legend of zelda- a really messed up storyline

It's very interesting and a very good question. After playing through the Zelda games ,(Aside from 4 Swords Adventure and Phantom Hourglass which hasn't been released yet), the best I could say would be start it at The Minish Cap then follow up with the Ocarina of Time. Those would in theory be the 1st 2 Zelda games in the story. I do hope that the storyline gets revealed as to get rid of this confusion as to what game goes with what. I do think there is a storyline just not a concrete one or one that no one has thought of yet. Perhaps one day it will get released, it could be that they are waiting for the Zelda series to come to a close on that but I don't know for sure. Also note, that the CD-I Zelda games are not apart of the Zelda timeline or story due to no development from Nintendo. In fact, they didn't supervise it or anything, CD-I I guess struck a deal with Nintendo to help get that system off the ground and release top Nintendo icons into there games like Mario and Link.

I have looked around I believe that the best timeline is this: 1. Minish Cap because the master sword was created and handed to the Hero of Man, not Hero of Time. This makes this game before Ocarina of Time. 2. Ocarina of Time, this is a pretty obvious one because it creates the Hero of Time but, it also messes up the storyline. I belive that it created a split timeline, Hyrule A and Hyrule B. When Zelda sent Link back in time at the end of OOT, the future with Zelda, a sealed Ganon, and no Link was Hyrule B. When Link returned to the past when he was a child created Hyrule A. 3. Majora's Mask is again obvious, Link leaves Hyrule before Ganon tries to enter the Sacred Relm and get the Triforce. This is in timeline A due to the fact that the Link in the game is Young Link. 4. Link's Awakening because in the beginning of the game, Link is at sea trying to get back to Hyrule after Majora's Mask. He gets knocks out and begins the game. At the end, Link finds out it was all a dream and makes it to Hyrule. 5. Legend of Zelda, Link returns to Hyrule and finds out that Ganon somehow got the Triforce of Power and Zelda got Wisdom. Link didn't get Courage because he wasn't in Hyrule when Ganon and Zelda aquired their peices. Zelda breaks her triforce peice and Link collects them and beats Ganon again. 6. Link 2 when Link is introduced to the actual Legend of Zelda. What I believe is that the Zelda in Link 2 is the original Zelda from Minish Cap. When the evil wizard put Zelda into enternal sleep, Zelda's brother proclaimed that all girls born into the royal family would be named Zelda. This is explains why there is a Zelda in OOT. Link gathers the Triforce and wakes up the original Zelda. 7+8. Four Swords Adventure, the Link and Zelda in this game are either a new pair or the original pair. This is obviously after Minish Cap because it begins with a spirit in the Pikori Sword from Minish Cap. But this is game is before a Link to the Past because Ganon aquires the Trident of Power which is used in a Link to the Past. This game also talks about the 7 sages from OOT who sealed Ganon. You could also asume that Link told the King of his adventures after coming back through time, this means that the story was passed down as a legend and not a historical acount, aside from Ganon winning the war. 9. Wind Waker which takes place in Hyrule B. In Nintendo Power issue 165, Eiji Aonuma, the assitant director of OOT, said: "If you were to think back to the end of OOT, there were 2 endings in that game in differend time periods. First Link defeated Ganon as an adult, and then he actually went back to being a child. You could say that Wind Waker takes place 100 years after the ending in which Link was an adult." This explains what happened to Zelda from OOT when Link wend back to being a child. Ganon escapes and he still has the Triforce of Power and Zelda's descendant, Tetra has the Triforce of Wisdom. But the new Link had to rediscover the Triforce of Courage 10. Phantom Hourglass is in Hyrule B and an obvious placement has it is the squeal to Wind Waker. This game doesn't disturb the Triforce and doesn't mess up the timeline Oracle of Age and Seasons are almost the exact same game. They were released around the same time and the design is very similar. What I believe is that these two games take place at the same time in the different timelines. Where they belong on the map I'm not too sure but I do believe that they take place at the end of what we know of the Legend so far. I believe this because the Triforce has been reset and someone is trying to resurect Ganon. Twilight Princess also is a confusing one to because since it takes place between OOT and Wind Waker, it means it takes place during Hyrule B. In this game, Twilight begins to consume Hyrule and Zelda. The darkness may be trying to kill Zelda due to the split she made but from what I know about the game, this is unlikly. It might just be Ganon trying to exterminate Link and Zelda's desendant as he said in the end of OOT... Twilight Princess probably disproves this entire theory but it's the best I can come up with so far.

I have looked around I believe that the best timeline is this: 1. Minish Cap because the master sword was created and handed to the Hero of Man, not Hero of Time. This makes this game before Ocarina of Time. 2. Ocarina of Time, this is a pretty obvious one because it creates the Hero of Time but, it also messes up the storyline. I belive that it created a split timeline, Hyrule A and Hyrule B. When Zelda sent Link back in time at the end of OOT, the future with Zelda, a sealed Ganon, and no Link was Hyrule B. When Link returned to the past when he was a child created Hyrule A. 3. Majora's Mask is again obvious, Link leaves Hyrule before Ganon tries to enter the Sacred Relm and get the Triforce. This is in timeline A due to the fact that the Link in the game is Young Link. 4. Link's Awakening because in the beginning of the game, Link is at sea trying to get back to Hyrule after Majora's Mask. He gets knocks out and begins the game. At the end, Link finds out it was all a dream and makes it to Hyrule. 5. Legend of Zelda, Link returns to Hyrule and finds out that Ganon somehow got the Triforce of Power and Zelda got Wisdom. Link didn't get Courage because he wasn't in Hyrule when Ganon and Zelda aquired their peices. Zelda breaks her triforce peice and Link collects them and beats Ganon again. 6. Link 2 when Link is introduced to the actual Legend of Zelda. What I believe is that the Zelda in Link 2 is the original Zelda from Minish Cap. When the evil wizard put Zelda into enternal sleep, Zelda's brother proclaimed that all girls born into the royal family would be named Zelda. This is explains why there is a Zelda in OOT. Link gathers the Triforce and wakes up the original Zelda. 7+8. Four Swords Adventure, the Link and Zelda in this game are either a new pair or the original pair. This is obviously after Minish Cap because it begins with a spirit in the Pikori Sword from Minish Cap. But this is game is before a Link to the Past because Ganon aquires the Trident of Power which is used in a Link to the Past. This game also talks about the 7 sages from OOT who sealed Ganon. You could also asume that Link told the King of his adventures after coming back through time, this means that the story was passed down as a legend and not a historical acount, aside from Ganon winning the war. 9. Wind Waker which takes place in Hyrule B. In Nintendo Power issue 165, Eiji Aonuma, the assitant director of OOT, said: "If you were to think back to the end of OOT, there were 2 endings in that game in differend time periods. First Link defeated Ganon as an adult, and then he actually went back to being a child. You could say that Wind Waker takes place 100 years after the ending in which Link was an adult." This explains what happened to Zelda from OOT when Link wend back to being a child. Ganon escapes and he still has the Triforce of Power and Zelda's descendant, Tetra has the Triforce of Wisdom. But the new Link had to rediscover the Triforce of Courage 10. Phantom Hourglass is in Hyrule B and an obvious placement has it is the squeal to Wind Waker. This game doesn't disturb the Triforce and doesn't mess up the timeline Oracle of Age and Seasons are almost the exact same game. They were released around the same time and the design is very similar. What I believe is that these two games take place at the same time in the different timelines. Where they belong on the map I'm not too sure but I do believe that they take place at the end of what we know of the Legend so far. I believe this because the Triforce has been reset and someone is trying to resurect Ganon. Twilight Princess also is a confusing one to because since it takes place between OOT and Wind Waker, it means it takes place during Hyrule B. In this game, Twilight begins to consume Hyrule and Zelda. The darkness may be trying to kill Zelda due to the split she made but from what I know about the game, this is unlikly. It might just be Ganon trying to exterminate Link and Zelda's desendant as he said in the end of OOT... Twilight Princess probably disproves this entire theory but it's the best I can come up with so far.