The following contains spoilers for
Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
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Ganondorf may be the most recurring main antagonist in The Legend of Zelda franchise, but he's far from the only one. Since the series started in 1987, it has had other main antagonists as well, such as Skyward swords death, T he Minish Capis Vaati, and Twilight Princess'Zant. Now, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom joins that club by introducing an entirely new antagonist, Null, though players still get a couple of opportunities to battle Ganon throughout the game's story.
Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom's Null doesn't actually appear until the second half of the game's story, where Zelda travels to regions like the Faron Wetlands and Eldin Volcano to help dispel the rifts in the area. In fact, it's only after Zelda defeats Ganon that Null, the game's true villain, appears. At that point, not much is known about the enemy, but that doesn't stop Zelda and her companions from uncovering its identity. As it turns out, Null is not just a normal antagonist, because its place in the world of Zelda states that it is of great importance to the overall timeline.
Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom's Null Explained
Like Skyward Sword's Demise, Null is one of the Legend of Zelda's overarching antagonists
Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom's Null shares an important characteristic with Skyward sword's Demise in it, like Demise, it is one of The Legend of Zeldas overall antagonists. In a way, this makes Null even bigger than Ganon, who has filled a villainous role for the majority of Zelda game. What makes Null an overarching antagonist for the entire series is his appearance and role before the beginning The Legend of Zelda — even earlier Skyward swordwhich up to this point had been the first chronologically Zelda game. But since Demise just returned Skyward swordit has always been possible for the series to go even further back in time.
Zero existed in the void before the creation of the world
When you clear one of the regions in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdomthe goddess Nayru tells Zelda the story of Null and how it came to be. Before the world was created, there was nothing but an infinite void. In that void, certain things would begin to live, only to be devoured by whoever lived in the void, who she would reveal to be Null. Null wanted the whole world and therefore consumed all life without discrimination. It was then that the three goddesses created the “heavens and lands” in an attempt to contain Null.
Unfortunately, Null then began to incessantly create rifts around Hyrule in an attempt to swallow it back into the void, so the goddesses created Tris with the power to dispel the rifts. This is ultimately where Zelda's companion Tri comes into play, giving the princess her Tri Rod at the start of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdoms story, which can be used to create echoes of objects and monsters found throughout Hyrule.
As the game's story progresses, Zelda and Tri work tirelessly to remove the rifts from Hyrule's surface and rescue those who were stolen.
What is it that is so captivating about Zelda: Echoes of Wisdoms creation story is that it implies that Hyrule was not only created to be a home but was created to be a kind of prison for Null. This immediately changes some of the central aspects of Zelda lore that fans have become familiar with over the decades, but it also adds much more depth to it than ever before. It will be interesting to see if future episodes mention Null as one of the series' overarching antagonists or if the creature eventually reappears.