Doc Brown explains The Legend of Zelda timeline in this epic fan film

By Jeffrey Van Camp May 27, 2011

legend-of-zelda-time-travel-as-explained-by-doc-brown-of-back-to-the-future — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Legend of Zelda has become one of the most beloved and revered franchises in the history of video games both for its gameplay innovations and stories. However, 25 years of sequels does come at a cost. While its chief architects at Nintendo, Eiji Aunoma and Shigeru Miyamoto, maintain that all of its Zelda games somehow fit together in the Zelda chronology, no official timeline has ever been released. And due to the vague nature of the games (they are ‘legends,’ after all), even most studious fans of the series bicker about the order of the games. While many theories have been developed (some very good), there is no official consensus among the community. With new games coming out every year, the timeline has become as legendary as Link’s adventures.

If only we had Doc Brown to explain it all. This fan created video recreates the end of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but what happens after that (about a minute in) is far more interesting. Using a chalkboard, Doc Brown from Back to the Future maps out a good portion of the Zelda series. We haven’t done due diligence on the timeline, but it is at least broadly accurate (according to some fan theories). Ever wonder just how many times Link has fought the malevolent Ganon? Count up the pigs above.

(Side note: If this is how annoying Link sounds, we are glad that he never talks in the games.)

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Jeffrey Van Camp

Former Digital Trends Contributor

As DT's Deputy Editor, Jeff helps oversee editorial operations at Digital Trends. Previously, he ran the site's…

Computing

The HP Victus gaming PC with RTX 3060 has a $550 discount

The HP Victus 15L gaming PC in white.

Gamers don't need to spend more than $1,000 if they want to buy a new gaming PC because there are affordable options like the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop. From its original price of $1,400, you can get it for just $850 as HP has applied a $550 discount on this machine. However, you shouldn't delay your purchase because there's no assurance that the gaming PC will still be 39% off tomorrow. If you want to make sure that you get it for less than $1,000, you're going to have to complete the transaction for it within the day.

Why you should buy the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop
You shouldn't expect the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop to match the performance of the top-of-the-line models of the best gaming PCs, but it's surprisingly powerful for its cost. Inside it are the 13th-generation Intel Core i7 processor and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, with 16GB of RAM that our guide on how much RAM do you need says is the best place to start for gaming. It's enough to play today's best PC games without any issues, and it may even be capable of running the upcoming PC games of the next few years if you're willing to dial down the settings for the more demanding titles.

Gaming

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: release date window, trailers, gameplay, and more

Indiana Jones standing in the jungle.

Grab your fedora, whip, and pistol because Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is plotting a course to consoles soon. After being announced via a small teaser in 2021, we're now finally starting to put the pieces together on the mystery that is this new title from MachineGames. While many very popular and successful games have been inspired by the Indiana Jones film franchise, including Uncharted and Tomb Raider, Indy himself has yet to star in a true action-adventure game worthy of his legacy. Will this game be the one to remind audiences who the true pioneer of set-piece action and globe-trotting puzzle-solving is? Only time will tell, but we can at least guess based on all the clues we've unearthed.
Release date window
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be released is scheduled for release sometime in 2024. Considering the slate of titles currently announced from first-party publishers, and how little we've seen of this game in comparison, we'd expect it to arrive in the last few months of the year. Of course, it could always slip into next year as well.
Platforms

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, coming from Xbox-owned MachineGames, will be an Xbox console exclusive, but also be available on PC.
Trailers
Official Gameplay Reveal Trailer: Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

Gaming

How to get to Monkey Island in Sea of Thieves

An election poster for guybrush in Sea of Thieves.

Over the course of its many years of updates and expansions, Sea of Thieves has had a few notable crossovers with other pirate franchises. The Pirates of the Caribbean crossover let you team up with the legendary Jack Sparrow, but the Monkey Island content felt like it came out of nowhere. For those unaware, Monkey Island is a series of pirate point-and-click games that were as funny as the puzzles were obscure. Thankfully, you don't have to intuit that you need to combine a cat whisker with a mason jar to bypass a skeleton guard to get to this new content, but it is more challenging than you might think.