Age of Calamity: Potential Fighters

Well, finally there is something to talk about in 2020 for us Zelda fans! And there is no better topic than discussing potential playable characters in an action game. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was announced today and already showed us footage of the following six characters in action:

• Link
• Zelda
• Mipha
• Daruk
• Revali
• Urbosa

None of them should be particularly surprising and the Champions were expected additions to any new Hyrule Warriors game. But this one is a little bit more special, because it focuses on Breath of the Wild and the battle against Calamity Ganon from 100 years ago alone. So, this means we probably won't be seeing Tingle, Midna or Cia in this game.

Also, both Link and Zelda got a complete makeover and will certainly play differently from their counterparts in Hyrule Warriors, where Zelda is now fighting with the Sheikah Slate for example. So, this will be an all-new roster.

The original Hyrule Warriors on Wii U launched with 13 characters (which was before Cia, Volga and Wizzro became playable) and we might be looking at a similar number. And believe it or not, but there are more than enough candidates here...

One might be already visible on the main artwork for the game, which you can see above. There is a small, white Guardian, who is fighting alongside Link, Zelda and the four Champions there. Koei Tecmo was quite talented when it came to making original characters and character designs for Hyrule Warriors and they might continue this trend with Age of Calamity. And it certainly makes sense to have some sort of unique Guardian as a fighter, since the Guardians and the Sheikah technology are very important to the story.

The egg Guardian might also be Link's new companion, basically as a replacement for Proxi, because they'll need someone or something who speaks for Link. It could also explain how he uses technological bombs without the Sheikah Slate. The little Guardian could even be one of Link's weapon types, where it's possible that characters might have different weapons again. On the other hand, it would be the first Guardian to communicate and it could also be someone else's weapon, like Impa's.

At least for Link and Zelda it would make sense for their personal development, where Zelda probably should have a "Hylia" moveset of sorts and Link will get the Master Sword again. There could also be horses and Link might even get the Master Cycle Zero for the fun of it.

Otherwise it doesn't really take many original characters to fill the roster, because Breath of the Wild has a lot to offer on its own. First, let's make a list of characters, who potentially could have supported Link, Zelda and the Champions during the war somehow:

• King Rhoam
• King Dorephan
• Young Impa
• Purah
• Robbie
• Hestu

It would be nice to see the two sturdy kings fight, where there were even legends of how King Dorephan took out a Guardian all by himself. Well, here he could take out hundreds. But of course the focus will certainly be on Mipha as a playable Zora.

The young Impa can already be seen in the trailer from what it seems, where she kneels next to Link in an audience with the king (the little egg Guardian is in front of her in the same scene). We can only see her from behind, but the hair looks a lot like Paya's, Impa's granddaughter from 100 years later, and she wears the same hat as her older self. And it will certainly be interesting to see her younger design here, because if there's one thing that Koei Tecmo is good at, then it's pretty characters.

There should also be Purah in some form, where she is another candidate for a playable character, together with a younger Robbie. Though, the latter might be the least likely out of the many Sheikahs, but he should definitely appear, so that we can see his younger self. In a similar fashion, we might also get to see the court poet, who was the teacher of Kass, where this could turn into another original character. Whether all of these Sheikah will become playable or not, is a different question, however.

The other tribes are all nicely covered by the Champions, except for the Korogs, where Hestu with his Maracas would be the perfect candidate to represent those. But he's more of a fun character, who probably shouldn't be involved in the great war against Calamity Ganon in any serious way.

So, there probably will be a story mode, where you unlock Zelda, the Champions and the Sheikah as playable characters, while side characters like Hestu could become unlockable in some additional mode. And of course this wouldn't be a Warriors game without some DLC, where both of this could be used to even go for characters from 100 years later:

• Riju
• Sidon
• Yunobo
• Bludo
  
• Teba
• Kaneli
• Kass
• Kilton
• Beedle
• Bolson
• Pikango
  
• Monk Maz Koshia
• Master Kohga

With the exception of Sidon (as a young child), Maz Koshia, Master Kohga and maybe Beedle, none of these should appear during the war against Calamity Ganon. But adult Sidon and the rest of these could potentially become playable as some extra characters outside of the main story.

 

However, with Sidon, Riju, Yunobo and Teba you would have characters that are basically weaker versions of the four original Champions. They do have some of their abilities, but not all of it. Like Yunobo effectively only has Daruk's Protection and nothing else. Teba is the one who gets the closest, but he's so similar to Revali that it doesn't make him very interesting. So, this leaves us primarily with some of the other characters...

If you don't know who Maz Koshia is, he's the Sheikah Monk responsible for the "Final Trial". With over 100 monks in Breath of the Wild, it kind of makes sense to have the most special of them playable in Age of Calamity somehow.

And again, there are some fun characters here, like the two merchants, Kilton and Beedle. The latter is recurring character in the Zelda series and probably should have been already playable in Hyrule Warriors before, but they can now make up for it and add him using his crazy backpack.

Master Kohga is the first example of an evil character, who could become playable in this setting. In Hyrule Warriors you could play as the villains, including Ganondorf, Ghirahim, Zant and Cia, where there could be a similar turn in Age of Calamity. However, this will mostly lead to these four guys:

• Waterblight Ganon
• Fireblight Ganon
• Windblight Ganon
• Thunderblight Ganon

Every other enemy, including the Yiga Blademaster and Lynels, seem to be unplayable units... Considering how the game will have to take a dark turn at the end, you might not be able to play as any bad guys at all, because it would be too macabre. The Blights are also quite large and having all four of them would feel kind of lame, because that's just roster padding.

But it's not impossible and Koei Tecmo could even come up with some new villains, e.g. the Yiga master during this age. "Master Kohga" is just a title after all and there easily could have been one at the time. Maybe someone who feels a little bit more threatening...