There's so much symbolism and symmetry in this story, I love it! Going through the same corridors at the beginning and end Zelda falling, and Link missing her hand--Zelda falling at the end and Link catching her. Ganondorf bent backwards at the beginning, and rising--only to be forced back down before becoming a dragon Rauru saying that as King, its his duty to protect his people--Ganondorf saying that as King, its his right to conquer. Zelda giving up her being to save her kingdom--Ganondorf not willing to give up his pride, even to the point of destroying himself. Pulling the Master Sword from the Light Dragon's forehead--only to plunge it into the head of the demon dragon Then, of course, the ouroboros logo foreshadowing the fight between the light and dark dragons, and symbolizing the never ending loop of evil and good that Hyrule is caught in. Phenomenal game. Absolutely wonderful.
2 other good ones from a separate game is 1) Skyward Sword’s intro has a scene of Zelda falling and Link diving after her but failing to catch her as well so that one is even more of a hit and 2) Ganondorf rips the Secret Stone from his forehead and is later stabbed there as well calling back to Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker where he was also stabbed through the forehead and Demise having a scar in the same spot as Ganondorf’s stone was
i really like how the game started with link failing to grab zelda as she falls, and it ends with link actually reaching her. the whole story is just so satisfying to watch as it unfolds
this so much and also the contrast and symbolism around where both scenes take place: the first in the darkness underground after the evil just awoke, the second one against a sunlit sky after the evil has been destroyed. Cheff's kiss story telling
I like how the editors cut the video to make it look like he didn’t spend like 37 minutes on specific puzzles. Then I look for the chat to say “Let him cook.”
He did state in a book entry that when he doges attacks it’s feels like time slows down for him so maybe he does really slow down time and that’s why he has had a time power in both games. Think about it the abilities you have in this game have nothing to do with the ones you got in the other game aside from recall which just like stasis had something to do with time. Stasis could stop time on an object and recall can well recall time and it’s funny how that’s the power that saved Zelda and how they “channeled their power through link” idk though just a theory.
The implication that dragons aren't *completely* mindless -- that they retain their reason for transformation as their core directive and instinct, even if they lose the ability to think or plan in the process -- is really cool, honestly. Ganondorf's desire to kill Link stone cold fucking dead and to drown Hyrule in darkness means he stays aggressive even after becoming a dragon; Zelda's desire to help Link save everyone means she comes in during the final battle after Ganondorf transforms. "What does this mean about the other dragons?" I dunno, man, they're just fuckin' out there, you tell me
I feel like the other three are other Zonai, likely Zonai that we used to know in lore as Din, Farore, and Nayru. The goddesses were not immortal deities, they were beings with godlike power who consumed their secret stones for the ability to watch over their world for eternity.
@@ethanrose9682 i thought it was confirmed in botw (possibly totk?) that the dragons were created in the image of the golden goddesses, not the goddesses themselves transformed?
@@ethanrose9682 i thought it was confirmed in botw (possibly totk?) that the dragons were created in the image of the golden goddesses, not the goddesses themselves transformed?
@@ethanrose9682 nah the Goddesses are absolutely still actual goddesses. We know for a fact that gods exist and werent just the Zonai given that there are Goddess statues everywhere that actually help you and the fact that Skyward Sword has to be canon given that even this game directly references Fi with how the Master Sword sounds. I dont think this game is some huge retcon like others believe. So the Triforce and 3 godesses still exist. But Its way past the Wind Waker. Wind Waker Link and Tetra/Zelda leave the Great Sea to find other lands and establish a new Hyrule. Which they do. But who knows what becomes of it. Because thousands of years later the flood waters of the Great Sea finally recede allowing the Zonai who have been safe up in the air all this time (perhaps the evolution of the Oocoo) and the people who remained in the Great Sea to settle the land once again. The Zonai create their temples and start mining but whatever happens in this period leads to the decline of the Zonai until there are 2 left. One of the last Zonai Rauru then decides to found a new Kingdom of Hyrule. Perhaps its fate, or perhaps he bases it off an ancient Kingdom he heard used to exist generations ago. Regardless with a new Hyrule the cycle begins once again and Ganondorf is reborn.
@@ethanrose9682 theyre no different than any other minor deity named after the goddesses, like the light spirits and skyward sword dragons. the actual goddesses are mostly absent.
20:50 “I think the really sad part about all of this is not the 10,000 years she spent healing the master sword. It’s the forever more she’ll have wandering the world with no other purpose.” 5 seconds later, “can I like put a meat on it?”
It probably wasn't even 10K years lmao It's important to note that many other calamities occurred in between the events of Hyrule's founding and the present time in TOTK.
@@emma.wise.music. That's what i was saying... or at least trying to. I probably could have made that more clear, but that's the point i was trying to get across.
When I reached phase 2 of Ganondorf I had made a bunch of recipes just to remove curses. Cue panic once I discover he really *can* completely remove heart containers and the intro wasn't just a throwaway explanation
On the other hand, because it seems to only remove 1 container per hit (and no physical damage), it's actually much more manageable unless you were REALLY abusing healing items.
@@sinteleon yeah, while a spooky thing to see it didn't really affect me since i play without being allowed to heal in battle (cause i find the challenge more fun) and i was already just one 1 heart by then, still beat him first try though. All those phantom ganons i fought because i was thinking you needed to kill them all for a medal gave me a lot of practice in dodging his attacks.
I went in with a few dozen hearty meals and I had just found a grove of apple trees resulting in 140 apples being turned into meals. Cue shocked Pikachu face when I realize that I hadn't made a single sundelion meal and was out of zonal pots. Still won but with only 3 hearts still usable, very poetic.
@@samboi123 You dont, you can flurry rush. The fight for me went I dodge and flurry rush, he dodges and flurry rushes and then I dodge his flurry rush and go for one of my own which finally hits.
Ganondorf literally taking away your hearts like he does at the start was genius, because you aren't leaving the fight ever again anyway. If you wanna keep playing, it puts you before the fight.
It was actually super lucky too. He probably had fairies so he probably would've lived..... but if he had taken weapon attacks during that phase, he would've lost his last 1.5 hearts and died. It was those gloom attacks that cut hearts off the max instead, and he i-framed long enough to get back into the fight each time.
Pointcrow brought up that the water would be like a solid surface at the height that they fell. However, before that, Ganondragon grabbed Link in his jaws and then plowed him through like a kilometer of solid bedrock. From this we can just infer that this twink is built DIFFERENT.
I did that final tear when it was becoming night and when I came out of the memory, all the silent princesses were glowing and that was what sent me to tears
Especially considering Rauru had no idea who Link even was 😅 Idk. But technically Zelda time warped right before the hand caught Link. Maybe it was enough to change the past and have Rauru know Link.
@@Angel_Auraa the past would have already been changed, I don’t think there is necessarily a beginning because even before Zelda went back in time Ganon knew her and Links name. It’s the serpent eating it’s tail, there is no beginning and no end (until Link kills Ganon or eventually Demise)
eric's reaction to the whole ending sequence was so fucking validating-i'm the first of my friends to finish and haven't been able to talk to ANYONE about it, and i've felt kinda crazy for crying like i did but man. what an excellent ending.
Same here! I cant literally share with ANY friends of mine abt how fantastic this game is. Fortunately I found this channel to re-experience the game with eric !
I know right? I've been putting off ending the game until a few days ago. Basically the perfect ending possible to the game. Something about the absolute badassery of Ganondorf, the way his healthbar just kept going, the Demon Dragon, the little moments of interaction like the prompt for the final attack, the insane explosion... reaching out for Zelda like in the first cutscene, the music. THE MUSIC! Honestly the best game soundtrack in history. No, the best game in history.
1:32:55 is my favorite part of the ending. They hit you with the happiness that she is back and immediately shoot you in the feels with Zelda's lullaby. You see pointcrow's face not knowing what to do. He is smiling because it's a happy moment but the damn lullaby makes his want to cry. They managed to trigger happiness and sadness at the exact same time.
I think the ending is perfect as is. I've seen people complain that turning Zelda back invalidated her sacrifice because it meant she didn't suffer enough or face any consequences for her actions. I couldn't disagree more. It's a wonderful ending because it made me feel so overjoyed to see her back to normal and able to get another chance at life again. She put in the work needed for a happy ending because she fully accepted that she'd never change back. Rauru and Sonia helped Link change her back because they loved Zelda and wanted to fulfill their promise to return her home safely to Link. Some people are just obsessed with the idea of "punishing" characters that they fail to see the forest for the trees. Plus, not changing Zelda back would have completely wasted all the character development she went through in BOTW, learning to live with failure and loss after a lifetime of struggle.
Zelda's lullaby in that spot made me tear up for the exact reasons you stated. Then they hit you with it AGAIN when you're reaching out to catch Zelda with layering over that awesome TotK main theme. And THEN they layer the BotW main theme over the end of the TotK main theme. I'm a sucker for the music in these cutscenes, but these ones just hit different.
I think the reason why Zelda could get recovered, is because, as Sonia once said about how to use Recall "You have to know the objects memory", and Link literally traveled all of Hyrule to get Zelda's memories. That was "just" a really advanced Recall.
God loves you brother/sister. Know Jesus and accept Him as Lord and Savior and you will be saved. He gives peace for he is the prince of peace. God Bless!
@@ItsMeMikeTysonokay but while we’re on the topic of religion I have a really specific theory about deltarune and the seven deadly sins. okay so there’s seven chapters and seven sins and seven secret bosses possibly. so the first one is jevil, the embodiment of pride, because he feels free in his prison cell and thinks everyone else is locked away. the second one so far is spamton, the embodiment of greed, who was so caught up in his own success all of his friends left him, leaving him to be alone after he was evicted and his sales dropped to zero. his greed caused him to crave power after the events before deltarune chapter 2 and caused him to discover and want to embody the neo suit. so in order, the third one is lust. so when chapter 3 comes out, the secret boss will most likely embody lust. thank you for coming to my ted talk.
@@オタクもの This was already explained in dlc cutscenes and diaries/ lore tablets in BOTW. Link is just in a really focused zone when he flurry rushes so he sees everything slowed down, same thing for bullet time. It's just an extreme zone of focus. No time powers shenanigans.
When going to face the final boss, you can find a single torch lying on the ground, right where we first encounter Ganondorf at the beginning of the game. Zelda's torch :') I think that's very neat little thing to tie the beginning and the ending even more
Speaking of zelda and torches, PC never went to get the hylian garbs from the castle… i mean he might have, but it definitely wasn’t shown in the videos
This. This is how a Ganondorf fight is made. An exact copy of you the player, using all 4 main weapons, being able to literally dodge and counter your attacks. It’s so cool man. I love this game.
Fun fact: After beating the game you get a new icon next to your sages vows icon in the loading screen. This icon is the same icon that Recall has and that would in turn mean that Recall is The Vow of Zelda, Sage of time, technically. Edit: JESUS CHRIST, 688 likes?? I haven’t been able to thank y’all but now I am so thank you so much!
Another Fun Fact (with a side of minor spoliers for an armor set): We all know that the sages get funny looking hats when we take on the Divine Helms but one sage does not get a funny hat, Mineru. But that’s not true. The divine helms have something to do with the sages funny helms so that logic Carries over to Mineru and if we take on the Zonite Helm, her construct gets the funny red hair from the helm
For anyone confused about how the time loop works, it's a fixed loop, which means Zelda existed as a dragon from the beginning of Hyrule until the events at the end of the game. This includes the events of Breath of the Wild, which does indeed mean there was, for a time, two Zeldas, and for an even longer time, two Master Swords. But No paradoxes are created as Dragon Zelda and the Broken Sword were, as far as we're aware, in isolation.
Zelda existed in two different forms so there's no overlap--that is, until she resonated with rauru's stone. i feel like she would've been sent back in time regardless whether she fell or not because now there's more than one being with time powers existing in the same era; in fact it seems like an unspoken rule that that isn't allowed and she was sent back to maintain balance. It sends her back to before the light dragon's existence so there's still no overlap with having the two zelda...but sonia was another time power user, and that's one too many in that era now that zelda showed up.
1:18:01 I love the detail of the slight laugh at "limits", as though Ganondorf cant help but scoff at the idea of his powers being limited. Also the extending healthbar is such a cool trick, it gets me every time, I love it. Great game.
Right? It's such a good trick to get the player to have the same "oh crap" moment that Link and the others would have seeing his transformation in game.
The French voice actress did an amazing job as well, so emotionally powerful! Recommend listening to the Russian one, I don't speak Russian so it just sounds like she says 'Spicy Nuts' which broke me.
Honestly, Botw/Totk Zelda has to be one of the most INSANE Zelda's. Like imagine watching some of your closest friends die beside you in battle TWICE. I'm surprised she doesn't have serious ptsd.
Her way of coping is being productive. The occasional nightmares probably happen between both of them, but since they went through the same experience up to a point, they can comfort each other. If its any consulation, both she and link have had a few years to mourn and process what they went through before totk. Heck thats what champion's ballad is all about: accepting and coming to terms with what he lost and who. Hanging up the picture in his house is the start of the healing process.
At first you might think it's called tears of the kingdom because of the shape of the secret stones... then you realize it's not that. That last memory broke me man. I almost cried, which I almost never do for games
Oh I cried the first time I got it, then again after I rewatched the memory, and even now watching it for the third time I was so close to full-on sobbing
This... ONE game.... has proven to me why the series is called the 'Legend of ZELDA' and not 'The Legend of Link'. This -girl- Queen put in the hours, days, years, centuries, and MILLENNIA for her people!
i like to imagine the distorted choir we hear when rauru imprisons ganondorf isn't just game music, but the actual sounds coming from rauru's sealing magic. it's so eerie to imagine those voices repeating the same notes over and over and over again for literally thousands of years as ganondorf and rauru are just frozen there, slowly rotting away
I already beat the game but that scene where she transforms still brings me to tears. Sidons and Mipha's theme make me tear up, Zelda's Transformation makes me cry, and Sonia's death makes me sad. Sad game. Literal tears of the kingdom
30:00 been watching both point crow’s and RT game’s play throughs and it’s honestly hilarious that PC didn’t see a lynel the entire play though considering I think RT has fought at least one per video
1:30:50 “Unfortunately, the kingdom of Hyrule was completely obliterated in the catastrophic explosion. There were no survivors…as the Demon King had intended the whole time.”
I find it really cool how in Botw Zelda is the one fighting Ganon while Link sleeps and then she helps him recover his memories and his life before. While in Totk it’s Link taking the fight to Ganondorf while Zelda is sleeping as the light dragon. Link helps Zelda recover her sense of self just as she helped him recover his memories. I love story telling like this.
@@オタクもの" LET ME TELL YOU LINK, THOSE CATARACTS WERE KILLING ME IN THAT DRAGON FORM, EVERYTHING WAS REALLY BLURRY AND I COULDN'T SEE TWO SHITS. I RAN INTO A MOUNTAIN ONCE OR TWICE." - Nintendo Approved Zelda.
I just think that having her turn back without any real explanation as to why it’s possible kind of diminishes that moment a bit. It would have been a bittersweet ending if Zelda had saved Hyrule but had to stay a dragon forever.
sometimes this game makes me cry. and then sometimes i think about the prayer Zelda gave in botw when Link was appointed as her knight, "whether skyward bound, adrift in time, or steeped in the embers of twilight, the sacred blade is forever bound to the soul of the Hero." and that she personally assured that the sword would find him through all of those things, and I SOB.
omg, it was actually so cleverly covered up as "oh she's just making a reference to previous zelda games, skyward sword, ocarina of time, twilight princess". but NO, no, those happened in totk, he was sent to the skies and explored the heavens prior unknown with the sword, and that same sword, shattered and cursed, was sent away through time to a period thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years ago. adrift in time, it soon returned to the hands of Link, who possessed the soul of the Hero, until he, and his Master Sword, ventured to the Depths.. of twilight and took on the Demon King.
@@hudsonsonne9280 Bro i did some of the duplication glitches and i went down here all the way and i nearly beat the game 🤣 im on like technically the second main quest lmao
During my playthrough, well before I was getting close to finishing the game, I went into the stormcloud that had dragonhead island on a whim, and found Mineru's mask and got her as a sage early and let me tell you, finding that on complete accident really hit different. I am so glad the game lets you do that.
It tries to make you go on a whole quest to get this lightning armor or something but I didn’t have to do that cause I went to the Yiga hidout and got the thunder helm so I was good in the storm
@@audrey-bx3lw the lightning armor just adds lightning elemental status to weapons in thunderstorms, the reason for doing the quest is that it dismisses the clouds, allowing you to see up there. Not to protect from lightning
he managed to satisfy that itch for a first time experience. I was waiting for Demon King to flurry rush his flurry rush the entire fight, and he did it right before that parry, which I was also waiting for. I just wish he realized why the game had two dragons in the art
@@_inSight__ Bro i did some of the duplication glitches and i went down here all the way and i nearly beat the game 🤣 im on like technically the second main quest lmao
i am absolutely bawling. i've never played a Legend of Zelda game, and i didn't really have much interest in Breath of the Wild; but here i am, i've raptly sat through hours and hours of others' gameplay, and i have laughed and cried wondered at this incredible game. i'd like to thank you, eric, and your entire support team, for bringing this into my life. i have never loved a video game, and a person in this way, so much as i have now. thank you.
Zelda didnt actually spend 10 thousand years like that. It was way more. Zelda turned into a dragon in the era of HYRULES FOUNDING. 10,000 years ago is the era of the shiekah and first calamity. Hyrule was founded way before that. It was probably more than a hundred thousand years
I distinctly remember characters mentioning the number of 10.000 year in reference to the time Zelda went back to, this game just retconned a bunch of stuff from botw
@@BananaLair It didn't, the game rarely mention what happened in botw, but history of calamity Ganon from 10 000 years are mentioned, when talking about Hyrule Founding they never say a specific date.
The moment I realized it was Zelda's torch, I took it with me. I have no clue what I'm gonna do with it, but I'm definitely gonna find some sort of use for it
You know that happened to me? After fight in the Sanctum, I've come back to Purah. They have been talking about preparations to fight Ganondorf as usual. The problem, I've already found Master Sword and fifth Sage. So, at the end Purah said "Oh, why you didn't told us this earlier? Now you can face Ganondorf, we just need to find him"
lol yeah I had the same experience. I saw the thunderhead isles and thought "that looks interesting, I'm sure there's SOMETHING in there." Sure enough, something was in there. I was also convinced that the castle would be the final mission in the game, so I did every major main quest and side adventure besides it first.
I did NOT pack enough Sunny meals so I ended up fighting phase 2 Ganondorf with 1 non-gloomed heart left, and then he hit me Then I learned I had 4 fairies in my inventory Most intense final boss in the Zelda series
Crow might be right about the “loving embrace” referring to Link catching Zelda in the air, but I initially thought it was Rauru, Sonia, and Link combining their love of her together to wake her up. Either way, tears upon tears man.
@@rigen97In a literal sense, Rauru's light, Sonia's time manipulation and Link's own power would feel exactly what it looked like as how she described: a warm feeling washing over her like an embrace. It works both metaphorically as well since both Sonia and Rauru know they're blood related to her and obviously treated her like a daughter in their time. Unfortunately, that makes one interpretation kinda awkward for shippers since the sequence can also be taken as Link being an older brother
1:13:24 I like how they have inputted the mechanic that they had in BotW where the more sages you gain vows from, the less bosses you have to fight, which is this games version of the more Divine Beasts you beat the less health Calamity Ganon starts with. *“Get all 5 sages? Go straight to Ganondorf. Beat all 4 Divine Beasts? Start the boss with half its health.”* Edit: If you wanna see what it’s like to just go *Straight to Ganon,* go look up AstralSpiffs video on what he did with that. _Pain and Suffering abound._
There's up to 6 bosses that you can fight before Ganon depending on how many Sage quests you skip. The 5 Sage bosses plus Phantom Ganon (if you didn't fight him in Hyrule Castle). Also BoTW had the same mechanic of fighting any divine beasts bosses you didn't defeat before you did Ganon.
@@lasagnasoul It’s one after the other. In order, it’s: -Demon King’s Army -Colgera -Marbled Gohma -Mucktorok -Queen Gibdo -Seized Construct -Phantom Ganon
@@and_rei1020not too sure, saw someone play the game and they didn’t find the sage of spirit either, the ending cutscenes are a tad different. But basically Zelda dragon pulls up and then you take the sword.
@@OmAr-sr1sn though honestly this game might actually be worth replaying (assuming you don't go for 100% completion the first time round), because of how much sequence-breaking you can do.
Man something i have to say is the soundtrack in this game goes absolutely nuts. The cutscene of Zelda healing the Master Sword, the ending where she's falling and many more moments just get elevated so much because of the music
Just realized when Ganondorf begins the final fight, he says he will crush any opposition and rule, because that's what a king must do. That's a great contrast to Rauru, who went into the final fight to protect his kingdom and his citizens even knowing he will lose his life, because THAT'S what a king must do.
This game is perfect man, I am speechless. The only thing I can say still that hasnt been said in the comments already is that when you catch Zelda, after the incredible catch shot, you can actually see Link pull her into a hug before tucking in for the impact, which really makes the "Loving Embrace" line even better.
I never knew thought, I found the boss way too easy cuz I just used a combo of rocket shield, x5 bow and gibdo bones and he was dead in like 2 minutes. Kind if underwhelming for me but still really cool.
@@terriplays1726 Holy shit that would be a great idea. If he could actually flurry you in the final battle in master mode. There would have to be some way to dodge it yourself though or it would be a tad OP.
One of the things I like the most about the final fight is how Ganondorf constantly belittles you. It’s just really funny, especially if you actually mess up as much as I did during my first try. The best is still when he dodges your attack with his own backflip. I don’t know what he says in English since I play the game in German but if you translate „Nichts da!“ which he says when he dodges, it says something akin to „forget it!“ or „not on my watch!“. Still my favourite final boss in the entire series.
I find it funny how people were complaining how the ganon fight in botw was easy so the devs were like “aight bet” and make THREE boss fight for this and one of them the health bar is off center like damn they took that personally
@@audrey-bx3lw 3 boss fights that occur right after a large scale unavoidable enemy gauntlet too. Which is made even more intense if you didnt do any of the sage quests since they need to be there to keep the boss spawns busy, otherwise you fight them in a gauntlet too similar to the Blight bosses in BotW.
A correction here, Zelda wasn't sent 10000 years back in time, she was sent back to the BEGINNING, they said in Botw that Calamity Ganon revives every 10000 years meaning it must have happened before, also if we do the math after Calamity Ganon came back it had been 10000 years, and when Link woke up in the shrine of resurrection it had been 100 years, so technically Zelda was sent AT LEAST 10100 years back in time
she was sent back about 20,000 years to the past. 10,000 years is when the malice from ganon’s imprisonment was too much that it manifested into a being that the sheikah-backed hyrule had to face with their tech and then another 10,000 years to return in botw.
@@rynxuzouldn't that be 30000 years then? They would have to have experienced Calamity Ganon once already to know to make the guardians and such right? Edit: They also said that Calamity Ganon was an evil that revived time and time again didn't they? I think 100100 years is a good guess but that's reaching speculation. Anyway it was a LONG time. I have thought that she could have been sent all the way back to before Skyward Sword so maybe millions of years? But on the Zonai Map they had a castle and there wasn't a castle (That we know of) in Skyward Sword
@@DynamicMagi I don't personally think that Sonia and Rauru's time was before or directly after SS (it has to be after tho, as Ganondorf is an incarnation of Demise's curse). Imo they are the founders of a new Hyrule, after every game in the timeline, when they already were just legends and myths...
@@rynxuz in botw we are told calamity ganon gas plagued hyrule countless times, if it happened every 10,000 years after ganondorfs sealing then we are talking at least 50,000 years probably more like 100,000
@@oniondesu9633 right right, forgot about that detail. in any case, it’s hella shocking for zelda to travel that far in the past and still not make it to the time of the other games 😂 makes you think that maybe the legends have been happening for maybe a million years? perhaps more?
It's worth remembering, folks: PointCrow was saying Zelda was up there for 10,000 years, but if you remember Breath of the Wild, the Divine Beasts were used 10,000 years ago to defeat Calamity Ganon. So it's safe to assume that it takes about 10,000 years for a Calamity Ganon to manifest from Ganondorf's latent power, which means Zelda was a dragon for *at least* 20,000 years.
But then you also gotta remember that calamity Ganon is referred to as an ancient evil that has appeared time and time again, meaning he has shown up *multiple* times, meaning it could have been anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000+ years
I personally think it was around a million, since the events in the past take place around the founding of Hyrule, or the generation after Skyward Sword. Meaning Zelda and the master sword were flying above the cloud barrier for the entirety of the timeline. I choose to think that BOTW takes place FAR beyond Skyward Sword or OoT, so to me she was a Dragon for literally 1,000,000+ years
The amount of time between "normal" calamity manifestations could be way shorter, with the period between the time of the ancient sheikah and BotW being so long because they blasted him with mecha then locked him in a sheikah-made stasis chamber. That said, we have no idea how long there is between the imprisoning war and the time of the ancient sheikah, so it's at *least* more than ten millenia, possibly way more.
The big twists in this game are so great because they hit completely different depending on the order you do things. I reached the Light Dragon pretty early on, got the Master Sword, and thought "Wait how the heck did the sword get here?" And then the Tears let me piece it all together.
I remember getting the master sword and going "thanks for putting the master sword on flying dragon Zelda". I proceed to binge the memories right after and why they mentioned draconification (I did the memories in order) I was able to guess what happened to Zelda. The final memory still hit me like a truck though.
i got some memories, went to the korok forest pretty early and got the sword so i got some of the story and everything, had a similar thought process as you, then the rest of the memories, slowly started dawning on me, it still hit hard tho
I went under the castle pretty early and almost started the fight with gannondorf without the sages but I found the hidden stone tablets and that’s how I figured out that Zelda became the dragon and I didn’t have any memories lol
Still can't believe some people called this 'DLC'. Also, Tulin must be so thrilled at the end. He's so young, but not only is he the Sage of Wind, but also best buds with Princess Zelda, the hero of Hyrule and all the various leaders of the other races. Teba must be so proud.
@@regann7227 tbh the trailers were really sneaky. I cant blame people for underestimating its size based on what they showed in the trailers, but Im really happy thats how they did it. The pure joy of the game expanding and expanding and expanding as you play is absurd.
I like how almost everything in the end mirrored the beginning of the game. Including falling after her. I also just realized the ouroboros symbol represents Light Dragon and Demon Dragon.
One thing I like about the story this time around, is that in BOTW, Zelda is trying to make peace with her role as a chosen guardian. In TOTK she learns what it means to lead Hyrule, what it means to sacrifice herself for the greater good. I hope if there is a third BOTW type Zelda, we can see Zelda leading Hyrule in some way, making use of her experience in the past.
@@Hot_Earth_MSM 1:36:34 when Zelda said she felt a warm embrace when she woke up. The parrallels of us not being able to catch her at the beginning and finally catching her at the end TT
Even as dragons the cycle continues Zelda fights Gannon even with no memories that still fight the prophecy is so strong it even goes through draconifacation. Incredible 1:24:25
I love that contrast so much. Ganondorf thinks kingship means crushing the world under his heel. Rauru acts like a true king by laying down his life to save others.
You can even see the way the triforce parts cause Zelda and Ganondorf to act. Zelda uses her wisdom to determine that the best way for her to restore the master sword, get it to link 10,000 years in the future, and have a shot at killing the demon king is to become a dragon. Ganondorf becomes a dragon because he is willing to sacrifice his mind, memories, body, everything, just to gain that much more power.
As others have said, Ganondorf was _not_ sealed 10,000 years prior - that was when the Sheikah first defeated Calamity Ganon, and when the Divine Beasts and guardians were first created - and BotW makes it clear that Calamity was a recurring problem for some time prior, as well. She was a dragon for probably closer to 100,000 years, if not _longer_ depending on your interpretation of where it takes place in the overall LoZ timeline
@@LD-hs9iv BotW is in some fuck-off distant future, where most of the branching timelines meet back in the middle sometime prior to canon, and TotK is either a retcon of SS, or It's just been so long that the kingdom of Hyrule has been founded twice. There isn't really enough information to go off of to say which is more accurate - though I personally prefer the latter
When I saw the Storm Clouds above Faron I knew that there must be something inside, so I went in and stumbled my way into the shrine. I must've landed directly on the right island, because I skipped the entire sequence of islands most people seemed to have went through and I teleported back there like 4 times before I finally had enough hearts to open the door. I was like "for all that effort this better not be a Rauru's Blessing Shrine or something shitty like that". It took until I was finished with the left leg for me to check the adventure log and realise that this is, in fact, a main quest.
Tbh don't hate me for this, but imagine if after Zelda says "I'm home" in the final cutscene, she gets run through with Ganondorf's sword and you have to fight him for a billion more phases. Lol just kidding, that's honestly a bit too morbid, but I do wish that maybe if the player dies in the final fight, the game shows a cutscene for Ganon winning (maybe one cutscene for Ganondorf winning and one for Demon Dragon winning). Ngl as soon as I saw that Ganondorf used a Japanese sword, I could not stop imagining Aerith's death scene in FF7 but with Zelda and Ganondorf. However, that would be way too dark for even this game I think
Fun fact, all those red fire orb yhings ganon shoots at you that steal max health, they can all be shot back at him by swinging at them with the sword.
@Jeff Scott lol, fun story, thats the same reason I swung at them in the first place. The first one he did is when he holds his hand over his head and shoots 3 of them at you. My brain said "ping pong rematch!!!"
I have seen so many videos of people fighting Ganondorf and wondered why no one was trying it? I saw that shit first thing and my brain was like "Tennis? TENNIS!!!"
Just a note: 10,000 years before present was the most recent Calamity Ganon fought by the ancient Sheikah Tech. So the memories recovered in Tears is much, much older.
@@midnight6284 my theory is that this is either a new timeline completely, explaining why Nintendo hasn't placed botw in their timeline, Or fully in the beginning, around skyward sword, ouroboros and all that
So... we're all agreed this is the best Princess Zelda ever, right? She made the mother of all gambits because she had so much faith in Link and even took the time to set Ganondorf up for a fall. She's just a wonderful character. 🥰
I don’t think it’s a very common criticism anymore, but anyone who still thinks Zelda just serves as a “damsel in distress…” 15:00. That woman is the savior of Hyrule. Without her, what’s Link to do? My god what a scene. The intense rendition of Zelda’s Lullaby just hits so hard as well.
Seriously. Anyone who complains "wy no playable zelda" should just know that Nintendo knows better than you do. They know how to make a game. The role Zelda played in this game was perfect.
@@ComicCrossing right? BOTW centered on her too. Sure, you play as Link, but all the cutscenes in these two games are Zelda growing as a character, and hoooo boy what a growth. From a (justifiably imo) whiny teen with an overbearing dad to a young woman sacrificing herself for the greater good, not once, but twice. She didn’t know what would happen once Calamity Ganon swallowed her, but she did it. And she did it again in this game. This might be my favorite Zelda iteration of the franchise.
@@JacobBush16 Broke: Zelda is a boring character, and Link deserves better like Mipha or Sidon or whoever Woke: Zelda is an interesting, multilayered character and Link should be with her A S C E N D E D: Nobody deserves Zelda, woman held off Ganondorf's hatred towards life for a whole 100 years then supercharged the Master Sword for probably 50,000 years as an unthinking dragon, her only thought helping her people and Link
If im doing my math correctly.. Zelda lost 12 friends/family, and many more of the Hyrule people, and chose to sacrifice herself in hopes to save the rest of Hyrule.. this set of games are so jam packed with heartbreaking story.. phenomenal game, absolutely beautiful
1:34:37 I strongly believe water has no surface tension in Hyrule 😂 Also, why can't link hold on to his shirt for a second meanwhile zelda turned into a dragon and back and she STILL has her clothes all with the fancy accessories and secret stone intact. You're better than that, link
It’s so cool how there are different ways to go about this game. If you don’t do the dragons tears quest to find the master sword you can also save the deku tree and he’ll send you to it. This game is so good
i was mid-water temple when i saw zelda flying around, so i decided to get a few scales to upgrade my champion's leathers. i assumed she would be just like all the other dragons but then i saw the sword in her head. i was kinda disappointed at how easy it is to find, you literally just need to get a few stamina vessels and then look up. it makes sense from a lore perspective as to why she's just flying around with the sword, but it should've been more hidden in my opinion. maybe make her fly way higher up before you find all the tears and force you to fall down if you get too close, kinda like the mist in korok forest
@@duckified. you still need the Stamina, which is around… 48 shrines to get? Not to mention most players don’t realize you can walk on the dragons, as well as the Light dragon requires around 3 hours to fully go across the world. Rather than the others who stay in their respective areas. It’s just pure luck you managed to come across it yeah, but even with the way this world is built; it builds to the mystery I’d you don’t know.
@@duckified. heavy disagree, what's the point of locking away the Master Sword even further. If you have the required stamina and manage to get on the dragon's head, you should get the master sword. Lore wise it makes little sense for it to be further locked away, since Zelda *wants* you to have it and gameplay wise it's hidden enough without the Tears/Deku tree that most players wouldn't discover it until they're directly told where it is.
1:18:10 just realized that the carving on Ganondorf’s secret stone is actually a Chinese word or Japanese Kanji ‘闇’, which both has a same meaning of darkness, foreshadowing the character of the menace himself, such a cool detail!
It’s stylized but all the secret stones have a character for their element or power. I don’t know Chinese, where the symbols originate, but I do know some Japanese and ‘川’ is river and is on Sidon’s secret stone for example.
Perhaps hes the "sage of shadow". Given that the original Sages included Forest and Shadow which became Wind and Lightning for the new generation of Sages we see here, Ganondorf couldve had the power of "shadow".
@@Birdthefeatheredone I took a look at all of the carvings on their secret stones, they are all stylised Chinese or Japanese Kanji that have the relevant meaning to their respective sages
This is what its about. I cried playing it, and again watching you experience it for the first time. Raw emotion. A perfect story. Thanks for this Eric.
I never played a Zelda game in my life, but watching this playthrough made me emotional and want someone to hug me in my sleep. TOTK made me realize why the series is called The Legend of Zelda. It's not just about boy with a shield and sword saving the Kingdom from a Demon lord, but a Princess spending millennias to save her people. The people in which we observe, help, and grow with throughout our journey. I never expected a franchise would be as deep, but it's late to realize that now lol. Tears of the Kingdom is such a gem, and I won't be surprised if it gets Game of The Year.
This is the first game ever to genuinely make me cry. I can say without a shadow of a doubt. This is the best game of all time and I do not think anything can top it.
Your emotions at the end of this game pretty much summed up my emotions. The journey of BOTW and TOTK is just magical (chaotic magical if you did a lot of shenanigans like me 😂)
4:00 Its called a Bootstrap Paradox, its not the first time its been used in Zelda Games, it was also used to teach the Song of Storms in OoT, presumably Link from MM taught the musician in the Windmill who taught OoT Adult Link who then played it as Young Link earlier than MM Link erasing MM Link from the loop. In this loop, some things around Hyrule changed, monsters were defeated in different locations removing or making bone fossils appear where they didn't before.
The live stream was crazy. At the Finale everyone spammed chat. Superchats going insane with the $50-$200 Donos. Everyone bawling their eyes out from the fact that this game is amazing and the end of the story was just super sad. Everyone spamming “I WAS HERE” and “WOOOOOOO”. Crazy experience.
@@gavinrudd3489 I was watching a live stream. Dude I watched EVERY Live stream. For the past week in a row the second they went live. I wasn’t watching a VOD or when the stream was over. I watched all of the 40+ hours live.
@@gavinrudd3489 I mean your over here just telling people what they did and didn’t do. I’m not trying to flex, I’m trying to tell you that you can’t just tell people they did this or that on a whim.
Something i was kind of bummed about was that very little people noticed that the last phase of demon king Gannondorf was a callback to OoT where you use the master sword to deflect his attacks back at him. It's a cool detail i haven't seen anyone try
Well, you sorta don't get a chance to see it unless you're swinging your sword from way out of range. I only saw it by accident. Kinda a shame, but it is a neat touch.
You mean the tennis mechanic? I mean it was also in ALTTP before OoT, but yeah. I had no idea you could even swing your sword at those orbs to hit them back, I should've trried
17:02 every single memory I went to, Zelda was flying overhead when I came out. Every single memory. I put the pieces together by accident before the Tears, because while I was on the Water Temple, Zelda flew by close enough that I could see the Master Sword. And since I knew that Zelda was the last person to have the Master Sword, I knew it had to be her. I searched out the Dragon Tears to find out what happened and why. BOTW/AOC/TOTK Zelda is by far my favourite incarnation, pushing the OG Skyward Sword Zelda out of that long held spot by a massive margin. Link’s devotion to her is understandable. She fought for a century against the Calamity in BOTW, she blew Ganon*2 to pieces in AOC and she sacrificed everything to protect Hyrule against possibly the strongest Ganondorf to date, and I don’t even think he’s the original Ganondorf, the OOT, TP, WW Ganondorf. He’s the newest incarnation of Demise’s curse and came the closest to retaking his original form as the Demon King. Edit: it became very funny whenever I came across Yiga traps or even Ganondorf trying to use her form to trick me, because I could just look out into the skyline and see Zelda whenever I felt like checking.
all i can say is many people in the community have been thinking this will be the last zelda game ever and personally i don't think this series can ever really end until we get confirmation that the curse demise put on link and zelda has been undone and that they can finally live their lives as just normal people, whichever version of link and zelda that may be. i pray it's these 2 though
@@sebastianramirez9090 I have noticed that there was zero references to Vaati in BotW or TotK. I dont know why they'd try to make another direct sequel but they do still have cards to play if they really wanted to. Obviously there's a lot of land outside Hyrule to explore too.
I mean, I doubt they’ll sunset the series anytime soon, but if they did here it would be going out with one hell of a bang. I haven’t seen a game this confident in itself in years, perhaps ever.
thanks :)
Your welcome
Your welcome my boy
Yes
That ending was magical
Thank you for this :)
There's so much symbolism and symmetry in this story, I love it!
Going through the same corridors at the beginning and end
Zelda falling, and Link missing her hand--Zelda falling at the end and Link catching her.
Ganondorf bent backwards at the beginning, and rising--only to be forced back down before becoming a dragon
Rauru saying that as King, its his duty to protect his people--Ganondorf saying that as King, its his right to conquer.
Zelda giving up her being to save her kingdom--Ganondorf not willing to give up his pride, even to the point of destroying himself.
Pulling the Master Sword from the Light Dragon's forehead--only to plunge it into the head of the demon dragon
Then, of course, the ouroboros logo foreshadowing the fight between the light and dark dragons, and symbolizing the never ending loop of evil and good that Hyrule is caught in.
Phenomenal game. Absolutely wonderful.
I couldn’t have said it better ❤ fantastic storytelling and wonderful summary ❤
Couldn’t have said it any better and yes it was phenomenal
Don’t forget, BotW started with “destroy Ganon” and TotK ended with “destroy Gamondorf”
@@Birdthefeatheredone gamondorf
2 other good ones from a separate game is 1) Skyward Sword’s intro has a scene of Zelda falling and Link diving after her but failing to catch her as well so that one is even more of a hit and 2) Ganondorf rips the Secret Stone from his forehead and is later stabbed there as well calling back to Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker where he was also stabbed through the forehead and Demise having a scar in the same spot as Ganondorf’s stone was
i really like how the game started with link failing to grab zelda as she falls, and it ends with link actually reaching her. the whole story is just so satisfying to watch as it unfolds
this so much and also the contrast and symbolism around where both scenes take place: the first in the darkness underground after the evil just awoke, the second one against a sunlit sky after the evil has been destroyed. Cheff's kiss story telling
Not really actually reaching her considering they're she's not falling
@@juanisimocr3813 fr
As someone who beat the game today oh my gosh yeah I don’t know how I didn’t realize that
i literally cried watching that, probably the most beautiful/emotional zelda ending
I like how the editors cut the video to make it look like he didn’t spend like 37 minutes on specific puzzles. Then I look for the chat to say “Let him cook.”
he was absolutely cooking though 😎
Let him cook
He's gotta feed a family of four.
Too bad he keeps burning it and making it inedible
@ZorotheGallade how's he gonna feed dead people
i'll never get over the fact that all the sages have super specific skills and link has like
a sword
and a lot of audacity
i would count slowing down time to attack as his skill
@@ibimssss and tbe power to be the only warrior in the entire kingdom to consider dodging apparently
Ever since BotW and the flurry-rush/midair-archery/laser-parry slowdown I've headcanoned that brief bursts of superspeed are Link's "Champion power".
he has the power of Courage
He did state in a book entry that when he doges attacks it’s feels like time slows down for him so maybe he does really slow down time and that’s why he has had a time power in both games. Think about it the abilities you have in this game have nothing to do with the ones you got in the other game aside from recall which just like stasis had something to do with time. Stasis could stop time on an object and recall can well recall time and it’s funny how that’s the power that saved Zelda and how they “channeled their power through link” idk though just a theory.
The implication that dragons aren't *completely* mindless -- that they retain their reason for transformation as their core directive and instinct, even if they lose the ability to think or plan in the process -- is really cool, honestly. Ganondorf's desire to kill Link stone cold fucking dead and to drown Hyrule in darkness means he stays aggressive even after becoming a dragon; Zelda's desire to help Link save everyone means she comes in during the final battle after Ganondorf transforms. "What does this mean about the other dragons?" I dunno, man, they're just fuckin' out there, you tell me
I feel like the other three are other Zonai, likely Zonai that we used to know in lore as Din, Farore, and Nayru. The goddesses were not immortal deities, they were beings with godlike power who consumed their secret stones for the ability to watch over their world for eternity.
@@ethanrose9682 i thought it was confirmed in botw (possibly totk?) that the dragons were created in the image of the golden goddesses, not the goddesses themselves transformed?
@@ethanrose9682 i thought it was confirmed in botw (possibly totk?) that the dragons were created in the image of the golden goddesses, not the goddesses themselves transformed?
@@ethanrose9682 nah the Goddesses are absolutely still actual goddesses. We know for a fact that gods exist and werent just the Zonai given that there are Goddess statues everywhere that actually help you and the fact that Skyward Sword has to be canon given that even this game directly references Fi with how the Master Sword sounds. I dont think this game is some huge retcon like others believe. So the Triforce and 3 godesses still exist. But Its way past the Wind Waker. Wind Waker Link and Tetra/Zelda leave the Great Sea to find other lands and establish a new Hyrule. Which they do. But who knows what becomes of it. Because thousands of years later the flood waters of the Great Sea finally recede allowing the Zonai who have been safe up in the air all this time (perhaps the evolution of the Oocoo) and the people who remained in the Great Sea to settle the land once again. The Zonai create their temples and start mining but whatever happens in this period leads to the decline of the Zonai until there are 2 left. One of the last Zonai Rauru then decides to found a new Kingdom of Hyrule. Perhaps its fate, or perhaps he bases it off an ancient Kingdom he heard used to exist generations ago. Regardless with a new Hyrule the cycle begins once again and Ganondorf is reborn.
@@ethanrose9682 theyre no different than any other minor deity named after the goddesses, like the light spirits and skyward sword dragons. the actual goddesses are mostly absent.
20:50 “I think the really sad part about all of this is not the 10,000 years she spent healing the master sword. It’s the forever more she’ll have wandering the world with no other purpose.” 5 seconds later, “can I like put a meat on it?”
Underrated comment
It probably wasn't even 10K years lmao
It's important to note that many other calamities occurred in between the events of Hyrule's founding and the present time in TOTK.
@@endlord_1.185 no it was definitely OVER 10k years, because Calamity occurred after the founding!
@@emma.wise.music. That's what i was saying... or at least trying to. I probably could have made that more clear, but that's the point i was trying to get across.
:)
When I reached phase 2 of Ganondorf I had made a bunch of recipes just to remove curses. Cue panic once I discover he really *can* completely remove heart containers and the intro wasn't just a throwaway explanation
On the other hand, because it seems to only remove 1 container per hit (and no physical damage), it's actually much more manageable unless you were REALLY abusing healing items.
@@sinteleon yeah, while a spooky thing to see it didn't really affect me since i play without being allowed to heal in battle (cause i find the challenge more fun) and i was already just one 1 heart by then, still beat him first try though. All those phantom ganons i fought because i was thinking you needed to kill them all for a medal gave me a lot of practice in dodging his attacks.
I went in with a few dozen hearty meals and I had just found a grove of apple trees resulting in 140 apples being turned into meals. Cue shocked Pikachu face when I realize that I hadn't made a single sundelion meal and was out of zonal pots. Still won but with only 3 hearts still usable, very poetic.
That part cost me nearly all my shields bc I didn’t realize I had to parry to be able to hit him
@@samboi123 You dont, you can flurry rush. The fight for me went I dodge and flurry rush, he dodges and flurry rushes and then I dodge his flurry rush and go for one of my own which finally hits.
Ganondorf literally taking away your hearts like he does at the start was genius, because you aren't leaving the fight ever again anyway. If you wanna keep playing, it puts you before the fight.
It was actually super lucky too. He probably had fairies so he probably would've lived..... but if he had taken weapon attacks during that phase, he would've lost his last 1.5 hearts and died. It was those gloom attacks that cut hearts off the max instead, and he i-framed long enough to get back into the fight each time.
Can't believe the red toy seal was the last hope after all of this
I guess you could say ganondorf was sealed away ;)
@@awesomefox555 nah bro, he literally got blown to sub-atomic particles.
@@isdisgudnam nah, bro he was annihilated 10,000x over
It really seems like divine fate
and it was hilariously cute
@@isdisgudnam wooosh
Only Zelda could wake up from a 100,000 year sleep having time traveled into the past and talk about it like it was a field trip.
She friend zoned link ._. I wanted them to kiss, I'm unsatisfied with the ending
@@sheep4272 not necessarily freindzoned, just Nintendo ain't doin that.
@@notageologist3022 whyyyy trash company
@@sheep4272 they lived in the same home you can bet theyre bangin off screen
@@sheep4272 I don't think they need to show it directly for someone to understand that a relationship is clearly there.
Pointcrow brought up that the water would be like a solid surface at the height that they fell. However, before that, Ganondragon grabbed Link in his jaws and then plowed him through like a kilometer of solid bedrock. From this we can just infer that this twink is built DIFFERENT.
Lmao
put the npcs in there THEN you can say that
“Twink” 😂
Twink?
It’s a slang term for androgynous men.
I did that final tear when it was becoming night and when I came out of the memory, all the silent princesses were glowing and that was what sent me to tears
...of the kingdom.
@@d1nodraytouché
Same...and it was raining. It was like the heaven was crying.
@@d1nodraylol
I got that memory in the day and now I really wish I had gotten it at night
I’m glad this game took 6 years otherwise it wouldn’t have been this perfect
the fact that they finished it in 5 but spent an extra year on quality assurance just shows how much they cared
@@scrunkore They still messed up on one thing. I really like the game but it annoys me a little that the mouths are not synced for most cutscenes.
U do know it’s Japanese right?
@@ChomperRex20 It's because it's not an english game so the lips ARE synced to Japanese.
@@MysticWolfy that isn’t true each version of the game is changed that why some versions use different languages for speed runs
That’s also why at the beginning of the game Rarus hand didn’t save Zelda but saved Link, because he knew Zelda would be safe and Link had to live.
Zelda's power took her back to the past, she didn't need saving. Link was the only one left during the encounter.
Especially considering Rauru had no idea who Link even was 😅 Idk. But technically Zelda time warped right before the hand caught Link. Maybe it was enough to change the past and have Rauru know Link.
@@sws212 It wasn’t her power. It was the Recall tear she was holding.
Rauru saved link with his light power and sonia saved Zelda with her time power
@@Angel_Auraa the past would have already been changed, I don’t think there is necessarily a beginning because even before Zelda went back in time Ganon knew her and Links name. It’s the serpent eating it’s tail, there is no beginning and no end (until Link kills Ganon or eventually Demise)
eric's reaction to the whole ending sequence was so fucking validating-i'm the first of my friends to finish and haven't been able to talk to ANYONE about it, and i've felt kinda crazy for crying like i did but man. what an excellent ending.
Same here. it felt like watching my friend experience it and I got to let it all out with him/everyone there
Same here! I cant literally share with ANY friends of mine abt how fantastic this game is. Fortunately I found this channel to re-experience the game with eric !
I know right? I've been putting off ending the game until a few days ago. Basically the perfect ending possible to the game. Something about the absolute badassery of Ganondorf, the way his healthbar just kept going, the Demon Dragon, the little moments of interaction like the prompt for the final attack, the insane explosion... reaching out for Zelda like in the first cutscene, the music. THE MUSIC! Honestly the best game soundtrack in history.
No, the best game in history.
I weeped
1:32:55 is my favorite part of the ending. They hit you with the happiness that she is back and immediately shoot you in the feels with Zelda's lullaby. You see pointcrow's face not knowing what to do. He is smiling because it's a happy moment but the damn lullaby makes his want to cry. They managed to trigger happiness and sadness at the exact same time.
I think the ending is perfect as is. I've seen people complain that turning Zelda back invalidated her sacrifice because it meant she didn't suffer enough or face any consequences for her actions. I couldn't disagree more. It's a wonderful ending because it made me feel so overjoyed to see her back to normal and able to get another chance at life again. She put in the work needed for a happy ending because she fully accepted that she'd never change back. Rauru and Sonia helped Link change her back because they loved Zelda and wanted to fulfill their promise to return her home safely to Link. Some people are just obsessed with the idea of "punishing" characters that they fail to see the forest for the trees. Plus, not changing Zelda back would have completely wasted all the character development she went through in BOTW, learning to live with failure and loss after a lifetime of struggle.
Zelda's lullaby in that spot made me tear up for the exact reasons you stated. Then they hit you with it AGAIN when you're reaching out to catch Zelda with layering over that awesome TotK main theme. And THEN they layer the BotW main theme over the end of the TotK main theme. I'm a sucker for the music in these cutscenes, but these ones just hit different.
@@LilianaKaylee The music in this game is beyond amazing.
I think the reason why Zelda could get recovered, is because, as Sonia once said about how to use Recall "You have to know the objects memory", and Link literally traveled all of Hyrule to get Zelda's memories. That was "just" a really advanced Recall.
God loves you brother/sister. Know Jesus and accept Him as Lord and Savior and you will be saved. He gives peace for he is the prince of peace. God Bless!
@@ItsMeMikeTyson the elmo pfp 💀💀💀
@@ItsMeMikeTysonokay but while we’re on the topic of religion I have a really specific theory about deltarune and the seven deadly sins. okay so there’s seven chapters and seven sins and seven secret bosses possibly. so the first one is jevil, the embodiment of pride, because he feels free in his prison cell and thinks everyone else is locked away. the second one so far is spamton, the embodiment of greed, who was so caught up in his own success all of his friends left him, leaving him to be alone after he was evicted and his sales dropped to zero. his greed caused him to crave power after the events before deltarune chapter 2 and caused him to discover and want to embody the neo suit. so in order, the third one is lust. so when chapter 3 comes out, the secret boss will most likely embody lust. thank you for coming to my ted talk.
@@yourdaddysaidis this a copypasta?
@@AroAce-Popgoes-plush nope
A mech battle and a dragon battle in the same game is crazy
It is such a good game
Mario oddessey😮
To be fair, Skyrim had that in 2011
@@dasaiyantv8483
There were mechs in that game? I only played 50-60 hours, so there's a lot I don't know about Skyrim😂
@@dasaiyantv8483 they had mechs? I’ve never played Skyrim, but I wouldn’t take it as a game with mechs in it.
this actually really makes me feel bad for all those timelines where link died to a bokoblin or soldier construct or fall damage
jumping off the sky islands for the first time, only to accidentally faceplant into the ground
But I have theory, what if link has time power, he can slow time and attack super fast (flurry rush)
@@オタクもの That would make Ganondorf have Time power on top of everything he has as well
@@オタクもの This was already explained in dlc cutscenes and diaries/ lore tablets in BOTW. Link is just in a really focused zone when he flurry rushes so he sees everything slowed down, same thing for bullet time. It's just an extreme zone of focus. No time powers shenanigans.
So they do happen ?
Your choice of shield fusion really helped SEAL his fate
Fr fr
*ba dum tss*
I would like that, but the likes are already a nice number so 👍
Bruh😂
That's the kind of joke Pointcrow would make
When going to face the final boss, you can find a single torch lying on the ground, right where we first encounter Ganondorf at the beginning of the game. Zelda's torch :') I think that's very neat little thing to tie the beginning and the ending even more
Fun fact
Speaking of zelda and torches, PC never went to get the hylian garbs from the castle… i mean he might have, but it definitely wasn’t shown in the videos
I NOTICED AND THOUGHT THAT TOO AHH
The average y-level of the depths is about -600. The Ganondorf fight takes place at about y= -2000.
You get phased out when you drop below y=-2530.
@@goodguybjorn the royal guard armor?
This. This is how a Ganondorf fight is made. An exact copy of you the player, using all 4 main weapons, being able to literally dodge and counter your attacks. It’s so cool man. I love this game.
And after failing the first time he gets jacked the fuck out on heart containers and goes right back to it
@@ZorotheGallade just like the player
@@ZorotheGallade Watching that health bar scroll to double size will always make me laugh hysterically.
Fun fact: After beating the game you get a new icon next to your sages vows icon in the loading screen. This icon is the same icon that Recall has and that would in turn mean that Recall is The Vow of Zelda, Sage of time, technically.
Edit: JESUS CHRIST, 688 likes?? I haven’t been able to thank y’all but now I am so thank you so much!
When you get recall at the start of the game the palm on the hand turns green like the rings when you get the sages' abilities
@@ShadowSkyX exactly
Another Fun Fact (with a side of minor spoliers for an armor set): We all know that the sages get funny looking hats when we take on the Divine Helms but one sage does not get a funny hat, Mineru. But that’s not true. The divine helms have something to do with the sages funny helms so that logic Carries over to Mineru and if we take on the Zonite Helm, her construct gets the funny red hair from the helm
Does that mean post-game is just Link recalling really far back
@@stephenwillis2751 Yes it technically does
For anyone confused about how the time loop works, it's a fixed loop, which means Zelda existed as a dragon from the beginning of Hyrule until the events at the end of the game. This includes the events of Breath of the Wild, which does indeed mean there was, for a time, two Zeldas, and for an even longer time, two Master Swords. But No paradoxes are created as Dragon Zelda and the Broken Sword were, as far as we're aware, in isolation.
Zelda existed in two different forms so there's no overlap--that is, until she resonated with rauru's stone. i feel like she would've been sent back in time regardless whether she fell or not because now there's more than one being with time powers existing in the same era; in fact it seems like an unspoken rule that that isn't allowed and she was sent back to maintain balance. It sends her back to before the light dragon's existence so there's still no overlap with having the two zelda...but sonia was another time power user, and that's one too many in that era now that zelda showed up.
Like in the heaven-like realm she hid in for those confused
I love how the music ramps up the closer and closer you get to Glooms lair. It adds so much suspense to the final fight
1:18:01 I love the detail of the slight laugh at "limits", as though Ganondorf cant help but scoff at the idea of his powers being limited.
Also the extending healthbar is such a cool trick, it gets me every time, I love it.
Great game.
Right? It's such a good trick to get the player to have the same "oh crap" moment that Link and the others would have seeing his transformation in game.
15:28 The way all sound cuts out to Zelda shouting “Protect them all!” Just sends chills
fr bro that shit made me nut
I know right!!!!!! Simply amazing!
i usually dont like her line delivery, but that line was *spot-on* and filled with emotion and made the scene SO much better
The French voice actress did an amazing job as well, so emotionally powerful!
Recommend listening to the Russian one, I don't speak Russian so it just sounds like she says 'Spicy Nuts' which broke me.
@@RiskyRealin Russian she says "Спаси нас", which means "Save us" (sorry for mistakes, I'm not an English speaker)
Honestly, Botw/Totk Zelda has to be one of the most INSANE Zelda's. Like imagine watching some of your closest friends die beside you in battle TWICE. I'm surprised she doesn't have serious ptsd.
Her way of coping is being productive. The occasional nightmares probably happen between both of them, but since they went through the same experience up to a point, they can comfort each other. If its any consulation, both she and link have had a few years to mourn and process what they went through before totk. Heck thats what champion's ballad is all about: accepting and coming to terms with what he lost and who. Hanging up the picture in his house is the start of the healing process.
At first you might think it's called tears of the kingdom because of the shape of the secret stones... then you realize it's not that. That last memory broke me man. I almost cried, which I almost never do for games
Almost? Bro I DID cry 😭
Oh I cried the first time I got it, then again after I rewatched the memory, and even now watching it for the third time I was so close to full-on sobbing
This... ONE game.... has proven to me why the series is called the 'Legend of ZELDA' and not 'The Legend of Link'.
This -girl- Queen put in the hours, days, years, centuries, and MILLENNIA for her people!
This is honestly one of the few games that gets Zelda right. Was not fond of her in botw at all
before they gave her the peach treatment but know this is character development
actually she’s a princess not a queen
@@mindfulselfindulgence I'm a little confused on that, she's the last of her lineage, so why is she still a Princess when she should be a Queen
@@Keanine No time for a coronation
i like to imagine the distorted choir we hear when rauru imprisons ganondorf isn't just game music, but the actual sounds coming from rauru's sealing magic. it's so eerie to imagine those voices repeating the same notes over and over and over again for literally thousands of years as ganondorf and rauru are just frozen there, slowly rotting away
Now that would be terrifying
I like this idea
I already beat the game but that scene where she transforms still brings me to tears.
Sidons and Mipha's theme make me tear up, Zelda's Transformation makes me cry, and Sonia's death makes me sad.
Sad game. Literal tears of the kingdom
Great! Now beat the game with only a stick.
LOL
Or a soup ladle
Oh gosh 😂
😂😂😂 hope he sees this comment
Hey pesky, fancy seeing you here! Love your videos
30:00 been watching both point crow’s and RT game’s play throughs and it’s honestly hilarious that PC didn’t see a lynel the entire play though considering I think RT has fought at least one per video
I didn’t find a lynel till I stepped in that battle arena where you have to fight like 4 for Majoras Mask, it was definitely a “fun” surprise
He did though. During the stream, at least
i think he ran into like 3 the second video after he retreated from the final boss area lol
Surely he must have seen the one on the way to tarrey town
Watching RT's playthroughs is always infinitely more fun when you are also watching someone who is progressing more linearly.
1:30:50
“Unfortunately, the kingdom of Hyrule was completely obliterated in the catastrophic explosion. There were no survivors…as the Demon King had intended the whole time.”
Mission failed successfully(?)
Lol
Also nice
LMAO
You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?
@@gulpin768 More like "Mission successfully... failed"
I find it really cool how in Botw Zelda is the one fighting Ganon while Link sleeps and then she helps him recover his memories and his life before. While in Totk it’s Link taking the fight to Ganondorf while Zelda is sleeping as the light dragon. Link helps Zelda recover her sense of self just as she helped him recover his memories. I love story telling like this.
The scene of Zelda turning and the zoom-in on her eyes is my favorite moment of all of the franchise. What a sacrifice.
The eyes changing gave me this weird fight or flight reaction, like it set off a weird alarm jolt down my body. It was freaky.
It's basically the *ultimate sacrifice*
@@オタクもの" LET ME TELL YOU LINK, THOSE CATARACTS WERE KILLING ME IN THAT DRAGON FORM, EVERYTHING WAS REALLY BLURRY AND I COULDN'T SEE TWO SHITS. I RAN INTO A MOUNTAIN ONCE OR TWICE." - Nintendo Approved Zelda.
@@-.-.---.--...--.-.......-.....link like: yeah sorry lol I sat on your back and farmed your body parts for cash
I just think that having her turn back without any real explanation as to why it’s possible kind of diminishes that moment a bit. It would have been a bittersweet ending if Zelda had saved Hyrule but had to stay a dragon forever.
You know the boss is serious when their health bar is off center 💀
How about when they dodge when you slow time?
How about counter-dodging their dodge? 😂
@@TotPocket i know, but how shocked were you when he flurry rushed your flurry rush?
FR THO! I said to myself “why is it still going!?!?”
the health bar had a boner 💀
sometimes this game makes me cry. and then sometimes i think about the prayer Zelda gave in botw when Link was appointed as her knight, "whether skyward bound, adrift in time, or steeped in the embers of twilight, the sacred blade is forever bound to the soul of the Hero." and that she personally assured that the sword would find him through all of those things, and I SOB.
Wow, I did't think about that at all, but it's all happend in totk
omg, it was actually so cleverly covered up as "oh she's just making a reference to previous zelda games, skyward sword, ocarina of time, twilight princess". but NO, no, those happened in totk, he was sent to the skies and explored the heavens prior unknown with the sword, and that same sword, shattered and cursed, was sent away through time to a period thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years ago. adrift in time, it soon returned to the hands of Link, who possessed the soul of the Hero, until he, and his Master Sword, ventured to the Depths.. of twilight and took on the Demon King.
I absolutely love the fact that Zelda refers to the master sword as she/her in reference to Fi
saying “it’s an ok game, 5/10, it’s playable” while like bawling your eyes out, killed me 😂
P-Crow’s humor is unmatched.
MINARU died, 0/10 L game worst game of the year.
[joke]
@@hudsonsonne9280 Bro i did some of the duplication glitches and i went down here all the way and i nearly beat the game 🤣 im on like technically the second main quest lmao
Cant pet the dog 2/10
Fun fact: On the ground in the area at 1:09:17 you can actually find Zelda's torch from the beginning of the game.
yeah i found it too
I did as well. I actually replayed the beginning memory before descending that cliff, so it was extra poignant for me!
i picked it up for safekeeping
Oh my god THAT'S what that torch was. Amazing.
that makes so much more sense, I thought it was an implication that I would need it like botw's lost woods
Gotta love to finally see someone just 100% enjoying the game and not being like « Damn that's not what i wanted ». Just feels so good
During my playthrough, well before I was getting close to finishing the game, I went into the stormcloud that had dragonhead island on a whim, and found Mineru's mask and got her as a sage early and let me tell you, finding that on complete accident really hit different. I am so glad the game lets you do that.
Same here
Same here
It tries to make you go on a whole quest to get this lightning armor or something but I didn’t have to do that cause I went to the Yiga hidout and got the thunder helm so I was good in the storm
@@audrey-bx3lw the lightning armor just adds lightning elemental status to weapons in thunderstorms, the reason for doing the quest is that it dismisses the clouds, allowing you to see up there. Not to protect from lightning
Also did!! Totally agree about hitting different. Exploring the thunderhead isles without clearing the storm is also a whole nother beast.
PointCrow ending the game with a parry is the most iconic thing he could have done, I’ve never seen it done, and he did it with a plushie.
he managed to satisfy that itch for a first time experience. I was waiting for Demon King to flurry rush his flurry rush the entire fight, and he did it right before that parry, which I was also waiting for. I just wish he realized why the game had two dragons in the art
@@_inSight__ I just could not dodge his flurry rush during that final phase so I ended up cheesing it with a Korok bow and a lot of bombs
Environmental storytelling at its finest
@@_inSight__ Bro i did some of the duplication glitches and i went down here all the way and i nearly beat the game 🤣 im on like technically the second main quest lmao
@@Breidablik06 me too! I suck at the flurry rush so much. Savage Lynel bow and gibdo bone arrows for me. It absolutely melted through his health bar.
i am absolutely bawling. i've never played a Legend of Zelda game, and i didn't really have much interest in Breath of the Wild; but here i am, i've raptly sat through hours and hours of others' gameplay, and i have laughed and cried wondered at this incredible game. i'd like to thank you, eric, and your entire support team, for bringing this into my life. i have never loved a video game, and a person in this way, so much as i have now. thank you.
I highly recommend you watch Eric's other Zelda playthroughs - Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess, and Wind Waker are all phenomenal stories!
Zelda didnt actually spend 10 thousand years like that. It was way more. Zelda turned into a dragon in the era of HYRULES FOUNDING. 10,000 years ago is the era of the shiekah and first calamity. Hyrule was founded way before that. It was probably more than a hundred thousand years
I think it was something like directly after skyward sword lol
I distinctly remember characters mentioning the number of 10.000 year in reference to the time Zelda went back to, this game just retconned a bunch of stuff from botw
@@BananaLair It didn't, the game rarely mention what happened in botw, but history of calamity Ganon from 10 000 years are mentioned, when talking about Hyrule Founding they never say a specific date.
@@BananaLair you remember wrong
How close am i with guessing how far back that *officially* is, when i would say the number: "1 quadrillion"?
Fun fact that many probably missed, that torch that was with us in the beginning can also be found down there
I WAS WONDERING WHAT IT MEANT IVE PASSED IT LIKE 2 TIMES NOW OOOOH
Well, the master torch is an unstoppable weapon as well.(reference to that random nice who has the master torch)
The moment I realized it was Zelda's torch, I took it with me. I have no clue what I'm gonna do with it, but I'm definitely gonna find some sort of use for it
I fuses it to the Hylian shield for my fight
@@Bionic_Cross display it in your house
You know that happened to me? After fight in the Sanctum, I've come back to Purah. They have been talking about preparations to fight Ganondorf as usual. The problem, I've already found Master Sword and fifth Sage. So, at the end Purah said "Oh, why you didn't told us this earlier? Now you can face Ganondorf, we just need to find him"
DANG
Same
So I'm not the only one who did thunderhead isles with no visibility...
lol yeah I had the same experience. I saw the thunderhead isles and thought "that looks interesting, I'm sure there's SOMETHING in there." Sure enough, something was in there. I was also convinced that the castle would be the final mission in the game, so I did every major main quest and side adventure besides it first.
@@french_comet Wait, you can have visibility? I thought it's available only after getting to shrine
I did NOT pack enough Sunny meals so I ended up fighting phase 2 Ganondorf with 1 non-gloomed heart left, and then he hit me
Then I learned I had 4 fairies in my inventory
Most intense final boss in the Zelda series
Lucky
That one and SS with Demise felt TENSE
Crow might be right about the “loving embrace” referring to Link catching Zelda in the air, but I initially thought it was Rauru, Sonia, and Link combining their love of her together to wake her up. Either way, tears upon tears man.
Nah I think you were right. "Sleeping" referred to her dragon form, so "waking up" is her return to the human form.
I don’t think it was there love for her more of a combination of thier three powers, raurus light power Sonia’s time power and links triforce
@@jadencokinos27 well they did it out of love so yea
@@rigen97In a literal sense, Rauru's light, Sonia's time manipulation and Link's own power would feel exactly what it looked like as how she described: a warm feeling washing over her like an embrace. It works both metaphorically as well since both Sonia and Rauru know they're blood related to her and obviously treated her like a daughter in their time. Unfortunately, that makes one interpretation kinda awkward for shippers since the sequence can also be taken as Link being an older brother
@@Soulferno wait how would Link be interpreted as her brother???
They could just be very supportive in-laws
1:13:24 I like how they have inputted the mechanic that they had in BotW where the more sages you gain vows from, the less bosses you have to fight, which is this games version of the more Divine Beasts you beat the less health Calamity Ganon starts with. *“Get all 5 sages? Go straight to Ganondorf. Beat all 4 Divine Beasts? Start the boss with half its health.”*
Edit: If you wanna see what it’s like to just go *Straight to Ganon,* go look up AstralSpiffs video on what he did with that. _Pain and Suffering abound._
There's up to 6 bosses that you can fight before Ganon depending on how many Sage quests you skip. The 5 Sage bosses plus Phantom Ganon (if you didn't fight him in Hyrule Castle).
Also BoTW had the same mechanic of fighting any divine beasts bosses you didn't defeat before you did Ganon.
Wait do you have to fight the dungeon bosses if you didn't get the sages first?
@@lasagnasoul Yup. And Phantom Ganon if you didn't destroy the fake Zelda in the castle.
@@ZorotheGallade phantom ganon isn't too bad. Do you fight one after another, or all at once?
@@lasagnasoul It’s one after the other. In order, it’s:
-Demon King’s Army
-Colgera
-Marbled Gohma
-Mucktorok
-Queen Gibdo
-Seized Construct
-Phantom Ganon
No wonder why it is called Tears of the Kingdom. That ending made my kingdom drop some tears indeed.
What exactly is ur kingdom? 🤔
@@Optonix. his eyes, I mean that is what drop tears 🤦♂️
@@ANDORRA195 He was tryna set up a sus joke cmon get it for once.
@@Optonix. oh you know, the crown jewels
@@Optonix. his King Dome
I want to give props to Fi for not losing energy mid way through the Ganondorf battle
i love how after eric gets the master sword and after the epic cutscenes he immediately asks himself if he could put meat on the sword.
If you don’t get the master sword before fighting the final boss then when dragon Zelda pulls up you get it then, and it’s fucking epic as hell.
Really? I won't get the master sword anymore until I fight this boss😂😂😂but what happens to the quest related to the master sword?
@@and_rei1020not too sure, saw someone play the game and they didn’t find the sage of spirit either, the ending cutscenes are a tad different. But basically Zelda dragon pulls up and then you take the sword.
@@and_rei1020 I watched speed run and its kinda fail safe built to make sure you have it for that final fight.
@@and_rei1020 not worth it, getting the mastersword normally is one of the best moments ever in a video game.
@@OmAr-sr1sn though honestly this game might actually be worth replaying (assuming you don't go for 100% completion the first time round), because of how much sequence-breaking you can do.
Man something i have to say is the soundtrack in this game goes absolutely nuts. The cutscene of Zelda healing the Master Sword, the ending where she's falling and many more moments just get elevated so much because of the music
Just realized when Ganondorf begins the final fight, he says he will crush any opposition and rule, because that's what a king must do. That's a great contrast to Rauru, who went into the final fight to protect his kingdom and his citizens even knowing he will lose his life, because THAT'S what a king must do.
This game is perfect man, I am speechless. The only thing I can say still that hasnt been said in the comments already is that when you catch Zelda, after the incredible catch shot, you can actually see Link pull her into a hug before tucking in for the impact, which really makes the "Loving Embrace" line even better.
If anyone doesn’t know, if you start spamming your bow in the final battle Ganondorf will eventually start blocking them and call you predictable
That is hilarious and valuable information, thank you!
They know how many arrows you will stack for this battle XD
I never knew thought, I found the boss way too easy cuz I just used a combo of rocket shield, x5 bow and gibdo bones and he was dead in like 2 minutes. Kind if underwhelming for me but still really cool.
@@Non-binaryCup bro used a op method weapon for the story💀 just use master sword and hylian shield or
Something else
@@imustfindmylight i didnt even mean to though💀💀💀
Getting perfect dodged by ganon legit made me scared at first, thought i was getting flurry rushed 😂
me too bro!! 😂
Wait for master mode …
@@terriplays1726 Holy shit that would be a great idea. If he could actually flurry you in the final battle in master mode. There would have to be some way to dodge it yourself though or it would be a tad OP.
@@mustbge0 it would be sick if you had to time a parry to stop him
isnt that what he does he doges u and then goes and attacks u really fast
I love pointcrow reaction to everything, it’s awesome to see somebody who really loves every part about this game
One of the things I like the most about the final fight is how Ganondorf constantly belittles you. It’s just really funny, especially if you actually mess up as much as I did during my first try. The best is still when he dodges your attack with his own backflip. I don’t know what he says in English since I play the game in German but if you translate „Nichts da!“ which he says when he dodges, it says something akin to „forget it!“ or „not on my watch!“. Still my favourite final boss in the entire series.
*Slaps the shit out of me with a giant hammer
"Is that all you've got?"
Me with the power of enough food for a family of 8:
I find it funny how people were complaining how the ganon fight in botw was easy so the devs were like “aight bet” and make THREE boss fight for this and one of them the health bar is off center like damn they took that personally
@@audrey-bx3lw 3 boss fights that occur right after a large scale unavoidable enemy gauntlet too. Which is made even more intense if you didnt do any of the sage quests since they need to be there to keep the boss spawns busy, otherwise you fight them in a gauntlet too similar to the Blight bosses in BotW.
A correction here, Zelda wasn't sent 10000 years back in time, she was sent back to the BEGINNING, they said in Botw that Calamity Ganon revives every 10000 years meaning it must have happened before, also if we do the math after Calamity Ganon came back it had been 10000 years, and when Link woke up in the shrine of resurrection it had been 100 years, so technically Zelda was sent AT LEAST 10100 years back in time
she was sent back about 20,000 years to the past. 10,000 years is when the malice from ganon’s imprisonment was too much that it manifested into a being that the sheikah-backed hyrule had to face with their tech and then another 10,000 years to return in botw.
@@rynxuzouldn't that be 30000 years then? They would have to have experienced Calamity Ganon once already to know to make the guardians and such right?
Edit: They also said that Calamity Ganon was an evil that revived time and time again didn't they? I think 100100 years is a good guess but that's reaching speculation. Anyway it was a LONG time. I have thought that she could have been sent all the way back to before Skyward Sword so maybe millions of years? But on the Zonai Map they had a castle and there wasn't a castle (That we know of) in Skyward Sword
@@DynamicMagi I don't personally think that Sonia and Rauru's time was before or directly after SS (it has to be after tho, as Ganondorf is an incarnation of Demise's curse). Imo they are the founders of a new Hyrule, after every game in the timeline, when they already were just legends and myths...
@@rynxuz in botw we are told calamity ganon gas plagued hyrule countless times, if it happened every 10,000 years after ganondorfs sealing then we are talking at least 50,000 years probably more like 100,000
@@oniondesu9633 right right, forgot about that detail. in any case, it’s hella shocking for zelda to travel that far in the past and still not make it to the time of the other games 😂 makes you think that maybe the legends have been happening for maybe a million years? perhaps more?
It's worth remembering, folks: PointCrow was saying Zelda was up there for 10,000 years, but if you remember Breath of the Wild, the Divine Beasts were used 10,000 years ago to defeat Calamity Ganon. So it's safe to assume that it takes about 10,000 years for a Calamity Ganon to manifest from Ganondorf's latent power, which means Zelda was a dragon for *at least* 20,000 years.
But then you also gotta remember that calamity Ganon is referred to as an ancient evil that has appeared time and time again, meaning he has shown up *multiple* times, meaning it could have been anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000+ years
@RedWireGD Oh, absolutely! That's why I bolded "at least" haha. Poor Zelda.
I personally think it was around a million, since the events in the past take place around the founding of Hyrule, or the generation after Skyward Sword. Meaning Zelda and the master sword were flying above the cloud barrier for the entirety of the timeline. I choose to think that BOTW takes place FAR beyond Skyward Sword or OoT, so to me she was a Dragon for literally 1,000,000+ years
The amount of time between "normal" calamity manifestations could be way shorter, with the period between the time of the ancient sheikah and BotW being so long because they blasted him with mecha then locked him in a sheikah-made stasis chamber.
That said, we have no idea how long there is between the imprisoning war and the time of the ancient sheikah, so it's at *least* more than ten millenia, possibly way more.
A great boss fight doesn’t have to be difficult, just beautiful.
The big twists in this game are so great because they hit completely different depending on the order you do things. I reached the Light Dragon pretty early on, got the Master Sword, and thought "Wait how the heck did the sword get here?"
And then the Tears let me piece it all together.
I remember getting the master sword and going "thanks for putting the master sword on flying dragon Zelda". I proceed to binge the memories right after and why they mentioned draconification (I did the memories in order) I was able to guess what happened to Zelda. The final memory still hit me like a truck though.
i got some memories, went to the korok forest pretty early and got the sword so i got some of the story and everything, had a similar thought process as you, then the rest of the memories, slowly started dawning on me, it still hit hard tho
I went under the castle pretty early and almost started the fight with gannondorf without the sages but I found the hidden stone tablets and that’s how I figured out that Zelda became the dragon and I didn’t have any memories lol
Still can't believe some people called this 'DLC'.
Also, Tulin must be so thrilled at the end. He's so young, but not only is he the Sage of Wind, but also best buds with Princess Zelda, the hero of Hyrule and all the various leaders of the other races. Teba must be so proud.
People who call this dlc haven't played it is honestly my theory
@@regann7227 tbh the trailers were really sneaky. I cant blame people for underestimating its size based on what they showed in the trailers, but Im really happy thats how they did it. The pure joy of the game expanding and expanding and expanding as you play is absurd.
@@colinbrown7947 I haven't watched the trailers so I would have no idea
I went into the game completely bline
I like how almost everything in the end mirrored the beginning of the game. Including falling after her. I also just realized the ouroboros symbol represents Light Dragon and Demon Dragon.
One thing I like about the story this time around, is that in BOTW, Zelda is trying to make peace with her role as a chosen guardian. In TOTK she learns what it means to lead Hyrule, what it means to sacrifice herself for the greater good. I hope if there is a third BOTW type Zelda, we can see Zelda leading Hyrule in some way, making use of her experience in the past.
I got emotional during my playthrough but didn't cry, but you saying "It's cause we caught her" had me in PIECES
I think I missed that part, when did he say it?
@@Hot_Earth_MSM 1:36:34 when Zelda said she felt a warm embrace when she woke up. The parrallels of us not being able to catch her at the beginning and finally catching her at the end TT
Remember, none of this would have been possible without Frederick.
Wasn’t Frederick the bridge 😂
@Fabian Rangel yeah😂
Even as dragons the cycle continues Zelda fights Gannon even with no memories that still fight the prophecy is so strong it even goes through draconifacation. Incredible 1:24:25
I see you are a member of team sky
@@emelychoi958 I am indeed if it's not 100% accurate it's 50% accurate
@@Nintendofan1389 All hail Arkoos!
@@emelychoi958 all hail arkoos
the difference between both ganondorf and Rarou’s view on what “a kings duty” is amazing to see too
I love that contrast so much. Ganondorf thinks kingship means crushing the world under his heel. Rauru acts like a true king by laying down his life to save others.
I almost cried when I figured out the Light Dragon was Zelda. Like that was a twist I could have never saw coming.
Same!
You can even see the way the triforce parts cause Zelda and Ganondorf to act. Zelda uses her wisdom to determine that the best way for her to restore the master sword, get it to link 10,000 years in the future, and have a shot at killing the demon king is to become a dragon. Ganondorf becomes a dragon because he is willing to sacrifice his mind, memories, body, everything, just to gain that much more power.
As others have said, Ganondorf was _not_ sealed 10,000 years prior - that was when the Sheikah first defeated Calamity Ganon, and when the Divine Beasts and guardians were first created - and BotW makes it clear that Calamity was a recurring problem for some time prior, as well. She was a dragon for probably closer to 100,000 years, if not _longer_ depending on your interpretation of where it takes place in the overall LoZ timeline
and obviously, link representing courage by diving into every gaping chasm he comes across and slaying a 50 mile long dragon in the sky
I wonder how link's dragon form would act
@@Bubbly_Dragon This makes me wonder where in the fuck botw and totk are on the Zelda timeline
@@LD-hs9iv BotW is in some fuck-off distant future, where most of the branching timelines meet back in the middle sometime prior to canon, and TotK is either a retcon of SS, or It's just been so long that the kingdom of Hyrule has been founded twice. There isn't really enough information to go off of to say which is more accurate - though I personally prefer the latter
An amazing detail that blew my mind is that when you jump down the hole from where Zelda fell, her torch is still down there.
I was in absolute shock when I saw that.
When I saw the Storm Clouds above Faron I knew that there must be something inside, so I went in and stumbled my way into the shrine. I must've landed directly on the right island, because I skipped the entire sequence of islands most people seemed to have went through and I teleported back there like 4 times before I finally had enough hearts to open the door. I was like "for all that effort this better not be a Rauru's Blessing Shrine or something shitty like that".
It took until I was finished with the left leg for me to check the adventure log and realise that this is, in fact, a main quest.
I’ve always wanted to fight a more humanoid Ganon in breath of the wild. So I’m glad he’s built more like a human in totk.
We are ALL pleased how human he resembles 🥵🥵🥵
Tbh don't hate me for this, but imagine if after Zelda says "I'm home" in the final cutscene, she gets run through with Ganondorf's sword and you have to fight him for a billion more phases. Lol just kidding, that's honestly a bit too morbid, but I do wish that maybe if the player dies in the final fight, the game shows a cutscene for Ganon winning (maybe one cutscene for Ganondorf winning and one for Demon Dragon winning).
Ngl as soon as I saw that Ganondorf used a Japanese sword, I could not stop imagining Aerith's death scene in FF7 but with Zelda and Ganondorf. However, that would be way too dark for even this game I think
@@LtCdrXander you need to be silenced.
@@LtCdrXander Ah, so like a Splatoon failure screen.
@@LtCdrXander it might be morbid but ngl that would genuinely make him go down as the greatest boss of all time for me
Fun fact, all those red fire orb yhings ganon shoots at you that steal max health, they can all be shot back at him by swinging at them with the sword.
WHY DIDN'T I TRY THAT?!?! I was literally thinking "huh, I haven't played Ping Pong with Ganon in a quite a while." and I didn't even try it.
@Jeff Scott lol, fun story, thats the same reason I swung at them in the first place. The first one he did is when he holds his hand over his head and shoots 3 of them at you. My brain said "ping pong rematch!!!"
@@crashboredom2 They brought back/referenced everything else awesome in Zelda history, of course they'd bring that back!
I have seen so many videos of people fighting Ganondorf and wondered why no one was trying it? I saw that shit first thing and my brain was like "Tennis? TENNIS!!!"
REALLY?!
Just a note: 10,000 years before present was the most recent Calamity Ganon fought by the ancient Sheikah Tech. So the memories recovered in Tears is much, much older.
Yeah placing the timeline in this game has really been a chore for me
@@midnight6284 my theory is that this is either a new timeline completely, explaining why Nintendo hasn't placed botw in their timeline,
Or fully in the beginning, around skyward sword, ouroboros and all that
My guess is that TotK dorf is a different Ganon from calamity Ganon, who is the same ganondorf from OoT/Twilight Princess/Wind Waker
@@latlequin1 Calamity was just the malice that couldn’t be held by Raurus seal
So... we're all agreed this is the best Princess Zelda ever, right? She made the mother of all gambits because she had so much faith in Link and even took the time to set Ganondorf up for a fall. She's just a wonderful character. 🥰
I don’t think it’s a very common criticism anymore, but anyone who still thinks Zelda just serves as a “damsel in distress…”
15:00. That woman is the savior of Hyrule. Without her, what’s Link to do? My god what a scene. The intense rendition of Zelda’s Lullaby just hits so hard as well.
Seriously. Anyone who complains "wy no playable zelda" should just know that Nintendo knows better than you do. They know how to make a game. The role Zelda played in this game was perfect.
@@ComicCrossing right? BOTW centered on her too. Sure, you play as Link, but all the cutscenes in these two games are Zelda growing as a character, and hoooo boy what a growth. From a (justifiably imo) whiny teen with an overbearing dad to a young woman sacrificing herself for the greater good, not once, but twice. She didn’t know what would happen once Calamity Ganon swallowed her, but she did it. And she did it again in this game.
This might be my favorite Zelda iteration of the franchise.
@@JacobBush16
Broke: Zelda is a boring character, and Link deserves better like Mipha or Sidon or whoever
Woke: Zelda is an interesting, multilayered character and Link should be with her
A S C E N D E D: Nobody deserves Zelda, woman held off Ganondorf's hatred towards life for a whole 100 years then supercharged the Master Sword for probably 50,000 years as an unthinking dragon, her only thought helping her people and Link
i loved zelda in this game, it feels like there is a real partnership between her actions and links even though theres like 10 000 years between them
If im doing my math correctly.. Zelda lost 12 friends/family, and many more of the Hyrule people, and chose to sacrifice herself in hopes to save the rest of Hyrule.. this set of games are so jam packed with heartbreaking story.. phenomenal game, absolutely beautiful
1:34:37 I strongly believe water has no surface tension in Hyrule 😂
Also, why can't link hold on to his shirt for a second meanwhile zelda turned into a dragon and back and she STILL has her clothes all with the fancy accessories and secret stone intact. You're better than that, link
It’s so cool how there are different ways to go about this game. If you don’t do the dragons tears quest to find the master sword you can also save the deku tree and he’ll send you to it. This game is so good
i was mid-water temple when i saw zelda flying around, so i decided to get a few scales to upgrade my champion's leathers. i assumed she would be just like all the other dragons but then i saw the sword in her head. i was kinda disappointed at how easy it is to find, you literally just need to get a few stamina vessels and then look up. it makes sense from a lore perspective as to why she's just flying around with the sword, but it should've been more hidden in my opinion. maybe make her fly way higher up before you find all the tears and force you to fall down if you get too close, kinda like the mist in korok forest
@@duckified. you still need the Stamina, which is around… 48 shrines to get? Not to mention most players don’t realize you can walk on the dragons, as well as the Light dragon requires around 3 hours to fully go across the world. Rather than the others who stay in their respective areas. It’s just pure luck you managed to come across it yeah, but even with the way this world is built; it builds to the mystery I’d you don’t know.
@@duckified. heavy disagree, what's the point of locking away the Master Sword even further. If you have the required stamina and manage to get on the dragon's head, you should get the master sword. Lore wise it makes little sense for it to be further locked away, since Zelda *wants* you to have it and gameplay wise it's hidden enough without the Tears/Deku tree that most players wouldn't discover it until they're directly told where it is.
1:18:10 just realized that the carving on Ganondorf’s secret stone is actually a Chinese word or Japanese Kanji ‘闇’, which both has a same meaning of darkness, foreshadowing the character of the menace himself, such a cool detail!
It’s stylized but all the secret stones have a character for their element or power. I don’t know Chinese, where the symbols originate, but I do know some Japanese and ‘川’ is river and is on Sidon’s secret stone for example.
Perhaps hes the "sage of shadow". Given that the original Sages included Forest and Shadow which became Wind and Lightning for the new generation of Sages we see here, Ganondorf couldve had the power of "shadow".
@@Birdthefeatheredone I took a look at all of the carvings on their secret stones, they are all stylised Chinese or Japanese Kanji that have the relevant meaning to their respective sages
The real reason why this game is called "Tears of the Kingdom" is because it brings you to tears while saving the kingdom
This is what its about. I cried playing it, and again watching you experience it for the first time. Raw emotion. A perfect story. Thanks for this Eric.
I never played a Zelda game in my life, but watching this playthrough made me emotional and want someone to hug me in my sleep. TOTK made me realize why the series is called The Legend of Zelda. It's not just about boy with a shield and sword saving the Kingdom from a Demon lord, but a Princess spending millennias to save her people. The people in which we observe, help, and grow with throughout our journey. I never expected a franchise would be as deep, but it's late to realize that now lol. Tears of the Kingdom is such a gem, and I won't be surprised if it gets Game of The Year.
Well, majora's mask would beg to differ
multiple princesses
@@eamixtures2295 how is a 20 year old game gonna win goty😂😂
This is the first game ever to genuinely make me cry. I can say without a shadow of a doubt. This is the best game of all time and I do not think anything can top it.
Your emotions at the end of this game pretty much summed up my emotions.
The journey of BOTW and TOTK is just magical (chaotic magical if you did a lot of shenanigans like me 😂)
Definitely just a reskin of fortnite lmao
4:00
Its called a Bootstrap Paradox, its not the first time its been used in Zelda Games, it was also used to teach the Song of Storms in OoT, presumably Link from MM taught the musician in the Windmill who taught OoT Adult Link who then played it as Young Link earlier than MM Link erasing MM Link from the loop.
In this loop, some things around Hyrule changed, monsters were defeated in different locations removing or making bone fossils appear where they didn't before.
The live stream was crazy. At the Finale everyone spammed chat. Superchats going insane with the $50-$200 Donos. Everyone bawling their eyes out from the fact that this game is amazing and the end of the story was just super sad. Everyone spamming “I WAS HERE” and “WOOOOOOO”. Crazy experience.
Ight buddy chill out you were watching a video
@@gavinrudd3489 I was watching a live stream. Dude I watched EVERY Live stream. For the past week in a row the second they went live. I wasn’t watching a VOD or when the stream was over. I watched all of the 40+ hours live.
@@Gaming_S0ul536 yea not a flex bud that’s pretty embarrassing
@@gavinrudd3489 I mean your over here just telling people what they did and didn’t do. I’m not trying to flex, I’m trying to tell you that you can’t just tell people they did this or that on a whim.
@@Gaming_S0ul536 the hell you talking bout bud
I can’t believe Ganondorf lost to a guy with a red seal shield
put some salt in that wound for him
He couldn't handle this kind of power even after breaking the hylian shield in 2 attacks
The one seal he couldn’t break
Something i was kind of bummed about was that very little people noticed that the last phase of demon king Gannondorf was a callback to OoT where you use the master sword to deflect his attacks back at him. It's a cool detail i haven't seen anyone try
Well, you sorta don't get a chance to see it unless you're swinging your sword from way out of range. I only saw it by accident. Kinda a shame, but it is a neat touch.
You mean the tennis mechanic? I mean it was also in ALTTP before OoT, but yeah. I had no idea you could even swing your sword at those orbs to hit them back, I should've trried
I found this out on accident
wow I should have tried that damn
17:02 every single memory I went to, Zelda was flying overhead when I came out. Every single memory. I put the pieces together by accident before the Tears, because while I was on the Water Temple, Zelda flew by close enough that I could see the Master Sword. And since I knew that Zelda was the last person to have the Master Sword, I knew it had to be her. I searched out the Dragon Tears to find out what happened and why. BOTW/AOC/TOTK Zelda is by far my favourite incarnation, pushing the OG Skyward Sword Zelda out of that long held spot by a massive margin. Link’s devotion to her is understandable. She fought for a century against the Calamity in BOTW, she blew Ganon*2 to pieces in AOC and she sacrificed everything to protect Hyrule against possibly the strongest Ganondorf to date, and I don’t even think he’s the original Ganondorf, the OOT, TP, WW Ganondorf. He’s the newest incarnation of Demise’s curse and came the closest to retaking his original form as the Demon King.
Edit: it became very funny whenever I came across Yiga traps or even Ganondorf trying to use her form to trick me, because I could just look out into the skyline and see Zelda whenever I felt like checking.
all i can say is many people in the community have been thinking this will be the last zelda game ever and personally i don't think this series can ever really end until we get confirmation that the curse demise put on link and zelda has been undone and that they can finally live their lives as just normal people, whichever version of link and zelda that may be. i pray it's these 2 though
Its definately the end of this incarnation of Link and Zelda, i really doubt they will just......stop doing Zelda games, its very profitable.
@@sebastianramirez9090 I have noticed that there was zero references to Vaati in BotW or TotK. I dont know why they'd try to make another direct sequel but they do still have cards to play if they really wanted to. Obviously there's a lot of land outside Hyrule to explore too.
I mean, I doubt they’ll sunset the series anytime soon, but if they did here it would be going out with one hell of a bang. I haven’t seen a game this confident in itself in years, perhaps ever.