The Legend of Zelda is a long-running and extremely popular franchise, with many installments that take place in a branching timeline. All of this led to the creation of a huge community. And with any big fan base comes a huge number of fan theories.

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The game designers at Nintendo specialize in leaving small pieces of storytelling at different points in their games, which hint at some fascinating implications. This is stuff that may be too complex or too dark for their games. So it’s up to the most passionate The Legend of Zelda fans to recollect this information and craft some of the most intriguing fan theories.

8 The Zonai Are Aliens

Tears Of The Kingdom

Players were recently introduced to the Zonai, an ancient civilization that claimed to be the descendants of the gods because they came from the heavens, with King Rauru, the founder of the Kingdom of Hyrule, being part of this mysterious tribe. But many fans kept wondering: Where did they truly come from?

It seems like the explanation about the origin of the Zonai was not enough for some people. This, coupled with the fact that they have advanced technology, led to the theory of the Zonai being aliens. This would mean their “descent from the sky” would be the moment they arrive from another planet on their spaceships. The question now is: Where is the Zonai home planet, and why did they leave it behind?

7 Navi Is Dead

Ocarina Of Time

Regardless of how infamous she may have been, there’s no denying that the departure of Link’s fairy companion, Navi, after the game’s ending credits is quite touching. This is made even more emotional when it’s revealed that Link is looking for her at the beginning of the next game, Majora’s Mask.

The fact that Link could never find Navi again has spawned the sad theory that Navi kept using all of her energy throughout the game in order to help Link, and that she used it all up in the final battle against Ganondorf. This means that she may have flown away, so her dear friend didn’t have to witness her demise.

6 Link Is Dead (And The 5 Stages Of Grief)

Majora’s Mask

Majora’s Mask is arguably the darkest and most depressing game in the franchise, so it’s no surprise that it’s responsible for one of the darkest and most popular Legend of Zelda fan theories. The theory in question says that Link actually died at the beginning of the game and that Termina is some sort of stand-in for purgatory.

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This theory gets even crazier because fans have pointed out how the different locations and their inhabitants’ reactions to the world ending may also represent the Five Stages Of Grief, according to the Kübler-Ross model. With Clock Town being Denial, Woodfall being Anger, Snowhead being Negotation, Great Bay being Depression, and Ikana being Acceptance. So is Link going through these stages as his spirit is slowly going to the afterlife?

5 The Gerudo Turned Into The Twili

Twilight Princess

Twilight Princess takes place over a century after the events of Ocarina of Time, so it’s only natural that both games share a lot of similar elements. However, many fans have noticed that the Gerudo race is oddly missing from this world, despite the fact that references to them still exist, such as Ganondorf or the Gerudo Desert.

This game also introduced the mysterious Twili race which inhabits the Twilight Realm. Since they mention how they’re descendants of a tribe of sorcerers who used dark magic, and the Mirror of Twilight can be found in the Gerudo Desert, many people have theorized that the Gerudo evolved into the Twili over the course of many years, similar to how the Zora evolved into the Rito in other timelines.

4 Dark Link Is Demise

Skyward Sword

Skyward Sword holds the unique distinction of being the first chronological game of the Legend of Zelda timeline. This has led to a lot of interesting hypotheses about the impact that the events of this game had on the rest of the franchise. One of them is the theory that a fragment of the main antagonist, Demise, would later turn into Dark Link.

Even though it is confirmed that his hatred will be reborn as Ganondorf in subsequent installments, since Demise was sealed inside the Master Sword, many fans have theorized that his darkness is still trapped within the iconic weapon, which slowly created Link’s dark doppelgänger over the years. This theory’s existence relies mainly on the fact that not much is known about Dark Link, despite the fact he is one of the most recurring characters in the series.

3 Koholint Island Is Real

Link’s Awakening

For an old Game Boy game, Link’s Awakening’s ending is surprisingly dark, since it’s revealed that Koholint Island and all of its inhabitants are actually part of the Wind Fish’s dream. So, after Link defeats the final boss and finally awakens the creature, the entire place slowly fades away, in one of the franchise’s most emotional cut scenes.

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Yet Some fans hope that maybe Koholint Island was real after all. This theory hinges on the fact that, in the shot of the island fading away, the sea and the sky remain exactly the same. This is true in both the Game Boy release and the Nintendo Switch remake. Maybe it’s just an excuse to cope with the loss of all these characters, but many fans believe it means Koholint Island is a real, tangible place, and it didn’t just exist within a dream. Maybe it is still out there, somewhere else…

2 The New Timeline

Breath Of The Wild & Tears Of The Kingdom

After several years of theories and confusion, fans were ecstatic when Nintendo actually released an official Legend of Zelda timeline within the pages of the Hyrule Historia book. This relief wouldn’t last very long, because when Breath of the Wild was finally released, many fans noticed that it didn’t really fit any of the branches of the previously established timeline.

Fans adopted the theory that this game took place in an entirely new timeline, which was later strengthened by the release of its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom. The new BOTW Timeline (as it is known), while it has some references to the previous games, is completely separated and is not affected by the events of Ocarina of Time or other such titles.

1 The Fourth Triforce Piece

The Entire Franchise

It’s truly amazing how sometimes theories can spawn from minute details, as is the case with the wrongly named Tetraforce Theory. The Hylian Shield featured in Ocarina of Time has a unique design, with a Triforce symbol in the middle and a separate golden triangle at the very bottom. But even without this shield as proof, many other fans believe the Triforce is actually incomplete, and that the empty space in the middle of the symbol is where a fourth piece would go.

This, of course, would have a lot of big implications for the rest of the franchise. Since the Triforce consists of Power, Courage, and Wisdom, which are represented by Ganondorf, Link, and Zelda respectively, what would the fourth piece represent? And who would be its wielder? While there are many hypotheses, many believe it can represent Time or Kindness, and that it may belong to Sheik.

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