Ello! This is a timeline/portal explanation in the occurrence of it and use in the series called Storm covered waters. If you haven’t heard of it I suggest you go to it if you want to understand this post a bit better, or completely ignore it and just read because you want to hear someone’s opinions of the timeline/time travel, portals and some ideas for the magic system from me.
Now, actually onto the post-
First, before we can get into the details of Tempest and Hurricanes Collide timeline, we must discuss how in my fanfiction writing, I deal with the timeline of the links already.
Going into this, we are using the established timeline that is recorded in Hyrule Historia, with one small adjustment. (Blame Matpat for this after I watched his game theory video and could’t think differently.) The only change in the timeline of which I have made, is that Hyrule Warriors is on the timeline and comes before Breath of the Wild. As it combines all the timelines together (with its own portal and magic) and then sets the timeline to be linear again. This is the only adjustment I have added into the original timeline.
The timeline as it is, is that Sky was the first chosen for the triforce of courage, and then Four was his descendant. Then comes TIme, who with the help of the sages and magic, successfully splits the timeline. Now, with this idea, we come to how this affects this in the story. When Time went back in time, he didn’t actually go back. Infact, how it is set up where you can go back in time and then jump forwards again, it feels more like Time is hopping from timeline to another. Which he actually is without knowledge of his acts. In Majory’s mask (where I would say going back in time is done without jumping into other timelines and to go back in time means to repeat everything, is the only time Time actually did go back in time in the same timeline.) However with how we know the timeline was split, as we have that already in canon, it’s more as Time was split into two timelines, and like how he could with the lost forest, was able to go between the two fluidly. Now this wouldn’t normally be possible, but the ocarina is a powerful object that can bend time with its raw magic that it produces and allows it to be possible along with the increased magic input of the matersword. (Basically imagine that the ocarina is a power hungry force. It requires a lot of magic and produces it to be used, it has some of its limits, but if it’s paired with magic increasing items or raw producing items that it can feed on to increase its reach makes it more valuable. Such as, with the Master Sword, the ocarina can jump into another timeline without a song to be played. This key point isn’t spotted by Link right away that how he can travel through the timeline is by the masterswords energy source that the ocarina feeds on. On its own, however, the ocarina is a powerful item. Just resting on the hero’s spirit as a source of raw magic (the triforce of courage produces) can change the time of day or even, when used to its full power of just being on its own power, can go back three days in time.) so with this source and jumping from two dimensions that were intertwined, we get the split timeline. But they do not grow away from each other or branch out. With these three different timeline after the adventures of Link from Ocarina of Time, they are more laid on top of eachother. Think of a path. You have the path on the surface, then a tunnel beneath it and another beneath that one. They are layered on top of eachother that follow the same stretch of time. This is where we get the hero of Time’s successors. Twilight, Legend, and Wind. The branching timelines are from them. They are layered like a cake as they follow each other's stretch of time and make it easier to combine them all during the war of eras. Hyrule’s Warriors combine these timelines together, as they were piled ontop of eachother but then are combined once again into a single timeline. Then after this, we have Breath of the Wild.
So after explaining this, this is how I view the current time and how it operates. However, now we get into the portals and how those work and how they affect the chain and their interworks.
In the timeline, there is a magic disturbance which leads to key points in time. Of where the portals pop up and go. They originally came while the hero’s were living in their place, when there was an uneven ruling in the triforce (Ganon gone, Zelda holding the triforce of Wisdom and Link renicared with courage. This does apply to Wind’s Hyrule as Ganon was on his own for a while and nothing accord but then Zelda and Link came and got their triforce, or bent the god’s will to get it. This, in their lifetime, is when the portals show up. When the triforce is the most active and can be pinpointed as it has a higher rate in raw magic that it produces.) With this, the portals pulled the Links together. It’s still unknowing if this was Dink’s plan as he went through the timeline or merely a side effect, but it was an occurrence nonetheless.
However with this, comes the second point. Since the timeline has already been disrupted, it’s on an uneven playing ground. As Dink goes through time and leads a trail of black monsters (too strong and magic influenced) they lead their own trail with the portals that lead the heros to them. Which won’t be a problem until we look at how the timeline is now displayed.
As it once was stacked but in a linear course until Warriors and Wild’s time, now they had a tree branch effect. Which can lead to some collisions. After Ocean’s timeline, his brothers dying but him officaling killing Dink (which isn’t specifically said in Tempest but more hinted at the dark being dead and that he was a shift shaper. And… had a bit of a gruesome death if you read between the lines of WInd’s inner thoughts.) Since that timeline suddenly comes from a high active magic spot to suddenly only displaying a single raw magic source, it had its ripple effects. Nothing happens at first because nothing can without Dink to interfere or Hylia with the timeline. But, again, this is a tree branch timeline. With the event that led up to Ocean’s brothers’ demise, there were three outcomes that occurred. One, Ocean’s brothers, died and left him alone. Second, There wasn’t any battle and Dink led them somewhere else or they happened to go on a different route. The third, and what a future one-shot will be about, is what caused the divide. Wind, after watching his brothers die, made a reset in the timeline. And that’s all I will say until I had the one-shot out, but it’s the reason why there are the three different routes.
Since Ocean had a raw magic source not yet grouped again and not in his own timeline or era, he did displace some unrest in the timeline. The magic input for that era wasn’t right as it needed to be stabilized. Thus, when another timeline came close to his, like the chain once, he was pulled back into it with a portal. Starting the tree branch effect and a collision. With this now, he added to the effects of the chain.
Without ruining the end of the series, or doing much hinting, Ocean’s presence with the rest of the raw magic of the triforce presence within the group, Ocean could settle in with them without causing any disturbances. His mass was accepted and his being was placed into the era with everyone else. Which is why he doesn’t disappear or fade away. He is accepted by the timeline for now as the timeline made room for his presence with a bit of Hylia’s help to stabilize everything else.
Now comes to the real point most of you wanted to know about at the end of chapter 7… ‘Why doesn’t Ocean realize that if he killed Wind he would die too?’ Now there are many ways to go about this so I will go with the most straight cut way I can. The grandfather paradox. The idea that if you killed your grandfather then you wouldn’t exist. Now, already I have explained how Ocean was able to settle into their timeline from his own without being rejected. Since his mass has been equaled out (with the help of magic like Time did when he was younger) he hasn’t had to worry about fading away. Another key point is, Ocean isn’t from this timeline, technically, these aren’t his brothers and himself, though younger and expected the same things in the past, aren’t the same. But regardless of this fact, the grandfather paradox wouldn’t compute either way. Since Ocean’s mass has settled and there aren’t any disruptions in it, he wouldn’t go away. Saying that if he killed Wind, he wouldn’t disappear. Not only because Wind technically isn’t the younger him, but because his mass was settled and thus his presence in the present isn’t leaning on Wind’s form. Because if anything happens to Wind, there's no tie connecting him to Ocean because Ocean and him are on the same field. They are both there and considered ‘separate beings’ and either one can die without the other being affected.
This also affects the idea that Ocean’s presence affects this timeline too. Whatever the original timeline was or is, the story of HC isn’t following it; as soon as Ocean arrived, the course of the timeline went sideways and in a way, Ocean vered them off whatever path they were on to lead them here.
Which means that anything could happen with where the story is now as there’s no guarantee of where it will end or if it will collide again with another timeline. As the portals now have destabilized the timeline and branched off more from what it could be and restabliting it might lead to something else internally. Whatever it is, the chain is stuck with it all. Who knows how many branches there are and which ones actually get back to their original timeline or survive. But these are just my thoughts :)
If you have any questions or anything you want to add, feel free! (and if I messed some information up or anything like that, you can let me know. I am a stupid human and you are completely free to point it out lol)
