Great Calamity

The refers to two distant events in Hyrule's history related to the resurgence of the in .
==Overview==
======
====The First Great Calamity====
The first refers to the original emergence of , 10,000 years before the events of . rose to conquer as the , a monstrous creature imbuing pure hatred – or, . As this was anticipated by the civilization, opposing was an unnamed knight chosen by the , and a Princess blessed with an unspecified "sacred power" (illustrated by a symbol on the displayed at 's home in ), and the mechanical creations of the then-highly advanced tribe: the and the four . The side was victorious and was successfully sealed. It was then prophesied that would eventually break free of the seal as he always had. Sometime after this, the King of Hyrule began to see the Sheikah and their incredibly advanced technology as a threat to Hyrule, and banished the tribe from the kingdom, scattering them throughout the land. As a result, the Sheikah decided to cast away their technology and adopt simpler lives, resulting in the secrets of their sciences being lost to time.
====The Second Great Calamity====
The second is an event from . This event serves as the main historical context of the game. It corresponds to the disaster caused by throughout that occurred on 's 17th birthday, one hundred years prior to event of the game. After awakens at the at the beginning of , he discovers much of ruined and devastated by 's forces. However, thanks to sealing herself and away in the rest of managed to survive and somewhat rebuild.
10,000 years after the first , during the reign of , it was foretold that the return of was imminent. This prompted to conduct archeological surveys and unearth the forgotten machines, in preparation to confront as their ancestors had done 10,000 years prior. They eventually recovered the mechanical army, and were able to reactivate and use them. The teenage assisted them in their research, as she still had trouble awakening her powers. then requested each race of produce a to pilot a Divine Beast, and four elite warriors were selected from across the kingdom by herself: , crown Princess of the , the , the , and the chieftain. They were each tasked with the duty of piloting a to assist the Hylian Champion, the knight . The final key to defeating was the divine sealing powers of the royal family's bloodline, and the death of Hyrule's Queen saw this immense duty fall to . As she was now the sole bearer of this birthright, ordered to focus on awakening her divine sealing powers, to the exclusion of all else.
Unfortunately, having learned from his previous defeat, created four phantom embodiments of himself representing the elements of fire, water, thunder, and wind, each tasked with corrupting and taking control the , and killing the four . Succeeding in taking control of the and killing their respective , proceeded to take control of the army of using his , and turned the machines against . He then destroyed and devastated much of , slaughtering countless innocents. Amidst the chaos, was killed, and the remaining soldiers and who survived the attack on the castle were helpless against the onslaught, and were forced to retreat to a massive citadel in . The final remnants of the Hyrulean Army took their final stand in , the kingdom's largest stronghold, which was all but destroyed in the historic battle, leaving the once great structure in ruins.
Hyrule's allies fared far better than the doomed kingdom. 's attack focused squarely on the heartlands of Hyrule, and though the advanced throughout the kingdom, but they did not invade or attack the realms of the , , or the . A single advanced into , though, before being hurled into a ravine by the before it could cause any damage to the .
 and , meanwhile, were ambushed by the in , and retreated south to , where they made their desperate last stand against an army of . Though skillfully wielded the , which reacted to 's corruption within the , and managed to take several down, there were simply too many, and he was eventually overcome. It was here, faced with the impending death of a loved one, that 's powers were truly awakened, allowing her to shut down the with a blinding ray of light which purged them of 's influence. Though the were stopped, was nonetheless greatly injured, and seemingly died in 's arms. Heartbroken, wept in despair. As if responding to her cries, the suddenly spoke to , and revealed to her that could still be saved by using the , an ancient medical facility her research team had discovered. Wasting no time, ordered her allies, , , and , to carry to the upon the , and to place him in an experimental . then returned the battle-damaged to its pedestal in front of the , promising the blade that would one day return for it. In a final sacrifice, marched alone on and used her newly awoken powers to seal both and herself inside. 
With sealed, however temporarily, the devastated kingdom of Hyrule was left to rebuild. Though no longer free to rampage, 's power still remained, as his armies of monsters and some corrupted Guardians remained in the land to wreak havoc. Periodically, an event known as the Blood Moon would occur, reviving any of Ganon's army that had fallen, practically ensuring an eternal stalemate with the survivors left in Hyrule. The kingdom was reduced to several settlements scattered about the land.
 
100 years later, with close to breaking free of 's seal, awakens at the . After freeing the Divine Beasts and allowing the spirits of the Champions to take back control, regaining his lost memories, and regaining the Master Sword, Link goes on to face just as he overpowers 's magic, and after being defeated the ensuing battle, the Princess uses her magic to definitively seal away, finally ending the Second .
==Other Appearances==
======
The arrival of the Guardian from the future in which the events of occur produces an alternate timeline, where the events of the second Great Calamity unfold and end quite differently. In this version of events, survived the attack on and the four are able to be saved. Being led by -who succeeded in activating her sealing power-the people of united to fight , and eventually atop . , , and their allies subsequently prevail in defeating them both.
==Nomenclature==