The Legend of Zelda has a reputation of releasing widely celebrated games, and Breath of the Wild and Ocarina of Time are among the most acclaimed. Released almost 20 years apart, the two are wildly different games, even though both tell the story of Link trying to overcome the destruction wrought by Ganon. In the Zelda timeline, the two games take place centuries, potentially millennia, away from each other. Breath of the Wild is the most recent chronologically, with Ocarina of Time taking place sometime in Hyrule's apocryphal past, and the deeds of the Hero of Time are nothing more than legend at the time of the Calamity.

Though eons have passed since the events of Ocarina, the Temple of Time where Link drew the Master Sword still stands in BOTW - or at least a dilapidated, crumbling version of it. Drawing parallels between the Zelda games is often difficult because Hyrule is never the same, and the obtuse official timeline of Zelda games doesn't really explain anything beyond a loose chronological order. Ocarina's Temple of Time sits near Hyrule Castle's Market Town, overlooked by Death Mountain. Neither are very close to the Temple of Time in BOTW, which is situated atop the Great Plateau.

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Oddly enough, the Temples of Time's positions relative to the other landmarks aren't that dissimilar. Both Temples are almost directly south of Hyrule Castle, and southwest of Death Mountain. Even the directions to Lake Hylia, Kakariko Village, Zora's Domain, and Gerudo Valley and Desert are nearly the same. If Ocarina's Temple of Time were instead where Lon Lon Ranch is, Breath of the Wild's Hyrule would very nearly be a scaled-up version of Ocarina's.

Inside Ocarina of Time & BOTW's Temples of Time

Zelda Inside BOTW and Ocarina Temple of Time

While the two Temples share a common aesthetic, their interiors are quite different. The Temple of Time in Ocarina of Time is more centrally important to the gameplay than that of BOTW's, and the interior design reflects that. The first of two large rooms, the antechamber in Ocarina contains the Door of Time, and the altar on which the three Spiritual Stones are placed. Behind the Door of Time lies the Master Sword's pedestal, which is also a gate to the Sacred Realm where the Triforce is kept.

The Temple of Time in Breath of the Wild seems to bear no such importance. Far removed from Hyrule Castle, and no longer the site where the Master Sword is found, it appears to be a place of worship atop the Great Plateau. BOTW's Temple of Time contains only one large room. A grand staircase leads to a massive statue of the Goddess Hylia. It is up in the bell tower that the last king of Hyrule tells Link of Calamity Ganon's desolation, but there is little reason to return to Breath of the Wild's Temple of Time, unlike in Ocarina of Time, where the location is centrally important throughout the game.

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