Hyrule Warriors the Age of Calamity, analysis: explanation of the ending and links with Zelda Breath of the Wild | Part one

Hyrule Warriors: the era of Calamità has catapulted us once again into the fantastic kingdom of Hyrule, the same kingdom known in The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, this time 100 years before the destruction carried out by the Great Calamity, a story already written in short, but things did not go as everyone expected ...

This article contains SPOILER of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity and The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, but you've already played the latter… right?

The Story of Hyrule Warriors

A hundred years ago of Breath of the Wild, Hyrule is a thriving and prosperous kingdom, its inhabitants live in harmony and the lost sheikah technology bequeathed a millennium earlier is still a mystery and a source of constant study by modern sheikah scientists and the princess. Zelda.

However a danger looms on the kingdom of Hyrule, the prophecies have predicted the return of Calamity Ganon and the study of ancestral technologies, the mastery of the champions on the Sacred Colossi as well as the awakening of the powers of Princess Zelda are essential to be able to arrive prepared for the arrival of the calamity.

Despite the efforts undertaken, however, the powers of Zelda do not awaken in time and the Calamity returns, spreading its power over the whole land of Hyrule, generating undisputed hordes of monsters and by taking control of the ancestral sheikah guardians, turning them against their owners, bringing destruction and devastation throughout the kingdom.

The guardian from the future

In another kingdom, at the height of the destruction brought by the calamity, meanwhile a small guardian awakens and thanks to his abilities he creates a time gap, with a leap you throw yourself in just before being attacked by a corrupt guardian, ending 100 years in the past.

Terrako is the little guardian built by Zelda when she was still a child, forgotten after many years and abandoned in a box in her laboratory.
However, it is not the only entity to cross the portal, a fragment of the Calamity manages to cross the portal together with Terrako arriving with him in the past.
Terrako thus brings with it the knowledge of the future but also a new threat, the fragment of the calamity arrived in the past binds to the Terrako of this time, still dormant, corrupting it and making it the Herald of Ganon, the catalyst for its power and its rebirth.

Astor, an ally of Clan Yiga, the sheikahs who rebelled against their companions and became followers and worshipers of the Ganon Calamity, comes into possession of the guardian of the future, begins to worship him in anticipation of the awakening of the Calamity and proclaims himself as his intermediary to make this predicted future come true.
Calamity Ganon, however, needs no allies and Astor soon becomes a slave to them, totally submissive and helpless in the face of its enormous power.

The new timeline generated by Hyrule Warriors

Terrako's journey into the past generates one with its beginning splitting of the timeline as we met her in Zelda Breath of the Wild.
Not the first time this has happened within The Legend of Zelda series, Ocarina of Time was the first chapter in which Link's time travel thanks to the Master Sword created a split in continuity giving rise to three separate timelines. .

Terrako with his journey gives rise to two coexisting realities in which the events took place in a diametrically opposite way.
In the reality of Breath of the Wild the champions and Link have been defeated, the Holy Colossi have fallen to Calamity and the kingdom of Hyrule is in ruins, Zelda has used her powers to contain the Ganon Calamity and Link has been brought to the sanctuary of rebirth to regain strength in a hundred-year-long sleep, while the Master Sword, with no one to watch over her, has lost her original power.

In the reality of Hyrule Warriors things went differently, during the final battle against Calamity and the Wrath of Ganon, just as the champions are about to be defeated, their descendants arrive from the future, called by Terrako to turn the tide of battle and save the Champions. The Wraths of Ganon are thus defeated, and the champions regain control over the Holy Colossi, decisive for the battle against the calamity.

The ending of Hyrule Warriors and the differences with Breath fo the Wild

As in Breath of the Wild, the final battle against Calamity Ganon takes place inside the castle of Hyrule, but this time with totally different dynamics. The Champions this time they are safe and sound and they can participate in the final battle in first person, as does the Master Koga, head of the Yiga clan, who regretting his choices decides to ally with the champions in defense of the kingdom.

Astor becomes banner e is absorbed from Calamity Ganon reaching its final form, with the power of the present and the one that came from the future together with Terrako. Ganon is unstoppable, Link, Zelda and the champions engage in a brutal battle, which seems interminable, but here is Terrako joining the fray, crashing into Ganon and exploding, sacrificing himself and drastically weakening the enemy's defenses. Link strikes a final swing with his sword, while Zelda hits him with a cascade of light, sealing him once and for all.

The young descendants of the champions once finished their task return to their time, thanks to the last energies released by the remains of Terrako, encouraged by the champions to become great examples for their tribes, while Zelda holds in her hands the remaining core of Terrako, the source of his power and the only remaining component of his old friend.

Will this new Hyrule, defended by the Ganon Calamity, never know the devastation and live forever in harmony, and will the descendants of the champions, returned to their time, be able to keep their memories and bring peace even in their time?
We may never know.