I was thinking something along the same lines where if you collect certain items or follow a certain story arc that the world does change in some fashion to the point where Guardians awake from their slumber. Or perhaps Link does travel to the past SNES style.
Because so little of the story and characters were touched on, anything goes right now. It'd really be cool if that old man is Ganon or something trying to lead you to finish something that he started without you knowing. That would be cool.







