The Zelda timeline starts before the games actually start. It starts with the creation of the world. The three divine goddesses Din, Nayru, and Farore created the world. Din created the terrain of the world, Nayru created the law of the world, and Farore created the creatures of the world to uphold the law. After the three were done they departed from the world and created the triforce. The triforce is a powerful artifact that grants any wish to whoever touches it.
After the creation of the triforce the three divine goddesses entrusted the triforce to the Goddess Hylia. This action angers the Demon King Demise, in which he and a bunch of monsters launch an assault on the Goddess Hylia and the five tribes of the world. Hylia gathered the suviving humans on a piece of land and made the land go to the heavens in the sky and out of reach of the plaguing and evil land below. She also put the triforce into the sky and the Goddess sword inside the Statue of the Goddess. The goddess sword would be retrieved by the chosen hero when the time was right. Now since the humans were safe, Hylia returned to the land below to fight alongside the remaining tribes against Demise. Demise was imprisoned and peace returned to the land below.
The land that Hylia put in the sky was now known as Skyloft by the residents atop. The Surface and the origins of Skyloft eventually became mere legend. Even though the old knowledge was fading, the knowledge of the Goddess Hylia was never forgotten. On the 25th Anniversary of Skyloft's Knight Academy Zelda was taken by the Demon Lord Girahim in an attempt to revive Demise. Link travels to the goddess statue and retrieves the goddess sword. He then travels to the surface in search for Zelda. Guided by Fi Link is able to locate Zelda and unlock the goddess sword's true power. It transforms into the Master Sword. Link then learns the Song of the Hero, finds the Triforce and wishes for the destruction of Demise. Angry Girahim kidnaps Zelda again and travels to the past to where Demise is still alive. Link is too late and the ritual is completed. Demise then swallows Zelda and fights link in another realm. After a long and fierce fight Demise is fatally wounded and stumbles to his feet saying that it is not over and his hatred would be reborn as another entity and those with the blood of the goddess Hylia and those with the spirit of the Hero in a cycle without end. Link then absorbs Demise's remains into the Master Sword. After returning to Skyloft Impa destroys the gate of Time and Skyloft falls to the ground. The citizens of Skyloft take their first steps upon the Surface.
The land now became known as Hyrule. Those previously living on Skyloft became known as Hylians. Hyrule had many years of peace but the knowledge of the Triforce in the Sacred Realm and its power created lust in many people and a wave of chaos descended over Hyrule. Rauru the sage of light to stop the chaos built the temple of time to seal the sacred realm with the triforce and the master sword to keep everyone away. To open the door a person would now need the three keys that were hidden across the land. Now that the gate was sealed Rauru the sage of light stayed inside the sacred realm to protect the triforce.
Zelda who was the reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia established the Kingdom of Hyrule. Hyrule Castle was built in the center of the land to watch over the Temple of Time, which was protecting the Sacred Realm and the Triforce. During the many generations of Hyrule the reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia would be born over and over again forever.
As ages went by and the Kingdom of Hyrule continued to develop in peace, one day the land was suddenly overwhelmed by evil creatures that descended upon it in swarms, driving the world into shadows and bringing the kingdom to near ruin. As Hyrule neared the brink of collapse, the tiny Picori appeared from the sky and gave the Hero of Men the Picori Blade and the magical Light Force . Using these two special gifts, the Hero drove the beasts back and restored light to the land of Hyrule. To ensure the beasts could not bring further destruction to the land, the Hero of Men sealed them all within the Bound Chest. Sealing the chest with the Picori Blade itself, the Hero of Men was able to bring the destructive war to an end and brought peace to the kingdom. The Light Force has been given to the princess of Hyrule to prevent its misuse.
One year, in celebration of when the Picori came to Hyrule 100 years ago to the day, the festival was unusually great. Hyrule Castle was hosting a tournament of sword-fighting skill that called to mind the heroes of legend. That year's champion was a mysterious man by the name of Vaati. He won the tournament with an almost magical ease, and all of Hyrule was abuzz with rumors about this shadowy figure. During the ceremony following the sword competition, Vaati shattered the sacred Picori Blade and opened the Bound Chest, which had been sealed by the Picori Blade, trapping evil monsters within. Vaati was after the Light Force, which was light in the legends of the Picori. He is subdued to the castle guards and turned to Zelda to stone before making a speedy departure. King Daltus asked for the link to seek out the Picori and ask them to reforge the sacred blade. Traveling to the Minish Woods he puts Ezlo, who helped him find the Picori, or Minish as they called themselves. Link with the Elder of Minish Village, who is the Four Elements, the embodiments of the sacred powers of the earth, fire, water, and wind. Four elements, Link brought the Picori Blade now the White Sword to the Elemental Sanctuary hidden within the courtyard of Hyrule Castle. There he infused the White Sword with the Elements, fully restoring the sacred Four Sword; a legendary blade with the power to split one warrior into four. Meanwhile, Vaati had brainwashed King Daltus and shrouded Hyrule Castle in darkness. He had discovered that the sacred Light Force had actually been passed down through Hyrule's Princesses, and was prepared to extract the Light Force from Princess Zelda. Link came to the rescue, and after vanquishing Vaati, he used the Four Sword's evil-banishing power to restore Princess Zelda. Vaati had been a Minish, an apprentice of Ezlo, who was also a Minish. Ezlo had made a magical cap with the power to grant wishes, but Vaati had stolen it and used it to become a powerful sorcerer. He had transformed Ezlo into a hat himself, then proceeded to hunt down the Light Force. Now that Vaati had fallen, the wishing cap could be used to restore Hyrule.
After Vaati was presumed dead, he suddenly re-appeared to terrorize the land once again. No longer remembering his days as a Picori, or his lust for the Light Force, he made himself a home in the Palace of Winds and he named himself The Great Sorcerer of the Wind, Vaati. With the power to bend the wind, Vaati goes on a rampage, using this awful power to terrorize many villages of Hyrule. In his assaults on the villages, Vaati would kidnap any beautiful girls who caught his fancy. Many knights from the castle and other brave men set out to get the girls back and forth, but each one fell back to Vaati's awesome power. When this boy heard what was happening, he said, "I will defeat this sorcerer." He boldly entered Vaati's palace, mystically trapped the evil sorcerer inside the blade of his sword, and returned the young girls to their villages. The boy then went deep into the forest and disappeared. The villagers asked the girls how a boy could have saved them and defeated the sorcerer when no one else could. The young girls told a story of how, with a wave of his sword, the boy's body shattered into four pieces, each of which formed a complete copy of the boy. These four young boys then worked together to defeat the sorcerer. The people did not believe the story, but they called it Four Sword nonetheless. As rumors of the blade's power to divide a person into four entities spread, the people built to shrine to protect it.
For generations Zelda and her descendants managed the seal of the Four Swords, but one day the seal weakened. Zelda was in Hyrule Castle when she felt that something unusual was happening at the Four Sword Shrine. She asked a boy named Link, whom she trusted above anyone else, to accompany her to investigate the happenings at the shrine. As they approached the shrine to check on the seal, a dark figure suddenly appeared and grabbed princess Zelda. The seal on Vaati had weakened over time, and Vaati managed to break out of his prison in the Four Sword. Vaati did not recognize the princess and saw her only as a fair maiden. After being instructed by fairies, Link takes the Four Sword from its pedestal and is split into four, as the foretold legend. The Great Fairies could help Link to get to the Palace of Winds, but he proved himself courageous enough. After a couple of days in the Palace of Winds, Link reached the seat of Vaati's power. After an arduous battle between the sorcerer and the heroes, Link was able to reseal Vaati into the Four Sword's blade. Princess Zelda and the people of Hyrule once again kept a watchful eye on the Four Sword.
For reasons not specified, Hyrule entered into a period of fierce war. During this war, a Hylian woman fled the fires of war and entered the Kokiri Forest, giving her newborn baby, named Link, to the Great Deku Tree to be raised as a Kokiri . Finally the war ended and the King of Hyrule unified his country.
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