Windfish's Dream, LA world- discuss here

There has been some debate over the issue of the island in LA and the dream of the Windfish. Was the island completely the creation of the Windfish, or did Link's experiences have a part in things? Was Link dreaming as well? Discuss here.

Well. Before I say anything: I've never played LA, so I'm doing my best based on what I know.

Of course they didn't want him to wake up the Windfish...if he did, they lose, right? Using the inhabitants could be another way to get to him..he cared about them, especially Marin. What better way to stop him from achieving his goal? Attack his heart.

I've never played the game, but my personal belief is that the Windfish created the dream using things from Link's memory. But they were warped by his desires and the funny way that dreams often are. In that case then I'd put Marin=Zelda ,Koholint=Hyrule and the Nightmares = Ganon.
Anyways, I believe they were both dreaming.
As for Marin...I've seen the argument before that she represented who Zelda is under the crown...adventurous, selfless, and desiring to matter.

A good point. While it's true that it's all a dream and that if he wakes the Windfish the world will disapear, Link has come to care for the inhabitents he's encountered. By continually reminding Link of this, the Nightmares are trying to discourage him from destroying the world they've made their own.

I believe that too. The fact that there's a girl who just happens to be like Zelda, a world that happens to be like Hyrule- it's all too coincidental. And there's something I had forgotten, but when you defeat the Nightmares in the Windfish egg and the Windfish speaks to Link, he says "Let us awaken together!" That implies that they're both dreaming, both asleep in this world the power of the Windfish created. And after the Island vanishes and the Windfish wakes up, we're shown Link awakening too out in the ocean on pieces of wood from the shipwreak.

I like the idea of Koholint reflecting Link's subconsious the way Twilight Mistress suggested. It's not completely off base and certainly makes a lot of sense.

I had a theory (and apparently others did too) that the Windfish wasn't asleep, but in a trauma-induced coma. In trying to fight his way out of it, he subconsciously created an alternate world where he could work out his problems, but some part of him didn't want to work those problems out, and he ended up trapping himself in the egg, while his nightmares swarmed over the land he created.
The Goddesses, learning of his plight, manipulated the seas and winds to take Link to where the Windfish slept, because they knew he was the only one who could help him, and that's why he got shipwrecked where he did.
With Link unconscious, and trapped by the power of the Windfish, he became part of the dream, and so he too shaped it subconsciously, hence why things started to look similar to things from Link's experiences.
The Nightmares, while a part of the Windfish, were also affected by Link's presence. He's only human, after all, and plagued by his own fears, doubts and traumas. After all, the whole reason he was out in the middle of the ocean was to train to combat any threats that came to Hyrule.
And as Link battled through the Nightmares, he was also battling his own inner demons, and through Link, the Windfish was able to confront the demons of his own mind.