At this point, the new teaser trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s upcoming Switch 2 remake has been discussed ad nauseam. However, what pretty much everyone has missed is how this trailer hints at major lore changes regarding the Zelda timeline in a very subtle way.
It all stems from the first lines that the narrator says in the trailer, which sound like any generic fairytale but actually have huge implications when taken seriously: “Long ago, there was a land called Hyrule, created by beings of supreme deity.” With this one simple line, the narrator of the trailer drops a huge bombshell that could change everything about the timeline, perhaps even finally revealing how the rest of the series ties into the Wild Era.
Ocarina of Time Remake Seems to Prove That TOTK’s “Refounding” Timeline Fan Theory Was Always Correct
The narrator’s opening line, “Long ago, there was a land called Hyrule,” communicates a lot of information at once. To start, it implies that Hyrule was a land that existed long in the past, but is no longer around in the time period the narrator lives in.
What happened to Hyrule that would cause it to be destroyed is left mysterious, but there’s at least one very strong possibility.
Since TOTK came out, the biggest prevailing theory around its timeline placement is that the Wild Era takes place in the very distant future, long after any other game in the traditional Zelda timeline. This is supported by the fact that Sonia and Rauru are the apparent founders of the Kingdom of Hyrule, but the world of BOTW has numerous references to previous games, suggesting it also takes place after every other game.
- Image via Nintendo
For Rauru and Sonia to be founding Hyrule after every other game, it suggests that Hyrule had been destroyed in the past, and Rauru was simply re-founding the Kingdom that had once existed.
It’s entirely possible that OOT’s trailer narration is occurring in the period of TOTK’s past, before Rauru and Sonia had re-founded the Kingdom of Hyrule. Perhaps this narrator could be the missing link between the Zelda timeline and the presumed distant future period of the Wild Era.
Ocarina of Time Could Retcon Zelda Lore in Anticipation of the Live-Action Movie’s Release
Setting the Wild Era connection aside, the Ocarina of Time narrator’s insistence that Hyrule was a land that existed “long ago” could actually be Nintendo’s attempt at making The Legend of Zelda series’ feel closer to home.
It’s possible this narrator may really be telling the ‘legend’ of Ocarina of Time’s story in a period closer to that of the real world. This would suggest the entire Legend of Zelda franchise exists in a version of the real world, but in a very distant past that was lost history.
With the live-action Zelda movie scheduled for April next year, tying the Zelda franchise’s history to that of the real world could be a very deliberate choice on Nintendo’s part. It’s still too soon to know for sure, but with recent reports pointing to a Zelda-themed Nintendo Direct in September, fans could learn more about both OOT and the Zelda movie very soon.
While the rest of the narrator’s monologue is consistent with the story of OOT fans know and love, that single opening line tells an entire story of its own that more fans should really be talking about. At the very least, it’s a fascinating stylistic choice on Nintendo’s part to situate the narration of this game as a fairytale, like a real ‘legend’ of Zelda that’s being passed down to a new generation.