Age of Calamity: About the Data Mined Characters...

Originally I didn't want to look at the leak, but then I saw another spoiler and I decided to check it out anyway, because I was kind of skeptical. What got data-mined is a bunch of map and menu icons, which includes several characters. But I'm personally not convinced that all of these will really be playable characters, nor does the leak seem to have all the icons, because there is at least two map icons missing that we saw during the Treehouse footage, like the one for the "Meditation Shrine" and the Sheikah Sensor.

Anyway, keep reading at your own risk:

Source

The character icons are in order:

• Link
• Zelda
• King Rhoam
• Mipha
• Daruk
• Revali
• Urbosa
• Impa
• Sidon
• Yunobo
• Teba
• Riju
• Hestu
• A Great Fairy (Cortera?)
• Master Kohga
• A Sheikah Monk (Maz Koshia?)
• The Egg Guardian
• Ganon / Blight

The most interesting thing here are arguably the four "Champion descendants" – Riju, Yunobo, Teba and adult Sidon, who all might be brought back from the future to work together with the classic Champions. The modified tapestry of the battle against Calamity Ganon that we get to see in the beginning of the game even shows the four Divine Beasts with two riders each instead of just one, which might imply that the two generations of Champions will work together to defeat the Blights.

However, I'm wondering what the "Champion descendants" will bring on the table that the original Champions already couldn't. Yunobo's signature move is basically using Daruk's Protection. And the only one of the four to really use any kind of weapon is Teba, who is an archer just like Revali. But so far it doesn't seem like weapons will actually be shared between characters.

Riju could technically use the Thunder Helm as her "weapon", but that might also be part of her wardrobe, where it protects you from lightning damage if equipped, just like in Breath of the Wild. And Urbosa would have the exact same item, of course. Another possibility would be Sand Seal reins that she uses for Patricia, but this would make things awkward on stages made out of rock and stone.

So, it's possible that these four characters will be part of the story and might even help the earlier Champions somehow, but aren't necessarily playable. But Koei Tecmo could always come up with some crazy stuff, so you never know, and in the least Sidon and Riju are fan favorite characters, so it's good to have them in this game one way or another.

The Great Fairy might just be a map icon for a side quest. Yes, there was a playable Great Fairy in Hyrule Warriors as one of Link's "weapons", so it's possible. Each of the Great Fairies are also now individuals with different names and looks, where the icons resembles Cortera the most. But we never saw their upper bodies, so this would lead to something interesting, while they are also very huge. Not on the level of the Divine Beasts, but certainly a lot larger than any of the confirmed characters.

But it's likely that the Great Fairies will simply have their spots on the map for some side quest stuff, which could be similar for any Sheikah Monks. However, they probably would use a simpler icon for Shrines and it's possible that we might get a playable Sheikah Monk, like the infamous Maz Koshia, so this could really go either way.

As for the rest, King Rhoam, Hestu and Master Kohga got already presented with artworks that are strikingly similar to those of the confirmed playable characters, where all three have some sort of item that might become their main "weapon". So, they seem more likely after this leak, where it's possible that the King and Hestu are later unlocks in the game that Nintendo only wanted to tease.

But it's kind of odd how only Master Kohga and what might be Ganon or the Blights have character icons here, but not the Yiga commander or the dark sorcerer/sorceress. If they are going with playable villains somehow, I'd expect there to be more than just Kohga. And it's unclear what the Ganon icon will represent. That could really be anything tied to Ganon and simply be used for the final boss on the map.

Last but not least, there is the little Guardian. But it's already following Link at all times and providing everyone with the Sheikah Slate Runes, so it's questionable whether it really will become playable on its own. An animated version of its icon already gets used on the loading and map screens, where the Guardian seems more like a guide than anything. So, like with Ganon or the Great Fairy I'm having my doubts that this will actually lead to a playable character. But I could be wrong...