Temple of Time


 * This article is about the temple located in Hyrule. For the temple located in the Sacred Realm, see the Temple of Light.



The Temple of Time is a place in Ocarina of Time and a dungeon in Twilight Princess.

History
The Temple of Time is the sanctified gateway between Hyrule and the Sacred Realm. When the Master Sword was infused into the Pedestal of Time, it sealed that gateway in the hopes of preventing all but the most worthy to reach the Sacred Realm, where the ancient Triforce lies.

It is said that only the Hero of Time may enter the secret chambers of the temple and draw the Master Sword. The Temple of Time is one of Hyrule's most ancient edifices, and the ancient Sages aided in its construction long ago.

Within the temple stands a sacred altar which bears inscribed instructions to opening the Door of Time, which leads to the Master Sword. The inscription reads that the person needs to have possession of all three Spiritual Stones, stand with the Ocarina of Time, and play the Song of Time.

The Temple of Time is connected to the Temple of Light, which resides within the Sacred Realm.

The Door of Time
The Door of Time, located within the Temple of Time, is the powerful barrier that blocks access to the Pedestal of Time. The Master Sword, which is the key to entering the Sacred Realm, rests in this pedestal.

The door can only be opened by bringing together three Spiritual Stones: the Kokiri's Emerald, the Goron's Ruby, and the Zora's Sapphire. When these three stones are brought together and the Song of Time is played upon the Ocarina of Time at the altar, the door slides open and the path to the legendary blade is revealed.

According to Rauru, the Door of Time is, effectively, an obstacle to the Sacred Realm put in place when the Triforce was sealed away. At the start of Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf is attempting to remove this obstacle but is frustrated by the guardians of the Spiritual Stones.

The Door of Time possibly made another appearance in Twilight Princess. At the entrance to the ruined temple, there is a single set of stone doors. When translated from ancient Hylian, the inscription upon them reads "Time Door." The mystical portal contained within these doors became the means through which the Link of Twilight Princess was able to travel back in time to visit the Temple of Time fully intact, as it stood in the days of his forbearer.

However, there is room for doubt that the doors portrayed in Twilight Princess are not in fact the same as the actual "Door of Time" of Ocarina of Time. One thing to take into consideration is the fact that the "Time Door" of Twilight Princess is located on the outer wall of the Temple of Time, the same place where one would enter the temple in Ocarina of Time but not where the chamber containing the Master Sword was entered - that more corresponds to the doorway that the Guardians of the Sacred Grove protect in Twilight Princess. However, the Door of Time was in two pieces in Ocarina of Time, unlike the door protected by the stone Guardians, which is one solid piece of stone that rose upward rather than parting into two pieces as the Door of Time did in Ocarina of Time. The "Time Door" however is in two pieces, and thus more closely matches the physical appearance of the Door of Time. This may possibly be explained if the Door of Time was perhaps moved from its original place and refashioned to be the main door to the Temple of Time following the end of Ocarina of Time (the main door to the temple in Ocarina of Time was wood, not stone, giving further rise to the possibility that the Door of Time could have been moved). Both the "Time Door" as well as the door protected by the Guardians are also of identical shape, which means that the "Time Door" could easily have once occupied the doorway leading to the Chamber of the Master Sword. If the "Time Door" is in fact the Door of Time itself, it would give new meaning to its name as the "Time Door" exhibits time travel powers. One way or the other however, the Door of Time logically made another appearance, either as the "Time Door" or the door guarded by the statue guardians.

Ocarina of Time
After collecting the three Spiritual Stones and finding the Ocarina of Time, Link had to travel to the Temple of Time to acquire the Master Sword and enter the Sacred Realm. However, his spirit was unexpectedly sealed away for seven years by the Master Sword, for Link was not yet old enough to become the Hero of Time. When he finally awakened, Rauru the sage explained Hyrule's dire situation to Link, gave him the Light Medallion, and charged him with awakening the other sages.

There are only two rooms of the Temple of Time accessible by Link in Ocarina of Time.

A notable glitch of Ocarina of Time is that upon heading through the passageway towards the Pedestal of Time, the walls ahead can be seen to change shape drastically. This glitch is supposedly caused by a compression technique used in the game.

Entrance Hall and the Chamber of the Master Sword
Located in the Sacred Grove of the Faron Province, the temple first appears as unidentifiable ruins guarded by stone statues. However, by traveling back through time, Link can explore the temple before it fell into ruin. In the past, the Temple of Time is virtually identical to how it appears in Ocarina of Time, with the exception of the missing Spiritual Stones. The window in the Chamber of the Master Sword may be used to access a previously hidden part of the temple that appears almost entirely separate from Hyrule itself when the Master Sword is thrust into the Pedestal of Time.

By stepping out of the temple doors, Link can travel back into the present.

The music inside the entrance hall is a re-make of the Ocarina of Time version.

Private Chambers of the Temple of Time
Accessible only in the past, Link must traverse the private chambers of the Temple of Time that only the Hero chosen by the Master Sword is granted access to in order to obtain a shard of the Mirror of Twilight.

The Temple of Time has eight floors, all leading upward, and contains many windows in its upper levels showing light shining through from outside. The main item to be obtained inside is the Dominion Rod, an ancient mystical rod used to animate and control statues. This may be acquired after defeating the temple's mini-boss, a Darknut. The Temple has a more archaic style than in Ocarina of Time, and its redesign reflects the redesign in the Master Sword.

The music heard in the dungeon bears a slight resemblance to the tune heard Inside the Deku Tree.

Trivia

 * The background music of the Temple of Time is the Song of Time.
 * If the inscription on the Pedestal of Time holding the Master Sword is translated from Hylian, it reads "Master Sword."
 * Likewise, the door that Link steps through to find the Temple of Time in the past bears an inscription that reads "Time Door."
 * In Twilight Princess, there are inscriptions on the wall just past the statues in the entrance of the Temple of Time which read "stone statue", "sanctuary", "master sword", and "copy rod" (referring to the Dominion Rod, the dungeon's treasure, and the way in which it causes statues to imitate Link's actions). These words are repeated over and over on that wall, making it look like it contains more that it really does.
 * The 8th floor of the dungeon bears a striking resemblance to the Pantheon in Rome.
 * Tiles in the dungeon depict the Light Medallion from Ocarina of Time.
 * While the Master Sword and the Pedestal of Time make an appearance in The Wind Waker, they are found in Hyrule Castle instead of the Temple of Time.
 * In Ocarina of Time, the temple faces west, but in Twilight Princess, it is facing south. This fact has been used by some to disprove many theories on placement, but has arguments of its own.
 * It is possible to skip the Temple of Time in Twilight Princess and still be able to complete the Mirror of Twilight.

Temple of Time/Tower of the Gods
It is possible, that the Tower of the Gods from The Wind Waker is the Temple of Time, due to similarities such as the fact that they are both located in close proximity Hyrule Castle, have similar music, statues which Link can control, numerous Beamos and Armos, and also the fact that the mini-boss in each temple is a Darknut, and there is also a room in each temple with a balance scale that requires the weight of statues to manipulate.

Temple of Time Ocarina of Time/Temple of Time Twilight Princess
It is unknown whether the Temple of Time was moved to a location near the Forest Temple, or if Hyrule Castle was rebuilt north of where it originally stood, and Faron Woods grew up around the old Castle Town. Those who argue this theory mention Ganon's Tower, which took the place of Hyrule Castle during Adult Link's quest, was destroyed at the end of Ocarina of Time. However, Twilight Princess takes place on the child timeline, where Ganon's Tower was never created and Hyrule Castle was never destroyed. Another reason to support this is in Twilight Princess when Wolf Link is traversing on top of Hyrule Castle there appears to be scaffolding as if Hyrule Castle was nearing completion of being built or possibly re-built. The presence of the ruins of what appears to have been a grand city (where Link fights the Skull Kid) surrounding the ruins of the Temple of Time further makes this theory plausible, as it appears very similar and similar in location to its Ocarina of Time counterpart. In Ocarina of Time, the entrance to the Temple of Time was just off the market square, and in Twilight Princess, the ruins of what appear to be the one and same market square are just a short walk away from the ruined entrance of the Temple of Time, virtually identical to the way things were laid out in the market square of Ocarina of Time.

Another possibility is that the Temple of Time was moved or rebuilt in the Sacred Grove after the events of Ocarina of Time, where Link warned the Royal Family of Hyrule about Ganondorf's evil intentions, and the Temple was rebuilt as a precaution in order to hide it from evil. There is no conclusive evidence to support this however apart from the mere possibility that it was moved. This also does not explain the ruins of other buildings surrounding the Temple of Time's ruins either. Following the end of Ocarina of Time, gamers are led to believe that the events of Twilight Princess take place in the Child Timeline, where the Sages show that Ganondorf still attacked the kingdom of Hyrule while trying to establish dominion over the Sacred Realm. They show a scene where Ganondorf is shown during the attack, with much fire and destruction behind him. This would suggest that perhaps the Hylian army was warned and prepared after the Hero of Time warned Zelda and the King of Ganondorf's true intentions (which the game developers confirmed in subsequent interviews about the game), and there was much more destruction due to the increased resistance by the King's soldiers. If this was the case, it would further suggest that perhaps there was so much damage to the city that it was abandoned and rebuilt near the center of Hyrule, leaving the original Hyrule Castle Town (the ruins of which are seen during the Skull Kid battles in Twilight Princess) and the Temple of Time to fall into ruin within what became the Sacred Grove.

It is also a possible that, since Link has to pass through the Sacred Grove in order to access the Temple (which may have similar warping abilities as the Lost Woods), Link has simply been unknowingly warped to a similarly forested area where the Temple of Time is located, the place where the original Hyrule Castle Town of Ocarina of Time once stood.

Temple of Time/Light Temple
The Light Temple, located in the Sacred Realm, is unable to be fully explored in Ocarina of Time, though it is mentioned by Rauru and visited by the Hero of Time each time he frees one of the Seven Sages, in which he only visits the Chamber of Sages. The Temple of Time in Twilight Princess contains an entire dungeon beyond the window in the Chamber of the Master Sword, seemingly leading to a place completely separate from Hyrule. The dungeon may be the unexplored areas of the Light Temple outside the Chamber of Sages.