The Wind Waker takes place in the Adult Era branch of The Legend of Zelda timeline, after Ocarina of Time. Nintendo’s official history shows Hyrule flooding before the game, while producer Eiji Aonuma described the story as occurring 100 years after the ending in which Link was an adult. It is not part of the Child Era path that includes Majora’s Mask.
After The Wind Waker, Nintendo places Phantom Hourglass a few months later and Spirit Tracks later still, in a new Hyrule. The result is a short, clearly defined sequence rather than one uninterrupted line containing every Zelda game.
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The Wind Waker’s exact place in the timeline
The simplest answer is:
- Ocarina of Time reaches its adult-ending period.
- Hyrule is flooded.
- The Wind Waker begins in the resulting ocean-covered world.
- Phantom Hourglass follows a few months later.
- Spirit Tracks continues the line later, in a new Hyrule.
Nintendo’s displayed history calls the branch containing The Wind Waker the Adult Era. This label refers to the ending period in which Link was an adult during Ocarina of Time; it does not mean that the Link in The Wind Waker is the same adult hero. The game follows a new Link, while the earlier Hero of Time survives as a cultural legend.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteThe exact calendar date of the adventure is not established by Nintendo’s timeline display. Aonuma’s often-cited explanation supplies the interval: “You could say that The Wind Waker takes place 100 years after the ending in which Link was an adult.” That is a creator’s explanation of the placement, not a dated in-world calendar entry.
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Why Ocarina of Time creates two eras
Ocarina of Time is the timeline’s dividing point because its ending can be understood as producing two historical periods.
The adult-ending period
In Aonuma’s explanation, Link defeats Ganon while he is an adult. The story then sends Link back to his childhood. The adult period does not simply disappear: it remains a history in which the adult Link’s victory happened and its consequences continue. Nintendo’s history places The Wind Waker on this side of the split.
The child-ending period
When Link returns to childhood, he carries knowledge of the future events. Nintendo’s history presents a separate Child Era branch and places Majora’s Mask there. That is why Majora’s Mask and The Wind Waker are not consecutive chapters in one branch. They descend from different ending periods of Ocarina of Time.
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| Branch | Ending period of Ocarina of Time | Example Nintendo placement | Relationship to The Wind Waker |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult Era | The period in which Link defeated Ganon as an adult | The Wind Waker | This is the game’s branch |
| Child Era | The period after Link returned to childhood | Majora’s Mask | A separate branch, not a direct predecessor |
The split is therefore structural, not a matter of alternate editions or optional endings that players select in a menu. When asking where a game belongs, first identify which Ocarina of Time ending period Nintendo assigns to it.
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What happened before the game: the flooded Hyrule
Nintendo’s official history places the flooding of Hyrule before The Wind Waker. The timeline display does not provide an exact year for that event in the material available here, so it is more accurate to describe it as a preceding historical transition than to attach a calendar date.
This flooding explains the setting readers see when the game opens. The familiar kingdom has become a world of scattered islands and open sea. The change is not a side story occurring after the opening chapters; it is the condition that defines the Adult Era’s Wind Waker setting.
The flooding also helps distinguish continuity from repetition. The game remembers the earlier hero, but it does not begin by placing the same adult Link in a recently restored Hyrule. Instead, generations have passed, the old events have become legend, and a new protagonist is drawn into the crisis.
How the opening connects the new Link to the old legend
Nintendo’s official summary begins on a small island where the legend of the Hero of Time is passed down. That detail is the game’s clearest early signal that the past is part of the setting’s history rather than a forgotten continuity error.
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Link’s birthday and Aryll’s kidnapping
On Link’s birthday, a monstrous bird carries off Tetra. Link helps rescue her, but his sister Aryll is kidnapped. These events pull an ordinary island boy into the larger conflict and establish that this Link is beginning his own journey.
Tetra and the King of Red Lions
The King of Red Lions guides Link across the sea and explains that Ganondorf has returned and is kidnapping girls around the world. The explanation connects the new adventure to the threat associated with the older era without claiming that the protagonist is the same person as the Hero of Time.
Why the legend matters
The island’s tradition shows how the adult-ending history has been remembered. The older hero is part of communal storytelling, while the present-day characters must deal with a new incarnation of danger. This is the narrative bridge between Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker: historical continuity, a changed world and a different Link.
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| Position | Game or event | What Nintendo’s history establishes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ocarina of Time — adult-ending period | The adult period is the branch used for this sequence. |
| 2 | Hyrule is flooded | The flooding occurs before The Wind Waker. |
| 3 | The Wind Waker | Set in the Adult Era; Aonuma describes it as 100 years after the adult ending. |
| 4 | Phantom Hourglass | Nintendo says it begins a few months after the adventures in The Wind Waker. |
| 5 | Spirit Tracks | Placed later in the continuing sequence, in a new Hyrule where the tracks are disappearing. |
This is the relevant local order for understanding The Wind Waker. It does not claim that every Zelda release appears between these entries; Nintendo’s wider history divides the series into multiple branches and eras.
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What follows The Wind Waker?
Phantom Hourglass: a few months later
Nintendo’s summary explicitly says that Phantom Hourglass starts a few months after the adventures in The Wind Waker. Link and Tetra set out in search of a new land. Because the interval is stated as months rather than years or generations, this is the closest direct continuation of the game’s ending in Nintendo’s displayed sequence.
Spirit Tracks: a later Hyrule
Nintendo then places Spirit Tracks later in the same line. Its setting is a new Hyrule, and the central problem involves tracks that are disappearing. The change of land is important: the sequence continues historically, but it is not simply a return to the original kingdom seen before the flood.
For a story-focused play order, finish The Wind Waker, play Phantom Hourglass, then move to Spirit Tracks. That order follows Nintendo’s stated chronology for this branch.
Is The Wind Waker after Ocarina of Time?
Yes, but the qualified answer matters. It follows the adult-ending period of Ocarina of Time, not the child-ending period. Aonuma’s explanation places it 100 years after that adult ending, while Nintendo’s official history places the flood before the game. Saying only “it is after Ocarina of Time” is technically correct but leaves out the branch that explains the setting.
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Is it on the same branch as Majora’s Mask?
No. Nintendo’s history displays Majora’s Mask under the Child Era and The Wind Waker under the Adult Era. They therefore do not form a single linear sequel chain. The two games share the importance of Ocarina of Time, but each follows a different ending period.
Is The Wind Waker’s Link the Hero of Time?
No. The opening establishes that the Hero of Time is remembered as a legend on Link’s island. The playable Link is a new person whose birthday and family situation begin the story. The continuity comes from the world’s history and the return of the threat, not from treating both protagonists as one individual.
What does “100 years later” actually mean?
The 100-year interval comes from an interview with Eiji Aonuma, archived by Zelda Legends. In that interview, he says The Wind Waker takes place 100 years after the ending in which Link was an adult. The archive page does not establish the interview’s original publication date, and Nintendo’s displayed history does not provide a separate calendar date for the game.
Use the number as an attributed explanation of the timeline relationship. It supports the broad distance between Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker, but it should not be expanded into an invented year, reign length or exact date for the flood.
Release date versus story chronology
The Wind Waker was released for Nintendo GameCube on December 13, 2002. That release date is useful when discussing the game’s place in Zelda’s publication history, but it is not a timeline date. The story chronology places it after the adult-ending period of Ocarina of Time, regardless of when players received the game.
Keeping those two orders separate prevents a common mistake: arranging games only by release year and then assuming that the resulting list is the fictional history. For this title, release order and branch chronology answer different questions.
A practical way to explain the placement to someone new to Zelda
- Start with Ocarina of Time. Explain that its ending produces an adult-ending period and a child-ending period.
- Identify the branch. Put The Wind Waker on the Adult Era side and Majora’s Mask on the Child Era side.
- State the transition. Nintendo places Hyrule’s flooding before The Wind Waker.
- Describe the protagonist. The game follows a new Link in a culture that remembers the Hero of Time.
- Continue the local sequence. Follow with Phantom Hourglass a few months later, then Spirit Tracks in the later new-Hyrule setting.
This method gives the reader both the short answer and the reason the answer is not simply a single line from the first Zelda game to the latest one.
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At-a-glance answer
- Branch: Adult Era.
- Point of departure: The adult-ending period of Ocarina of Time.
- Major preceding event: Hyrule is flooded.
- Stated interval: Aonuma describes the game as 100 years after the adult ending.
- Protagonist: A new Link, in a world where the Hero of Time is legend.
- Next game: Phantom Hourglass, a few months later.
- Later continuation: Spirit Tracks, in a new Hyrule.
- Not on this branch: Majora’s Mask, which Nintendo places in the Child Era.
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