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| “ | Maybe so... But it is my duty to try. It was my hubris that set us on this path. I must atone for my error in judgement. And above all else... I remain the king of Hyrule. As with any leader, it is my duty to safeguard and protect my people. Even if I must risk my life. [...] And if it proves impossible for us to defeat Ganondorf... we rely on your knight...and that legendary sword he carries. Our last line of defense will be Link. | „ |
| ~ Rauru vowing to stop Ganondorf and protect Hyrule. |
King Rauru, also known as the King of Light, is the tritagonist of Nintendo's 2023 action-adventure fantasy video game The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
He is a member of the Zonai Tribe and was one of the last known members of the tribe, alongside with his sister, Mineru. He would later meet the Hylian, Sonia, and the two would found the kingdom, Hyrule, becoming its first king and queen. He is also the direct ancestor of the former Queen of Hyrule and her daughter, Princess Zelda.
In the original Japanese production, he is voiced by Riki Kagami. In the English version, he is voiced by Chris Hackney, who also voices Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd in Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Kamisato Ayato in Genshin Impact.
Biography[]
After Ganondorf's mummified corpse reanimates and causes the ground to crumble beneath Link and Princess Zelda, the latter falls and vanishes in a flash of light before she can take the impact with the ground while Rauru himself grants Link his right arm and rescues him. After Link regains consciousness in a cave in one of the main sky islands, King Rauru meets with him and takes up a mentor role similar to King Rhoam from Breath of the Wild and guides Link to the four shrines to receive new ancient magic powers for his new arm to put to essential use throughout his adventure to save the disarrayed world once again.
In memories that Link finds across Hyrule, he finds that Rauru was the original King of Hyrule alongside his wife and Queen, Sonia. Rauru defended Hyrule well, especially thanks to his Zonai powers and his Secret Stone. When Princess Zelda appears in their time period, Rauru and Sonia adopt her, dress her similarly to Sonia in a Zonai dress, and help her gain a better understanding of her Secret Stone and its powers in a much more comfortable way compared to the stress Zelda endured under her own father, King Rhoam.
At one point, when Ganondorf sends a force of Molduga summoned by his Gerudo vai to attack them, Rauru is able to repel them with support from Sonia and Zelda, using their Secret Stones to amplify his own spell, so when his third eye opens, the attack he releases wipes out the entire force, much to the shock of the vai, while Ganondorf realizes he'll have to try an alternate plan as brute strength is not going to work.
As a result, he goes before Rauru to offer an oath of fealty to him and Hyrule. Despite his own suspicions of Ganondorf due to him being the first Gerudo male, or voe, born in 100 years, Rauru accepts Ganondorf's oath and welcomes him into his forces. Zelda has her concerns about this, but Rauru and Sonia assure her that they know what to do to keep Ganondorf under control, despite being well aware of his evil nature.
Later, they discuss things with Zelda at their summer house, and she explains some of the events that happened in her time period, along with mentioning Link, and wondering how she can return home from the past.
| “ | Ganondorf: You are too late, Rauru. You took for granted the godlike power you had in your hands. Do you now see the potential you squandered? As for her... She is merely the first victim of your arrogance. You tried to control me, Rauru, and you will die knowing that you failed! King Rauru: GANONDORF! Zelda: King Rauru! Queen Sonia needs you! |
„ |
| ~ Ganondorf mocking King Rauru for thinking he could keep him in check and it costing Queen Sonia her life. |
However, Rauru's decision to accept Ganondorf's oath to keep a better eye on him proves to have fatal consequences. One night, Zelda and Sonia are ambushed by Phantom Ganon, who tries to assassinate Sonia under the guise of Zelda, but the real Zelda intercepts the attack. However, Phantom Ganon's failed attempt gives Ganondorf the opportunity to sneak up on Sonia from behind and murder her in cold blood, gaining possession of her Secret Stone, with which he taints with his evil before using it to transform into a stronger, Gloom-fueled form to summon the Blood Moon and his forces all over Hyrule. When Rauru arrives to discover what happened, Ganondorf taunts him for his flaws in thinking accepting Ganondorf's fealty would make it easier to watch him, and how now it cost him Sonia. Rauru charges Ganondorf in a heartbroken fury, but Zelda calls him back, reminding him that Sonia still needed him. With no other options available to him, Rauru summons a shield to protect them from Ganondorf's Gloom beam attack until Zelda uses the Purah Pad to teleport herself, Rauru, and Sonia's body to safety before Ganondorf's attack breaks through. Disappointed that they escaped for now, Ganondorf knows they won't be able to hide from him forever.
Some time later, Rauru mourns his wife at her grave, devastated by his mistakes that ended up costing Sonia her life, and as Zelda arrives to support him, Rauru decides to go after Ganondorf to avenge his wife and stop him. However, Zelda warns him that his efforts will be for naught, explaining that the mummified corpse she found back in her present was Ganondorf, and he would inevitably break free from whatever effort Rauru attempted to keep him at bay. Understanding what fate has in store for him, Rauru tells Zelda that she and Link will be Hyrule's last option to stop Ganondorf once he makes the ultimate sacrifice to keep Ganondorf at bay until then. With those last words to Zelda, Rauru departs to carry out his destiny so he can be with Sonia again, gathering the rest of the Sages, including Zelda, to face Ganondorf.
Just as Zelda forewarned, though Rauru is successful in sealing Ganondorf away after he, Zelda, and the other Sages were initially overpowered, his powers could only last for so long, leading to where when Zelda and Link found Ganondorf in their time, while Rauru's efforts had shriveled Ganondorf to a mummified husk of his former, Gloom-empowered self, Rauru had also dissolved away to where only his arm was the remaining bit of him keeping Ganondorf subdued, and when that finally failed, Ganondorf broke free and began regaining his powers, while Rauru had his arm fuse with Link to allow him to use Rauru's Zonai powers and save Link's life from the potentially fatal burn wounds he had sustained from Ganondorf's attack of pure Malice and Gloom that corroded and shattered the Master Sword.
However, even after his sacrifice and rejoining Sonia in death, Rauru continued to support Link and Zelda as Link made his way around Hyrule to stop Ganondorf's threats to the other races, before facing the Demon King himself. After Ganondorf is defeated, Rauru and Sonia's last act before passing on to join King Rhoam and the Champions is to restore Zelda to her Hylian self from the Light Dragon she had become, along with fully healing Link's crippled arm, allowing her to reunite with Link and resume rebuilding Hyrule.
Other appearances[]
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
Rauru appears as a new Legendary spirit in the "Fresh New Faces!" Spirit Board event. He possesses a Black Mewtwo doing neutral specials while fighting alongside Zelda, a giant R.O.B., a red female Robin, a cyan Inkling, a yellow Charizard and Pit.
Quotes[]
| “ | Ah, good. I see you have managed to open the door. You haven't fully recovered yet, but that is to be expected—you were almost beyond saving... By visiting the shrines and receiving their blessings, you have mitigated some of the corruption's effects. Though our time together has been brief, I am so happy that we finally met... You are exactly as Zelda said. | „ |
| ~ King Rauru |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- King Rauru is a composite character of Rauru and the Hylian King from Ocarina of Time. He shares his name and status as the Sage of Light with the former, and like the latter he is a king who was betrayed by Ganondorf after accepting a false promise of loyalty from him.
See Also[]
External Links[]
- Rauru on the The Legend of Zelda Wiki
- Rauru on the Pure Good Wiki
