Oracle of Ages paradox!

HI GUYS!

Um, so... I was playing The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages today (finished it in 3 hours. And it was a linked game) and anyway, I realized something. Now, for this theory to work for some people, I may need to explain a minor part of the plot.

Endless day - Veran (the main antagonist) stops time itself from moving forward, creating chaos and sorrow to the people allowing the Flame of Sorrow to alight.

However, with this is mind, when Link time travels he should start from the very start, much like when you use the Song of Time in Majora's Mask. This would mean that everything you've done for the people; healing King Zora, doing the trade sequence, giving Queen Ambi the mystery seeds, etc. would revert back to having none of those things done, much like when you complete level one in Majora's Mask, deliver the Deku Princess then blah blah blah, then play the Song of Time and everything in the swamp is chaotic again. HOWEVER this is not the case in Oracle of Ages... everything is kept the same (much like in MM AGAIN how Mikau and Darmani don't re-appear).

What's... what's up with that?!

It's a common misconception that things like that are Paradoxes. While they don't make logical sense, they are not a paradox.

Miyamoto has been quoted many times saying that the number 1 priority is gameplay. Storyline and details come after that. And it would stink to have to re-get the masks, and re-collect all the money, and waste time doing too many things that you already did.

So they decided not to make you do that at all. There is no logical explanation. It's just better for gameplay.

Well... fair enough.

But it still lingers in my head as something that was put there for the fans to pick up on.

Do you mean how did the things stayed the same when time stop? That I cannot answer. But if you mean why do the things do not revert when Link travels through time. That is because Link travels between past and future. He does not turns back time. He just travel between diferent time eras. But I think the things stayed the same when Veran stoped time because Link had already done them. Even if time was stoped. I haven't play the game. But I will play it soon and I can give a better answer.

No, okay... um... Veran stopped time at the very start of the game... hence why night doesn't fall and a new day never begins.

A wizard god did it. Like I said in the MM paradox thread, some god or other (the Triforce, maybe?) "records" what happened during the loop, and then mashes it all together somehow afterward.

I am pretty sure she only creates a eternal day not stop time. The night never comes but time still runs. Because the postman says that he cannot take his deliveries because he is not sure when it is morning. Also the poe clock is fully functional.

Think of it as a cause(past)/effect(present) mechanic, similar to OOT, not MM.
And yes, the eternal day is just the sun staying up in the sky (or wathever mysterious device that makes it look like it does), but time flows normally (otherwise people themselves would stop moving and talking).

Link rewinds time in MM. Link travels forward to the past on Ages.

It's kinda like the Paradox free time code in Futurama except that it truly is paradox free.

Originally Posted by Darth Yoshi

A wizard god did it. Like I said in the MM paradox thread, some god or other (the Triforce, maybe?) "records" what happened during the loop, and then mashes it all together somehow afterward.

Link certainly works putside of time on some level. Take Mikau's grave as an example. No matter when he goes to the site after digging the grave in his own timestream the grave is always there. Even if it shouldn't have happened yet in the Terminans' timestream, it's still there. Therefore we can assume that, on some level, Link functions outside of time.

The grae is only there because Link takes the Mikau mask with him to the past. So the grave most exist to not cause a paradox

If you shot someone, and then rewound time for a day, would they be shot in the past?

If you shot someone, ripped off their face (a rather OtT example. I know Link doesn't rip off Mikau's face), and rewound time, you'd have their face from the future, but they'd still be alive. There is no paradox.

It seems to me less like the time portals take him to an exact date 700 years ago (for example) but rather send him back 700 years relative to his own time stream.

So, the time portals 'age' with link. At noon he goes back in time 700 years, to noon 700 years ago. An hour later he travels back to his 'present', and arrives at 1pm Year X. He buggers around for a couple of hours, then at 3pm Year X he jumps into another portal, arriving at 3pm Year X-700.

That way all the things he does in his previous trips have been 'done', they don't get overwritten because he doesn't travel back to the exact same minute every time.

Of course, it's been a decade since I played the game, so I can't remember if there's something in the game that implies he always goes back to the same moment every time. All I remember is time seemed to continue moving in both eras (endless day aside) and that there was a paradox involving a vase/cookie or something.

Originally Posted by Starswirl

It seems to me less like the time portals take him to an exact date 700 years ago (for example) but rather send him back 700 years relative to his own time stream.

So, the time portals 'age' with link. At noon he goes back in time 700 years, to noon 700 years ago. An hour later he travels back to his 'present', and arrives at 1pm Year X. He buggers around for a couple of hours, then at 3pm Year X he jumps into another portal, arriving at 3pm Year X-700.

That way all the things he does in his previous trips have been 'done', they don't get overwritten because he doesn't travel back to the exact same minute every time.

Of course, it's been a decade since I played the game, so I can't remember if there's something in the game that implies he always goes back to the same moment every time. All I remember is time seemed to continue moving in both eras (endless day aside) and that there was a paradox involving a vase/cookie or something.

That is actually a very good summary for what I was saying more or less.