How Link got the MASTER SWORD in Breath of the Wild - Zelda Theory

[Music] anyone who's played breath of the wild has likely stumbled upon the master sword at some point i would hope so anyway and if you had the hearts to do it it was yours for the taking but as some of you know for link this is actually the second time in his life that he acquired the sword he already used it during the calamity 100 years ago but because he fell in battle the sword was taken away from him and he had acquired a second time the first time he pulled the sword is something we never get to see in the game and takes place even before any of the memory cut scenes from before or during the calamity but monster maze i hear you think didn't we already see how link first got the master sword you know in that little game called hyrule warriors age of calamity and well yes yes we did but as i and other theorists have pointed out since the game's release there are some issues with this part of age of calamity now don't get me wrong i greatly enjoyed the game i loved the epic setting i enjoyed the combat and suga is life but when you study the story beats of the game a bit closer you quickly find out that there are some aspects conflicting with that witch breath of the wild and its complimentary book creating a champion set up most of these inconsistencies are nitpicks at best and can easily be chalked up to simple mistakes and oversights but the way link acquires the master sword stands out and cannot be dismissed in the same way so in this video i want to do two things first i want to explain why the way link gets the master sword in age of calamity cannot possibly have occurred in a similar manner in breath of the wild secondly i want to give my take on how i think link got the master sword in breath the wild's backstory to present an alternative to that which we see in age of calamity so let's start with why this would have been impossible in breath of the wild as epic as the master sword mission in age of calamity was it unfortunately left us with two different versions of events which are incompatible with one another on one side we have breath of the wild plus creating a champion and on the other we have age of calamity so what are the biggest differences when it comes to how link got the sword in these two different timelines well to start off creating a champion established that link got the legendary blade years before the events of the calamity and the book makes this clear on multiple occasions first off we have the part which has been referenced numerous times by other theorists which is this section on page 376 where it states that he was in possession of the sword for a number of years prior to becoming a champion and he was likely around 12 or 13 years old when it happened and second the event of link extracting the master sword is listed as something that occurred even before the sheikah slate was even discovered and as we all know at the beginning of age of calamity impa is already in possession of the slate days before link travels to korok forest to pull the master sword link is also already 17 years old in this story when he acquires the sword whereas in the book he was supposedly 12 or 13. now you might say well age of calamity involves time travel right so the timing of events simply changed because of that well no that would be impossible the game makes it clear that age of calamity's reality did not exist until terrico jumped into the past so assuming that age of calamity is a traditional timeline split like the one from ocarina of time anything that happened before terraco arrived in the past would have to be a carbon copy of breath the wild storyline since it quite literally splits off of that timeline and it is only then that things start changing because of his influence tereko arrives only a few weeks before the calamity is set to occur the champions have not been approached yet but the sheikah slate has already been discovered making it impossible for his presence to have had any effect on how and when link got the sword he should have already been in possession of the sword when the guardian arrives but as we all know that's not the case so right away this leaves us with two completely different chronologies and under normal circumstances we would simply have to make the consideration of which piece of media holds more weight in terms of canonicity a third-party book or a third-party game i've spoken to other theorists about this at the time and we agreed that a game would probably have priority over a book if it was just creating a champion versus age of calamity in this case however in my opinion there is one thing that trumps both sources altogether and that is breath of the wild itself hence in this particular case breath of the wild would have to be the determining factor so which version of events does breath of the wild side with well at first it doesn't seem like the game has much to say about how link got the master sword in every memory from 100 years ago he already has it but it never makes it clear when and how that is until you get the second dlc pack the champion's ballad here the game sheds a bit more light on some of the events which took place prior to the calamity we see how zelda first approached the pilots the ceremony where they were officially appointed as champions some of the time they spent together as a group etc but more importantly for this topic is that we gain access to the diaries of the four champions personal memoirs in which they describe their thoughts and experiences both during and prior to the calamity and on two occasions these stories confirmed that not only did link already have the master sword he was also already selected as the chosen knight who would slay ganon long before the royal family even started selecting candidates to pilot the divine beasts ravali describes his joy and pride when zelda came to ask him to pilot vametto only to quickly shift his tone as soon as he found out that his role was nothing more than that of a support for some chosen knight he's never met before and that he is not the one tasked with taking gannon down himself in turn mifa states that link came to visit her at zora's domain right after divine beast farouta was discovered but before zelda came to ask her to pilot the beast and she specifically says that during this visit link already had the sword and mind you even more time passes after that as it took a while for her father king dorafan to finally agree to mifa becoming the champion of varuta as at first he was hesitant for a while link allegedly even fought a lino atop pleime's mountain with the master sword before her father gave his blessing according to mifa's written word so by the looks of it breath of the wild points to creating a champion's version of events being the true story link already had the sword long before the pilots were selected age of calamity says no to that and here link pulls the sword after the champions obliged to pilot the beast and in their presence no less and i think we all know why this part of age of calamity story is different they simply didn't want link to start off with the master sword right at the beginning of the game and from a gameplay perspective i get that not only would it make a lot of the early weapons useless i mean why would i use a broadsword if i have the most iconic and one of the more powerful weapons in the game and i'm pretty sure they also wanted to have an epic master sword pull in this story it's kind of zelda tradition at this point the first hyrule warriors had it too but the unfortunate side effect of this change is that this part of the lord does mess with that which breath of the wild and the book has set up all this could have been fixed by either having terrico arrive earlier in the timeline before link got the master sword and then introducing a time jump have link pull the master sword in a flashback either through gameplay or a cutscene or both or make it more clear that age of calamity's timeline is not a traditional timeline split but instead a different reality that has always existed alongside breath of the wild one with its own sequence of events with or without the presence of terrico but since this is not the case i have to give the edge to breath of the wild and creating a champion again a first party game with complementary book versus a third party spin-off is an easy choice i would say unless nintendo themselves step forward and say hey you know how he said that link got the master sword this way well forget about that retcon this is what actually happened 100 years ago but until that happens i'm gonna have to go with team breath of the wild slash creating a champion with that said that means we are now back to not knowing much about the circumstances surrounding link's first encounter with the master sword all we have is hearsay from two champions and a couple of paragraphs from a book both of which only give a suggestion when he approximately could have gotten the sword but not how it happened so now i want to present my alternative a way how link could have found his way to the sword based on what we know from breath of the wild and creating a champion while ignoring age of calamity's version of events and treating that as its own separate story one which only applies to age of calamities timeline and not breath of the wild so here we go [Music] although link's family is mostly veiled in mystery we do know that his father was an accomplished knight who served the royal family we don't know if he died during the calamity or before but for this story this doesn't really matter all that matters is that link likely became a knight like his father before him for the same reason that a blacksmith's son would also become a blacksmith when they grow up we learned from mifa's diary that link was exceptionally skilled in combat from a very early age being able to even best adults when he was only around 4 years old a bit hard to believe but i guess he is the chosen hero after all i mean the hero of time defeated monsters 10 times his size when he was only 9 years old so you know anyway if we were to go off of what creating a champion tells us link would have been around 12 to 13 years old when he first pulled the master sword which is quite young but since link was already quite powerful even from a very young age this does make sense the only reason why he wasn't able to pull the sword in breath of the wild initially is because of the stasis he was put under for 100 years which understandably took a massive toll on him although it's never stated where link found it i do think the master sword was in the pedestal at korok forest when he did creating a champion states that the master sword has averted many calamities alongside past heroes and that it's placed inside the pedestal to recover from the damage it incurs from those battles as such since the last calamity was successfully halted 10 000 years ago it's only natural that back then they followed the tradition of returning the sword where it belongs each time it fulfilled its role this happens many times in other installments as well where either the hero himself or someone else returns the sword at the end of the game except in the wind waker i just got stabbed in the face now let's quickly talk about link's origins where did he initially come from despite no definitive proof i'm quite sure that link did indeed originate from hiteno village there are simply more hints that this was the place where he was raised than any other place in hyrule like the house which was conveniently abandoned for 100 years and link coincidentally being absent for 100 years small hints from nintendo employees it all points towards hatteno being link's original hometown and i love it because link's from hoteno village so it's very cute glimpse into his life again nothing is proven indefinitely but i'm just going with the most likely option this of course doesn't mean that link spent his entire life in a tenno in fact as soon as he was drafted as a knight himself it makes sense that he would have been living in and around hyrule castle town for the later parts of his life knights often live in quarters or barracks after all so that they are always ready to defend the castle this may have been the case for his father as well zelda specifically mentions link's father during one of the memories the fact that the royal princess knew who link's father was means that he probably had made a name for himself and likely had a high rank in hyrule's army perhaps a captain or even a general with that said what would steer a young kid of 12 to 13 years old in the direction of hyrule's great forest alone as we know the resting place of the master sword is considered dangerous by the hylians a place where one can easily get lost and wander around for days and get nowhere even during the calamity monsters and guardians did not make it into korok forest it remains secluded a safe place for the spirits of the forest overseen by their guardian deity the great deku tree the only person we've seen visiting the forest besides link is princess zelda when she returns the master sword after link fell in battle it's unclear how she knows her way around the forest but it's safe to say that this wasn't her first visit as the deku tree seems to be well acquainted with her still the forest largely remains left alone by mortals so how did link find his way here and at such a young age whether he was living in hattano or castletown at the time it's still a long ways away for a boy his age to be traveling here alone right well there is one location which could explain everything one hylian structure close to hyrule's great forest which could have played a big role in this since link was extremely talented with a sword from a very young age it probably didn't take long for his father to draft him into hyrule's army by the time link would join the army the prophecy of ganon's return had already come to light years prior zelda was only 7 at the time and there's only 1 year age gap between her and link the hylian army likely needed every bit of manpower they could get in preparation for ganon's return so it's only natural that an exceptionally talented swordsman like link would be more than welcome despite his young age and where does anyone go before they join the actual army exactly boot camp in this case hyrule's military training camp close to the border of hyrule's great forest as is the case with many military training camps the cadets often sleep in barracks in and around the same area so link likely spent at least a couple of months at the training camp together with the other recruits and it is during this time that i believe link found his way to the master sword as is often the case with the master sword the hero doesn't choose it but rather the sword chooses the hero and since ganon's return was only a few years away the sword was likely ready to be found by the next hero worthy of wielding it while present at the training camp link may have felt a pull towards the great forest an unknown force calling out to him until one night the young swordsman finally gave into the temptation sneaking away from the barracks to venture into the misty forest alone driven by intuition or perhaps guided by some divine influence he managed to make his way through the forest successfully without getting lost once he arrives at the foot of the great deku tree he lay his eyes upon the sparkling blade and with that link pulls the master sword perhaps without realizing that he has been chosen for a great but dangerous task which will determine the future of hyrule word quickly spread about the young man who emerged carrying the legendary sword that seals the darkness and it wouldn't be long until he was recognized as the one who would have to face ganon alongside the princess faced with a tremendous responsibility this is also the time when links started to grow more and more silent going from a bold outspoken kid to a silent and burdened young adult and that is how i envisioned it happening but that's just my take on it perhaps you have a completely different scenario in mind i know i've been kinda harsh on age of calamity in this video but please bear in mind that i don't dislike the game in any way in the end it doesn't even really matter as arlo stated in his review of the game breath of the wild and age of calamity are vastly different games each with their own rules and mechanics in one link struggles with a single lynel even in the late game and in the other he mows down enemies by the thousands but that's the nature of a warriors game age of calamity was epic and although i don't consider it as canon as breath of the wild i still think the master sword pull in that game was very cool and unique it happens under extreme pressure and during a boss fight nonetheless does it fit with breath the world's narrative in my opinion no but at the end of the day entertainment is more important than lore consistency it would have been cool if we got both but that's the curse of a spin-off game i guess thank you for watching let me know what you think how do you envision link got the master sword in breath of the wild do you still fully accept age of calamity as canon be sure to leave a comment down below a special shout out as always goes to my amazing patreons and members who continue to make this content possible and please welcome emo kid and brett rosenbaum as my latest supporters as well as an additional shout out to star demon who just upgraded their pledge as always you guys are the best and that is all for now keep an eye out for the one year anniversary video next week i hope to see you then this is dawn signing off and have a good one [Music] you

Channel: Monster Maze

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Keywords: Breath of the Wild theory, Breath of the Wild Sequel trailer, Zelda Breath of the Wild 2, Zelda Breath of the Wild Sequel, Breath of the Wild 2 Theory, Zelda Theory, Breath of the Wild 2, Breath of the Wild 2 analysis, Breath of the Wild 2 news, Nintendo Switch, Legend of Zelda Theory, Breath of the Wild 2 Release, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Legend of Zelda, Zelda Breath of the Wild

Id: i94hKX-ii3M

Length: 16min 32sec (992 seconds)

Published: Sun May 02 2021