Is Tears of the Kingdom the last Zelda game in the timeline?
With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom proving to be yet another hit for Nintendo, it has raised the question as to where it lands on the series' timeline. With Zelda games having previously gone back and forth through time like a young Hylian with an ocarina, it can be a little confusing to figure out where the series will go next.
Without spoiling its ending or any of the story content, we'll be going over where the game fits in the Zelda timeline and whether or not it is the last we will be seeing of Link and Zelda.
Where is Tears of the Kingdom in the Zelda timeline?
Chronologically, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the furthest along the timeline. With Breath of the Wild taking place 100 years after the Great Calamity, and Tears of the Kingdom several years after, it makes it the most recent in the lore of the Zelda series.
At the time of writing, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword continues to be the earliest game in the Zelda series’ chronology, with its impact showing in this most recent title with the presence of the Sky Islands.
Don't expect Tears of the Kingdom to be the last Zelda game
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While The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom may be the last in the timeline for now, it does not look like it will be the last game.
In an interview with Game Informer, the series producer, Eiji Aonuma, indicated that titles going forward will follow a similar formula to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom in the same way subsequent titles followed suit following the success of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
In the interview, he said:
"With Ocarina of Time, I think it's correct to say that it did kind of create a format for a number of titles in the franchise that came after it. But in some ways, that was a little bit restricting for us. While we always aim to give the player freedoms of certain kinds, there were certain things that format didn't really afford in giving people freedom.
"Of course, the series continued to evolve after Ocarina of Time, but I think it's also fair to say now that we've arrived at Breath of the Wild and the new type of more open play and freedom that it affords. Yeah, I think it's correct to say that it has created a new kind of format for the series to proceed from."
So, with that in mind, it looks like we’ll be seeing more Zelda games in the future, potentially carrying on the gameplay and style that has been established in the two most recent games. In the meantime, we’ll be journeying across Hyrule and the skies above in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for a while yet.
That's everything we know about Tears of the Kingdom's place in the timeline, and the future of the franchise. For more, head to our Legend of Zelda homepage where we have guides on topics like fairy locations, geoglyphs, and the infamous Cece hat.
