Insomnia (film)/Headscratchers

The film

 * Why wouldn't a hotel far enough north to have White Nights install blackout curtains?
 * Because the room is actually quite dark -- late in the film the hotel manager comes in and tells Dormer that "it's dark here". Then she turns on the lights. We suddenly realize that it's not the light that's keeping Detective Dormer up. It's his guilt.
 * When Ellie and Dormer are under fire from the killer, why does Ellie give him the gun back? I can gather that she trusts him, but the guy is still cracked out from sleep deprivation and can barely stand.
 * At that moment Ellie was farther away from the window than Dormer.

The fanfic

 * It's clear that all five time loops are happening at once, and that there are five Links existing at once. But Link always starts out at the Clock Tower when he goes back to the beginning. Why doesn't he run into the other four then? Shouldn't they be there too, since they've all just reset to the exact same place at the exact same time?
 * It's explained that they don't go to the exact spot at the exact same time. So, in other words, Link 1 will go to the big door at time A, while Link 2 will go to the door at time A+5 minutes, etc.