Zelda Breath Of The Wild's Ending Is Slightly Different In Japanese

The ending to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a little bit different in Japanese, if you look closely at one line. Spoilers for Breath of the Wild follow.

Clyde Mandelin of Legends of Localization points out a slight discrepancy in this line from the final battle: "He [Ganon] has given up on reincarnation and assumed his pure, enraged form."

The Japanese version, according to Mandelin's translation, would read, "This form was born from his obsessive refusal to give up on revival." Unlike the official English localization, which says that Ganon turned into his beast form because he gave up on being revived, this translation indicates that Ganon's strong determination to be reincarnated transformed him into his beast form.

It's a relatively small difference, but this affects the ending if you take it a bit further. The Japanese implies that Ganon will come back someday, while the English suggests finality. However, Mandelin notes that another possible interpretation is that defeating Ganon in his beast form would get rid of him forever, since the original text essentially says this is his final form.

You can read the full breakdown on the Legends of Localization website.

Breath of the Wild recently received an update; a previous update added the option to use one language, such as English, for the text and another, like Japanese, for the voice acting.