Ask any super fan what they think The Legend of Zelda’s story is and they’ll likely tell you it’s about the inherent struggle between Link. Zelda, and Ganon over the Triforce. It’s not exac♒tly untrue, but it misses the nuances of the franchise. At its core, The Legend of Zelda is about the Hyrule Royal Fa🌠mily and ♏how it affects Hyrule. Zelda, in many ways, feels like a critique of monarchy, dissecting the ins and outs of it as a means to push the story forward. If Link isn’t driving the plot, chan♏ges⭕ are the Royal Family as a whole is.
Just about any game in the series where the Royal Family appears brings with it lore that adds new layers to Hyrule’s Royalty. More time than not, the added lore strongly centers itself 💞around the many secrets hidden by the Hyrule Royal Family. In-universe, the Royal Family might be one o💦f the most potentially dangerous entities in the franchise due to the sheer amount of secrets they hold. Magical items and magical powers that can shape the world seem to exist in a Royal Family vault that Zelda can just hop in and out of whenever she pleases. They’re technically meant to be the good guys, but all their secrets might spell out a very different story.
25 The Royal Family Is Descended From The Goddess Hylia
Skyward Sword may not be the most ambitious entry in the series as far as game design goes, but it brought with it a complete overhaul of the series’ lore that’s likely to be a mainstay ♚given its presence⛄ in the fairly radical Breath of the Wild. Most notably, Skyward Sword solidified one central deity for the Zelda franchise: Hylia.
Not only that, it was established that Hylia’s soul reincarnates from one Princess Zelda to the next. What this means is that, essentially, every member of the Royal Family is directly descended from Hylia herself. Since🉐 Skyward Sword’s ꩵZelda is the origin point for the Royal Family, divine blood flows through every member’s veins.
24 The Royal Family Controls Time
The R🌳oyal Family keeps some fairly interesting secrets over the course of the franchise. Ocarina of Time specifically reveals how the Royal Familyಌ has a device capable of controlling the flow of time directly: the Ocarina of Time. Not only that, they also feature a mystical song that, in conjunction with the Goddess of Time, allows one to actually time travel.
This is to say noꦛthing of the fact that the Pedestal of Time in the Temple of Time is a literal vessel for time travel that anyone could theoretically abuse should they just stab the Master Sword in and out of it. Skyward Sword takes thisꦚ even further by making time travel a rather regular occurrence for Royal Family members.
23 That Time The Prince Of Hyrule Ruined Everything
A character exclusive to the Zelda II manual of all𓃲 things, the Prince of Hyrule is responsible for The Adventure of Link’s main plot. Sortꦛ of. So the story goes, the Prince of Hyrule became King after his father’s p🌠assing, but found himself inheriting only one piece of the Triforce. Thanks to a Magician in his personal court, he caught wind that his sister, Zelda, knew of the Triforce.
Manuals ruin everything, don't they?
In an attempt to extort information out of her, the Prince questioned Zelda aggressively only for the Magician to step in and try to dispose of her. The Prince, realizing his mistake, fought the Magician off but failed. Zelda was put into a magical coma and the Prince decided every woman in his family would have to be named Zelda tꦛo honor her. It’s not the🥃 best story.
22 The Skyward Sword Link Was Likely The First King
Since Skyward Sword is one of the few games to depict a genuinely romanti🥃c relationship between Link and Zelda, it’s only natural to assume they en🔯d up together. Since Skyward Sword is also the first game in the series chronologically,🌃 it’s also natural to assume Zelda goes on to found the Royal Family. What might not seem natural, h෴owever, is the idea that SS’ Link was the first King of Hyrule.
If Skyward Sword Zelda founds the Royal Family this means her husband, Link, ends up the first King by default. While this means nothi♐ng for the other Links as no subsequent Link is actually related to Skyward Sword’s Link outside of harboring the Spirit of the Hero, it is an interesting lore detail that turns one 🍃of the most important protagonists into an important political figure.
21 The Hyrulean Civil War
Briefly mentioned in Ocarina of Time, and only Ocarina of Time, the Hyrulean Civil War was an event that saw Hyrule torn in two, presumably due to the actions of the reigning king and Ganondorf. The war resulted in Link’s mother needing to leave him in Kokiri Forest and ultimately ended with Ganondorf swearin💫g fealty to the king once more.
Interestingly, given Ganondorf’s appearance when Link meets Zelda for the first time, it can be implied that the Hyrulean Civil War justꦑ came to an end. Ganondorf is appearing beforeඣ the king in a gesture of good faith, after all, and it doesn’t take him long to try to stage a coup now that he’s gained his trust. In a sense, Ocarina of Time is the story🌌 of the Hyrulean Civil War. It simply starts during a quiet period.
20 Did The Royal Family Massacre The Gerudo In Twilight Princess?
If you’re a perceptive gamer, you’ll have noticed that not a single entry in the Child Timeline post-Majora’s Mask actually features a Gerudo. This might not seem all that important at first- after all, not every race appears in every game- but Gerudo Valley do🌱es make an appearance in the Child Timeline. More than once🅷 at that!
Both Twilight Princess and Four Swords Adventures feature completely empty Gerudo Valleys. The location exists, but the people have been wiped off the map.
Given how desolate and relatively wreck🦄ed Gerudo Valley is in Twilight Princess, it’s not✤ out of the question that the Royal Family would swoop in and take out the entire race as a means of punishing Ganondorf for his treachery.
19 Zelda’s Kings Tend To Be Incompetent
Kings in The Legend of Zelda tend to be by and large worthlesꦦs. If they’re not doing anything, chances are they’re being duped by Ganon. A Link to the Past’s King lets Agahnim take ov🌊er the enti🌜re kingdom; Ocarina of Time’s Link lets Ganondorf stage a coup; The Wind Waker’s King lets a flood happen; Twilight Princess’ King isn’t even alive; and Breath of the Wild’s King fails to support his daughter enough to stop Ganon, (but we’ll 🤪touch on that one later.)
18 The King Of Red Lions: The Only Good King
So even though The King of Red Lions allows his Kingdom to🧸 be flooded, h🐭e’s actually not a bad King. Honestly, the flooding isn’t even his fault. That one’s on Ocarina of Time Zeld𒐪a for sending Link back to his own timeline. Daphnes isn’t without fault, mind you, but he actually seems to understand why previous Kings have failed.
It figures the boat would be the best king.
There’s an ego involved with being king, and Daphnes knows that. His entire plan hinges on using the Triforce to📖 permanently destroy Hyrule as hubris is what ultimately caused it to flood. He🤪’s willing to sacrifice his legacy and life in order to preserve a future for the next generation. As far as kings go, he’s the only one who puts the needs of others before his own.
17 New Hyrule Seems To Be A Matriarchy
Given the role kings tend to play in The Legend of Zelda franchise, we can assume Hyrule is a patriarchal society. Mind you, this is despite the fact that Hyrule began with a woman in charge, but that’s beside the point. Time and time again, Hyrule🦩 puts men in charge. Until Spirit Tracks that is. At least in a formal sense.
Spirit Tracks do💧es not seem to have a set king. Rather, Anjean, a member of the Lokomo, seems to be the closest thing to a ruler New Hyrule has despite not being a part of the Royal Family. Even then, Zelda seems to be the one calling the shots in the game with no King looming in the background.
16 Twilight Princess’ Zelda Is A Proper Queen
Even though Spirit Tracks gives us our firs♔t glimpse at a matriarchal 🧜Hyrule, Twilight Princess was the first game in the series to shoꦬw us a Hyrule with a woman explicitly in charge. Presumably following the king’s passing, Zant seems to interrupt Zelda’s coronation meaning she’s a Princess in name only.
Bring back Queen Zelda, Nintendo!
Basically, Twilight Princess is the only game 💎in the series to give us a Queen Zelda. She acts like a Queen, is far more composed than her counterparts, and has a strictly professional relationship with Link. She’s the onl♐y Zelda we’ve seen actually have a handle of Hyrule’s politics.