The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) helped popularize a style of large-scale, interconnected blockbuster storytelling that was emulated across the industry. For all the genuine concerns about ballooning budgets and oversaturation of homogenius superhero flicks, there’s no denying this experiment has excited audiences for over 10 years. Now the MCU is broaching into the multiverse with shows likeLokion Disney+ and movies likeSpider-Man: No Way Home, which could have some interesting parallels in a game likeThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2.
Exploring parallel universes is not an idea unique to Marvel comics, and it has been broached in video games before. Just this yearRatchet & Clank: Rift Aparttook its protagonist duo across universes where they dealt with alternate versions of themselves and villains like Dr. Nefarious.The Legend of Zeldafranchise has one of the most infamously strange timelines in gaming after Nintendo attempted to weave its disparate titles together, but asBreath of the Wild 2seemingly toys with time-based mechanics there’s an opportunity to experiment by bringing Links together akin to a multiverse story.
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The Legend of Zelda’s Twisted Timeline
Anyone who follows Nintendo’s action-adventure franchise should be familiar with the timeline of games introduced by theHyrule Historiacompendium in 2011. MostLegend of Zeldagames wipe the slate clean, presenting players with a brand-new Link who goes on his own unique adventures. There are times whenLegend of Zeldagames receive direct sequels, but otherwise the series' connective tissue was often just recurring mythologies brought on by developers going back to the same tropes.
Hyrule Historiainstead posited that not only is everyZeldagame on the same timeline, they’re on branching paths based on the outcome ofOcarina of Time.The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Swordis the earliest pointin the timeline, and it is followed byThe Minish CapandFour Swords. Then things starts to diverge.
If Link loses inOcarina of Time, thenA Link to the Pasthappens, and well after that are the two original games when Ganon is revived. If Link wins, his adventures as a child lead intoMajora’s Mask, and then theHero of Time becomes the Hero’s Shade inTwilight Princess. Meanwhile the “Adult Era” he left behind goes on to see Hyrule flooded, commencing the trilogy ofThe Wind Waker,Phantom Hourglass, andSpirit Tracks. With all of that set,Breath of the Wildis considered a converging point for those three branches, set so far into the future that names from all timelines are referenced in locations across Hyrule.
Breath of the Wild 2’s Trailers Suggest Time Will Play a Role
Time-based shenanigans appear a lot throughoutThe Legend of Zelda, perhaps best exemplified byOcarina of TimeandMajora’s Mask. The originalBreath of the Wildhad a slightly different spin, dropping players 100 years after the fall of Hyrule where they must help Link regain his memories of the past. Only two trailers have released forBreath of the Wild 2thus far, one at E3 2019 and the other at E3 2021, but they suggest time will play more of a role.
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TheE3 2019 traileris a short teaser that shows Link and Zelda coming across a sealed, mummified figure underneath Hyrule Castle - presumed to be Ganondorf. The power it lets out both seems to empower Link and have malicious effects across the land, lifting Hyrule Castle from the earth. After that, the 2021 trailer better details the effects of this magic, with floating islands and different monsters cropping up everywhere. More importantly, it shows Link making use of new abilities.
At one point he has some kind of tool acting like a flamethrower, but his magical prowess and Runes have also improved with new time-themed elements. For example, his Stasis Rune is able to send a spiked ball back along the path from whence it came, and then a droplet of water reverses back into the sky asLink ascends to a floating islandand passes through the floor. If Link has access to time-based magic at a point in theZeldatimeline where all other games have converged, he could conceivably call upon the help of all his ancestors. This wouldn’t be entirely farfetched given events surroundingBreath of the Wild.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Sets an Interesting Precedent
Though it was originally billed as a prequel toBreath of the Wild, Koei Tecmo’s hack-and-slash titleHyrule Warriors: Age of Calamityis more of an alternate universe take on the same continuity. It presents players with a version of events in which Link, Zelda, and the four Champions of Hyrule all survive and are victorious in defeating Calamity Ganon. This is accomplished thanks toTerrako, the egg-shaped Guardianthat can not only travel back through time, but can also pull in fighters from another time and place.
Thefour descendants whom Link assists inBreath of the Wild; Yunobo, Riju, Sidon, and Teba; are instrumental in stopping the Calamity in thisHyrule Warriorsspin-off. However, they also make it clear they’re from the “prime"Breath of the Wilduniverse, in which they only exist because Link and the others failed. They return to their own time at the end of the game, suggesting it’s possible to move back-and-forth.
It’s unclear whetherAge of Calamitywill have a tangible effect onBreath of the Wild 2as of this writing; it could be treated as its own thing. If its events are canon then Zelda did, at one point, build a robot with the capability to move people through time and space. Even if Terrako travelled back in time before the 100 year time-skip, something else could do the same should Link need extra help to face this new threat. Fans will have to wait and see whether something like a multiverse of Links is in the cards, but rumors suggestBreath of the Wild 2may launch in fall 2022, which helps narrow that window.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WIld 2releases in 2022 for Nintendo Switch.
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