The Yiga Clan: Hunger for Bananas, Thirst for Blood

In the Legend of Zelda universe the Sheikah have long been part of the story. With Impa’s appearance in Ocarina of Time, the tribe has since had echoes throughout Hyrule’s history and many tales. Even if they do not appear in person, you can always find a symbol carved in stone, a whisper around a campfire, or a handful of earth that once belonged to Kakariko Village.

The Yiga Clan, on the other hand, are something new. Introduced in Breath of the Wild, their beginnings came about 10,000 years before the events of the game, when Sheikah technology was at the height of its prowess. Despite the Sheikah tribe’s loyalty to the crown, the King of Hyrule at the time grew fearful of their technology’s power. This fear led him to exile all Sheikah, forcing them to live as outcasts and stopping any technological advancements in their tracks.

Being a mostly peaceful people, many Sheikah went on to live humble, quiet lives in exile. Some, however, could not forgive the King’s actions — his betrayal, as they saw it. The tribe split in two: those who remained loyal to the Royal Family, and those who turned their allegiance to Ganon. The latter, then known as the militant Sheikah, would later go on to become the Yiga Clan. Yet, despite 10,000 years of separation, the Yiga Clan’s shared history with the Sheikah is still incredibly evident. For example, their armor, their impressive agility, and perhaps most on-the-nose, their symbol being an inverted Sheikah eye.

Hunger for Bananas

The Yiga Clan are an odd bunch, not least of all because of their dietary habits. Not only do they hoard Mighty Bananas in the heart of their hideout — arguably the toughest point on the map to infiltrate and therefore the safest — but their love of the fruit can cause even the sternest Blademasters to be lured away from their post if they spot a pile of them mysteriously appearing a few meters away.

Master Kohga, leader of the Yiga Clan, is the most eccentric of all. Kohga is skilled in combat and particularly adept at more classically-Sheikah abilities, including levitation, shielding himself, and summoning objects. His attacks are also reminiscent of certain Sheikah Slate runes, especially Magnesis. That said, he is still a bumbling, absent-minded, dad-bod individual who opens his fight by asking what Link is doing in his napping spot. Even after his boss battle, where he proves himself able to hold his own for at least a little while, he is technically defeated by himself after accidentally summoning a weapon too large to control, which rolls back on him and knocks him into the deep pit at the center of the arena, before promptly falling in itself and crushing him.

And yet, the slapstick nature of Kohga’s demise and the Yiga Clan as a whole rests upon some brutal, cut-throat foundations. The Legend of Zelda has been sliding some pretty dark storylines under the radar for as long as the series has been around, usually decorated with enough humor and lighthearted delivery that only after a bit of scrutiny are their more harrowing natures realized. The Yiga Clan take this theme and drive it far enough that it becomes easy to forget about their murderous intentions.

Thirst for Blood

The Yiga Clan’s ruthless ways are best illustrated by Dorian, a Sheikah guard trusted so deeply that he is posted right outside Impa’s home in Kakariko Village. Although some hints about his background are scattered into various bits of dialogue and diary entries, his full history comes to light as part of The Stolen Heirloom Shrine Quest.

Dorian was formerly a member of the Yiga Clan, but chose to change his ways after meeting his wife (presumably a Sheikah woman, given that she both lived in Kakariko Village and is buried in its cemetery, and therefore a direct enemy of the Yiga). While it seems Dorian and his wife lived in peace for several years — long enough to have two children, Koko and Cottla — the Yiga Clan eventually decided to punish Dorian’s abandonment of them by murdering his wife in cold blood.

While Dorian mourned, facing the prospect of raising his daughters alone and the guilt of leading his former Clan to his wife, the Yiga kept him in their clutches by demanding he gather information about Kakariko Village as their spy. Fearing for his children’s lives, Dorian agreed. Although his continued determination to leave the Yiga Clan led him to make a second attempt to sever all ties, he was kept leashed after the Yiga made threats on Paya’s and Impa’s lives.

At the end of this Shrine Quest, a Yiga Blademaster attempts to execute Dorian, stating that he has outlived his usefulness. Link of course intervenes, defeats the Blademaster, and allows Dorian to finally live in peace with his daughters. However, this ending does not subvert the vicious nature of the Yiga Clan: their intentions were kept at bay only by Dorian’s sacrifices and Link’s blade. As a former member, Dorian knew the Yiga Clan well enough that he feared that not only Impa, a seasoned warrior, would be targeted, but his own young children. The Yiga Clan would cut down anyone who stands in their way, regardless of involvement or innocence, and Dorian, Koko, and Cottla, would spend the rest of their lives missing a family member as a permanent reminder.

This bloodthirstiness runs all the way through the Yiga Clan. Footsoldiers will pose as travelers, merchants, or even lost, distressed Hylians to draw in Link before attempting to assassinate him in Kohga’s name. Master Kohga himself, bumbling though he is, is still unequivocally their leader. Every cunning and cruel act carried out by the Yiga Clan is done to serve him, inspired by him. Despite appearances, he is skilled, brutal, and charismatic enough that the Clan’s loyalty doesn’t waver even after his death.

Curiosities in Age of Calamity

Although it takes place in an alternate timeline and is therefore not canon, the Yiga Clan also have an interesting presence in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. 

The first point of interest is the recruitment of Sooga, the Right Hand of Master Kohga and a character only present in Age of Calamity. We’re shown through a flashback that he stumbled across the Yiga Clan as a starving child, threatened by Footsoldiers until Kohga steps in and feeds him. This in itself semi-answers one question: Are people born into the Yiga Clan, or do they join later in life? No Yiga children are ever seen, but they could always be being raised away from the main hideout. It seems most likely that it’s a mix of both — some children are born into the Clan, taught from birth to oppose the Royal Family, the Sheikah, and all they stand for. Others join later, either as lost children (such as Sooga), or alienated teenagers and adults who see better lives for themselves in the Yiga’s ideals. After all, the Clan has been around for centuries, so must somehow be sustaining itself with new recruits who weren’t part of the original group of militant Sheikah. 

The second is the nuances of their loyalty. The Yiga are unlike many other servants of Ganon in that they are not simple monsters that act on instinct, or automatically on orders. Instead, despite their strict beliefs and teachings, they’re able to think for themselves and even detach from orders they disagree with (again, illustrated by Dorian’s storyline). In Age of Calamity, the Yiga Clan work closely with Astor to serve Ganon — that is, until Astor attempts to sacrifice the lives of the Yiga in pursuit of his goal. It is at this moment that we see that the Yiga Clan’s biggest loyalty is to themselves. Once betrayed, they not only fight back against Ganon, but even bow to Princess Zelda, joining her ranks to help destroy the Great King of Evil. Could they be swayed similarly in a mainline game? It’s unlikely, but fascinating to note that the Yiga Clan is such a considerable feat unto itself that it could potentially sever even the strongest ties to serve its own interest.

Return in Tears of the Kingdom

In the lead-up to Tears of the Kingdom, there has been no confirmation that the Yiga Clan are present in the game. It would be strange to have them entirely absent without reason, as we’ve already seen that Master Kohga’s apparent death did nothing to deter the Clan from their goal of eradicating Link. If anything, it only made them more determined to avenge their Master.

Some theorize that the large cavern we see Link jumping down in the most recent trailer is the same as the one Master Kohga met his demise in (or is now stuck in, or using to live in hiding, or any number of theories). Others argue that the markings along the sides of the tunnel appear to be Zonai in origin, or simply that the sizes of the spaces don’t match up. Either way, from the number of underground areas shown in the final trailer, we know that vast expanses will be explored below Hyrule Kingdom — perhaps the Yiga Hideout serves as an entrance, especially if it was created by the Zonai before being taken over.

In the same trailer, we also see a large structure emerge from the sand in the Gerudo Desert. Some have noted that this may be a version of the Shadow Temple or something similar, and may even end up being claimed by the Yiga Clan given their close proximity. But without concrete appearances in any of the pre-release promotions, the Yiga Clan’s fate is one aspect of Tears of the Kingdom that remains wholly unknown.

Unanswered Questions

If the Yiga Clan do not return at all in Tears of the Kingdom or are not written out with a solid reason, many questions will go forever unanswered. 

Did Master Kohga actually die? We didn’t see him hit the ground in a puff of purple smoke, which, in Zelda terms, means anything is possible. On one hand, falling into a seemingly bottomless pit and then being crushed with a giant, spiked metal ball seems a pretty surefire way to meet your end. On the other, Kohga already has a curious relationship with mortality: He fought in the Calamity and appears again 100 years later, seemingly not having aged a day. Even with Sheikah blood, that indicates an incredibly long lifespan.

Will the Yiga Clan blindly serve Ganon to the end? We’ve seen them put their own interests first in the alternate timeline of Age of Calamity, but we don’t know if similar events could take place in the canon timeline if they were faced with a similar betrayal.

And why do they hide their faces so vehemently? Is it a dedication to uniformity, a wish to remain anonymous (either to allow them to infiltrate enemy ranks or out of guilt for the acts they’ve committed), or is it something else entirely? After 10,000 years of serving Ganon, has the Sheikah bloodline finally run dry and been replaced with something more…malicious?

After all, little would be more fitting for the Yiga Clan: An unassuming mask, synonymous with harebrained antics and defiance of the Sheikah, which hides something dark, cold, and brutal underneath.