OoT ending analysis.

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Nothing Link and Zelda do ever seems to completely destroy Ganondorf for good. The guy is walking 'deus ex machina' who just keeps coming back to life or defying the established rules regardless of what they do. The Triforce of Power coming to save him in TP's backstory was an example of that lunacy. We know from LTTP and WW that sealing him only 'delayed and burdened a different generation' as well. Zelda had no way of knowing every single possibility that Ganon can exploit, no one could.

With Wind Waker, if there had been a hero things could have went differently so his threat to the land falls back again to what Zelda in OoT did. The Downfall Timeline is out of anyones hands, but overall isn't too bad because a Hero always rises up to face Ganon. Twilight Princess is an entirely pointless event overall that could have never been an issue if Zelda had never sent Link back in time; the same thing applies to Wind Waker, it didn't have to happen.

 

[Chevywolf30]

Danged if you do, danged if you don't.

It seems to me, returning to the original topic, that whether or not Zelda should have sent Link back depends on if you think his mind matured or not. Based on what the owl said in the Spirit Temple, I think it's pretty obvious his mind did mature, and the next seven years of his life were rough. There is Majora's Mask, lemme play that and I'll get back to y'all on this in a month or so.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Danged if you do, danged if you don't

Not really, both TWW and TP wouldn't be issues if Zelda didn't send Link back in time.

 

[Chevywolf30]

Not really, both TWW and TP wouldn't be issues if Zelda didn't send Link back in time.

TWW? Adult timeline?

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

TWW? Adult timeline?

Yeah, the Great Flood only happened because there was no hero to face Ganondorf when he broke out of the Sage's seal. If Link had stayed it wouldn't have messed up the natural balance, so a Hero would have rose up to put Ganondorf in check.

 

[Chevywolf30]

Yeah, the Great Flood only happened because there was no hero to face Ganondorf when he broke out of the Sage's seal. If Link had stayed it wouldn't have messed up the natural balance, so a Hero would have rose up to put Ganondorf in check.

Oooh, the Adult Timeline is the Hyrule that Link left behind. I guess that the timeline where Link stayed doesn't exist because it truly was happily ever after

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

Oooh, the Adult Timeline is the Hyrule that Link left behind. I guess that the timeline where Link stayed doesn't exist because it truly was happily ever after

now that you've beaten OOT you should really be going back and playing WW again

 

[MapelSerup]

if the master sword were forced to leave him as a child in the end there would be no split timeline
actions with multiple outcomes are what causes split timelines, and if the only possible outcome is him returning as a child there's only one timeline
it makes sense for link to have chosen between leaving or staying

So since Link went back to when he was a child, the timeline created through Hyrule being taken and Link saving it ceases to exist? There is no evidence Link “chose between staying or leaving” because that is never shown in-game and WW specifically states that didn’t happen.