Is Rauru Really THAT Stupid? | A Zelda Timeline Theory

Holy heck! You got half of the Zelda community to help you with this video. And it turned out amazing. Not only is this one of the most ambitious videos I've seen about TotK, but it's extremely well edited! And it's your first!?! Hats off to you Banuune. I can't want to see more of your theories about Hyrule and Zeldra- I mean the Light Dragon.

Didn’t Nintendo confirm that the history of the original Zelda timeline was destroyed before the Zonai descended down to Hyrule?

I just wonder why Zelda or any other sage didn't just pry Ganondorf's secret stone off his foreheadonce he was frozen, it would've been easy(ish); he's rendered helpless, they have functioning hands/weaponry, BOOM no secret stone for Ganondorf.

I feel like this timeline makes more sense than most of the theories I've seen

if you obtain the mastersword before the last opportunity to do so at the end, zeldra flies up into an even higher cloud barrier, which has the same coloring as the one that's below skyloft.

While I like and have accepted the "dragonbreak" idea (a crisis so big Hyrule gets destroyed, all 3 timelines unify and the hylians are brought back to a more primitive version of themselves as seen in TOTK) I have to admit that the way you explained and showed it made your version of the timeline not only enjoyable, but extremely plausible. Great work!

I see a problem. Totk past has already Zoras and Ritos. They fight alongside the other sages. However Ritos are a separate evolution of the Zoras that happens after Ocarina of time

This is definitely the most interesting Timeline theory I have seen so far.

The Japanese Text tells that the Zonai were Kami, while Kami basically means God/Gods, this is in context not the same as the Picture of the modern Monotheistic picture of a God. Kami arent completely eternal, they also can perrish at a certain Point or during a certain incident, just like the Asgardian Gods in the scandinavian Mythology. Maybe since it is said that the Zonai are some sort of Descendants, it is possible that they didnt get passed down all of the Knowledge, like about the Triforce or similar. The Triforce itself was mostly hidden away and only the Royal Family, mainly Descendants of Skyward Sword Zelda, knew about it. So I rather assume that neither Rauru nor Mineru, who is actually the one with all the Zonai's Knowledge, just didnt knew about anything because. aybe did their Gods/Ancestors not tell them all or they did know of some minor parts but they saw Hyrule as a complete wasteland. The Japanese Version made it more clear what could have happened, which got cut out by the English Version, however, the Shrines of Light Rauru created might give a Special Hint to what happened. Unlike the Shiekah Shrines these were never meant to train the Hero, they were even pre-existing before this era's Ganondorf started his attack. The purpose of these shrines was so it can function as a Cage for Monsters and Demons. Maybe due to some apocalyptc event Hyrule was destroyed by Monsters overrunning this Kingdom for a long time, I mean no matter if this Founding was Post-Skyward-Sword or Post-Timeline-Events, it is strange that they put away their regular clothing for less practical Greek/Inca Clothess

I am still sticking with my timeline idea xD But as far as fitting TotK's past into the old official Zelda Timeline, this is probably the best way to do it!

Well done Banune, the editing here especially turned out wonderfully

Girl yes. 🙌🏻 I am glad somebody out here saw and put together the Skyward Sword HEAVY connection. The only thing else I would have shot into your video was that the OG temple that descended from Skyloft “The Forgotten Temple” that you meet Impa in in TOTK was the very exact same down to what I think is the goddess statue that Zelda pushes Link off of to make him use his sailcloth in Skyward Sword.

There is to many contradictions that needs to be retcon to put Rauru´s Hyrule where you put it like, The races at Rauru's founding That the races was united before the unification war The Gerudo ears The castle that was built over where Ganondorf was sealed That they don't know about the Tri-force or the Master sword.

Small note about the sky barrier: it's stated in three places in TotK (that I know of) that the sky islands appeared at the same time Hyrule Castle went up and the Chasms opened. From the Notes on the Upheaval journal at Purah's house in Lookout Landing ("On that day, the land shook, and huge chasms that seemed bottomless opened in the ground. The clouds billowed and roiled as floating islands appeared in the skies, raining chunks of ruins down on us. And strangest of all, Hyrule Castle began to float in the air"), from Lourda the first time we go to Dueling Peaks Stable ("After the Upheaval, several Zonai ruins suddenly appeared up there"), and in Riju's journal in Gerudo Town ("Both Link and Zelda have gone missing while exploring below Hyrule Castle. Shortly after they were lost, the castle lifted off into the sky, where it was joined by countless small, floating islands"), and we can also clearly see the surface from the Great Sky Island even during the tutorial (you can see the Lake Hylia geoglyph in the opening dive cutscene) So the Light Dragon flying up through the clouds at the end of the tutorial wasn't what broke the sky barrier that was concealing the sky islands, it was broken by the Upheaval itself, but maybe there was a smaller sky barrier shielding only the Great Sky Island to protect Link while he recovered, and THAT was what the Light Dragon broke through at the end of the tutorial? There's a debate to be had about whether draconified dragon-people still retain some of their human consciousness, but as we see with the Demon Dragon, the person's last thought/intent as a human seems to carry over into their dragon form, and Zelda's last thought was to help Link destroy the Demon King/help him protect Hyrule, so maybe that translated into the Light Dragon having a protective instinct around Link which led to the creation of a sky barrier to conceal the landmass Link was recovering on And IMO the biggest inconsistency with TotK's Era of Founding being so far back in the past as to predate all other Zelda games is...the geography of ancient Hyrule that we see in the memories. It's still similar enough to BotW/present-day TotK that we can pick out landmarks, and some of the locations look EXACTLY as they do in the modern era (Oseira Plains and Taobab Grassland in The Gerudo Assault, Lake Kolomo in Zelda And Sonia, and the architecture of the walls of the Great Plateau still being the same as they appear in the present). I REALLY don't buy that Hyrule's geography changed so dramatically to appear as it did in other games, only to then go right back to a near-identical layout, and for this reason (and others), I'm of the opinion that there was a convergence of the timelines and that this Era of Founding is a brand new Hyrule, wwwaaaaayyyyy after the last installments of all previous timelines

Very well done, I was blown away by the quality! I'm glad I could be a part of this gem. 😁

Very well-done video. I like how this theory properly explains how Sonia can still be a "Hyrulean woman" ("from a Hyrulean family line" in Japanese) without there being a "refounding", if she was a descendant of those who remained on the Surface. Also, I appreciate your more holistic and open approach to developing and discussing theories, it is something the Zelda community tends to lack. P.S. You are not alone in calling her "Zeldra" and if not for making the plotline very, very obvious, I wish they called her that. Even some name would be better than just "Light Dragon" when all the others have names… Zeldra would definitely be the Light Dragon's name by the standards of the other three in Japanese.

The developers said that hyrule might have been destroyed and is now refunded by rauru. I could not belive that you missed that part.

OMG CONGRATS BANUUNE YOU DID IT!! ❤

A very good theory, but there’s one massive problem that throws a wrench in this entire theory….you know him, you hate him! Ganondorf Ganondorf cannot exist before Demise’s defeat, because he only exists as a result of the events of Skyward Sword, Zelda and Link choose to settle on the ground only after the oh so famous curse of “I will rise again. Those like you... Those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero... They are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time!" Ganondorf cannot be born unless there is a Zelda and Link in the world. The only exception is when the current Ganondorf doesn’t die , such as Twilight Princess Wind Waker and the original legend of Zelda and even then a reincarnation or rarely a blood descendent are usually queued up and ready when he does return. Even if you want to argue that fate itself pulled Zelda back in time to meet up with this ganondorf and fulfill the curse, it doesn’t fix it, as the same should have happened to link.

Ah, yes, blender is pretty challenging! I made a solid bow animation for Zelda on it, but it was a pre-made rig; the Blender re-rig originating from Autodesk Maya. The cel shading on the rig is neat! But I won’t deny Blender is one of the more complicated programs. You can do quite a lot on it for a free program! As for the Zelda timeline, I have my own views on it, partly biased on other theories while partly biased on my own theories, but I love considering all the perspectives, whether they fully align or mostly disalign with my perspective. It’s also pretty interesting to look back on theories that are busted or proven by later entries. Example: a theory I didn’t fully agree with but was intrigued by. Link’s face isn’t shown in the teaser because the gloom mutilated his face. I thought it definitely got his arm, but thought the corrupted face may have been a bit of a long shot. Anyway, nice video! The Zelda timeline is quite vast, so it’s hard to pinpoint things exactly. But I think you did a good job explaining those parts! I’d also like to tie in a bit of a theory that suggests the Ouroboros means the timeline repeats… there’s a 20 minute video explaining it that’s titled “how Nintendo is rebooting the franchise,” but I’ll add to it some extra details I noticed (forget if they were in the video as well), think it may have been. But in OoT, Ganondorf swears fealty. He then overthrows the castle and wreaks havoc after Rauru seals Link’s spirit, allowing Ganondorf access to the Sacred Realm in order to steal the TriForce of Power. When Link fails to defeat Ganondorf, Hyrule meets its downfall and falls into the classics. In The Legend of Zelda, Link ventures through an open world where the only limitation is pretty much A: needing the raft to get to dungeon 4 and B: needing the TriForce of Wisdom. However, you aren’t restricted on what to complete first. After you save Hyrule, you hear the epilogue theme which, funnily enough, is the game over theme extended. In Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, which takes place 6 years later, you find the TriForce of Courage, defeat Dark Link, and awaken Princess Zelda the First, who had been asleep for millennia. Ties: in Tears of the Kingdom’s ancient past, Ganondorf swears fealty to Rauru, who is aware of his evil nature but possibly not to what extent. When Ganondorf is given more freedom, he tricks Sonia, despite her planning. He kills her and, akin to stealing the TriForce of Power and transforming into Ganon, steals the Secret Stone of Time, which loses its resonance as it can’t amplify a dead woman’s power. It makes a sad chime suggesting the godlike power isn’t intended for a man like him, and it resonates with Ganondorf’s malice, allowing him to transform into the Demon King. When the group failed to stop Ganondorf, Rauru sacrifices himself to seal Ganondorf, creating the paradox downfall timeline. In the modern era of Wild, Link stops Calamity Ganon and rescues Hyrule, as well as freeing Zelda, who somehow was also in a stasis while holding back Ganon. (Maybe it was her time powers? Idk) In Tears, which was released 6 years later, Link defeats the Demon King and turns back his own Zelda, who had been sleeping for millennia inside the dragon’s soul. Not to mention, the seven wise men in ALttP are akin to the sages. The sages are more important in this context, but Zelda was time even in ALttP, or at least the last one you save. In Ocarina of Time, you awaken the six sages, but Zelda, the seventh, is Time. In Tears, you have a lot more. You have in the past; Light (Rauru), Old Fire (Goron), Old Water (Zora), Old Lightning (Gerudo), Old Wind (Rito), and Old Time (Sonia). You have Present Era; New Water (Sidon), New Wind (Tulin), New Lightning (Riju), and New Fire (Yunobo). You have universally; Spirit (Mineru), Darkness/Malice (Ganondorf), and New Time (Zelda). The important thing is that in both Ocarina of Time and Tears of the Kingdom, Zelda is the Sage of Time. As for the number of Secret Stones? Seven. Just like the number of Sages. We have their original owners and resonances: Light, Spirit, Time, Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning. Ganondorf stole Sonia’s in the past, and Zelda found Rauru’s in the present. So there was kind of a brief moment in the past there was a duplicate, but there’s seven again back in the present. But the ties with Ocarina of Time suggest potentially repeating events. The ties with Skyward Sword, which there are also a lot of, also suggest something similar. And for a personal theory? I believe that the Forgotten Temple statue is, indeed, the Isle of the Goddess. It probably would’ve had to have moved, but if you think about it, the size… it’s much larger than the one at the Temple of Time on the Great Plateau. It also has a platform on the hands! I climbed up there in Breath of the Wild once to see if there were ties, and there was even a TriForce mark in back of the platform, just like in Skyward Sword. Also, sorry about length. Zelda is one of the things I could talk about endlessly. I have Autism, and Zelda is one of my special interests.