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wait are zelda and link /both/ being reincarnated? i thought it was only link aka the spirit of the hero

I think, technically speaking, you’re right about that. Demise’s words were something like, his malice and hatred, the Goddess’ bloodline, the spirit of the Hero. So canon would suggest that Link’s spirit/soul is the only one actually being reincarnated, while we’re just dealing with descendants of the first Zelda, who was herself Hylia reborn, and there is no spirit of Demise or Ganon/dorf, there’s just the presence of his evil.

But I, personally, think canon is deliberately vague enough that I can interpret it however I want. since the Zelda team has said time and time again that they like leaving a lot up to the players’ imagination.

So, the way I see it basically breaks down to:

Demise was a being of pure hatred, and that is something that is always present in the world and becomes incarnated in physical beings, always by the name Ganon, or Ganondorf, or some variation thereof. I think it’s especially interesting with him because, as a demon, he may not have a true “soul” as we might think of it, and the real way that Ganon comes back over and over is that Demise planted seeds of hatred, malice, and evil in the world, and over time that coalesces into a living being. The evil and badness of the Hyrulean world manifests physically and terrorizes it. I think that would be an interesting spin on it, especially since we get a lot of vague history of Hyrule, and one of the things we know is that there was a big Hyrulean civil war at some point, and afterwards Ganondorf rose to power, and him being vanquished ushered in an era of peace. So I think there could be an interesting twist in which Ganondorf was an incarnation of Hyrule’s people’s hatred for each other

Link is a totally new individual every time, usually with no connection or relation to previous Links, but carrying the “spirit” of the Hero. I’m not super clear on whether in this case “spirit” and “soul” mean the same thing in my worldview, especially since it’s a Japanese series and religious and spiritual concepts could vary greatly and there’s no real accounting for the accuracy of translations. But I do choose to view this as a soul reincarnating every time, living countless lifetimes as various individuals, but always possessing the same core tenants, namely the important sense of loyalty, kindness, courage, justice.

Zelda I think is a bit of a hazier territory. Canonically, every Zelda is descended from the FIRST Zelda, a mortal incarnation of Hylia. Some people view this just as a bloodline thing, that Zelda/Hylia isn’t actually being reincarnated. But partially because I’m zelink trash and partially because I think it fits better with the spirit of the hero being reincarnated, I choose to believe it’s a combination. Yes, every princess of the Hylian kingdom is A Zelda, but they’re not all THE Zelda, you know? Whenever Demise’s malice begins growing and taking physical form in the world, Hylia is reincarnated into a Princess of Hyrule, another Zelda, while at the same time the spirit of the hero is reincarnated into, well, some dude somewhere, and fate always brings them together (not including the timeline where they dicked around with time and left Hyrule with no hero). I don’t think it’s nearly as fun if every Zelda is just a descendant of the first Zelda. It’s way more impactful to me if the Zeldas we see are reincarnations of the same soul, because reincarnations AUs of my ships hit me the hardest, and this time it’s borderline canon.

And oh, the tragedy of lifetimes spent when they don’t fall in love again, even as their souls yearn to be together, the idea that their souls are in a constant limbo, never getting to rest or pass on, cursed to exist in a limbo state in between mortal incarnations, and the bittersweetness of them maybe someday breaking the cursed cycle, no longer trapped in a reincarnation cycle just to live and suffer over and over, both souls finally resting, moving on together, maybe being deified by the Golden Goddesses as reward and compensation for all they went through in order to protect the land and people, Hylia a goddess once again with her chosen hero by her side.