The timeline that never happened.

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

With all of these discussions about the timeline splits, I had a hypothetical thought. What would have happened if Zelda did not send Link back at the end of Ocarina of Time? Most obviously, the flood would not have happened. Link being forced to mature, and gain quite a lot of knowledge just from the adventure, let alone any learning that doesn't happen on screen, doesn't become crammed into a physically younger brain. Would the events of Majora's mask star an adult Link, or would it not happen at all?

Then, would Zelda, or another sage, have been privy to this information? Was Link sent back for purely moral reasoning, or was she trying to avoid another disaster? Would it somehow be worse than the flood?

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

it's the adult timeline but link is still in it? Link probably dies before ganon escapes and the flood still happens
that would be my guess

 

[Chevywolf30]

Nothing would have happened. Zelda shouldn't have sent Link back. When Ganon broke back out of the Sacred Realm, the spirit of the hero would have arisen in someone and stopped him.

That's my main theory. However, something occurred to me while writing this. What if Ganon broke out of the Sacred Realm as Calamity Ganon? The Sheikah are prominent in BotW and OoT. What if Zelda not sending Link back creates the timeline with BotW on it?

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Well to start, in this case the linear timeline just continues on, whatever happens would show us the true uninterrupted flow of history. My headcanon is Ganondorf breaks out of the seal the Sages placed him in, but a hero is reincarnated and defeats him, so the great flood never needs to happen.

 

[ArchAngel217]

Link probably dies before ganon escapes and the flood still happens
that would be my guess

Well, another Link would have come faster. The Spirit of the Hero wouldn't have left this Timeline for good. Most likely TP would happen in the place of WW.

 

[Fraxinus]

I really don't mind the idea of games falling outside of the timeline/s and being sort of written in a vaccuum, because it encourages the writing to not be held back by conforming to a mangled mess of details that aren't even consistent from title to title in the first place. I kind of argue The Wind Waker to be the most ambitious and risk-takey in that sense, because destroying Hyrule was quite the final act--and that's the exact sort of incredible story weight that made the game so meaningful--but it prevented following titles from "realistically" being able to take place there. I wouldn't expect every game to be able to achieve what the Wind Waker did, but I think titles following the Wind Waker have been afraid to do something that drastic with the timeline in mind, which probably hurts the impact of each individual game just a bit.

So I'm not saying for this scenario specifically, but I really am open to the idea of out of context Zelda titles that can do their own thing without the burden of a logical timeline, because the timeline never was logical.

 

[Uwu_Oocoo2]

That would make no sense, seeing as that isn't what happens. Both the creation of the AT and CT are seen within the game, as official events in the narrative. To make it so that the ending hadn't happened would undermine established events. If it were is a sort of elseworlds story perhaps, but wouldn't make sense outside of a what-if scenario (OH SHOOT I forgot to do my zelda what-if yesterday!). An interesting concept, though.

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

Both the creation of the AT and CT are seen within the game, as official events in the narrative.

An interesting concept, though.

Yes, this is a completely hypothetical situation, that I was hoping would bring more interesting speculation about.

Nothing would have happened. Zelda shouldn't have sent Link back. When Ganon broke back out of the Sacred Realm, the spirit of the hero would have arisen in someone and stopped him.

That's my main theory. However, something occurred to me while writing this. What if Ganon broke out of the Sacred Realm as Calamity Ganon? The Sheikah are prominent in BotW and OoT. What if Zelda not sending Link back creates the timeline with BotW on it?

This is an interesting take. I don't know why that would catapult everything to Breath of the Wild, but it is an interesting thought.

Well to start, in this case the linear timeline just continues on, whatever happens would show us the true uninterrupted flow of history. My headcanon is Ganondorf breaks out of the seal the Sages placed him in, but a hero is reincarnated and defeats him, so the great flood never needs to happen.

So, we would basically have the adult timeline, and no child timeline? Any differences, or just cut and paste?

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Yes, this is a completely hypothetical situation, that I was hoping would bring more interesting speculation about.



This is an interesting take. I don't know why that would catapult everything to Breath of the Wild, but it is an interesting thought.



So, we would basically have the adult timeline, and no child timeline? Any differences, or just cut and paste?

Well you're thinking about it wrong, it's just the linear timeline but Link skipped 7 years of his life, so there is no "adult" or "child" timeline. But yeah other than that just like in WW's backstory I think Ganondorf would break out of his seal, but this time a hero is reincarnated to stop him which prevents the Great Flood. From there it's hard to say what might happen.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

Well you're thinking about it wrong, it's just the linear timeline but Link skipped 7 years of his life, so there is no "adult" or "child" timeline. But yeah other than that just like in WW's backstory I think Ganondoef wpuld break out of his seal, but this time a hero is reincarnated to stop him which prevents the Great Flood. From there it's hard to say what might happen.

What I dont get is why a hero would appear this time, are we supposed to understand that had zelda not sent link back to his childhood ganon wouldn't have escaped and forced the flood?

 

[ArchAngel217]

What I dont get is why a hero would appear this time, are we supposed to understand that had zelda not sent link back to his childhood ganon wouldn't have escaped and forced the flood?

There want a link for a while in adult timeline because the spirit of the hero left.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

There want a link for a while in adult timeline because the spirit of the hero left.

But that doesnt make sense
Can there only ever be one hero in any timeline at once? I didnt think ganon escaping his seal to force the flood triggered the hate curse

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

What I dont get is why a hero would appear this time, are we supposed to understand that had zelda not sent link back to his childhood ganon wouldn't have escaped and forced the flood?

Ganon breaking out is clearly just a matter of time, it would have happened no matter what. It's implied that since Link was sent away to a different timeline it majorly messed up the tempo of the spirit of the hero reincarnating. It doesn't make much sense, I know, but that's what they want us to think I guess.

 

[ArchAngel217]

Ganon breaking out is clearly just a matter of time, it would have happened no matter what. It's implied that since Link was sent away to a different timeline it majorly messed up the tempo of the spirit of the hero reincarnating. It doesn't make much sense, I know, but that's what they want us to think I guess.

It kinda does, though. The spirit of the hero was in that link, atm, so it was sent away with him.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

It kinda does, though. The spirit of the hero was in that link, atm, so it was sent away with him.

So...
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!?
And that means none of the events of the games can take place at the same time as games on other timelines