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Time travel and time manipulation

What is your favorite type of time travel?

  • Multiverse / String theory

  • Predestination / fixed

  • Temporal echoes

  • Dynamic (paradox fuel)


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Joined
Oct 10, 2017
I have come to the conclusion that the players have been experiencing three different forms of time travel. As time travel goes, there are four kinds that have been used in the majority of si-fi; Fixed time, dynamic time, multiverse/string theory, and temporal echoes. As far as moderns science goes, there has been a lot of theorizing about the multiverse theory. I don't see any evidence for link experiencing universe destroying paradoxes, so dynamic time is out. (It may be for the best.)

The multiverse style of time travel means that when any change happens, a different universe is created, and the time lines split. This is also a part of string theory. Unfortunately, this means that it is impossible to return to your original time. You can find one similar to your original, but when you enter that universe, a split happens to account for your arrival. Ocarina of Time is obviously an example of this type of time travel, due to the three time lines. (This means that the time line where Gannon wins is the time line that link is originally taken from, meaning that link really didn't loose, he just vanished.) For the moment, we can set aside the part of string theory stating that every possible choice/event causes a new universe to split off, spawning a new timeline.

Fixed time travel, or predetermination, happens when a time traveler causes a situation that already exists. An example of this is in Twilight Princess, when Link attains the master sword through a time portal, there by causing the sword to not be there in the first place. The majority of the story for Skyward Sword is also a predetermination event. These events hinge on something that has already happened, then time travel is used to create that very situation.

Then there are temporal echoes. This really isn't time "travel" in the same sense. This is when the effects of a different time are overlapped to a limited degree. Actions by an echo do not effect the world at large. The timeshift stones in Skyward Sword would be an example of this. When Link activates one of these, he isn't actually transported to the ancient era; but the era is duplicated, and overlapped on to the current time. When Link plants a seed, or causes something to move, he didn't actually go back in time to cause the change. What the stones allowed is for changes to happen in an instant, as though they happened over a long time. When Link picks one of those flowers, he doesn't actually pick that flower from way back then, but a duplication of that flower.
Majora's Mask may also fit in this category. For it to work, though, time would have to be stopped at some point, and Link would be sending echoes of himself through time. This is evident in how the world seems to reset, and Links actions don't make any permanent change until the end when it all coalesces together.

Unless I forgot one, this leaves Oracle of Ages. The game has significant changes that happen to the world at large, which suggests multiverse. There is also instances where changes are noticeable, which could be evidence of temporal echoes, or Link is somehow allowed to experience these changes differently then others would.
If Oracle of Ages uses string theory style time travel, the universe that link departs from, is never changed, and Link fails his task. The universe that is created by Link fixing the past is the universe that leads up to Zelda 1 & 2.
 

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