Death Mountain has always been known for housing the most burning hot areas in Hyrule, but only in Breath of the Wild did it take some kind of heat resistant clothing merely to reach the Goron settlement, Goron City. The Goron Tunic was needed to survive the depths of Death Mountain in Ocarina of Time, but Link was perfectly able to hang out in Goron City without the need for the heat protectant effect. In Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, basically the entire height of Death Mountain is a blazing hot zone, setting any living being and wood instrument on fire. This makes simply visiting Goron City quite the ordeal for the average Hylian, requiring some form of heat protectant gear or potion. As it turns out, Hylians are far from the only ones who struggle from the heat and even some Gorons can’t take the heat of their own city! But a few other Gorons are determined, so they set out on a journey to overcome their heat intolerance.
You may come across a house in Goron City with a sign declaring that the residents, three brothers, have gone to Gut Check Rock to train. Link can head to Gut Check Rock to meet these three Gorons named Bayge, Heehl, and Kabetta, with Bayge being the eldest and Kabetta being the youngest. These three self-proclaimed Goron Blood Brothers are sensitive to the extreme heat of Death Mountain, despite being Gorons, and set out to train at Gut Check Rock in order to get more used to the heat. The three brothers can also be found at Mount Nabooru training their heat tolerance in much the same way they can be found on Gut Check Rock.
Link is able to join the three brothers on both of their heat training regimens, awarded with access to a Shrine for each area. Once Link has finished the first Gut Check Rock, he will be formally accepted by the brothers as the official fourth Goron Blood Brother. Unfortunately, completing these challenges does not make Link more resilient to the heat of Death Mountain like the brothers are training for, but you do get special permission to stand on the brother’s sacred platform of Goron manliness.
Though these three Gorons are just a handful of the many residents of Hyrule, I remember them standing out to me on my first playthrough of Breath of the Wild. Once I had beaten their challenge for the first time, I took actual pride in standing on their silly little platform of manliness. Gorons have always been a favorite of mine ever since becoming a Sworn Brother after completing Dodongo’s Cavern in Ocarina of Time, so I suppose I was just happy to replicate that feeling of being sworn in as a Goron Brother once again.
