Breath of the Wild: The Great Calamity

As Link makes his way up to meet the old man, a voiced cutscene starts. The old man greets Link and says the time has come to show who he is: Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, the last king of Hyrule. He abandons the old man disguise, now appearing as the ghost of the king. (He gets the name and title treatment – King Rhoam / The Last King of Hyrule – that previous games have reserved for bosses.) He explains: “The Great Calamity was merciless. It devastated everything in its path, lo, a century ago. It was then that my life was taken away from me. And since that time, here I have remained, in spirit form. I did not think it wise to overwhelm you while your memory was still fragile. So rather than that, I thought it best to assume a temporary form. Forgive me.”

“I think you are now ready. Ready to hear what happened 100 years ago,” he says. “To know Calamity Ganon’s true form, one must know the story from an age long past. The demon king was born into this kingdom, but his transformation into Malice created the horror you see now. Stories of Ganon were passed from generation to generation in the form of legends and fairy tales. But there was also a prophecy. ‘The signs of the resurrection of Calamity Ganon are clear. And the power to oppose it lies dormant beneath the ground.’ We decided to heed the prophecy and began excavating large areas of land. It wasn’t long before we discovered several ancient relics made by the hands our distant ancestors. These relics, the Divine Beasts, were giant machines piloted by warriors. We also found the Guardians, an army of mechanical soldiers who fought autonomously. This coincided with ancient legends, oft repeated through our land. We also learned of a princess with a sacred power and her appointed knight, chosen by the sword that seals the darkness. It was they who sealed Ganon away using the power of these ancient relics.”

“One hundred years ago, there was a princess set to inherit a sacred power and a skilled knight at her side. It was clear that we must follow our ancestors’ path. We selected four skilled individuals from across Hyrule and tasked them with the duty of piloting the Divine Beasts. With the princess as their commander, we dubbed these pilots Champions – a name that would solidify their unique bond. The princess, her appointed knight, and the rest of the Champions were on the brink of sealing away Ganon… But nay… Ganon was cunning, and he responded with a plan beyond our imagining.”

“He appeared from deep below Hyrule Castle, seized control of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, and turned them against us. The champions lost their lives. Those residing in the castle as well. The appointed knight, gravely wounded, collapsed while defending the princess… And thus, the kingdom of Hyrule was devastated absolutely by Calamity Ganon. However… the princess survived… to face Ganon alone.”

As the princess faces Ganon, she says, “Link, you are our final hope. The fate of Hyrule rests with you.” Surprise, surprise, it’s the same voice Link’s been hearing all along.

The King continues, “That princess was my own daughter… My dear Zelda. And the courageous knight who protected her right up to the very end… That knight was none other than you, Link. You fought valiantly when your fate took an unfortunate turn. And then, you were taken to the Shrine of Resurrection. Here you now stand revitalized, 100 years later. The words of guidance you have been hearing since your awakening are from Princess Zelda herself. Even now, as she works to restrain Ganon from within Hyrule Castle, she calls out for your help. However, my daughter’s power will soon be exhausted. Once that happens, Ganon will freely regenerate himself and nothing will stop him from consuming our land. Considering that I could not save my own kingdom, I have no right to ask this of you, Link… But I am powerless here… You must save her… my daughter. And do whatever it takes to annihilate Ganon.”

Ganon still has control of the Divine Beasts and Guardians, so Rhoam feels it would be too reckless to go straight to the castle and take on Ganon. Instead, he directs Link to Impa in Kakariko Village to the east for more information. Finally, he gives Link the Paraglider and vanishes with one last “Link… you must save… Hyrule….”

Thoughts on this:

1. It’s sort of the backstory that would be printed in the manual back when games had them, the opening story roll, and the post-tutorial “here’s the job at hand, get to it” story dump all rolled into one. (The latter is only half here; I’m guessing being told to go to the Divine Beasts to free them from Ganon will wait until Link meets Impa.)
2. The four champions are a Goron, a Zora, a Gerudo, and a Rito. This setup reminds me of Majora’s Mask: go to the four major groups of people and free a giant Divine Beast to fight the villain.
3. And we’ve got Zoras and Ritos in the same game. In my first post, I kind of noted that this game seems designed to troll timeline theorists, and this is one of the clearest examples. We’re also set long, long after the older games. (My – semi-serious – theory is something like what happened at the end of Majora’s Mask (the best of Link’s cycles merged into one timeline) happened to the overall timeline with no regard to sense.)
4. I haven’t noticed much of the music in the game, but Rhoam gets a somber remix of the Hyrule Castle theme, somewhat reminiscent of Wind Waker’s “Farewell Hyrule King.”
5. I still don't like Zelda's voice. Something about the way she reads her lines is... weird.

Next: “It’s a rock monster! It doesn’t have motivation!”