#almost 90% certain that what we saw today was past-link gameplay. god i cant wait for this game UGHHHH

[blueskittlesart]

Can you talk about your totk time difference theory more? I don’t remember seeing you talk about it but I’ve had a very similar idea and want to see what your take is…

yes yes yes! i got into some of it here but that's very long and focuses more on the plot of totk in general so i'll go into the time difference theory specifically here!

as stated in the first post i made theorizing about totk, I think that totk and botw TOGETHER are going to function as one complete cycle. when i say "one cycle" I'm referring to one complete reincarnation cycle, from the beginning of link's journey to the true defeat of ganon. the standard formula for this cycle is 3-4 dungeons, (sometimes) a mini-boss, a catalyst event, 6-7 dungeons, and then the final battle. a good example of this is oot, where the first 3 dungeons are the ones you play through as child link, the catalyst is the aging-up of link after the temple of time, the 6 dungeons after that are the sages, and the final battle is when you face ganondorf in the castle. (the only thing this game is missing is the mini-boss, but you DO have a ganon encounter before the catalyst, it's just not an actual boss fight, so i consider the basic unit to still be intact. lol)

now, notably, in most games that follow this formula, after the catalyst event, a world-switch mechanic is introduced. in oot it's the switch between past and future, in tp it's the ability to control when link is in wolf form vs human, in alttp it's dark world vs regular hyrule, etc etc. botw, as a game, covers the cycle up until the shift in perspective. the divine beasts are the 4 initial dungeons and calamity ganon is the mini-boss. this means that, assuming totk is the second half of this cycle, a world-switch mechanic will likely be introduced along with the 6-7 dungeons before the final confrontation. I believe that the world-switch will likely be switching between the hero from 10k years ago mentioned in botw's framing lore and our present-day link. I think this is why we've seen two drastically different link designs in trailers up to this point but have yet to get an explanation about the green outfit. Seeing as no armor sets have been featured AT ALL in trailers aside from link's standard blue tunic and that green set, I think it's safe to assume that the outfit carries considerable narrative weight. I think it's likely the outfit that the 10k-years-ago hero wears to distinguish him from present-day link. my best guess as to how the world-switch will be framed is that it will have something to do with the arm. It's obviously got some special powers seeing as it seems to house the runes for this game, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to suggest that it might be able to either connect the consciousnesses of the two links, show present link some of past link's memories, or otherwise allow the player to swap between times somehow.

That's the gist of it lol! i might be wrong but I honestly. don't think i am. i HOPE i'm right because one of the things i really REALLY want from totk is expansion upon botw's existing lore framework, ESPECIALLY irt the hero & ganondorf from 10k years ago.