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. 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. However, the temple still receives recognition as the "Light Room" in Ganon's Castle.

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.

Twilight Princess
Located in the Sacred Grove of Faron Province, the Temple of Time is an actual dungeon in Twilight Princess. Link must traverse this expanded Temple of Time in order to obtain a shard of the Mirror of Twilight.

The entrance to the temple is apparently the original door, which takes Link back in time when the temple was still intact. This door may or may not be the Door of Time. Near the back of temple is the great chamber where the Pedestal of Time is located. The Pedestal of Time will reveal a staircase of light when the Master Sword is thrust inside. This staircase leads through one of the windows to the hidden entrance of the inner reaches of the temple.

The Temple of Time has eight floors here. The main item to be obtained here is the Dominion Rod, an ancient mystical rod used to animate and control statues. This is obtained 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 Song of Time first heard in Ocarina of Time can be heard at the beginning of the temple. The music heard in the dungeon bears a slight resemblance to the tune heard Inside the Deku Tree.

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. This is illogical, however. For one thing, the Temple of Time is virtually the only geographic factor whose location has changed greatly between Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess. If the kingdom of Hyrule moved north after Ocarina of Time, every geographic location, including Death Mountain, Lake Hylia, and Gerudo Desert would not be in their respective locations in Twilight Princess, and would have in fact been left behind. Also, in Ocarina of Time, Lake Hylia is as far south as possible of the Temple of Time. However, in Twilight Princess, Lake Hylia is north of the Temple of Time, strongly disproving the theory that Hyrule Castle moved north. In order for that theory to be true, virtually every geographic factor in Ocarina of Time, except for the Temple of Time, would have to have moved rediculously far north.

It is far more likely that, after Link warned the King of Hyrule and Zelda about Ganondorf's evil plans after being returned to his childhood at the end of Ocarina of Time, the Temple of Time was moved to the Lost Woods to ensure that no evil would ever find it.

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.

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 can strongly disprove many theories. However, given that the Sacred Grove could have warping abilities as stated above, there is no way to be sure of the true direction the temple is facing, merely from the veiwer's perspective.
 * 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.