Chapter 7 - Time Travel Planning
Summary: The secret to the Temple of Time is discovered, and Queen Zelda heads a meeting with Link, Purah, and Robbie to discuss their plans. They struggle with a means of convincing a skeptical audience in the past that a Link who claims to be from the future but lacks his memory is credible. Final plans are set.
It was almost a year before Dr. Purah next sent him a message to meet at the Lab. He realized Purah had difficulty leaving the Lab since she looked like a little girl, so meetings with her always took place there. He was hopeful she had some encouraging news for him.
He arrived at the Lab and found a seat. Purah came quickly to the point.
"We have some good news. A while back, the Gerudo recovered some important information from the Yiga Clan hideout where some ancient Sheikah documents had been hidden. We are now able to use the Temple of Time. But we need to meet with Queen Zelda and discuss whether we should and, if so, how. Our research indicates that it is only the Hyrule Hero with the Master Sword and those in his company who can pass through time, and only they will retain any memory of the timeline we are in today. In other words, were you to go back in time and change things, then a new timeline would be created that would branch off and be different from the one we are in now. Only you would retain some memory of the alternate time we live in today, but it would be only a memory. And were you to tell anyone about the present time as it is today, they would consider it just a story of what might have been had things been different. The people in Hyrule would know nothing of it. As far as they would be concerned, it never happened. Do you understand all this, Link?" Purah asked.
"Yes, I think so," Link answered.
This was even more reason to write down as much as possible since he was hopeful his notes would survive with him.
Purah went on, "There is another difference between the Temple of Time and the Timeshift Stones. There will only be one "you" in this scenario. When you go back in time, you essentially take the place of the "you" that had existed then, though you will retain your memories of today, limited though some of them are."
"I understand," said Link.
"Queen Zelda and Robbie have agreed to meet here in one week to discuss. You, of course, need to be here as well. We thought it best to avoid too much notice of our goings-on, so the meeting will be secret. Please think about everything and be prepared to discuss next time," Purah told him.
He said goodbye and headed home. There was indeed much to think about.
The meeting at the Hateno Ancient Tech lab took place as scheduled. Queen Zelda came secretly, mostly traveling by night. Robbie, along with his wife and research assistant, Jerrin, came as well. Symin had made some effort to clean up the Lab so everyone could find a place to sit. Purah led off the discussion.
"Welcome Your Majesty and everyone else to what is probably the most important meeting in our lives. Thanks to the help of Dr. Robbie, we have been able to restore the Temple of Time's primary function," said Purah. "Now, you may well ask how we know that since we haven't all traveled off to a new timeline. We know it because of the readings we can detect from the Temple on the Sheikah Slate and because we tested it. It turns out the Sheikah Slate can be programmed to control the duration of time travel. We planted a small tree in the Temple and sent it back a year. Immediately after activating the device, the tree was a year older. We performed some other experiments and are confident time travel will work. So, the question is, what should we do? If there is no objection, I have asked Link to speak next to outline his plan."
"Your Majesty and attendees," said Link, "As you know, I am not a gifted speaker by any means, so I will come straight to the point. My proposal is that I travel back in time to before the Great Calamity, and with the benefit of the hindsight we have gained, alert everyone to Ganon's plans. In that way, we could save the Champions from defeat at the hands of Ganon's blight creatures and achieve a much quicker victory over Ganon along the lines of our original plan. Hyrule would not suffer the devastation it did, and many lives would be saved."
Queen Zelda spoke up next.
"That is certainly an admirable outcome," said Zelda. "But can we be sure of achieving it? For one thing, will your memory remain intact when you go back in time? That seems key to the success of your plan."
"My research indicates it is very likely Link's memory, such as it is, will be retained. However, we also intend to include some written information with Link that will survive his time travel and which he can refer to if needed. I was also planning to send back some research we have conducted to prevent Guardians from being taken over and some of my other research notes on my anti-aging rune. I hope that my notes will prove useful to the Purah of that period."
"That makes good sense," said Zelda. "So, one way or the other, Link will have information on Ganon's attack plans. How certain are we that your Guardian defense process will work?"
"We cannot be certain it will work since there is no practical way of testing it against an attack as strong as Ganon's. But we have tested it as well as we could."
"Is that critical to the success of Link's mission?" asked Zelda.
"I don't think so," said Link. "For the sake of argument, assume the defense process Dr. Purah and Dr. Robbie developed fails. Then it becomes our top priority to defeat Ganon as quickly as possible. With the Champions forewarned about the corruption of their Divine Beasts, they will not be trapped inside and killed. I will still have the Master Sword at that point. Working with each Champion, we can recapture each Divine Beast one by one more easily than I could do it by myself. Then we tackle Ganon. There will be some destruction but not on the scale we lived through last time."
"Alright," said Zelda. "So, the plan is to hope the Guardian defense process works but be prepared if it doesn't. But I have another question. I am trying to imagine how the other Champions or I would react if a person we all know, like Link, suddenly declares he is not who we think he is but from the future. Moreover, this person suddenly can't remember many things. I think our first inclination would be to believe he suffered a head injury of some kind and was delusional. I don't think we would believe him. Can anyone think of a way to convince everyone of the truth?"
No one spoke for a few minutes. Then Robbie spoke.
"That's an excellent question, Your Majesty," said Robbie. "As you said, we have two problems. The first is that Link's actual memory is lacking in many areas. So, compared to the Link of that period, it will appear he suffered some mental injury. And that leads to the second problem. We need Link to be able to present some information to Princess Zelda and the Champions that they would already know to be true, but Link could not have otherwise known. That is tricky. It can't be anything that hasn't happened yet in their timeline but can't be something Link could have known either. I can't think of anything in that category."
No one else could either. They couldn't reach a decision, and everyone decided to sleep on things and discuss with a fresh mind in the morning. After a night's rest, the meeting resumed the next morning.
"I have given some more thought as to how Link might be able to convince his audience of his story's truth," said Zelda. "One item of information that might help is Link's knowledge of what is in my and the other Champions' diaries. The diary entries had already been made by then, but Link would have had no way of knowing their contents at that time."
At this, Link shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Your Majesty, I'm sorry about that. I wasn't just nosy: I thought anything I learned from those diaries could be helpful to my mission."
There was an element of truth in that, if not perhaps the whole truth.
"I have no hard feelings about your reading my diary, and I don't think three of the Champions in the past or I will back then either. But I don't envy you your conversation with Mipha," said Zelda with a laugh.
"Oh," Link said, a small knot in his stomach forming. Now he was a bit sorry he hadn't followed her spirit's wishes when Mipha said: "Don't you dare read it!"
"Anyway, back to the main point," said Zelda. "I think knowledge of their diaries plus whatever else Link can remember would be enough to convince me and the others back then that being cautious about the Guardians and Divine Beasts was wise. So, let's assume Link can convince everyone. What are the next steps?"
"I think the plan will be fairly clear at that point, as I outlined yesterday," said Link. "We can try Purah's defense process. If that works, great. If not, I will join the other Champions in recapturing the Divine Beasts. Together we can make quick work of those disgusting blight creatures. And Mipha will help Princess Zelda understand how to access her sealing power. With the Champions in control of their Divine Beasts, Princess Zelda and I will then tackle Ganon as quickly as possible."
Robbie then spoke up. "Let's discuss this a bit more. Dr. Purah, I would like your opinion on a point I find unclear. Will Link's combat skills still be good enough when he travels to the past? Will he be physically the same as he was then, or instead as he is today? Will only his memory be intact?"
"Based on my research, Link should be physically as he was then," said Purah. "But, Link, it wouldn't hurt to be sure and brush up on your combat skills in the interim, just in case. How long would you need to get back up to form?"
"Not very long," Link said. "I have been trying to keep myself in shape anyway. I think two weeks of intense training would put me back in top form." He planned to do his best to make sure his skills were as good as ever.
"The next point we need to consider," said Robbie, "is at what point in the past Link should be sent. I have some thoughts on this matter. Clearly, it needs to be enough time before the Great Calamity to warn Princess Zelda and the Champions and prepare the new strategy. But I am also concerned about introducing unintended changes to the timeline if Link travels back too much further. The more interaction he has with people there, the more chance of something going wrong. So, I would like him to be sent as close to the date of the Great Calamity as possible."
"Would one week be sufficient, do you think?" asked Purah.
"I think so," said Link. "I will meet with Princess Zelda to convene a meeting of the Champions as soon as I get there. That should be enough time to convene a meeting and make new plans."
"One last point," said Dr. Purah. "Unlike the Timeshift Stone process, when Link goes back in time, he will take the place of the Link of that period, not create a duplicate of himself. The Link of that period will, in essence, disappear. Therefore, it would be desirable for no one to witness that, so I recommend Link be sent back late at night when the Link of the past is likely alone and asleep."
Finally, they reached a decision. He would arrive late in the evening at the Temple of Time one week before the Great Calamity. After two weeks of intense combat training, he was ready and eager to go.