by Shane Kelley
The Triforce: three triangular pieces that make up the symbol of the goddesses. A trinity of wisdom, courage, and power bonding those who hold these 3-sided geometric shapes for the foreseeable future. With the upcoming Breath of the Wild sequel, will we see a storyline that could be based around these symbols?
In the Zelda E3 2019 trailer, we see that Zelda and Link are underground and that a decrepit corpse, who we assume is Ganondorf, resuscitates back to life. Although the corpse looks more like a ReDead, we get the impression that the green hand clutching the body no longer has control as the seal or spell weakens. From this alone, we can speculate many different ideas on how the story could unfold for this sequel.
Here are mine.
During my time in Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, its vast open world left me in awe and promoted and encouraged my thirst for exploration. Among these discoveries were three gigantic labyrinths that house enemies and treasures alike. Located in the regions of Akkala, Hebra, and the Gerudo Desert, each is unique and fun to maneuver through. Within each maze is a shrine, and it could take some time to reach… but what if you could go deeper?
Much like we see Zelda and Link supposedly deep under Hyrule Castle in the sequel’s trailer, what if you could go deeper into the mazes or other locations? What if each of the three locations housed a piece of the Triforce deep under the location itself? As part of the main story, maybe you are summoned to find these relics. You could be given new hints sung by Kass to locate the hidden doorways within the walls of these mazes. Once each doorway is discovered, it would lead to a traditional dungeon, which Breath of the Wild severely needed. Each dungeon would house puzzles and obtainable items or weapons to use, as well as a boss battle that would be more personal than that of the bosses we see in Breath of the Wild. It would bring back what many fans want. Also, each labyrinth could be tackled in any order the player sees fit.
Akkala Labyrinth: After burning away an archway filled with vines, you find the doorway to the secret entrance. Traveling through this thicket of thorny brush, you locate the Lens of Truth, which will allow you to see hidden passageways to go deeper into the maze. When you reach a room that is filled with fireflies and is suspiciously dark, you will bump into a flower, only to get hit with a Deku Nut. You then will see the glowing eyes of what looks to be some form of Skull Kid. Once he is defeated, you obtain a piece of the Triforce.
Hebra Labyrinth: Once you find the location of the frozen door, you must use fire arrows to melt the way to the entrance. You will traverse a series of frozen tunnels and obtain the Mirror Shield; you will use this to bounce sunlight off it to solve puzzles and eventually find yourself in a room with a mirror encased in ice. Once the ice is melted, Link will see no reflection until it is nighttime, which is when Link will see a reflection of his shadow, thus commencing a boss fight against Shadow Link. Upon Shadow Link’s defeat, you will obtain one piece of a fully intact triangle.
Gerudo Desert Labyrinth: Inside the maze, you will need to use a Korok Leaf to blow away sand and debris to locate a hatch that goes deep below the labyrinth. You must fight off Stalfos until you reach a room where you will obtain Iron Boots. Iron Boots must be worn in the room with the moving sand in order to submerge Link to reach what looks like a dried-up old well. What appears to be a stick or root is coming out of the ground, and when approached, it starts to twitch and reveals a frightening Master Dead Hand. After navigating the fight sequence, a piece of the Triforce will be granted as a reward.
After visiting each location and obtaining each Triforce piece, you will need to assemble the three pieces back together. To do so, you need to visit three more places that we had visited prior in Breath of the Wild. First, you will need to scale down into the hole in the Yiga Clan Hideout. You will need to find an attachment for your Master Cycle that allows the rider to cling to walls, giving you the ability to scale down into its depths.
Rumors of its being bottomless would be debunked here. You will need to locate a material so you can bond all of the Triforce pieces together, and while you are down there, you will end up fighting a boss that is a giant ReDead made of all the souls who perished in this pit. After you defeat it, you will need to fight the spirit of the Yiga clan boss, Master Kohga, whom you fought in the previous game. Upon his defeat, you will receive the sacred metal and a tune for Kass to play to learn the next location.
This song prompts you to head to The Forgotten Temple in Tanagar Canyon in the Tabantha Frontier. You will fight the damaged Guardians, with one of them revealing an entrance to a temple. In here you will find the hookshot to help you navigate and retrieve a template that will be used to set the Triforce pieces correctly. Before doing so, you must defeat a Sheikah Monk who seeks to discover your worth. Along with the template is another song detailing the next steps of the heating and cooling process. Time to bring it to Kass to learn the next destination.
The song will lead you on a quest to locate the Megaton Hammer, melt the sacred metal, and fuse the three Triforce pieces within the template in the fires of Death Mountain. Once the metal is cast, a fire deity rises from the lava and gives chase. You recall the second half of the song Kass sang telling you that you must cool the metal in “the waters of the Zora.” You must ascend to higher ground and glide as far and as fast as you can to reach Zora’s Domain within the allotted time period. As you lose sight of the fire deity, you jump into the waters of the Zora, and a cut-scene unfolds as you place the cast into the water and use Cryonis on it. The landscape around you starts to shake as the ice shatters and an ice deity emerges from the water. You are thrown into battle. After you seemingly defeat the ice deity, the fire deity returns, and you fight it as well.
When you think you have won, the two deities converge and form Shadow Deity Twinrova, starting a third fight sequence. After a lengthy battle, your reward is another scroll with a song and the fully cast Triforce.
Bring the song to Kass, and he laments a peaceful song that instructs Link to return to the Hylia statue residing in the Temple of Time ruins. You must find the secret passageway that leads to a sacred grotto. Place the Triforce on the altar, light the candles, and have Kass sing the song. This bestows Hylia’s blessing upon the restored artifact and opens the way to Ganondorf’s floating castle in the sky.
Now we can assume once you reach the castle in the sky that you must be well-equipped to take on both Ganondorf and his minions. This is where you want to do any remaining side quests before ascending to the sky. Once you reach the airborne architecture, you meet Ganondorf, who is watching you from a window. His piercing red eyes shine like the blood moon. He laughs menacingly, smirks, and disappears within the shadows. You head to the front door to begin the end--whether it’s Ganondorf’s end or Link's is entirely up to you as the player.
Within the newly occupied Hyrule Castle, you must once again explore the rooms and fight enemies, but this time you need to find items, including the traditional master key, to locate Ganondorf. When you walk through the threshold of that door, be prepared to fight.
Phase One - Sarcophagus Ganondorf: You fight him as you found him at the beginning of the game. He is slow in this form but still powerful. You must fight him with your sword, and while he is stunned, use your hookshot to pull loose stone down upon his head. Eventually you will defeat him, but you both will fall through the floor to the room below, which seems to have flooded.
Phase Two - Hydrated Corpse Ganondorf: The water located here seems to have healing properties, and Ganondorf pulls power from the basins and flooded floors. You will fight by using Cryonis to freeze his bottom half and then create a bomb to throw at him. He will take damage from the impact but also shatter the ice. You can also use bomb arrows. You may use Urbosa’s Fury, but you risk being shocked in the process since you are in water. After a lengthy battle, a cut-scene shows Ganondorf fall. He grunts and punches the stone floor, causing it to crack. From the crack black and purple malice envelop Ganondorf, metamorphosing his body. The walls come crumbling down around you as he grows. You see tusks form and see a familiar boar-like creature. This version is much smaller and more agile, standing on two feet.
Phase Three - Slum-Boar Ganon: Once Ganondorf awakens in his new form as a boar, you fully take in his hideous form. His head resembles a boar’s skull, and you can see his glowing red eyes within. Wielding dual blades, he charges like a ram and attacks, dodging you by sliding to the side and back. You realize that for such an old-timer, he is pretty nimble. You must find opportunities in his strikes and parries to strike back. For this fight, you can use practically anything from your arsenal. Each weapon delivers its own amount of damage, of course, but each also has different times and situations in which it can be used. For example, Urbosa’s Fury can be used whenever Ganon raises both of his blades to strike, and bombs can be placed on cracks on the floor and detonated whenever Ganon is near to make him trip, allowing you to strike with any of your weapons.
Eventually his skull will crack and expose his ghoulish face. During this time, you must use light arrows or ancient ones and land three shots. After Ganon has fallen, a cut-scene will show Link and Zelda placing the Triforce over Ganon’s body and sealing him away. A shadowy portal appears, and a long green and gold hand protrudes from it. Once again, the glowing hand latches on the defeated Ganon's chest, but this time it begins to turn the body to an ash-like substance. Ganon’s remains are pulled through the vortex, and an unusual feminine giggle is heard as the black hole vanishes. The end cut-scene then plays.
But, Shane, what about Zelda? We see her in the trailer spelunking alongside Link. We could see this as both a sign for the potential of either co-op or giving her an active role of some sort. I think it would be cool to pick either Link or Zelda at any time during regular gameplay and use their subsequent moves. So, if Zelda has a better magic move set, then that would be more useful in a dungeon or boss situation since you can swap the characters and change up how you battle and traverse through the space. But what if we take it one step further? What if we spin a Hyrule Warriors formula and allow players to play as descendants of the Champions at certain points? Well, let’s leave that for another discussion.
As always, everyone, thank you for reading my thoughts put down on digital paper. Your interactions on subjects such as these fuel my passion, as well as the rest of the AZP team, to think outside of the box. We appreciate your comments, suggestions, likes, and shares. Positivity in the world, both real and imaginative, will hookshot us forward (just remember to unequip those iron boots). Kind regards, my friends.
Please follow me on Twitter @Stillsaneshane.
Comments