Ever since the first Breath of the Wild 2 trailer back in 2019, Legend of Zelda fans have been speculating about Link’s right arm – what happened to it, why does Link have long nails, what are the bracelets, and is that even Link’s arm at all? Today I’m going to dive into some of the best theories about Link’s right arm in Breath of the Wild 2.
First off, before we go into too much detail I’d love to hear your theories about Link’s arm in the comments section.
It’s not Link’s arm
Way back in the first trailer in 2019, we see Link and Zelda traveling underground in a cave when they come across what looks to be a Ganondorf-like corpse, held in place with an arm. Swirling green symbols appear to be emminating from this arm, although it appears to be holding off any evil and securing Ganondorf in place. Below the arm we can see the red and black corruption leaking out, reaching, trying to overcome this arm.
Suddenly the seal is broken somehow and Link’s right arm starts to glow, as the grips at it with his left hand. The mysterious arm reaches out and grabs Link as he falls, but then we see this arm grabbing Ganondorf – although this quick scene appears to be in the past, when the arm was still attach to whomever is came from. We don’t know who the arm belongs to, but it must be a very powerful being to be able to lock away the legendary Ganondorf and seal his under Hyrule Castle.
It’s Ganon’s arm
In the first Breath of the Wild we see a hero in tapestry form. This hero does not look like Link, it’s a character with red hair. Instead of Link, perhaps the hero was a young Ganondorf? He had a unique start in life being born the only male Gerudo in 100 years. In Skyward Sword he’s revealed to be the incarnation of Demise’s hatred for Link and Zelda… but perhaps Ganondorf was once a hero too, corrupted by a great power?
Corrupted Master Sword
It could be the corruption in Link’s arm is in some way related to the broken Master Sword, which we see in the Breath of the Wild 2 delay trailer. We pressume at the moment there is going to be some kind of quest to restore the Master Sword to it’s former glory, and this is likely to be a large part, or perhaps the first part of Breath of the Wild 2.
Looking at Link’s arm once again, towards the top of his new arm and where it’s attached to his regular body, it looks digital in design with little squares covering his arm and shoulder. It could be this is a tattoo, and looks similar to Ghirahim, from Skyward Sword.
Link using his right arm
Talking about Ghirahim, that segways nicely back to Skyward Sword, and the potential links to Breath of the Wild 2. We have already seen a few visual clues in the trailers linking the two games. Link’s skydive in the E3 2021 trailer, the raised pieces of Hyrule dotted about the sky, and Aonuma stating the adventure is going to take place in the skys and on land in the sequel to Breath of the Wild. At the start of Skyward Sword, we are told that pieces of Hyrule were sent into the sky, and would later become Skyloft, the place where the very first Link and Zelda were born.
The connections between Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild also relate to Link’s arm. Link uses his right arm in Breath of the Wild, and also the trailers we have seen so far for the sequel. In Skyward Sword Link’s Sword hand was changed from left to right to fit with the motion controls on the Wii.
Skyward Sword Connections
There’s more links to Skyward Sword than merely the hand Link uses to weild the sword. The look of Link’s right arm is very similar to Ghirahim, the servant of Demise. Demise, would later be reincarnated at Ganondorf. Demise woudl eventually fall in Skyward Sword and be trapped inside the Master Sword with Fi, our helpful assistant throughout our adventures in Skyloft.
Fi and Demise inside trapped inside the Master Sword could be an important detail. In Breath of the Wild there are clues to Fi trying to communicate. Zelda hears the Master Sword trying to speak, telling her to take Link to the Shrine of Resurrection. Also, after the Trial of the Sword, Link raises the Sword and it glows… similar to the scenes we see in Skyward Sword.
With Fi and Demise trapped inside the master sword, and the sword being damaged or broken, perhaps the evil has escaped, and once again Demise, through Ganondorf is terrorising the people of Hyrule?
Link’s Long Nails
The nails appear to be a huge clue as to the owner of the arm. The nails are a very distinguishing feature of Link’s right arm. His left hand certainly doesn’t have nails like this. The design of the nails even looks female. That’s not to say male characters cannot have long finger nails like this, only that in the design of the male characters we have seen in Breath of the Wild tend to have shorter, rounded nails. The long nails definitely seem to be a clue, but what this means… we don’t know just yet.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
That’s it for this look at theories about Link’s arm in Breath of the Wild 2. For more Breath of the Wild 2 content like this check out Triforce Times on YouTube and subscribe today.