Something about OoT that kept me baffled.

[Jareddude 62]

You know how Link's body was kept in the Chamber of Light, for seven years?

Well, when Link goes back in time, how does it happen? Since Link just sat there the whole time while Hyrule fell into ruin, does the Master Sword act like a time-travelling clock?

Because when you think about it, it doesn't make much sense that Young Link pulls out the sword, WAITS 7 long years, and can just appear back to Young link a few minutes later, when he puts the sword back.

[Oot_times14 0]

im pretty sure he didnt just SIT there.

isnt the chamber of light like a time-traveling location?

because im quite positive that if link ACTUALLY had to wait in a chamber for 7 years, he would have figured a way out and not watch as the world disintegrates (metaphorically speaking)

[Knuckle 484]

Yes, the game says that Link was sealed in the Sacred Realm for 7 years, or something to that effect. Maybe every time Link puts the sword in the pedestal of time, the Master Sword is trying to do what Zelda does at the end of the game; return Link to his proper place in time. The only difference is that Zelda closes the door behind him for good afterward.

[Green Beret 0]

Perhaps the pedestal is a trans-dimensional portal. And the two universes are exactly the same in every way except that one is seven years later and is evil.

[=Zoe= 3]

it's magic.

done.

The best explanation so far xD you made me laugh.

I think is a time paradox... that's why we can't travel trough time in real life

[Fantasy Panda Dreaming 0]

I feel like 7 years without food or water would probably kill him.

But then again, it's a video game.

[Chase 390]

Link was kept in a state of unconsciousness for 7 years. That's why his vision was all fuzzy when Rauru woke him.

He goes back in time 7 years every time he puts the sword back in. And he goes forward in time 7 years every time he takes the sword back out.

It's not that hard to understand.

[T1g 1503]

there are obviously paradox clones of link running around

obviously

[pheonix561 2080]

Thats another thing I never understood, is why aren't there clones of link running around? And, if he goes forward seven years like he would normally when he pulls out the master sword, why does he go back when he puts it back in?

[Knuckle 484]

Maybe the Master Sword doesn't put him forward in time exactly 7 years after subsequent removals of the master sword. It might just put him back at the place where he last put the master sword into the pedestal.

For example, if adult Link pulls the master sword and goes forward 7 years, spends a day as adult Link and puts the Master Sword back, then pulls it again as a child, then he would be placed in the future a day later than the first time he pulled the sword. That way he can't run into any point in time that he has already been in.

[Sahaqiel 1232]

Link does lay sealed for seven years, yes.

It's like how Ganondorf gets sealed, only it's the protagonist.

Think of it like this. Link gets turned into like, spirit data or something. Then he gets stored in the Sacred Realm computer for seven years. Link cannot interact with the real world, because he is stored in a different real world. Which is why Ganondorf cannot break out of his own seals by himself. He's practically dead to the real world. When Link puts the Master Sword back, time has to be manipulated in order for him to return to his original position, because you can't wait backwards, even in the Sacred Realm.

Theoretically speaking, someone could have broken the seal on Link during his seven years of inactivity, but no one cared to try.

Also, what Knuckle said.

Adding to this, in Majora's Mask, time runs on an assumed one-body line, where Link travels backwards by rewinding time, rather than splitting off into a different timeline at a different position. That's why all his Rupees and items are gone, as opposed to how you kept your items in Ocarina of Time. All his actions were reversed. However, the aforementioned "spirit data" probably has something to do with this, because the only things that stay changed are people who have died and became masks through the Song of Healing. Even dead bosses who became masks become alive again after the rewind, but they didn't have the Song of Healing played for them, so the Song of Healing probably has some kind of time exception, but it also has to be in conjunction with an actual soul. For instance, the Gibdo Mask is obtained by healing the jukebox owner after he became half Gibdo, but since it probably wasn't a spirit that was possessing him, evidenced by how the mask doesn't transform you, and because he was researching Gibdos and doing strange experiments rather than becoming possessed, he becomes transformed again when you rewind.

And pheo, if you're going to ask why there aren't like a thousand alternate timelines because of how much time traveling you do in OoT, I believe you never really have to time travel and become child Link again, so the split timeline theory is based on assuming that you only time traveled once when Zelda put you back in the past.

Sahaqiel

[Skippy 82]

Saha, technically you would be correct about not needing to time travel, but only if you don't get the lens of truth, and if you can find your way through the desert wasteland without it.

As for how he time travels, he is the hero chosen by the gods, their magic allows it. Hyrule plays by the rules they set, and that's how they do it.

[Jareddude 62]

But how come Zelda doesn't remember anything that happens? It implies this when she sees Link at the end of the game, and she turns around like she's never seen him before.

Unless the future Zelda put him back in time farther than he went in....

[Sahaqiel 1232]

Because Link was the only one to time travel.

[Jareddude 62]

I know that...XD

But how come Zelda doesn't remember meeting Link in the courtyard, when he got the letter and learned Zelda's Lullaby?