A lost Temple of Time?

[Spirit]

Outside of all of the Breath of the Wild timeline placement theories, I've been musing upon the Temple of Time.

The first Temple of Time was in Lanayru Desert.

The second was built by the Sage Rauru on top of the ruins of the Shrine of Hylia that fell from Skyloft...

But is there a third Temple of Time?

We all know that the Temple of Time is back in Breath of the Wild and it looks a lot like the one in Ocarina of Time, but is it the same Temple or is it a different one? A third ToT?

Traditionally the Temple of Time has always housed the Master Sword, aside from SS because it hadnt yet been forged and after it had been forged it was set down in the pedestal and the second Temple of Time was built around it and the shrine of the goddess.

TP's Temple of Time also houses the Master Sword but the place is a ruin. Its barely the temple it used to be but we know the Temple of Time in TP is the same as the one in OoT.

The odd one out is ALttP, where the Master Sword is in the Lost Woods. But the HH clarifies that the Master Sword never moved. Instead the Temple of Time completely crumbled (between OoT and AlttP) and a forest grew around the Master Sword.

So we can account for two Temples of Time and three linking Master Sword placements... but what about Breath of the Wild.

Indeed its hard without knowing when BotW is set but there is something we've seen already that shakes up the Master Sword/Temple of Time unity.

We see the Temple of Time in BotW, we can explore it and see a statue of the Goddess Hylia (meaning it could be the second ToT given that theres no statue of Hylia in OoT's ToT, so if there are three then the one in BotW would be the second one built), but the problem is that the Master Sword isnt in BotW's ToT. Instead we see in the trailer that the Master Sword is in the forest meadow as it is in AlttP...

So... if the AlttP meadow is where a ToT used to be and the Master Sword is there, then why is there another Temple of Time in Breath of the Wild without the Master Sword considering the Master Sword usually always rests in the pedestal of time (unless its in Ganondorf's head).


Before i wrap up i'll try to simplify the problem.

SS - One Temple of Time. The Shrine of the Goddess becomes the second Temple of Time and houses the Master Sword.

OoT/TP- Share the same Temple of Time, the Temple just crumbles over time. The Temple still houses the Master Sword.

ALttP- shares the same Temple of Time as OoT/TP. Only the Temple has completely crumbled and the Lost Woods has grown around the Master Sword.

BotW- Seemingly shares the same Temple of Time placement as OoT/TP and AlttP but the Master Sword is missing. Instead we see the Master Sword in what is potentially the Lost Woods... where a Temple of Time once stood.

So BotW has two potential Temples of Time. A wholly crumbled one where the Master Sword is and a second Temple of Time without the Master Sword.

So... Three Temples of Time or have i completely missed something? Ive probably missed something.

 

[Lozjam]

There is also a fourth temple of time in Wind Waker, beneath Hyrule Castle.

 

[Spirit]

There is also a fourth temple of time in Wind Waker, beneath Hyrule Castle.

CRAP!! Forgot about that.

Well... we still may have another one

 

[Azure Sage]

It definitely seems interesting to think about. This "new" Temple of Time is also in ruin, so I would guess it stopped being used around the time Link was first put into his hundred year nap. We know that the plateau has towns and such, they were just removed from the demo area because they'd be a huge spoiler if they'd shown them. Since there are towns up there, the Temple of Time was probably built close to them as a place to worship the Goddess Hylia who iirc is mentioned in-game. And then when Ganondorf rose to power, stuff went down and Link ended up being hidden away and put into a hundred year sleep while Ganon was sealed away in Hyrule Castle. Whatever happened probably led to this new Temple of Time falling into ruin. If the towns are populated, and they probably are because I think Aonuma or someone mentioned something about NPCs being spoilery as well, or maybe that was a fan speculation idr, then their former place of worship is probably now somewhere they stay away from because of all the monsters or something. If they still used it regularly they wouldn't have let it get so dilapidated.

So if they made the "new" Temple of Time to worship the Goddess, maybe it's because the location of the old one where the Master Sword is was lost to time and they had no idea where it was anymore. And maybe as a result of that the sacred power faded because no one was praying to the sword anymore like in Wind Waker if that's still a thing, and that could be why it rusted (poor Fi) . Or, maybe the area where it used to be became too monster-infested or maybe they just wanted to have a place of worship closer to them. It could be for a number of reasons.

Man I haven't done this much thinking about Zelda in a while, lol.

 

[DeactivatedUser2]

There is also a fourth temple of time in Wind Waker, beneath Hyrule Castle.

I personally consider that to be the original Temple of Time from Ocarina of Time with Hyrule Castle just built over it, which also explains the proximity of Ganon's Tower and Hyrule Castle; when Ganondorf escaped the Sage's seal, he rebuilt his original tower over the remains of where his castle once stood, which was already very close to the Temple of Time

 

[DeactivatedUser2]

Also sorry for the double post but I think it's just going to come down to them retconning the location of the Temple of Time in aLttP/aLBW and saying the Sacred Grove from the Downfall Timeline is just another random location in the Lost Woods where they placed the Master Sword

 

[ZeldawithLinkandMidna]

I think the one in BotW is a third Temple of Time.

 

[Azure Sage]

Whatever happened probably led to this new Temple of Time falling into ruin.

I was watching BotW footage again and I noticed there's an awful lot of Guardians scattered around the Temple of Time. What if they were attacking it? Their placement around the rubble kind of looked that way to me. Maybe the Temple of Time on the plateau was destroyed by the guardians, and maybe the power of the goddess or something caused them to cease functioning during the attack, idk. But I'm starting to think they're responsible for its ruin.

 

[ZeldawithLinkandMidna]

I was watching BotW footage again and I noticed there's an awful lot of Guardians scattered around the Temple of Time. What if they were attacking it? Their placement around the rubble kind of looked that way to me. Maybe the Temple of Time on the plateau was destroyed by the guardians, and maybe the power of the goddess or something caused them to cease functioning during the attack, idk. But I'm starting to think they're responsible for its ruin.

It would not surprise me.

 

[Beauts]

I personally consider that to be the original Temple of Time from Wind Waker with Hyrule Castle just built over it, which also explains the proximity of Ganon's Tower and Hyrule Castle; when Ganondorf escaped the Sage's seal, he rebuilt his original tower over the remains of where his castle once stood, which was already very close to the Temple of Time

I am a little behind on the BotW rumours and gossip but I am inclined to go with this about the WW Temple of Time. On another note, I am actually considering the possibility that BotW's temple is the second ToT, the one that is standing during OoT, but that the game takes place before the OoT events. It looks very similar to the OoT building, as does the scenery around it. But that's literally all I ahve right now- I'll be back with more thoughts later.

 

[Aku]

There is probably two ToTs in BOTW. One that used to stand where the sword is and one that that has the Hylia statue in it.

Alternately, the Sacred Grove could be unconnected in this game to the ToT, simply another place to stash the sword.

OR, and this is going to be my most radical theory of all-
The sword is kept in the same place where the known BOTW'S ToT stands, but is kept so far in the future, that there is only grass and trees and Hyrule is little more then legends and myths now. Nobody is left to pray anymore, so the sword starts to rust and decay. Link is the last of his kind in this future era, and the sword is just an ancient relic. Link would have to time travel, but that tends to be a staple of this series.

I don't know how true the last would be but it is worth stating anyway, given that we don't know what conventions are being broken or to what degree. I'm betting though that Link has to 'use' the Hylia statue to re-invigorate the sword, and that might be why the statue is in one place and the sword is in another (and why they have a Hylia statue at all, probably.)

 

[Devon Thurgood]

Perhaps the master sword really was kived this time.

 

[Tibari]

What if the Sanctuary in ALTTP becomes later a new temple of time?