The Legend of Zelda might have an established timeline, and a continuity, but direct sequels are few and far between: Phantom Hourglass follows The Wind Waker, The Adventure of Link follows the NES original, and more famously, Majora’s Mask follows Ocarina of Time. Once Link is returned back to the time of his childhood at the end of OoT, he eventually finds his way to the world of Termina and has to save it from its impending doom. But what r🍌eally happens in between?
The ending of Ocarina of Time is not especially ambiguous, but the implications of time travel make things a little more difficult. What happens to Link once he gets to relive his childhood? What about his friends? Are there any consequences to Link and Zelda messing with the timeline? And what about Termina? The world of Majora’s Mask is a rich one, and its inhab🔯itants have intricate ba𒀰ckstories to explain exactly what happened to make the game such a dark one.
We have consulted the foremost authorities on Hyrule lore to come up with this extensive list which explains everything that goes down between two of the most beloved games in The Legend of Zelda. From the tꦯime Link enters the Castle’s Courtyard to the moment he sets out to stop the moon in Termina, it’s all in there. These 25 tidbits will tell you everything you need to know about the whereabouts of this fascinating cast of characters.
25 In The N🐓ick Of Time 🐬
Once the credits are done rolling on Ocarina of Time, the last thing we💮 see is a young Link joining the Princess once again the castle’s courtyard. At that point, she is still spying on Ganondorf because of her suspicions about his activities. So what happens then? Obviously, Link spills the beans about everything he has been through and about what exactly Ganondorf plans to do in the immediate future.
This sets a completely different series of events in motion.
More importantly, Zelda actually believes him, because as she stated during his first visit at the start🐎 of the game, she envisioned that he would come. Zelda is still in danger at that point with the dastardly Gerudo still roaming free, so she still leaves th꧑e castle with Impa, only this time, she does not have to do it in a panic in the middle of the night.
24 🅰 Simple, Yet Effective
Before leaving for her temporary hiding place, Zelda still gives a task to Link. This time, instead of sending him on a quest to gather the Spiritual Stones, she asks of him something much simpler. Link has to take th🧔e Ocarina of Time far away from the castle and protect it at all cost. This is a lot easier than it sou🔯nds like, because at that point in time, Ganondorf is still unaware of the existence of Link. Since he does not know who he is yet, he would thus have no reason to suspect he has it. Without the Ocarina of Time, the ritual to open the doors of the Temple of Time cannot be performed. This plan is so effective in its simplicity that you almost wonder why Link and the Princess didn’t just do that in the first place instead.
23 ꦜ I AM THE LAW!
With the information that she got from Link (information that comes straight from the future, mind you), Princess Zelda also goes to her father♛, the King of Hyrule, to inform him of Gan𝓡ondorf’s evil intentions. Her plight is convincing enough to get the King to put out a warrant for Ganondorf, and the King of Thieves is thus arrested.
Despite his nickname, it is unclear if he has committed any crime at the time of his arrest.
Still, despite its presentation as a fairly good place to live at the time, Hyrule is a monarchy, not a democracy, so it’s not like the King needs any reason to throw Ganondorf in jail. It looks like the guy wasn’t that popular already, because no one batted✱ an eye when, a little bit later, his sentence ꦕis pronounced. We will get back to this later!
22 The Chosen One ♓🎶
One unintended effect of Link’s return to the past is the split of the Triforce. In the Childhood timeline, at that point, the Triforce was still intact. However, in the Adult timeline, it had been split in three when Ganondorf entered the Sacred Realm. When Link defeats him, he only imprisons him back into the Sacred Realm, which means that Ganondorf keeps his Triforce of Power. The artifact is never made whole again, so when Link comes back to his own time, he maintains possession of the Triforce of Courage. This is best illustrated by the fact that Link still bears the mark of the Triforce on the back of his hand during the ending of Ocarina of Time. So what now? Are there two Triforce of Courage in one pl🅺ace now? Well, about tha🐈t…
21 🧔 An Equal Diℱstribution
The fascinating book Hyrule Historia states that there can only be one Trifo🦋rce. This means that although Link keeps the mark on the back of his hand when he comes back into the past, the Triforce of Courage itself does not follow. However, up🅺on Link’s re-entry into the child timeline, the Triforce of Courage native to that era notices the mark and automatically bonds to him. As for the other two pieces, they do the same:
The Triforce of Power seeks Ganondorf while the Triforce of Wisdom seeks Zelda.
However, possessing the Triforce does not come with paperwork♑. Therefore, since Ganondorf and Zelda have no recollection of the adult timeline, they are not aware of the fact that the Triforce is with them for now.
20 🗹 Can’t Get Rid Of Hi﷽m So Easily
So after being arrested because of the whim of Princess Zelda (remember that despite his intentions, there are no shreds of evidence against him at that time), Ganondorf is sentenced to be executed because once again, monarchy not a democracy and all that. Now, remember what I said about Ganondorf having the Triforce of Power with him and not knowing about it? Well, no one else knows either. Much later on, this will pose a major problem. When it is actually time for him to get put down, the Triforce will put a stop to that, which means that the Sages have to come up with a plan B: Exiling Ganondorf in the Twilight Realm. Obviously, this will eventually directly factor into the events of Twilight Princess.
19 It Would Mess You Up Too ꦅ
Now that we have had a vision of the future, let’s get back to Link. In between Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, the poor kid gets very depressed. That is because he has memories of saving the world which he is the only one to remember. There’s also the fact that most of the friendships he has known during his adult life will never actually happen, or haven’t happened yet. Because the land of Hyrule is in a pseudo medieval setting, Link 🐼has no experts to talk to about this.
The poor kid lives the rest of his life full of regrets.
Eventually, he becomes a spirit roaming the land hundreds of years later during the events of Twilight Princess. It’s a major jump from being depressed to becoming a bitter ghost stuck in limbo, but that’s un🐲fortunately what’s in store for the Hero of Time.
18 𓆏 Needle In A Haystack
One other thing which really upsets Link is the loss of his long time fairy companion, Navi. At the end of Ocarina of Time, Navi can be seen flying up and leaving the Temple of Time by herself, without so much as a goodbye to her friend. With nothing else to do, and feeling lonely, Link sets out to find her over the course of several months. Unfortunately, Navi is a small fairy, which must be hard to spot in such a vast world, and she can fly, which means that she could be almost anywhere. Needless to say, Link is not having much success tracking her. His search will eventually lead him back to the Lost Woods, which is exactly when Majora’s Mask opens.
17 ꦰ ⛦ Everything’s Coming Up!
While Link’s life is kind of a bummer between Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask, most of his former friends are having a g🍃ood time. In particular, all of those people who would normally go on to be awakened as Sages get to live a normal life. But, isn’t being a Sage supposed to be super awesome? Yes, and no. Being a Sage does make🌺 an individual more powerful.
However, being the protector of a Temple also means that you become a non-corporeal being.
So with Ganond♈orf out of the way and the Sacred Realm still on lock down, Saria gets to keep being alive and well in Kokiri Forest, while Impa can continue being a ꦛcool ninja who takes care of the Princess. As for Rauru, the Sage of Light, he had passed a long time ago anyway, but I'm sure he's happy that he can still take some time off.
16 🌃 That Was A Close One
One of the almost-Sages which gets an especially sweet deal out of Link coming back to the past is the leader of the Gerudo, Nabooru. In this new reality, she never encounters Link, and because Ganondorf gets arrested, she never feels the need to get to the treasure of the Spirit Temple before he does. Therefore, she also dodges being kidnapped by the twin witches Koume and Kotake, which means that she does not have to spend more than half a decade of her life hypnotized into cospl🦹aying as an Iron Knuckle. Because if you remember correctly, in the original timeline, the poor Nabooru has to spend seven years under the spell of the witches, forced to do their bidding. Being the leaꦗder of a band of thieves might not be everyone’s idea of a good time, but it’s an improvement.