Relics of Hyrule Timeline

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Relics of Hyrule follows a sequence of events similar to those in the official Legend of Zelda timeline, but also deviates from that timeline. This article explores the chronology of Relics of Hyrule lore, correlating it with Elder Scrolls lore.

Note that sections may expand as new information is added or discovered.

Dawn Era

Hyrule is Created

As stated in The City in the Sky, Din, Nayru, and Farore created the land that would become Hyrule, leaving behind the Triforce, entrusting it to Hylia, a fourth goddess.

The Golden Goddesses and Hylia are separate from the Daedra and Aedra, and Hylian traditions make no mention of beings other than the four goddesses. Other beings may have been involved with the creation of the world, and it is possible that Din, Nayru, Farore, and Hylia were only responsible for one small part of it.

Era of the Goddess Hylia

Hylia presides over a peaceful civilization, protecting the Triforce. She coexisted with dragons and other semi-divine beings.

Alduin is Banished

According to The City in the Sky, Alduin, the leader of the dragons, had begun to harm Hylia's people, causing her to seal him underground as punishment.

Demise Attacks the Surface

The Demon King Demise emerges from a fissure wanting to take the surface world for himself. Hylia creates Skyloft to protect her people and seals Demise away.

Hylia abandons her powers and divinity, and appoints four dragons to protect knowledge of the Triforce. The Goddess Sword is created to assist a hero in the event that Demise breaks from his seal.

Sky Era

The Hero of the Sky faces Demise and defeats him. Skyloft descends to the surface, but portions of it remain in the sky. The portions that remain in the sky are alternately called The City in the Sky or Skyloft by residents of Hyrule.

Era of Prosperity

An era of peace follows, but is interrupted by a wave of chaos from Hyrule's people seeking the Triforce for themselves. The Triforce is sealed away in the Sacred Realm for protection and a tribe is banished the Twilight Realm for attempting to obtain the Triforce.

Era of Unknown Heroes

Legends tell of other heroes fighting battles with evil forces, but the source of the evil is never found.

The Era of the Hero of Time

A civil war breaks out in Hyrule due to conflict between several tribes residing in the kingdom. A woman gives her newborn son to the Great Deku Tree of Kokiri Forest to be protected.

Years later and after the war had ended, an evil sorcerer named Ganondorf appears, intending to find and claim the Triforce for himself. The child raised by the Kokiri becomes the Hero of Time, and ultimately defeats Ganondorf after battling him across time.

The Hero is left with memories of battles that were erased from time, and is left to live out his years knowing he saved Hyrule, but without evidence to the fact, and without recognition.

The Hero departs on a journey to search for the fairy who assisted him in his quest to save Hyrule. In doing so, he falls and becomes trapped in Termina. According to The Scouring of Kokiri Forest, the Hero of Time perished when he fell, and faded from the world.

The Last Great War of Hyrule

Years after the disappearance of the Hero of Time, evil creeps back into Hyrule, and evil creatures become more and more plentiful. Disease becomes more common, water is poisoned. Hyrule is weakened.

Ganon Returns

Ganon, despite having been defeated and executed, returns to Hyrule and brings the Dark Army with him, seeking to conquer the kingdom using undead minions.

Alduin Returns

As explained in The Eruption of Death Mountain, Alduin is unearthed by the Gorons, who were seeking minerals to aid the war effort. Filled with hatred for being banished by Hylia, Alduin begins to devour the souls of Hyrule's citizens, and threatens to destroy the world. Ganon attempts to track down the pieces of the Triforce with the goal of gaining enough power to coerce or destroy Alduin. In his quest to defeat Alduin, he enters Lorule and destroys the kingdom to obtain the pieces of its Triforce, but fails to obtain the Triforce of Emotion.

The Battle of a Thousand Heroes

Desperate to bring and end to the war and to defeat Alduin, Hylian Mages seek to summon the Hero of Time, after waiting and praying for his return. They ultimately summon every other incarnation of a hero chosen by the Golden Goddesses from across time. This, in addition to Alduin's influence, begins to corrupt Hyrule's nature and its history, and time begins to decay and fold in on itself.

The Hero of Time successfully links Hyrule with Termina. Alduin attacks Termina and refugees flee to Hyrule. Alduin severs the link, preventing the Hero of Time from entering Hyrule. Heroes summoned by the mages bring items from their adventures, and attempt to defeat Alduin. None of them succeed.

Zelda and Midna contact each other and make plans to preserve parts of Hyrule. Many artifacts are hidden, including the Ocarina of Time.

Some citizens of Hyrule flee to the mountains and take refuge with the early Dwemer. Others flee to the south and take refuge with the Ayleids, according to some legends.

They appear in Hyrule.

The Hero of Winds and the Triumph of Zelda

As explained in Silent Winds and All Things End, The Hero of Winds was the last hero summoned by the mages of Hyrule. He faces Alduin at the summit of Death Mountain and battled the dragon. Meanwhile, Zelda battles Ganon in the Triforce Shrine, as explained in Wisdom, Power, and Emotion. She is defeated and Ganon succeeds in reforming the Triforce as well as Lorule's Triforce. However, Zelda touches Lorule's Triforce first and wishes for Hyrule to be cleansed and forgotten. The Triforces shatter, Alduin is thwarted, but not killed, and Hyrule is devoured. Ganon's soul is claimed by Mehrunes Dagon, as explained in Ganon's Fate.

The Phantom Hourglass preserves parts of Hyrule in the Sacred Realm, including the Mirror of Twilight.

Emergence of the Ruptured Towers

The Ruptured Towers begin to form in the Twilight Realm, where the Triforce Shrine has been moved and where minions of Ganon were sealed. The memories of the Hero of Time are corrupted and brought into physical form.

As explained in Twilight and Apocrypha, Hermaeus Mora takes control of the Twilight Realm, and Midna is rescued by Azura, as explained in Queen of Twilight. Hermaeus Mora's influence extends to the Link Between Worlds, the last remaining connection to the preserved remnants of Hyrule.

Merethic Era

Dwemer Discover the Link Between Worlds

During the Late Merethic Era, Dwemer expand into what was once Hyrule and find relics of the kingdom as well as portals to the Link Between Worlds. These portals are fortified and sealed.

Ancient Nords Discover Majora's Mask and the Link Between Worlds

Toward the end of the Merethic Era, men from Atmora have conquered the land that was once Hyrule, and dragons have come to preside over them, with Alduin serving as the master of dragons once more. The Ancient Nords worshipped the dragons, and built temples honoring them, but the Nords of Morwitijaal ultimately rejected the dragons in favor of Majora's Mask, discovered while constructing their temple. Their worship was kept a secret from the dragons. Majora's Mask lead the Nords of Morwitijaal to a portal to the Link Between Worlds, which they sealed and fortified.

The Dragon War, Alduin is Banished

As the rule of dragons and the Dragon Priests becomes more tyrannical, humans rebel, ultimately being aided by dragons. Alduin is defeated and banished.

First and Second Eras

During the First and Second Eras, Relics of Hyrule move about Tamriel, with many staying in Skyrim. Some are kept as heirlooms or are studied for their magic.

Third Era

Ganon's Rage

During the Oblivion Crisis, Ganon returns to what was once Hyrule and is enraged at seeing it fundamentally changed. Serving as Mehrunes Dagon's subordinate, Ganon slaughters countless people while commanding hordes of Daedra and his own monsters. Some of his monsters become trapped in Skyrim after the crisis is over.

Fourth Era

Relics of Hyrule

Majora's Mask is stolen from Morwitijaal, but finds its way back by moving from host to host.

Many other relics are kept as heirlooms or studied, and interest in them begins to rise, as myths and legends are rediscovered.

The Dragonborn Comes

In 4E 201, the Last Dragonborn awakens, and Alduin returns. With Alduin's return and the arrival of the hero destined to defeat him, the magic that lay dormant in the relics of Hyrule rewakens. Fairies begin to appear more and more frequently. People begin to receive mysterious Fairy Letters and seek out hidden artifacts, rediscovering the history of Hyrule.