At the end of the game Link returns to Zelda's courtyard, both kids once more. Does Zelda, as the Sage of Time remember anything? Was Link sent back before they met or after they met? At that point in time would Link have the spiritual stones? If not, what does this mean for the Gorons and Ruto (still stuck in Lord Jabu-Jabu)?

In essence, what happened during that grey period between the end of OoT and Gandondorf's execution, as mentioned in TP?

I feel as though all of the sages would have some kind of residual memories, but Zelda, as the mastermind behind it, would be most tied to the alternate future.

After all... she's in the courtyard waiting for him.

(Side note: if you watch Season One of How I Met Your Mother, there is an excellant scene that I think would make good reference.)

I have not watched that show because I am lame; you will have to remind r force me or something. Maybe the scene is on youtube?

She is in the courtyard waiting fr him at the beginning of the game because she had a dream the night before and she's spying on Ganondorf.

That's why she's in there at the BEGINNING.

You might say that, at the end, she woke up from another dream entirely. The dream of a future seven years that she, unbelieveably, remembers. And she wants to see Link just as badly as he wants to see her.

It's very telling that he chooses to see HER first. He doesn't go to Kokiri village- he doesn't see Saria. He wants Zelda.

And she's waiting for him.

Are you saying that she had a different dream then, because the future has changed?

I would say that during that moment that the future hasn't been changed yet. They still need to stop Ganondorf in that time, not the parallel time line. I always assumed that Link and Zelda had a little talk, and let Ganondorf invade Hyrule. They never get the Spiritual Stones and Ganondorf never can get into the Sacred Realm, revealing his disloyalty to the King. Then we jump to the execution scene that we see in TP.

He goes to Zelda first because it isn't over yet, and because he wants to see her.

The future hasn't changed yet, but she retains- one hopes- her memories of her time as Sheik. So yes, she's going to spy on Ganondorf. She has to. But there's always the possibility Link won't show up. But she spies from the same place she did last time, just in case.

Because just as from Link's point of view, it's: he's an adult, he and Zelda have their goodbye scene, he hands her the Ocarina, he wakes up a child, Zelda would take the Ocarina from him, play the Song of Time, and open her eyes as a child as well.

But if she doesn't remember it makes the story so tragedies. Also, Link leaves to go look for Navi at the beginning of MM. WHY WOULD HE LEAVE ZELDA?

Majora's Mask is irrelevant to this story, though. Also I have an irrational dislike for it.

WHY MAKE TRAGEDIES?

to hurt your soul

MM is not entirely irrelevant. I shows a flashback of Link and Zelda talking during a period that isn't long after Ganondorf's execution. Also, it just drives me crazy how he leaves.

Okay, this is... I guess it still counts as time travel? Let's talk about the Sun's Song.

For Link/the player, it's just a handy way to walk around Hyrule Field without being attacked by stalfos, or disable ReDeads, or make cuckoos hatch faster. But that last one raises a curious point- when Link plays the Sun's Song, is he fast-forwarding through time a little bit? Or just making the sun set when it shouldn't?

I'm not sure it's a manipulation of time so much as a rotation of the Earth thing. When you think about it, the ocarina was very powerful in some very near-usefull ways but not in any way that it probably should have been. It could control the rotation of the Earth(or the Sun, depending on how that worked in Hyrule), control the weather, summon his horse from wherever he happened to be, and so on but it couldn't just vaporize Ganon or something like that? heh

That's another talking point, the songs themselves, I mean the game is named after the Ocarina, it's the thing that holds the plot together, getting him from theme to theme and point to point, but how many of the songs would make sense or even be effective out of a video game setting?

The implication (when Link was outdoors, at least), was that it was honestly fast-forwarding time. I don't understand how it could make cuccos hatch faster any other way.

Time is moving fast around him.

In which case, I vote we steal one of the few things I enjoyed in the Prisoner of Azkaban movie- the effect when Hermione and Harry use the time turner, and everyone else speeds all around them. It's... an homage... *cough*

meh the POA movie time travel was incorrect, and arranged by someone who doesn't understand time

Well, yes.

But it made for an awesome visual xD

Right, that's it exactly. For your movie, you don't really need to explain it, but you can use visual clues (such as a calendar, sundial, etc) something appropriate that tracks time that would be appropriate for Zelda. Also by not knowing what happened to the others, creates interest in a 2nd movie.