AThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomplayer has pointed out that the versions of Link and Zelda in the game may actually be the oldest versions of the characters in the franchise. EachZeldagame features a new version of Link and Zelda, andTears of the Kingdommay have the only versions of the characters over 18-year-old.For hardcoreZeldafans, one of the main topics of discussion around the lore of the series is the timeline, and when each game happens canonically. There’s no easyexplanation for theLegend of Zeldatimelineas Nintendo has never spelled out the true answer for the fans. WithTears of the Kingdom, it’s an obvious fact that this game comes afterThe Legend of Zelda:Breath of the Wild, with no one arguing otherwise. What’s not obvious however, is how much time has pasted between the two games, with some fans estimating that only two years have past, and other fans claiming that it has been much longer.RELATED:Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Tutorial Explains How to Build a TankThe amount of time that’s passed between the two games is mostly left up to interpretation, but some fans, like DragonCatalyst on Twitter, are usingTears of the Kingdom’s most touching side questas a barometer. In the side quest, the player is introduced to a seven-year-old child named Mattison, whose parents were brought together by the player inBreath of the Wild. This means that seven years have passed between the two games, not just two or three. Link inBreath of the Wildwas 17 according to the developers, so this also means that he’s at least 24 inTears of the Kingdom.
Link’s age is almost never officially said in almost anyZeldagame, with fans having to rely on developer notes and context clues to figure it out. For games such asThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind WakerandThe Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Link is portrayed as a small boy around the age of ten, while other games likeThe Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princessportray Link to be around 17.The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Timeis the only game where the player can play as both the younger and older version of Link. There is no set age explained for Zelda in most of the games either, but she’s always portrayed to be around the same age as Link.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis a game that breaks many of the classic traditions ofthe bestZeldagames of all time, and playing as a version of Link that’s older than 17 can now be added to the list. Of course, ifZeldafans include the fact that both Link and Zelda went through a 100-year time skip inBreath of the Wild, that would make them both around 124-years-old. But that’s something that can be argued about at another time.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis available for Nintendo Switch.
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