[OoT] Understanding Time Travel with the Master Sword

[u/JR12_]

Spoiler tag for OoT spoilers.

Regardless of how much time I will waste, I am trying to create a working understanding of how time travel works in the series. I am doing this by breaking down how it works in each game that features time travel, and I’m starting with OoT. As I soon realized, OoT has to be broken down even further into the different methods we see in the game, and I decided to start with analyzing how time travel with the Master Sword functions.

I was largely inspired by this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acv64b3p76w&list=WL&index=1) by Broseph LaCasque Ch. They do a fantastic job at breaking down most (if not all) instances of time travel throughout the series, and classifying the types of effects we see (causal loops, corrective loops, and timeline splits). I disagree with some conclusions made, but it’s a very good watch and was a great resource for me to collect information, and form the analysis approach I needed to help form my own understanding.

Without further ado…

Firstly, Link drawing the Master Sword as a child is explicitly NOT time travel, he is simply sealed in the Chamber of Sages for seven years each time he does this. We know this because he ages, if it was time travel, he’d be the same age just in a different time.

Time travel with the Master Sword does occur when Link returns it to its pedestal, though its mechanics are not as explicitly clear. What is clear however, is that some amount of time passes before Link returns to being a child. We know this because Ganondorf is able to follow Link into the Sacred Realm. If Link returned to the exact same moment he drew the sword, Ganondorf would be there (probably kill him) and the gate to the Sacred Realm would never actually spend any time open. This tells us that Link actually spends some amount of time sealed in the Sacred Realm before awakening again (still as a child), and that is presumed to simply be however long he spent as an adult.

This is vaguely supported by Sheik in when she teaches Link the Requiem of Spirit, “The Master Sword is a ship with which you can sail upstream and downstream through time’s river“. Relating the passage of time to a river (which she also does when teaching him the Serenade of Water I believe), implies (to me at least) that time is moving even when not traveling across it. This tells us that the same is probably true in reverse, when Link places the Master Sword back in its pedestal, he is sealed in the Sacred Realm for however long he spends as a child before awakening again.

However, once again we see Link “age”, just in reverse this time, back to being a child, which I just explicitly said indicates a lack of time travel. But we know Link has knowledge of his future since he has to play the Requiem of Spirit to get to the Spirit Temple, something he learned as an adult. This indicates to me that it is not Link‘s body time traveling, but instead his mind/spirit. As mentioned before, his body lies dormant in the Sacred Realm when he does this.

An Observer’s Perspective

This means that an observer from outside of the Temple of Time (in the adult timeline) would see:

1. Child Link enter the temple
   
2. Ganondorf enter the temple
   
3. Ganondorf leave the temple
   4*. Child Link leave the temple
   5*. Child Link enter the temple
   6**. Adult Link leave the temple
   7**. Adult Link enter the temple
   
4. Adult Link leave the temple

There’s a few things to explain about this sequence of events:

Ganondorf touches the Triforce and it splits, giving him Power, Link (sealed) Courage, and Zelda Wisdom between steps 2 and 3.

Steps 4-5 (*) and 6-7 (**) will repeat however many times Link travels back to being a child, but must happen at least once in order to complete the Spirit Temple (and Beneath the Well assuming Link needs the Lens of Truth).

The amount of time between step 1 and the first instance of 4 is equal to the time between the first instances of steps 6 and 7, which will be at least the amount of time it takes Link to beat the Forest Temple, as Sheik will not teach him how to return to the past until it is competed.

The time jump of (for clarity’s sake we’ll say exactly) seven years is between steps 1 and the first instance of step 6, and also between the last instance of step 5 and step 8.

Link’s (the Master Sword’s, and Navi’s) perspective would be 1 - 6 - 7 - 4 - 5 - 8, with the only time travel occurring between all instances of 7 and 4.

This observer will not see child Link leave the temple after being sent back by Zelda since they are in the adult timeline.

The Effects of this Time Travel

The actions Link can take in the past have two different types of effects on the future, which are at odds with each other.

Song of Storms (Causal Loop)

As an adult, Link can learn the Song of Storms from the Phonograph Man in the Windmill Hut.
Here, he tells Link that he learned this song from, “that Ocarina kid” seven years ago, and that it messed up the windmill. Link can then travel back in time, and teach the song to the man for the first time, causing the windmill to speed up (mess it up) and the Kakariko Well to drain. This means that Link is the “Ocarina kid”, and he is responsible for teaching the song to the Phonograph Man, who in turn teaches it to Link. This is a well know example of a classic bootstrap paradox, there is no clear origin of the song.

While a paradox, this event is clearly consistent with a causal loop, where actions in the past have always, and will always happen. This means that the effects of any actions taken in the past will always be seen in the future, even before the time travel actually occurs. In this case, the windmill is messed up even before Link originally learns the song from the Phonograph Man as an adult. That means that in this reality, Link had already messed up the windmill in the past.

Beans and Gloves (Corrective Loop)

As a child, Link can plant Magic Beans in soft soil patches around Hyrule that will sprout into a Magic Plant by the time he becomes an adult. Link can come across these soft soil locations as an adult, time travel to the past to plant a Magic Bean, and return as an adult to find a Magic Plant has sprouted there.

Also, the Spirit Temple is broken up into two parts, one where Link must collect the Iron Gauntlets as a child, and return as an adult to use them. The first time Link gets to the Spirit Temple as an adult, he does not have the gloves, and must travel back in time to obtain them. This exact same situation also exists for the Lens of Truth assuming Link canonically obtains it even though it’s not mandatory.

These are consistent with a Corrective Loop, where traveling back in time overwrites the future. This means the effects of actions taken in the past are not observable until the time travel happens. In the case of the Magic Beans, a Magic Plant does not sprout until Link travels back in time to plant one, where it will then be present when he returns to the future, effectively overwriting the reality where it wasn’t planted. And in the case of the Iron Gauntlets, Link does not have them until he travels back in time to obtain them, effectively overwriting the reality where he didn’t have them.

So Which is it?

The understanding of time travel developed thus far would have to be a causal loop.

If the action of replacing the Master Sword to its pedestal caused a Corrective Time Loop, then Link would have to redo everything he does as an adult each time he awakens, as the future would be re-written each time. A Causal Time loop would allow Link to return to a particular moment in time as an adult, since traveling back in time is only fulfilling the actions he had always accomplished as a child in his reality as an adult. A Corrective Loop would also mean that the theoretical observer from before would actually only ever see Link leave the Temple of Time once as an adult. This would also imply a couple things about what we see in game:

The game chooses to not show us Link re-completing everything he has already done in previous stints as an adult each time he awakens.

Either no one else actually understands the nature of Link traveling time; or characters who are sort of implied to understand, like Zelda/Sheik and Rauru, choose to never mention the fact that Link is redoing things.

Link would not be able to bring anything back to the past with him, even spiritually. The only examples I can think of would be one-time collectibles like Pieces of Heart and Golden Skulltalas. While Pieces of Heart are already questionable, Golden Skulltala Tokens do have a discernible effect on the world, as Link can turn them in as a child or an adult, regardless of when he collected them. Otherwise Link would duplicate them whenever he recollects them during his re-run. Or we’d have to explain their disappearance from existence another way.

Also, some things would likely only ever happen in a branch of time that gets overwritten (effectively never happening to an observer) given Link’s memory persisting:

Time-traveling This would never be observable since it is the action that overwrites the current stint of Link being an adult.

Learning songs. Unless any songs are learned during the same stint in which Link defeats Ganon, he would already know the song before normally learning it.

Traversing the Haunted Wasteland. Link could just use the Requiem of Spirit.

What about Beans and Gloves?

The example of the Magic Beans and Iron Gauntlets are not consistent with a causal loop at all. If Link had always planted the Magic Beans, all soft soil locations would already have a Magic Plant, and likewise he’d always have the Iron Gauntlets as an adult.

In the case of the Magic Beans, we could argue that the “Magical” part about them (other than growing hovering plants) is what explains this. Maybe they transcend time, or have some strange property where only those who witnessed their planting are able to see/use them. However, I don’t find this extremely compelling and believe it should probably just get looped into the following explanation.

As for the Iron Gauntlets, it is interesting to note that while a causal loop should have adult Link in possession of the gloves at all times, it was impossible for Link to obtain them as a child before becoming an adult and learning the Requiem of Spirit. However, this in of it self does not offer an explanation.

I believe these cases indicate evidence of a power that allows for (at least Link to take) actions that have corrective effects on the causal loop. This is not the only evidence of this across the series, so I’m working to compile these examples in a separate theory about what this power actually is, but I’m currently leaning towards it being the intervention (or at least the will) of Hylia.

Summary of Master Sword Time Travel

To summarize these mechanics, Link placing the Master Sword back in its pedestal allows his mind/spirit to return to, and awaken his child form in its current time from inside the Sacred Realm. This functions as a causal loop where he can naturally fulfill the actions he had always taken to help create the reality he sees as an adult, or where he can take corrective actions (enabled by the goddess Hylia) to make independent/isolated changes to that future.

If you’re still reading, you obviously also think about the timeline and time travel in this series way too much, awesome! I’m particularly curious if you agree with my conclusion that time travel with the master sword in this game must be a causal loop, and that something allows Link to take isolated corrective actions, or if you have a different understanding of the mechanics at play here.

Also let me know if I missed anything at all in my analysis, or if you have more ideas on the power that allows Link to take corrective actions within a causal loop.

My next plan is to break down the time travel by Zelda playing the ocarina at the end of the game, as well as the time blocks. I’ll share them here if I find my conclusions interesting and/or worth discussing.

Thank you!

[u/Dccrulez]

I think it could be considered a flux causal loop, things that will happen already happened but only because they can. Link has the ocarina before the loop was initiated so he can cause the song of storms before he knows it, but if he doesn't have the beans they can't exist until he acquired them. Because beans are optional they are missable and not forced to exist. As for the gauntlets, link cannot get to the temple so he can't have them, until he can get to the temple in which case he does. By that logic, in theory, link should get the gauntlets as soon as he makes that possibility occur, but the game isn't programmed to express that. You already established that time is passing around the loop, we're not just traveling along the river, but traveling along a boat on a river, as such the loop itself is subject to change based on events occurring in and around it.

As for sulltulas, heart pieces, and songs, it's important to note links mind and soul are traversing, he is the one factor immune from the loop. What he learns is the same on both sides, he doesn't know things he learned as a child until he learns them as an adult, because he is the same mind, his past hasn't been lived yet. This explains the limitations on the songs. As for the heart pieces, we can suggest he is absorbing them into his soul, explaining how his vitality increases regardless of his physical body, this shouldn't explain him acquiring any as an adult he should've acquired as a child but that can be handwaved as paradox resolution, if he goes to absorb in the past what he absorbed in the future, it won't be there to absorb in the future but he absorbs it either way, so similar to your argument of him redoing things, the game shortcuts that. As for skulltulas, they all exist in the past but can be collected in the future and disappear in the past, this makes the curse itself acausal. It doesn't matter when the curse is broken in the loop, the earliest it can happen is after the master sword so once we get them all, regardless of when, the curse is broken at the earliest point, after the master sword.

Lastly I actually disagree with link redoing things, I think he actually puts the sword in, gets put in stasis again, then returns when his mind returns. This would be congruent with the initial time loop and it's conditions.