To continue the main quest, Link meets with the Goron boss, Bludo, who complains about Rudania stomping about on Death Mountain making its eruptions worse. The Gorons periodically drive it off by shooting it with cannons, but it always comes back, and Bludo’s back pain is flaring up. His assistant, Yunobo, went to get painkillers, but hasn’t come back. So Link heads out looking for Yunobo; in Abandoned North Mine is a series of lava islands; the lava creates lots of updrafts to allow Link to glide between the islands. The area is overrun by fire Lizalfos; between the Flamebreaker Armor negating their breath weapon and “fire creature + ice arrow = one-shot kill,” it’s really easy. Yunobo (“Goron Youth”) is in a storeroom that’s been blocked by a rockslide; Link clears the way with a cannon and approaches. After a short panic thinking Link’s another monster come for him, Yunobo relaxes and returns to Bludo, telling Link to do the same.
Bludo gives Link three more Fireproof Elixirs and directs Link’s attention to a statue of Daruk, which causes Link to remember riding on Rudania with Daruk, who used a protective ability when rocks fell from Death Mountain. In addition to giving the Champions a moment to shine, these flashbacks also showcase the ability Link gets by finishing the Divine Beast; Mipha healing, Daruk protecting. Yunobo, Daruk’s descendant, used a similar ability when Link cleared the rockslide, and wears a bandana similar to Daruk’s (but smaller). When they drive off Rudania together, they use Yunobo as the cannonball, using Daruk’s Protection to protect himself from Newton’s Third Law. But the painkillers haven’t quite kicked in fully yet, so Bludo’s not able to go deal with Rudania yet.
Along the way to catch up with Yunobo, Link encounters some of Death Mountain’s versions of Octoroks, who shield themselves from pretty much any form of attack. However, they’re constantly sucking up anything they can, and will suck up a bomb, and just like Dodongos, their insides aren’t as tough. (Also, if Link feeds them rusted weapons, they’ll clean them and spit back out good ones.) Link catches up to Yunobo, who’s gotten himself surrounded by monsters. After Link deals with the monsters, the two come up with the idea of going after Rudania themselves, with a demonstration of Yunobo’s cannonball powers to begin.
As Link and Yunobo reach Death Mountain, the Divine Beast lets out a bunch of Sentries (flying Guardians, not as mobile as the normal flying guardians). This starts what’s meant to be a stealth section, with Link and Yunobo sneaking past the Sentries, but it’s really not that hard to kill them with a bunch of arrows and ignore the stealth part. There are three cannons on the approach, and each one drives Rudania higher on the mountain until it jumps into the caldera. Link dives in.
Ruta in Zora’s Domain is the easiest of the four Divine Beasts to get to, and despite the open-world design, there is some encouragement to go that way first, but there’s no way of knowing for sure which one they’ll do first, so we get the same tutorial guidance (get the map, activate terminals, go for the boss) as if it’s our first. Until Link gets the map, the first rooms are dark, which only highlights the Malice Eyes more. The Divine Beast control Link gets is the ability to turn Rudania on its side, changing the orientation of rooms. One of the terminals is hidden behind a wall of flame; the intended solution is to get a block and position it so Link is able to sneak by, but the Flamebreaker Armor lets Link just walk on through.
The boss is Fireblight Ganon (“Scourge of Divine Beast Vah Rudania”). He throws fireballs at Link, but they bounce off the Flamebreaker Armor. Its other attacks are sword slashes that I found easy to perfect dodge/flurry rush, so the first phase of the battle went by quickly. At the start of the second phase, it sets fire to its sword and surrounds itself with a flame shield. At first, it imitates the Death Mountain Octoroks, and the solution is the same: feed it a bomb. This knocks down the flame shield, and the rest of the fight’s the same as the first phase. (Also, this time I had the presence of mind to take its picture.)
Once Link takes control of Rudania, Daruk (“Goron Champion”) appears to him. He’s considerably more upbeat than Mipha was, although he feels the need to apologize to Link for losing to Fireblight Ganon. He gives Link Daruk’s Protection, which will absorb damage from up to three attacks (and deflect Guardian lasers) before needing to recharge. After moving Rudania into place, Daruk cheerfully notes that Hyrule doesn’t look too bad after everything that happened 100 years before, and he looks down and sees Yunobo, which reassures him that the Gorons are still going strong. Yunobo sees Daruk’s ghost and happily waves to him. Yunobo’s waiting for Link back in Goron City, and brings him to Bluto for a reward. That reward is Daruk’s weapon, a giant stone sword that is excellent for crushing the ore weak spot on Taluses.
Next: Wait, there are minigames?
