Hot take: King Rhoam is not a bad character.
I see a lot of hate for his character and honestly…. It’s annoying to me. This man was the king DURING an apocalypse. He had SO MUCH pressure on his shoulders to protect Hyrule, HIS kingdom. He’s doing everything he can to protect his people and to save them from this impending doom that has been prophesied thousands of years ago. He had all the pieces to saving them except for his daughter, who has yet to awaken her powers. I wouldn’t give him “father of the year” award, but it’s not fair to call him a tyrant and to write him off as the worst person in the world. I’ve noticed that characters that are the “antagonists” towards certain characters (like Abuela from Encanto) are always written off as villains even though they have reasons for doing the things they do. They’re complex. Rhoam was doing everything he could to save his people so he was trying to get Zelda to awaken her powers. Maybe he put too much pressure on her unknowingly, but he still loved her, and she loved him. In the end, he just wanted to give her love, but it was too late. I cant imagine the guilt he had the 100 years after Hyrule fell, knowing that he put so much pressure on his daughter instead of enjoying his last moments with her. He helped Link the best he could so that he could do the thing Rhoam couldn’t do: save Hyrule. Save his daughter.
Rhoam is a complex character and even though there were some things he did that weren’t the best, I understand where he’s coming from. He just wanted to protect his people and his daughter.