There's something about Link's Awakening that I have always found kind of interesting.
In Link's Awakening, the characters,the bosses, the temples you visit... they all warn you that the island is the dream of the Wind Fish. The Owl tells you that once you defeat the final Nightmare, the Wind Fish will awaken and then the island, and all its inhabitant, will cease to exist. You know this so much, and in the end... you do it anyway.
I have to wonder if anyone just decided to not finish the game and left the island to continue existing.