I think you're a little confused. :\ According to Aonuma, there are two separate timelines going on at the same time; Pre-7-year period, and Post-7-year period. The timeline doesn't strictly go from OoT, to Majora's Mask, and then to Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time splits the series into two.
radioheadrule83 said:
I'm not so sure. I see Link as having been freed from the role of "Hero of Time" at the end of OoT, when Zelda sends him back to relive his childhood. From that point he leaves Hyrule altogether and heads off to Termina (Majora's Mask).
Yes, the Hero of Time is sent back to Pre-7-Year Hyrule to relive his childhood with the threat of Ganondorf and evil overtaking Hyrule completely gone thanks to his efforts in the future. Only a few months after he returns, he sets off on a quest to find Navi, and ends up in Termina. At the point in which he enters Termina, the Triforce of Courage (which returned to Pre-7-Year Hyrule still within him) separated from his body and split into the 8 fragments that were scattered throughout Hyrule. "He was separated from the elements that had made him a Hero" is how Daphnes Nohansen describes it. The Triforce itself, being an artifact of the gods, is obviously able to transcend time and space with the enormous power that is contains, and it's suggested in LttP and the Oracles that there is a conscious essence within the Triforce. Because of this, it would make sense that the 8 fragments of the Triforce of Courage ended up back in the Post-7-Year Hyrule, and not in Pre-7-Year Hyrule because it probably assumed that it would be needed again what with the Hero of Time not being there. The Hero of Winds was then able to find and assemble the Triforce of Courage in his own time period, which is Post-7-year Hyrule. The Hero of Time DOES return to Hyrule however at the end of Majora's Mask, and not much more is known about him. (Unless of course you count Soul Calibur II, which is a little far-fetched but it still fits.)
This is where I still think it could be a prequel to Wind Waker: the people are waiting for "The Hero" to return, but Link has grown up a different person - the sword of evil's bane is returned.... and if the plot were to follow Wind Waker's backstory - those that worship the Gods who created the power of triforce and the mastersword will have been slain by Ganon. Making Link's mission all the more difficult... it wouldn't necessarily end with Link's death either:
Ganon is sealed away. It is at the beginning of Wind Waker that he manages to escape through his black/purple portals to the surface of the Great Sea. His power is diminished, and he is seeking young maidens with pointy ears so he might locate Zelda's progeny and gain the triforce of wisdom. If you recall: it is when you draw the Master Sword that Ganon reveals his power was restored.
What power was locked away? How and why? By whom? There is nothing of this in Ocarina of Time.
Yes, the people of Hyrule were waiting for the Hero of Time to return once Ganon escaped from the Sacred Realm. But the Hero of Time wasn't simply there grown up as a different person, he wasn't there
period. He was in a completely different time period; in a Hyrule at peace with the absence of Ganon. The Post-7-Year Hyrule is the Hyrule that Wind Waker takes place in, and it's the same Hyrule that Ganon manages to invade with the Hero completely absent from that time period. The Hylians have rebuilt Hyrule Castle after the fall of Ganon's Tower (This time on a cliff surrounded by water), and the Master Sword is moved from the Temple of Time to the basement of Hyrule Castle and sealed by the Royal Family crest. The Sages probably had a hand in this, as the stain glass windows in the Master Sword chamber of Hyrule Castle in Wind Waker show each of the 6 of them (Minus Zelda).
Yes you're right, most of the Hylians were probably murdered by Ganon upon his return as part of his revenge. His Tower has also been rebuilt during this time not too far from where the new Hyrule Castle stood. I'd imagine however that Hyrule Castle must have put up a decent fight, since it was still left standing by the time the Gods sealed all of Hyrule. As you'll notice however, the Castle was on the verge of being attacked just as the Seal took place because of the multiple Moblins and Iron Knuckles who were frozen in time.
I do understand what you mean about the Master Sword key and Ganon's power being sealed slightly confusing however, because it is. Ganon's power was obviously fully restored once he escaped the Sacred Realm and began to attack Hyrule again in the Hero of Time's absence, but somehow when the Gods sealed Hyrule beneath the sea they must have also sealed Ganon's power and used the Master Sword as a key that kept his evil locked away. Which would make sense, since the Master Sword has been used as a key before: originally for entering the Sacred Realm.
So I really believe that the Gods were responsible for sealing Ganon's power the second time, and not an unknown Hero. Because Wind Waker makes it pretty evident that the Gods were forced to take control of the situation since there was no other Hero to arise until the Hero of Winds centuries later.
