Breath of the Wild

*“Wake up Link...”*

— Zelda in the beginning of the game

## Map

***The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*** is the nineteenth installment in the *The Legend of Zelda* series, released in 2017 for the Wii U and Nintendo Switch. It is preceded by *Tri Force Heroes* and succeeded by *Tears of the Kingdom*. The Hero of the Wild is the main protagonist and Calamity Ganon is the main antagonist. Ganon's minions are the villainous faction.

It is the nineteenth game in the series, and the first in the Reunified Timeline. After the cataclysmic merge of the timelines, an enormous amount of time passes, leading to the birth of Calamity Ganon. 10,000 years prior to *Breath of the Wild*, the ancient Sheikah use their advanced technology to create four Divine Beasts piloted by Champions who would use it to take the threat down. After being resurrected once again, 100 years prior now, Calamity Ganon took over the ancient Sheikah tech and used it to wipe Hyrule off the map. Link is sent into recovery and awakens 100 years later with Zelda's guidance to explore the fallen kingdom and destroy Calamity Ganon once and for all.

## Synopsis

*Link awakens from a 100-year sleep and is tasked with destroying Calamity Ganon before the world is destroyed. The game returns to the original The Legend of Zelda concept of a more open-world adventure, where Link is free to explore the world in any direction at any given moment. Major dungeons found in previous games have been replaced with four smaller Divine Beasts and numerous small Ancient Shrine scattered throughout the land. Link travels across the vast land of Hyrule to find his memories and free the Divine Beasts from Calamity Ganon's control. Link does this and comes face to face with Ganon, who uses his last amount of power to battle. Link defeats him and saves Hyrule and Zelda.*

## Summary

Link awakens from a deep slumber and a mysterious voice guides him to discover what has become of the ruined Kingdom of Hyrule. Link leaves the Shrine of Resurrection, runs up to the ledge and looks out at the ruins of the kingdom Hyrule. Link then meets an Old Man, who will give him the Paraglider, which is the only way to get to Hyrule. The Old Man wants the Spirit Orbs, in the Shrines, respectively the Oman Au Shrine, Ja Baij Shrine, Owa Daim Shrine, and the Keh Namut Shrine. After Link gets the spirit orbs, the Old Man appears, then mysteriously disappears, telling Link to meet him in the Temple of Time. The Old Man reveals himself as the spirit of the deceased King of Hyrule, King Rhoam. Link learns from King Rhoam that 100 years prior, a great evil known as the Calamity Ganon rose up and laid waste to the kingdom and its people. Unable to be defeated, it was sealed within Hyrule Castle, while the ruins of the land were ravaged by nature over time. Although trapped, the Calamity Ganon has grown in power, and Link must defeat it before it breaks free once more and destroys the world. The mysterious voice turns out to be Zelda, whom who is the daughter of King Rhoam. After escaping the confines of the Great Plateau, Link is directed to meet the wise Sheikah elder Impa, and learn about the Guardians and Divine Beasts: 10,000 years prior these machines were created and successfully used by another Hero and another Princess to defeat the Calamity Ganon. But throughout the ages, knowledge about the ancient technology was lost until excavations in Hyrule brought them to light once more, coinciding with the expected return of Calamity Ganon a hundred years ago. The Guardians were reactivated and four Champions were chosen to control the Divine Beasts: The Zora princess Mipha, the Goron warrior Daruk, the Gerudo chief Urbosa, and the Rito archer Revali. All the while, Zelda was unsuccessfully trying to gain access to her own prophesied powers, accompanied on her quests by her knight, the Hylian Champion Link. When the Calamity Ganon ultimately attacked, it devastated the Kingdom of Hyrule by taking control of the ancient machines and turning them against the Hyruleans. As a last resort, Zelda was able to place the gravely wounded Link in the Shrine of Resurrection and use her awoken sealing powers to trap herself with Calamity Ganon in Hyrule Castle.

As Link sets off on his quest to defeat Calamity Ganon, he is asked to investigate the fate of the Divine Beasts and their former Champions. His ultimate goal, however, remains to reach the Calamity Ganon and free the trapped Zelda before the whole world is laid to waste. But with the entire Kingdom of Hyrule before him to explore, it is up to Link himself to decide how he wishes to fulfill his foretold role as the Hylian Champion, and to save Hyrule Kingdom.

## Characters

Hero of the WildPrincess ZeldaRevaliMiphaDarukUrbosa

## Media

 Japanese
 USA

## Trivia

* *Breath of the Wild* is the first main game in the series to be localized into Russian and Dutch. Eiji Aonuma himself appeared in the Russian and Dutch Nintendo Switch presentations to introduce the game to Russian, Dutch, and Flemish players. Although the Dutch localization is text only whilst retaining the English voice-overs, the Russian localization covers both text and voice acting.
* During development of *Breath of the Wild*, various designs for Link were drafted, including him riding a bike in a tracksuit and a musician Link wielding a guitar. Other concepts for the game included *Hyrule Wars* and *The Legend of Zelda Invasion*, the latter featuring an alien attack.
* *Breath of the Wild* is the first game in the series since the infamous Philips CD-i *Zelda* titles to feature voice acting with dialogue.
* *Breath of the Wild* is the first game to have Link wear the Champion's Tunic instead of the Green Tunic.

## Continuity

* While it takes place unbelievably far into the future past the other games, there are many references to them.
* Past and previous Goron leaders are made statues of in Goron Village in Death Mountain including Darunia, Darmani III, and his son.
* Princess Ruto, the Sage of Water in *Ocarina of Time*, as well as her father is mentioned in the ancient Zora texts that line the path to Zora's Domain.
* Ancient sea salt can be found all over the kingdom, implying there may have been an ancient sea covering it a la the Great Sea.
* While conversing with the Champions, Zelda indirectly mentions the Heroes of Twilight, Legend, Skies, Time, and Winds.
* Calamity Ganon's human incarnation, Ganondorf, is directly mentioned and it is revealed that the Gerudo were so ashamed of the source of the Calamity being of their race that they grew pointed ears to be more close to the Gods.
* The four Divine Beasts, Vah Rudania, Vah Ruta, Vah Medoh, and Vah Naboris are named after four previous sages, Darunia, Ruto, Medly, and Nabooru respectively.

## Gallery

"The Legend of Zelda: Wii U" announcementBreath of the Wild The End