@MikeQ If you like "fan theories"

@Ben Some folks say that the tune in the trailer is a remix of the LoZ game over music

@MikeQ I saw that too.

I mean, it's what Nintendo does. It recycles content. But props to them to do it in such a way that people legitimately get excited about the same stuff

Maybe they're doing the MM route, where they use the same art style (and recycle assets) but rework the world in a different way, plus a darker tone and new mechanics

We're probably getting some gimmick where link has a funky arm

I really am liking the dark tone :D. Just everything about that trailer was great

Especially the comments section on yutube XD

Why would you ever read those

I also watched an "analysis" video of the trailer, which I normally never do. But it pointed out a few things I missed originally, and drew some interesting connections between the trailer and things in BotW

I just noticed that the Ganondorf(?) mummy has malice eyes

@MikeQ Yeah. The idea is that the ghost hand is pinning him down; he's not actually dead. He's just leaking Malice, which is what created Calamity Ganon, and all of the Blight Ganons.

They've also hypothesised that he is a ReDead.

cc @Derpy if you're interested

@Ben there is a problem..... The ending of BOTW would make no sense, nor in the Japanese version nor in the wrongly translated international one.

Jap:

Eng:

even if you look at the correct version - the Japanese one - it really makes no sense for him to be alive all along.

Well, "giving up on reincarnation" doesn't mean it's not possible... He just decided that he can't die, so he searched for other option.

@Ben "Giving up on reincarnation" is the english version. The wrong one.

the correct version claims that "calamity Ganon" is the result of "obsessive refusal to give up on revival"

Well, same thing, I guess. The idea is that he's pinned, not dead. He can't die, he can't move, so instead he's decIded to just recreate himself through malice (calamity Ganon). But, the magic is failing, or gets broken... So he can escape his prison

@Ben that was what I meant too. You can claim that he was imprisoned and not dead, but it smells like cerberus retcon...

And calamity Ganon is apparently not entirely formed... Yet? I don't remember where I got that idea from

Yeeeaaahh... I can see it working though. Not entirely a "retcon", more of a "what if" situation that was viable enough to work?

mah... even the ending line given by Zelda is different in the English version.

in the Japanese version, she says that "the menace of the calamity is gone"

in English, she basically adds a "for now".

you would expect the exact opposite, since it is the English version the one that claims that Calamity Ganon was a "last attempt" made at the cost of "giving up on reincarnation"

Then there is the fact that the pit from the trailer seems like an expy of the pit the "imprisoned" was in in Skyward Sword

it would still make sense in context for the games to be tied since they went as far as to reference Fii in BOTW...

But either way, I fear I was too quick in using mere logic to try to predict a plot.

I forgot the most basic rule of Zelda.

The timeline makes no sense.

I mean... BOTW is a sequel.... to two different timelines.

The Lon Lon Ranch from OOT is in the game.

and the master sword is in the exact same spot it was in LTTP

(and with exact me mean EXACT. Even the flowers are in the exact same spots).

Then you have the Hyrule compendium (which should be OFFICIAL stuff). The description for Calamity Ganon is basically the same in both the English and Japanese version.

It states that

> “Hibernating within a cocoon, it attempted to regenerate a physical form after Link awoke but was forced to confront him in an incomplete state.”

So, it was "attempting to regenerate a physical form"... and yet now we discover there was already another physical form pinned down by a spirit hand somewhere else?

There's a lot to work with there. I can see it being enough of a downfall but at the same time still workable.

Is Lon Lon ranch in other games? I feel like it is...

@Ben it is in other games, most notably Four Sword Adventure, Minish Cap and some others.

@Derpy Attempting to regenerate a physical form, by leaking his malice from one body that is trapped, to another that is free of his prison

@Ben zelda.gamepedia.com/Lon_Lon_Ranch

But BOTW Lon Lon Ranch is OOT ranch. It is not "a ranch", it is the same one, you only see its remains - and it is made so that it layout matches perfectly.

back to the trailer, the only option we have to conciliate that with BOTW ending is to read the line as Ganondorf being imprisoned in undead state on purpose in an attempt to keep him sealed. At that point it becomes reasonable to give to the line another meaning - he "stopped attempting to reincarnate" (since he couldn't because not dead) and tried to create a "spiritual form". Basically, what Ben said.

For added fun, it is not just the English version that do not match the Japanese one.

Both the Spanish and Italian version of BOTW ending state that "Ganon(dorf) is furious because he cannot leave his current form"

the funny part is that while this particular translation does match with the new trailer - the plot twist in it being that they were talking about the REAL Ganondorf, the one in the cave stuck forever... that would also mean that Zelda at the time knew about the Ganondorf in the cave. Which means that in the ending she should already know that Ganondorf is still there.

@Derpy well yes, but it's not like they would be able to do that in 4 swords and minish cap, Without it looking weird, no?

@Derpy Ohhh, plot twist!

@Ben considering that they take place at different times, with thousands years passing in between, it would make no sense to be THE SAME ranch. I mean, have you watched the video? Even the position of the two benches is the same.

@Derpy I played OoT to recognise the similarity haha

@Ben yep, but in that case I don't think there is a version of the ending that got all the wording correctly. Either they missrepresented Calamity Ganon nature, or they missrepresented Zelda line about "there is more work to do"

Which.. is in full Zelda style.

To be fair, languaging is hard. I speak English natively and even I can't speak actual English XD

and it is no better in French.

Yep, the French version states that he is " unable to have a physical body". Again, it takes some effort to turn it into "he has a body but can't use it".

The sequel will be a good game, but it will take a little effort to accommodate the fact that no mater what translation of the original you got, it probably had at least some errors :P

Oh that's a given. Misinterpretation is a given.

anyway, the most interesting part from the video you linked is the parallel they do with Princess Mononoke

Yeah :D

That said it still a tad weird.

Not the weirdest thing LOZ has done mind you....

b) that is a Ganondorf from before that was defeated and sealed. This kinda explains Calamity Ganon (that basically could be similar to Phantom Ganondorf). Does not explain how they managed to know that Ganondorf would came back, devise a plan using some ancient forgotten robots and such but not realize where Ganondorf was all time along. I mean... when did Zelda got hold of the info about Ganondorf "body" location? Why didn't she went there before?

and more importantly... why the tablet isn't in the trailer?

(to be fair... why arent't the towers / shrine visible in the final scene of the trailer too)

BTW, I have rewatched the trailer a few times @Ben. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced it is a tad inconclusive. At this point I am too convinced that skeleton is Ganondorf - checked again and he has Gerudo garments.

The runes created by the blue energy seem to be Gerudo alphabet... which does not really make much sense - why would he have been sealed by Gerudo style magic?

I will retract my Demise theory from yesterday.

BTW, the ruins are probably tied to Zonai tribe, which objectively had a tad too much details and background in BOTW for something that was never really relevant to the plot (and remember - for some reason one of their ruins is always enveloped in darkness - not just malice, real darkness that you basically never remove in the game)

Yeah, Zeltik on YouTube came up with the same things. The shadow of the corpse as the hand show a gerudo profile

As for the hand... my hope would be that it is the hand of a Link from the past. Notice how BOTW never mentions the Triforce directly but it is implied that Zelda can at least tap to the Triforce of Wisdom in the ending.

Yet, I think this is the only (recent) Link that lack the Triforce mark on his hand.

Based on this, I would somehow like if the plot turned around to claim that Xk years before a Link used the power of the Triforce in his hand to seal Ganondorf and in doing so made all future Links "triforceless"

Thinking about it it could even work with the plot - at least it would explain why this Link is the one who "failed" - because he is the one without the power of the Triforce of Courage. That would also be the reason for him to be the only one that managed to servery damage the Master Sword

Would also fit with the claims of the music in the trailer being that of the original nes LOZ game over screen - Zelda 1 is the one where you go on an errand to find 8 Triforce pieces.

@Derpy It would make sense as to why his hand glows the same colour, in the clip, as if the power possesses him?

Like I said, could work... but then I wouldn't know how to explain the weird golden armlet / bracelet the ghost hand has

Another option is that this is actually a prequel and what we saw is the first time they discover Ganondorf under the castle before all the chaos starts. Could also somehow fit but I think this is less likely. Would explain why no tablet or temples/towers in the final view of Hyrule though.

If it is a prequel, that is indeed a darker Zelda game as promised since you are not only bound to fail since plot, you will also fail in an horrible way while the capital city is getting burned down.

Last option... which is sheer insanity....

That one is Ganondorf but not the one from the past we know. Is the Gerudo Ganondorf from this age who sealed himself using Gerudo magic to try to avoid becoming Ganon

guess we will have to wait for some more info.

In the meantime, speculating is half the fun.

@Derpy Ohhh I like that!