Current Events > Why does the Adult Link adventure even happen in Ocarina of Time

(+) Yeah! (+)

Aside from split timeline shenanigans, the easiest solution is to put the sword back in the pedestal and warn Zelda and the King of Hyrule, preventing the bad future from happening at all.


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as much as I love OoT the whole "the Master Sword sealed you away because you were too young" aspect is kinda stupid

there have been plenty of younger Links who used the MS just fine, like in ALttP or TWW

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DarkRoast posted...

the easiest solution is to put the sword back in the pedestal and warn Zelda and the King of Hyrule, preventing the bad future from happening at all.

but that's what he did, after saving the future timeline.

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all this ocarina of time talk makes me wanna play BOTW

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Choco posted...

but that's what he did, after saving the future timeline.

A future that won't happen because he changed it.


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Future Dorf left in the future unchallenged probably would've found Zelda Triforce of Wisdom and made it back to the past somehow to konquer both timelines. He did somehow manage to boot Phantom Ganon to another timeline.

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DarkRoast posted...

A future that won't happen because he changed it.

that's not how it works

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Choco posted...

that's not how it works

Only after retroactively claiming that split timelines occurred.

In a purely linear cause-and-effect sense, Young Link will never exist in a world where Ganondorf takes over.


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DarkRoast posted...

Only after retroactively claiming that split timelines occurred.

no.
there is no reason to assume that the future timeline universe just ceases to exist.

DarkRoast posted...

In a purely linear cause-and-effect sense, Young Link will never exist in a world where Ganondorf takes over.

literally doesn't matter unless you're just complaining about link not being selfish.

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Zelda games have not, nor even been, coherent well thought out stories.

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there is no reason to assume that the future timeline universe just ceases to exist.

Literally everyone assumed this until Wind Waker and Twilight Princess had conflicting accounts of what happened to Ganondorf.

Lest we not forget, Majora's Mask was quite literally a direct Child Timeline sequel.

Wind Waker's account seemingly went with Adult Link's timeline but at the time people passed it off as being basically a summary of what Link experienced in OoT.

Then TP flipped it on its head and clearly went with Zelda and King Hyrule imprisoning Ganondorf before he could do anything.


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DarkRoast posted...

there is no reason to assume that the future timeline universe just ceases to exist.

Literally everyone assumed this until Wind Waker and Twilight Princess had conflicting accounts of what happened to Ganondorf.

Lest we not forget, Majora's Mask was quite literally a direct Child Timeline sequel.

literally doesn't matter

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HylianFox posted...

as much as I love OoT the whole "the Master Sword sealed you away because you were too young" aspect is kinda stupid

there have been plenty of younger Links who used the MS just fine, like in ALttP or TWW

Link is 15 in Windwaker, the same age as OoT Link as an adult. We have no idea the age of Alttp Link

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ScazarMeltex posted...

Zelda games have not, nor even been, coherent well thought out stories.

this post isn't coherent either

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Choco posted...

literally doesn't matter

Is that all you can say?

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dave_is_slick posted...

Is that all you can say?

sorry am i supposed to respond differently to 10 different things that literally don't matter?

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HylianFox posted...

there have been plenty of younger Links who used the MS just fine, like in ALttP or TWW

Link's 17 in ALttP, and Wind Waker hadn't happened yet in release order or in-universe.
Young Link is 9. I don't think he would physically be able to lift the Master Sword. Wind Waker is a cartoon and thus has cartoon physics so of course he can lift it.

Choco posted...

that's not how it works

There are a million and one time travel stories. Link has never time travelled before. What reason does he have to believe that he needs to save the future AND stop the future from ever happening at all?

Perascamin posted...

Link is 15 in Windwaker

Where are you getting this number? Super Smash Bros Brawl lists his age as 12, and there don't seem to be any other sources.

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Choco posted...

sorry am i supposed to respond differently to 10 different things that literally don't matter?

Starting with an explanation of why it supposedly doesn't matter, yeah.

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Like Neville being the "Chosen One" in Harry Potter, the Split Timeline thing was obviously not intentional by Nintendo but was retroactively made canonical as fanservice.


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DarkRoast posted...

Like Neville being the "Chosen One" in Harry Potter, the Split Timeline thing was obviously not intentional by Nintendo but was retroactively made canonical as fanservice.

Say what you will about Fantastic Beasts, but rereading Harry Potter makes it quite clear that basically everything was planned from the start.

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Caroniver posted...

Link's 17 in ALttP, and Wind Waker hadn't happened yet in release order or in-universe.
Young Link is 9. I don't think he would physically be able to lift the Master Sword. Wind Waker is a cartoon and thus has cartoon physics so of course he can lift it.

There are a million and one time travel stories. Link has never time travelled before. What reason does he have to believe that he needs to save the future AND stop the future from ever happening at all?

I looked it up, and according to Nintendo, Link was 16 in Wind Waker, which actually makes him older than Adult Link in Ocarina of Time. In SSBB a trophy claimed he was 12, however that was later retconned explicitly by Nintendo.


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It doesn't really matter if Link warns the king or not. Without the master sword Ganondorf can't be defeated.

There's also no such thing as a "timeline" which is literally just fanfiction made up by Dark Horse and someone at Nintendo rubber stamped it without reading it.

But if such a thing were to occur it would be because Ganondorf was sealed away preventing him from reaching Hyrule Castle aka Twilight Princess.

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Tyranthraxus posted...

It doesn't really matter if Link warns the king or not. Without the master sword Ganondorf can't be defeated.

There's also no such thing as a "timeline" which is literally just fanfiction made up by Dark Horse and someone at Nintendo rubber stamped it without reading it.

But if such a thing were to occur it would be because Ganondorf was sealed away preventing him from reaching Hyrule Castle aka Twilight Princess.

In all fairness, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess literally directly contradict each other's accounts of what happened to Ganondorf.

But that's really all fans have to go on.

Things get REALLY weird with Breath of the Wild, though, because you literally find the broken Mirror of Twilight (Child Timeline) and there are clear references to Hyrule being previously flooded, with Ganondorf's actual body being buried under the castle (Adult Timeline).

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DarkRoast posted...

I looked it up, and according to Nintendo, Link was 16 in Wind Waker, which actually makes him older than Adult Link in Ocarina of Time. In SSBB a trophy claimed he was 12, however that was later retconned explicitly by Nintendo.

Where exactly did you "look it up"? The only place I see him being called 16 is a random GameFAQs thread where they just say "Adult Link in OoT was 16 and this is Adult Link timeline so he must be 16" over and over again.

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No, the timeline shifting puzzles imply that both timelines already exist. The future timeline will have existed ever since he pulled the sword, no matter what kind of action is performed in the past timeline. Link wanted to save both timelines.
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Caroniver posted...

There are a million and one time travel stories. Link has never time travelled before. What reason does he have to believe that he needs to save the future AND stop the future from ever happening at all?

if he doesn't know why wouldn't he do exactly that? letting ganon rule the future timeline because it might not matter is something that a hero would do iyo? y'all are literally complaining that link doesn't subscribe to ayn rand philosophy lmfao.

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BakonBitz posted...

No, the timeline shifting puzzles imply that both timelines already exist. The future timeline will have existed ever since he pulled the sword, no matter what kind of action is performed in the past timeline. Link wanted to save both timelines.

I don't think timeline shifting puzzles prove anything, actually.

Other than they prove that changing the past clearly changes the future.

Which, if anything, implies that when Link warns Zelda and King Hyrule about Ganondorf, the "Adult Time" should theoretically change into the Child Timeline.

If doing something in the past clearly alters the world in Adult Link's timeline, it stands to reason that arresting and imprisoning Ganondorf means that he never actually accomplished anything in the Adult Timeline.

Even if they remained two separate timelines, they would be essentially identical.


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He does do that in the original timeline, just everyone involved immediately assumes there's a split that the past timeline wouldn't fix.

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As someone who's favorite franchise is Zelda..

Y'all looking way too deep into this lmao

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DarkRoast posted...

In all fairness, Wind Waker and Twilight Princess literally directly contradict each other's accounts of what happened to Ganondorf.

But that's really all fans have to go on.

Things get REALLY weird with Breath of the Wild, though, because you literally find the broken Mirror of Twilight (Child Timeline) and there are clear references to Hyrule being previously flooded, with Ganondorf's actual body being buried under the castle (Adult Timeline).

How do Wind Waker and Twilight Princess contradict each other considering they take place in different timelines? They're essentially two different versions of Ganondorf.

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Lol at spending more than ten seconds thinking about the story to a zelda game. Im a fan of the series, but the storylines have nothing to do with my enjoyment.

and the whole branching timeline they created retroactively to try and make it all connect just makes it seem even more silly to me

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By the time Link gets the Master Sword, Ganondorf has already entered the Sacred Realm and acquired the Triforce. It's only at the end that Zelda sends him back before his adventure starts.

And yeah, to the best of my memory, WW and TP are different timelines. WW is the adult Link timeline where Ganondorf is imprisoned in the Sacred Realm. Him breaking out is what causes the gods to flood Hyrule. TP is the child timeline where he was sent to the Arbiter's Ground to be executed.

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DarkRoast posted...

Like Neville being the "Chosen One" in Harry Potter, the Split Timeline thing was obviously not intentional by Nintendo but was retroactively made canonical as fanservice.

Nah, the Neville thing was 100% planned from the start.

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SSJCAT posted...

Lol at spending more than ten seconds thinking about the story to a zelda game. Im a fan of the series, but the storylines have nothing to do with my enjoyment.

and the whole branching timeline they created retroactively to try and make it all connect just makes it seem even more silly to me

The timeline is silly, but it's fun

Thing is I think you're supposed to take it at face value and not look deeper, bc it's just gonna fall apart lol

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DarkRoast posted...

Things get REALLY weird with Breath of the Wild, though, because you literally find the broken Mirror of Twilight (Child Timeline) and there are clear references to Hyrule being previously flooded, with Ganondorf's actual body being buried under the castle (Adult Timeline).

BotW is far future, though. You could easily explain it as any timeline, after enough time has passed, will see events occur that are similar to those in another timeline.

or we could go all time loop with it, and say that after a timeline ends, the universe is reset, and somehow artifacts and legends carry over to the new, rebooted universe.

or, my favorite theory: Nintendo cares so little about world building and story-telling, that our official timelines were outsourced to the company who made Hyrule Historian lol.

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GeneralKenobi85 posted...

How do Wind Waker and Twilight Princess contradict each other considering they take place in different timelines? They're essentially two different versions of Ganondorf.

Actually they're the same Ganondorf but its always a different Link. Ganondorf gets sent to the Sacred Realm where he's imprisoned. He breaks free and Sacred Realm takes place outside of time so he ends up wreaking havoc on one of the two timelines.

Then there's Ganon who is in the "hero failed" timeline where he exists and then is killed and brought back on occasion.

DarkRoast posted...

Aside from split timeline shenanigans, the easiest solution is to put the sword back in the pedestal and warn Zelda and the King of Hyrule, preventing the bad future from happening at all.

When you put the sword back in the pedestal, doesnt it just take Link back to the moment when he last pulled the sword out? Thats the impression I was under. And by that point, Zelda was already on the run from Ganandorf (when she tosses Link the ocarina during her escape).

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The Popo posted...

When you put the sword back in the pedestal, doesnt it just take Link back to the moment when he last pulled the sword out? Thats the impression I was under. And by that point, Zelda was already on the run from Ganandorf (when she tosses Link the ocarina during her escape).

Yep. Basically. The difference was that once Ganon was defeated, Zelda was free and her adult self was able to send Link back to 3 months before Ganondorf showed up and they imprisoned/executed him.

dameon_reaper posted...

Actually they're the same Ganondorf but its always a different Link. Ganondorf gets sent to the Sacred Realm where he's imprisoned. He breaks free and Sacred Realm takes place outside of time so he ends up wreaking havoc on one of the two timelines.

Then there's Ganon who is in the "hero failed" timeline where he exists and then is killed and brought back on occasion.

In that sense, yes. I should have said instead they're two different characters, since one experienced a 7 year rule over Hyrule and the other never made it that far.

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GeneralKenobi85 posted...

In that sense, yes. I should have said instead they're two different characters, since one experienced a 7 year rule over Hyrule and the other never made it that far.

Or he's TRYING to make it that far lol. Imagine finally breaking free from your prison...again and you pop up and this little dude in green clothes is reincarnated and its like "SONAVA--"

dameon_reaper posted...

Actually they're the same Ganondorf but its always a different Link. Ganondorf gets sent to the Sacred Realm where he's imprisoned. He breaks free and Sacred Realm takes place outside of time so he ends up wreaking havoc on one of the two timelines.

Lol wut???

There not the same Ganondorf. WW Ganondorf has the triforce of power at the start of the game because he had it at the end of the adult timeline. TP Ganondorf didnt have the triforce of power because he never went into the sacred realm. He only got it later at his execution do to the divine prank.

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I came to mention that the temple of time is locked into one fixed state for Link to return to, which is AFTER Ganondorf makes his play in the child timeline.

Also, wasn't part of the problem that Zelda needed the presence of all three tri-force pieces to be able to time travel properly? Or something like that. It's been a long time since I played OoT.

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ViewtifulGrave posted...

Lol wut???

There not the same Ganondorf. WW Ganondorf has the triforce of power at the start of the game because he had it at the end of the adult timeline. TP Ganondorf didnt have the triforce of power because he never went into the sacred realm. He only got it later at his execution do to the divine prank.

Maybe I misinterpreted it this whole time. Huh...Going to have to re-read everything again to see if I misunderstood it.

ViewtifulGrave posted...

Lol wut???

There not the same Ganondorf. WW Ganondorf has the triforce of power at the start of the game because he had it at the end of the adult timeline. TP Ganondorf didnt have the triforce of power because he never went into the sacred realm. He only got it later at his execution do to the divine prank.

They're the same Ganondorf on different timelines, for all intents and purposes every single Ganon is the same except for Four Sword Adventures which is a new one. In all of the timelines there are two Ganons and multiple Links and Zeldas

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SSJKirby posted...

They're the same Ganondorf on different timelines, for all intents and purposes every single Ganon is the same except for Four Sword Adventures which is a new one. In all of the timelines there are two Ganons and multiple Links and Zeldas

Nah, he's not wrong. My thoughts are that Ganon is the same person throughout all of the games where he keeps memory of Twilight Princess AND Windwaker but its the same Ganon, just in different timelines so they're going through different obstacles. So there's multiple Ganons, just all of them are the same one from OoT

Err, pretty sure that Ganondorf had already begun his attack by the time Link got to the Master Sword, so him putting it back to try to warn the king would accomplish very little and most likely get him killed

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mehmeh1 posted...

Err, pretty sure that Ganondorf had already begun his attack by the time Link got to the Master Sword, so him putting it back to try to warn the king would accomplish very little and most likely get him killed

Plus, they'll be sending soldiers to an already empowered Ganondorf who is wielding the Triforce piece of Power

AlisLandale posted...

BotW is far future, though. You could easily explain it as any timeline, after enough time has passed, will see events occur that are similar to those in another timeline.

or we could go all time loop with it, and say that after a timeline ends, the universe is reset, and somehow artifacts and legends carry over to the new, rebooted universe.

or, my favorite theory: Nintendo cares so little about world building and story-telling, that our official timelines were outsourced to the company who made Hyrule Historian lol.

Or, simplest answer, it's so far in the future that all the previous games are now literal legends. Nobody alive can remember the exact details.

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SSJKirby posted...

They're the same Ganondorf on different timelines, for all intents and purposes every single Ganon is the same except for Four Sword Adventures which is a new one. In all of the timelines there are two Ganons and multiple Links and Zeldas

I know thats why I put the word same in quotes.

dameon_reaper posted...

Nah, he's not wrong. My thoughts are that Ganon is the same person throughout all of the games where he keeps memory of Twilight Princess AND Windwaker but its the same Ganon, just in different timelines so they're going through different obstacles. So there's multiple Ganons, just all of them are the same one from OoT

So you think Ganondorf is like Darksied? A singular being existing in all timelines and dimensions?

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ViewtifulGrave posted...

I know thats why I put the word same in quotes.

right I misunderstood

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