Hi Penguinlay,
It's very important to try to communicate why you want what behavior
rather than only how you think it seems to not work.
Only your goals and based on that your requirements / intentions reveal whether
you're on the right track with the solution you envisioned or not.
So, "ViewTemplate" and "current Tiddler" are crucial to what you want to achieve.
Anyway, to see if the current tiddler has links, you use the links operator indeed and all[current]:..
<$list filter="[all[current]links[]limit[1]]">
These are the links...
{{{ [all[current]links[]sort[title]] }}}
</$list>
As for the current tiddler not not being an orphan then it's...
<$list filter="[all[current]!is[orphan]!is[system]]">
This is neither an orphan (nor a "false non-orphan" in the form of a system tiddler)...
</$list>