The Great Flood: Allusions to Genesis in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

In The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the world of Hyrule exists as a large ocean known as the Great Sea dotted by small islands across which a few different peoples eek out a living. These survivors of the Great Flood live on the mountaintops of their homeland, the ancient kingdom buried beneath the waves.

After the events of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, in which the Hero of Time defeats Ganon the King of Evil by sealing him in the Sacred Realm, the seal on Ganon began to weaken, letting his evil spill forth into the world. He broke free, and his armies spread across the country. The legendary hero, who always arose to face evil, did not reappear to end Ganon's campaign, and so the people of Hyrule had no choice but to hope for salvation from on high. They prayed to the gods in their hopelessness, and they did not go unanswered.

 

Overwhelmed by the evil in the world, the gods determined to save Hyrule by burying it beneath a torrent of water, saving the chosen people of Hyrule by telling them to flee to the tops of the mountains. In doing so, the gods hoped to end evil's cycle by denying Ganon his prize, but the people where left to survive on the sea.


The people adapted to this new way of life, and after hundreds of years forgot that the legendary country of Hyrule ever existed. During the events of the game, Link travels the ocean to prevent Ganon from returning once more, eventually discovering the remnants of Hyrule which remained hidden and protected beneath the ocean. Ganon succeeds in reuniting the Triforce, but the spirit of Hyrule's last King wishes upon the Triforce for the god's to destroy Hyrule for good, so that Link and Zelda may find a new land and forever break the cycle of evil which began in the old world. Link defeats Ganon as the sea closes in around them, and by divine protection both he and Zelda are brought to the surface, and they set off to find a new world, which they eventually find after the events of Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.

While Genesis holds no monopoly on a  flood narrative, specific similarities appear in this form of a flood story. In Genesis, God taps Noah as a righteous man to survive the flood with his family. Just like the God of the Old Testament, the evil of the world overwhelmed the gods of Hyrule, and they determined to end it by flooding the world. In contrast, while the God of the Old Testament only selects a few people to survive, the gods of Hyrule picked any of the good Hyrulians who would listen. Despite this, Link becomes the analogue of Noah, as the protagonist of the story who will eventually deliver the survivors into a world where they can start anew. In essence, the purpose of the flood is the same in both stories: to purify the world of evil and offer humanity a new beginning.

A Rito postman.

It's also a strange coincidence that the people of the Great Sea use a race of bird people, the Rito, to deliver mail, much like Noah used birds to find signs of dry land close to the flood's end.