One of the biggest features of the Breath of the Wild 2 trailers so far is the mummified corpse under Hyrule Castle. Clearly, this corpse plays an important role in the story of the game, given the starring role in the first trailer. Today I am going to look at candidates for who that corpse might be plus verify against the Zelda timeline placement, so we have a clearer understanding of the story going into Breath of the Wild 2.

Before we get stuck into the main topic today let me know in the comments who you think the corpse is, plus how did they get there, and what role do you think they are going to have in the story in Breath of the Wild 2?

Ganondorf

The primary candidate for the corpse has to be Ganondorf. He wasn’t in the first game, the main evil in Breath of the Wild was Calamity Ganon, although given this corpse is below Hyrule Castle, that could explain a few things. The E3 2019 trailer gives us our best look at the corpse under Hyrule Castle. There are similarities between the corpse and our long-time nemesis Ganondorf; the red hair, the jewel in the middle of the head, and the Gerudo symbol hanging from the corpse after reanimation. In a flash of bright light, we see a hand reaching out to what could be a reanimated Ganondorf, with a bulkier build and his hair wild. Link’s hand is glowing with green energy, plus a strange arm is holding the corpse in place, covered in bracelets.

In the E3 2021 trailer, we see the corpse reanimated, standing, screaming. Link’s arm is gripped by Malice, but later in the trailer Link’s arm appears to be infused with the same green magic and bracelets we saw on the mysterious green arm holding the corpse in place.

I’ve talked about the role of Ganondorf when looking at the ‘Best Theories And Speculation About Breath Of The Wild 2’. There is a tapestry in the origin Breath of the Wild which depicts a ‘Hero from 10,000’ years ago, who has an ambiguous look. You could argue this character could be Link, or perhaps it was a heroic Ganondorf, rather than Link. Rather than be evil, perhaps Ganondorf was a hero 10,000 years ago and somehow the demise of this Ganondorf, leading to being imprisoned under Hyrule Castle led to the birth of Calamity Ganon.

In the first Breath of the Wild 2 trailer from 2019, we see Malice rushing in, moments after Ganondorf’s Corpse is reanimated. It could be suggesting that Malice is related to the corrupted side of Ganondorf, and perhaps he wasn’t evil all along, it’s related to this Malice. In the latest trailer, we get a good look a Link’s arm, and it appears to have the same bracelets on his right arm as those on the strange green arm holding Ganondorf in place under Hyrule Castle.

There is evidence in the trailers that Link can manipulate time, we see him rewinding time through a mechanic related to his arm, and also we’ve seen Link travel through time in previous games like Ocarina of Time. Given we see two variants of Link in the trailers, we could be going back in time to that scene from 10,000 years ago, and we could indeed meet the Hero from that era. Will it be Link, or will it be a hero Ganondorf?

Astor

Another option for the corpse could be Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity. He’s known as The Prophet of Doom and was born and raised in an unknown village in Hyrule. Astor was a sorcerer and follower of Calamity Ganon who works with the Yiga Clan to destroy Hyrule. Astor also has a similar jewel as part of his headdress, which could have been mistaken for Gerudo jewellery.

At the end of Age of Calamity, Astor was killed by Harbinger Ganon, who then transforms into Calamity Ganon. Here Calamity Ganon is a large humanoid with skiey red hair and glowing eyes, similar to the glowing eyes we see in the first Breath of the Wild 2 trailer. This villian in Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity then is made up of both Astor and Harbinger Ganon, and it could be this is the corpse, rather than Ganondorf.

Demise

Another candidate for the corpse body under Hyrule Castle is Demise. He’s only been in one game, Skyward Sword, which is also the first game in the timeline and where our story began. Looking at an image of Demise and the corpse flash, there certainly are similarities with the build and the hair. Demise and Ganon are linked, given Ganon is the resurrected heir to Demise, seeking vengeance on Link and Zelda for the defeat of the original Demon King Demise. There’s a lot of evidence in the trailers suggesting a connection between Skyward Sword and Breath of the Wild 2, and the reappearance of Demise could be another.

Another clue to Demise returning could be the link between Demise and Malice. In Skyward Sword, Demise is described as inviting the first monsters into the human world, and Fi describes Demise as “the source of all monsters”. Malice creates monsters in Hyrule Castle and in the Divine Beasts, plus is related to the Blood Moon responsible for resurrecting Monsters all across Hyrule. Demise was ultimately destroyed in Skyward Sword when Skyloft crushed him falling to earth. It could be that Demise’s body has been there all along, drilled into the ground with Hyrule Castle built on the location of Demise’s death.

Out of the three candidates; Ganondorf, Astor and Demise, I think the most likely candidate is Ganondorf, although personally, I’d like to see both Demise and Ganondorf come back to the story in Breath of the Wild 2.

Breath of the Wild Timeline Placement

One piece of information would help in terms of knowing who the corpse is, and that’s the timeline placement of Breath of the Wild. The placement of Breath of the Wild on the Zelda Timeline hasn’t yet been revealed, with Eiji Aonuma keeping his cards close to his chest. The timeline was published in Hyrule Historia, a fantastic book for all Zelda fans. Eiji Aonuma stoked the discussion by saying the following in the book ‘Creating a Champion’:

“Video games, not just Zelda, can go much, much further! We got a lot of responses from adult players who said they felt the same way playing this game as they did when they used to be hooked on video games when they were younger. We made this game with the intention of returning to our roots, so the response from players about feeling the same as they had when they were young is promising.”

“In books like the recently released The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia, we revealed where each Zelda game fell on a timeline and how their stories related, but we didn’t do that for Breath of the Wild. There is a reason for that. With this game, we saw just how many players were playing in their own way and had those reactions I just mentioned.

“We realised that people were enjoying imagining the story that emerged from the fragmentary imagery we were providing. If we defined a restricted timeline, then there would be a definitive story, and it would eliminate the room for imagination, which wouldn’t be as fun.

“We want players to be able to continue having fun imagining this world even after they are finished with the game, so, this time, we decided that we would avoid making clarifications. I hope that everyone can find their own answer, in their own way.”

Let me know in the comments who you think the corpse is in Breath of the Wild 2 and share some of your theories.

That’s it for this look at who the corpse is in Breath of the Wild 2. For more Legend of Zelda content like this check out Triforce Times on YouTube and subcribe today.