Religion is something that's been a part of humanity for a very long time. It's a powerful tool, one that can be used for good or for evil - and the more powerful it grows, the more likely it will be used for evil, as with everything. It's something that's so embedded in our society that it's easy to manipulate and twist into something else entirely.

A Link to the Past knows this. It runs deep throughout it. Even its name in Japan, Kamigami no Triforce, carries this religious subtext - Triforce of the Gods. While the game doesn't have a lot in terms of plot, what is there tells us enough: religion is a tool that is corrupted by capital. It can be twisted and contorted into something vile. It starts as early as the raid on the sanctuary, in which a place of worship is attacked by the main villain's forces and the kind priest who works there is killed - which prepares you for the rest of the journey being all about this idea.

The world of A Link to the Past is one where there is a parallel world known only as the Dark World. As we progress through the game, we learn more about the history of this alternate reality through descriptions. It was once a religious holy land that has since been tainted by greed and corruption. Symbols of peace and understanding have been made into something only representative of profit motive; the only living beings you meet in the Dark World are all obsessed with money. Signs tell you to get lost if you don't have any, the first dungeon in the Dark World can only be accessed if you have tons of it, hell, you can't even get the tools to defeat the final boss without spending a little bit of it. Capitalism and religion are intertwined in this game inherently.

Something a bit troubling about this idea, though, is that A Link to the Past ends with our main character restoring the status quo completely. What does he expect will happen differently? The monarchy is still in power. The material conditions that created the greed that led to the issues posed by the Dark World is still there. It's not as if he didn't have the power to - the Golden Power, the Triforce, obtained at the end of the game, can grant any wish no matter how strong. Even so, Link chooses to restore everything to how it "should be". At the end of the day, even after everything he's seen that's completely awful as a result of the systems that he's been upholding, he can't help but uphold them. He will always associate the holy power of the Triforce with the monarchy that lead him to believe that their "rightful" rule is what leads to times of peace, that they are the ones who are "owed" the Golden Power.

After all, that's what religion taught him.