Termina - The Realm of Time

Continuing off of my theory on the Sacred Realm being part of Hyrule, what does that mean for the parallel dimension of Termina that Link slips into in Majora's Mask?

First, some background info:

- Before Ocarina of Time, Hyrule was at war. The different religions factions and races of Hyrule were all fighting over control of the Sacred Realm. In the end, the fighting stopped and Hyrule became united as one country.

- The royal family of Hyrule, the waters of the Zora people, the shadows of the Sheikah village, the fires of the Death Mountain tribe, the protectors of the Forest, and the spirits of the Gerudo Desert then collaborated together to guard the Sacred Realm. The door of time was guarded by the 3 spiritual stones of different tribes and the Ocarina of Time. The Sacred Realm itself was guarded by 7 sages, who were eventually replaced by 1 member from each tribe.

- Rauru, the sage of Light, was the only sage who wasn't replaced. The origins of the original seven sages seem to be from the Sacred Realm itself, the "World of Light". They originally built the Temple of Light to guard the triforce. When Link awakes in the chamber of sages, only Rauru remains alive, the other original sages have been killed.

- The "World of Light" became sealed off from the rest of Hyrule when the Temple of Time was built to guard it, hence it became known as the "Sacred Realm".

- So Rauru, the sage of Light, is a member of the now-sealed world of light. The other 6 sages are each from different tribes with different elemental powers. The only one who's element is unknown, is the 7th sage, Zelda.

- The Ocarina of Time was the sacred item possessed by the royal family. For this reason, the royal family might be connected to the element of time like the Zoras are to water, Gorons to fire, etc... Therefore, the 7th sage is the sage of time.

What I think this means...

Hyrule's Sacred Realm

The Sacred Realm in the Zelda series has always been very mysterious. It seems to be like an alternate dimension, but it is also described as being located somewhere in Hyrule. What is the Sacred Realm really? Is it just the arbitrary name given to the resting place of the triforce, with no other meaning attached? Or does it serve another purpose?

Here's a brief review of each game's description of the Sacred Realm. Starting with the most recent description of it...

Twilight Princess:

When all was chaos, the goddesses descended and gave order and life to the world. They granted power equally to all who dwelt in the light, and then returned to the heavens. The lands where the goddesses descended came to be known as the Sacred Realm. For ages, the people lived at ease, content in mind and body… But soon, word of the Sacred Realm spread through Hyrule, and a great battle ensued…

-Lanayru

That doesn't tell us much, it actually kind of confuses things a bit. But let's look at the translation of that text from the Japanese version of Twilight Princess:

The goddesses descended to the world of chaos where there was nothing at all, and created life and order. And after granting power equally to all people, they returned to the heavens. For a long time, the world was at peace, with people's hearts being deeply faithful… But at length, a rivalry ensued over Hyrule, the holy land.

-Lanayru

This quote doesn't even mention the Sacred Realm at all, and simply states that Hyrule is what was faught over during the early wars. When you take these two quotes literally, it almost seems like Hyrule IS the Sacred Realm.

Shigeru Miyamoto's Zelda timeline craziness

This interview with Miyamoto explains a lot about why he often disregards the timeline in the Zelda games.

Iwata Asks: Ocarina of Time 3D with Shigeru Miyamoto

In regards to why there are so many inconsistent plot connections between Zelda games that don't always make sense:

The stories in The Legend of Zelda may not match up as the series progresses. We actually expend a lot of time trying to make them match up, though. It would make things a lot easier if the players said, "Oh, that doesn't really matter."

He also goes on to say this:

But the moment I say Yoshi lays eggs so Yoshi must be a girl, they'll say, "Then Yoshi's voice needs to sound more like a girl's!" But I want to make video games without having to worry about such background info. Take the animated series Popeye, for example. In old cartoons like those, the roles of the characters were different every time.

Even though the setting was different each time, the characters you knew and loved would come out and perform. Well, the Mario games are set up like that. It would be much easier if we could use any setting in The Legend of Zelda while preserving the essential relationship between Link, Ganon and Zelda.

Heh, I think I'm beginning to understand Miyamoto's insanity a little now. This kind of reasoning