Alternative Culture: Christianity and the Legend of Zelda

Legend of Zelda: Breathe of the Wild (2017)

 The Legend of Zelda is one of the most popular gaming series in the world. The first game in the series, the Legend of Zelda, was released in Japan in 1985 and in North America in 1986. As the next game in the series, Tears of the Kingdom will be released within this month, I want to post about Christian influence in the series.

To clarify, I will only be covering the major aspects of the overall plot. There are obviously many aspects which are not inspired by Christianity. After all, the game is not intended to be an allegory for Christianity.  For instance, it is implied in Skyward Sword (2011) that the role of Link, Zelda and the Ganon are inherited via reincarnation. Christianity does not promote the idea of reincarnation. In addition, the world of Legend of Zelda is polytheistic with gods including Hylia, Din and Nayru.

Another aspect is the nature of the Triforce, the trinity of the Zelda series. One aspect of the Tri-force is evil (Ganon). In Christianity, all members of the Trinity are good exists as three distinct personhood of God.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011)

The Chosen One
The first off is the idea of the "Chosen One". Despite the vast differences in settings in the multitude of games, the chosen one is always prophesized to be a boy named Link. This is most explicit in Breathe of the Wild (2017), as it implies that such events are cyclical. 

This evil has been turned back time and time again by a warrior wielding the soul of a hero, and a princess who carries the blood of the Goddess. With the passage of time, each conflict with Ganon faded into legend. -- Breathe of the Wild (2017)

To make things more obvious, any attempt to defeat Ganon without the chosen one would fail or at best, a partial victory. For instance in the Twilight Princess (2006), the attempt to defeat Ganon in the absence of Link resulted in high casualties and the temporal banishment of Ganon. He eventually returns to encase the Kingdom of Hyrule in Twilight.

This parallels the idea of Jesus as the predicted Messiah and Savior. In fact, any attempt to defeat sin and reconcile ourselves to God without trusting in Jesus is considered futile.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, 
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
 the iniquity of us all. -- Isaiah 53:6

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” -- Matthew 19: 25-26

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006)

Inherited conflict between good and evil

The other idea presented in Skyward Sword (2011) is that the battle between the good (Link and Zelda) and evil (Demise) will be inherited and continued till the generations.

My hate... never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end! I will rise again. Those like you... Those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero... They are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time! -- Skyward Sword (2011)

This echoes the prolonged conflict between humanity and sin in Genesis:

And I will put enmity

    between you and the woman,

    and between your offspring and hers;

he will crush your head,

    and you will strike his heel. -- Genesis 3:15

Conclusion
It is interesting to see slight Christian themes in this Japanese game series. Of course, while the Legend of Zelda will keep up the battle between good and evil for the purpose of continuing the game series, in Christianity, the war is already won via Jesus Christ.

You might even say the demented Christian belief that not only is the salvation of the human species possible, but contrary to all we read in the newspapers, or see on Fox Television, it has in some sense already taken place. Not even the wildest utopian secularist will assert something as outrageous as that. -- Terry Eagleton