The teaser for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 shows Link and Zelda exploring the ruins of Hyrule Castle, eventually coming across what appears to be Ganon in his Gerudo form as his lifeless body suddenly reanimates and the castle begins to lift off. Fans haven’t received many more hints from Nintendo, but Ganon’s return seems almost certain.
Ganon should not be the only threat in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, however. Though there is little continuity between most of the Zelda games, those with direct sequels have been great opportunities to explore more complicated kinds of villainy. There may even already be evidence that Ganon is not the greatest evil in the world of Breath of the Wild.
The formula of The Legend of Zelda is almost as well-established in the history of gaming as Mario saving Princess Peach from Bowser. In most games in the series the player takes on the role of Link as he fights the forces of Ganon to rescue Princess Zelda and save the kingdom of Hyrule. However, that has not always been the case.
After the events of Ocarina of Time, for example, Nintendo continued the story of the same Link in Majora’s Mask. Ganon plays no role in Majora’s Mask, and even Princess Zelda herself only appears briefly in a flashback to Ocarina. As a result, Majora’s Mask was able to explore a very different kind of villain. While Ganon embodies evil, the villain of Majora’s Mask is as much a victim as a perpetrator.
Not only is the Skull Kid who finds the mask is controlled by it, but there are hints that he still has some agency towards the beginning of the game that increasingly slips away as the mask gains more control. It could be argued that the mask itself replaced Ganon in the formula as an embodiment of evil, but if nothing else players were presented with a more tragic and childlike villain that infused Majora’s Mask with a greater sense of dread than some of the lighter Zelda games.
Breath of the Wild already begins to explore some similarly interesting themes. Though the Zelda timeline can be confusing, it is strongly that Calamity Ganon still originated from the Gerudo King Ganondorf after he was defeated, sealed away, and consumed by Malice. The corpse seen in Breath of the Wild 2 trailer appears to support that, as does Ganondorf’s semi-regenerated form during the final boss fight of BotW. By reintroducing Ganon’s Gerudo form, Breath of the Wild 2 has a chance to distinguish the character from the pure manifestation of evil that he surrendered to.
In doing so Breath of the Wild 2 has the opportunity to explore Ganon as a more complex character and to give fans more insight into some of the greater forces at play in the world of Zelda. In Breath of the Wild Ganon represented an amorphous existential threat while human villains like Master Kohga of the Yiga Clan provided comic relief.
If Breath of the Wild has multiple main villains or villains which can be broken down into multiple components like the Skull Kid and Majora’s Mask itself, it could explore a new twist on the classic Zelda formula and dive the depths of the human motivations which would eventually rob Ganon of his “humanity” and transform him into Calamity Ganon. It shouldn’t be the same structure as Majora’s Mask where Ganon is simply revealed to be controlled by Malice or another force, but Nintendo could complicate Ganon’s motivations without absolving him.
By complicating its universe The Legend of Zelda could even start to show how characters like Link and Zelda can also fall prey to the same corruption, rather than Ganon being inherently evil and the game’s heroes purely good. For now, however, fans will have to wait for more news from Nintendo to see just what the next game in The Legend of Zelda series has in store.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 is currently in development.
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