Why wasn't TWW Link sealed for seven years?

[el :BeoWolf:]

Why is it that TWW Link, who is about 12 on his journey, can wield the master sword yet OoT Link had to be sealed for seven years until he was 16 to wield the sword?

I believe this has to do with Fi. Rauru says OoT Link was too young and had to be sealed.
"...Only one worthy of the title of "Hero of Time" can pull it from the Pedestal of Time.... However, you were too young to be the Hero of Time.... Therefore, your spirit was sealed here for seven years. And now that you are old enough..."

However this allowed Ganondorf to enter the sacred realm and get the triforce of power and turn Hyrule into a wasteland. When Link was taken back to his own time and left the WW timeline no hero was there to take on Ganon when he returned. Perhaps the hero just wasn't old enough and for some reason couldn't get to the master sword for whatever reason.
So Fi decides that sealing the hero is not good, so the master sword changes size to allow for a younger Link to weild it. We know the master sword can change from the goddess sword to it's other forms when tempered with the flames. I don't think it would be much of a stretch for Fi to change the basic appearance of the Master Sword.

 

[YIGAhim]

Young Link from OoT picked up the Master Sword at full strength.

WW Link picked up a Master Sword that was exactly like any other. Once he got it back to power, he had already had it in his possession, so he bypassed the time problem.

It's like going on YouTube while not logged in. You pick a song to loop, and then you go log on. That way, you will still technically be listening to that song logged off, even though you are actually on your school account, doing research at home listening to a song that is blocked when you are on a school account

To clear up my confusing analogy: I am Link. I am not on my school account when I get on yt (get the master sword). Once I log on to my school account, yt should be restricted (I should go to a long sleep), but I was on YT before it was blocked, so I can stay on (weild the master sword at full power)

 

[Castle]

@YIGAhim That is the most brilliant and unnecessary offensively convoluted analogy I have ever heard.

Regardless, I'll settle for the simple explanation that ninty was less interested in making a Zelda game and more interested in making Baby's First Chibi-Pirate Adventure to give a fart about established series lore.

Of course, who's to say how old chibi-Link is really? I mean, Tetrajust-kidding-it's-actually-Zelda wears the same clothes as adult Zelda from Ocarina of Time. And Wind Waker takes place in a world where every biped has such freakish disproportionately obtuse features that they appear to have been horribly mutated. Who's to say that Link and Zelda aren't in their late teens anyway?

 

[DragonEleven]

I think there are a number of different factors that are worth considering.

1. In OoT he's judged too young to be the Hero of Time, but the Link in WW is not referred to as the Hero of Time... he is the Hero of Winds instead, so different restrictions may apply.

2. It may not have been possible for him to be sealed away in WW... the way it worked in OoT was that he was kept in the Sacred Realm for seven years, which had been opened when Link drew the Master Sword from the pedestal... but in WW, the Master Sword is not being used to seal the Sacred Realm, it is being used to seal Hyrule instead... so it may not have been possible to use the Sacred Realm in that way, leaving no option but to let take the Master Sword straight away.

3. The amount of time he was sealed away for, or even the age he was when he was released may actually be irrelevant... he may have just been kept in the Sacred Realm for as long as possible in order to give him the best chance of defeating Ganondorf... a precaution, rather than an necessity.

 

[Fierce_Deity]

Why is it that TWW Link, who is about 12 on his journey, can wield the master sword yet OoT Link had to be sealed for seven years until he was 16 to wield the sword?

I believe this has to do with Fi. Rauru says OoT Link was too young and had to be sealed.
"...Only one worthy of the title of "Hero of Time" can pull it from the Pedestal of Time.... However, you were too young to be the Hero of Time.... Therefore, your spirit was sealed here for seven years. And now that you are old enough..."

However this allowed Ganondorf to enter the sacred realm and get the triforce of power and turn Hyrule into a wasteland. When Link was taken back to his own time and left the WW timeline no hero was there to take on Ganon when he returned. Perhaps the hero just wasn't old enough and for some reason couldn't get to the master sword for whatever reason.
So Fi decides that sealing the hero is not good, so the master sword changes size to allow for a younger Link to weild it. We know the master sword can change from the goddess sword to it's other forms when tempered with the flames. I don't think it would be much of a stretch for Fi to change the basic appearance of the Master Sword.

Link was accepted when he pulled the sword from the pedestal. However was too young to be the "Hero of Time". From various dialogue in game it would seem that the Hero of Time was an already prophesied figure the Master Sword was "waiting" on. That's why he was sealed.

Wind Waker is completely different. The bloodline of the hero vanished when Zelda sent Link back in time. Ganon returned, killed the sages protecting the Master Sword causing it to lose power. The Link in this game has to prove himself worthy in the eyes of the Gods before he can obtain the Master Sword

 

[Jirohnagi]

I feel like it's more a case of, the sword had no power so anyone could've taken it, once it was empowered it had no reason not to go along.

Also the tower of the gods and the three pearls may have something to do with the whole shebang. The Tower of the gods was considered a trial for the one who sought the sword, maybe it was WW links tower of babel he reached a new plateau of spirituality which OOT link had to spend 7 years to learn.

He was actually judged worthy by the arbiter of the gods Gohdan

 

[Mellow Ezlo]

I like the responses that have already been made in this thread. I find myself agreeing with most of what's been said, but I would like to add something.

By the time Link pulled the Master Sword in The Wind Waker, Hyrule was already being taken over by Ganon. There was a sense of urgency, there was no time to seal away the hero. The Gods learned from what happened in Ocarina of Time because in that game, when Link pulled the Master Sword, Hyrule wasn't in danger yet because Ganondorf hadn't taken over. Link was sealed so he could become the proper age of the hero. It wasn't until after the sword was pulled that Ganondorf actually rose to power, so the same sense of urgency didn't exist. As far as the Gods knew, it was safe to seal Link for 7 years because there was, at the time, no threat that required a hero.

Idk if what I said makes sense because I'm bad at wording things, but ya, that's my theory. Also Link was a few years older in TWW than he was in OOT so that also could've had something to do with it.

 

[Castle]

There was a sense of urgency, there was no time to seal away the hero. The Gods learned from what happened in Ocarina of Time because in that game, when Link pulled the Master Sword, Hyrule wasn't in danger yet because Ganondorf hadn't taken over.

At the very moment Link pulled the Master Sword in Ocarina Ganondorf had just instigated a violent coup. A soldier lay dead in the back ally that the Crown Princess (first in line for the throne) had just fled through on her way into exile. And it is strongly implied that the King had been murdered and the Royal Castle was in disarray.

If that's not cause for urgency, then I don't know what is. Sealing Link for 7 years left Ganondorf unopposed to take over. Of course, the reason is because Link was too young to wield the sword. Blade of Evil's bane or not, a sword is only as strong as the hand that wields it.

Comparing that to Wind Waker, Hyrule is already long gone and the Great Sea is perfectly fine. I mean, the only danger Ganon posed to the Great Sea is the kidnappings he was perpetuating and some localized trouble in the areas he invaded that were of strategic importance to him as usual. And the kidnappings stopped as soon as Ganon discovered I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Tetra. From then on the only urgency is the possibility that Ganon might capture tetraZelda (spoiler alert: he does).

In short, things were pretty happy-go-lucky for chibi-Link. He could have taken his good old sweet time and nothing would have transpired (especially when Ganon only captures Zelda suspiciously when the plot needs him to). There's no urgency. 7 years or 7 minutes would have conceivably made no difference. Yet here we have an adolescent Link flinging around a chibi-sized sword, presumably forged for adults, that his predecessor expressly couldn't physically wield until he was 7 years older.

 

[Dizzi]

Ghey needed link urgently and they had learnt from OoT so tjey was eh ok lets go!