I present a new explanation for the ending of Ocarina of Time, as well as a new interpretation of Link's experiences with the Temple of Time.


Questions: How can there be two timelines, adult and child, if Link traveled through the Temple of Time several times, and those didn't create other new timelines? How can Zelda be powerful enough to alter the entire universe at will by creating multiple timelines?

Old Answer: Time travel doesn't split the timeline, it replaces the "old future" when you change the past. Zelda specifically created a new timeline using her power as the seventh sage, or, by using the Triforce of Wisdom.
Note: these answers rely on nothing found in the games, and contradict common sense in saying that the old future would just "disappear".

New Answer (Mind Travel Theory):
Traveling back in time always makes a new timeline because it changes the past. The reason Link's travels through the Temple of Time did not do this, is because he wasn't really traveling back in time at all! There was always one timeline and one future. This is hinted at by a huge piece of evidence: Guru-Guru. Even before the player goes "back in time" in OoT to drain the well as child Link, the player learns the Song of Storms from Guru-Guru as adult Link, who says he remembers child Link playing it to drain the well. This indicates that there is one continuous timeline in which Link enters the ToT, siezes the sword, puts it back, drains the well, siezes the sword again, puts it back, gets the silver gauntlets, siezes the sword again, is gone for several years, beats the Forest / Fire / Water temples, places the sword back, siezes it again, beats the Shadow Temple, places the sword back, siezes it again, kills Twinrova, defeats Ganondorf, and is sent back by Zelda. THIS timeline listed is the timeline that always was, and always was going to be. He did not change the past by draining the well. When he awakes for the first time and meets Rauru, that timeline that was currently going on already had the well drained and the lens taken. The timeline was always linear and constant, but Link's consciousness jumps through time, so that in the future Guru-Guru remembers the well being drained but Link does not because his consciousness is not linear like everyone else's. The Temple of Time, using the power of the seven ancient sages, changes the flow of Link's mind through time.

EDIT: ignore everything below this point, it made sense but is actually incorrect, after the discussions below and reviewing points of the ending movie. Everything ^ is still valid.

When Zelda sent him back, she sent him back to the only point he was able to be sent back to: the point at which he was gone for several years. This was "his natural time", because it was the last point before there was an unnatural break in his mind's timeline. This is why the Door of Time is already open when he returns. He places the Master Sword back, visits Zelda at her castle with the Triforce of Courage on his hand because the Door is already open and Ganondorf already has the Triforce of Power (this was unavoidable; she can't send him back earlier than his natural time); a war occurs throughout the next year or so and Ganondorf is captured (this time, he was unable to conquer Hyrule because Link was not dormant in the Temple) (this may or may not be the Imprisoning War); Link then leaves on a personal journey to find Navi.

Implications of this new explantion: Actually not that different from the current accepted theories. There are still two timelines, adult and child, and Ganondorf has been neutralized, at least for the time being, in both. In MM actual time travel takes place, but the Goddess of Time may have personally erased the old future timeline. However, this is one of the first theories to totally explain every scene of the end of OoT without contradictions.


If anything is confusing, please feel free to ask what I mean by something.

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