Mipha's Theme in Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity

a few months ago I decided to embark on a journey through the age of Calamity soundtrack examining how the game uses themes from breath of the Wild and the Zelda franchise at large there turned out to be a lot of examples really too many for one video so the first video which I released in May talks about how breath of the Wild's battle music is used in age of Calamity in that video I discussed some of the differences in gameplay between the two games and how that changes the purpose of the music I won't bother going through all of that again so you can refer back to the video linked here if you need that refresher or if you need to hear it for the first time today I want to highlight the music of the zor champion mea AKA best wifeu don't at me originally this video was supposed to highlight all of the Champions but after grad school I seem incapable of stating anything succinctly just kidding mostly really what happened was I started diving into dea's theme and then figured I should also look at sidon's theme and then I was going to talk about both but the script was approaching 10 pages single spaced and that's a long video so this video will just look at mea's theme and the next one I do will look at sidon's theme and how the two themes function together in age of Calamity and eventually I will probably release separate videos on the rest of the Champions so without further Ado let's look at mea's theme in breath of the Wild [Music] this has floated around the internet but in case you haven't already heard it mea's theme is based on her name that is the notes me and Fa in suf or E and F assuming a fixed do system I really wish I could credit where I first saw this but it was some random video I found while scrolling Instagram so it is effectively lost to the algorithm at this point whoever you were thank you for pointing it out there is more to meas theme than just the mea motion but if we take a look at a transcription here you'll notice mea makes up most of it while I was working on this script 8bit music theory released a video doing a deep analysis of the harmonies in this theme he looks at how some very interesting and unusual chords help augment the emotions link is feeling as he remembers the cute fish girl that simed for him eight video is linked in the description and I encourage you to go check that out if you're interested in a deep theoretical dive into the harmonies this sort of standard version of mea's theme is presented mainly in piano a very important instrument in breath of the wild as the theme moves on we get a few more instruments added namely flute and cheste playing the melody along with the piano and some strings in the background mea's theme is based on that mea motive and essentially has four parts to it there's this very brief [Music] introduction an initial Melody which I will refer to as the a section [Music] [Applause] [Music] a middle Melody that contrasts the first which I'll call the B section [Music] and then a return of the initial a section I'll use these labels when discussing uses of the theme throughout breath of the wild and age of [Music] Calamity throughout breath of the Wild mea's theme is mostly used in cutcenes the first time you will probably hear it is during the memory link has of mea after reaching zoro's domain this is the one where they're sitting on vuta she heals him and they talk for a little bit well she talks here the theme is presented in full in the standard manner I was thinking this reminds me of the time we first met you were just a reckless child always getting yourself hurt at every turn every time I would heal you just as I'm doing right now I thought it was funny how we also get a little snippet of meus theme in the memory right before Calamity Ganon returns this is the one you find by the big gate below Mount lenu when mea talks in this memory we hear the a section of her theme with a simplified Rhythm if I may I thought you well I'm not sure how to put this into words I'm actually quite embarrassed to say it but I was thinking about what I do when I'm healing you know what usually goes through my mind it helps when I think when I think about I'm not sure what instrument that is it's maybe a hammer duler or some kind of guitar like thing if you know please let me know what's fun about the theme appearing here is you might find this memory before you even go to zor domain in which case it serves as a sort of foreshadowing to the whole theme rather than a light motivic call back to mea which is really kind of cool the whole theme in its original piano form also appears after you defeat waterlight Ganon this is when we see mea in her spirit form initially you just get the a section but after you receive mea's Grace the theme picks up where it left off with the B section and continues to the end hello link because of your courage my spirit is now free and routa as well thank you for I am now Allowed by this freedom to be with you once [Music] again please accept mea's Grace [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yesterday I was a wash in a pool of tears I had nearly given up hope and resigned myself to being trapped here as a spirit the final cut scene that uses me for theme disregarding DLC for the sake of time is in the scene when vuta gets into position to Smite Ganon fun fact the music during V's walk is the same for each Divine Beast getting into position however once the the scene Zooms in on mea and she starts talking we get the a section of her theme here it's slowed down and kind of subtle broken up in some interesting ways and the accompaniment is very different but we still get the theme presented in piano using your ability to drain Ganon of his power is Key to Our Success this is it this will be our last chance and everyone's Last Hope if we seal him away then we can restore peace to Hyrule and both your duty and mine will be fulfilled father are you well I wonder I want you to know I have always followed my heart I'm sorry I made you worry I I wish I could see you again even just once more as far as actual gameplay uses of the theme I only noticed one one might expect to find meas theme somewhere in the vout dungeon and or the waterlight Ganon boss fight if it's in either of those places I certainly didn't notice it the dungeon music is truly crazy and an anal is of that could be its own video the water blight Ganon boss fight music is actually the same as the other blight Ganon battles the only difference is how it's orchestrated for instance the wind blade gon fight uses the accordion the accordion is associated with ravali at the beginning of his theme and with Theo in general for instance Cass is never without his trusty accordion and we get a little bit of the accordion in the second part of the redo Village music for water BL Ganon the theme is presented in OBO although used less frequently as a Zora instrument than the accordion is as a redo instrument we do find mea's theme in OBO in the one gameplay instance I found that is during the attack on varut music it's not the whole theme but we do get the mea Motion in the OBO throughout this track [Music] One More mea's theme does not appear anywhere else in gameplay which to be fair is mostly true of the other Champions as well as such this leaves some great room for reimagining her theme as gameplay music for age of Calamity in breath of the wild we are told mea is a warrior and know she wielded a pretty impressive Trident however we really only see her as a shy healer pining after link the subtle sparse orchestration and choice of chords C 8 Bits video for a whole analysis of that all contributes to this characterization don't get me wrong I think Nintendo did a great job of presenting her as strong in her own way just not like traditional Warrior strong in age of Calamity however we do get to see mea as a highly competent fighter with some impressive move sets actually is one of my favorite characters to play as the most prominent usage of meus theme in age of Calamity is in the Zora champion level as is characteristic of most levels in age of Calamity there's a decent length introduction before we get into the Main Music see for instance the introduction to the Battle of hyru field level in my previous video although mea's theme in breath of the wild has its own brief introduction in the Zora champion level we don't get that intro instead we get a play on the ending of the a section of her theme leading into what should be the mea [Music] motion that mea though it's actually BC or Tito which coinci entally is sidon's theme this could easily be a coincidence since transposing a Melody like that is a very normal compositional technique however it is a little odd in this case since mea's theme needs to stay on the notes E and F in order to spell her name also since the main goal of the level is to find the very young prince sidon this could be thought of as a very brief reference to him without too much of a stretch then again if you don't have perfect pitch or a keyboard handy you probably wouldn't notice the difference at all what do you think is this just a standard transposition of meus theme here or is it meant to reference the Young Prince after this introduction that may or may not reference sidon we have a short interlude of repetitive upwards movements in the strings with a regular snare drum pattern in the background interspersed with little piano flourishes all of these elements add a heroic determination to the queue [Music] over top of the study Foundation mea's theme enters in the OBO and piano referencing both the OBO associations with mea from the water Blake Ganon fight and attack on vuta as well as the general piano Association of breath of the Wild [Music] in this level the a section appears in exactly the same Rhythm and key as breath of the wild upon examining a couple different transcriptions of the piece Linked In the description and comparing the chords to 8bit music theories analysis of mea theme and breath of the wild I found the theme here also uses the same chord progression this is really interesting since 8bit describes the harmonies portraying Link's feeling buried beneath the surface and also capturing the bitter sweetness of fondly remembering someone you lost the idea of feelings buried beneath the surface at least fits with mea's feelings for link however the rest not so much when I listen to the a section of mea theme and age of Calamity I don't get so much of that Bittersweet Vibe even though the chords and Melody are the same I think this is a real Testament to how the orchestration and accompaniment can truly change how one perceives a piece of music the solo piano and sparse use of other instruments in breath of the wild adds a more intimate kind of feeling that brings out the harmonies more whereas in age of Calamity the use of percussion and rhythmic strings give a more heroic feeling to the same music let's go ahead and listen to the a sections side by side so you can listen for the consistent Melody and Harmony but also how they portray very different feelings every time I would heal you just as I'm doing right now I thought it was funny how being a hen you looked grown up so much faster than I [Music] did I was I was always willing to heal your wounds even back then [Music] after this a section we get another little interlude similar to the first except the strings start moving down instead of up partway through additionally we have extra notes in the brass interspersed with the other elements brass instruments which are frequently associated with the heroic add to that element of the Que [Music] a downwards harp gandoo takes us into the themes B section the Q loses the constant motion and is presented in a more Legato manner in the violins than the a section which highlights the sweeter gentler side of mea this section seems a reminder that while mea is a fine Warrior she is also a Healer with a more shy and inverted personality this is the closest we get to the same sort of feel of meus theme in breath of the [Music] Wild what I really love about this moment is that during gam playay the ferocity of the battle stays the same showing that one can be a great fighter and still be shy the two things are not mutually exclusive this gentler attitude is quickly replaced by Return of the heroic with the turn of the a section now in Trumpets the string motion is still absent however a downwards chromatic punch in the low brass highlights both the downwards chromatic Motion in the original a section Harmony but also adds a sort of fierce determination [Music] as mea says herself in the game I wish to keep everyone safe and with this playing in the background as she fights I certainly believe she will be able to do that for the most part the music Loops in this manner throughout the level without the introduction returning just as in battle for hyru field the two exceptions to this are the final lyl battle and when you stop a strong enemy with a shica Slate Run the liony battle has original music much like the moblin battle at the end of battle for Hy roll field the shift in music when attacking a strong enemy is the same in every level in my previous video I said this happens when you hit an enemy's weak point gauge in an outpost however this is actually only partially true upon further examination I found that if hit an enemy with a flurry Rush no matter where you are the music will continue uninhibited when the music does change is when you hit them with a sharoon and then hit that weak point gauge regardless of the location of the enemy here is an example of that Happ in the Zora champion [Music] level and that is how mea theme is utilized in the Zora champion level there is also a piece of her theme when controlling Divine beast varut but I will save that for the next video because it also incorporates sidon's theme and I want to be able to talk about how those two work together I would like to point out we do get the introduction and the a section of mea's theme in the cut scene at the end of this level in the breath of the wild version when mea is talking to sidon here it really highlights her sweet side in her interaction with her little [Music] brother why would you try to fight that Beast [Music] alone I was so worried about you but still I am proud what a brave little brother I have interestingly in the cut scene at the beginning of the level when mea is talking to link we do not get her theme although the music that is here is a gentle Melody and solo piano which gives a similar feel to her theme in breath of the wild well you've grown since I last saw [Music] you and yet you have not changed [Music] and that is how mea's theme is utilized in the age of Calamity if you like this video please give it a like And subscribe for future videos I'm planning on creating these age of Calamity videos every other month or every month if I run out of other ideas speaking of other ideas I organize some of my previous videos into additional playlists on my channel so far I've just done videos on things I'm interested in but I recognize not everyone will be interested in all of the things I am so I broke out a few themed playlists including one for these age of Calamity videos I also have a separate anime music playlist and a separate How to Train Your Dragon music playlist and I still have the master playlist that will have all of these videos that I create also in the playlist section you will see my playthrough of Twilight Princess with my friend Ed I admit the sound quality of these videos isn't great until episode 47 when we got a better mic we figuring things out and just having fun but I like to think for funny and if you like Zelda you might enjoy watching us mostly me struggle through that game anyways thank you so much for watching this video I do really appreciate it and I hope to see you in the next one

Channel: JustPressPlay

Views: 435

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Id: VzzYbwZfkJU

Length: 21min 44sec (1304 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 12 2024