Gate of Time
The Gates of Time are a pair of gates that appear in Skyward Sword. Each gate is capable of creating a portal through time to travel to the era just after Hylia's fight with Demise.[1][2]
Features
The Gate of Time looks like a giant gear being spun by two smaller gears in either upper corner. It has 12 teeth and a symbol on each tooth, bearing resemblance to the hour indicators on a clock. The Triforce can be seen in the center of the gear surrounded by the symbols of Din, Nayru and Farore and what appears to be musical notation. When the gate is touched, a spiral of hollow, blue gear shapes appear to indicate that it is open, and the original glassy surface reappears when it is closed.
History
The first Gate of Time Link encounters is in the Temple of Time in the Lanayru Desert.[3] Impa and Zelda are about to enter its threshold when Ghirahim appears and attacks. Link intervenes after Impa is overwhelmed by Ghirahim's power and Zelda entrusts the Goddess's Harp to him just before they both escape, destroying the Gate of Time behind them.[4]
Link travels to the Sealed Grounds where the old woman reveals the existence of a second Gate of Time. Ghirahim learns about the second Gate of Time from a drawing in the Fire Sanctuary.[5] To activate it, Link must temper the Goddess Sword into the Master Sword by obtaining the three Sacred Flames hidden in the Faron, Eldin, and Lanayru provinces.[6][7] Eventually Link is successful in this endeavor, though his efforts necessitate resealing The Imprisoned on multiple occasions, and meets Zelda in the distant past. After she enters a deep slumber, Link uses the gate again to return to the future and quest after the Triforce. He uses the gate during this mission to plant the Life Tree Seedling in the past and recover the Life Tree Fruit in the present to revive Lanayru.
After Link wishes upon the Triforce for the destruction of Demise in the present, Ghirahim abducts Zelda and takes her through the gate in an attempt to revive Demise in the past. Link and Groose follow through the gate to rescue Zelda, and after they succeed, they use the gate a final time to return to the future.
Trivia
- The pattern on the gate can be seen on the game's box art. On the boxart, the words "Wisdom", "Nehru", "Power", "Din" and "-rol" can be seen written in Twilight Princess Hylian. This text has been removed from active Gates of Time, but can be faintly seen on the broken gate in the Temple of Time.
Gallery
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The pattern that appears on active gates
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The two gates depicted on a drawing in the Fire Sanctuary
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The dormant Gate of Time awakens to a Skyward Strike
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Holy light slithers through the stone
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The entire stone illuminates
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The stone bursts into fragments
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The fragments begin to gravitate together
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The fragments begin a Tetris-like assembly
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The two top gears fall into place
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The Gate responds to Link's touch
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The internal passage into the past
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Zelda against the Gate of Time in the Lanayru Province
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An early design of the pattern on the gate can be seen on the game's boxart
 Names in Other Regions 
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| Language | Name | |
- ↑ "That is a Gate of Time. It is said to transport whoever passes through its arch to a different time." — N/A (Skyward Sword)
- ↑ "You stand in the past, ages before your own time. Here the goddess Hylia has only just sealed away Demise... And little time has passed since the goddess sent the outcropping of rock into the sky that would one day become Skyloft." — Impa (Skyward Sword)
- ↑ "This is the Temple of Time. Within it is the sacred Gate of Time made by the goddess, bzzt." — Ancient Robot (Skyward Sword)
- ↑ "You were successful in meeting her at the Temple of Time, but our discourse was cut short by Ghirahim, who attempted to attack Zelda. During Ghirahim's attack, Zelda entrusted you with her harp and then ran from the area through a strange gate. In order to accomplish her own mission, Zelda entrusted her harp to you and fled through a Gate of Time." — Fi (Skyward Sword)
- ↑ "Look at these old drawings! Until I found these, I was...upset about that little stunt the goddess's guard dog pulled at the Gate of Time. [...] [T]hese drawings suggest the existence of a second Gate of Time." — Ghirahim (Skyward Sword)
- ↑ "When the three sacred flames have imbued your sword, only then will the Gate of Time open for you." — N/A (Skyward Sword)
- ↑ "A second Gate of Time exists, but in order to activate it you will need to enhance your sword." — Fi (Skyward Sword)
