Fridge / Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Fridge is for post viewing discussion, so all spoilers are unmarked.

Fridge Brilliance

• The game itself being a Warriors game makes some sense in hindsight, considering the implications of one of the flashbacks was that Link was an incredible badass that fought off an army of guardians, and being able to level armies is one of the main appeals of the Warriors games.
• Unlike in Breath of the Wild, weapons and shields in Age of Calamity don't break. This makes sense, as they are likely recently forged and issued for the war against Calamity Ganon, and by the time Link awakens a century later, the equipment would be worn out by use (both by the Hylian soldiers during the war and the monsters who wield it afterward) and age. It also makes sense why they don't break at all, as everyone likely has access to means of maintaining the weapons in question.
  • The blacksmith is also one of the ones that is so skilled he can even improve on the Master Sword. While the party might have to pay out of their pocket for proper upgrading to their weaponry, it's likely to be the royal family footing the bill for the actual maintenance part since having their legendary warrior's weaponry fall apart in combat would be lethal. Heck, he might even do it for free since the consequences of not tending to the champion's weaponry could have world-ending repercussions.
• When Terrako is first introduced in the past, there are butterflies surrounding it. This acts as a Visual Pun on the Butterfly Effect and is one of the first hints that the events of this game likely won't play out as they did in the original Breath of the Wild.
  • Butterflies were also previously shown to be associated with Hylia's sacred power, in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
• In addition, the very first cutscene establishes two main things about it: it's a Guardian, and it possesses the ability to travel through time. However, it isn't until the postgame that it is referred to with the appropriate subtitle "Guardian of Time", the same title that was given to the woman/women responsible for the timeline changes that allowed the first Hyrule Warriors to take place.
• Link has to use the Sheikah Slate to regain control of the Divine Beasts. One can take from this that each of the Champions had their own Slate to control their Beast. Which in turn implies there was more than one Slate in the past. So it makes sense that everyone can use the runes, if they each had their own Slate.
  • A loading screen tip actually mentions that Terrako following them allows access to the Sheikah Slate runes, even without having a Slate on hand. And noticeably, with any playable character you control, Terrako is nearby.
• One of the trailers shows Daruk somehow managing to fly with a glider. One of the trials Daruk was said to have completed in "The Champions' Ballad" involved passing through a series of rings in midair, so flying with a glider is likely a very difficult task for a Goron to pull off and by being able to do so would prove Daruk's worthiness as a Champion.
• While Impa's clones were likely made visibly different, unlike Maz Koshia's, in order to make it clear to the player who they are controlling, it also makes sense from a lore perspective. While Impa is talented, she is very young and likely inexperienced, unlike Maz Koshia, who is an ancient monk chosen by the goddess herself to test the hero. OF COURSE Impa wouldn't be able to make perfect copies that could fool the enemy like he can.
  • Master Kohga manages to make one perfect clone of himself, which marks him as a parallel to Impa as the leader of a Sheikah clan offshoot. The fact that he can only duplicate himself once also shows that Impa is the true leader of the Sheikah.
    • Unlike Impa, however, Kohga's clone is completely autonomous, as shown in Kohga's first boss fight and the fact that Kohga actually fights with his clone as part of his playable moveset. Kohga might not be able to make as many clones as Impa, but he's able to make a much higher quality one. And of course, Maz gets the best of both worlds with multiple autonomous clones, befitting an ancient, experienced monk from before the time where the Sheikah people were splintered.
• Zelda's moveset being clunky and hard to use makes perfect sense. She fancies herself a scholar and is being pressured to develop magic powers, physical combat was at the bottom of her priorities. So saying, her research gives her a better understanding of the Sheikah Slate than most, so she can use small, cheap versions of Runes as standard attacks, and the ones that drain the battery are particularly impactful.
• Master Kohga and the Yiga Clan's Heel–Face Turn in this game makes perfect sense when you realize why the Yiga Clan formed in the first place. They were descendants of the Sheikah who harbored hatred towards the ancient King of Hyrule for banning their advanced technology and sentencing them to exile despite the fact it was their technology that helped stop the first Great Calamity. So much hatred that they swore allegiance to Ganon just to get revenge. Thus they despise betrayal, especially if it's the kind that treats them as disposable like what Astor did when he sacrifices several Yiga Clan members to fuel the Blight Ganons.
  • In addition, why did the Yiga Clan remain loyal to Calamity Ganon for the next hundred years in the original timeline despite the fact Calamity Ganon would most likely destroy and consume the world with them in it? Because Ganon did not treat them as disposable. When Link kills a Yiga Clan member, they would get resurrected by the Blood Moon like all the other monsters in Ganon's forces. The only exception is Master Kohga but Kohga's death proves to be useful as a martyr since the Yiga Clan blames Link, not Ganon, for the death of their leader and thus Ganon doesn't have to resurrect him to remain on the Yiga Clan's good side. Granted it turns out he survived his fall in Breath of The Wild, but the point still stands... It's also a sign that despite his animalistic and crazed state, there is still a semblance of the cunning mind of Ganondorf the Gerudo King.
  • Furthermore, it's not King Rhoam that Kohga goes to in order to bury the hatchet; It's Zelda, the one living member of the royal family who seems to embrace Sheikah technology wholeheartedly rather than keeping it at arm's length. Not only have Ganon's other minions tossed the Yiga aside, but he sees hints that the royal family have grown at least conflicted, possibly even regretful, about the harsher actions of their ancestors.
• Why does Zelda seem to be much less cranky and standoffish compared to her counterpart in Breath of the Wild? It's because this time, she's being accompanied by the little guardian on her journey to unlock her power. Knowing her interest in Sheikah technology, having one that follows her around and soothes her whenever she feels frustrated should be enough to dampen any bad mood of hers. Even more, she later remembers that the little guardian is actually Terrako, something she created when she was a little kid. It helps that Terrako is often the source of levity in the scenes it's in, meaning whenever Zelda would feel bad, it would distract her with its antics.
  • Another reason behind it is because her first meeting with Link is before he gains the Master Sword; she meets him as a talented knight but just another knight. He even spends a good chunk of time as that after he ends up assigned as her bodyguard. Furthermore, Zelda also ends up seeing Link's goofier moments, such as him interacting with Terrako as well as being willing to eat an entire Rock Roast, which would further humanize him and highlight that he's just as much of a flawed person as she is, not an unattainable ideal held over her head by her father. And when he does gain the Master Sword, he did it to save her life. One of the major reasons Zelda struggled, seeing her failure reflected in Link's success, isn't there like in Breath of the Wild.
• Link's Special Attack animation with the Master Sword. There's visible waves of power leaking out of the sword in all directions as Link prepares to attack. No wonder it was so drained even after 100 years, Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity's Link was drawing on huge amounts of the sword's power on a regular basis.
• Zelda awakening her powers to protect Link isn't just a combination of awesome and heartwarming, but also makes perfect sense. Despite her dominant trait being Wisdom, Hylia's always been depicted as a protective goddess — through the whole series, Villains Act, Heroes React is in full effect (and just about enforced, as there's nothing for Zelda and Link to do until Ganon makes a mess). Meanwhile, this Zelda had immense outside pressure on her to awaken her powers, while she'd rather be pursuing a different path; her care for Hyrule was genuine, but there was also a selfish element in just wanting the magic to work so her father would get off her case and she was seeking it by idly following the beaten path to various shrines. Turning around to face a likely suicidal situation just to protect another was the first truly selfless attempt to call upon her powers, and they responded to this.
• At first, the scene where Link gets the Master Sword seems unfitting with the rest of the series, where it's usually a very solemn moment, regardless of the pressing circumstances surrounding it. But comparing it to the other key scene of a character awakening to their fate, there's a clear connection there. Link gets the Master Sword in a way that almost perfectly mirrors how Zelda later awakens her sacred powers, right down to the reaching out motion to protect the other from a hopeless situation. Just like Zelda's desire to protect Link was the impetus for her awakening to her fate, so was Link's desire to protect Zelda the impetus for his awakening as the hero of legend.
• None of the Champions are possessed of their obvious Logical Weakness - Revali and Mipha hit like trucks, Daruk is much faster than you'd think he'd be even outside of his rolling, and Urbosa has incredible range with her lightning magic. This is just another showcasing of the fact that the title of Champion wasn't handed out easily, they've all overcome weaknesses that'd be common with their individual peoples to truly come out as the best of the best. The only reason why they nearly lose is because the enemy was just so much stronger than they could have plausibly prepared and compensated for.
• The amount of damage the champions and successors take in their fights against the Blight Ganons logically follow what we know about those characters in the original timeline.
  • Mipha is nearly dead, while Sidon is at near-full HP when you rescue them, as Mipha had the hardest time with her Blight Ganon (the original timeline said she died in an ambush, even) and Sidon has grown into an incredible fighter and is letting his Big Brother Instinct guide him to saving her life. Unlike the others who are either descendants or inspired by the champions, Sidon is saving his sister, so he's fighting like a man possessed.
  • Daruk and Yunobo are at nearly equal HP. Daruk had been fighting for a while but had his barriers to keep him safe. Yunobo is relatively less of a combatant even with his own barrier, so he would be taking more knocks.
  • Urbosa does the best of any of the champions, and is likely to still have plenty of HP when you rescue her. This goes along with why Thunderblight is the most dangerous Ganon in Breath of the Wild, Urbosa was the best fighter of the four so Ganon needed to send his strongest Blight to deal with her. By contrast, Riju has the lowest HP of the successors because she's far below Urbosa in experience and age and probably not ready to take on an opponent as dangerous as a Blight. As Riju herself admits later, she just bought time for Link to arrive.
  • Revali is about at a third of his HP, while Teba is healthier, but not by much. Windblight has both of their numbers in being able to outmaneuver and out shoot them, and Revali had taken the most visible blow in the cutscene before he's rescued by getting shot directly in the chest by Windblight's laser.
• While on first impression Link eating a rock roast and actually enjoying it is odd, in his past life as the Hero of Time he did spend some time in Termina transformed into a Goron. Perhaps this is where he developed a taste for it.
• When King Rhoam reconciled with Zelda, he told her, "While I accused you of evading your duty... in truth, perhaps I was guilty of the same." but we know that King Rhoam did everything he could to stop the Calamity, so one can say he did a good duty as a King to his people. What duty was he evading from then? Well, that scene happened when he revealed to his daughter that the ancient relic he confiscated from her (a guardian shield) saved his life. Prior to that point, he never took the time to understand those ancient relics Zelda was studying, nor did he come to appreciate Zelda's endeavour in studying them. Yet in his journal in the original game, he wrote that he understood why Zelda was doing so, and had always wanted to mend his relationship with his daughter(though he never got the chance). So the duty King Rhoam was evading from was being an understanding father to Zelda.
• In this timeline Link is still a silent stoic individual like he was in Breath of the Wild, why is this the case? Simple, in both timelines he ended up being Zelda's personal knight, as well as an accomplished knight that was fulfilling his duty for his kingdom. Though it's thanks to not being the Hylian Champion until much later, that he didn't end up being crushed by pressure, hence why in Age Of Calamity his true personality begins to show at multiple intervals.
• Even if, for the final battle, Calamity Ganon was immune to conventional weaponry, the Master Sword and Zelda's sealing power should have worked as they were the very first weapons against Ganon, right? Perhaps... if they were fighting against their version of Calamity Ganon alone. The problem is, they weren't. When Harbinger Ganon absorbed Astor to complete its reincarnation, it didn't just absorb Astor, but also the new timeline's version of Calamity Ganon, effectively being reborn as a double-dose of the curse of Demise.
• Many people wondered why the Future Champions never told the present day Champions about the events that transpired in their time or their true feelings about their predecessors. But then you have to remember they were likely well aware of how much of a negative impact this might have of them mentally, not to mention some revelations would be arguably worse than others.
  • And considering the situation, such thing might even decrease morale and reduce the original Champion’s concentration. If Teba told Revali how he’s viewed in Teba’s time, that would’ve messed Revali up mentally and reduce his ability to fight.
• In the cutscenes showing the Champions fighting their respective Blights, there is further insight how certain Champions struggled to defeat them. Mipha is fighting in an area completely frozen over, leaving her unable to utilize her water abilities or even use her natural swimming ability to evade attacks. Daruk's Protection broke after three consecutive hits from Fireblight, leaving him vulnerable, similar to how in the main timeline's gameplay, Daruk's Protection can be used up to three times before recharging. And Urbosa and Revali are simply overwhelmed by Thunderblight and Windblight, Urbosa being unable to keep up with Thunderblight's speed and forced entirely on the defensive, and Revali being unable to get a shot in because of Windblight's superior firing rate.
• Why does Zelda get the Master Cycle Zero in the Pulse of the Ancients DLC instead of Link? Well, in Breath of the Wild, the vehicle functions as a Rune for the Sheikah Slate and can be summoned on command. And because Zelda has the Sheikah Slate in Age of Calamity, she is able to weaponize the Cycle alongside the other Runes.
  • The Master Cycle in this game is stated to be a replica. Purrah and Robbie found the blueprints of the one from the original game's DLC, and made a new version of it specifically because Zelda asked for it due to her falling in love with it.
• The way to unlock Sooga seems disconnect to the story; you have to keep all the Yiga Blademasters alive/not fleeing from battle. However, with the Yiga Blademasters alive, that would explain why Sooga's last stand ended up not being his last in truth; the Yiga Blademasters could rescue him and then he ends up spending the rest of the main story in recovery from his near fatal wounds.
• Why was Kohga nice to some random kid who wandered into their camp? A few possible reasons.
  • If they attacked the kid, there was a chance someone would go looking for them. The Yiga are a lot more menacing in Breath of the Wild, but that's because Hyrule has way less defenses around compared to this game, no Link around for a long time and all. The last thing the Yiga need is another reason to be hunted. Hence the "You owe me one." as in "If you go back, don't rat on us." Sooga just repaid them a different way.
  • Assuming Sooga was all the way out there because he was an outcast, it's likely Kohga and he weren't so different. Kohga founded the Yiga Clan on being outcasts.
  • Also, let's face it, Sooga was a kid back then, he wasn't a big threat. Thus Kohga didn't see any point in killing him. Considering how the Yiga act here compared to how they act 100 years later in Breath of the Wild, it's possible they haven't had nearly as much time to stew in their hatred and thirst for revenge, and assuming Kohga isn't the same Kohga we saw in the original game, he might be a bit more compassionate than his successor.
• Astor wanted Fame Through Infamy, to be remembered as the one who brought the Calamity to Hyrule. It can be inferred that he suceeded in Breath of the Wild's timeline, but he didn't get what he wanted. Aside from a brief mention in Zelda and Rhoam's diaries (Where they don't even mention his name, to add insult to injury), nobody in Hyrule seems to know or remember him. Ganon is dreaded by all of Hyrule and Kohga even has the respect of his Yiga Clan ages later, but Astor's desperate claim for infamy was All for Nothing.
  • The DLC slightly elaborates on this, revealing that Astor wasn't originally a prophet. He was just a random member of a cult that worshipped Ganon before Harbinger Ganon arrived. As such, this was likely the extent of his presence in the original timeline.
• The music in this game being sumptuous mixes of Breath of the Wild's sparser music makes sense, as the sparser music reflected a devastated Hyrule. The Hyrule in this game is vibrant and strong, so the score reflects that.
• Tulin's appearance in the second DLC seemed unusual, and was justified at the time as him trying to follow his father and getting caught up in the time warp himself. As of Tears of the Kingdom, though, this is downright foreshadowing that Tulin would succeed his father as champion of the Rito and would become the Sage of Wind in his stead. If Terrako was looking for future champions, Tulin was not in fact brought by mistake.
• Cross-referencing with Tears of the Kingdom finally explains why Terrako has unique time-traveling abilities: Zelda's sealing power combines both light and time, and she unwittingly imbued Terrako with some of her time power when she reactivated it as a side-effect of unleashing her power for the first time.

Fridge Horror

• In Breath of the Wild, it is difficult to tell which ruins were the result of the Great Calamity and which were simply unrelated. For example, the Great Plateau seems to be an archeological excavation site considering it's heavily implied to be where Ocarina of Time took place and the Temple of Time looks largely identical. But Age of Calamity shows the Great Plateau to be a fully developed and active town, with additional chapels of the Three Golden Goddesses surrounding the Temple of Time. It's there you realize... this was not an archeological finding, this was once a thriving town that was destroyed by the Great Calamity, with all but the crumbling foundations left. And then you start to wonder, just how big was Hyrule's population 100 years ago and how devastating was the Great Calamity in Breath of the Wild?
• It hardly lasts a minute before the real Urbosa shows up, but one has to wonder what was running through Zelda's head when she thought her mother's friend was ready to kill her.
• Astor helped speed up the Calamity's arrival by sacrificing people, right? King Rhoam's diary in Breath of the Wild shows that he planned to talk things out with Zelda when she returned from the Spring of Wisdom, even allowing her to research the relics like she wanted. Then the Calamity struck. Meaning Astor already deprived one timeline's Rhoam of reconciling with his daughter.
  • Really, just the implication that all of Hyrule's suffering prior to Breath of the Wild, the Champion's downfall, the Divine Beasts being taken over, all the death and carnage Ganon unleashed on Hyrule was because some prick wanted to be famous by causing it. Not to mention that it is perfectly possible that after unleashing the Calamity, Ganon still absorbed Astor as they no longer needed him or to try and counteract the seal Zelda put on them. Either way, Astor never got what he actually wanted but still got his wish of unleashing the Calamity on Hyrule.
• In Riju and Urbosa's extra mission, it's heavily implied that this Kohga is the same Kohga from Breath of the Wild. If that is the case, then a certain right hand man is noticeably absent. We can assume one of two things:
  • At some point Sooga died in battle between the Calamity and when Link awakens.
  • Or Sooga died of old age. Given that fact that Sooga was a simple kid wandering around Hyrule, we don't actually know his race but he's likely to be Hylian. Sheikah are shown to live much longer than Hylians (as Impa, Purah, and Robbie go into hiding with the certainty that they'll survive the 100 years for Link to come back) so the inevitable conclusion is that Kohga simply outlived Sooga.
  • If it is the same Kohga, that makes the fact that he doesn't recognize Link until he sees the Sheikah Slate a bit concerning. Given he'd have to be older than even Impa at that point, it's possible he was succumbing to The Fog of Ages.
  • Most likely however, this mission is simply a nod to the quest to retrieve the Thunder Helm in Breath of the Wild, as it almost certainly didn't occur in the original timeline, what with Riju having never arrived from the future and Urbosa having already died by the time this mission would have taken place. The reason the Yiga steal the Thunderhelm in the original timeline is to prevent Link from using it to board Naboris. There is no mention of an obsession with stealing the Thunder Helm.
  • Fridge Tragedy more than horror, It could also provide some insight as to why the Yiga Clan and Kohga are infinitely nastier by the time of the original timeline. Sooga is shown a number of times to have a firm sense of honor and is well-respected. He quite possibly ended up being the Yiga Clan equivalent of a Morality Chain, keeping them from sinking into the depths of their worst impulses and hatred for Hyrule. When he died in the original timeline, Kohga and the Yiga Clan lost quite possibly the one person who could truly bring out what good was still left in them... and combined with the fallout of the Calamity and everything after, there was nothing left to stop them from getting worse.
• As Tears of the Kingdom reveals Ganondorf's sealed body is beneath Hyrule Castle, it points to a potentially Downer Ending. The aversion of the events that established Breath of the Wild means that Link would not be placed in stasis for a century and Zelda would not spend those years keeping a rampaging Calamity Ganon in check. Thus, as Hylians lack a long natural lifespan, a freed Ganondorf would resume his reign of terror unopposed with no contingency established against him since Zelda would not be sent back through time.
  • Even assuming a new Link and Zelda emerge and discover Ganondorf, that leaves a pair of inexperienced heroes up against a threat that is serious to very experienced heroes. In particular, consider Ganondorf’s concentrated blast of Gloom that reduced Link at his peak to base level stats. This new Link would likely already be base level (or at least, nowhere near his peak), so the impact of that attack doesn’t look too good for him.
  • Potentially blunted by Tears of the Kingdom noting that the strength of the seal is based on the strength of Hyrule Castle itself. Without 105 years or so to remain a decaying ruin, without Ganon sealed in the throne room to deter rebuilding, and with the Kingdom strong and the royal family alive, the castle's restoration would proceed apace and thus renew the seal.