interview, however, there has been an official timeline created and released to fans with the release of the book The Hyrule Historia. Rather than discuss the official timeline, the author has decided to focus their point from a fan base’s perspective. He/she made the point that to compile a timeline properly, one must become a bit of a historian and not only provide evidence for ones reasonings, but also, have an authority. He states that this means that a historian “never accepts their conclusions as fact but rather as another interpretation of evidence”. Basically, the author uses fan based timeline theories to show how not everyone can just be a historian and claim that their theory is correct without providing strong evidentiary support and without accepting that their conclusion may not be fact. He also seems to hone in on the fact that history keeping isn’t just for real world events, but it also means something for fictional realms and it still stands with the same principles.

‘’’Social and Cultural Importance to The Legend of Zelda’’’

PastPlayer makes a point that the Zelda universe is something very special to those who participate in its magic. It makes up for a lot of discussion online and in its following. One simple change in a games storyline can mess up the entire timeline for a group of people who have agreed on a specific timeline. It is a point of discussion that with the continuation of the franchise creates more and more discussion as the game improves and the storyline goes on. It is something that brings people from all over the world together in one space where they can debate, provide proof, and together, map out the timeline of a huge video game world. This article is bound to produce a debate throughout the inter Zelda Universe. Timeline theory is one of the games central point of interest to the world, its part of what makes the games interesting. Therefore, many agree that there is an obsession among the Zelda community that timeline is a strong point of contention, debate, and it brings people together.

‘’’My opinion’’’

This game/franchise is one of my favorites games I have ever played, and that is saying something because I have played a lot of games. I have not played all of the games, therefore I cannot agree nor disagree with a specific timeline theory. However, this was not the point PastPlayer was trying to make. He/she was stating that the timeline is constantly evolving with each game/storyline decision. I agree that there will always be a debate in the Zelda Universe, no matter how many “official timelines” come out, someone will disagree with it and try to prove why. I also agree with the standpoint the author takes on how these fans are, in their own essence, historians and that they need to provide proper evidence, as well as have the authority to know that their conclusion is not final say. Overall this game defines my childhood and continues to be on of the best franchises I know so this opinion is a tad biased.