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Verde Coeden Scalesworth
The way I think the reincarnation thing works in the Zelda lore starts with Hylia and HCH:
- HCH is killed in battle, and Hylia mourns him, and uses her goddess magic-y voodoo jazz to make them always reincarnate, each with a different spirit:
I will ensure that your gentle, heroic spirit will live on eternally. And I...I shall shed my divinity. The next time we meet, I wish to stand before you as a simple human." (
Skyward Sword(Manga) (), pg. 028)
- Come Skyward Sword, we have the second Link and first Zelda, and then by the end, Demise steps into this with his magic-y voodo jazz because he's buttmad he got whooped by Link the 2nd:
"
Though this is not the end. 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!" — Demise (
Skyward Sword)
- This now brings Ganondorf/Ganon into the situation, and so Demise will always reincarnate along with HCH and Hylia.
Now, let's timeskip alllllllll the way to TP. By now, the Hero of Time is long deceased but his soul is restless and waiting for the next incarnation to rise up and defend Hyrule because there's probably nothing but reruns of Mind of Mencia in the afterlife and even the Hero of Time has his limits (Who said he's going to Hyrule Heaven? The dude breaks into houses, steals money, breaks furniture, and attempts murder on chickens.) TP Link may or may not be blood-related or share a soul to/with the Hero of Time, but he is definitely a reincarnation of HCH, much like Zelda is always a reincarnation of Hylia and Ganon to Demise.
In short:
- Hylia lost her husbando.
- Demise is still buttmad.
- Hero of Time hates Mind of Mencia like any other reasonable human/Hylian being.
- Link, Zelda, and Ganon are forever doomed to two things: Reincarnation and bottom tier.