Tears of the Kingdom – Ganon's Castle?

In the new trailer and artwork we can see Hyrule Castle once more floating above a hole of sprawling Malice. This was already shown at the end of last year's trailer from a different angle:

Back then this could have been just another intermediate shot, so it wasn't sure sure how high up Hyrule Castle would go eventually. But the new material suggests that may be the end of it, where the Malice / Ganondorf has some power to keep it afloat, but not on the same level as the other sky islands.

Now, what's stopping Link from simply flying over to the top of the castle from one of the many sky islands high up? Well, maybe there isn't anything... Maybe Tears of the Kingdom follows a similar design concept as Breath of the Wild, where the game gives you the option to go straight into the final dungeon and face the final boss if you dare. As long as you got to the sky islands, this may be possible.

Of course this possibility suggests that Hyrule Castle will be once again the final dungeon in the game. And Age of Calamity has already done the "cover it with even more Malice" twist, where they need to come up with some new ideas. Or an old idea that is presented in a new light:

A floating castle detached from a deadly abyss is something that we have already seen in Ocarina of Time with Ganon's Castle. It's an unforgettable moment and perfectly showed the amount of destruction that Ganondorf is capable of. This really made him feel like a massive threat to Hyrule.

And with this in mind, it would be interesting if Hyrule Castle were to be slowly transformed into Ganon's Castle over the course of the game. It's visible from many places in Hyrule and it's very much visible from the sky islands, so you will always have a good view on Ganondorf's progress. And this could create a sense of urgency, something that is usually lacking in a Zelda game, unless there is a timer running somewhere on the screen.

In Breath of the Wild it didn't really matter when you faced Calamity Ganon. You could run straight to the beast right from the Great Plateau or you could collect all 900 Korok Seeds before you take on the fight. The final boss battle will become significantly easier, though, if you clear the Divine Beasts first, because this removes the Blights from Hyrule Castle and reduces the energy of Calamity Ganon. So, the stronger you get, the easier the game make things for you... Which doesn't really feel right.

With Tears of the Kingdom they could create some sort of compromise. You can try your luck early in the game where Ganondorf is still weak. Or you can power up, repair the Master Sword, get all the things to make you feel ready, but meanwhile Ganondorf has fortified himself in his new edgy castle.

Of course the level scaling in Breath of the Wild, like with the continuously upgrading Lynels, wasn't very enjoyable and is something that should be best avoided in the sequel, because it takes away from your progress. You became strong and confident enough to finally face those Blue-Maned Lynels you saw at the Oseira Plains, but they have become White-Maned Lynels now and kick your butt. That's just demotivating, at least for first time players who are still learning the game.

Now, if the final dungeon were to work similarly, it also wouldn't be great. You might end up banging your head against a wall that keeps getting thicker. At the same time it would be an incentive to keep trying, to really go there as early as possible, before things get too bad. And once you feel more comfortable later in the game, you can go try the harder version(s). But there needs to be a very good balance here that doesn't make it seem like you're totally missing out either way.

However, there is the Master Sword, which is usually needed to defeat Ganon(dorf). In Breath of the Wild the system worked, because you were essentially not facing the real deal with Calamity Ganon, but some monstrosity, which was probably born from Ganon's Malice. So, you could destroy it with a tree branch if you wanted to, but the real Ganondorf would just probably get distracted and that's all. However, this might be where the replacement blade comes in that we can see in the game's logo. You can go try it with the "patched" Master Sword or you can aim at restoring it to its former glory.

Needless to say that these are just ideas based on the hypothesis that Hyrule Castle will be the final dungeon again, which might not even be the case...