Breath of the Wild: What if Link SURVIVED the Great Calamity? 

I thought back to this video whenever we saw Zelda use the Camera Rune to kill a bunch of Yoga in the gameplay for Age of Calamity, so NBC saying “photo shoot Ganon to death” is high key kinda scary 🤣. Homie predicted it 😎

Link only needs a couple of fishes and half an hour to defeat Ganon according to speedruns.

“He wouldn’t have any shrines or champion abilities” Speedrunners: Amateur.

no shrines? Link: trying to clip into the shrine with a shield Zelda: wtf are you doing

Listen, all those guardians running around aren't a problem, as long as Link has a pot lid.

Link can still get Ancient Equipment: he just has to use the Guardian Amiibo and get a random one.

What if link just walked in the castle entirely naked and gannon just died?

Keep in mind that Link destroyed a group of Guardians with just a Sword before falling. He earlier defeated with a bunch of Lynels as well with just a Sword. Had Link used a Shield then he could have used Parry on every Guardian to defeat them.

I mean not all rito would be in the village, as we see throughout the game. That means it could still be possible for link and zelda to board medoh.

that part about ganon being unable to leave hyrule castle is eerily on point, especially after the trailer to BOTW 2... He must have still been bound to his physical form underneath the castle

"Why couldn't he leave the castle" Nintendo at E3: Well...

04:13 Photo shoot Ganon to death? Zelda :*laughed in Age of Calamity *

NBC: Link could not defeat ganon because of the lack of divine abilities and runes. Speed runners: (Defeats ganon with no armor and 3 hearts) Done.

Link has shields, that's all you need to beat guardians

Once I heard links state is the same as the sword I was like “that’s why you need max hearts to shoot the swirly thingy out of his sword

Hold up- why didn’t they use a fairy when link passed out???

1:17 or so >Link was not as strong 100 years ago boy are we going to ignore the memory 5 he kneecapped a whole group of enemies that included 3 lynels in open space while probably defending zelda and got out with like a wound on his arm sure he might not have the aid of the other champions spirits/abilities in direct control but jfc if he was offscreen cutscene strong with those powers as well it'd be chaotic

"What would have happened if link had spare apples to heal himself"

Age Of Calamity: *I’m about to ruin this theory’s whole career*

We had no runes back then: me playing hyrule warriors with every rune

It could have been possible for Link and Zelda to storm Vah Medoh before the Guardians arrived, meaning that there would still be a Rito to carry them. This would also put Vah Medoh back to the good side, meaning it could take out the Guardians - or at least no longer prevent the Rito from flying away. Even without the paraglider, Link could hitch a ride on one Rito while another distracts the beast. As for the Zora... King Dorephan himself was strong enough to throw a Guardian into a river (as told by the second stone tablet on the path to Zora Domain), so, being younger, he would have helped Link board Vah Rutah himself. While the paraglider would have helped with hitting the points, the waterfalls still would have launched Link so it would’ve been possible to get the shots in - and it’s actually possible in-game to hit the weak points without even climbing the waterfalls, just by arcing your shots. The runes are almost an impenetrable argument... except... Link and everyone else have basic problem-solving abilities. They would have gone through many of the shrines, realised that some of them required very specific supernatural abilities, and eventually linked them to the missing ability slots on the Shiekah Slate - the only device shown to have any supernatural ability at all, even if it was just taking photos. Finally... are we really sure that the Great Plateau Tower was the only one which could have triggered the Shrines? We don’t see any other towers before we activate the Great Plateau one, so how do we know none of those were exposed? And they all have the whole Sheikah design going on, so the moment one was found, the Sheikah slate would have been brought to it and the Shrines and other Towers would rise. In the end, the Rito would be alive with a mostly intact home to go back to once the events swept over; the beasts would have their laser pointers aimed at Ganon; Link would have the Master Sword, at least 13 hearts, the champion powers, whatever he got with the spirit orbs, and Zelda’s help, and they probably would have decimated Ganon, allowing the rebuilding to begin. Considering Link can beat Ganon with 3 hearts, straight from the Great Plateau, I’d say the odds are in his favor.

You should make a video talking about how other Links would handle the calamity, I.e Hero of Time, Hero of Winds, Twilight etc. Keep in mind the weapon durability won’t apply to them.

Can we all agree that Link would've most likely survived the Calamity if he was given A DAMN SHIELD?

NBC: What are they going to do Photo Shoot Ganon to death Wow, he just predicted the future, or I guess the past

Maybe if Link used a SHIELD he would have survived but no, let him try to deflect a guardian beam without one

Actually, Zelda could of just temporarily sealed Ganon like how she actually but with of course Link surviving. It would be an emotional separation like in Skyward Sword, but would of been necessary for them to win with Link surviving.

6:33 it is also true that when link is at full health, the top of his power, the master sword shoots a beam of light, but when link isn't at full health, not at full power, the master sword can't fire these beams.

Yeah they could still go straight to the castle (albeit more difficult with extra guardians), and maybe zelda would unlock her sealing power along the way, link could them beat ganon (naked if needs be), but it does depend on zelda being able to unlock her sealing by the time they get there.

Except... he doesn't NEED any of that stuff to take on Ganon, assuming that he has at least 13 hearts since he's able to wield the Master Sword, and Zelda somehow unlocks her power. Say, she unlocks it in the same instance, but he survives long enough to get to a healer or something. In case you forget, you don't HAVE to do more than the bare minimum in the actual game to take Ganon out. Paraglider? Optional. Runes? Optional. Shrines? Optional. Divine Beasts? Optional. Master Sword? Optional. All he needs to be able to do is survive long enough to scale Hyrule Castle, wipe out the four Blights, and then fight Ganon himself. With a powered Zelda, that shouldn't be too difficult. Remember, she had enough power to make it last 100 years non-stop. She can wipe out guardians en masse, and destroy or weaken the blights enough for Link to break them pretty easily. And if she brings all the power she has to bear against Ganon so early in his resurrection, the two of them can make short work of him. The ONLY reason they failed in the initial timeline was because Zelda's power didn't awaken in time. Even if all four champions died and the Divine Beasts were lost, they could still turn it around if only Zelda had her power and Link was able to fight.

Link only needed 13 hearts to require the master sword. You still can't be sure how many he has before.

how about a "what if the champion's survived the great calamity?"

At the very beginning you assume he has 13 hearts because of that's how many it takes to pull the master sword out, but that's not how Link first got it. It took 13 hearts to get *after* link goes to the shrine of resurrection and Zelda puts it there, making only a worthy hero (with at least 13 hearts) able to get it

Ganon: "OH NO!!! PHOTOS!!! PLEASE!! DON'T POST THEM ON FACEBOOK!!! I AM TO UGLY!!!😭"

Hoping for a direct sequel to show what happens after the calamity

This might be impossible, but could they have helped at least one of the champions fight their respective Blight Ganon? Mipha would’ve been the most useful, and, coincidentally, the closest. Although, maybe I’m remembering wrong, and they were already dead. But even then, couldn’t one of them have been taken to the shrine of resurrection?

Link would not be able to enter Vah Medoh The guy with 2 minecarts: I'm boutta end this man's whole theory

Actually I pushed a guardian into the water and it was fully submerged and it worked okay it was able to shoot its beams but couldn’t move

Great video! Also, I thought of two possible, but not so likely situations. 1) What about a case where Zelda is injured, and Link ends up taking her to the shrine of resurrection? He could possibly stumble upon the great plateau tower in this, as it is newly exposed, and kinda nearby. As I said though, unlikely. 2) A slightly more likely situation. The monks seem to be able to communicate telepathically with Link, whether this is via Shiekah Slate or not, I am unsure, however we see it a lot. They obviously are working towards him growing in power, and defeating ganon, so couldn't they have guided him to the great plateau tower, like they guide him to certain shrine trials, or the trial of the sword?

Watching a lot of these from you and others you've done collabs with and If I heard piano music while swimming I would freak out

Awesome video!!!!

Theory > Link has no ancient arrows Zelda w/ powers > Manifests Bow of Light

Gandalf would get yeeted out of existence

I need you to revisit this, since Age Of Calamity exists.

I just subscribed!! Love your video's!!!

this reminds me of Avengers infinty war. the heroes must lose in order to win.

Link and Zelda could find their way through the korok forest and hide there, because no guardians/enemies are found there.

Link:*casually walks around* Guardian:*starts the music* Link:"OHHH SHIT"

THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE

Oh yeah! I completely forgot about the paraglider rofl. Link doesn't have that either so they screwed :))) (Also good luck boarding Medoh or Rudania without it lel)

Hi NBC, I loved this video, just one thing to point out. It said in the game that the Rito could fly low when Divine Beast Vah Medoh was rampaging. So they could still fly, which means that some Rito might escape the Guardians.

I love listening to your theories

Ninetemdo making Age of Calmity: Well well well then let's find out

My counter to this is that Link can beat Ganon with 3 hearts, no armor, a wooden shield, a bunch of wooden sticks & not defeating any of the devine beasts. All they need is Zelda to release her powers. Once she releases her powers they can go in the castle, fight off the 4 calamity Ganon clone beasts, defeat Ganon & seal him away. Even without using any runic abilities. Just as long as they don't take a single hit. Which has been proven to be done.

But if the Ancient Arrows were created after the great Calamity, how its possible to have chests inside Hyrule Castle with Ancient Arrows?

Awesome video.

12:53 Due to Ganons awakening revealing the tower (as stated in Creating a Champion) then Link could get bombs added and windbomb over

My idea why Ganon didn't leave Hyrule castle is that he was basically scared. I mean - when you really get to fight him, he is super weak. Without all the guardians and sheikah-tech he can't really do a lot except fire lasers and wander the fields as a giant... Boar? Mind that it was the guardians that almost killed Link. Of course we don't know if Link would have succeeded if he had made it to Ganon. But I think so. And now, that the guardians are gone, Ganon isn't a real threat anymore. He apparently completely relied on all the sheikah-tech.

And today we know, why he couldn't leave hyrule castle... Gonons corpse resides under it.

can’t wait to see if this video gets remade once Age of Calamity comes out

I just realized something... the memory in Pagos woods they have such realistic expressions

Well, technically, guardians can't swim, but they can walk underwater. To prove this, guardians are water proof, as they still work in rain. And also, I got a guardian to walk into a river by firing arrows at its eye to demobilize it, making it slip into the river, and it still went on to kill me, proving that they still work underwater. So even if the Zora jumped into the water, they could still be shot at from beneath by the guardians walking on the floor of the lake that surrounds Zora's Domain.

Page 392 of master works says that Kakariko village would not be overrun due to the warriors and the terrain.

I think the reason he didn't leave is because he was made from the malice of Ganons hatred beneath the castle, and the malice can't be manipulated purely at such a distance. This is why ganon needed to make a puppet in the sanctum, and the only parts he could use in the castle were from guardians. This doesn't quite explain things like how ganon could kill the champions if it took him 100 years to make a pretty weak puppet.

10:48 maybe because of the underground posts that help stop ganon from exiting hyrule castle (from Zelda’s journal) Zelda’s observatory hurtle castle

"... Calamity Ganon began making a physical body to stop the hero..." *BOTW 2 trailer comes out* Me: O.O

Amazing video as always, NBC!! Ive had a few ideas myself as to what would happen if he survived, but you summed this up perfectly!! :D

I'm a suscriber and I love your videos😀

I think that fandoms power is stored inside the castle because of that core thing he comes out of in the fandoms boss fight so that would probably mean that Gabon’s power would slowly weaken if he left his power behind so that’s probably why he doesn’t leave the castle

He might not be able to leave because his hatred for the royal bloodline and the hero has bound him to the castle.

I disagree. Your "final nail" was not thought out. You said that the entrance to the Great Plateua was destroyed after Link was sealed in the Shrine of Resurection, but in this timeline, he was not sealed, therefore, the entrance was not destroyed and even if it was, Link is able to climb. He then would, probably, easily been able to see the large land mound with Sheikah tech sticking out of it, placed his slate on and activated the towers and shrines. He could then actually get the runes by seeing the now clearly orange glowing shrines, and then done more shrines, become stronger, board and complete most of the divine beasts because he now has the runes and defeated Ganon.

"Photo shoot Ganon to death" Age of Calamity: Intense breathing

When link woke up it was possible to head straight to calamity Ganon after the great plateau so link could beat ganon even at three hearts

Hey, here’s a math theory: While playing Zelda: Skyward Sword, I saw how big the moon was while walking around sky loft at night. I realized that the moon in SS is MUCH bigger than the one in BotW. Now I am not sure about this, but I think the moon distances itself from the earth VERY slowly. Using the velocity of the moon and how big it is in both games, is it possible to calculate the amount of years past? I am not sure about this, and it will probably be very difficult, however I think it is pretty possible and interesting.

I do like about this Zelda more that she shows compassion and emotion and is not that perfect almost aetheral being

technically, according to age of calamity, the towers were brought above ground before link fell to the calamity. and in one of the memories, it shows Zelda trying to access an activated shrine, therefore showing us that shrines were active before link fell. also, as shown in age of calamity, the sheika slate had all the runes, because we see Zelda use all of these runes.

awesome theory!

I think the reason why calamity Gabon didn’t go out to kill link himself is because he was too afraid of being defeated and sealed away by the master sword which is literally the sword that seals the darkness. Don’t know if it’s useful but it’s something to take into consideration

Me: has never played this game and has no clue whats going on.... Also me: *watches video.*

I love all the thought that went into this, but this is still pretty unsettling for me and I want to ignore the very existence of this video for the sake of my happiness! It’s a pretty thought out theory, I gotta give him that

I just realized this was released on my birthday!

I need a new Zelda game

Lurelin also could be destroyed by skywatchers and guardians who maiden their way through the jungle

This was interesting !

Nice job.

In the memory where Zelda tries to get in the shrine she say that the shika-slate is the key to open shrines and that they are only opened for the hero but she is trying to find a loophole in this because she hated Link in that time. So is it not possible that if she just had let Link to try or even touch the shika-slate he could have opened something even before Gannon come if she had let him? I’m just going from my gaming experience so I don’t know if there is written somewhere that it had to be just that tower, but from what I have seen myself in the game end memories it only works after link touch the shika-slate.

Well now we can assume that Calamity Ganon couldn't leave the castle because its real body - Ganondorf's mummy - resided below. Always a pleasure to come back to your older theories!

This mans dreams and content have been crushed by age of calamity

Zelda could've expelled the malice from vah medoh and used that to excavate the tower as well as get to the great plateau as she did with the guardians while defending link. just a thought

14:00 let's all disregard the GLOWING SHRINE in the background

Well I believe that after this years E3 it is clear why he couldn't leave. If we get going from the point that the mummy under Hyrule castle was Ganons body, maybe he couldn't leave the region due to his spirit beeing bound to the body which is sealed under Hyrule castle. Just a theory but I think it would make sense.

10:50 but since we know in the legend of Zelda breath of the wild 2 it’s because ganodrof was stuck there because of some seal (the hand holding him down)

The towers that popped out the ground circling and pointing at hirule castle could have been what stopped gan on from leaving

Link: Zelda i have a memory! Zelda:What do you mean were running from ganon not remembering. Link: ZELDA, OFF TO SKYLOFT

I’d like to see a what if Revali hadn’t been “winging it”.

At the end of the video you made a jump cut around December 2019 where you ask if we would be interested in a livestream where we can ask questions and discuss theories. Did that already happen? If yes, can you put the link to the video? I would love to see that (or participate when you do one)

I have an idea: what if the towers and all the forgotten knowledge of the sheikah tech became known to Zelda after unlocking her powers because that also gave her access to goddess Hylia's knowledge?

I just imagine him watching the memories until he finds something, and when he does he just freaks out. Lmao.

Well well well, this was one hell of an interesting video! I loved it, so many good ideas and different outcomes people speculate. Great work!

That was an impressive talk

this is my fav ep of you