Ocarina of Time
Master Sword Time Travel
1. The first time travel into the future does not grant him the attributes attained from the past, like the gauntlets and lens of truth. This shows that predestination is not the basis of time travelling by the master sword.
Timeline Explanation:
http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/2526921-post59.html
In the past, the game starts at 12 pm by default, according to the kokiri forest gossip stone near the entrance to the lost woods. In the future, the game starts at 12 pm by default, according to the 4 gossip stones right outside of the temple of time when heading toward the market. Hit one of them and they tell you the time. These starting times are arbitrary, his time travel due to the MS takes him to the point in time to when he was last there in the past or future. The proof is in the gossip stones. The timeline is viewed from an outside perspective.
Proof for point 1:
past
3:00 no lens or gauntlets or song of storms or prelude of light or requiem of spirit, the well is full, guru doesn't know the song of storms, lift sword the first time, sword and link gone.
future
12:00 sword and link appear (arrive from past the 1st time), no lens or gauntlets or song of storms or prelude of light or requiem of spirit, the well is already drained, guru already knows the song of storms.
From his POV, Link's actual time travel path is: Past 3:00 -> Future 12:00. Nothing happens between this time aka he doesn't get the lens or gauntlets or song of storms or prelude of light or requiem of spirit between this time since he doesn't have those items when he first arrives in the future. Except for the well being dry and guru knowing the song of storms, which will be explained later, so far, this master sword travel has no affect on anything else in this game, all it does is take Link back and forth through time.
2. Once he gets the lens and gauntlets in the past and then goes back to the future, those items will be in his possession in the future from then on, from the point when he last left the future. This proves that Link changes the past and alters the future, instead of only fulfilling it. He used to be missing the gauntlets and lens in the future in general, but after getting them in the past, he will hold those items in the future forever. Link without stuff != Link with stuff, thus this future has been changed. The song of storms is an exception, as will be shown now.
Proof for point 2:
past
3:00 no lens or gauntlets or song of storms or prelude of light or requiem of spirit, the well is full, guru doesn't know the song of storms, lift sword the first time, sword and link gone. 3:00 sword and link appear (return from future), link knows the song of storms (it appears as if the song just gets planted into his brain), link knows the prelude of light (it appears as if the song just gets planted into his brain, but this has an explanation: he learned it from sheik in the future, but sheik didn't learn it from link in the past, so this is not a paradox) no lens or gauntlets. 4:00 link plays the song to the windmill man, the windmill man now knows the song (yet Link first learned the song from the windmill man in the future), the well gets drained, and he gets the lens. 6:00 lift sword, sword and link gone. 6:00 sword and link appear (return from future), he knows the requiem of spirit (appears to have been planted into brain, but is similar to the prelude situation, this is not a paradox). 8:00 he gets the gauntlets, warps to the temple of time with the prelude, lift sword, sword and link gone.
future
12:00 sword and link appear (arrive from past the 1st time), no lens or gauntlets or song of storms or prelude of light or requiem of spirit, the well is already drained, guru already knows the song of storms. 4:00 link learns the song of storms from the windmill man (yet Link didn't teach it to him in the past yet). 5:00 link learns the prelude of light, then he puts the sword into the pedestal, link gone, sword stays. 5:00 link appears, sword is out of Pedestal in his hands (arrive from past again), he has the lens (appears to be planted in his possession, he got it from the past). 6:30 uses the lens to make it to desert colossus, 7:00 learns the requiem of spirit, plays prelude to warp to the temple of time, puts sword into pedestal, link gone, sword stays. 7:00 link appears, sword is out of Pedestal in his hands (arrive from past again), he has the gauntlets (appears to be planted in his possession, he got it from the past).
From his POV, Link's actual time travel path is: Past 3:00 -> Future 12:00 -> Future 4:00 -> Future 5:00 -> Past 3:00 -> Past 4:00 -> Past 6:00 -> Future 5:00 -> Future 6:30 -> Future 7:00 -> Past 6:00 -> Past 8:00 -> Future 7:00.
Notice many things appear to get planted in Link. The lack of an origin for the song of storms and the well remaining dry in the future at all times proves that this is the only paradox of the game. This is the only instance where Link doesn't change the future, but just fulfills it: The well would still have been dry even if Link did not drain it himself in the past in the gameplay, and the windmill man would still know the song of storms even if Link did not teach it to him in the past in the gameplay.
Let's say there is a viewer of time. He can watch anything at any time, but also, he can watch 2 seperate times at once. For instance, he can see events happening at 2:30 pm and at 3:30 pm at the same moment. It's like he has two tv's that show two different time slots of video recordings. This viewer will see 2 Child Links in the Past: The one at 2:30 heading toward the Temple of Time to lift the Master Sword, and the one at 3:30 heading out of the Temple of Time and into the Windmill. These 2 Links will never see each other. There really is only one Link, but these numerical ones are according to the Time Viewer.
According to magic beans, the silver gauntlets chest remaining closed in the future until link opens it in the past in the gameplay, the spirit temple map room having unlit torches and no map chest in the future until link lights them and opens the map chest that appears in the past in the gameplay, the lens situation not being a fulfillment of the future according to point 2, and the fact that nabooru's disappearance from the spirit temple when link first goes there in the future was not caused by her being brainwashed in the past
because of the closed silver gauntlets chest and spirit temple map chest scenarios, Link changes the past in almost every situation of the game. The song of storms ontological paradox is the only exception to this, and so it does not serve as a basis for how master sword time travel functions in this game.
If the lens was supposed to be a part of the paradox, a fulfillment of the future, the game would have clearly shown that the lens is missing from the well in the future at all times, just like it was clearly shown that guru already knew the song of storms and the well was already dry in the future at all times. Hypothetically, even IF the lens WAS shown to be a part of the paradox/fulfillment, that still only makes the paradox an exception to how master sword travel works. Everything else in the game still shows that master sword travel consists of altering the future by changing the past, the fulfillment of the future is only represented in one scenario.
OoT creates either 2 or 4 Timelines
1. Link has to go back in time at least Twice in
OoT. To get the Lens of Truth, and then to get to the Spirit Temple as a Child. Adult Link can't make it past the desert without the lens, so he goes back in time to get it, then returns to the future. Using the lens, he can now get to the spirit temple and learn the warp song. Finally, link goes back in time again to warp there as a child. The lens and the spirit temple situations are not paradoxes.
If a different action creates a timeline ("Back To The Future" logic), there would be at least Four timelines in the end of
OoT. Here are the different actions: Lens, Child link warping to the spirit temple and doing his thing, ignore zelda's plan.
2. One split was confirmed, or better yet, two timelines were confirmed to exist:
Tp,
TwW.
Does this mean there are at least 2 timelines, or only 2 timelines?
Because if there are only 2 timelines, then the following must be true: Different actions don't create timelines in
OoT, and so that means the idea that "link closing the door in the end of the game creates a split" is completely false. In the end of the game, Zelda splits the timeline when she sent Link back in time, the reason being if Link changes the past by not following through with child Zelda's plan, this would absolutely change the future that adult Zelda is living in. This means that if zelda didn't split the timeline in the end of the game, the events of
TWW would not exist. She split it on purpose, her conversation in the future indicates she knows her timeline (the AT) will live on.
If the makers intentionally followed BTTF Logic, then they decided to leave the extra 2 timelines out of any game so far. They followed an ontological paradox, which is an out of game example, so it is possible to see them follow BTTF Logic if they liked it as well. However, it is more likely that only 2 timelines exist just because it keeps things simple and it eliminates redundant timelines that were already seen in
OoT. The only way to prove the 4 Timelines idea is if they make a game that followed one of the two extra ones, provided they come up with an interesting story that started with "what if ganondorf still ruled
OoT's hyrule", which is possible. But until that actually happens, there will always be just 2 timelines in zelda.
What the Pause Menu Tells Us
The Requiem of Spirit is the "future item" that Link takes back with him to the past. Storywise, Adult Link learning this song and Child Link playing this "future learned" song to reach the desert is Canon.
This one important storyline scenario can serve as the basis for how he goes back in time in
OoT simply because there is actual proof for it. There is no evidence for the idea that he goes back in time and, as child link, he doesn't have the adult items. A strong case can be made for him bringing back items with him like the Requiem. In the pause menu, the items in gray means he brought those items with him in the past but he is simply too young to use them. This is supported by two things:
1. The game or a shop owner or king ruto tells you that you are too young to wear the adult sized goron/zora tunics. When you get it as an adult and then go back to the past, pause the game and you will see that these two items are gray in the equip menu. The next thing is more important though.
2. Once you get the silver gauntlets, pause the game. The goron bracelet is now replaced with the grayed-out silver gauntlets in the menu. The game probably said it wouldn't fit a kid either. The idea that gray items mean child link doesn't have them yet can't possibly apply to the gauntlets.
The master sword being gray in the past may seem to be an opposing point, but here is an explanation for it: In general, items in gray mean those items are in the past whether they are literally with Link or not. The master sword is not literally in his backpack, but it is in the past anyway. I think every other gray item is with him.
In conclusion, it doesn't matter whether you look at
OoT's Time Travel from the outside (Time Viewer) or the inside (Link's actual Time Travel Path), Link changes the past and future and brings items back and forth with him through time.
Some notes about him arriving in the Temple of Time
Using MS travel, he never returns to "before he lifted the sword", since we already saw him first lifting the sword and Ganondorf sneaking in and his hands are on the sword and his eyes are closed when he becomes a kid again. Here is the explanation:
He first lifted the sword with
open eyes and ganondorf snuck in the sr at 3 pm for example, then adult link puts the sword back whenever, which causes a blue glow to surround him as he is holding on to the sword in the stone facing down or whatever, then link returns to a child with his hands on the sword and his
eyes closed at 3 pm, so this is after he first lifted the sword. Although both are different transport methods, Rauru sending link to the ToT for his first time and Zelda sending him back for the last time show us what an arrival glow inside the ToT's MS Pedestal room looks like. There are differences in the glows but they share the quality of it being wide at first and then contracting later. Because those are completely different transports, then it means MS travel visually looks like that too.
So if someone in the past were to watch link go to the future and then arrive in the past, they would see a blue glow in both cases.
Link only arrives in the Chamber of Sages the first time he lifted the MS. Every time Link lifted the MS again from the past, he travels straight to the Pedestal in the future. And every time he puts the MS down, he travels straight to the Pedestal in the past. Time warp. Right after he lifts the sword or puts it down, his body stays still in a position and doesn't move again until the time travel is complete and the blue glow goes away. This is different than when Link first lifted the MS, awoke in the Chamber of Sages with the MS in his sheath on his back, and got transported to the Temple of Time. In that scene he is standing still in the temple until the glow goes away, then he is able to move, looks around the room (thinking "where am I") but not at himself (thinking "I know I'm an adult"). In the last CT Temple of Time scene, right after the glow disappears, Link looks at himself for a long time (thinking "I'm a child again due to Zelda, not the MS") but not at the room around him (thinking "I already know I'm in the Temple of Time"). So in this scene, it wouldn't make sense for Child Link to put his MS down into the Pedestal, stand there for a few seconds, and then look at himself in awe. Zelda can't send him to a point after he lifted the MS because the MS was never in the past at that time. Child Link can never be in the past with the MS in his posession. Child Link can only be in the past while the MS is in the Pedestal.
When Zelda sends him back
When he arrives in the past in the end of the game, his hands are not on the sword and his eyes are open and he can never voluntarily move in a blue glow until it disappears, indicating he was returned to at least before he first lifted the sword. Zelda wanting to make up for her mistake of getting him involved in her plan of getting the other two stones and the last courtyard cutscene of the game shows he was returned to at least before he met zelda.
The Door of Time
In the end of the game, the Door of Time was opened and closed in one of two ways:
1. Automatically when he arrived in the pedestal room, and automatically when he left it. The reason why it would close by itself this time instead of the other times during the game is because the three spiritual stones are not at the altar. He was returned to at least before he got two of them. Credit Average Gamer.
2. This is my theory: Zelda opened it from the future while the blue glow was on in the pedestal room. Link only has the Fairy Ocarina with him because he was returned to before he even got the Ocarina of Time. She opened the door for him so that he can get out, because he can't warp with the fairy ocarina in the first place. During
OoT, after Link played the song of time at the Temple of Time altar, the door split sideways and sank in the walls, and the full Triforce symbol on the wall above the door lit up. The reason why Link is the only one who can close the Door of Time is because he has the Triforce of Courage, he used its power to close it. Here is how I came to this conclusion:
Time warps cause a rewind and fast forward for Link, he ages and "de-ages". In the end of
OoT, adult Zelda sent Link back to a point in time before he met child Zelda. This means he doesn't have the Ocarina of Time with him, and the 3 Spiritual Stones are not at the altar, but he has the fairy ocarina and the triforce of courage with him. Now that he is in the past for good, how is he supposed to close the Door of Time when it is physically unpullable? He doesn't have the ocarina of time, so he can't play the song of time (or its inversion) with it in order to close it (the song of time must be played with the ocarina of time in order to open it, no other instrument will do this). The stones are not at the altar, so he can't remove one to close it either. The only powerful thing he has left is the Triforce of Courage. Therefore, Link used the triforce piece to close the door of time in the end of the game.
Information on why the Fairy Ocarina can't warp Link
Zelda has the power to send him back in time not because of the ocarina, but because she is a Sage. If she said: "link give the ocarina to me, i can return you to your original time with it", then it would be 100% clear that the ocarina of time is the source of the power for sending someone back in time. But the quote says: "link, give the ocarina to me,
as a sage i can return you to your original time with it." We don't know if she can send anyone forward in time. Going back in time does not equal holding time itself. Going
back and forth through time contributes to holding time itself. Link has the master sword to go back and forth through time. Link has the ocarina to help him do this with warps.
During the game, Sheik taught him the Prelude of Light, then immediately said "as long as you hold the ocarina of time
and master sword, you hold time itself in your hands". The ocarina of time is used for warping, and the master sword is used for time travelling. Because Link can warp
and time travel, he holds time itself in his hands. He doesn't say "ocarina of time
or the master sword". The master sword already takes Link back and forth through time, so it doesn't make sense for sheik to mention the ocarina of time as a time travelling object, but it makes sense for him to mention it as a warping tool. The following has more:
http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/2611157-post47.html