What The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will do with the series’ split timeline has been the subject of speculation since the release of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. The Legend of Zelda series was once split into three timelines after the events of Ocarina of Time; however, they merged into one in Breath of the Wild. Age of Calamity then introduced a new timeline split by meddling with the events before BOTW. Although this has left TOTK‘s placement in the series’ overarching timeline unclear, recent leaks point toward the Zelda team bringing the incompatible events of Age of Calamity and BOTW back together.
Thus far, it has seemed impossible for Tears of the Kingdom to merge the timelines of Breath of the Wild and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. In the story of Age of Calamity, the guardian Terrako is with Zelda a century before the events of BOTW when she seals Ganon. Terrako accidentally travels back in time and uses this opportunity to warn Link about the future rise of Calamity Ganon. Because of this warning, Link, Zelda, and the Champions manage to seal Calamity Ganon away forever, in turn preventing the events of BOTW from ever happening. This causes a clear split in the timeline, as BOTW can not exist if Age of Calamity also happened.
TOTK Art Book Leak Shows It May Use Age Of Calamity Character Models
Leaks from the Tears of the Kingdom art book have shown that the game is likely to merge BOTW’s and Age of Calamity’s timelines despite the complications of doing so. This has been suggested by the artwork for Purah, who in BOTW is a smaller, older lady, but in Age of Calamity (and potentially TOTK based on the leaks) is a younger, taller woman. Since TOTK takes place after BOTW, Purah should have only grown older between the two games. Thus, it seems that more time traveling will happen in TOTK which will connect it to Age of Calamity.
How BOTW’s And Age of Calamity’s Timelines Could Merge In TOTK
Though Age of Calamity prevents the events of Breath of the Wild from happening, its post-game does offer a potential way for their differing timelines to merge. Terrako sacrifices itself to help defeat Calamity Ganon in the climax of Age of Calamity. However, in the post-game, players can collect Terrako parts to rebuild the guardian and gain access to Age of Calamity‘s secret ending, where it is revived in a heartwarming cutscene (as shown in CGInferno’s clip). Since Terrako is able to time travel and has lived in both the Age of Calamity and BOTW timelines, it could potentially connect the Link of Tears of the Kingdom with the characters of Age of Calamity.
Indeed, characters from Breath of the Wild have already traveled into the past in Age of Calamity, as Sidon, Teba, Riju, and Yunobo are all present in the latter game; it would only make sense for the inverse to happen in Tears of the Kingdom. This would help explain why the TOTK’s art book featured the character models from Age of Calamity. But until The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom comes out, the series’ new timeline split and leaks will remain conflicts that can only be speculated on.
