AstroNinja (talk | contribs)The Evidence
There is far more to the Great Plateau, and more importantly the Temple of Time, than meets the eye in Breath of the Wild. To begin with, there is not only an entrance to the plateau from the surface, but this entrance lines up with what appears to be a ritual path of pilgrimage. This entrance is on the northeast side of the plateau, currently sealed with dirt and rubble at the bottom, and on the inside the entrance is flooded.
Following directly from this entrance way is a path leading directly to the fountain in front of the temple complex, beyond which is a winding path that leads to 3 smaller temples each dedicated to one of the Golden Goddesses. These small temples are arranged in exactly the same way that they are represented in the Triforce, Farore on the bottom right, Naryu at the bottom left, Din at the top. Above all of this is the Temple of Time, within which is a statue of the Goddess Hylia.
Interestingly the entrance of the temple is aligned perfectly with Hyrule Castle, and upon closer inspection from both the castle and the temple, there is a direct line of sight directly from the goddess station in the temple, to the King’s throne in the Castle Sanctuary.
Furthermore, the small statues surrounding the main goddess statue are all aligned with a mountain, visible through the windows of the temple. These include Mt Satori, Hebra Peak, Death Mountain, Mt Floria, Spectacle Rock, and (strangely given the its relative insignificance) Nette Plateau.
This tells me there is some deeper meaning to the alignment of the temple itself, as these all seem too deliberate and many of them too precise to be an accident. Not just deliberate, but these alignments seem almost ritualistic. If theories are true that it was moved, this finally gives meaning to the seemingly random manner in which it has been rotated from its perceived original position.
The (theoretical) Ritual
Imagine this, a whole ritual procession from the castle enters the plateau through the now buried and flooded gateway. This gateway is guarded on the outside by the Gatepost Town outpost, and on the inside by a steep slope with high walls on either side. They follow the path to the fountain where they gather and prepare for the coming ritual. The first stop is the Shrine of Farore, followed by the Shrine of Nayru, then finally the Shrine of Din. At each shrine they make an offering of a scale of the respective goddess’s Dragon. Finally, upon reaching the Temple of Time, they make one final combined offering to all 3 goddesses at the base of the stairs to the statue of Hylia. The lesser priests then surround the statue and stand before each of the mini goddess statues that gaze out upon the many peaks of Hyrule, while the High priest makes the prayer to the large statue that gazes directly upon Hyrule castle, and the King himself far across the land on the other end of the kingdom.