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Fridge Brilliance
- A lot of people complained that Lana and Cia felt out of place in Hyrule Warriors, being original characters who didn't appear in the franchise before. However, once we know more about their origin, specifically that they are in fact 2 parts of the same being, you can begin to notice similarities with another Zelda character. Which characters in the Zelda universe are both sorceresses who use opposite elements and who can unite to become a single being? Twinrova. Even their colors are similar (Lana and Kotake wear blue and white while Cia and Koume wear mostly red and purple).
- "Original characters who didn't appear in the franchise before" is a really petty reason to accuse a character of being out of place, considering that literally every Zelda game in the series has had such characters.
- Lana's obviously based on J-pop idols. Take for a moment, though, in regards to the cultural background behind said J-pop idols. In Japan, idols aren't allowed to have boyfriends due to a business-related belief that such relationships would destroy the fantasy that they're providing for their audience and customers. With that in mind, Lana not pursuing Link despite her own feelings takes a new, if somewhat more tragic, meaning.
- There are three main trios throughout the game, formed by various teams of characters, that each seem to embody the Triforce's Courage, Wisdom and Power. Link, Zelda and Impa form a trio of heroes from their original world. Ghirahim, Zant and Ganondorf form a trio of returning villains. and Cia, Wizzro and Volga form a trio made of the new villains.
- The sudden deconstruction of the One-Man Army trope might seem a bit out of left field for some people, but then again, the game tells you that Link had started feeling a bit cocky once he had the Master Sword, like he could do anything. Wouldn't most players think that once they had the Master Sword, considering obtaining the Master Sword in a regular Zelda game is normally a late-game thing, and it is used to help take down the final boss? I'd say the game was talking about the player as much as it was about Link.
- Given that it really is extremely powerful compared to every other weapon you're likely to have access to at that point...
- There is another layer to this sequence that, if taken the right way, serves as a deconstruction of the Zelda series as a whole. For the first act of the game, you start off as Link, and you acquire a new party member in every mission as you progress, with the option to choose any of them for the next mission. Once you hit the second act, the party splits up, you play as all three groups, and you recruit a new member in each branch who can be selected in that branch's second mission. All sevennote are capable warriors even in canon (assuming that Fi is displaying what happens when she chooses to wield herself in lieu of her Master), and all of them are capable of victory. So what happens when they reunite in the third act? You play as Link for the next few story missions. And only Link. To the point that the others are relegated to seal-unlocking "sage" status for the Temple of the Sacred Sword. In this light, the lesson from storming Cia's palace is not "don't be a One-Man Army". It's "stop pretending that Link is the only character who can be the hero in this series!" (And to solidify this, after this character development occurs and the mission is complete, both doing the next mission and replaying the previous missions allow you to also choose any of the other characters who were there to support him.)
- Link's Acquired Situational Narcissism at the midgame climax has been argued to be an Ass Pull by some, but in-context, it does make sense: this Link is just a gifted soldier in the Hyrulean Army all his life. Suddenly, he saves his commanding officer and has a fragment of the gods' greatest treasure in his hand. He's immediately promoted to a commander of the army equal to said superior, the Princess takes a personal interest in him, the enemy is obsessed with him, and to top it all off, he's meant to be the chosen wielder of the most powerful weapon on earth. He also turns the tide in massive battles by himself, usually being praised by his ruler and/or superior and other gifted warriors for doing so, all before getting that powerful weapon. It's hardly unusual he'd get a big head, he became possibly the most important person alive practically overnight!
- How did Cia manage to defeat both Zant and Ghirahim in her storyline so easily when these guys are so powerful that it took their own incarnation of Link to take them down? Because Cia's the Guardian of Time. Her job is to watch over the different timelines, so she has probably seen their fights against Link. In other words, she knows their powers and how they fight, thus she is able to easily defeat them.
- Zelda's weapons consist of the Rapier (a type of sword symbolically associated with royalty, and which her Twilight Princess incarnation was seen wielding), the Baton, and the Dominion Rod. Both of the latter are based on the various treasures that have, in past games, been associated with the Royal Family of Hyrule.
- Mixed with Continuity Nod, notice how there are several Adventure Mode missions labelled as "Defeat the mountain beast!", "Defeat the forest dragon!", "Defeat the island beast!", etc. The missions are as follows: Run through the map, capture keeps, defeat the enemy commander... then defeat the giant boss! That sounds like a dungeon in any Zelda game, but look where those missions are. They are on the squares where the very first Zelda dungeons are! And the Dark Ruler is located on the same square as the final dungeon of the game!
- In the same vein, the original game was incredibly open-ended, to the point where the only thing you couldn't do in damn near whatever order you pleased was kill Ganon. The Definitive Edition lifting the "must advance to point X in Legend Mode" requirement for certain regions of the Adventure Mode map - and therefore unlock numerous Pieces of Heart, Heart Containers, and all of Link, Zelda, Impa, Ganondorf, and Linkle's weapon types as soon as The Armies of Ruin is completed - can therefore be seen as analogous to the player's ability, in the original game, to get three Heart Containers, the White Sword, a Magical Shield, the Blue Ring, Bombs, the Blue Candle, and the Power Bracelet before even setting foot in the first dungeon.
- For the game advertising that it unites the Zelda games, it only really draws elements from Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword, with references to other games being mere cameos at best. It can seem selective at at first, but then another possibility emerges: all of these games fit on the Child Timeline of the Zelda canon. This game could very well be set in the Child Timeline, perhaps some several generations after Twilight Princess, and Cia was able to unite several points in time into one realm... but she couldn't quite break into the alternate timelines!
- Important to note in accordance with this: Aonuma's Word of God is that this title is not "non-canon", even going so far as to say "you could fit this onto the timeline if you tried to", rather they simply opted not to place it officially. This makes the above explanation perfectly viable!
- In the new Majora's Mask Adventure Mode map, as per the usual with the previous maps, it resembles Termina, with each area spread out in the four directions. None of the areas connect to each other... except the east (Ikana Canyon) and south (Woodfall), like they did through a tunnel in the river that transports Link from the canyon to outside the swamp potion shop.
- In the Badge Market, the item used to represent a longer Special Attack bar is the Fierce Deity mask. When the Majora's Mask Pack came out and introduced Young Link, what is the best use of his Special Attack bar? Converting it to Magic to enable/maintain his Fierce Deity form.
- Kinda a cross-game meta example and doubles as Fridge Horror in a meta way as well, but Young Link is based off of his Majora's Mask appearance, in which you only had 3 days to save the land of Termina. In Hyrule Warriors, the maximum amount of Special Attack bars is 3. By playing the Song of Time and transferring his Special Attack gauge into his Magic gauge, it's like Young Link is giving up his 3 days to get right to the final confrontation, Fierce Deity vs Majora and The Moon.
- Also, Young Link doesn't play the Song of Time in the proper cadence, because that would take too long. Instead, he just plays the notes as fast as possible to get the song to register, like a player in his home game might if they were near the End of the Third Day and running out of time.
- One more for the Hero of Time. Why can Young Link use the Fierce Deity Mask wherever? In Majora's Mask, he could only put it on (legitimately) in the boss rooms of each dungeon. Well, all of the bosses in Majora's Mask were giant creatures with destructive power... and in Hyrule Warriors, giant creatures with destructive power can appear anywhere. The same way he can wear the mask in a Terminan boss room when the boss isn't around, he can wear it in this Hyrule when the boss isn't around because the boss just might show up there.
- A case of Gameplay and Story Integration about Ganondorf's competence: normally, when fought, he is far weaker than how he is as the player character, except if he has a red aura. There is a reason for this story wise: Playable Ganondorf has his full soul and thus power, while he as an enemy is always weakened for one reason or another. The only time his base form can be fought with his full power is in the final battle with him if you don't take Hyrule Castle; at this point he has all of his soul AND the complete Triforce, and therefore not only does he put up a very good fight, but can electrocute you from the other side of the map as well.
- Cia is left-handed. As stated before, Cia has a major crush on Link, up to and including a Stalker Shrine for all the various Links across generations, and considering Link is also usually left-handed, apparently she's modeling herself after Link.
- Volga's Sore Loser tendencies in Legend Mode seem to contrast with his Graceful Loser attitude in Adventure Mode. However, looking at the circumstances behind each of his defeats in Legend Mode, and paying attention to his responses, makes you realize that most of his losses are in fact illegitimate:
- Armies of Ruin: "You haven't beaten me, you've merely hidden behind your shields." The game doesn't let you get Volga to lower than 50% health before the cutscene and his immediate flight. Link's forced to hide behind Impa to avoid dying mid-fight, and his invocation of the Triforce of Courage does seem to be a barrier against Volga's fire breath. He chooses to leave in disgust, so you actually haven't beaten him.
- Sorceress of the Valley: "I was careless." No accusations towards the Hyrulean Forces; he owns up to his failure of overconfidence (he effectively charges in alone against the enemy army) and resolves not to make the same mistake again. Sure enough, he never commits the same mistake and only advances when backed up by his forces.
- Land in the Sky: "I would have beaten you if not for the sky lord's interference." He is absolutely right: try and take him on without getting the Great Fairy to back Levias up, and he keeps healing when he gets in the 30% range, even if you've got the Master Sword with Evil's Bane and Exorcism unlocked. Volga will crush you here, and you absolutely have to cheat in order to not lose.
- To some, Cia's final stand where she casts from her own health to bolster her forces and magic might not make much sense at first for why she's dying of it. But remember, Cia was split in half, Lana being cast out (along with her good traits) and Cia retaining her normal bad traits, being a literal dark side to Lana's light. Cia's decision to bolster herself and her monsters with her own darkness? All she is is Darkness. Because she's using her own darkness as fuel, she's quite literally tearing herself apart in any effort to win the hero.
- Why is Fi a Dance Battler? Beyond that she had done so in Skyward Sword to awaken new places to look for the flames, take notice of when she transforms into a sword, especially when charging herself with light. Her head and neck is the pommel and grip, her shoulder-arms are the guard, and her legs are the blade! Also a bit of Fridge Horror, as what does Ghirahim need for most of his items? Fi's Heels. In other words, it's like he needs the Master Sword's blade for his badges!
- In Legends, Cia's Heel–Face Turn may come out of nowhere until you realize that when Lana rescued her, she was separated from the darkness. Being possessed by Ganondorf probably magnified her lust to the point where it caused her Sanity Slippage, pushing her over the edge even after the Demon King regained his physical form. But with the remaining darkness purged from her soul, she was able to regain control of herself as well as her feelings, and thus let Link, Zelda, and the rest of Hyrule be.
- That goes double if you believe the theory that the Temple of Souls is based on Cia's mental world. When Lana arrives there to rescue her, Cia shows none of the hostility she had previously to anyone except the Dark Cia, who she says was trying to consume and replace her. Free of Ganondorf's active influence, she was able to expel the corruption as an Enemy Without, returning the original to her senses.
- Time for an Adventure Mode entry. On the Twilight Map, you have several items exclusive to Twilight Princess, such as Water Bombs, Fishing Rods, Spinners, and even the Hookshot is redesigned to look like an 8-bit Clawshot. However, among these are the Digging Mitts, which weren't even in that game. This seems out of place, until you remember that Twilight Princess had several areas where Wolf Link had to dig to find a hidden grotto in that game. And none of your characters are wolves, so...
- Linkle's Boots in the Link's Awakening DLC turn her moveset into a semi-clone of Link's Hylian Sword moveset; her basic combo is a sequence of increasingly flashier swings ending with a flip, her C1 is a quick launcher, her C3 is a leaping spin, she can fire off three basic attacks in midair, and her Special Attack is a wide-arc charge. But there are still distinct differences; her C2 propels her forward instead of launching a projectile, her basic combo is slightly more roundhouse than Link's, and there are more than a few Cuccos involved. What is Linkle's whole point? She's not the legendary hero and thinks she is regardless, but she's a heroine in her own right. The Boots get her closer to being like the Hero, but still keep her distinct.
- Ravio's Rental Hammer moveset uses a lot of the weapon types that he would rent out in A Link Between Worlds... but none of the same model designs. Most notable is his use of the Gale Boomerang, but his bow is a Sacred Bow, his bombs look like Super Bombs, and even his level 1 hammer looks a touch like the one from Legends. Then you remember that Ravio is Link's Lorulean counterpart... and Link is a Legacy Character. Who's to say Ravio is any different? Lorule was introduced in A Link Between Worlds, but it's entirely possible that this Ravio comes from the Lorulean equivalent of the era in which Hyrule Warriors takes place!
- The Great Sea and Wind Waker maps are based on the map of the Great Sea for Wind Waker. Forsaken Fortress is two dungeon-based areas together, while the other locations with dungeons just have one. Why is this? Because you originally visited Forsaken Fortress twice!
- In Ganon's Fury, the Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors of the Boss Attack items makes sense on closer scrutiny:
- Fireball puts Argorok into a downed state. A single, large, round attack... like that moon the Great Fairy dropped on him.
- Ganon Bomb puts King Dodongo into a downed state. An explosive attack... like Dodongos are frequently fed.
- Fury Horn puts Ghoma into a downed state. Small, sharp projectiles... right to the eye.
- Burning Breath puts Manhandla into a downed state. A wave of constant fire... directed at a tree.
- Why do Ocarina of Time Stalfos and Stalchildren appear instead of another form of Stalfos, such as Twilight Princess' Staltroops and Stalkin? The other enemy troops are Twilight Princess' Bulblins, Skyward Sword's Bokoblins, and, in Legends, Wind Waker's Miniblins. They're in there as Ocarina of Time representatives first, Stalfos second.
- So, what was the deal with Phantom Ganon, anyways? Why did he attack Lana to wrest from her the Triforce of Power? After all, Phantom Ganon shows no independent desire... And that's because it can't. Remember — Phantom Ganon is but the incarnation of Ganondorf. And where is Wind Waker's Ganondorf? Defeated for good at the bottom of the ocean, unable to break free ever again because, in his last bid for victory, he gave up his Triforce of Power, and without that, the Master Sword has no problems sealing his existence utterly. This isn't Phantom Ganon just being randomly evil, this is Wind Waker Ganondorf trying to free himself.
- Phantom Ganon not having Boss Subtitles seems strange, especially considering that (A) the Helmaroc King, coming from a game that didn't even have the boss' names shown, gets them, and (B) Phantom Ganon, having appeared in Ocarina of Time, does have subtitles to use. But if you pay attention during Ganon's intro, the layout of his name doesn't indicate a subtitle, either; it's not Dark Beast: Ganon, it's Dark Beast Ganon.note Or, arguably, it's not Phantom Ganon, it's Phantom: Ganon.
- By the end of Ocarina of Time, Darunia and Ruto are awakened as sages and, if the ending is anything to go by, they are unable to return home so they can fulfill their duties. This makes it a bit weird that they're both around and Darunia is still the Goron Chieftain, right? Well the game, despite being non-canon, tends to follow the child timeline pretty well. Link only awakens the sages in the adult timeline. We're not seeing Darunia and Ruto from the adult timeline, we're seeing them grown up from the child timeline! This also explains how Darunia has the Megaton Hammer. Link never returned that thing as an adult, but he never took it in the first place when he was a child.
- Young Link's weapon type is a mask, while Skull Kid's is an ocarina. This decision might seem backwards, since the Ocarina of Time is arguably more iconic of Young Link than any of the masks from Majora's Mask, while Skull Kid's Iconic Item is Majora's Mask itself, but that's just it: They're too iconic of the characters, along with being items of legend, like the Master Sword.
- Linkle is a Cucco rancher who fancies herself a hero, though having a tendency to get lost. In her first story mission, she ends up in a mysterious forest. She is promptly robbed by Skull Kid, and he spends the mission toying with her and sending monsters after her until the stolen compass intervenes. Now think about this. This is Skull Kid's only storyline appearance in the game. Since this plot doesn't take place in Termina, he very well could be meant to be playing the traditional "forest fae" role rather than his role in Majora's Mask. And thinking back to that game, who was its resident Cucco enthusiast? Grog. Grog also had an equivalent in Ocarina of Time, whose role in the story was to end up in the Lost Woods and... lose his life to them. Put all of this together and it seems very likely that Linkle literally wound up in her era's Lost Woods, and if not for the protection of her compass, might have been doomed to spend the rest of her life there, falling to the curse that seems to claim everyone who isn't Link...
- Why wasn't the future of the Adult timeline (Wind Waker onward) part of the original story? Because Toon Link isn't a reincarnation of the hero, so Cia had no interest in him.
- The weapons used by the characters channel different elements: Fire, Water, Lightning, Darkness, and Light. Oftentimes the selected elements are obvious (for example, the Master Sword using Light), but sometimes it's more subtle:
- Link's Great Fairy is Water. More often than not, Great Fairies are found in Fairy Fountains, which are indeed filled with water.
- Agitha's Parasol is Light. She's the only Twilight Princess rep to not be from the Twilight Realm, and the other three all have Darkness as their element. Naturally she'd have the opposite.
- Linkle's Boots are Lightning. The boots make her go fast. You could say they make her lightning fast.
- Toon Link's Sand Wand is Fire. It creates a train, or rather, a steam engine.
- Young Link's Mask is Darkness. He draws on the Fierce Deity Mask for his power, an item that is stated in its home game to have dark power; Link just uses it for good.
- Tingle's Balloon is Fire. Aside from the fact that he uses a lot of bombs, it could also be a reference to a hot air balloon.
- Ravio's Rental Hammer is Darkness. Ravio isn't evil, but he comes from Lorule, the opposite of the light-filled Hyrule. He's also Lorule's version of Link, whose primary weapon here is of the Light element.
- The antagonists in Legend Mode all use Darkness as their primary element - Cia, Ganondorf*, Zant, Ghirahim, and Wizzro - except for Volga, who uses Fire. As we see in Cia's Tale, he's not actually evil; he just wants to be left alone, and is only fighting on her side due to being overpowered and brainwashed.
- In missions where normally Zelda would be Mission Control, if you choose to play as Zelda, Ruto takes her place... why? In the main storyline at least, there's no reason why it couldn't be Lana who takes her place, or even Impa. Zelda's role in maps is usually as the leader of the allied forces and occasionally using her sacred powers to do something, roles that Lana and Impa both fill much better. The only seeming reason why it would be Ruto is because she, too, is a princess, but by that logic Zelda's place might as well go to Midna.
- All the Missions where Zelda is replaced by Ruto are situations where Lana, Impa, and Midna actually have designated positions somewhere in the field. The only characters left to be added in are Ruto and Agitha note . Additionally, Darunia frequently having designated positions as well allows for Fire/Water Juxtaposition.
- The Water element in this game causes the damage-over-time effect, unlike, say, Fire or Lightning. The image of the water effect is a large bubble of solid water covering the enemy's head. The damage-over-time is the victim drowning.
- Considering that Cia has been flirting with this game's Link so badly, it's not hard to imagine what she could do with Young Link, one of the hero's earlier incarnations.
- And on that note, it seems strange at first when she spouts her normal extremely hostile lines to Link in adventure mode. Then you remember that Cia can see all possible time streams, and was the one who opened the gates there in the first place. She has her pick of whatever Link she likes, and can try again if she drives one away. She has to deal with the one native to her point of observation, win or lose, because otherwise he's fated to screw up her plans.
- Ganondorf's weapons are scary in their own rights (serrated zweihanders, anybody?), but his 8-Bit weapons — dungeon boss keys — are quite silly... until you notice two things. One is that Ganondorf in most games didn't need those boss keys, and secondly is that those boss keys are serrated Keyblades.
- Materials:
- For most of the characters, the materials you receive from defeating them are a significant article of clothing — Link's boots and scarf, Lana's hair clip and cloak, and so on. Ganon's and Midna's hair are personal, but those are elements that can be easily regrown. However, the rare drop from Wizzro is his ring. Except that it's revealed that his soul is in his ring — you take Wizzro's very soul to reforge into the best defensive badges for the appropriate characters.
- The various materials acquired from lesser enemies like Moblins and Aerolfos, which are more often than not actual body parts like their skin, flank and wing. And Fi's Heels brings a shudder as well, since she is a spirit and unlikely to have removable clothing, implying that the player just cut her feet off for some slippers!
- Nightmare Retardant: Ghirahim, who is a sword spirit same as Fi, is shown to have removable clothing, so it's actually quite possible for the player to simply have stolen her footwear instead of her feet.
- Items dropped by characters include whole cloaks, belts, and robes. None of them appear damaged from combat, and many of them do not look like they would fall off easily. How are they obtained? Are enemies fleeing from fights partially nude? For example, Twili Midna can drop her robe, and, looking at her design, she wearing isn't much besides her robe.
- Fridge horror occurs if you take the master sword into any level including Fi as an enemy. After all, you have just forced Fi to kill herself.
- During the mission where Ganondorf battles Link and Zelda at Hyrule Castle, there's a sequence where Impa makes a run for the Great Fairy's fountain. Zant identifies the tactic immediately, likely remembering his defeat at the Palace of Twilight, and the antagonists put a stop to it. One time lapse later, after Ganondorf has succeeded and the area has become Ganon's Tower, the fountain has been completely drained and demolished. This raises a question. Did Ganondorf, empowered by the Triforce, opt to secure his power by killing the Great Fairies? It doesn't help that we never see another Great Fairy for the remainder of Legend Mode, including the Legends chapters, and the only fairy that ever appears afterward is Proxi.
