How is the Split Timeline Possible?

[zelda_gamer]

In the end of OoT, Zelda sends link back in time, therefor,if theory is correct, child link goes and tells child Zelda of gannondor's intentions. then he is sealed into the twilight (in the child timeline). this means that link would never of had to defeat gannon, so he never would have had to pull the master sword oppening the sacred realm allowing gannondorf to obtain the ToP. so if gannondorf was seald away, then the events of the "adult timeline" never would have occured. unless instead of splitting time when zelda sent link back, she was aactually splitting time and space itself, creating another dimension/universe? please give your thoughts

ps. sorry if there is already a thread like this.

 

[Wild Thing]

Basically its showing what would have happened if link didn't go back in time so like on back to the future 2 if you have seen them with the magazine that tells you the sports results both different timelines but same time alternate versions hopefully that makes sense

 

[Ember Incubus]

Actualy, it is possible because it has been confirmed by the creators of zelda, Aonuma and Miyamoto. The split happens in a number of ways.
1: If Zelda somehow decides not to send Link back.
2: If Link does not tell zelda.
3: If the King does not beleive Zelda.
4: If link decides to go and pull the MS again.
I see the timelines as.... There is this theory in quantom physics that says everything that can happen does happen in seperate unrealed realities. I believe that is what the timeline is. Two different realities caused by a simple choice by either the King, Link, or Zelda. And you guyes, Ganon in the past, if he was scealed after OoT, was scealed in the Sacred Realm. In the divine prank, Ganon escaped then was rescealed somewere else, the Twilight Realm. In my opinoin, the divine prank could not be more than 30 years before TP. But it is canonical that both TWW and TP are atleast 100 years after OoT.

 

[AlaskaAce1996]

The split is confirmed time and time again although I agree there are several inconsistentcies it doesn't make the split impossible.

 

[Pinecove]

The act of closing the door of time, broke time apart and "closed the road between times" according to Zelda, meaning any effects that would change the future at the end of OoT would affect a different future from the one Zelda sent back in time from.

If that's too complicated, just take it as granted as the developers confirmed it.

 

[Austin]

First thing you have to ask yourself is does time still go on? We, the gamers, only see what Link sees, when it comes to time travel. We don't see what Hyrule and the other characters see. A split time line exist when Link time travels to a new point in time, and the previous point still continues. Hyrule and the people still continue on with time, just without Link. One example is when Link travels through time in OoT. He goes away from Hyrule, Hyrule continues on, and then you see the result as Adult Link.

If you wish to do some reading, I've posted a thread that explains your question in more detail. Its known as The Paradox Theory. Here is one image from that thread that should help explain my previous paragraph.

 

[Pinecove]

He goes away from Hyrule, Hyrule continues on, and then you see the result as Adult Link.

Link however is not removed from time - he is sleeping in the Sacred Realm.

At any rate, I disagree entirely with that image as I doubt Link splits time every time he alters something in the future. The only reason time split at the end of OoT was because the door of time was closed. If Link had kept the door of time open instead of closing the road between times as Zelda instructed him to, the events of the adult portion of OoT would have been for nothing and Ganon would still be alive.

 

[Steve]

At any rate, I disagree entirely with that image as I doubt Link splits time every time he alters something in the future. The only reason time split at the end of OoT was because the door of time was closed. If Link had kept the door of time open instead of closing the road between times as Zelda instructed him to, the events of the adult portion of OoT would have been for nothing and Ganon would still be alive.

A new timeline would have to be formed every time he alters something in the past, for it creates an all new continuum. However, since you're required only to go back in time once (to open the entrance to the Spirit Temple), that is the only canon situation, leaving another split where Ganon controls Hyrule. In theory though, there is an infinite number of splits that can be created. Still, none of the other games could fit on any of those scenarios, making more than two splits, a futile effort. The Adult and Child Timelines, are the only necessary splits because the whole purpose of constructing a timeline is to understand the placements of the games.

 

[Austin]

Link however is not removed from time - he is sleeping in the Sacred Realm.

At any rate, I disagree entirely with that image as I doubt Link splits time every time he alters something in the future. The only reason time split at the end of OoT was because the door of time was closed. If Link had kept the door of time open instead of closing the road between times as Zelda instructed him to, the events of the adult portion of OoT would have been for nothing and Ganon would still be alive.

Right, but I couldn't think of an example to help explain. If it wasn't for that, Link wouldn't age. However I'm more or less thinking of when Link goes back in time. The time he left, generally goes on. This is been said to explain the Wind Waker intro. If time continued as Link when back in time, Ganon would succeed and the gods would have to intervene (flood Hyrule).

 

[dur.i.am]

In the end of OoT, Zelda sends link back in time, therefor,if theory is correct, child lind goes and tells child Zelda of gannondor's intentions. then he is sealed into the twilight. this means that link would never of had to defeat gannon, so he never would have had to pull the master sword oppening the sacred realm allowing gannondorf to obtain the ToP. so if gannondorf was seald away, then the events of the "adult timeline" never would have occured. unless instead of splitting time when zelda sent link back, she was aactually splitting time and space itself, creating another dimension/universe? please give your thoughts


ps. sorry if there is already a thread like this.

First of all, GANNONBANNED...:xd:. Secondly, it was in the Sacred Realm, not the Twilight Realm (he only appears there to ask if Zant will follow under him as a servant).

To be honest, it's very complex about how time travelling works (what causes the split in the timeline). You could argue that time travel never occurs in Ocarina of Time as when Link travels through or reverses time, he doesn't stay the same age. If he were to truly travel through time, when you go the the future, Link would still be around 10 or 11 years old. So really, due to Link's age changing while travelling through time, you can state that time travel never really occurs in Zelda.

However, Link keeps all the items when he goes back and forth. Thus, we can state that some form of time travel has to be established when he does go forward of back between times. So in my opinion, as this occurs, a split in the fabric of time and space takes place. Therefore, we get the split off in the timeline. And as the split of the timeline is created in a rip of time and space, even Zelda and the Ocarina don't have the power to reverse it's creation, leaving the split. (It's very unlikely though, and probably full of holes).

Finally, even though Zelda uses the Ocarina to send Link back to the point in time in which he originally began his quest, if you used this information to contruct a timeline, Ocarina of Time technically would have never occured, therefore leaving it out of the timeline all together. But then we'd have a problem, as that would mean that Wind Waker and Twilight Princess would have to occur on the same timeline, which involves Ganon/Ganondorf dieing twice (so he'd have to somehow be brought back to life).

 

[Locke]

It's not a 'what if' structure. The timeline is split due to a direct action, the closing of the door of time (or Zelda using her magic).

Ganon is sealed in the Twilight Realm in the CT, not the Sacred Realm.

Putting the MS in the PoT doesn't create a new branch, it returns you to the point in the same timeline when you pulled it, allowing you to continue to interact with Hyrule during the time you would otherwise be sleeping. As far as the timeline is concerned, young Link touches the MS, leaves and does stuff, comes back and touches it again, does some more stuff, then eventually comes back and touches it and is frozen for a bit less than 7 years, then is unfrozen as adult Link, leaves and does stuff, comes back and touches it, etc. Nothing messy about it except the order in which Link experiences it.

 

[zelda_gamer]

First of all, GANNONBANNED...:xd:. Secondly, it was in the Sacred Realm, not the Twilight Realm (he only appears there to ask if Zant will follow under him as a servant.

im pretty sure in the cutscene in TP Gannondondorf was seald into the twilight realm because the mirror was there and active.

@pinecove
that makes sense. its just so confusing seeing as how there is so many holes to believe a split or linear timeline.

 

[Ninten*]

When Link was sent back, he's back in his time and when Ganon breaks out of the Sacred Realm, the Nero of Time isn't there to stop him. If Link stayed, Ganon would've gotten out but the Hero of Time would be there to stop him. If Link went back, the Great flood would've started. Hope this helps.

 

[dur.i.am]

im pretty sure in the cutscene in TP Gannondondorf was seald into the twilight realm because the mirror was there and active.

@pinecove
that makes sense. its just so confusing seeing as how there is so many holes to believe a split or linear timeline.

I'm not sure, although I'm pretty sure it was in the sacred realm, not the Twilight Realm. He is sealed there in Twilight Princess though. So yeah, I didn't really mean to say he wasn't sealed in the Twilight Realm at all, but when I said he wasn't, I was referring to in Ocarina of Time. I was just correcting you on saying he was sealed in the Twilight Realm in Ocarina of Time.

Sorry, but I wasn't thinking for a minute. Ganondorf does get sealed in the Twilight Realm, but only before Twilight Princess, not at the end of Ocarina of Time. At the end of Ocarina of Time I am 100% sure that Ganondorf is sealed into some place in the Sacred Realm, not the Twilight Realm. I was just trying to correct you on stating that he was sealed in the Twilight Realm at the end of Ocarina of Time in the initial post.

 

[chrisss]

Because, what happens in OoT happens, you play the game and end it in the future, and Ganondorf has been sealed in that future.
Then Zelda sends you back in time, to prevent it all from ever happening in the first place, but the other future keeps exisiting, just that without Link.

So in the past, after sealing Ganondorf because you know what he'll do, you go to Majora's Mask, changing the events you really did in the OoT gameplay as a child.
But the other future still continues, but without Link there, that's why in Wind Waker we're told in the intro that Ganondorf broke out, but there was no hero to defeat him (because Link was sent to the past).

So yeah, that's pretty much it n__n
You'd think that going to the past would have changed the future, but it didn't...