The Master Sword Breaks!
Introduction
After writing an article about the fortieth anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo gave their fans the announcement that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time releases later this year. Despite the festivities of the newly title, the following article shall take a look back at the important event at the very beginning of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023). Ganon successfully breaks the Master Sword and destroys with it the hope of evil’s bane. The context shall explicitly mention how this event is more important than almost anything in the entire game.
What did happen?
Link and Zelda walk dangerously in the paths below Hyrule Castle. There has been coming gloom and darkness beneath Hyrule Castle. Zelda found it an excellent idea to venture forth and do some research with Link beside her. For context matter, and to intensify why this narrative fell hard on me, before starting Tears of the Kingdom, I made it my sole duty to finish Breath of the Wild (its predecessor) completely. I could not allow myself to begin Tears of the Kingdom without knowing how the first entry ended. This decision resulted in a near metaphorical cardiac arrest on my part of the experience.
The game’s plot writer effectively makes it feel as if Link’s previous adventure was for nothing. How could you otherwise start a new game? When looking at it from a writer’s perspective, the game required something that would break the current hero. This is mainly due because Link starts off with tons of hearts and stamina. He is already ready to hit the big boss without needing to find any shrines at all!
Thus, Zelda saw it as an excellent opportunity to have Link and her team up and investigate Hyrule Castle. As one could imagine, this is exactly where the problem and, therefore, plot begins. The player must feel strong and powerful, when they first walk with Link in the game. This facade is only held for just a good few minutes in the game. It is when they encounter the final room, where the horror begins.
Ganon rises
The following discussion must have a small spoiler alert. It may influence and spoil the surprise of people who still need, or want, to pick up the game. If you are still here, it means that you have given yourself consent to venture forth into the article’s discussion. King Rauru’s arm held Ganon in place over the latter’s thousands years slumber. Link and Zelda act both utterly surprised when Ganon wakes up and calls them by their names! In an eerie voice, he calls out to them and then spurts out into dark power towards the Princess. Link pushes the princess away and stands before her out of defence.
Link’s master sword still shines brightly, as he just saved the Princess of Hyrule from a terrible blow. Despite feeling victorious, Link’s face immediately changes when he sees that Ganon has wrapped his dark energy around the master sword. He looks at it, as the master sword and his right-arm are enveloped and enraptured by Ganon’s dark energy. Another strike comes from Ganon’s side, and Link guards it off once more; only to see that the master sword is now entirely broken.
The gaming series call the master sword ‘the bane of all evil’. Specifically, in many games, it holds out to be the only effective weapon against Hyrule’s evil: Ganon. I said ‘many’ games, since this is not true throughout all games. Yet, in Tears of the Kingdom, the master sword plays such an important role that its breaking covers Zelda’s quest to recover it. I could say that this particular event literally sets off the entire game in this respect. When looking at the standing of the game, the beginning of the game naturally initiates the later outcome.
But how did he do it?
This is a question that I kept on asking myself. How did Ganon actually break this sword that holds so much nostalgia and power over him? Ganon did probably not know their names from the previous game entries, which would have been an amazing detail for fans. No. As we learn to, once again, move towards Hyrule, the player ultimately discovers that Zelda knew Ganon from their shared ‘ancient’ past (she travels back in time). Rauru, just before he sealed him away, told Ganon that a ‘Years from now someone will appear with the sword that seals the darkness. A swordsman with the power to defeat you. Link, remember this’.
Ganon does not disappoint Rauru, as he could remember all three: Zelda, Link and the master sword! He launches his attack immediately on them and pities them how petty their resistance actually is. Ganon, who is voiced by none other than Matthew Mercer (Critical Role), says:
Was that the Sword that Seals the Darkness? The blade that shatters so easily against my power cannot save you from me.
The interesting part
The most interesting about this clash is not the moment that the master sword breaks, although this is considered extremely heavily on the plot. I believe that the most interesting part is that Ganon shows true surprise in his reaction to the event. What does this say? Well, for starters, he did not expect it to be so easy for a prophecy to be shattered into pieces like that. In fact, it was within the blink of an eye. Matthew Mercer’s tone even echoed a certain disbelief.
Secondly, if Ganon was so powerful, he would have been boasting off his victory. Yet, his own power, too, surprises him. This all tells me that the writers of Tears of the Kingdom wanted to remind us that there must be something more going on here. We all know that Ganon was imprisoned by Rauru’s hand. Like any epic story, we have a divide between an utter good and an utter evil. Rauru harbours the ‘light’, whereas Ganon embodies its very ‘dark’ contrastive disturbance. This is nothing new, but there is a peculiarity, when we look at the manner how Ganon is sealed away.
Rauru’s hand, that is placed firmly on Ganon’s chest, seems to stand motionless throughout time. It radiates a certain light glow, and I believe that this is the main reason why and how Ganon was able to break the master sword. This is a fan theory, but I would say that Ganon was so much influenced by Rauru’s hand that he temporarily gained his powers upon awakening. By doing so, he could destroy the master sword and still act fairly surprised. But why would he then be surprised? Because it is not his own power; it rather is his power combined with Rauru’s.
How could this work?
It is not too difficult to imagine that Ganon’s and Rauru’s powers were clashed after so many years of imprisonment. When looking at Link, he received Rauru’s abilities when his right-arm was replaced by Rauru’s. This same arm has been lingering on Ganon for thousands of years. One could imagine that such an ‘radiant’ exposure would climax to a ‘new’ and ‘harmful’ power, and it did. This power was enough to let the master sword break. The bane of all evil shatters into nothingness.
How do you think that Ganon was capable to destroy this precious sword? Do you think that this theory is on to something? Or do you believe that there is something else at play? I would like to hear your thoughts!