Taking place 100 years before The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, when the Great Calamity devastated Hyrule into the post-apocalyptical world that Link would come to explore, it is inevitable that you would experience the horrors in Hyrule's past.
Warning: Spoilers Off applies to this page. Proceed at your own risk.
- The opening cutscene showcases the Great Calamity as it happened in Breath of the Wild, with Guardian Stalkers destroying Castle Town and Calamity Ganon hovering over Hyrule Castle under the red sky. It truly sets the tone of the bleak outcome that awaits Hyrule should the Terrako's mission fail.
- Harbinger Ganon is Terrako's alternative past self possessed by future Calamity Ganon's malice. Coated in darkness with a glowing red eye, this Evil Counterpart is responsible for making Hyrule a much more dangerous place than it was in the original timeline and according to Astor himself, it houses Ganon's consciousness, making it clear that Calamity Ganon is far from the mindless Generic Doomsday Villain as he was depicted in Breath of the Wild.
- Mipha, the Zora Princess contains one in its premise. As a soldier delivers news of a monster attack Mipha's father is marching to meet he looks around confused before the two of them come to the horrible realization that Sidon is not with Mipha as Dorephan expected and in fact may very well be stranded in the battlefield. The boss encounter confirms this by creating the horrifying scenario of a young Sidon, clearly terrified and clutching a spear about twice his size being menaced by a snarling Lynel. If the player hadn't come to his aid, Sidon would have died brutally.
- The discovery of the date of the Great Calamity from memory banks of Terrako. Upon hearing that the Calamity will happen on Zelda's birthday, you can see King Rhoam's face being filled with dread and resignation. Despite their best attempts to better prepare for Ganon's return, they still cannot unlock Zelda's sealing power in time and are literally a day away from the apocalypse. In some ways, it's even worse than the original timeline, where Ganon struck without warning, because now Zelda has to bear a burden far greater than anything her father had imposed on her before. The world is about to end within 24 hours, and there's nothing she can do about it.
- In the Chapter 5 mission "Calamity Strikes", Calamity Ganon makes his move but not when Zelda is away at the Spring of Wisdom like in the original timeline. He instead strikes early, when Link, Zelda and Impa are about to leave Hyrule Castle for Mount Lanayru, trapping them in the castle while the Guardians get possessed by his Malice. It serves to highlight the inherent danger of changing the future. If Hyrule is trying to avert disaster by making different choices, Calamity Ganon simply changes his plans to still catch them off guard. In short, you mess with time, it tends to mess back.
- When the Champions bore witness to Ganon's return, they had a different reaction, Daruk was in disbelief after arriving at the Sheikah Tower, Mipha is shocked, Urbosa is visibly resigned as much as her voice shows about them, and Revali was initially calm about it first while also noting how bad things are taking a turn, the ground suddenly shakes which Revali's face appropriately turns into sheer horror as the Sheikah Towers are being shut down, cutting the Champions off from each other.
- Both the Water and Fire and the Air and Lightning scenarios are considered to be this; in the cutscenes, Mipha is clearly shivering and is becoming more exhausted and vulnerable and she knows that she won't make it without help when Waterblight Ganon throws its flail and its constructs at her, Daruk used his barrier to defend himself against Fireblight Ganon, only for the latter to land a hit hard enough to shatter it to put him in a helpless state as it throws a large flaming rock at him, Revali is flying around and struggling to get his bow ready and could not get a shot in, since Windblight Ganon is repeatedly pushing him to the defensive mode with its laser shots and managed to land a strike on one of his wings, which sends Revali flying off-balance as Windblight Ganon charges both its cannons, and Urbosa is deflecting Thunderblight's attacks and she too starts to struggle and it reaches the point where the beast managed to push her into the lower floors where she kneels in exhaustion as Thunderblight charges at her. Had Terrako not used the Gates of Time to summon their successors, the Champions would have faced a violent end. We were just given a glimpse on how the Champions in the original timeline fought them and lost their lives doing it.
- The gameplay for the mission has high stakes, you must race against time to reach the Divine Beasts with Ganon's forces trying to stop you from succeeding and there is the fact that the Champion that you are commissioned to save with have their life gauge at the right side of the screen when there is not any outposts to take over and it steadily drains as the battle progresses and if you take too long to reach their Divine Beast, that Champion will surely die.
- The Blight Ganons are just as horrifying, in Breath of the Wild, they were in their weakened states when you confront them, but here, they are not only diverse, but much more dangerous and powerful than they were and if the timed mission is anything to go by, it is even clear that even the successors are beginning to struggle as well despite them blocking off their lethal attacks against the Champions and it shows in the cutscenes where the player does make it to their Divine Beast. It shows that at the time they fought the Champions, they were at their peak, and it is no wonder the Champions did not stand a chance in the original timeline.
- While Chapter 6 mission "Relentless as a Waterfall" gives a triumph Heroic Second Wind for Hyrule's forces, the next mission "Each Step Like Thunder" gives a grim reminder that despite the arrival of the New Champions, it is barely enough to make a difference in the long run. Calamity Ganon's attack on Fort Hateno is a relentless swarm of Guardians of all kind along with every other monsters you have previously fought (including the Lynels), and these foes will stop at nothing to bring down the fort (which will give you a Game Over). Even when Zelda unlocks her sealing powers, the battle remains a grueling struggle of defense and offense, with Elemental Guardians and a White-Maned Lynel working together being the centerpiece of terror. By the end of mission, you'll feel truly glad that the battle is over and don't have to deal with more Guardians... for the moment.
- The Prophet of Doom himself, Astor, is a terrifying human representation for Calamity Ganon.
- Unlike Master Kohga and his Yiga Clan, Astor is a genuine Knight of Cerebus with no redeeming qualities or Freudian Excuse. He's simply a madman bent bringing forth the Great Calamity for no reason other than making the world fall to its knees. He's also under the delusion that he can control Calamity Ganon and treats his allies as disposable tools, which makes him all the more monstrous since he's doing this on his own accord.
- When Astor revives the defeated Blight Ganons, he forcibly extracts the souls of the Yiga Footsoldiers right before Master Kohga and Sooga's eyes. It is here he shows Calamity Ganon's true colors towards the Yiga Clan and attempts to kill Kohga for his soul with the Hollows. While Kohga is shown to have escaped, Sooga is nowhere to be seen, implying he perished defending his master to the very end.
- His ultimate fate and death. After losing to the heroes one too many times, Astor breaks down ranting and orders Calamity Ganon to devour them. But he gets no response from Harbinger Ganon. He then notices that his arm is being covered by Malice. His words soon turn into choking sounds of pain as the Malice slowly consumes him alive. He tries to look at the Harbinger, which only gives what can only be described as a blank, unfeeling Death Glare as the Malice covers Astor's face completely, and he is absorbed into Harbinger Ganon, who proceeds to transform into Calamity Ganon's ultimate form.
- Each language's interpretation of this scene is equally terrifying for different reasons.
- In Japanese, he gives out a loud, terrified scream that sounds like a mix of panic and agony.
- In English, he does not scream. Instead, he gasps a few times before the malice appears to start forming in his throat, slowly choking him to death. Worse? Turn the music and sound effects off leaving only the voice, and you can hear what appears to be a death rattle.
- In French, his scream follows the Japanese version more closely, but it appears to... power down and stop towards the end, like a malfunctioning robot.
- The Italian version, unlike the others, never weakens or gets choked out. He just... stops.
- The German version sounds like the voice actor got doused with gasoline and set on fire to record the screaming.
- On a similar note, the European Spanish version features panicked wailing that sounds like a demonic clown.
- Finally, the Latin Spanish version follows both the English version and the Japanese version, with half-screaming, half-choking.
- The Guardian of Remembrance DLC briefly shows Astor leading a small cult in the middle of the woods, comprised of people who long to see a glimpse of the destructive future to come. But as the cultists cheer, Harbinger Ganon's Malice slowly infects and kills them one by one, with the penultimate cultist desperately trying to snap Astor out of the ritual. The seer simply stands by and continues worshiping as the Harbinger finally kills the last one, then strolls off while praising Ganon's power and envisioning the destruction that Hyrule will come to. Worse, one of the cultists is shown to briefly be Not Quite Dead, as we get a POV shot of him feebly reaching out for the departing Astor before succumbing.
- The DLC mission "Conquering Hyrule" is a What If? (or at the very least, the idea of), what if Calamity Ganon and his minions were successful in winning the war? The end result is devastating. You take down the champions one by one as Calamity Ganon and Master Kohga, culminating with a battle against Zelda and Terrako trying in vain to protect her.
- Although you can take comfort in knowing this is a What If?, and didn't happen in this timeline. But, how accurate is this mission's brutality to what actually happened in the original timeline?
- "The Yiga Clan's Retreat" shows us exactly what happened when Astor betrayed the Yiga Clan. The entire level is a mad dash as Kohga and Sooga desperately flee a seemingly endless army of Astor's minions, with the Blight Ganons at the head.
