While the story of the latest Hyrule Warriors game, Age of Calamity, is much more in-depth than most other Legend of Zelda games in the past, it is still pretty focused on the alternate history event of The Great Calamity and doesn’t diverge from this path too often. However, there are several smaller plot points that are easily missed if you aren’t paying attention.
With the introduction of the Champion descendants in particular, there are several more story elements injected into the original plot, as they weren’t around the first time Calamity Ganon rose to power and result in some aspects of the war playing out very differently from the first time around.
10 Teba’s Disapproval Of Revali
For the most part, fans view on the Rito Champion, Revali, is that his rivalry with Link was interesting as there was little context for his attitude towards Link, but he was generally not a great guy. In Breath of the Wild, Teba looked up to Revali as somewhat of an idol to base his own prowess on, but when he finally meets Revali in real life, he is less than impressed. While he wasn’t a fan of Link when they first met in Breath of the Wild, his reaction to Revali’s attitude was one of shock and disappointment, as he couldn’t believe that the Rito he had looked up to his whole life was so stuck up.
9 Sidon Skirting Around His Sister’s Death
One of the biggest missed opportunities in Age of Calamity was the relationships between the Champions and their descendants, as more than one felt like they had to live up to the expectations of their predecessors. Sidon, on the other hand, only thought of protecting Mipha from dying, as his first words after jumping through the time portal were that he wouldn’t let Waterblight Ganon take his sister again. Once Calamity Ganon has been sealed away in the conclusion, Sidon bids his sister farewell, who says that she believes they will meet again in the future. Throughout the entire game, Sidon has avoided telling Mipha that she died while he was a child in his timeline, and takes a very deliberate pause before bidding her farewell to decide whether or not to tell her this as he leaves.
8 Mipha’s Critical Role In The Great Calamity
In one of the main story missions, you are tasked with exporting Mipha around the battlefield to heal several wounded Hylian soldiers shortly after the Champion descendants arrive in the alternate past. After healing all of the targets, Sidon casually remarks that things could have gone much worse if she wasn’t present.
In the Breath of the Wild timeline, Mipha would be dead at this point in the battle, resulting in the deaths of considerably more Hylians as she wasn’t present to heal the wounded in the following skirmishes. This one mission showed just how important Mipha was to the entire army, as, had she survived, Link may not have had to use the Shrine of Resurrection.
7 Terrako Doesn’t Exist In Breath of The Wild’s Timeline
One plot element that is very easy to miss happens at the very beginning of the game. After Zelda unlocks her sealing powers and awakens Terrako in her study, the little Guardian proceeds to jump through a portal back in time to be instrumental in both the resurrection and sealing of Calamity Ganon. This means that, as a result, Terrako doesn’t exist at all in Breath of the Wild’s timeline anymore and Zelda and Link can’t rely on their power to turn back time. Considering it seems like the pair can use all the help they can get, with Ganondorf looking to return in Breath of the Wild’s sequel, it may have been better off if Terrako never went back in time.
6 The Blight Ganons Are Different This Time Around
As Terrako jumped through the time portal back in time, it brought with it some fragments of Malice that proceeded to infect that timeline’s version of Terrako, becoming the Harbinger as a result. Aside from allowing Ganon to revive much sooner, it also allowed the Blight Ganons to not only change their forms but also become much more powerful as a result. All of the Blight Ganons have not only more weapons at their disposal, as Thunderblight Ganon is able to summon clones of itself not unlike Impa, but their looks are also quite different from Breath of the Wild.
5 The Importance Of The Sheikah Slate
While the Sheikah Slate is one of Link’s most important weapons in Breath of the Wild, it is arguably much more important in Age of Calamity, as it is what allows Purah to teleport not only an entire army but the four Divine Beasts to face Ganon in a matter of seconds. Without Terrako’s appearance, only Link and Zelda would be able to use the Slate, which turned out to be one of the reasons why the Champions died in the original timeline in the first place.
4 Link’s Gluttony Is Expanded Upon
In one of Zelda’s diary entries in Hyrule Castle in Breath of the Wild, she states that, while Link is generally a quiet person, he is also a glutton who eats at every opportunity. While this goes a long way in explaining how he is able to down so much food in Breath of the Wild, it was never actually shown canonically until Age of Calamity.
After recruiting Daruk, the Goron offers a Rock Steak to Zelda, Impa, and Link, which Link graciously takes and chows down on, much to the horror of Impa and Zelda. He is also seen with several other Hylian soldiers later in the story as they give him random bits of food to eat for their own amusement.
3 Ganon Lost In This Timeline Because Of Kohga
One of the biggest changes in the timeline between Age of Calamity and Breath of the Wild is the defection of the Yiga clan, who, under the orders of Kohga, fought alongside the Hylian army to defeat Ganon. If Kohga hadn’t defected due to Astor stealing the souls of his minions, Zelda, Link, and the Champions might not have won and The Great Calamity may have played out exactly the same as it had in the original timeline, as Kohga brought nearly as many minions to the final fight as there were Hylian soldiers present.
2 Zelda Unlocking Her Sealing Power
In Breath of the Wild, in one particular flash back, it seems like Mipha was about to tell Zelda that the source of Mipha’s power was in her feelings for Link, which Zelda doesn’t realize until he is nearly dead following a large scale battle with Guardians. In Age of Calamity, this event plays out very differently and Zelda unlocks her sealing power in time to save her friends, but apparently without realizing her feelings for Link. This calls into question not just how her powers manifest, but whether or not Link’s flashbacks can be entirely trusted as accurate history.
1 We See How Rhoam Should Have Died
In Breath of the Wild, King Rhoam unfortunately dies just before he planned to tell Zelda he is proud of her for working so hard, despite not having unlocked her powers before that time. In Age of Calamity, Rhoam should have died after he orders Link to escort her from the castle, but instead, he is saved when the Sheikah artifact he took from Zelda earlier turns out to be a shield, allowing him to survive long enough to tell Zelda what he never had the chance to in the original timeline.
