Ooh, I’m about to be very normal about this.
Okay so one of the first things I noticed with BotW is that Link uses a reverse-Mediterranean draw. It’s your basic 3-finger grip on the string except with the palm facing outward. I mostly see this style used in pop culture when you want to seem exotic (the Na’vi from Avatar draw this way). As far as this grip’s use in history I remember seeing some pottery art of a Scythian warrior drawing palm-out, but can’t confirm if that’s accurate or typical for them. The advantage of this draw is that you can go from loading an arrow to drawing the bow in one fluid motion. That makes for quick and snappy gameplay. Perhaps all Hyrule soldiers are taught to shoot this way, but to me it seems so unusual I always read it as Link being self-taught.
Ganon absolutely shoots like he’s doing Kyudo. Kyudo focuses on form and ritual, where nocking and drawing are just as important and deliberate actions as shooting. It’s more of a meditative exercise. I don’t think the little flourish at the end is so much recoil as it is part of that proper form. Kyudo has a thing called Yugaeri where you turn your wrist outward at the end of your shot, causing the bow to turn in your hand. I’m not as familiar with Japanese archery, but Persian archery has a similar motion called Khatra, and it helps reduce the effects of the archer’s paradox, where the energy is sending the arrow directly into the bow, forcing the arrow to curve around it and redirecting its path at an angle. When you turn the bow as you shoot, the arrow is sent past the riser instead of directly into it, allowing for a straighter shot.
These choices are absolutely dripping with characterization. Link’s style is focused on results; throw enough pointy sticks downrange until the enemy stops moving, whereas Ganon clearly has training and shoots like it’s a ceremony. When I looked up Kyudo to write this, the article suggested that the bow turn at the end is mainly used for ceremony or competition shooting, and battlefield archers would hold the bow more securely to follow up with subsequent shots easier. What does this say about Ganon? Maybe he remains relaxed in a fight because he doesn’t perceive Link as a threat, and would rather focus on his perfect form. Maybe Nintendo wanted his motions to be slow and clear so the player knows when to raise their shield. Maybe the animator just happened to be familiar with Japanese archery and didn’t care to match it with Link’s animation that was imported from the previous game.
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