One hundred years ago, a Calamity rises, a kingdom falls, a knight meets his end, and a princess loses everything and everyone dear to her. In another timeline, another princess struggles with her destiny and does all she can to protect everyone, praying that a future of darkness and despair never comes to exist.
Age of Calamity presents an alternate reality to the Era of the Wilds and its “Burgeoning Scholar Princess”. Just like her counterpart, Princess Zelda is a sixteen year old girl dedicated to her kingdom. The weight of a kingdom’s destiny and the prophecies about its doom is a heavy burden for anyone to bear, let alone a sixteen year old girl still trying to find her place in the world. Nevertheless, Princess Zelda strives forward everyday, working hard, researching all she can, praying and dedicating her life to the goddess Hylia all in the hope that she can save her people from the tragedy destined to arise.
We meet the princess adorned in blue royal garb in Hyrule Castle alongside Link and Impa and their new little Guardian discovery. Zelda’s curiosity shines through, though gently, unlike some of the Sheikah researchers and their eccentric ways. She is a princess after all. Royalty or not, it does not stop her from wielding her research as a weapon on the battlefield and joining the fight against monster hoards and the rise of corrupted Guardians.
In Chapter 1: “Road to the Ancient Lab”, Zelda is unlocked as a playable character. Halfway through the mission, she decides she can’t sit around and do nothing. Modifying the Sheikah Slate, she finds a way to wield and modify the technology locked inside. She uses the runes in new ways to obliterate her enemies and defend herself and the soldiers on the battlefield. If she cannot awaken the hidden power of the goddess inside of her, then she will use the tools at her side to do all she can.
Zelda’s love for ancient technologies may come from her memories of her mother. In a cutscene with her father, Zelda tells of a memory with the late Queen. Together they explored Hyrule and uncovered a little round unknown device. Zelda is seen carrying the device throughout the game, looking at it whenever she’s in need of a little hope until she gives it to her father to try and convince him she is more than the blood in her veins, even when the future shows that her failure to awaken what’s within her will lead to the destruction of Hyrule.
Uncovering the truth of what future lies in store for Zelda, Link, Impa and all the champions, Zelda is more determined to not let the Calamity win, claiming its destruction will not come to pass and she will seal Ganon away. It is her duty as princess and descendant of Hylia, and if there is anything that her father has drilled into her, is that her duty comes before all else. Despite this, she is not a warrior. While she may wield the Sheikah Slate in combat, in cutscenes she stands behind those willing to protect her, even admitting that she would not survive without the strength of her friends.
Over and over again, Zelda tells herself she is not good enough. She fails to do the one thing she is supposed to and when her father says that is the only thing worth her time, what else is she supposed to think? The Champions pilot the Divine Beasts with pride, and Link wields the Sword of Legends with ease while her powers remain dormant. She convinces herself that she is a failure and if Hyrule falls, it will be all her fault. Never mind her knowledge of the Sheikah Slate, nor her wise strategies that help her friends through battle over and over again.
Zelda’s self doubt and shame is a reflection of the burdens put upon herself and her father. Only someone who cares so much would be pulled down by the lack of success. Zelda knows she can make as many plans as she wants, uncover as many Guardians and secrets the ancient world has to offer, but at the end of the day, winning this war will come down to one moment. And that moment is on her.
As history begins to repeat, Zelda witnesses her father sacrificing his life to protect her. She watches the technology they’ve cultivated turn on her knights and researchers. The Divine Beasts she carefully picked pilots for are quickly corrupted. Everything she had done was for nothing and still her power lies dormant. Creatures of the Calamity quickly overtake the battlefield and just like everyone else before her, Link throws himself into the action to give Zelda a chance to escape and survive. This time she won’t run. She must act. She must do something to protect this knight that has saved her over and over again. Golden light bathes around her and the power of the Goddess erupts as Zelda’s destiny finally comes to light.
Something changed within Zelda when she saw Link willing to fight to his death, and the Goddess saw it too. Zelda wasn’t willing to let another person die for her, even if it meant sacrificing her life in the process. She had no idea the power would awaken when she ran to help Link in the battle. She did because she could never live with herself if she didn’t try. And in just five seconds, she is no longer a failure. She is no longer a disappointment And she has a chance to turn this battle around.
In the last chapter that follows, the cutscenes with Princess Zelda show a newfound confidence. She speaks to her soldiers with proud and inspiring words, she forgives those willing to seek forgiveness, and she leads the army in a march to reclaim Hyrule and defeat the Calamity that has plagued all their lives for too long. In this story, Princess Zelda is not a damsel that needs to wait for a hero to save the day. She is the heroine of her own story and shows that a girl with wisdom is just as important as any boy with courage.
