The latest big release on the Nintendo Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, has stolen the attention of gamers everywhere for a number of reasons. Not only is it more open than its predecessor, but it also features new abilities such as Fuse, Ultrahand, and Recall that have kept players fairly busy due to the almost limitless potential that they hold. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's story has also been praised by fans and seen as rather epic and thought-provoking.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's story has fans traveling all over Hyrule, taking note of what's changed since Zelda: Breath of the Wild along the way. With the help of the elemental Sages, Link gains new abilities and learns about the Imprisoning War and Secret Stones to almost tiring levels. Its plot deals with dragons, time travel, and what Link and Zelda are willing to do to save their precious kingdom. However, once the credits roll and the day is saved, many fans may already know that this isn't the end due to one critical truth of The Legend of Zelda's lore.
Ganondorf's Inevitable Return
Hyrule may be safe for now, but it won't be in another few lifetimes. As every Zelda fan likely knows, Ganondorf is destined to be reincarnated over certain lifetimes, and thus, after every time he's defeated, he will always come back sometime in the future. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is no exception to this rule.
The reason for this is that Ganondorf, often the only male Gerudo born to the clan every 100 years, is the incarnation of Demise the Demon King. Back in Zelda: Skyward Sword, Demise was bested by Link, to which he declared his hate would be reborn in "a cycle without end", which has led to the many stories of Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf over multiple generations.
The Legend of Zelda's Reincarnation Cycle
In order to fight the rise of Demise every other lifetime, Zelda and Link are consistently reincarnated to fight him as well. This trend is the backbone of many of the games that make up the lengthy and difficult Zelda timeline, with only direct sequels that give Link a few new villains to fight than just Ganon. It can be easily said that the way to save Hyrule permanently is to end this cycle; however, that isn't easy to do for both plot reasons and because of the effects that it would have on the franchise at large.
Currently, there hasn't been a single Zelda title that gives any idea on how to stop the reincarnation cycles for Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf, nor if it would be possible to specifically destroy Demise's soul. However, this is most likely something that the franchise won't want to divulge or mess around with anytime soon, as currently, this trend helps tie the games together into a storyline (though, how well this works is up to each player). It could also be very possible that ending the reign of Ganondorf and Demise could very well usher in the end of the Zelda franchise. Therefore, the reincarnation cycle is likely not going anywhere anytime soon.
Until then, as powerful and rewarding as the endings in Zelda games tend to be, there will always be a slight bit of uneasiness as the happy ending won't last forever. Though, as much as this says that Hyrule's days of peace are numbered, at least Zelda fans can rest assured that Link and friends are safe until it's time for the next adventure, and that means a brand-new The Legend of Zelda title to explore as part of it.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available on Nintendo Switch.
