Daily Debate: Do You Want To Have Seen More of The Calamitous Fall of Hyrule in Breath of the Wild?
Posted on August 30 2020 by Alexandria Weber
Acquiring different memories in Breath of the Wild allows the player to approach the story with as much ignorance as Link. He remembers nothing of his childhood, or in more broad terms, his past when he emerges from the Shrine of Resurrection. He learns things along with the player, connecting dots even if the memories are disjointed. This structure of storytelling led to eighteen distinct memories of Link’s past life, yet these small glimpses may have glossed over a largely traumatic event for Hyrule, for Link, and for his princess.
Over the longevity of the Zelda series, Hyrule has seen its fair share of losses. Ocarina of Time implies Ganondorf’s destructive seven-year reign, and the introduction to The Wind Waker tells of a time where Ganon came with no hero to stop him, thus ravaging the land and prompting the Goddesses to flood it. As mentioned before, Breath of the Wild provides glimpses into the fall of Hyrule at the hand of Calamity Ganon, one that devastated it into a ruined state.
Through Link’s memories and the king’s disclosure, we see Calamity Ganon’s arrival, Zelda’s distress over the potential death of her father and the champions, and we see Link’s fall at Blatchery Plains. However, an entire kingdom was at stake, Hyrule Castle and the surrounding areas completely devoid of life even after a hundred years. The Calamity and corrupted Guardians mercilessly destroyed the main hub of Hyrule and likely would have kept going if not for Princess Zelda keeping him contained in Hyrule Castle. Although there are more details about the event in Creating a Champion, I think it would have been interesting to see more of how devastating it truly was for Hyrule and for its characters.
At the same time, the eighteen memories given tell the story in a distinctly free way that served Breath of the Wild well, making it not only an open-world game but, in a way, an open-story game. The storyline is fixed, yet what occurs betwixt the memories is up to the audience’s imagination and I think Breath of the Wild did a good job with balancing story and imagination, especially considering that the protagonist is ridden with amnesia. Although I would love to see more weight given to such a heavy event, I’m not sure I would be willing to sacrifice how well the story was handled in Breath of the Wild. However, with Link more acclimated to his identity and to his memories at the start of Breath of the Wild 2, I am excited for a more story-driven adventure.
What do you think? What else would you have wanted to see of Calamity Ganon’s destruction? Do you think the memories in Breath of the Wild were handled well? Let us know in the comments below!
Alexandria Weber is a Senior Editor and an aspiring creative writer. Her favorite food is apple pie and she loves her cat Galadriel. Ask her for pictures!
