I made a video discussing how you can define the Zelda timeline without any books or developer quotes by only looking at what's in the games themselves (including manuals since that's what's bundled with the product as well).
This isn't to discredit the usage of the books or dev quotes as valid sources for Zelda canon, but just to show how the Zelda storyline and chronology can be pieced together without using any of these non-game sources.
My video (27 mins) exceeds Reddit's video length limit (15 mins) so I have to use a link to YouTube instead.
by xXglitchygamesXx