OOT - Multiple Timelines in One Game

1st Official Post

    You become the Adult Link. You talk to Guru-Guru (If that's the correct name of the Windmill Hut guy). He teaches us Song of Storms and tells us that 7 years ago Link messed up the Hut.

    Link never did it 7 years back.
    This gives us the idea that somehow Link reaches another timeline when he is kept for 7 years by the Sages. That's where the Young Link messed up the hut. In the second timeline.

    And then the Real Link goes back to his Timeline to mess up the hut there with Song of Storms.

    And what about the Young Link from the second timeline, who at first messed up the hut? He got trapped in evil power when he entered the Sacred Realm with Ganondorf entering it too.
    Then he became Dark Link.


    Anyone?

    Sent from my MotoE2 using Tapatalk

    • Official Post

    It's possible, but not conclusive. Time travel is complicated. I mean, when you travel back to Young Link (YL) era, you emerge at the point in time when you left. So, when Guru-Guru says YL messed up the windmill, it might well be true even in the one timeline. From your point of view, YL might not have messed it up YET, but he WILL DO. From Guru-guru's point of view, it's already happened.

    You could say that's impossible, because it's Guru-guru's words in the Adult Link (AL) era that allow us to go back and mess up the windmill, creating a grandfather paradox - but then it's possible that YL would have learnt the song of storms anyway had that not have happened (even if the gameplay doesn't present that possibility to us). I'll admit it's a contradiction though, because there are other things in the game, like the deku seed platforms, that don't appear in the future unless you plant them in the past, suggesting that YL has no effect on AL era unless you go back and actually do the stuff yourself. So, you've that on your side.

    But, I see that as a continuety error on the part of the game. Because how did this second timeline come to be in the first place? How did the sages know about the other timeline in order to send Link there? Either a) YL could mess up the windmill originally, in which case no need for a second timeline, or b) he couldn't without Guru-guru's information in AL era, in which case we get a paradox. Also, even if an alternate YL messed up the windmill, he could have done it after Ganondorf entered the sacred realm. And does this mean an alternative Link is created every time we plant some deku seeds and change the timeline? One AL for the timeline that the platform isn't there, one for when it is.

    For me, there's just too many questions - I'm going to have to stick with 'the game writers messed up'.

    Quote from Silent Lion

    It's possible, but not conclusive. Time travel is complicated. I mean, when you travel back to Young Link (YL) era, you emerge at the point in time when you left. So, when Guru-Guru says YL messed up the windmill, it might well be true even in the one timeline. From your point of view, YL might not have messed it up YET, but he WILL DO. From Guru-guru's point of view, it's already happened.

    You could say that's impossible, because it's Guru-guru's words in the Adult Link (AL) era that allow us to go back and mess up the windmill, creating a grandfather paradox - but then it's possible that YL would have learnt the song of storms anyway had that not have happened (even if the gameplay doesn't present that possibility to us). I'll admit it's a contradiction though, because there are other things in the game, like the deku seed platforms, that don't appear in the future unless you plant them in the past, suggesting that YL has no effect on AL era unless you go back and actually do the stuff yourself. So, you've that on your side.

    But, I see that as a continuety error on the part of the game. Because how did this second timeline come to be in the first place? How did the sages know about the other timeline in order to send Link there? Either a) YL could mess up the windmill originally, in which case no need for a second timeline, or b) he couldn't without Guru-guru's information in AL era, in which case we get a paradox. Also, even if an alternate YL messed up the windmill, he could have done it after Ganondorf entered the sacred realm. And does this mean an alternative Link is created every time we plant some deku seeds and change the timeline? One AL for the timeline that the platform isn't there, one for when it is.

    For me, there's just too many questions - I'm going to have to stick with 'the game writers messed up'.


    The game writers did not mess up.

    I am a developer myself and I understand the developer point of view. They are Nintendo. They make games. That's it. They're not creating a REAL universe. We don't have to use our brains for something that is not even real.

    Their task is to create games, that's it. We then think of it as something real and try to calculate how it happened. We created illusory things in our brain. Nothing of that is real.
    And of course the games aren't real too.

    So, nothing happened. It was just a damn game! LOL. :) So we shouldn't be that serious about it.

    In the OP I was just trying to make it up as a story. Nothing to calculate or worry about, just some idea. Let's just stop here.

    Peace

    Sent from my MotoE2 using Tapatalk

    • Official Post

    All in all I don't mind people coming up with theories or even just simple what-if ideas. I agree a forum is a good place to share them, they might resonate with other people and you can always come back to them.

    In the end am sure we all know the "it's just a game" and that many things we tie together are more coincidence that a purposefully inclusion. Like you said developers are more focused in making sure to create a good game than making sure each element has an explanation or obeys the laws of physics. This doesn't take away from the fun of trying to rationalise things and have them make some sense. It is also a great way to bond by discussing those ideas, that's how many theories start.

    I appreciate you took the time to share your thoughts with us.


    I think it is the first time I read someone suggest a link tying up this event with Dark Link. Two events largely discussed about OoT.
    I suppose you prefer we keep things simple, so I'll try. Although I am darn babbler. So let me see if I get this.

    [INDENT]We have two timelines: T1 and T2.
    T1 is Young Link (YL)'s original Timeline. All what we recall in the game up to the point we pick up the sword is in T1.
    When YL is transported in the Seven Realm he inadvertently switches into T2. This is the reason people like Guru-guru mention things he didn't do.

    So from now on going back in time means returning to T1 (I am not sure if traveling forward means returning to T2 or if we don't visit that timeline anymore)
    So when YL-T2 entered the Sacred realm his soul was not sealed (because YL-T1 had accidentally taken his place) and instead the force of Darkness got hold of him and made him become Dark Link.[/INDENT]
    This is why understand the idea suggests. If I am wrong the rest will not make sense, hahaha.:XD:
    Feel free to correct me.

    At first I didn't think much of it, but it is kind of clever way to rationalise the paradox and at the same time explain the origin of a mid-boss who-se description is "conquer yourself".
    I don't particularly believe it but it is a fun way to put it.


    Quote from Silent Lion

    there are other things in the game, like the deku seed platforms, that don't appear in the future unless you plant them in the past, suggesting that YL has no effect on AL era unless you go back and actually do the stuff yourself.

    This is the itch of the whole business. So far, you affect the past to get a result in the present, and this one is a bit different as it feels triggered before you did that change. Since the grandfather parable is just a loop, I guess this one can also be seen as such.

    I remember another theory, where Zelda impersonated Link a few months after he was trapped in the Sacred Realm and was the one that put things in motion. She dried up the well, and then when Adult Link learns of this and travels back, he travels just to when he had taken the sword, which is a few months before Zelda tried. So, Link rewrites the past and is able to get the Lens of Truth. The idea is that this was the way Zelda thought she could point him towards retrieving the Sheikah treasure in the well. It kind of makes sense, except for the little fact that she had already given out the Ocarina to Link by that point. ;-P

    Quote from Silent Lion

    How did the sages know about the other timeline in order to send Link there?


    I don't think the sages sended Link anywhere, they just helped him within the timeline Link was in, for example when they made the rainbow bridge.
    Instead of trying to answer your questions I had to go with this part. [emoji38]

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