The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2looks like it’s going to be dark. Fans don’t have anything concrete besides a single trailer to go off of, but it sets a very clear and specific tone.Breath of the Wild 2will involve ghastly, ancient magic that stirs the dead, and it could reshape Hyrule as Link and Zelda know it. The community has generally accepted that the corpse stirring in the trailer is none other than Link and Zelda’s nemesis Ganondorf. No matter how many times Link defeats Ganon, he comes back to life in one way or another – and that’s sort of the very first Link’s fault.
Anyone who playedThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward Swordprobably remembers the climactic battle with the Demon King Demise at the end of the game. This final test of Link’s swordsmanship was the ultimate test of the newly forged Master Sword. However, perhaps more significantly, it seems thatSkyward Sword’s ending explains why the first Link wasn’t the last. With his dying breath, Demise lays a curse on Link and Zelda that binds him to them forever. All future incarnations are forced to deal with Demise’s eternal vengeance. InBreath of the Wild 2,that wrath could be culminating to a new high that poses a greater threat than ever.
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Demise’s Undying Hate
Demise never expected to be defeated by Link, as few villains of his ilk ever do. With his dying breath, he commends Link for his display of valor, but also places a curse. Demise swears to be reincarnated constantly for the rest of time, ever pursuing Link in search of revenge. He swears to shroud Link and Zelda’s future selves in blood and darkness forever, haunting them in a new form every step of the way. It’s very clear what he means by reincarnations. Demise’s appearance is highly reminiscent of another Demon King thatconstantly tries to destroy Hyruleand defeat Link: Ganon.
Both the monstrous Ganon, and the Gerudo warrior Ganondorf, are the Demon King Demise given new life.Breath of the Wild’s Calamity Ganon seems rather different from these other incarnations, though. It acts in a much wilder and more monstrous manner, and its ghostly form doesn’t immediately resemblethe traditional depictions of Ganon. However, by its name and nods to Ganondorf, it’s clear that this is still one of Demise’s forms. Demise’s curse goes unbroken, even thoughBreath of the Wildis supposedly set thousands of years away from otherZeldagames.
Demise’s impact onBreath of the Wildis extremely significant.Calamity Ganon seems strongerthan any of his previous reincarnations. He’s so formidable that Hyrule has already fallen by the start of the game. Calamity Ganon’s reach extends all across Hyrule, reincarnating monsters and infecting the Divine Beasts with extensions of Ganon’s power. This is a remarkable and alarming amount of power for Ganon to possess. The implication seems to be that Demise’s heir is getting stronger. Even if Calamity Ganon was defeated by Link, Demise’s curse might be getting stronger by the minute.
Dark Times Ahead
Calamity Ganon is often associated with a red-purple miasma; it’s a spiteful cloud of magic indicating Ganon’s touch. The way it seeps into everything across Hyrule makes it clear that nowhere is safe anymore. It’s rare that Ganon has already won beforethe start of aZeldagame, and that should be considered a message for the future of Hyrule.
The time gap betweenBreath of the Wildand the rest of the franchise may have been Demise biding his time to gain strength, until he could stage his most ambitious attack on Hyrule yet. In fact, he may have even accounted for the possibility of losing to Link, since Link has bested Demise before. Dying only to rise again immediately might have been Demise’s plan all along.
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It’s also worth noting that Ganon hasn’t been sealed away in the traditional ways ofThe Legend of Zelda.Link doesn’t need to obtain the Master Sword inBreath of the Wild,so Calamity Ganon isn’t felled and sealed within the blade.The Triforce is also remarkably absentfromBreath of the Wild.If Ganon wasn’t sealed away with the Triforce’s power, then it’s hard to say that he’s really dead. After all, Calamity Ganon constantly displays a mastery of necromancy. All this time, Demise may simply have been operating from Ganondorf’s corpse, and now Ganondorf will rise again for a second assault.
Demise’s curse specifies an incarnation of his hate, but not necessarily a reincarnation. That might mean that Demise is past the point of a reincarnation cycle now. He can operate in a huge, nebulous form like Calamity Ganon, or he can inhabit the shriveledcorpse of the last Ganondorf. The curse may now mean that Demise will always exist in some form, and that there’s no stopping him unless the curse is broken somehow. Unfortunately, breaking the curse of a dark god is easier said than done.
A War of Gods
If Demise is getting stronger, Link and Zelda might need a lot more help than the heirs of the Champions can muster.Breath of the Wild 2’s antagonistmight be the strongest form of Ganondorf ever encountered: a virtually immortal lich with control over undead legions and the ability to corrupt ancient machines. It might come down to divine intervention by the goddess Hylia, in one form or another. Link develops something of a bond with her thanks to the Goddess Statues inBreath of the Wild. Now that he and Zelda are reunited, they might need to seek Hylia’s favor together.
It’s unlikely that Hylia would actually come down from the heavens and fight Ganondorf/Demise for Link and Zelda. Instead, she might give them a quest to find the boon they need to stop the demon king. It wouldn’t be surprising if she shows them the way to find the lost Triforce. That storied artifact might be one of the few things capable of humbling Demise. Wishing upon it could be the way that Linkstrips Ganondorf of his power. If it can’t break Demise’s curse completely, it can probably at least put Demise back to square one.
Odds are low that Demise will appearin hisSkyward SwordforminBreath of the Wild 2.His old self is largely lost, but he lives on through his new incarnations. Really, Ganon and Ganondorf’s appearance alone are evidence of how Demise’s curse impactsBreath of the Wild. The seemingly escalating power of Demise’s heirs also suggests that the curse’s bonds are squeezing Link and Zelda tighter.Breath of the Wild 2is hopefully only a short ways away. Fans are waiting with bated breath to find out what darkness lies in Hyrule’s future.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2is in development for Nintendo Switch.
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