I didn’t want the day to be saved. I didn’t want hope to prevail. I wanted to see all the struggle, heartache, and pain that these characters endured and find out how they were able to overcome it. I wanted a firsthand account of how Calamity Ganon took over the Kingdom of Hyrule and ravaged the land.
I did not want the happy ending.
Now just a second, I know which question you have running through your mind at this moment: “Who doesn’t want a happy ending?” It’s a legitimate question to ask. Happy endings are wonderful. The hero saves the day, wins the heart of the romantic love interest, and defeats the villain. Everyone gets what is coming to them. But as morbid as it sounds, when the game Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was announced, I actually looked forward to witnessing the Great Calamity that shaped the world seen in Breath of the Wild. I was led to believe that, as we saw in the previous game, the Champions were going to meet their demise, and I was going to see how it happened.
But that didn’t happen at all.
In Age of Calamity, you get to see the four Champions — Urbosa, Revali, Mipha, and Daruk — join forces with Link, Zelda, and other allies to battle against the forces of Calamity Ganon. In one of the trailers advertising the game, we were given a glimpse at what appeared to be each of their deaths at the hands of the corrupted Divine Beasts. But what happens in the actual game? At the last minute, they are rescued by their successors — Riju, Teba, Sidon, and Yunobo — who used a portal to travel 100 years into the past and save the day. (Time travel, am I right?) So this means that, by the end of the game, all four Champions are alive and well.
Don’t get me wrong, we are treated to some really cool moments in this game, like when the adult Sidon comes to save Mipha and spend time with the sister he lost long ago. But ultimately, it lessens the impact of what we saw in Breath of the Wild. The tragedy of the Champions was a vital part of the original story, and to not see it play out in this prequel game is really unfortunate.
Some of entertainment’s greatest moments were only made possible because the bad guy won. It happened with the Joker in The Dark Knight, Thanos in Infinity War, the Covenant in Halo Reach, and so many more. When they are done right, tragedy and loss can have very positive impacts on a story. We got to see Zelda’s emotional reaction to the Champions’ demise in Breath of the Wild, and I wanted more of that tragedy. I wanted to see how they overcame the losses and kept fighting. I would have loved to see them fail and demonstrate how it was necessary for them to fail so they could ultimately succeed.
I do understand why Age of Calamity never went that direction. Many people wanted a happier ending for the Champions in Breath of the Wild, and creating an alternate timeline where their descendants go back in time and save their lives accomplishes just that. Maybe it will branch off from there, like with the timeline split from Ocarina of Time, and the good ending will lead us somewhere interesting. But there are still certain moments where tragedy and failure are inevitable, and how we react to failure is even more important.
I guess in this case, we’ll never know.
