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 the name shared by two temples, the original appearing in Skyward Sword and its successor in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess. It is revealed in Twilight Princess that there is an entire dungeon section to the temple, accessible from a portal hidden behind a window in the back room.

The Era of the Goddess Hylia and the Era of the Sky - Skyward Sword
The original, ancient Temple of Time that existed during the Era of the Goddess Hylia and the Era of the Sky appears in the northwestern section of the Lanayru Desert in the Lanayru Province. It is accessible after completing the Lanayru Mining Facility dungeon. When Link first arrives at this temple, he finds Zelda and Impa at the Gate of Time. Ghirahim then bursts in on the brief reunion, but is held at bay by Impa while Zelda throws the Goddess's Harp to Link and tells him that he will need it. Zelda and Impa escape through the gate and Impa uses a magical explosive to permanently destroy it, preventing Ghirahim from pursuing them.

This temple differs from its successor because it is an open air courtyard and is located in the desert. At the western edge of this temple is a monumental stone of the Hylian Crest and a Gate of Time.

The Era of Chaos and the Era of Prosperity
Many years after the events of Skyward Sword, there was an era of chaos with wars and fighting over the Triforce that was left at the Sealed Temple. To put an end to these wars, an ancient sage, Rauru, built a new Temple of Time over the remains of the Sealed Temple, the only known entrance to the Sacred Realm, deep within Faron Woods. Using the Master Sword and the three Spiritual Stones as keys to the Sacred Realm from the newly established, he hid the Triforce within the realm. Following this was the Era of Prosperity, bringing about economic growth in the unnamed land that came to be known as the kingdom of Hyrule when it was officially established by the goddess Hylia's descendants, the Royal Family of Hyrule. Building Hyrule Castle in the new kingdom where the Temple of Time remained undisturbed, they watched over the temple and protected it for generations. The three keys to Master Sword chamber within the temple were left to be protected by the people of forest, fire and water: the Kokiri, the Goron and the Zora.

The Era of the Hero of Time - Ocarina of Time
During the Era of the Hero of Time, ten years after the Unification War that left him an orphan in Kokiri Forest, a young Link begins collecting the three Spiritual Stones from the Kokiri, Goron and Zora races to let him gain entry the chamber in which the Master Sword resides. After collecting the three stones and getting the Ocarina of Time from a young Princess Zelda, who was fleeing Hyrule Castle with her nurse maid Impa, Link travels to the Temple of Time to acquire the Master Sword and enter the Sacred Realm in order to obtain the Triforce before Ganondorf does. However, his spirit is unexpectedly sealed away for seven years by the Master Sword, for Link was not yet old enough to become the Hero of Time. When Link finally awakens seven years later within the heart of the Sacred Realm, the Temple of Light, the ancient sage known as Rauru explains the kingdom of Hyrule's dire situation to him, gives him the Light Medallion, and charges him with the task of awakening six new sages so that all seven of them will have enough power to seal Ganondorf within the Sacred Realm and save the kingdom.

In order to awaken all of the Sages, Link must keep returning to the Temple of Time to use the Pedestal of Time to travel in time back and forth seven years. To help him with this, Princess Zelda, disguised as Sheik, teaches the young hero the Prelude of Light, a melody that he can play on his ocarina to quickly return to the Temple of Time any time he wishes.

When Link has successfully awakens his childhood friend, the leader of the Gorons, the Zora princess, Princess Zelda's nanny and the Gerudo thief Nabooru as new Sages, only one remains. Rauru advises him to go to the Temple of Time and meet with someone who is waiting for him there. Here, Link meets Sheik, who reveals himself to be Princess Zelda as well as the seventh Sage. After explaining the reason behind her hiding and her motives, the princess asks for Link's help one last time to defeat Ganondorf and grants him the Light Arrows, the only weapon that can penetrate the evil king's defenses.

Upon defeating Ganondorf and being sent back in time seven years by a guilt-stricken Princess Zelda to relive the years of his childhood that he missed, Link leaves the Master Sword behind in its pedestal in the temple and steps out into what will be a new history caused by his foreknowledge of the future.

Main Temple
In the Era of Twilight, the Temple of Time has fallen deep into becoming unidentifiable ruins, still located deep within the Faron Woods, in an area that is now referred to as the Sacred Grove. When a new incarnation of Link descended from the Hero of Time briefly thrusts the Master Sword into the Pedestal of Time in what remains of the Master Sword's chamber, a stone statue that was blocking the temple's surviving entrance is immediately removed. Entering through this door takes the hero an undisclosed amount of time into the past and allows him to explore the temple before it fell into deep ruin. In the past, the Temple of Time is virtually identical to how it appears during the events of Ocarina of Time, with the exception of the missing Spiritual Stones alter. When the Master Sword is thrust into its pedestal, a blue staircase appears that can be used to reach the back window of the room, which grants access a previously hidden part of the temple that appears to be entirely separate from the kingdom of Hyrule itself. This new section of the temple acts as a dungeon from where Link can find the Dominion Rod and a missing piece of the fractured Mirror of Twilight. By stepping back through the temple's main entrance, Link is taken back to the present.

Dungeon
Accessible only in the past, Link must traverse the private chambers of the Temple of Time that only a hero chosen by the Master Sword is granted access to in order to obtain a shard of the Mirror of Twilight vital to his quest.

The Temple of Time's dungeon section has eight floors, all leading upward like a tower, and contains many windows in its upper levels, showing light shining through from the outside. Some of the statue enemies within the temple, such as a Blade Trap or a Beamos, look more elegant and sleek than anywhere else. The main item to be obtained within is the Dominion Rod, an ancient mystical rod used to animate and control particular statues, some of which are located in the temple. This is 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 of the Master Sword.

Link's Crossbow Training
The Temple of Time appears in two stages of Link's Crossbow Training. The first appearance in Stage 7 is a Ranger Mode Level in which Link's objective is to tour the temple and slay the Lizalfos. Only a few rooms and hallways of the Temple of Time are used in this game. In addition the Lizalfos, Keese, and Beamos will also be found attacking Link. The second appearance of the temple, in Stage 8, takes place in a single room within. In this room, Link battles a Darknut.

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 with 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 in the Temple of Light. At the end of Ocarina of Time, after Link and Princess Zelda seal away Ganondorf in the void of the Evil Realm, Princess Zelda asks that Link return the Master Sword to its pedestal and close the Door of Time, at which point the "road between times will be closed."

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.

Trivia

 * The Tower of the Gods from The Wind Waker has many similarities to the Temple of Time's dungeon section in Twilight Princess, such as both being towers, similar music, statues which can be controlled, numerous Beamos and Armos, a Darknut mini-boss and a room in each temple with a balance scale that requires the weight of statues to manipulate.
 * In Ocarina of Time, the Temple of Time is located in a secluded area of Hyrule Castle Town and not in the forest like in games set both before (built over the Sealed Temple in Faron Woods) and after it (the temple ruins in Faron Woods). This is most likely a case of retcon on the developers' parts for gameplay purposes.
 * The background music of the Temple of Time is the Song of Time.

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.