• Welcome to ZD Forums! You must create an account and log in to see and participate in the Shoutbox chat on this main index page.

Can Some One Explain the Time Line to Me Rly Simple?

Locke

Hegemon
Site Staff
Joined
Nov 24, 2009
Location
Redmond, Washington
Will someone please explain to me how the adult timeline can exist if Link goes back in time in OoT? Wouldn't Link going back in time simply create a new timeline that erases the old one (except in Link's memories) by altering the events that created the old one? Time travel doesn't create new timelines; that would be interdimensional travel.
Time is simply another dimension, so yes it would be interdimensional travel. Borrowing terminology from Douglas Adams, being sent to the past creates a new "probability" which doesn't displace the original one but runs alongside it at a different location on the "probability axis" (think of it as the fifth dimension, with time being the fourth). Like (arguably) time and space, probability is infinite in extent so there is always room for divisions.

Of course, "create" applies the notion of cause and effect, which is the basis of A-Theory, while the rest of OoT more closely follows B-Theory. It might be better to think of the split as simply existing - that is, removing the context of time altogether so there's no notion of "before it was created". Without this context we also can't say that one thing replaces another. With no before and after, both exist. Therefore the CT isn't "created" but is just one possible continuity, and it doesn't "replace" the AT.

Now, you can add back in the time context if you like and trace a cause to the CT's divergence from the AT. Then yes, from the perspective of the CT the AT doesn't exist, and vice-versa.


...oh uh... sorry for not paying attention to the title of this thread at all.
 
Last edited:

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Location
Inside the Moon
This theory makes no sense, and erasing a timeline won't create a paradox.

When is sent back in time, he would completely erase the previous timeline. Time is a single entity that doesn't branch off into different dimensions. Therefore Link simply went back in time and changed everything, including the part where he went back in time. Link did go back in time, but that series of events has been erased and only Link will remember them. Since Link has been sent back in time, he can now change history with the knowledge he gained in a timeline that no longer exists.
 

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Gender
Shewhale
This theory makes no sense, and erasing a timeline won't create a paradox.

When is sent back in time, he would completely erase the previous timeline. Time is a single entity that doesn't branch off into different dimensions. Therefore Link simply went back in time and changed everything, including the part where he went back in time. Link did go back in time, but that series of events has been erased and only Link will remember them. Since Link has been sent back in time, he can now change history with the knowledge he gained in a timeline that no longer exists.

Time can indeed branch off I won't fully explain the theories and concepts of time but if you want to understand it fully I would suggest looking up some theories about space and time. As I said before space as a single idea cannot be erased through time travel, Link is sent back in time....the land he left continues on as normal. However in the past he alters the events, now both worlds do not follow the same path, hence the reason they are parallel dimensions.
 

octorok74

TETTAC
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Location
Joliet, IL
Time line? Un, time is not a line, it's round. Like a clock.

But in all seriousness the simplest way to describe this timeline is to look at Hyrule Hystoria. They lay it all out quite clearly and would be your best best for understandig.
 

Satsy

~~SaturnStorm
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Location
Somewhere small
Nothing stops because Link isn't in it. Would it be the same if Ganondorf was sent back in time? If Tingle was sent back in time? If irrelevant NPC #12 was sent back in time? No, because it wouldn't make sense.

If going back in time was going to erase everything, then OoT wouldn't work at all. Link finds himself going back and forth through that game countless times, with objects that shouldn't have been able to travel backwards, and returning to the same scenario with each jump forward. He wouldn't have been able to get to the improved time if the time erased itself each time Link goes back. Think of all the things you change with each jump, that couldn't have still been there with the back-and-forth that goes on.

But you're implying that's what happens at the end of the game.

It doesn't work like that.
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Location
Inside the Moon
Yes, sending someone back in time can alter all the difference. That person is now free to make whatever changes he wishes to the existing timeline, so he can wipe you from existence easily.

The time travel within OoT does actually appear to make sense. Link is the only one who travels back and forth. As a child, he makes no significant changes to what happened when he was previously there. He's just continuing where he left off. Then he goes back to the point in the future where he left off and went back. Thus the timeline is straight and continuous. Link just keeps heading back to where he left off.
 

Satsy

~~SaturnStorm
Joined
Aug 24, 2010
Location
Somewhere small
Unfortunately this is only going to go in circles the longer you cling to a single-timeline concept. I'll say it again, nothing gets erased. Nothing stops anything else from continuing on. Arguing against that is only making this more complex than it needs to be and dragging out the discussion.
 

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Gender
Shewhale
Yes, sending someone back in time can alter all the difference. That person is now free to make whatever changes he wishes to the existing timeline, so he can wipe you from existence easily.

The time travel within OoT does actually appear to make sense. Link is the only one who travels back and forth. As a child, he makes no significant changes to what happened when he was previously there. He's just continuing where he left off. Then he goes back to the point in the future where he left off and went back. Thus the timeline is straight and continuous. Link just keeps heading back to where he left off.

I actually have a theory for this for when he goes back and fourth in the main game. For example when he had to go and back seven years to complete one half of the Spirit Temple, this theory links into what I think is the best logical explanation for the downfall timeline but I'll save it for another time as this thread is getting off topic now.
 

felipe970421

Mardek Innanu El-Enkidu
Joined
Feb 21, 2012
Location
Colombia
FOr those with trouble grasping the split as the fifth dimension, here, this video should be able to help

[video=youtube;zqeqW3g8N2Q]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqeqW3g8N2Q[/video]

That's string theory for dummies, you only need to watch until the sixth or so dimension as that is the relevant part
 

Luke's Wife

peaked in 2015
Joined
Aug 15, 2011
Location
the abyss
Gender
wouldn't you like to know, weather boy
The timeline is whatever you want it to be.
Just because Nintendo published an "official" one doesn't mean you have to follow it.
tumblr_mfmg7jl0hf1r96x1xo1_400.png
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom