Skyward Sword: A Closer Look at the Theory and Implications of Demise’s Eradication

Skyward Sword may have lacked the traditional console Legend of Zelda villain in Ganondorf, but it did introduce his precursor in Demise, the original incarnation of evil. The story of Demise, and specifically his downfall, can seem fairly straightforward at first, but with the element of time-travel involved, things may not be quite as they seem.

In this article two perspectives on the eradication of Demise will be addressed. The first will look at the story from the perspective of Link and how we experience it as the player. The second will look at it from the linear perspective of time. Finally the implications of these differing viewpoints will be discussed in relation to Demise’s curse, which nicely sets the stage for the rest of the series to follow.

Demise’s Demise – Link and The Player’s Perspective

Following Ghirahim’s tornado which sucks Zelda from Skyloft and down into the world below, Zelda then embarks on a journey to purify herself and regain her memories as the Goddess Hylia. Led by the young Impa, Zelda is pursued through the two springs and the Temple of Time by Ghirahim, who seeks her body as a vessel to revive his master Demise.

At the Temple of Time Zelda enters the Gate of Time and returns to the distant past. Link is then tasked with opening the second Gate of Time and following after her. During this time Link faces off against The Imprisoned on three occasions. The Imprisoned is Demise breaking free from the seal that holds him; however, due to the lack of Hylia’s vessel in his resurrection, he is merely a raging monster. Thus it is that Ghirahim continues to seek the Goddess reincarnate, Zelda.

Having activated the second Gate of Time Link journeys to meet Zelda in the past where she seals herself away to strengthen the seal on Demise. Link returns to the present where he obtains the Triforce. From there the wish is made upon the power of the Gods to eliminate Demise, and the Isle of the Goddess returns to the surface where it destroys the Demon King. Fi confirms his eradication:

Furthermore, I have detected the successful eradication of Demise. Your prayers to the Triforce have been heard. — Fi

Link then proceeds to meet Zelda as she awakens from her slumber, but it is then that Ghirahim grabs the Goddess and takes her into the past, to a time when Demise is not destroyed, but remains sealed as The Imprisoned.

My master may have perished in this age, but in the past he lives yet! — Ghirahim

In the past Ghirahim succeeds at reviving his master Demise, and so Link faces the Demon King in the game’s final battle. Having overcome the incarnation of evil with his courage, Demise is vanquished and is sealed within the Master Sword. Fi once again confirms his eradication.

I have confirmed the eradication of the demon king.

His residual consciousness has been absorbed into the Master Sword… and is now sealed away. — Fi

From the perspective of the players the story can seem quite simple. The enemy Demise is defeated and the protagonists return to the present and live in peace, for a time, in a new life on the surface. However, this story uses time-travel as a central mechanic, and thus it is that an alternative telling based upon time is not only available, but becomes necessary.

An Alternate Viewpoint – Time’s Perspective

With the standard progression of the story recapped, we can now address the differing viewpoint. What is the final battle of Skyward Sword is actually one of the chronologically earliest events of the game when we consider time as a linear continuum.

In the past Zelda appears from the future to seal herself away, in an attempt to reinforce the original seal of the Goddess that is wavering in the future and allowing The Imprisoned to break free. However just after this time Zelda is also brought into the past by Ghirahim, and so exists twice at this stage, similarly to how both young and old Impa exist simultaneously in the game’s present.

In the past Ghirahim succeeds at breaking Hylia’s seal and reviving Demise using Zelda’s body and what is the game’s final battle occurs. Link is victorious, and Demise’s residual consciousness is sealed within the Master Sword, as Fi puts it. The game does highlight, specifically in red text, that Demise is now “sealed away.” This is crucial.

As time progresses into what is eventually the present of Skyward Sword, Zelda remains sleeping to keep Hylia’s seal in-tact, while again existing twice due to her original counterpart dwelling in Skyloft before she travels to the past. Because Ghirahim revived his master from the seal of Hylia in the past, the Master Sword was used to reinforce that seal by trapping Demise’s residual consciousness for this time.

The Imprisoned is seemingly what is meant by “residual consciousness.” The hate of Demise manifests itself as a beast that is sealed by the Master Sword and Hylia. Consider how the battles with the Imprisoned play out in the Sealed Grounds. Link uses the Master Sword to reinforce the strength of the spike-seal in Demise’s head.

Through a Skyward Strike followed by the drawing of a symbol, Link reseals the beast time and time again. From this perspective it is feasible that it is the Master Sword that maintains the seal over Demise, and this fits with his residual consciousness being contained inside.

At the peak of his journey Link obtains the Triforce from Sky Keep, and in what is close to the end of game chronologically, destroys The Imprisoned with a wish upon the power of the Gods. This time around Fi emphasizes the “successful eradication” of Demise with a sense of finality. There is no sealing here. From time’s perspective, Demise is destroyed and gone forever.

Link’s wish upon the Triforce destroys what remains of the Demise that was sealed in the past. As the Demon King is no more, and no seal is required, the Goddess is able to awaken, and so the game reaches its epilogue as the citizens of Skyloft decide to inhabit the land below.

This alternate telling certainly complicates things, but is certainly plausible from time’s perspective, and also explains the differences in the sealing and eradication of Demise. As the potential Goddess of Time, Hylia certainly uses time to her advantage, and for us who cannot fully comprehend the plausibility of such a device in reality; her plan is nothing short of confusing.

The question raised by the story of Demise and Skyward Sword is of the time-travel paradox. Through time-travel is the past and future actually changed, or does the traveler merely fulfill his destined role across time? In that sense, does Ghirahim really change the past by reviving Demise, or does he simply do what destiny intends and revives Demise so that it is possible for the future Triforce wish to eradicate his residual consciousness?

It is these very complexities that makes the story of Skyward Sword so appealing to those interested in entertaining complex and potentially paradoxical thoughts.

The Lingering Essence of Demise

To many players whichever telling you subscribe to is not important, as the story is simply a mechanic to drive the gameplay, but depending on which perspective is a more definitive version there are different consequences for the enduring presence of Demise for the remainder of the series.

After his defeat at the hands of Link in the past, Demise lays down the curse that ultimately sets the stage for the entire series:

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

To a limited extent, The Imprisoned serves as Demise’s curse for the following era if we subscribe to the alternate telling. The Imprisoned is a mindless incarnation of his hate that haunts that specific Link and Zelda; however, the curse goes much further beyond this.

The Legend of Zelda series has also manifested others by the title of “Demon King.” Ganondorf is the most prominent example, or more specifically, Ganon. He returns again and again throughout the series to wreak havoc upon the hero and the descendants of the Goddess, just as the curse foretold.

Malladus, from Spirit Tracks, is potentially another manifestation in the New Hyrule, who bears the title “Demon King.” It is interesting in the case of Spirit Tracks that even without the Triforce, the curse endures between Link, Zelda and Demise’s incarnation. Whether Demise’s curse extends even further to villains such as Majora and Bellum is more personal interpretation than anything else.

The following in an extract that can be found in the Twilight Princess game-script, but was never actually used in the game. It is spoken by Ganondorf after his defeat and hearkens back to the curse of Demise, indicating that the cyclical nature of the series has been on Nintendo’s mind for some time now. The bold text in the passage below is the only part in the final game.

When the chosen ones appear… They are always born into this world in perfect balance. That is the destiny of the chosen. That is the fate decreed by your gods, the only path for those who bear their crests.

When this world brings forth another marked as you are… Know too, that it shall also be visited by one of my blood.

Do not think this ends here… The history of light and shadow will be written in blood! — Ganondorf

Demise uses the phrase of “blood-soaked sea of darkness” while Ganondorf speaks of writing history in blood in his speech that echoes the same sentiment. The one of his blood to which he refers is the new Ganondorf that players see in Four Swords Adventures, which follows in the official Hyrule Historia chronology.

Demise and Ganondorf bear a striking resemblance, and the seal’s scar on Demise’s head visually matches Ganondorfs stab-wound in Twilight Princess. Ganondorf’s deleted speech in Twilight Princess is almost as if Demise is speaking through him. Nevertheless, Hyrule Historia contains an interesting tidbit on Demise:

It is said that Demise, the most evil of all evil, who commands enough power to destroy the world, appears in each era and looks different to each person who sees him. His ultimate goal is to obtain the Triforce and take over the land with his demonic minions. — Hyrule Historia, page 71

More or less we take this to be a reference to the enduring curse, but it is noteworthy that he appears different to each person who sees him. Perhaps this is intended to explain the variances in appearance of the various Ganon’s and even Malladus. Demise may appear in every era, but it is the nature of his appearance that is significant.

The curse he sets remains regardless of Demise himself and is something beyond even him. However, depending on whether we take Link’s perspective or time’s perspective as more accurate, then how Demise endures is different. Going by Link’s perspective, Demise remains sealed within the Master Sword for all time and can potentially make a return. With The Master Sword later acting as a seal on Ganon (from Ocarina of Time to The Wind Waker), Link’s perspective only complicates things.

According to the alternate perspective, Demise is completely destroyed by the wish on the Triforce and has no enduring presence, other than his curse. Looking at the way Skyward Sword intends to set up the series, the alternate telling is the most feasible way of viewing Skyward Sword’s events.

Hylia’s ultimate plan was to become a human so that the power of the Triforce could be used to vanquish Demise completely. Her plan may have occurred convolutely over time, and back and forth through time, but chronologically in the end the Triforce wish is made after all of the previous battles and sealings.

The explanation that makes the most sense is not that Ghirahim changes the past by reviving Demise and causing his curse to come to fruition, but rather that by the present in Skyward Sword that battle had already occurred and the final wish upon the Triforce is all that remained to complete the plan.

Whether time-travel involves changing the past or merely fulfilling it is the paradoxical notion that Skyward Sword deals with, often to our confusion. It does make the most sense, regardless, that Demise is intended to be completely vanquished in the game’s conclusion, and so it is that the alternate telling is probably the best way to understand the game.