Breath of the Wild 2 has been delayed to 2023, and while that’s disappointing, it’s also an opportunity for us to learn more about the sequel’s story. And we may have just learned a lot about the Link we see in the Breath of the Wild 2 trailers and how he relates to the Hero of Hyrule.
Lega Hyrule, an Italian Zelda fan site, recently talked with Daruk’s Italian voice actor, Pietro Ubaldi (via ResetEra). Although Ubaldi couldn’t remember many of the specifics, he did say that he’ll be playing one of Daruk’s ancestors in Breath of the Wild 2.
"Yeah, whose name I don't remember, unfortunately," replied Ubaldi when asked about Daruk’s ancestor, adding that this forebear will be “a bit more serious” than Daruk. Ubaldi also confirmed that Italian dubbing was well underway, meaning Breath of the Wild 2 development is likely in its final stages.
As postulated by Lega Hyrule, the fact that Breath of the Wild 2 will feature Daruk’s ancestor could mean that the game will take place 10,000 years ago during the Great Calamity. And if that’s true, then the Link we see in the Breath of the Wild trailers is actually the Ancient Hero. The other possibility is that Link goes back in time to the age of the Great Calamity, paradoxically making the Ancient Hero and Breath of the Wild’s Link the same person.
There's still no word on when Breath of the Wild 2 will release other than next year, so that leaves us with plenty of time to speculate on which possibility will turn out to be true.
In the meantime, several analysts from Digital Foundry have also postulated that Breath of the Wild 2's trailers were taken on something other than the basic Nintendo Switch console. Frame rates, draw distances, rendering of atmospheric effects, and more graphical statistics all seemed far beyond what the Switch was capable of with Breath of the Wild, leading those analysts to posit that the trailers were taken on a totally new console--possibly even the long-rumored Switch Pro.