Ever since The Legend of Zelda released on the first Nintendo console back in 1986, the franchise has become a huge hit. Over the course of 18 titles across multiple platforms, the series has sold 75 million copies to date and shows no signs of slowing down. Through it all, the story has told the tale of legendary warrior Link, the princess Zelda, and the vast kingdom of Hyrule. It’s spanned various lands and time periods, but the central quest and hero are often the same. And in just a few months, Nintendo will release the latest installment in the series with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The new game will not only be released on the current Wii U, but will be a launch title for the brand new Nintendo Switch, due out sometime in March. The scope of the game and narrative look to greatly expand on existing lore, merging a number of gameplay features from across the series’ history. The graphics will also merge the standard 3D rendered worlds with the cel-shaded animation style introduced in 2002’s The Wind Waker for Gamecube. That, plus a whole host of secondary characters, and lots of fun new weapons (travel-size hang glider, anyone?) have left fans eagerly anticipating the new game.
Now, thanks to an intrepid fan, we’ve got a sneak peek at what the general backstory of Breath of the Wild will entail. Polygon discovered the above video by Zeltik, which lays out his fan theory about the game and details the game’s story which was discovered in an Easter egg.
Hylians pass stories of a destined time long past where multiple races lived and worked together in harmony. The Sheikah Tribe’s blue aura breathed through the land and this mutual prosperity continued until a cataclysmic disaster stuck. The Hero and the Princess attempted to seal the terror which became known as the Calamity Ganon. Divine beasts awoke from four directions and deployed a mechanical army which made the King and his people fearful. They fractured Ganon’s power and sealed him, but the Sheikah were banished from the land ever since.
The information comes from a special map that came as a bonus item for those who ordered one of the special editions of Breath of the Wild. Though originally written in the in-universe language of Sheikah, Zeltik was able to translate it into Japanese and then into English. The snippet of story more or less follows what we saw in the most recent trailer for the game, with some added details about the Sheikah people.
First introduced in 1998’s Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64, the Sheikah people were once one of the dominant races of Hyrule. In Breath of the Wild, they’ve all but vanished. Now we know that their disappearance is tied to the Calamity Ganon teased in the new trailer. It looks as if the nuisance will be returning, however, which is no surprise considering Link’s long history with the fiend. We’ll hopefully learn a lot more about the mysteries of Hyrule once the game comes out, so until then we’ll be eagerly awaiting any more information that comes our way.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be out sometime in March when the Nintendo Switch launches. We’ll bring you more news as it emerges, so stay tuned.
Source: Zeltik [via Polygon]
