New Breath of the Wild 2 leaks tease a shocking villain choice

Ganondorf might play second fiddle (or ocarina) to an even more primordial evil in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. Nintendo’s E3 2019 teaser trailer for BotW 2 teased that Ganon would return from the dead to wreak havoc on Hyrule, but an alleged leaker has further fueled theories that the Gerudo warlock actually won’t be the main antagonist in Link’s next adventure.

There’s no doubt Ganon will be in the game in some capacity, but Redditor u/BobisTheWise claimed in a post on Saturday that Ganon won’t be Hyrule’s main threat in the Breath of the Wild sequel. The poster claimed to be in contact with a Nintendo insider that “works closely” with the company, but didn’t provide any evidence that can be confirmed.

“Apparently, the game takes place directly after the original BotW as we expected,” they wrote. “And as we assumed, it is going to show Link and Zelda rebuilding Hyrule while also dealing with a new threat (He didn’t say much other than that it isn’t Ganon directly).” The post also hints that "playable flashback sequences of Link before he went to sleep for 100 years" could be included in the new game. Could that be a clue as to who the different villain might be? If it isn't Ganondorf, then there's really only one other candidate that would make sense.

BobisTheWise didn’t say outright who the new villain might be, but a previous Reddit theory provided compelling evidence that the upcoming game could reintroduce the main villain from Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006): Zant. Many fans noticed that the audio in the BotW 2 trailer was being played in reverse and sounds very similar to the music during the Zant boss battle in Twilight Princess.

The audio isn’t a perfect match, but there’s an interesting bit of lore that further fuels the theory that Zant could make a comeback in BotW 2.

In case you forgot, Zant was a member of the Twili race that lived in the Twilight Realm. After being denied the throne, he took over his home by force before invading the World of Light (Hyrule) with Ganon’s help. Zant was defeated by Link and Midna (the true ruler of the Twilight Realm), but before his “death,” he promised to return.

All this time later, his return might be nigh.

The spooky atmosphere and swirling green lights and markings seen in the BotW 2 trailer all feel reminiscent of the unique style of Twilight Princess, which shifted between the Twilight Realm of Darkness and the Realm of Light.

The lore and timeline of the Zelda games is notoriously confusing and convoluted, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Nintendo throws fans for a bit of a loop whenever its next open-world adventure hits Switch consoles around the world. It's not as if the Zelda games occur in a direct sequence, and for all we know, the next Zelda game could relate more to Twilight Princess than it does Breath of the Wild.

Could we see the return of Zant more than 14 years after his supposed demise?

Breath of the Wild 2 has no confirmed release date.