The Yiga Clan - A Deconstruction of Villainy

I'm the kind of person who has to talk to absolutely every single NPC in every game I play every single character I see I have to stop whatever I'm doing and go speak to them and not just once I have to talk to them at least twice to see if they have extra dialogue it takes me so long to play RPGs I am so slow I'm sure a lot of players do this a lot of us have a compulsive need to speak to every single character we meet in a game because it's a fun way to learn more about the game's world or to add a little life and flavor to the game by seeing how these random people live or how they feel about major events occurring in the story it's a form of Storytelling that I really love and in breath of the wild those freaking Maniacs at Nintendo used this against us they know how much we love speaking to NPCs and they use that knowledge to trick us every single person who played breath of the wild shared this same experience at some point you were just be-bopping around Hyrule going on an adventure having a good time minding your own business when you saw some random NPCs standing around out in the wilderness or by the side of the road and you thought to yourself oh I wonder what this person's deal is I wonder what they've got going on and then when you spoke to them they started saying some weird creepy stuff and then all of a sudden they shout some version of I'm gonna kill you and then they transform into an actual God dang ninja and start trying to murder you the first time I ever experienced this I was like holy crap what is happening who is this guy what is going on it was such an unexpected turn of events I can't remember anything like this happening in any other Zelda game I can't remember a time in any other game in the series when the bad guys sent actual ninja Assassins to hunt you down while you're exploring the Overworld I feel like I don't see people talk about how cool the yiga clan was in this game very much which confuses me I honestly think it's one of breath of the Wild's best addition to the series I hope they keep coming back in Future games they're really fun at a certain point I started to get kind of nervous every time I approached a new NPC I'd be like okay please don't try to kill me please don't try to kill me I just want to talk with you about how much you love hearty truffles or hitting yourself in the head with a rock or whatever other equally worthless dialogue you have and then as soon as their dialogue started getting weird I'd be like oh no not again of course eventually it becomes obvious which NPCs are secret assassins because they're always the ones just standing around in random places which kind of spoils the experience I really wish the yiga clan could have infiltrated towns or even impersonated characters who you're already familiar with like what if once when you go to kakariko Village you talk to Paya and then all of a sudden she transforms into a death ninja I think that would have been fun and made the you could feel a little more threatening maybe if it got too annoying there could have been a quest line where you track down and defeat some yiga clan leader to stop it from happening anymore but I'm getting off topic here what I want to do in this video is break down how the writers and developers introduced and developed the yiga clan over the course of the game it's not going to be a lore analysis exactly but more of a craft or storytelling analysis of how the developers crafted this new villain and this is a brand new villain the yiga clan are totally new to the series as much as I loved breath of the wild I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed that Ganon was the big bad guy in this game again that's something that I really liked about girohim and Skyward Sword and Zant in Twilight Princess or Skull Kid in Majora's Mask is that they were new villains they were each a very different kind of villain than Gannon with a radically different powers different motivations and different backstories I do enjoy Ganon as the classic Legend of Zelda villain but I appreciate something new too which is another reason I like the yiga clan so much there's something new they're a totally new style of villain in the series with new powers and new fighting style new history and new motivations I think without the yiga clan breath of the wild would have felt much flatter to me they add a lot of variety and flavor and Novelty to the game's antagonists that wouldn't have been there if all we did was spend the whole game fighting Ganon and his Legion of goblins and lizard creatures again I also think the writers did a really good job of building the yiga clan up through our interactions with them and revealing their backstory very organically in my video about Calamity Ganon I discussed how the writers tell you most of his story through a couple of exposition heavy cutscenes the game outright tells you almost everything you could ever want to know about him right from the beginning of the game this was a bit disappointing for me because I would have preferred to learn that information in a a more organic manner over the course of the game however the developers introduce and develop the yiga clan in a completely different way you learn about them much more organically and gradually you learn about the yiga clan by speaking with characters who have something to say about them or through your interactions with their soldiers out in the Overworld or by exploring their Hideout this is a style of Storytelling that I much prefer over the exposition heavy way they told Calamity ganon's story it also matches the gameplay of breath of the wild every single player is going to learn about Calamity Ganon in the same way at the same time when the king of Hyrule explains its history to you at the end of The Game's tutorial area this is at odds with the central premise of breath of the Wild's gameplay which is that its world is totally open and players can follow absolutely any path they choose and I think a video game's narrative is usually better when it matches its gameplay when the narrative can be experienced in the same way you experience against the gameplay unlike Calamity Ganon different players are going to learn about the yiga clan in different ways and at different times you could follow the path that the game suggests to you and journey to kakariko Village speak with one of the guards there who will tell you about the history of the yiga clan and that'll be your first introduction to this new villain or maybe you won't speak to that guard and instead your first introduction to the Yuga Clan will be with one of their fake traveler assassins on the road outside or maybe you won't go to kakariko Village at all maybe you'll go to the desert first to Gerudo town and there you'll learn of a secretive tribe that's stolen an important Gerudo heirloom and the guards will tell you about these Master thieves hiding out in the desert or maybe you won't go to Gerudo Town either maybe you'll explore the desert more first and stumble into the yiga Clan's Hideout completely by accident without having any clue who they are and that will be your first introduction to them there are even a couple random NPCs throughout the game that will make some vague mentions of the yiga clan and their history isn't this such a cool way to tell their story and doesn't it match breath of the Wild's gameplay perfectly how you will be introduced to the yiga clan is left totally up to the players choices I think it's a much smarter way to tell a story in a game like breath of the wild in a style of Storytelling I hope to see utilized much more in tears of the Kingdom moving forward what I want to do now is follow my own original path through the game how I saw the yiga clan story introduced in their particular style of villainy developed so because I'm a good little fat boy I did what the game told me to and journeyed to kakariko Village as soon as I left the tutorial area there I met impa and she told me a crazy story about how 10 000 years prior Hyrule had been a technologically advanced civilization and how that technology had been used to defeat an ancient Calamity Ganon and though I didn't know it yet this is the beginning of the yiga clan story because as we'll soon learn the ego were once part of the sheikah in all the advanced technology was developed by the sheikah ten thousand years ago the yiga clan fought to defeat Calamity Ganon alongside the Warriors of Hyrule and they succeeded they helped seal away a terrible evil in Forge to thousands of years of peace for the people of Hyrule outside of impa's home you can speak to this guard and he'll tell you more about the history of the yiga clan he says at one point our technology was praised as the power of the Gods but eventually the people turned on it turned on us our Creations came to be viewed as a threat to the kingdom the sheikah became outcasts forced into Exile Some Like Us chose to cast off our technological advances and strove to live normal lives others fostered a hatred towards the kingdom that shunned them these sad souls swore their allegiance to Ganon they now call themselves The yiga Clan their sole mission is to eliminate all who stand against Ganon following the defeat of Calamity Ganon ten thousand years ago a new conflict arose in Hyrule Kingdom this time between the sheikah and the people of Hyrule the details are very vague but this conflict led to the abandonment of their incredible technology the details are kept purposefully vague by the writers they chose to leave this story largely Untold in the game I know that you can find a little more information about this conflict in the creating a champion book but remember we're looking at how the developers and writers of the game chose to tell the story within this game itself not how they may have expanded that story in outside materials for the purposes of this story analysis I'm not interested in explaining that mystery to you right now I'm interested in understanding why the writers chose to keep this conflict mysterious why they chose to include so few details about this tremendously important conflict between the sheikah and Hyrule Kingdom which is a key event in the history of Hyrule the simplest explanation is that this mystery doesn't really matter to the plot of the game while it's an interesting story and I'm sure a lot of us would have liked more information about it it's not actually necessary to understanding anything about the plot of breath of the wild the writers chose to tell you only what story you really needed to know to understand this Game's plot and they probably understand that a bit of mystery is good for the setting a mystery gets the audience engaged gets the audience to investigate and theorize and use their imaginations and come up with their own explanations it's the same deal with how little information the game gives us about the zonai sometimes mystery is healthy for the setting of a story especially a fantasy setting anyway let's get back to the yiga clan following this mysterious conflict the sheikah split into two factions some of them chose lives dedicated to peace in some shows lives dedicated to revenge in what must have been a particularly dramatic moment the yiga swore allegiance to their old enemy Ganon and strove ever afterward for the destruction of the Kingdom which had spurned them this is actually a really fascinating story I kind of can't believe the writers choose to hide a story this interesting behind some random NPC dialogue the yiga are the most despicable brand of villain in all of Storytelling the traitor in fiction no other kind of villain is treated with more disgust or loathing than the traitor no one and I mean no one likes a Trader Traders are reviled across all cultures all times and all stories but at the same time the yiga are a complex Trader even a sympathetic traitor because we understand why they chose the path they did the yiga had worked and fought and bled to save Hyrule Kingdom from the threat of Calamity Ganon and after the tremendous act which probably saved hundreds of thousands of lives their reward was to be treated with suspicion to be shunned to be forced to give up their technology if I was in their position I would resent the people of Hyrule 2 I think most of us would Zelda games usually have pretty morally simple Stories the bad guys are bad and the good guys are good but the yiga clan are different they're a little more complex they used to fight for good but now they fight for evil but their reasons for switching sides make sense their new struggle against Hyrule even has a bit of a righteous quality taking revenge against their former persecutors of course the yiga take it to a completely crazy extreme Calamity Ganon is going to utterly destroy Hyrule and maybe the entire world meaning the deaths of millions or perhaps the total annihilation of all Humanity who knows how far Calamity ganon's wave of Destruction would travel that that's a hard cause to sympathize with the yiga clan seem to be a sort of Doomsday cult fighting for the destruction of the whole world one thing that is never discussed is if they are successful whether the yiga expect to survive Calamity ganon's wrath do they believe that once Hyrule is gone and their revenge is complete they will be the ones to inherit the Earth or do they intend to die along with Hyrule I think either of those would be interesting another question that the game never answers is is Calamity Ganon even aware of the yiga clan like are they doing all this work for a dark God who isn't even aware that they exist and so will never reward them I know in the Hyrule Warriors game Ganon definitely is aware of them but I don't know if that game is even considered Canon anyway regardless of any of those questions from just this single dialogue I think the yiga clan become one of the most interesting villains in the series history a protector transformed into a saboteur an ally transformed into a traitor a tribe who once protected life transformed into a doomsday cult it's a compelling backstory moving forward with our story after this I began getting confronted by yiga Clan assassins fake Travelers as I described at the start of this video and I really did enjoy these encounters it's such a fun little twist on the normal interaction with NPCs in these games yiga Clan assassins will also randomly Ambush you basically anywhere randomly appearing out of thin air to attack I really like the fighting style of the clan soldiers they have a totally different style than any other enemy in the game they're fast they're agile they have a warping technology or magic that they make very liberal use of they almost never fight in groups almost always one-on-one they feel like real ninjas like sneaky assassins and it's a totally new sort of anime we haven't really faced in the Zelda series before if it's really cool the sheika have appeared in almost every single game but I don't think we've ever gotten the chance to face one of them in battle before and that's basically what this is a battle against the sheikah as a long time fan it's pretty exciting the clan and Calamity Ganon make a really good villain pair because they are so different from each other whereas Calamity Ganon is a villain who is booming at huge and impossible not to notice the yiga clan used subterfuge and trickery and theft these two villains are two totally different kinds of threats the yiga clan also play a central role in the Gerudo questline where they've stolen an important heirloom if you talk to the guards in Gerudo town you can learn a little bit more about the yiga specifically that they are very skilled thieves able to outwit evenly capable Gerudo Warriors and that they are hiding in the desert again the writers are building up the yiga's story through dialogue you have to investigate yourself and ask questions to get this information a again I think it's a smart way to deliver this information to the player their Hideout is hidden in a desert Canyon and its entrance is surrounded by dozens of these little frog statues you can find these same frog statues in kakariko Village these statues appear to have some sort of spiritual significance perhaps honoring a guardian Spirit or a spirit of nature it's interesting that both the yiga and the sheikah still seem to venerate these statues for all their differences the two still share some kind of spirituality share similar spiritual beliefs or Customs the yiga clan Hideout is breath of the Wild's required stealth section every single 3D Zelda game has at least one stealth section somewhere I mean technically it is possible to fight your way through here but it's a huge pain in the butt you're much better off sneaking around I think it's really smart to place the game's stealth section here the yiga clan are ninjas thieves sneaks so it makes sense thematically that in order to defeat them you have to beat them at their own game you have to become the superior ninja I do wish this stealth segment were a lot longer it is Tiny you can beat the whole thing in under 10 minutes if you know what you're doing it's a shame because I think breath of the Wild's mechanics are actually really well suited to a stealth game and I think there's a lot more the developers could have done here this is also where you're going to start to see a lot of silliness and goofiness within the yiga clan up to this point they've been a group of pretty serious villains they are menacing they use trickery and deception they are trying to kill you they are trying to pave the way for Calamity Ganon to destroy what's left of Hyrule but here in their Hideout they transform into cartoons every time you defeat a Yu Clan member they don't actually die they warp away and leave behind some cash and bananas this fruit of choice is less strange than you might think because these are Mighty bananas which when cooked increase your strength it makes sense that their soldiers would want to increase their strength before for going into battle but in The Hideout you discover that their obsession with bananas is less practical and more cartoonishly fanatic they have an entire Shrine dedicated to bananas if you drop a banana on the ground the Soldier Will goofily skip towards it in Glee like an anime school girl delightedly and cutely skipping towards a balloon-breasted plate of omelette rice and then when you reach the core of The Hideout you finally meet the yiga Clan's mysterious leader Master Koga and let's watch the scene where he first appears oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] as you can see he's just a total buffoon it's kind of funny but I have to admit I'm kind of disappointed by this writing choice I find the yiga clan to be such a genuinely compelling and menacing group of villains unlike anything else in the Zelda series I really wish the writers had taken them more seriously too I also can't remember a single other villain in the Zelda series who turned out to be this clownish and Goofy all of the previous villains have been pretty serious right the writers have always taken their villains seriously before right I guess Zant went from being cool and stoic to being erratic and jumping all over the place but that was more him descending into madness as his plans fell apart than him turning into an actual clown Master Koga the leader of the yiga clan a group of murderers and thieves is played for nothing but laughs it just feels like such a tonal mismatch to me especially considering what you learn about them in a later side quest the that they are literally willing to murder women and children to achieve their goals that Clash is so drastically with this goofy portrayal of their leader I still find the yiga clan to be interesting villains but man this is a really weird Choice by the writers that I do not understand at all I would love if someone in the comments could explain this in a way that makes it better like do you think turning Koga into this silly clown type character was a good writing choice and if so why I am genuinely very open to others opinions on this one I think the boss fight itself is well done though it's super duper easy but it feels completely distinct from every other boss fight in the game and I really like how it focuses on your chica slate Powers instead of a contest of strength this boss battle feels more like a contest of magical prowess which is really cool now let's watch the scene where Koga is defeated [Music] hmm [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] I mean come on this is so silly this is like SpongeBob SquarePants levels of cartoonishly stupid I guess you could say well it's a game for children kind of but Calamity Ganon isn't a childish villain his spider form is really hardcore looking none of the villains in the other games are silly either this is such a weird and random choice for the writers I don't understand it at all after you defeat their leader the yiga clan will become even more bloodthirsty they'll Ambush you more often with both stronger Fighters and stronger weapons in their attempt to avenge their Leader's death which isn't very funny at all the eager Clans swing from being totally clownish to being totally serious again confusing choices by the writers pick a lane guys anyway before I finish this video there's one more thing we need to talk about if you trigger the right conditions upon your return to kakuru Village you will learn that the shika heirloom has been stolen this is one of the best side quests in the whole game you have to investigate the village sneak around interact with the Villagers learn more about their lives it's really well done anyway if you follow this guard Dory and as he sneaks off into the woods you'll catch him meeting with a member of the yiga clan it turns out that Dorian was a former member of the yiga clan he left so he could live a peaceful life with his beloved wife as punishment for his betrayal the yiga clan murdered his wife and threatened to hurt his children if he didn't provide them with information and then threatened to kill impa and Paia and then try to kill him too this is really messed up killing an innocent threatening children this is truly evil apparently there is no act too depraved or too pathetic or too low for the yiga clan to stoop to they will do anything no matter how cowardly even harm children to achieve their goals in the this side quest you learn that the yiga are really really bad perhaps some of the most evil villains in the entire series they are really dangerous they are fanatical zealots which makes it all the more confusing why the writers chose to make their leader such a ridiculous buffoon but this side quest also humanizes the yigasum durian is a good person and he was once a member of the yiga there must be more like him within that Clan good people who if given the right opportunity the right motivation would be willing to set aside their anger and live lives of Peace instead I think there's a lot more room to explore with the yiga who their individual members are what it might take for them to change but this is where my video ends besides that one very big slip up I think the yiga clan are a really well written group of villains maybe even more compelling than Calamity Ganon himself they were born of a murky past in a mysterious conflict born of a betrayal became traitor themselves tossed aside their roles as protectors and became a Scourge on those they once shielded they are ninjas thieves assassins members of a psychotic doomsday cult truly evil characters willing to do anything to achieve their goals and also cartoonish clowns who worship bananas I don't think it's been confirmed whether the year are returning in tears of the Kingdom but I really really hope they do because they are a fantastic new villain with a lot more room to explore and expand and a key part of what made breath of the wild such a cool game [Music] good

Channel: FatBrett

Views: 191,343

Keywords: Zelda, Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild, BotW, Lore, Story, Explained, Character, Analysis, Yiga, Yiga Clan, Master Kohga, Kohga, Villain, Villainy, Deconstruction

Id: prMdC6XbaY4

Length: 26min 57sec (1617 seconds)

Published: Fri May 05 2023