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To "Link: The Faces of Evil" for the CD-i?

For those that aren't familiar with it, "Link: The Faces of Evil" was an unofficial Zelda game for an obscure game console called the Philips CD-i, that wasn't even made by Nintendo. It is infamous for it's bad gameplay and incredibly crudely-animated cutscenes and cheesy dialogue.

And as it turns out, the game's plot could be seen as a precursor of Morrowind's: both involve a hero (Link/Nerevarine) being sent by the ruler (King Harkinian/Emperor Uriel Septim) of his kingdom (Hyrule/Tamriel) to a distant island nation (Koridai/Vvardenfell) to fulfill a prophecy. While there, he is occasionally aided by an elderly wizard (Gwonam/Divayth Fyr) and uses magical artifacts (Book of Koridai/Tools of Kagrenac) to save said island from an evil demigod (Ganon/Dagoth Ur) residing in a mountain, who has been transforming the residents of the island into monsters.

Of course, it's obvious that Morrowind is a much better-made game by a much more competent development team, with much better writers and voice actors. But it's funny how a great game like Morrowind could have so much in common with a game as notoriously bad as "Link: The Faces of Evil".

There's even a Youtube Poop that's pretty much a crossover between the two: "Youtube Poop: The King Goes to Morrowind".

youtube . com / watch?v=_wUiUO54Nh4 (remove spaces)

While I've not played the Zelda game before, it's not surprising that there are similarities. As much as I love Morrowind, when you boil it down to the core story, as you did, it's not exactly original. Unknown hero must travel across the land to a volcano to destroy an evil artifact and stop the big bad while being aided by a wizard. That could be Morrowind, but it could also be the Lord of the Rings, and I'm sure any other number of stories. Not to say your analysis isn't worthwhile, as I think there are interesting connections, it's just that common story telling tropes and elements are used in both games that aren't original to either.