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Nintendo heads off the Zelda lore debate that surrounded Age of Calamity by preemptively confirming that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is "canonical"
Nintendo has confirmed that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment for Switch 2 is a "canonical" entry in the Zelda series, seemingly putting to immediate rest the debate that's surrounded Age of Calamity among series lore aficionados.
"Players of both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom can experience the thrill of battle and this canonical tale featuring Princess Zelda, King Rauru, and other familiar characters," according to official description of the game Nintendo provided in its Switch 2 press release.
Age of Imprisonment follows the story of Princess Zelda when she finds herself flung back in time to a period in Hyrule's ancient history. This is the same tale that's told in flashback throughout Tears of the Kingdom, though certainly we'll get a lot more detail on those events as the focus of a standalone game.
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It's a similar setup to that for Age of Calamity, which expanded on the story seen in Breath of the Wild's flashbacks. But there are a few inconsistencies between the events of the two games which have made Age of Calamity non-canon in the eyes of fans. There's a whole section of the Zelda Wiki dedicated to explaining why it's not considered part of the timeline.
Nintendo seems intent on heading off that kind of debate by immediately branding this as a "canonical tale," and lore enthusiasts are already digging into the possibilities. Broadly, Tears of the Kingdom's backstory has met with some criticism from the fandom, and there's already some hope on social media that Age of Imprisonment can help flesh out the lore into something more compelling. We'll find out for sure when Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment launches this winter.
Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.
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