The Legend of Zelda has had numerous Kings of Hyrule across the series. As with every fantasy kingdom, Hyrule often has a leader whom the people look to for guidance and who maintains order among their civilization. Although Princess Zelda sometimes plays this role in games like Twilight Princess and A Link Between Worlds, it’s far more common to see her father the king acting as reigning monarch. Yet despite impacting the events of multiple entries in The Legend of Zelda, these kings are often overlooked.
To give the Kings of Hyrule their due, it’s worth noting how they impacted the timeline of the Zelda game series. Although some of the games don’t take place in Hyrule, many of the most popular entries in the series do, and these games are often treated as most canon to the Zelda universe. Naturally, discussing the king’s actions also requires touching on other tangential facets of the Zelda timeline for context. To keep it simple, it’s best to look at the Kings in the order they appear in the official Zelda timeline.
Zelda’s Early Kings: The Minish Cap & Ocarina Of Time
The Minish Cap’s backstory tells of the earliest known King of Hyrule: Gustaf. Gustaf is a member of the Hylian Royal Family, descendants of the great goddess Hylia who founded the kingdom of Hyrule, inherited her magical powers, and occupy the various Hyrule Castles in The Legend of Zelda. Perhaps due to the goddess’ blessing, Gustaf remains as a spirit even after death, duty-bound to keep his kingdom at peace. He fulfills this role by guiding Link to the Wind Tribe’s location, allies whom he treated as friends during his reign.
Gustaf is also the ancestor of Daltus, The Minish Cap‘s current king. In his youth, Daltus participated in sword-fighting tournaments, and ironically, it is while overseeing one such competition that the game’s villain, Vaati, appears. Vaati turns Daltus and Zelda to stone, and later creates an imposter Daltus to more easily control the Hylians. Link eventually rescues the real Daltus, and is rewarded with a small key that allows him to confront Vaati, one of The Legend of Zelda‘s villains that isn’t Ganon. Though Gustaf and Daltus’ influence is minor, they went to great lengths to preserve peacetime by making alliances with other races and holding festivals for their subjects.
The king from Ocarina of Time, however, is not so clearly benevolent. Ocarina’s king is somewhat mysterious – he has no stated name and is never shown, yet his actions are pivotal to the game’s plot. Ocarina’s king brought an end to the Hyrulean Civil War by uniting the races of Hyrule, presumably including the Gorons and Zora, under a single banner. One race plotted to betray the king, however: the Gerudo, led by their king Ganondorf. Before Ocarina of Time shows Ganon’s full power, Link observes Ganondorf pretending to pledge fealty to the king from inside the Castle Gardens, alongside the young Princess Zelda.
Link learns that despite Zelda’s prophecy of Ganondorf’s betrayal, Ocarina’s king does not believe her. Later, the prophecy comes true when Ganondorf conquers Hyrule Castle Town before presumably killing Ocarina’s king. Technically, usurping the throne means Ganondorf is also a King of Hyrule, as he rules for the seven years that Link remains locked away in the Sacred Realm. Ocarina’s king began by uniting Hyrule, but ultimately he fails to heed the warning of the Goddesses and suffers for it.
Zelda’s Kings In Victory: The Wind Waker & Breath Of The Wild
After Ocarina of Time, The Legend of Zelda‘s timeline splits into three separate strands. In two of these, Link defeats Ganondorf and Hyrule is saved. Naturally, this leads to more kings, and perhaps the most well-known King of Hyrule: The Wind Waker’s Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule, better known as The King of Red Lions. Prior to The Wind Waker, Daphnes prevents the Triforce from falling into Ganon’s hands by praying that the Goddesses preserve Hyrule beneath the waves.
Using the magic of the Royal Family, Daphnes takes the form of a sail boat that can cross the newly formed seas and becomes Link’s guiding assistant. This whole time, however, he orchestrates the game’s events; he awakens Tetra’s true identity as The Wind Waker‘s Zelda, he leads Link to rediscover the Triforce of Courage, and in the final showdown with Ganon he usurps the Triforce one more time to sink Hyrule forever. In his final moments, Daphnes finds redemption by letting go of Hyrule and spreading the seeds of the future.
In a different victorious timeline, prior to the events of Breath of the Wild, the Royal Family has learned of Calamity Ganon’s imminent resurrection and prepares for his return. King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule oversees these preparations by electing four Champions who will stand against Ganon, and directing an excavation effort to uncover ancient Sheikah technology to aid in the coming battle. Though well-intentioned, Rhoam’s responsibility to keep his kingdom safe is pushed onto his daughter, Zelda, whom he pressures to awaken her dormant sealing powers.
Ultimately, Zelda’s powers do not surface and the Sheikah’s Guardians fail against BOTW‘s Calamity Ganon, resulting in Rhoam’s death and the razing of Hyrule. 100 years later, Rhoam’s spirit materializes to set Link off on his journey, disguising himself as a mysterious old man. Rhoam hopes that by aiding Link, he might relieve the guilt he feels for mistreating his daughter and failing his people. Like Gustaf and Daphnes, Rhoam shows that a king’s dedication to his people is strong enough to tie his soul to the land. Only after Calamity Ganon is defeated at the end of Breath of the Wild is Rhoam finally able to pass on.
Zelda’s Kings in Defeat: A Link To The Past & Zelda 2
In the final timeline strand, Link falls during his battle with Ganondorf at the end of Ocarina of Time. The Princess and the other Sages are forced to seal Ganon inside Zelda‘s Sacred Realm along with the Triforce, setting off a series of conflicts as various malicious actors attempt to unseal what has now been corrupted into the Dark World. Many kings rise and fall in this time, until the events of A Link to the Past, when an evil priest appears called Agahnim.
Agahnim betrays Hyrule after garnering favor and attempts to release Ganon from the Sacred Realm by kidnapping the Maidens who have the blood of the Seven Sages. He kills the unnamed king of this era and takes control of the castle’s soldiers – much like Vaati did in The Minish Cap. As such, this unnamed king has very little influence in the dungeon-riddled A Link to the Past, but when Link resurrects him using the Triforce at the end of the game, his life symbolizes the restored peace of Hyrule. ALttP’s king then takes the Master Sword into the care of the Royal Family, pledging to protect it from evil.
Many more years pass and Hyrule grows into an expansive and prosperous kingdom as the righteous kings wield the full Triforce to keep Ganon and the other demons at bay. But, as it’s learned in the backstory to Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, one day a king decides that there is no one of pure enough heart to inherit the Triforce. This similarly unnamed king splits The Legend of Zelda‘s Triforce to protect it, sealing the Triforce of Courage inside The Great Palace, guarded by a trial of monsters and dungeons.
Zelda 2’s king then casts a spell – when someone worthy of the Triforce of Courage is born, a crest will appear on their hand, signaling them as the one to reunite the Triforce. The predestined hero is revealed to be Link, and this journey plays out during Zelda 2. While this unnamed king is long dead by the time of Zelda 2, Link can pay his respects by visiting the King’s Tomb in a graveyard southwest of Mido Town. Whether Zelda 2’s king was paranoid or wise is unclear, but his trials prove that Link is a truly courageous hero.
Across the many Kings of Hyrule, each occupies themselves with the wellbeing of his people and the prosperity of his kingdom. Certainly there are other kings in Zelda too – the kings of other races like King Zora, kings of Zelda settings other than Hyrule such as King Tuft of Hytopia, and kings that are non-canon like King Harkinian of the Zelda CD-i games. The king’s presence symbolizes stability, and their demise requires that a new Hero – a new Link – must rise up and restore peace once again. With two of the timelines seemingly moving on from Hyrule and the Royal Family, it remains to be seen whether kings will continue to appear in future entries of The Legend of Zelda.
