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 exactly untrue, but it misses the nuances of the franchise. At its core, The Legend of Zelda is about the Hyrule Royal Family 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, changes 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 of 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 Zelda is the origin point for the Royal Family, divine blood flows through every member’s veins.
24 The Royal Family Controls Time
The Royal Family keeps some fairly interesting secrets over the course of the franchise. Ocarina of Time specifically reveals how the Royal Family 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 nothing 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 this 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 all things, the Prince of Hyrule is responsible for The Adventure of Link’s main plot. Sort of. So the story goes, the Prince of Hyrule became King after his father’s passing, 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 to 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 romantic relationship between Link and Zelda, it’s only natural to assume they end 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, however, 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 nothing 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 swearing 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 just came to an end. Ganondorf is appearing before 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 does 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 wrecked 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 worthless. If they’re not doing anything, chances are they’re being duped by Ganon. A Link to the Past’s King lets Agahnim take over the entire 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, he’s actually not a bad King. Honestly, the flooding isn’t even his fault. That one’s on Ocarina of Time Zelda 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 does 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 first glimpse at a matriarchal Hyrule, Twilight Princess was the first game in the series to show 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 only Zelda we’ve seen actually have a handle of Hyrule’s politics.
15 The Child Timeline’s Royal Family Is In Danger
She’s also the Zelda in the most amount of trouble. By the end of Twilight Princess, Hyrule Castle has been completely wrecked and Zelda seems to be the last member of the Royal Family left alive. Granted, she’s officially Queen so it’s not as if she doesn’t have pull in Hyrule, but she has a lot of rebuilding to do. Along with that, there’s also the matter of finding a companion. Link’s canonical love interests in Twilight Princess are Ilia and Midna. Zelda’s got no pull there.
14 The Composer Brothers Likely Made Zelda’s Lullaby
Although they only physically appear in Majora’s Mask, the Composer Brothers do play a role in Ocarina of Time. Specifically, Link breaks into their grave to learn the Song of Sun.
It’s there where he learns, however, that the Composer Brothers were composers hired specifically by the Royal Family.
Alone, that information is just flavor text, but it does imply they were in charge of composing all their songs. This means they likely also composed Zelda’s Lullaby. While the song itself appears in Skyward Sword, a game that predates OoT chronologically, it only appears in a non-diegetic setting. The actual song was more than likely composed by the Brothers.
13 A King And His Triforce
In a piece of lore so obscure even super fans might miss it, the original Legend of Zelda actually implies that whoever obtains the Triforce will be granted the title of King. It has absolutely no relevance on the series’ lore or the game’s plot, but it does bring with it quite the implication: Link becomes King of Hyrule at the end of The Legend of Zelda. Other games change the Triforce as a vessel for granting wishes, but Zelda 1 seems to have a Kingly prophecy tied to it.
12 Link Should Technically Be King In Zelda II
With Kingly prophecies in mind, this means that Zelda II follows a recently crowned Link trekking through Hyrule to wake up a comatose Zelda and prevent Ganon’s resurrection. It becomes quite the interesting game in that context. No longer is Link just a hero setting forth into a world, but a King actively trying to keep his Kingdom intact. Of course, the game itself doesn’t acknowledge this in any meaningful way whatsoever so it’s entirely likely Nintendo didn’t care to pursue this trend for the Triforce. In fact, ALttP’s depiction of the Triforce outright confirms this was the case. It’s a nice idea for one game, but an entire series?
11 The Royal Family And The Goddess Harp
Although it’s associated primarily with Skyward Sword, the Goddess Harp actually made its first appearance in Ocarina of Time. A mystical instrument with magic powers not too dissimilar to the Ocarina of Time, Sheik uses the Goddess Harp to teach Link songs that allow him to teleport to Hyrule’s major Temples over the course of game.
What’s most interesting about the Goddess Harp, however, is the fact that it implies the Royal Family has two musical instruments on them at virtually all times.
The Ocarina controls time whereas the Goddess Harp opens the way to a different realm entirely. It’s honestly shocking no one in the Royal Family has been tempted to use these instruments for evil. Yet.
10 All You Need To Know About The Knights Of Hyrule
You can’t have a Royal Family without Royal Knights. Well, you can, but the family probably wouldn’t last all that long, would they? The Knights of Hyrule have almost always been a fixture of the Zelda franchise. They were introduced in A Link to the Past as enemies for Link given his fugitive status before being turned into rather useless infantrymen in Ocarina of Time.
From there, they fall to Zant in Twilight Princess, become enemies again in A Link Between Worlds, and actually go on to play a major role in Link’s character arc in Breath of the Wild given his status as a proper knight. BotW’s interpretation is perhaps the most important as it solidifies the Knights of Hyrule as a legitimate organization with some prestige, interlocking intimately with the Royal Family as we can see from Link and Zelda’s dynamic.
9 The Royal Family Was Completely Destroyed In The Adult Timeline
Despite an overtly cartoony aesthetic, the Adult Timeline is arguably the darkest in the entire franchise. Covering The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass, and Spirit Tracks, the Adult Timeline features no Royal Timeline initially due to Hyrule’s flooding between Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker.
As a result, the Royal Family seen in Spirit Tracks is less a continuation of the original and more a replacement.
It can be argued that Tetra’s role as Zelda keeps the Royal Family alive in some sense, but she has no grasp of her culture and the King of Red Lions explicitly states how Link and Tetra need to move on from Hyrule and create their own kingdom. The Wind Waker is all about accepting the fact that the Royal Family is indeed gone.
8 Zelda Is The Last Member Of The Royal Family In Breath Of The Wild
Honestly, the Royal Family may as well be considered extinct given the events of Breath of the Wild. Not only was every single member save for Zelda annihilated during Calamity Ganon’s attack during the backstory, it seems as though every retainer fell as well with only Link surviving. If nothing else, he’s the only one alive by the time the game begins.
At the end of the game, Hyrule Castle is effectively destroyed meaning there’s nowhere for Zelda to return to as Princess. It’s theoretically possible to rebuild the Castle, but what pull would she have as a monarch? The Royal Family wasn’t around for 100 years and it was ultimately Link who saved Hyrule, not Zelda. It’s unlikely a Royal Family would transition back into power without any trouble.
7 The Royal Family Prospers Most In The Downfall Timeline
For a part of Zelda history literally titled “The Downfall Timeline,” the Royal Family actually prospers quite a bit in it, especially if you consider Breath of the Wild a part of the timeline. Not only does A Link to the Past establish the Royal Family as a solid foundation rooted in history, both Oracle titles show Hyrule’s Royal Family has a strong relationship with neighboring countries.
Downfall for who, really?
Not only that, A Link Between Worlds ensures the Royal Family stays in power for quite a long time and Breath of the Wild features thousands of years of backstory featuring an active Royal Family. It isn’t until the game begins properly where they end up reaching near extinction. If nothing else, the Downfall Timeline features the most active Royal Family.
6 Ganondorf’s Reign: The New Royal Family
Who’s to say that the Royal Family needs to just be descendants of Hylia and the first Zelda? Monarchies come and go, and Ganondorf occasionally finds himself in charge of Hyrule. Shouldn’t he too be considered a Royal Family in his own right? It’s not as if he’s completely alone in his ruling. In Ocarina of Time, he basically has an entire posse.
If you consider Ganondorf’s seven-year reign in Ocarina of Time legitimate, his Royal Family would basically be him and the entire Gerudo tribe. He doesn’t let any of the Gerudos live in his castle, of course, but Gerudo Valley is one of the few areas post-time travel to remain intact. They don’t end up doing much, but when has Zelda’s Royal Family actually done anything substantial without her?