Let me preface this by saying I'm not sure where else I was supposed to post this question so that it'd garner the attention of people who could actually answer.

I was having a conversation about OoT recently with a friend when we came upon a question I couldn't really google the answer to. Mind, it's been a long time since I've played the game, so my memory is super rusty.

The question is, what was the Master Sword's role in Ocarina of Time? Did Link just use it as a time travelling device, then return it? As in, at the conclusion of the game and the main story, he doesn't actually keep the Master Sword, right? It just returns to it's pedestal when he travels back in time?

We were talking about the possibility of a Fairy Tail / OoT crossover and the question popped up. I put forward that Link shouldn't actually have the Master Sword in such a story, but I couldn't say so with much conviction...

 

dThe point of the Master Sword, as ever, is to be Evil's (Ganon) Bane so that Link can, you know, kill Ganondorf. The whole time travel thing was more a convenient bonus for OoT Link.

EDIT: It also was the seal on the sacred realm.

 

Didn't he travel seven years into the future whenever he withdrew the sword?

So unless he decides to permanently lose those years, the sword has to stay in the temple, right?

 

Permanently... for that incarnation and timeline. Remember, OoT takes place pretty early in the Zelda timeline. And the vast majority of the time, Link uses the Master Sword, so basically everytime except when he CAN'T use it, things like Link's Awakening and some of the games that take place after Wind Waker. But yes, for Majora's Mask Link, that sword is in the temple... for a good while at least.

EDIT: Also I think some of the multiplayer games about force gem collecting doesn't have him use it.

 

I don't even want to think about the continuity of the entire LoZ franchise, lol.

I'm looking at this from the hypothetical that OoT was a standalone game. So in a fic proceeding that story, he wouldn't have the MS if he returned to the original timeline.
That's what I gathered, anyway.

 

Well, OoT isn't stand alone though, MM is a direct sequel. Also the timeline isn't THAT bad. And no, he wouldn't have the sword, IIRC, it's good and sealed until TP in the "goes back in time" timeline.

 

The fic would replace the events of MM as he searches for Navi, so it's standalone in the hypothetical.

 

The sword served two purposes. First, it served it's intended purpose, namely, to thwart Ganon. Secondly, it was used as a sort of conduit. Nobody but Link could draw or replace it, so it was basically used as a sort of fixed point to travel through time. The Temple would remain unchanged.

The sword didn't actually enable Link to travel through time. It was just a fixed point around which the time traveling orbited.

 

The timeline is a fucking hydra.

It starts with the Skyward Sword manga, detailing the original Link (and I mean the first ever Link) and the Goddess Hylia -- then it goes on for a few hundred years to Skyward Sword itself, then Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask, and it forks into three fucking paths.

1. Where Link was defeated by Ganon in the final Ocarina of Time battle.
2. Where Link defeated Ganon, and he continued his life as an adult hero.
3. Where Link defeated Ganon, and then went back in time to tell Zelda the future -- this created a new timeline in the form of a paradox. And also leads into Majora's Mask.

The Skyward Sword used by the original Skyward Sword Manga-Link, I think, and then when his descendent/reincarnation used it later --in the Skyward Sword game-- it was purified into the Master Sword to combat Demise, who is basically the source of the cycle of endless reincarnation between Demise/Ganondorf, The Champion/Link, and the Goddess Hylia/Zelda.

As mentioned by other people, it had many uses and capabilities which were all shown in the different timeline games, but are assumed to be inherent to the Sword anyway regardless of which timeline the ability was shown in.

On a side-note, in the timeline where Twilight Princess occurs, you actually meet the current Link's ancestor/prior reincarnation in the form of a ghostly mentor/hero -- this ghost is the Link you played as from the Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask; the Hero of Time.



http://zeldawiki.org/Hylia's_Chosen_Hero
http://zeldawiki.org/Timeline

There are other stories and mangas on there, too.

 

Pretty sure that hasn't been confirmed. I myself never got that impression from playing the game and thought that theory was kind of stupid when I heard it. Link isn't the only person who knows how to fight with a sword and shield, or the only hero in the setting.

 

Does Hyrule Historia dispel any of this mystery?

@Raine but didn't he replace the sword whenever he travelled back to the present? I don't recall having the Master Sword as child Link. My memory is really rusty though.

 

Adult link traveled back in time by replacing the Master Sword in the pedestal of time. At no point in OoT does child link actually possess the sword (discounting the two seconds he takes to remove it from the pedestal).

 

As I recall, there was some mumbo-jumbo about Kid Link not being ready to defeat Ganondorf when he initially reached the Temple of Time, so...sup, seven year timeskip. That went well...oh wait, Ganondorf richly fucked up Hyrule unchecked for all seven of those years. Whoops!

It's been a looooong time since I've actually thought about OoT (been playing some Majora's Mask on a emulator, though).

e: Obligatory "lol Zelda timeline". Pretty sure this is a Original Internet Argument, or near enough.

 

Yep. Link pulls the sword and gets knocked the fuck out for 7 years because he was too young to use the sword and fight Ganon. If circumstances didn't lead to him drawing the sword as a child, the time travel never would have happened.

 

Child Link can totally use the master sword!

Wrong warping out of the deku tree leads to child link appearing at the top of ganons tower as its burning down.

When actually fighting second-form Ganon at the base of the tower, regardless of whatever you have in hand he will knock the master sword to where Princess Zelda is. Beating him up until the fire falls down and running to the master sword will forcibly equip it onto you- even though you're child Link and can't actually equip it. You then use it to slap Ganon around and win.

/any% route of OoT for the win. Current world record is 18 minutes, 10 seconds.