I’m confused on the story in Totk. I know totk is after BotW, but I’m curious about the other events in the game. The game talks about a war, which is the imprisoning war. This would put it squarely in the “hero is defeated” timeline before the events of a link to the past.
“7 sages seal away Ganon in the imprisoning war”
What is confusing me however is that Rauru is claimed to be the first king of Hyrule. Hyrule however was founded well before the imprisoning war. It was actually founded shortly after the bandaging of the twili and sealing of the sacred realm. Now, in the timeline it states that sage Rauru seals the sacred realm to protect the tri-force. But that isn’t the imprisoning war, nor do I think it’s the same Rauru. But it also states that Skyward Sword Zelda’s descendants founded Hyrule shortly after the sealing of the sacred realm. Skyward Sword Zelda wasn’t a Zonai though.
Does anyone understand the timeline enough to explain what I am missing? It just feels like Rauru is too many people
Nobody understands the timeline. Not even Nintendo. If you want proof of that check out this video that goes over the history of Zelda timelines. That’s right. Someone made a video not about the timeline itself, but about all the times Nintendo changed the timeline.
Personally, I just go with the stance that each game is a “Legend” of Zelda. Just like how real life has stories of the past that may or may not have happened either as written or even at all. Sometimes those stories even reference older stories and the legends continue on.