Chapter 2 - Meeting with Doctor Purah
Summary: Link presents his plan to Dr. Purah.
Dr. Purah, a Sheikah and director of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, lived on a hillside above Hateno Village. Her experiments with an anti-aging rune had succeeded too well: she now looked like an 8-year-old girl, though over 120 now.
Purah and Robbie, the director of the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, were both experts on ancient Sheikah technology. Purah and Robbie were also the ones who brought Link to the Resurrection Shrine over a hundred years ago.
The rain had stopped, and Link strolled through Hateno Village on his way to the meeting. As usual, he stopped at Hylia's statue to say a prayer, partly for the success of his venture but mostly for Zelda and his departed friends. Then he continued on his way up the hill.
He was nervous about this meeting. For one thing, Purah could be quite rude and impatient, as she wanted to spend every minute on her research and did not welcome interruptions. For another, what he wanted to discuss with her might not fall on sympathetic ears. What he wanted most of all was to spend his life with Mipha somehow, even if that meant traveling back in time. If possible, he would like to save the lives of the four Champions and defeat Calamity Ganon, as they should have done had things gone according to Princess Zelda's original plan. He could warn the Champions about the corruption of their Divine Beasts and tell Zelda what she needed to know to awaken her sealing power on time. Then their original plan to destroy Ganon might succeed. But if all that was impossible, then he would be content to go back if he could and spend his days with Mipha. If she was still willing, they would marry. Then they could at least have some of the life together they both wanted so much.
He was no scientist and didn't understand how the Temple of Time could be made to work. And even if it was possible to do as he wished, he was unsure he would be allowed to do it. Yes, there were stories of prior heroes using the Temple of Time to travel to the past, but those trips were to save Hyrule itself and thwart that generation's incarnation of Ganon. They were not done merely for personal reasons. But aside from personal reasons, his plan did offer a way to save Hyrule, and that was most important. With the benefit of hindsight, they would know Ganon's plan and would be better prepared for his attack. In any case, in the end, he would need Queen Zelda's approval.
He arrived at the lab, knocked, and was told to enter.
"Link, right on time!" said Purah. "I like that. Please come in and sit down."
He looked around. Papers and books were strewn everywhere about the lab, and it wasn't clear where he could sit. Symin saw his confusion.
"Let me straighten up a bit here," said Symin making room for Link to sit down. "All this mess shows we have been working hard. In fact…but I had better let Dr. Purah tell you about it."
"Yes," said Purah. "We, actually Dr. Robbie and I, have been working on how to protect the Guardians from being taken over by an outside force, as happened with Ganon. You know, Link, Robbie has felt badly ever since the Calamity that he wasn't able to help you and the Champions more. That motivated him to create the ancient weapons and armor that he did. But he and I have been discussing for years how we could have prevented the disaster that occurred. And I think what we have will work. Of course, unfortunately, we can't actually test it against Ganon itself, but I can simulate a strong attack on the Guardian's control mechanism, and this defense we have been working on repels those efforts. I am very optimistic about this! Yes, this could be a big breakthrough."
"Um, Dr. Purah, I don't think Link came here to discuss Guardian defenses," said Symin.
"No, of course not," said Purah. "But you caught me at a good stopping point. What is it you wished to discuss?"
Link cleared his throat and began outlining his thinking.
"Dr. Purah, as you know, there are some ancient stories of how the legendary hero used the Temple of Time to visit the past and thwart Ganon's plans. What I would like to discuss is whether we or rather I could do that too. If I went back in time, I could alert the Champions and help Zelda acquire her power. Then we could destroy Ganon and prevent the destruction of Hyrule. It seems worth considering."
"I see," said Purah. "It's an interesting idea. But you must understand that tampering with time is exceedingly dangerous, Link, and one needs to be very careful. There is always a great risk when you tamper with time that the consequences may not be entirely what you hoped for. Though you do so to make things better, they never turn out better for everyone. And you have to live with that."
Link was quiet as Purah paused.
"As I said, it's an interesting idea, of course, but I see a great many obstacles. The biggest, of course, is getting the time travel function of the Temple to work at all. Assuming it worked, the legends also say only a select few could pass through time, and the Master Sword played a key role. But it is also not clear we could control how far back in time you would go. In one story, the hero could only go back and forth seven years. In another, it's uncertain how far back the hero went, but he could not control it. So even if we could restore the temple's function, we don't know if you would end up going back 102 years to change events, or much more or less than that. In any case, is it not also possible that your plan would fail and Hyrule be left worse off?"
"It's possible, of course," Link answered. "But I don't see how my plan could end up any worse. Assuming I would retain my current memories when I went back, I could alert everyone to Ganon's plan. The Champions would not be caught by surprise in their Divine Beasts. Princess Zelda would know how to invoke her sealing power. And your recent discovery might safeguard the Guardians, preventing them from being taken over by Ganon. By the way, could your safeguard work on the Divine Beasts as well?"
"We haven't tested it on them. We think it should work. But if we're going to rely on it to save Hyrule, we need to be very, very sure," Purah said.
"And frankly, it will be hard to test it fully," added Symin. "We can't exactly resurrect Ganon temporarily and politely ask if he would try to take over the Guardians and Divine Beasts to see how effective our new defenses are."
Link stopped to think again.
"No, of course. I understand. But how can things be any worse off if I go back? Even if we lose control of the Divine Beasts, we will have the Champions alive, and together we can retake them more easily than when I had to do it alone. And think of all the destruction and lives lost throughout Hyrule that we might be able to prevent."
Purah thought some more.
"It's an attractive idea. I want to discuss it with Robbie next and get his reaction. If Robbie agrees your plan has merit, and, more to the point, we can ever figure out the Temple of Time's secrets, then we can present our case to Queen Zelda for approval. She may well have reservations about it as well. We know the Sheikah created Timeshift Stones at one time, which controlled local time travel. I think we will need to concentrate our research in that area at first. Alright, was there anything else?" Purah asked.
"No, that's all. Thanks for meeting with me," Link responded.
He let himself out and headed back to Hateno Village. The meeting went well, he thought. He could enjoy lunch in the village now.