In a recent interview with Famitsu, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujibayashi discussed the ever-so-confusing timeline placements of the recent titles.
Unfortunately, no clear answer was given by the director who did a very good job beating around the bush. However, he did reconfirm that despite the talk of Hyrule’s origin, Tears of the Kingdom is definitely a sequel to Breath of the Wild. He even goes as far as to suggest that Hyrule has collapsed once before any of the events seen in the games.
Although Fujibayashi also states that the timeline placement is not his concern when making the games, instead he just wishes to prevent the story and world from falling apart so fans can enjoy imagining the possibilities.
As to be expected, it is not a very straightforward answer on the timeline, but the quotes do shed light on Fujibayashi’s own thoughts and mentality around the topic. Check out the direct translation in Nintendo Everything’s article.
