There have been a lot of discussions about the timeline in the Legend of Zelda games. Zelda director Eiji Aonuma made an end to that by revealing that there is indeed a definitive Zelda timeline.
Aonuma-san told ONM: “yes, there is a master timeline but it is a confidential document! The only people to have access to that document are myself, Mr. Miyamoto and the director of the title. We cant share it with anyone else!”
Aonuma-san also told ONM where Skyward Sword fits into this timeline. “I have already talked to Mr. Miyamoto about this so I am comfortable in releasing this information,” he said. “Skyward Sword takes place before Ocarina of Time”.
“If I said that a certain title was ‘the first Zelda game’, then that means that we cant ever make a title that takes place before that! So for us to add titles to the series, we have to have a way of putting the titles before or after each other.”
You can read the full six-page interview in the current issue of ONM, which is in shops now.
(Thanks to Official Nintendo Magazine)
Chronology according to Wikipedia
Though the chronology of the Legend of Zelda series is subject to much debate among fans, numerous materials and developer statements have partially established an official timeline of the released installments. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is a direct sequel to the original The Legend of Zelda and takes place several years later. The third game, A Link to the Past, is a prequel to the first two titles and is followed by Link’s Awakening. Ocarina of Time is also a prequel, taking the story many centuries back and implicitly telling the Imprisoning War from the manual of A Link to the Past. The ending of this game caused the timeline to split, with the child era leading into the direct sequel Majora’s Mask, and Twilight Princess set more than 100 years later. The Wind Waker is parallel and takes place in the other timeline branch, more than a century after the adult era of Ocarina of Time. Phantom Hourglass is a continuation of Link’s and Tetra’s story, followed by Spirit Tracks about 100 years later. Skyward Sword will be a prequel again, taking place before Ocarina of Time. At the time of its release, Four Swords for the Game Boy Advance was considered the oldest tale in the series’ chronology, with Four Swords Adventures set sometime after its events. The Minish Cap precedes the two games, telling the story of the Four Sword’s birth. There have been no statements about the placement of the Oracle titles, or about which timeline branch some of the earlier installments are meant to be set in.
Chronology according to Zelda Universe
http://www.zeldauniverse.net/timeline-theory/
