The Ancient Armor Set from Breath of the Wild takes the aesthetic of the Sheikah technology and turns it into a suit of armor perfect for taking down the rogue Guardians roaming the fields of Hyrule. If you have one of the Champion Amiibos, you’ve probably dropped the weird-looking Ancient Helm in favor of one of the four Divine Helms, which are more pleasing to the eye and come with bonus stats.
Modelled after the heads of the Divine Beasts, these helms are sure to test the limits of costume designers, even without factoring in the rest of the armor. Natly Cosplay rose to the challenge, bringing the Vah Medoh Divine Helm and Ancient Armor to life with her own unique spin on the design.
Natly Cosplay has been designing and making costumes for over nine years, and her experience shows in the level of detail and craftsmanship in each of her creations. She plotted out a pattern for the Vah Medoh Divine Helm and spent a week crafting it from a plastic skull cap base, EVA foam, and Plastazote. Surely these materials are lighter and more manageable than anything the Sheikah would have used to construct it. It might not protect Natly from the cold, but it will still give her style.
Just like the glowing eyes of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, Natly Cosplay’s helm also lights up; it’s one of the first projects that she tested this feature on, and she absolutely nailed it. But what stands out to me the most is the quality of her paint job. Natly’s work gives the foam helm a rocky texture and an ancient look, right down to the bits of moss and grass growing out of various crevasses.
While the Vah Medoh Divine Helm looks like it jumped straight out of the game, the armor looks a little different from the set Link would be used to. Conventions and cosplay events are swarming with people, and many take place during the warmer months. Link’s Ancient Set is heavy and covers him head to toe, so five minutes standing in the summer sun would be like standing next to the lava of Death Mountain. For that reason, Natly Cosplay made her armor cooler and lighter, a perfect fit for warmer occasions.
The Ancient Cuirass has been given a makeover, but many parts still adhere to the original design. The breastplate and pauldrons were only altered in shape to fit Natly Cosplay’s form. The gloves have been simplified with a dark blue fabric crawling past the elbow, with only one piece of armor resting over her hands. Armor covers her hips and wraps around her waist, with a red and gold Sheikah-inspired design flowing down the front. Dark blue still covers her torso, but not her legs. The Ancient Greaves are nowhere in sight, replaced by a simple pair of golden shoes.
These photos, which were all taken by photographer Chris Clima, embody the mysteries of that lost era when the Sheikah developed the Guardians and all their other technology, and the incorporation of a phone that resembles Link’s Sheikah Slate is also a nice touch. Natly does not take on Link’s persona for this design, and frankly, I don’t think she needs to. Her white hair makes her look like one of the Sheikah, the inventors of the original Ancient Armor. I think that’s fitting, since this design demonstrates just what a talented designer and creator Natly Cosplay is. If Purah were to ever come across her, she would surely ask for a SNAP!
To celebrate the upcoming launch of Tears of the Kingdom, we are dedicating two weeks of columns articles to its groundbreaking predecessor, Breath of the Wild! Check out our Countdown to TOTK page.
