Blood Moon

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**Blood Moons**, also known as **Red Moons**, **Nights of the Red Moon**, and **The Hour of the Blood Moon** is a recurring event in *The Legend of Zelda* series.

## Overview

### *Breath of the Wild*

Blood Moons occur at midnight on nights when Calamity Ganon's power reaches its peak and escapes from Zelda's control within Hyrule Castle, dyeing the night sky and the Moon red with Malice. The effects of this Malice revive any fallen monsters and enemies, returning them to where they once were prior to being slain. In addition to reviving enemies and Overworld Bosses, Ore Deposits are replenished, and Materials ranging from plants and trees, to gear left lying in the field, effectively respawn, allowing Link to collect them again if the ones he took before the Blood Moon broke in the interim period. Blood Moons do not start occurring until Link obtains the Paraglider and leaves the Great Plateau.

Mechanically, Blood Moons are a way to restore enemies and weapons to the world of *Breath of the Wild* to keep the difficulty from dropping permanently as enemies are exterminated, and to ensure Link can still find resources such as weapons and food ingredients as the game goes on. Data stored within the game's long-term memory is reset, including the presence or lack of Materials and Weapons. Blood Moons do not affect things handled through short-term memory, such as Creatures, Grass, Trees, and Barrels. Blood Moons also do not affect storyline progression, side quests, or major bosses such as Master Kohga and the Bosses inside the Divine Beasts.

Blood Moons most commonly appear once every 2-3 hours of continuous gameplay and, under normal circumstances, will trigger at midnight in-game. However, in situations where the game is running out of memory or assets are not loading correctly, a "Panic" Blood Moon will be triggered, even during daytime. When this occurs, the game does a harder reset of the game state, attempting to clear memory and go to a known, possibly less buggy state, in order to prevent a crash or game-breaking glitch. This extended reset usually causes the Blood Moon cutscene to be unskippable, and the loading screen afterwards to take tens of seconds. If the player is in a battle with Calamity Ganon or another area where saving is disabled and a Blood Moon appears, the game will revert its state to the most recent save data. Blood Moons can be interrupted by entering specific areas such as Ancient Shrines and Hyrule Castle before midnight, and mini-games though the game will simply try to spawn one the next night. This also occurs if Link is doing the One-Hit Obliterator challenge on the Great Plateau. Blood Moons are always represented by a full moon, regardless of which phase the moon is in.

The effects of the Blood Moon begin around 11:30 PM, though the Blood Moon itself can usually be seen as early as 10:00 PM when the moon rises into the sky. At 11:30 PM, Malice will rise from the ground, similar to the interior of a Divine Beast or on the grounds of Hyrule Castle. At 11:50 PM, the sky will turn red, and the clouds will begin to fly by very fast. At midnight, a cutscene begins, depicting the Blood Moon in the highest point in the sky as monsters are seen respawning across Hyrule. Princess Zelda telepathically informs Link that the Blood Moon has risen and urges Link to be careful. After that, the Blood Moon dissipates. If Link attempts to skip the night by resting at a Campfire or sleeping in a Bed, the cutscene will still play if a Blood Moon is scheduled to trigger that night. During a Panic Blood Moon, these effects play much quicker than they do under normal circumstances and the soundtrack that plays leading up to the cutscene is omitted.

Hino of the Dueling Peaks Stable is the primary source of information on Blood Moons, and can be seen acting strangely during the time period that it affects the overworld. The player can know during the day if tonight will be a Blood Moon, as if they ask Hino what moon will be out tonight, he will say, "*I'm getting that feeling again... Something is going to happen tonight. I can taste it."*

Cooking during this time gives Food an effect boost. This time period can be easily identified, as specks of Malice linger in the air for those 45 minutes, or by determining if Hino is still acting strange. If he has returned to normal, the effect has worn off, and Link must wait for the next Blood Moon.

### *Tears of the Kingdom*

The purpose and mechanics behind the Blood Moons in *Tears of the Kingdom* are largely identical to their function in *Breath of the Wild*. The only key differences are that they do not begin until after Link leaves the Great Sky Island and the cutscene is different, featuring Phantom Ganon disguised as Princess Zelda as he narrates the effects of the Blood Moon in a far more bleak, ominous tone.

After defeating Phantom Ganon, the narration during the cutscene no longer plays.

## Other Appearances

### *Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity*

Non-Canon Information

During the Scenario "All Hyrule, United", a Blood Moon rises following the Divine Beasts bombarding Calamity Ganon with their lasers after Zelda banished the protective barrier, reviving all monsters that were slain during the course of the battle, then revived half of the monsters after they were re-killed by the Warriors. After the united forces of Hyrule broke through the Calamity's forces, the Blood Moon remained in the sky until Calamity Ganon was sealed again.

Following the completion of the last Scenario and the start of the postgame, Blood Moons start appearing. They turn Scenarios into **Blood Moon Battlefields**. These Blood Moon Battlefield events enhance the enemies of past Scenarios, one Scenario per waxing, changing the icon of the boosted Scenario into a Blood Moon icon, raises the recommended levels by up to sixfold, and colors the map with a red filter. It also improves the quality of Weapon drops, and increases their frequency.

When a Blood Moon rises, it changes the map theme to its "Amid the Calamity" version. Other than doubling the Rupee counts after completing the Scenario battles, including the Divine Beast combat segments, nothing else changes.

It is up to random chance which Scenarios becomes a Blood Moon Battlefield, and the frequency of the Blood Moon waxing is erratic, ranging from a Blood Moon rising immediately after clearing a Blood Moon Battlefield to after several battles. Potentially, a Blood Moon could rise over the same Scenario twice in a row. If players go to Challenge maps or other Scenario maps, it resets the Blood Moon Battlefield.

## Trivia

* An odd exception to the Blood Moon failing to trigger at midnight while in Hyrule Castle is during the first fight against Calamity Ganon. If midnight strikes on a Blood Moon night during this first battle, Calamity Ganon's health will refill to maximum as if neither Link nor the Divine Beasts had done him any damage. Strangely, this exception does not apply to the battle against Dark Beast Ganon.
* An early indicator that a Blood Moon may occur is that the night sky will be devoid of stars.[*citation needed*]
* Another glitch can occur if Link is able to open his map within a few frames before 12:00 AM strikes, and warp. It does not matter if, for example, Link is already standing on a warp arrival point when he does this. When the game drops Link at the location, the game will have entered its post-Blood Moon state without having done the reset, and will have even reset the wait time before the next Blood Moon as if the scheduled one had successfully occurred.
* The effect of the sky turning red associated with Blood Moons also occurs when Dark Beast Ganon reveals its core, right before Link delivers the final blow.

## Gallery

* The Blood Moon beginning
* The Blood Moon reviving various enemies
* Blood Moon icon from *Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity*
* Artwork of Calamity Ganon with a Blood Moon

## See Also

* Blood Moon (Theme)
* Moon
* Omen of the Blood Moon
* Under a Red Moon

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "*Whenever the clock strikes midnight on unlucky nights, the sky turns blood red. That's the blood moon. When that happens, monsters come back to life, no matter how many times you've defeated them. It's happened for so long now that no one really pays it any mind, but I have no plans to give up on my research.*" — Hino (*Breath of the Wild*)
2. ↑ "*Under a Red Moon
Hyrule Ridge*" — Adventure Log (*Breath of the Wild*)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *Creating a Champion*, Dark Horse Books, pg. 406
4. ↑ "*... Link... Link... Be on your guard. Ganon's power grows...it rises to its peak under the hour of the blood moon. By its glow, the aimless spirits of monsters slain in the name of the light return to flesh. Link...please be careful.*" — Zelda (*Breath of the Wild*)
5. ↑  Leoetlino, Panic Blood Moons, Zeldamods.com (Wiki Webpage).
6. ↑ "*The Blood Moon rises once again. Please be careful, Link...*" — Zelda (*Breath of the Wild*)
7. ↑ "*Sometimes you'll witness incredible success in your cooking adventures. When this happens, the strength and duration of your cooked food's effects will increase well beyond normal. Using more than the usual number of ingredients is a sure way to boost the effects of your food. But I've also heard rumors that the light of the red moon can have a positive effect on your cooking as well.*" — *Chef Aurie Taamu, Vol. 2* (*Breath of the Wild*)
8. ↑  [1], YouTube.
9. ↑ "*The hour of the Blood Moon... it is then that Calamity Ganon's power waxes fully. Stronger enemies await in these extremely grueling battles. Do you dare challenge them?*" — Tutorial (*Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity*)
10. ↑  [2], YouTube.