Spoiler Oh Boy, Here Goes; Three Timelines Create Secret Stones, Used By Fourth Timeline; Zonai Original Sin And Twili, Majora Identities Revealed

[tman]

SUFFICE IT TO SAY SPOILERS ARE UNAVOIDABLE IN THIS COMPLEX DISCUSSION. DO NOT READ IF YOU FEAR SPOILERS FOR TOTK!!!

I've been hammering out a theory that has grown to crazy "Unified Mega Theory" territory. I've sorted it out a bit better now and want to give the whole thing. I can't really summarize it, but basically it's that the Skyward Sword Master Sword timeline is behind OOT and the three timelines, and the future of these provide the material for the secret stones which is sent back in time to the OTHER SS timeline to prevent OOT from happening.

Keep in mind the three timelines was canonized during SS's production. So, if they wanted to plan a massive closed loop, it would have been part of SS's story. If we consider the infamous, but IMO basically incontrovertible SS two timeline split, then we have the beginning of the solution. TotK's time loop and revelations provide the "solution" though perhaps do not reveal the full story.

Let's consider the two SS timelines:

• Demise is sealed by the Triforce. TOTK: Gloom is the blood and guts of the Imprisoned, cast all over the Depths to fester. The Master Sword doesn't exist here, only the Goddess Sword. We see that the Goddess Sword EXISTS in TotK, in possession of the Goddess Statues. This gives us evidence of a "second Fi". I call this the "Island" timeline.
• The Master Sword is created to defeat Demise, and he is sealed within it. Link and Zelda abandon this timeline. I call this the "Master Sword" timeline.

Two comments. First, people can't reconcile these timelines. It's easy. There's a tree with two branches. Each branch leads to a different future, but they share a past. So, future travelers from one timeline will exist in the past of the other timeline as well. This settles the "bracelet" issue. Second comment, what about the BOTW Master Sword? I will address that, but bottom line is I think this is the TotK Goddess Sword, at some point brought to the past and made into an alternative Master Sword from the "Master Sword" timeline.

The two timelines primarily affect two things:

• The activity of the Zonai.
• How and when Ganondorf is discovered to be evil (i.e.: whether OOT happens, or is prevented)

I will explain this more later, but I think in the Master Sword timeline, the Zonai stay away from the Hylians, but there are reasons they intervene in the Island timeline. The big bombshell, which I'll explain, is that the Zonai are responsible for bringing Demise to Hyrule in the first place. I'll provide the argument, and many details are unclear due to some major mysteries, but you'll see.

The Zonai DO leave a legacy in the Master Sword timeline at least, maybe both, in the form of the Picori. But I think these are not full-blood Zonai. I'll explain.

Most important is how OOT is prevented.

• We're shown a YOUNG Twinrova and Rauru and Sonia are the FOUNDERS of Hyrule in TotK's past. Future Zelda warns about Ganondorf, and so they discover him early. That and this timeline has secret stones where the Master Sword timeline doesn't. This isn't explained, but I will offer my theory later. So, with Ganondorf discovered, OOT never happens. The Imprisoning War is early. This can't be the OOT timeline, because they would know about Ganondorf if TotK's events had happened. The OOT castle also seems to be the Great Plateau. I'm even somewhat convinced that most of OOT took place exclusively on the Great Plateau. One thing we can consider is the Great Plateau is part of Skyloft that lands in a different place in the two timelines, but that's just a little wiggle room.
• We're shown a VERY OLD Twinrova and its many generations after the founding of Hyrule in OOT. The massive BOTW castle which seals Ganondorf isn't there. In this timeline, Ganon gets the Triforce, and the wishes on the Triforce end up creating the three timelines. The Sacred Realm is unsealed in OOT. The downfall timeline represents Ganon getting a wish uncontested. Adult timeline is Zelda alone to make that wish. Child timeline, Link does have access to the Sacred Realm Temple of Light. Three wishes on the Triforce cause the three timelines.

The secret stones allow for the Island timeline to cause Ganondorf to be recognized early, also through getting Zelda there from the future. That's what's different. As a result, Ganondorf never seeks the Triforce. He lusts for the secret stone power. The time loop of Zelda's dragon completes a loop that seals this timeline from being split from within. So the effect of the secret stones is to totally protect the Triforce within the period of time covered by TotK. It also allows for Ganon to be totally defeated, which we should begin to accept as possibly a total and final defeat of Demise, putting an end to the whole cycle of struggle.

So what was happening in the Island, BOTW timeline during the chronological period corresponding to OOT? This is when the "Ancient Hero" defeats the first Calamity Ganon 10,000 years before BOTW. We now know what this guy looks like, and wow...

Before I share the image, let's also remember that the Gerudo Eighth Heroine is identified as a man, and almost certainly was this hero. We also see that he is connected to the iconography of the Zonai Boar, Dragon and Owl. These almost certainly correspond to the Power, Courage and Wisdom aspects.

I will explain, but I think where OOT Link is mostly Hylian, and raised by the Kokiri, the BOTW "Ancient Hero" is mostly... something... and raised by the Gerudo.

What "something". Well, we're calling them the "Lomei" for now. You'll... see... At the moment I'm assuming a weird formula which goes something like this:

Ancient barbarians, red-haired, power&boar worshipping.
Barbarians + Zonai = Lomei/Picori
Barbarians + Oocca = Hylians
Barbarians + Parella = Zora/Rito
Barbarians over time = Gerudo

Okay, here goes,


Alright, settle down. I'm saying this Lomei Gerudo+Zonai race later became the Dark Interlopers. The dark history of the Gerudo, their prisons and torture, correspond to the heresy of the Lomei and their banishment.

This is why the Ancient Hero might be a "last of the Lomei" raised by Gerudo like OOT Link was protected in a parallel circumstance by Kokiri. I interpret this to mean that OOT Link may have had a little Lomei in him.

Okay, but what's with Majora's Mask? First, the three timelines.

In the Master Sword timeline, there are no secret stones, the Triforce isn't protected, and OOT leads to three wishes across time creating three timelines. Each wish is made in balance with the other timelines, with each wisher being connected mostly to one piece of the Triforce. Therefore, each timeline has compromise with the other members, it's merely dominated by one.

• The Downfall/Power timeline. Here Ganon actually gets the Triforce. The only solution is to seal the Sacred Realm off. But Ganon slowly escapes, but the compromise allows Link to defeat him and steal the Triforce. This Power timeline allows Ganon to keep coming back. The possibility of getting the Triforce is never ever closed off. Even when guarded and used against evil, the Triforce's promise corrupts. One solution is to destroy the Triforce, but Lorule's intervention showed that's a bad idea. So, the Power timeline ends with the royal family completely dividing up and hiding the Triforce. Even then, Ganon is able to almost get it. This timeline ends with the full Triforce being reunited. The implications are unclear, but the "football" of the Triforce is in play in this timeline. The hiding it away worked for generations, but that's over.
• The Adult/Wisdom timeline uses wisdom and sacrifice to keep the Triforce safe. Wisely, it's not destroyed, but the next alternative is chosen: Hyrule will be flooded and no one will ever get the Triforce, neither will Hyrule benefit from its blessings. See because the act of the goddesses to flood Hyrule was specifically connected to Zelda's wish of wisdom. Wishing on the Triforce is how you make the goddesses do stuff. In this timeline, the Triforce is safe. It's no longer in play, for anyone. Zelda goes to a new land, and here there are other, new powers not connected to Ganon or the Triforce. The Lokomo spirits Fire, Ocean, Snow, Sand and Forest. With a little interpretation we get Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning and Spirit. These are five of the secret stone essences, for what it's worth.
• The Child/Courage timeline is harder to interpret, but I'm theorizing that Link wished for "true courage". The goddesses imbuing the light spirits with light is a response to this wish, and the connection between the Twili and Light is related to the question of "true courage". You will see that Majora's Mask is directly related to it. True courage protects the Triforce in this realm. Ganon is not able to defeat true courage, ever. The "football" is on the table, but out of play. The Picori are involved in this timeline, and combined with the events of Twilight Princess, I would say that the hero's "True Courage" becomes a power of light. I don't know the role of the Hero's Shade here, but I suspect there is one.

Part of the price of true courage is that it is balanced by true darkness. I suspect that in any timeline, when Link becomes courageous, it creates a kind of light that casts a shadow and creates a Dark Link. So, there's also some kind of Dark Link. However, in the true courage timeline, there's a true Dark Link. That's the price. This is necessary once we interpret Majora's Mask.

My interpretation of Majora's Mask relies on its many oddities. The out of place races. The Happy Mask Salesman's weird reference to being busy and only having three days but not talking about the world being destroyed. The Skull Kid as an avatar of Link's sense of mischief and abandonment of duty, his inner Kokiri child. The mystery of Majora's Mask itself and its connection to the Garo. I want to particularly highlight the connection between HMS and Shigeru Miyamoto. This is metacommentary others have made. HMS presents Miyamoto's introspection on the question of being a morally neutral "happiness" merchant. Videogames are fun, but are they good for people? It's not this question itself, but the self-doubt of Miyamoto in selecting this character to represent that self-doubt. This symbolic question is the frame for the WHOLE quest, which becomes Link's confrontation of his own self-doubt.

The moon children are clearly telling a tale revealing the nature and question of self-doubt. We understand the HMS's power of mask creation, called healing. So, we can interpret that Majora is not an entity, but a certain essence which has been taken away from someone, and that essence is at first called maybe evil, maybe mischievous, maybe malicious, maybe not. In the end, it is called self-doubt. This brings it full circle with Link skull kid as an avatar of both Link's questioning whether he wants be the hero, but also whether asking that very question makes him unworthy to be the hero. The moon is that looming question, at the heart of Link's worthiness to fully embrace the hero spirit.

In this light, it's hard to see Termina as real. This whole thing is almost a psychedelic spirit journey. We can assume the HMS's more powerful alter-ego is real in one way or another, or there's some entity that is real, who is wearing HMS's identity as a mask. This nearness to the spiritual realm is why Majora's Mask can break the fourth wall with Miyamoto in a symbolic way, without doing it literally. This also ties to the theme of Hylia and the Zonai having advanced tech, from the old LoZ original concept of "Link" being the digital link to a virtual fantasy world that consciously exists as a computer program. Such a world would have its creators. Not taking this to far, just pointing out how at the boundaries the themes are consistent.

I assume that the Hero's Shade went through some sort of spirit quest, with a real entity behind the HMS, to confront the evil of Majora's Mask, in order to gain true courage. This becomes essential for Twilight Princess's Link to have the power to survive that environment. Also, Garo means whatever wolf thing Link is in TP.

Overall, then, MM is symbolic. The Stone Tower is symbolic of a secret so devastating, it's locked away. Both culturally, but also subconsciously.

I have noticed the Ikana look familiar:



Also look at the red hair. If you just look at it superficially, then Garo sounds a bit like Gerudo, and they're both sneaky, sand dwelling ninja people.

I am theorizing that the Ikana and Garo are symbolic of a cultural memory inside Link. They are not literally the Zonai and Lomei, but Link is dreaming of them as he approaches what's sealed in the real "Stone Tower". The great Zonai secret.

Remember, however he embarked on this spirit quest, Link has wished for True Courage, if we're consistent with how the three timelines work. And so Termina might itself be an intervention of the Goddesses to teach Link what he seeks.

The lesson is about Majora's Mask.

Here's my theory:

1. The ancient Zonai or Lomei were deceived into employing the HMS entity to remove their self-doubt.
2. This gave them enormous false courage.
3. It made them highly ambitious.
4. It also blinded them to moral reality, and gave them a self-defeating arrogance.
5. This arrogance and ambition drove them to employ Demise to breach Hyrule.
6. Seeing the harm wrought by Demise, and unable to stop him, the Zonai sealed away this power of doubtlessness granted by the HMS entity. This is the fused shadow.
7. It is the absence of fear, but that makes courage irrelevant. False courage. The shadow of courage. The fused shadow takes away fear, it does not give courage. And more.

The Hero's Shade/child Link, who have Lomei ancestry we guess, as a parallel to the other timeline's Ancient Hero, go on a quest to restore true courage. Necessarily, this involves the Twili and spirits of light.

So, the ancient Zonai made and sealed the fused shadow, and invited Demise to Hyrule. However, they realize their mistake. It is later the Lomei who unseal the fused shadow, and begin again to lust for the Triforce, becoming the Dark Interlopers. This occurs some time between the Master Sword's sealing of Demise and OOT in that timeline.

Symbolically, this schismatic Lomei/Twili are the Garo to the Zonai's Ikana.

This also allows for a split between the Twili and the Picori as "bad" and "good" Zonai or Lomei descendants.

While the timelines need to be brought into a closed loop, this represents the "original sin" of the Zonai which created the cycle in the first place. They were seduced, symbolically represented by Majora's Mask and the Ikana, into giving up self-doubt, and the rupture created by this original sin is only healed ultimately with the power of light which is regained by attaining true courage and reintegrating self-doubt into the soul of the hero. In this way, Majora's Mask is the spiritual and symbolic lynchpin of the entire picture.

Next we have to deal with looping the timelines back on themselves.

First we have TotK's aftermath. Zelda is in possession of both Zonai and Sheikah high technology. I propose these are used to create the "ancient robots" of Skyward Sword who are sent so far back in time that no one else can interfere. They mine the timeshift stones, which has the effect of removing the timeshift stones from being mineable in the future, helping seal off time. They are also gathered, in the same way Zonaite is gathered, to create an essence of time itself.

I'm not sure how this happens, but perhaps this time power is used, or perhaps the three timeline Triforces are used, but everything other than the Power timeline loops back to the Island timeline between Skyward Sword and Rauru and Sonia.

The Zonai are active in this island timeline, mining Zonaite among the blood and guts "Gloom" of defeated Demise. Oddly, the Mogma statues from TotK show the Mogma were responsible for the Central Mine, but disappear and are unmentioned. Odd. Maybe they were supposed to have a village in the Depths and it was just cut. Lore insignificant.

The Zonai apparently can create secret stones. The three divine dragons Dinraal, Farosh and Nayru are assumed to be Zonai who swallowed some secret stones. My theory is:

• In the Master Sword timeline, the Zonai either leave or become the Picori. The Skyward Sword dragons become the light spirits or otherwise withdraw.
• In the Island timeline, the Zonai mine the depths. They somehow use the essence of the Skyward Sword dragons to imbue the secret stones with power. So any great spiritual pure essence can be made into a secret stone.

At some point the secret stones are swallowed and these dragons are created. Their lore significance might be high, but their role is not completely understood.

In any event, the following timelines either through post-TotK time power, or their respective Triforce pieces, come back to the Zonai period of the Island timeline.

• Wisdom/Adult timeline Lokomo spirits are brought back to become five secret stones
• Courage/Child timeline true courage is brought back to become the power of light
• Totk/BotW "Island" timeline timeshift stone essence is brought back to become the power of time.

These are the seven secret stones. They allow for the events of OOT to be prevented, and protect the timeline and the Triforce both. Calamities replace Ganon invasions.

Note also that it's possible these heroes come with their essences. So the Hero of Time and Hero of the Wind gear is brought back in time at this moment, which is how it ends up in the hands of the Zonai of the depths. It's not that TotK's past is the far future of all timelines. It's clearly that TotK's past is a couple generations shortly before OOT's chronology.

Why did they do this? The Power timeline.

In the Power timeline, the Triforce is still "in play". I'm not sure how, but I suspect this Dark Link I've proposed who is a kind of necessary counter balance to True Courage Link might be involved. Maybe he was accidentally summoned in the AoL ending? Maybe it's something else. I have one bizarre theory.



That's right. The armor of Phantom Ganon is the far past of the ancient Lomei/Zonai. I'm asking, "What if Power/Downfall timeline Ganon used the Triforce after AoL reassembled it, and decided to change the cycle and go to the distant past before Hylians were created?"

What if, in the fashion of Annatar, Phantom Ganon seduced the Oocca, and that's why he's graced with their imagery? What if he convinced them to create the Hylians? To breed with the barbarians? So he could be born one day?

What if Phantom Ganon seduced the Zonai into removing their self-doubt, and was the spirit of Demise they used to breach Hyrule?

The only argument for Dark Link is that Demise's sword resembles the Master Sword. The Power Master Sword is sealed in the Lost Woods to rest forever. The Wisdom Master Sword is sealed with Ganondorf, the Triforce, and Hyrule at the bottom of the sea.

The Courage Master Sword...

Is returned to the Temple of Time ruins in the Sacred Grove. It had been upgraded to become a blade of light.

Next we hear in the Courage timeline, Ganon is using a "dark mirror used to banish a dark tribe once" to create SHADOW LINK, and then the Picori Four Sword is used to defeat Ganon.

Four Swords Adventures also features a tower of winds, which connects the "wind people" the Skyloftians (later Rito), and the Tower of the Gods (WW and TP). It ends, after Ganon is sealed, with everyone at the Tower as it is collapsing.

So my very tentative theory is a Shadow Link, summoned by Ganon and bound to the world thanks to True Courage Link and being his counter balance, finds himself at the Master Sword sacred grove at the endgame of the tower's collapse. With Ganon sealed, Shadow Link has no master. Then, we assume that the creation of Sword of Light Master Sword creates a parallel dark Master Sword at the same time. Light casts shadows.

So here we have Dark Link and a possible corrupted Master Sword. That is, a corrupted Fi. Ghirahim.

All that's needed is a bridge, and Dark Link with this Dark Master Sword can go to the Power timeline. There, he can get the full Triforce and wish himself back in time. We also can see that Ganon is basically dead in the Wisdom and Courage timelines. He sort of comes back in Four Swords Adventures, but doesn't try to get the Triforce or anything. The Power timeline wish would be a Ganon that can never fully die nor ever fully lose in his quest to get the Triforce.

Somehow, then, the Dark Link/Dark Master Sword from the Courage timline, comes together with the Power timeline Ganon and Triforce. I don't know how or what it looks like, but these things end up in the past, closing the time loop.

Dark Link and the Power timeline contribute to the birth of Demises. The light half of the Courage timeline and the Wisdom and TotK timelines combine to create the secret stones, which completely defeats Ganondorf in that timeline, having prevented the events of OOT or any threat to the Triforce or timeline.

Since the power of Time is created in a loop that is AFTER the final defeat of Demon King Ganondorf, and BEFORE Skyward Sword maybe even Hylia and the Zonai, then it is the supreme Time power. Assuming post TotK Zelda built the ancient robots by combining Zonai and Sheikah technology.

The time loops are completely closed, finally.

One last wrinkle in this theory is that the BOTW mural seemingly depicts strange things with the Lomei.



Okay WHAT is this? So far, top right, I have lomei (snout nose, shorter) worshipping the king of hyrule or bowing to him. Sheikah making tech. The top left looks like POE COLLECTORS enslaving Lomei with DEPTHS TREES? What? Then a mysterious woman is shown being egged on by Lomei, ordering Hylian soldiers to chase some other kind of person, who shrink or something, and it leads to a Hylia statue? What is going on?

The Poe merchant hats in the top left right side would connect with the TotK Poe collector statues. We never saw their eyes, maybe poe merchants always have four eyes under that hood.

Even more weird, the Poe Collector statues in TotK appear to have MOGMA shaped legs. The Mogma whose statues point to the Great Central Mine, but are missing. What is going on here?

Thought it worth mentioning in the context of this other evidence.

Alright, thanks. Work in progress...

I do think some of this was definitely intended. The Three Timelines were canonized, as I said, with Skyward Sword's production. So, it's reasonable they'd plan a big picture and BOTW/TOTK would incorporate that big picture. I think the odd placement of Four Swords Adventure with TP in the child timeline is weird. I guess it's because they incorporated the dark mirror. Still. Shadow link.

EDIT: I forgot the Master Sword number two, and the elements.

So the Goddess Sword and Fi #2 is in TotK. Thus, we can guess this is sent back in time to create a new Master Sword, which is entrusted to the Great Deku. That's all. There could be more to it, but that's the gist. The "original" Fi has either served her purpose forever, or one version becomes corrupted as Ghirahim.

As for the elements, there's some confusion. The TotK stones introduce a lightning power, which corresponds to the Lokomo Sand power, but not the spirit power.

Okay, so here's why I think OOT's sage powers are different. First, because Ganondorf's identity isn't uncovered yet, then OOT/Master Sword timeline's version of Mineru is seduced by Ganondorf's lies. She takes her "Spirit Temple" and instead of building it under Faron, builds it in the desert. Her dark experiments with Twinrova's help leads to a darker path for the Sheikah, who then later create the Shadow Temple to continue that work.

Essentially, the true "spirit" power is the Forest essence. Farosh the dragon is connected to the green life of Faron, but also lightning. So an overlap between spirit, forest, Farore and lightning/sand is established.

Seconed, Nayru is connected to cold, but also water. Seeing that the Rito are connected to Snow and Wind, then Snow/Wind are the same power, and the connection between Rito and Zora allow for overlap with Wind and Water.

The TotK secret stones have no forest power, because that's "spirit". There is no Snow power, that's Wind. There's no shadow power because, uh, that should never have happened.

The Triforce Goddesses are still divided into Din: Fire and Power/Darkness, Nayru: Water, Wind and Cold (flow), Farore: Spirit, Forest, Sand and Lightning (Earth and Energy).

Finally, the Poe collectors have four eyes. There are four giants in Termina.

I think this represents the four timelines. The three goddesses having dominance over the Master Sword timelines, where their power is invoked. The goddess Hylia bookending those timelines with the BOTW timeline, where the Triforce isn't wished upon.

 

[GZ Zelda]

I've been hammering out a theory that has grown to crazy "Unified Mega Theory" territory. I've sorted it out a bit better now and want to give the whole thing. I can't really summarize it, but basically it's that the Skyward Sword Master Sword timeline is behind OOT and the three timelines, and the future of these provide the material for the secret stones which is sent back in time to the OTHER SS timeline to prevent OOT from happening.

I'm going to take this bit by bit, and respond with almost all my thoughts. These types of theories are by far my favorite cuz they usually involve analyzing all 20 games stories, characters, themes, narratives, and gameplay, which means getting to spend a lot of time with some of the greatest games of all time. The premise sounds completely bonkers: excited to read. TL;DR for clarification in purple.

Let's consider the two SS timelines:

• Demise is sealed by the Triforce. TOTK: Gloom is the blood and guts of the Imprisoned, cast all over the Depths to fester. The Master Sword doesn't exist here, only the Goddess Sword. We see that the Goddess Sword EXISTS in TotK, in possession of the Goddess Statues. This gives us evidence of a "second Fi". I call this the "Island" timeline.
• The Master Sword is created to defeat Demise, and he is sealed within it. Link and Zelda abandon this timeline. I call this the "Master Sword" timeline.

I personally don't think that this split is real; my theory is built entirely on conjecture that

a. the Imprisoned slowly reformed after Link left the Sacred Realm where they fought in the past so that the Triforce Wish could kill it in the present
b. Impa, in the past, deliberately hid the Master Sword from Link (perhaps just sinking its stone) and
c. that Zelda time travel can slightly rewrite history without branching, as it has been shown to in OoA, MM, and OoT

But I'm going to go with your two timelines.

Two comments. First, people can't reconcile these timelines. It's easy. There's a tree with two branches. Each branch leads to a different future, but they share a past. So, future travelers from one timeline will exist in the past of the other timeline as well. This settles the "bracelet" issue. Second comment, what about the BOTW Master Sword? I will address that, but bottom line is I think this is the TotK Goddess Sword, at some point brought to the past and made into an alternative Master Sword from the "Master Sword" timeline.

I think I get it: the BotW Master Sword is the Island Timeline's Goddess Sword from beyond TotK getting sent back with someone and forged into its own Master Sword? So then BotW exists in the Island Timeline and the Master Sword Timeline is forgotten entirely?

I don't think I understand what that Master Sword in the present at the end of SS is doing? Don't Link and Zelda go to a present with a Master Sword after its placed in that stone? And wouldn't that be in the Island Timeline where Demise was sealed with the Triforce? Wouldn't that Master Sword just be the Master Sword?

Most important is how OOT is prevented.

• We're shown a YOUNG Twinrova and Rauru and Sonia are the FOUNDERS of Hyrule in TotK's past. Future Zelda warns about Ganondorf, and so they discover him early. That and this timeline has secret stones where the Master Sword timeline doesn't. This isn't explained, but I will offer my theory later. So, with Ganondorf discovered, OOT never happens. The Imprisoning War is early. This can't be the OOT timeline, because they would know about Ganondorf if TotK's events had happened. The OOT castle also seems to be the Great Plateau. I'm even somewhat convinced that most of OOT took place exclusively on the Great Plateau. One thing we can consider is the Great Plateau is part of Skyloft that lands in a different place in the two timelines, but that's just a little wiggle room.
• We're shown a VERY OLD Twinrova and its many generations after the founding of Hyrule in OOT. The massive BOTW castle which seals Ganondorf isn't there. In this timeline, Ganon gets the Triforce, and the wishes on the Triforce end up creating the three timelines. The Sacred Realm is unsealed in OOT. The downfall timeline represents Ganon getting a wish uncontested. Adult timeline is Zelda alone to make that wish. Child timeline, Link does have access to the Sacred Realm Temple of Light. Three wishes on the Triforce cause the three timelines.

So again TotK takes place in the Island Timeline.

But OoT doesn't happen in BotW/TotK because Rauru and Sonia sealed Ganondorf early? So the Master Sword Timeline is when OoT takes place?

The secret stones allow for the Island timeline to cause Ganondorf to be recognized early, also through getting Zelda there from the future. That's what's different. As a result, Ganondorf never seeks the Triforce. He lusts for the secret stone power. The time loop of Zelda's dragon completes a loop that seals this timeline from being split from within. So the effect of the secret stones is to totally protect the Triforce within the period of time covered by TotK. It also allows for Ganon to be totally defeated, which we should begin to accept as possibly a total and final defeat of Demise, putting an end to the whole cycle of struggle.

So what was happening in the Island, BOTW timeline during the chronological period corresponding to OOT? This is when the "Ancient Hero" defeats the first Calamity Ganon 10,000 years before BOTW. We now know what this guy looks like, and wow...

So every other Zelda game OoT and after (ALttP, LA, OoS, OoA, ALBW, TFH, Z1, Z2 / WW, PH, ST / MM, TP, FSA) take place in the Master Sword Timeline? And the 10,000 years ago Calamity is the OoT of the Island Timeline?

If I got it right, this doesn't explain how the Hero, Time, Winds, Twilight, and Awakening outfits exist (other then as easter eggs, which I would argue the White Sword would fall into in that case).

Alright, settle down. I'm saying this Lomei Gerudo+Zonai race later became the Dark Interlopers. The dark history of the Gerudo, their prisons and torture, correspond to the heresy of the Lomei and their banishment.

This is why the Ancient Hero might be a "last of the Lomei" raised by Gerudo like OOT Link was protected in a parallel circumstance by Kokiri. I interpret this to mean that OOT Link may have had a little Lomei in him.

The barbarians and the Zonai, later the Picori, later the Lomei, later the Dark Interlopers (banished by the Gerudo as in TP?), later the Twili, led the Ancient Hero Link, as a Lomei, to be raised by the Gerudo like Hylian OoT Link was with the Kokiri and therefore OoT Link has Lomei in him. The only part that is HEAVILY questionable is the cross-Master-Sword-timeline Hylian OoT Link having a drop of Lomei in him if they only developed on the Island Timeline.

In the Master Sword timeline, there are no secret stones, the Triforce isn't protected, and OOT leads to three wishes across time creating three timelines. Each wish is made in balance with the other timelines, with each wisher being connected mostly to one piece of the Triforce. Therefore, each timeline has compromise with the other members, it's merely dominated by one.

• The Downfall/Power timeline. Here Ganon actually gets the Triforce. The only solution is to seal the Sacred Realm off. But Ganon slowly escapes, but the compromise allows Link to defeat him and steal the Triforce. This Power timeline allows Ganon to keep coming back. The possibility of getting the Triforce is never ever closed off. Even when guarded and used against evil, the Triforce's promise corrupts. One solution is to destroy the Triforce, but Lorule's intervention showed that's a bad idea. So, the Power timeline ends with the royal family completely dividing up and hiding the Triforce. Even then, Ganon is able to almost get it. This timeline ends with the full Triforce being reunited. The implications are unclear, but the "football" of the Triforce is in play in this timeline. The hiding it away worked for generations, but that's over.
• The Adult/Wisdom timeline uses wisdom and sacrifice to keep the Triforce safe. Wisely, it's not destroyed, but the next alternative is chosen: Hyrule will be flooded and no one will ever get the Triforce, neither will Hyrule benefit from its blessings. See because the act of the goddesses to flood Hyrule was specifically connected to Zelda's wish of wisdom. Wishing on the Triforce is how you make the goddesses do stuff. In this timeline, the Triforce is safe. It's no longer in play, for anyone. Zelda goes to a new land, and here there are other, new powers not connected to Ganon or the Triforce. The Lokomo spirits Fire, Ocean, Snow, Sand and Forest. With a little interpretation we get Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning and Spirit. These are five of the secret stone essences, for what it's worth.
• The Child/Courage timeline is harder to interpret, but I'm theorizing that Link wished for "true courage". The goddesses imbuing the light spirits with light is a response to this wish, and the connection between the Twili and Light is related to the question of "true courage". You will see that Majora's Mask is directly related to it. True courage protects the Triforce in this realm. Ganon is not able to defeat true courage, ever. The "football" is on the table, but out of play. The Picori are involved in this timeline, and combined with the events of Twilight Princess, I would say that the hero's "True Courage" becomes a power of light. I don't know the role of the Hero's Shade here, but I suspect there is one.

This rewrites a lot of in-game history. The Downfall Timeline makes sense, but the Adult Timeline was flooded explicitly because Ganondorf escaped. And it was not done via a Triforce wish, it was done after the Triforce of Courage split when Link left Hyrule. Link doesn't really "wish" in the CT but he does "choose" courage.

I don't want to get two deep in the weeds with the Lokomo stuff but I am about to, so skip if you don't care: the seven sages who open the seal on Malladus are Link, Zelda, Gage (Forest), Steem (Snow), Carben (Ocean), Embrose (Fire), and Rael (Sand). But the seven Lokomo include Anjean and Byrne. This leaves 9 potential sages. There are 7 Secret Stones at the beginning: Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, Spirit, Light, Time (Lightning and Light being different bugs me tons). But then Time becomes Darkness. But then Light becomes Light-Time. So the present day has: Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, Spirit, Light-Time, Darkness

Spoiler: Sage Charts

ST -- Lokomo Only -- My Preferred

Embrose (Fire)	Yunobo	Yunobo
Carben (Water)	Sidon	Sidon
Gage (Forest or Wind)	Tulin
Steem (Earth or Wind)	Zelda
Rael (Light or Lightning)	Riju	Rauru
Anjean (Spirit)	Mineru	Mineru
Byrne (Shadow or Lightning)		Riju
Zelda (Time)		Zelda
Link (Wind)		Tulin

I honestly don't know if this works, the sages have been screwed up since the Maidens became the Sages.

Overall, then, MM is symbolic. The Stone Tower is symbolic of a secret so devastating, it's locked away. Both culturally, but also subconsciously.

So is it in the Island Timeline?

Here's my theory:

1. The ancient Zonai or Lomei were deceived into employing the HMS entity to remove their self-doubt.
2. This gave them enormous false courage.
3. It made them highly ambitious.
4. It also blinded them to moral reality, and gave them a self-defeating arrogance.
5. This arrogance and ambition drove them to employ Demise to breach Hyrule.
6. Seeing the harm wrought by Demise, and unable to stop him, the Zonai sealed away this power of doubtlessness granted by the HMS entity. This is the fused shadow.
7. It is the absence of fear, but that makes courage irrelevant. False courage. The shadow of courage. The fused shadow takes away fear, it does not give courage. And more.

So the Lomei (Zonai barbarian combo) were part of the Demon Tribe pre-Skyward Sword. The Dark Interlopers sought the Triforce post-Skyward Sword. Is the suggestion the Dark Interlopers (who were the Picori, who were the Lomei, who were the Zonai) sought the Triforce pre-Skyward Sword, and made the Fused Shadow pre-SS, as part of Hylia's War? Because that would support @Ryuu Kage Desu theory that the Zonai were on the surface pre-SS, and that there was some sort of Hyrule. That the founding of Hyrule wasn't, in fact, SS, but that it occured before all of that. I don't think I buy it, mainly because I don't see the Zonai as barbarian-related, even as the Lomei, and thus they would never employ Demise for Triforce access.

This also allows for a split between the Twili and the Picori as "bad" and "good" Zonai or Lomei descendants.

Maybe Vaati, a Picori, inspired the "bad" part of the Lomei descendants?

I'm not sure how this happens, but perhaps this time power is used, or perhaps the three timeline Triforces are used, but everything other than the Power timeline loops back to the Island timeline between Skyward Sword and Rauru and Sonia.

This seems like the most important part of your theory, when the CT and AT and Master Sword timelines loop back. I would look to maybe a timeshift stone from the Island Timeline in the past, pulling those futures into it. Essentially a probability matrix being condensed into the Island Timeline from the Island Timeline, not a motivation from the AT and CT descendants searching for the Island Timeline with Triforce wishes or time powers.

The Zonai apparently can create secret stones. The three divine dragons Dinraal, Farosh and Nayru are assumed to be Zonai who swallowed some secret stones. My theory is:

• In the Master Sword timeline, the Zonai either leave or become the Picori. The Skyward Sword dragons become the light spirits or otherwise withdraw.
• In the Island timeline, the Zonai mine the depths. They somehow use the essence of the Skyward Sword dragons to imbue the secret stones with power. So any great spiritual pure essence can be made into a secret stone.

At some point the secret stones are swallowed and these dragons are created. Their lore significance might be high, but their role is not completely understood.

I personally like the Zonai also bringing the Picori who, following Vaati, branch off into the Dark Interlopers and Twili.

They swallow stones pre or post descending? I think those Zonai swallowed stones while they still lived in the heavens.

The only argument for Dark Link is that Demise's sword resembles the Master Sword. The Power Master Sword is sealed in the Lost Woods to rest forever. The Wisdom Master Sword is sealed with Ganondorf, the Triforce, and Hyrule at the bottom of the sea.

The Courage Master Sword...

Is returned to the Temple of Time ruins in the Sacred Grove. It had been upgraded to become a blade of light.

Next we hear in the Courage timeline, Ganon is using a "dark mirror used to banish a dark tribe once" to create SHADOW LINK, and then the Picori Four Sword is used to defeat Ganon.

Four Swords Adventures also features a tower of winds, which connects the "wind people" the Skyloftians (later Rito), and the Tower of the Gods (WW and TP). It ends, after Ganon is sealed, with everyone at the Tower as it is collapsing.

So my very tentative theory is a Shadow Link, summoned by Ganon and bound to the world thanks to True Courage Link and being his counter balance, finds himself at the Master Sword sacred grove at the endgame of the tower's collapse. With Ganon sealed, Shadow Link has no master. Then, we assume that the creation of Sword of Light Master Sword creates a parallel dark Master Sword at the same time. Light casts shadows.

So this is Ghirahim's origin? The Tower of Winds and the FS Palace of Winds are all made by the Picori Vaati. An FSA Shadow Link, projected from the Dark Mirror, grabs the TP MS in the CT and...becomes Ghirahim?

All that's needed is a bridge, and Dark Link with this Dark Master Sword can go to the Power timeline. There, he can get the full Triforce and wish himself back in time. We also can see that Ganon is basically dead in the Wisdom and Courage timelines. He sort of comes back in Four Swords Adventures, but doesn't try to get the Triforce or anything. The Power timeline wish would be a Ganon that can never fully die nor ever fully lose in his quest to get the Triforce.

Somehow, then, the Dark Link/Dark Master Sword from the Courage timline, comes together with the Power timeline Ganon and Triforce. I don't know how or what it looks like, but these things end up in the past, closing the time loop.

Dark Link and the Power timeline contribute to the birth of Demises. The light half of the Courage timeline and the Wisdom and TotK timelines combine to create the secret stones, which completely defeats Ganondorf in that timeline, having prevented the events of OOT or any threat to the Triforce or timeline.

Since the power of Time is created in a loop that is AFTER the final defeat of Demon King Ganondorf, and BEFORE Skyward Sword maybe even Hylia and the Zonai, then it is the supreme Time power. Assuming post TotK Zelda built the ancient robots by combining Zonai and Sheikah technology.

The time loops are completely closed, finally.

There are too many unknowns here for the theory to be solid.

So the SS timeline splits between the Island Timeline with the backstory of TotK and no Master Sword, and the Master Sword timeline, where the OoT to DT, CT and AT split occurs. The IT parallel event is the 10,000 year ago Calamity, saved by a Gerudo-raised post-Twili exiled Lomei descendant of the Zonai. MM is fake. TP is the consequence of the Lomei unleashing Demise cuz of HMS influence and then creating the Fused Shadow as part of Hylia's Demise battle, but getting sealed by the Light Spirits for their false courage.

The CT and AT are close looped because their Triforces and Master Swords and Ganondorfs are, for all intents and purposes, dead (I would argue this isn't true), and so those elements loop back to the Island Timeline via unknown but probably the Triforce or timeshift stones and Ancient Robots.

Then Ghirahim, created as a Zonai-Barbarian turned Picori turned Lomei turned Dark Interloper turned Twili turned Shadow Link grabbing the CT sealed Master Sword, is timeline-sucked to the only available Ganon, which is the Z2 forever-resurrecting Ganon. They then go back in time to the Island Timeline because Ganon-with-Ghirahim exists out-of-time like Demise does. Secret Stones are created by major moments of sacred energy, and the CT, AT, and TOtK-past merging creates the Secret Stones which kill the IT OoT Ganondorf.

Post-TotK Zelda brings the White Sword of the Sky back in time, forges the Master Sword for the IT, creates the ancient robots from Zonai/Sheikah tech to allow the timelines to merge to begin with and finally, FINALLY, the loops are all closed.

Is all of that right? Just to understand the theory?

There are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 moments of conjecture, which is a fine amount for such a large theory, but there are too many unexplained moments of time travel. What exactly is the mechanism for all of this merging, and how do the characters involved know what they are
doing? Or do they know what they are doing?

So the Goddess Sword and Fi #2 is in TotK. Thus, we can guess this is sent back in time to create a new Master Sword, which is entrusted to the Great Deku. That's all. There could be more to it, but that's the gist. The "original" Fi has either served her purpose forever, or one version becomes corrupted as Ghirahim.

As for the elements, there's some confusion. The TotK stones introduce a lightning power, which corresponds to the Lokomo Sand power, but not the spirit power.

Okay, so here's why I think OOT's sage powers are different. First, because Ganondorf's identity isn't uncovered yet, then OOT/Master Sword timeline's version of Mineru is seduced by Ganondorf's lies. She takes her "Spirit Temple" and instead of building it under Faron, builds it in the desert. Her dark experiments with Twinrova's help leads to a darker path for the Sheikah, who then later create the Shadow Temple to continue that work.

Essentially, the true "spirit" power is the Forest essence. Farosh the dragon is connected to the green life of Faron, but also lightning. So an overlap between spirit, forest, Farore and lightning/sand is established.

Seconed, Nayru is connected to cold, but also water. Seeing that the Rito are connected to Snow and Wind, then Snow/Wind are the same power, and the connection between Rito and Zora allow for overlap with Wind and Water.

The TotK secret stones have no forest power, because that's "spirit". There is no Snow power, that's Wind. There's no shadow power because, uh, that should never have happened.

The Triforce Goddesses are still divided into Din: Fire and Power/Darkness, Nayru: Water, Wind and Cold (flow), Farore: Spirit, Forest, Sand and Lightning (Earth and Energy).

Finally, the Poe collectors have four eyes. There are four giants in Termina.

I think this represents the four timelines. The three goddesses having dominance over the Master Sword timelines, where their power is invoked. The goddess Hylia bookending those timelines with the BOTW timeline, where the Triforce isn't wished upon.

Ok the Master Sword thing I was right about.

More sage talk:
To work out the Lokomo thing, I do think you have to use both the sages that used their music to open Malladus' seal and Anjean and Byrne, the other two Lokomo. This accounts for Fire, Water, Forest, Shadow/Lightning, Spirit, Light, Time, Earth/Snow, Wind. Without Link and Zelda, Wind and Time don't make much sense. Maybe Snow becomes Wind, but then who is Time? And these do line up with the OoT/WW sages, albeit Shadow is Lightning because TotK is an absolute mess.

SO! The timeline order is

SS / OoT / WW + PH + ST -- MM + TP + Light-FSA \ ALttP + LA + OoS + OoA + ALBW + TFH + Z1 + Z2 + Dark-FSA
\ Light-FSA + Post-ST + Post-D-FSA + BotW + TotK

Or SS split / MST split / WT(AT) -- CT(CT) \ PT(DT) endsplit merge DCT \ IT merge LCT WT PT endsplit endline

This theory would work if you could explain the moments of time travel and how the IT happened in the first place. It is one of, if not the only, "all the timelines merged" theories that has any thought put into it so I commend you for that.

 

[tman]

I think I get it: the BotW Master Sword is the Island Timeline's Goddess Sword from beyond TotK getting sent back with someone and forged into its own Master Sword? So then BotW exists in the Island Timeline and the Master Sword Timeline is forgotten entirely?

I just replayed Skyward Sword and think it's full of oddities that are either some master plan by Nintendo, or the other best explanation is they cut content and were going to have you collect the Triforce in the past versions of Faron/Eldin/Lanayru/Skyloft. Getting the Master Sword as a half-way point. I won't get into it now.

But, the conclusion if there is some master plan it's that Zelda going through the second time gate causes a second timeline, and this assumes that if Demise was defeated in the past, there wouldn't be the need to defeat him in the future. That you have Impa warding Zelda's crystal, and in the other instance she's warding the Master Sword. Groose does say they are watching Zelda's body in the back room after Ghirahim's defeat, so is there any way to check if the crystal Zelda is still back there or not? This whole sequence is where it's weird.
Suffice it to say, the idea is the period where the Master Sword is left with Impa is the split. That "Master Sword" timeline. This means somehow, someone brings another Master Sword to Impa. She did say she'd destroy the time gate behind you, so we don't know when she would have done that.

The bracelet implies "it always happened". But I think the seal on the Imprisoned in the future just sort of hard contradicts any "Demise reformed" or "it's Demise but his consciousness is in the Master Sword". We also know Zelda was the object of the Imprisoned's attack, not the sword. The seal seems to have been Hylia's doing.

So, the bracelet is our great paradox. My theory is there's some kind of multiverse traversing and another version of Impa who had to bring a version of the Master Sword to this timeline brought the bracelet as a kind of memento and secret hint. Some version of that.

At the end of the day - sorry to dwell on Skyward Sword - there's weirdness around Hylia. Zelda says there were two SEPARATE plans. One was Fi, the other was to become mortal to wish on the Triforce herself. The Fi plan seems to include Link wishing on the Triforce, so Hylia's separate plan isn't revealed. As far as we know, Zelda's only purpose is to keep Demise sealed through a magic vigil, long enough for Link to complete his quest in the future. It's unclear why it has to be so far in the future. Why Hylia didn't make the Triforce available to Zelda from the beginning.

Next, Demise is called the evil "who conquered time". That is never completely explained.

So my general feeling is that Hylia DID wish on the Triforce, it's just the big secret. Demise being the conqueror of time lends to my "Ganon from the downfall timeline is in a timeloop" theory and why Hylia secretly created the BOTW timeline so she could conquer Demise once and for all there, leaving Ganon/Demise trapped in a pruned timeline which is the OOT->Downfall.

But, yes. Demise defeated in the past is an orphaned Master Sword where the events of Skyward Sword's Skyloft never happen and these characters go about things differently. This leads to Ocarina of Time.

Demise defeated in the future timeline leads into Breath of the Wild. The Zonai mining the Depths (demon realm) now that Demise is destroyed.

But OoT doesn't happen in BotW/TotK because Rauru and Sonia sealed Ganondorf early? So the Master Sword Timeline is when OoT takes place?

So every other Zelda game OoT and after (ALttP, LA, OoS, OoA, ALBW, TFH, Z1, Z2 / WW, PH, ST / MM, TP, FSA) take place in the Master Sword Timeline? And the 10,000 years ago Calamity is the OoT of the Island Timeline?

Exactly. Perfect.

I explain the outfits by assuming a timeline merger wrap around. This is something that would have to be the plot or revealed in the plot of a future game. But the idea is that Downfall Ganon and a power of darkness from the child timeline merge and go back to created the Demise time loop. The power of light from the child timeline and the adult timeline (I suppose the Lokomo powers) go back to provide a means to defeat Ganon in the BOTW timeline. And the time power, the loop which seals this, is from TOTK Zelda. Below is just a diagram of this, but don't take all the details too seriously.

The barbarians and the Zonai, later the Picori, later the Lomei, later the Dark Interlopers (banished by the Gerudo as in TP?), later the Twili, led the Ancient Hero Link, as a Lomei, to be raised by the Gerudo like Hylian OoT Link was with the Kokiri and therefore OoT Link has Lomei in him. The only part that is HEAVILY questionable is the cross-Master-Sword-timeline Hylian OoT Link having a drop of Lomei in him if they only developed on the Island Timeline..

Thanks for engaging and following the premise. I'm not sure about the Zonai-Picori-Lomei-Twili thing. And OOT Link doesn't need Lomei blood.

This is just me overemphasizing the importance of Majora's Mask. I'm trying to treat each of the three timelines as thematically essential representing the will of Power, Wisdom and Courage to explain how it all connects. I'm interpreting Majora's Mask through the lens of the will of Courage. I actually do think it's possible that the Ikana are a symbolic representation of something else. Maybe the Zonai but Nintendo hadn't decided they would be the Zonai yet, but had some sort of ancient race in mind.

I derive from this the idea of an "original sin" that is responsible for creating the whole timeline mess and Demise himself, which Hylia is attempting to solve.

Majora's Mask seems to be about the evil of self-doubt. That the "Happy Mask Salesman" magically removes self-doubt from Majora's tribe. So the evil of Majora is an insidious force of self-doubt. The moon symbolizes this looming doubt which begins distant but overwhelms by the end. On the other hand, the Ikana represent the tribe which has removed self-doubt and the problems which emerged from that. The Stone Tower is the Ikana literally sealing away their guilt for this original sin, but simultaneously is a second symbol of sealing away self-doubt. The Garo then become this nagging accusers.

And there are a few reasons to connect the Garo to the Gerudo. Garo I think is also the name of the sort of wolf Link is in Twilight Princess. And the ToTK Ancient Hero aspect also suggests a connection between Link and some other tribe. The idea is OOT Link's soul is the same, but he ends up with different bodies in different timelines. I think I'm correct to say that as OOT Link was raised by Kokiri, TOTK's Ancient Hero was raised by Gerudo since they basically confirm he's their Eighth Heroine.

Then we have the Zelda lore secret history of the Gerudo and Hyrule Royal Family doing some sort of tyrannical persecution of some sort of group in the desert, which overlaps with the Twili. So I'm just choosing to connect it all.

I guess this is it's own theory, but the reason I connect it with timeline speculation is I want to explain that the Zonai came to Hyrule because they were seduced by Demise/Phantom Ganon in the Tolkein Annatar style, and Majora's Mask is about their sin symbolically, and then the Fused Shadow is the literal Majora's Mask.

Anyway, to answer your actual question, I'm assuming that the heroes and Zelda's of the three timelines somehow meet and this is how these artifacts end up in the Depths.

I have a theory for this which explains how Downfall Ganon obtains the "dark" power from the child timeline which is SPECIFICALLY inside the Master Sword left in the forest at the end of Twilight Princess, which is specifically at the base of the Tower of Winds (Gods) in Four Swords Adventures. That when the light power was infused in the TP Master Sword, it cast or created a shadow power. And Dark Links have been created by something which very closely resembles the mirror of banishment. So I'm assuming one of these dark links obtains the Master Sword of TP after 4SA, and it has a shadow power and corrupted Fi etc. Anyway, how does Downfall Ganon get this?

My theory is the Sacred Realm/Golden Land of the three timelines is one and the same. It's not split in three. It's mostly sealed in the child and adult timelines and only accessed in the Downfall. Just an idea.

This rewrites a lot of in-game history. The Downfall Timeline makes sense, but the Adult Timeline was flooded explicitly because Ganondorf escaped. And it was not done via a Triforce wish, it was done after the Triforce of Courage split when Link left Hyrule. Link doesn't really "wish" in the CT but he does "choose" courage.

Oh no, I'm not saying that Hyrule was flooded because of a Triforce wish. I'm saying that a wish created the timeline, and contained in that wish was a hope that is thematically tied to wisdom. Therefore, the progress of that timeline reflects the theme of the wish.

Because each avatar of the Triforce each made a wish, but time was exploited to do this, each timeline has to exist independently. Changes in time won't matter because they can't overpower a Triforce wish. However, the power of each wish was lessened by the fact of the other wishes, and the wishes became expressions of the theme each character embodied. That's my premise.

Basically, it's like Bill and Ted rules. If you enemy wishes on the Triforce, well, just go back in time before them and wish on it first. The idea is that a wish on the Triforce is powerful enough that it prevents someone from overruling it just by going back in time. So what happens is the wishes consolidate. They each happen, so it creates three timelines. And the power of each wish is diminished by the others, where each avatar's own triforce is where their wish is most dominant.

Yes, this does mean that child Link arriving home at the end makes a final stop into the Temple of Light to make his wish. The Master Sword seal is broken, so Zelda also would have been able to enter the Sacred Realm.

So the Lomei (Zonai barbarian combo) were part of the Demon Tribe pre-Skyward Sword. The Dark Interlopers sought the Triforce post-Skyward Sword. Is the suggestion the Dark Interlopers (who were the Picori, who were the Lomei, who were the Zonai) sought the Triforce pre-Skyward Sword, and made the Fused Shadow pre-SS, as part of Hylia's War? Because that would support @Ryuu Kage Desu theory that the Zonai were on the surface pre-SS, and that there was some sort of Hyrule. That the founding of Hyrule wasn't, in fact, SS, but that it occured before all of that. I don't think I buy it, mainly because I don't see the Zonai as barbarian-related, even as the Lomei, and thus they would never employ Demise for Triforce access.

My timeline says the Zonai come after SS to the Island timeline to mine Zonaite with Demise totally defeated. ToTK's past taking place after Skyward Sword.

However, I'm speculating they secretly arrived earlier but didn't announce themselves because they may have been part of helping Demise breach without realizing the evil of what they were doing. Which is why in the Master Sword timeline, they become the Picori to secretly correct their wrongs but to avoid attention or shame.

In this theory, the Fused Shadow was created by the Zonai in their "bad" phase, and they rejected it and made it taboo after seeing the horror of Demise. The cost of their arrogance.

So, the Lomei become a branch of the Zonai which decide that the Fused Shadow maybe could be used in some way. This is a heresy, and the heresy occurs after the founding of Hyrule between Skyward Sword and OOT/Calamity War. They are the ones the royal family and Gerudo persecuted, and they would become the Twili.

Just more of my overemphasis on Majora's Mask as a symbolic-only tale, but which is discussing the central sin and redemption arc of the whole story. I'm arguing that Majora's Mask leads to, or symbolically describes the Hero of Courage obtaining the pure power of light, which is then most important power in finally defeating Ganon.

This seems like the most important part of your theory, when the CT and AT and Master Sword timelines loop back. I would look to maybe a timeshift stone from the Island Timeline in the past, pulling those futures into it. Essentially a probability matrix being condensed into the Island Timeline from the Island Timeline, not a motivation from the AT and CT descendants searching for the Island Timeline with Triforce wishes or time powers.

I'm assuming this happens after ToTK Zelda gets Zonai and Sheikah tech and they go back in time to harvest the timeshift stones. However, now I think the ancient robots are just Hylia's creation.

Here's the thing though, there's no reason Hylia couldn't have started as a mortal. ToTK Zelda could ascend to become Hylia in some way. Alternatively, Hylia would be some sort of hybrid being connected with the Oocca. We know round eared humans exist in Zelda, so Hylians might be human-Oocca or something. Or, maybe TP Oocca are themselves not pure Oocca but descendants of Hylia.

Either way, the presence of a Sonia-looking Sheikah in Hylia's day is odd. Since the Sheikah eye seems to be based on Zonai physiology, and we would think Mineru founded the tribe while Rauru founded the royal dynasty.

So I'm going to conclude that Mineru founded the Sheikah tribe for the first time, and Impa from Skyward Sword is from a branch of Sheikah that travelled back in time.

As with Skyward Sword, I note that Impa was not part of Hylia's initial plan, but was sent to go try to preserve or rescue it, allegedly by the goddess herself. They're like the secret agents of history. So it might make sense for some Sheikah to have been sent back to meet Hylia and assist her. The timeshift stones have Sheikah symbology, so perhaps Purah's studies of Zonai and ancient Sheikah tech are sent back to help Hylia build her time gates. Similar to Zelda helping Rauru and Sonia.

So this is Ghirahim's origin? The Tower of Winds and the FS Palace of Winds are all made by the Picori Vaati. An FSA Shadow Link, projected from the Dark Mirror, grabs the TP MS in the CT and...becomes Ghirahim?

Oh, good idea. Ghirahim is a shadow link that has merged with Fi, who was corrupted by such a long time near Demise's essence. Also, as I said, TP's light power creates a shadow power as well. I'm assuming something like the Master Sword splits in two, Four Swords style. Hmm, maybe that's where ToTK's Master Sword comes from??? The one in the Island timeline. It's the TP light-infused Master Sword.

Then Ghirahim, created as a Zonai-Barbarian turned Picori turned Lomei turned Dark Interloper turned Twili turned Shadow Link grabbing the CT sealed Master Sword, is timeline-sucked to the only available Ganon, which is the Z2 forever-resurrecting Ganon.

Ghirahim is not so many things.

I'd place Vaati in the realm of "who are the Bargaining Statues" and "who is Aghanim". A Picori close to the power of the Gods, corrupted by the dark demon essence which Ganon is the pure embodiment of. That is, the Demon King.

Post-TotK Zelda brings the White Sword of the Sky back in time, forges the Master Sword for the IT, creates the ancient robots from Zonai/Sheikah tech to allow the timelines to merge to begin with and finally, FINALLY, the loops are all closed.

I'm not sure about the Master Sword. It's a mystery, but I just came up with that CT light sword theory as the origin of the Skyward Sword finale/BOTW Master Sword. CT dark sword is Demise's sword. We are told DT master sword "Sleeps forever". So we also assume AT master sword is sleeping under the sea forever.

It's not that the timelines merge, it's that the loops close. If this is a battle between forces that can manipulate time, then if you trap your enemy in a timeloop you win. Also, if you create a timeloop your enemy can't break, you win. This is what I think was done.

Post-ToTK Sheikah go back to help Hylia construct the time gates. And maybe the Golden Realm exists the same in all timelines, which is how heroes and artifacts merge.

I DO have a theory that DT Ganon gets the Triforce that AoL just reassembled, using the Dark Master Sword to defeat him. The wish Ganon makes is to send Dark Hyrule back in time. Dark Hyrule is inspired by the Dark World, and is Ganon's dream of how Hyrule should be. When Ghirahim/Shadow Link appears from CT with the Dark Master Sword, DT Ganon learns of the timeline split. He learns that Power isn't how to win, but Time is. This is how Demise becomes the conqueror of time.

He wishes himself to the beginning of time, becoming the primordial Demon King.

It is over this demon realm that the Oocca and Din build Hyrule. So the Dark Hyrule becomes the Depths from which Demise breached. Building Hyrule, sealing off the demon realm from the sky, is the thing that so enrages Demise.

So there are three events which merge the timelines: 1) Sheikah going back to help Hylia at some point 2) DT Ganon creating the demon realm/Depths at the beginning of time as a dark reflection of Hyrule 3) The power of light (and maybe secret stones/Lokomo) being gathered in the Island timeline so ToTK Zelda can create her time loop and defeat Ganon.

The last merge event is the hardest to explain. But I think it connects to this mystery I referenced at the beginning about Hylia's secret Triforce wish that is maybe implied but we certainly never see it.