The surprising conclusion to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity has raised questions about the upcoming sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, as it’s unclear now which timeline Breath of the Wild 2 will take place in.

Breath of the Wild opens with Link waking up with no memories of his life. The player can choose to scour Hyrule for Link’s memories, with the aid of the Sheikah Slate, and if they do it turns out that Link was the guardian of Princess Zelda a century before the events of Breath of the Wild began. Calamity Ganon was prophesized to return to Hyrule, so Princess Zelda had to unlock her powers in order to seal him away. Link was mortally wounded and had to be sealed within the Shrine of Resurrection in order to save his life. He wakes up a century later, reclaims the Master Sword, and slays Calamity Ganon.

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At E3 2019, Nintendo revealed a trailer for a sequel to Breath of the Wild. Fans have poured over the trailer in search of clues, but the ending of Age of Calamity may have thrown them out of the window, as it’s now unclear which timeline Breath of the Wild 2 takes place in.

The Legend of Zelda’s New Timeline

Age of Calamity initially seemed as if it would be a prequel to Breath of the Wild that showed the events of the original war against Calamity Ganon, but it actually involves time travel. In Breath of the Wild, Princess Zelda accidentally sends a Guardian named Terrako back in time. Terrako warns the citizens of Hyrule about the coming of Calamity Ganon, allowing them to better prepare for the upcoming battle. It’s due to Terrako’s actions that the races of Hyrule band together and Princess Zelda awakens her powers before Calamity Ganon’s arrival. Terrako also prevents the four Divine Beasts from being defeated by summoning Riju, Teba, Sidon, and Yunobo from the future.

At the end of Age of Calamity, Terrako sacrifices its life to weaken Calamity Ganon, allowing Princess Zelda to seal him away. This creates a new timeline, where the events of Breath of the Wild never happened. Link is never wounded, the Champions were never slain, the Divine Beasts were never enslaved, and Zelda wasn’t trapped with Calamity Ganon for a century. The four warriors from the future are sent back to their original timeline at the end of the game, and a new era of peace (hopefully) begins.

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What Breath of the Wild 2’s Trailer Said

It’s tempting to think that the trailer shown at Nintendo’s E3 2019 event might have been hiding a secret this whole time. Maybe the game shown at the end of the event actually takes place in the Age of Calamity timeline, and it stars the Link and Princess Zelda from the timeline where Ganon was defeated? Breath of the Wild 2’s trailer is so short and vague that it’s certainly possible.

It’s hard to make that argument, however, due to the text at the end of the trailer. It clearly states that “The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is now in development“, and it doesn’t reference Age of Calamity whatsoever. It’s possible that Nintendo was obfuscating the truth, but it’s more likely that the game is a sequel to one of the best-selling games on the Switch, rather than an unknown property that involved other developers/publishers. Breath of the Wild was the Switch’s first big success story, and Nintendo will want to capitalize on it.

It’s possible that Age of Calamity could be referenced by the four heroes who were sent back in time. Riju, Teba, Sidon, and Yunobo are sent back to the future at the end of Age of Calamity and they could retain their memories of the game. They might mention the events of Age of Calamity, but it’s unlikely to have a major effect on the story of Breath of the Wild 2. As such, fans shouldn’t be too concerned about the Age of Calamity timeline taking over as the source of the Breath of the Wild sequel.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is available now for Nintendo Switch.

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Scott Baird
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Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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