#i'm very tired ok but i can't stop rotating this like some rottiserie chicken

[themostefficientwaywithwater]

I've seen a lot of people are as excited as me for a Zelda game that focus on how Ganon's constant reincarnations affects negatively to Zelda, Link and even Ganondorf. We've already seen this theme subtly in BotW (Zelda chastised for not awakening her power, Link unable to speak and enjoy himself because of how the Hero's title burdens him). However, I normally wouldn't expect "the harm the vicious cycle of reincarnation makes on it's unwitting pawns" to be the theme of a Zelda game. After all, it's Nintendo, and we know they don't like to stray so far from the "evil is bad and we must defeat it" plotline and they wouldn't dare to criticize the goddesses' plans...

Oh, wait, they already did it.

The Wind Waker is about letting go of the past and how being unable to move on will harm you and future generations. Daphnes and Ganondorf can't let go of their kingdom, and they die with it because they can't imagine themselves living without it. It harms Medli and Makar, who are taken away from their home and family and are confined into the heart of a dungeon so the Master Sword can maintain it's full power. It harms Tetra, too, who sees her whole individuality taken away in favor of performing her role as "Princess Zelda". And it harms Link, who is treated as a pawn by Daphness to do the work of the Hero of Legend, despite literally being Just A Kid (TM) who just wanted to rescue his sister.

But, despite everything, they manage to break the cycle, as Ganondorf no longer appears in other titles situated in the Adult Timeline (neither do Hyrule, or the Triforce or the Master Sword, or most classical elements of TLOZ). By killing Ganondorf, Demise's hatred could no longer persist in the world, thus breaking the eternal cycle of death and reincarnation. But how could that happen? Sure stabbing a whole man in the head usually turns to be fatal, but that's been done before and they only managed to seal him away. Why did this time work?

I think he just gave up.

He realised he would never get Hyrule, that even when everything was at his favor (the Hero gone, the Princess at his power, the Master Sword was weakened, he even managed to get the Triforce of Courage from Link!) he still lost. He gave one last fight, but he didn't even transform to Ganon (it's only appearance is as a puppet, another symbol if he being treated as a pawn by a higher power) and after Link delivers the final blow, he accepts his fate and passes away.

Even though he's been treated as the major villain in the series, he's been as much as a pawn from the gods as the multiple Heroes and Princesses from the series. He may not have been the best man before OoT, but he was a victim of his circunstances and his initial motives where to grant his people a home where they could live in peace instead of fearing death day and night, turning into thieves just to survive. But he was corromped by anger, by revenge, by malice, and he turned the perfect vessel for Demise's curse. I think that BotW's Ganon was the same but it's been so many centuries that the man he once was can not be recognised, he's more of a beast now. But I still have hope, and now that his "mummy" has awakened, maybe we could get a more humanized version of Ganondorf instead of a simple "demon of malice". The old leader of a desert tribe who just wanted to give a better life to his people, and went too far.

I find this to be very unlikely, but not impossible. While WW's Ganondorf had it easier, as he was more collected and thoughtful, there's still the possibility that Ganondorf "awakes" from its Ganon-self and shows a bit more of characterization and his motives. Who knows, we could even break the cycle in BotW-TotK's timeline if Ganondorf refuses to continue this endless cicle of destruction and give up on Hyrule's conquest (a little more optimistic that being stabbed on the head, please and with sugar on top). But we may have to pay a big price to make it. After all, the cycle was broken in WW, but a great sacrifice was necessary...

Hyrule's destruction