Nintendo has produced an official chart for the entire Legend of Zelda series, and it is riddled with contradictions. A writer contends that the same fate should never befall Grand Theft Auto.
Starting with Zelda as an example of how things should not be done, the series has a handful of direct sequels, including Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. The vast majority of Zelda games, however, recycle a simple fairy-tale framework, with a small group of faces returning in new guises.
The writer says the whole of Zelda is not a timeline at all, but a ritual. People, including people at Nintendo, have tried to link all of Zelda together into one story. The writer says it makes no sense.
Grand Theft Auto carries the same spirit through its history. Its timeline breaks into three separate eras, each one distinct from the rest.
- The 2D era: Grand Theft Auto, its expansions and sequel.
- The 3D era: GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas and their spinoffs.
- The HD era: GTA 4, 5, 6 and Online, plus their expansions and spinoffs.
Across every era, the games proceed in a fixed order of events. The histories never collide with one another. Each era stands alone, its narrative founded on a clean start.
The Zelda Timeline vs. GTA’s Blank Slates
The main difference is where the writer places the value. Zelda’s timeline does spoil the effect of a world where every game is a new legend, and every Link is a new hero. Within each game’s universe, all the others exist as a single, vaguely remembered myth.
GTA does not need that. The writer argues the games gain subtly just from existing in a continuity. GTA 4’s two expansions, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, add depth to what is happening in the rest of Liberty City. The worlds feel richer, more lived in.
Cross-overs are rarer than brief cameos and passing references. The Lost and Damned’s Johnny Klebitz meets a terrible fate in GTA 5. These references give the games a familiar feeling of authenticity.
The Elmore Leonard Comparison
The writer draws a direct parallel to Elmore Leonard, the crime writer behind Get Shorty, Rum Punch and Out of Sight. All of Leonard’s books are standalone, but background characters and sometimes even protagonists pop up unexpectedly in each others’ stories.
This approach is less a timeline and more a collection of separate pieces. It does not matter where you come into it, or in which order you work through the stories. Each one stands alone. But they are a little bit stronger when put together.
Quentin Tarantino borrowed from the same method in some of his movies. Michael Keaton appears as the same FBI agent, Ray Nicolette, in two Leonard adaptations — Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight.
Why GTA’s Timeline Should Stay Irrelevant
The Grand Theft Auto series has long stood as a satirical yet affectionate vision of the American dream, a tale of self-realization without any boundaries. Each game begins anew, a self-contained story unto itself. Its online mode, with its lawless carnival of greed, represents the natural conclusion of that philosophy.
The author contends that there is no need to catch up before playing GTA 6. The titles are somewhat stronger together, but each one stands alone.
The shared world gives the stories a greater sense of depth, even when the tales themselves do not connect. This contrast is what sets apart the approach of Zelda’s forced timeline and GTA’ from others.
The Point of the Comparison
The writer invoked Zelda for a good reason. Both Zelda and GTA sit within a strong tradition of video game storytelling that is not serialized. That approach is a necessity to start with blank slates.
Here’s the same idea expressed with a different arrangement of words: the GTA’s protagonists have backstories and are richly drawn, but those stories are always careful to locate them at the bottom of the ladder — or retired from the ladder, in the case of GTA 5’s Michael lets players scale the heights alongside them.
The writer’s argument is that a fixed timeline should not be imposed on GTA. Instead, the games should be allowed to remain independent, with the shared world adding depth without needing to be consistent.
The timeline of The Legend of Zelda is a jumbled mess, and the timeline of Grand Theft Auto is completely unrelated. This is a deliberate choice, not an oversight.
Key Facts
- Zelda timeline: official chart published by Nintendo
- GTA timeline: three eras — 2D, 3D and HD
- GTA 5’s Michael: retired from the ladder
- Johnny Klebitz: meets a gruesome end in GTA 5
- Elmore Leonard: Get Shorty, Rum Punch, Out of Sight
- Ray Nicolette: FBI agent, played by Michael Keaton in Jackie Brown and Out of Sight
- GTA Online: lawless carnival of greed
Source material: “The GTA Timeline Is Completely Irrelevant,” Polygon.
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