There is one other sub-question to be asked, a "what-if?" question that might have earth-shattering implications:
Question 1-1: When does Ganondorf enter the Sacred Realm?The three above possibilities (
Orange,
Blue,
Red) would be valid solutions depending on the assumption that Adult Zelda was wise enough (and we hope so, being the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom!) to send Link back to a point before Ganondorf enters the Sacred Realm. But what if she didn't? I mean, even though she bore the Triforce of Wisdom, she made several mistakes, such as revealing her identity to Link, letting herself be caught, putting together a plan that let Ganondorf enter the Sacred Realm (as the Joker says:
It's all "part of the plan".
), etc.
We don't know exactly when Ganondorf passes by the hero-in-stasis and enters the portal to the Golden Land. It could have been one minute after Link opened the Door of Time; it could have been one hour, one day, or even a year! (I might interject that he could also easily enter while Link keeps the Door of Time open while questing to Kakariko Well or the Spirit Temple...) The point is, that this opens up the possibility that Zelda sends Link back in time, and he arrives... after Ganondorf already entered the Sacred Realm. The Door of Time is sealed shut while the Gerudo King is still ON HIS WAY to the Triforce chamber, and the access to the Golden Land is closed... Ganondorf is effectively stuck inside the Sacred Realm with the Triforce, but no way of getting out.
No. No way of getting out.
Is that hard to understand? He can't leave the Sacred Realm if the door is shut! Oh, you want me so prove he couldn't? Well then, I invite you to play a completed game of
ALttP. Travel throughout the entire Dark World, and see if you can find a way to make it to the Light World without using items. I'll wait here...
...
...You done yet? Did you find any place that lets you travel from Dark World to the Light World? No? Only through the use of the Magic Mirror?
Hmm. Guess what Ganondorf didn't have in his possession?
You could say that now he's... SEALED in the Dark World!
Indeed, Ganondorf might have received the Triforce in full, but being trapped in the Dark World, he could only his influence to spread his evil in the Light World, remotely. Indeed, the BS for
ALttP (the SNES manual version) distinctly depicts this circumstance, allowing me to just flat-out say that this
newer possibility - represented by
purple and by the
ALttP depiction of Ganon in the chart above - leads to the '
Imprisoning Saga' and the ImW.