{"id":129487,"date":"2022-11-04T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-139413"},"modified":"2022-11-04T21:00:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-04T21:00:00","slug":"feature-17-things-you-might-not-know-about-zelda-breath-of-the-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2022\/11\/04\/feature-17-things-you-might-not-know-about-zelda-breath-of-the-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"Feature: 17 Things You Might Not Know About Zelda: Breath Of The Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/00bde4030223c\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/00bde4030223c\/small.jpg\" class=\"media_thumbnail\"><\/a><\/div>\n<figure class=\"picture\"><a class=\"scanlines\" title=\"Zelda: BOTW Secrets and Glitches\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/00bde4030223c\/zelda-botw-secrets-and-glitches.large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA5MDAgNTA2Ij48L3N2Zz4=\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/00bde4030223c\/zelda-botw-secrets-and-glitches.900x.jpg\" alt=\"Zelda: BOTW Secrets and Glitches\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Image: Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Oh, you think you know everything about Zelda, do you? Name all six sages.<\/p>\n<p><em>Juuuuust<\/em> kidding, we&#8217;re no gate(of time)keepers here \u2014 but we do have a bunch of facts for you about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/legend_of_zelda_breath_of_the_wild\">Breath of the Wild<\/a>, which is somehow a game that just keeps giving. Not a week goes by without us learning <em>something<\/em> about Nintendo&#8217;s open-world take on the Zelda canon, whether it&#8217;s a new glitch to save time in speedruns or a secret chest hidden somewhere really obscure.<\/p>\n<p>In preparation for 2023&#8217;s long-awaited sequel, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/nintendo-switch\/legend_of_zelda_tears_of_the_kingdom\">Tears of the Kingdom<\/a>, we&#8217;ve compiled just 17 of our favourite discoveries from Breath of the Wild \u2014 how many do you already know?<\/p>\n<nav id=\"toc\" role=\"navigation\" class=\"table-of-contents\">\n<h2><span class=\"icon icon-list-bullet\"><\/span> On this page:<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/features\/17-things-you-might-not-know-about-zelda-breath-of-the-wild#h17-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-secrets\">17 Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Secrets<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<h2 id=\"h17-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-secrets\">17 Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Secrets<\/h2>\n<h3 id=\"link-opens-chests-like-an-idiot\">Link opens chests like an idiot<\/h3>\n<aside class=\"object object-youtube\">\n<figure class=\"youtube\" data-videoid=\"Q0wHHyzLF3Q\">[embedded content]<figcaption class=\"youtube-sub\">Subscribe to <a class=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/subscription_center?add_user=nintendolife\">Nintendo Life<\/a> on <span class=\"g-ytsubscribe\" data-channel=\"nintendolife\" data-layout=\"default\" data-count=\"default\"><a class=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/nintendolife\">YouTube<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>You all know the classic Link-opening-a-chest animations, which are usually steeped in awe as the young man pushes open the lid and picks up the treasure inside, before showing it to the audience like a toddler with a toy. But Breath of the Wild allows the lad to be in a number of positions \u2014 crouching, sideways, naked \u2014 and each one of them gets its very own animation.<\/p>\n<p>Sideways is probably the most common non-traditional opening, and it has Link kicking the chest to open it. Hey, as long as it works, pal. However, if Link is not wearing shoes, kicking the chest will hurt his toes. We could have told you that, stupid.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, if Link is crouching <em>and<\/em> side-on to the chest, he&#8217;ll have to <em>punch<\/em> it to open it, which \u2014 again \u2014 hurts his hand. <em>This<\/em> is your hero? This guy???<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"theres-a-late-game-ocarina-of-time-reference\">There&#8217;s a late-game Ocarina of Time reference<\/h3>\n<figure class=\"picture\"><a class=\"scanlines\" title=\"Zelda's Lullaby in Hyrule Castle\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/8b5a0b605974b\/zeldas-lullaby-in-hyrule-castle.large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA5MDAgNTA2Ij48L3N2Zz4=\" width=\"900\" height=\"506\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/8b5a0b605974b\/zeldas-lullaby-in-hyrule-castle.900x.jpg\" alt=\"Zelda's Lullaby in Hyrule Castle\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Image: <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Breath_of_the_Wild\/comments\/6tw62o\/fun_little_detail_zeldas_lullaby_surrounding_the\/\">DaxelW<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Make your way to Hyrule Castle and you&#8217;ll find this neat little reference to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/n64\/legend_of_zelda_ocarina_of_time\">Ocarina of Time<\/a> \u2014 the notes to Zelda&#8217;s Lullaby, laid out in a circle around the Triforce.<\/p>\n<p>Making all those Tears of the Kingdom trailer breakdowns has conditioned us to get all speculative about what this means \u2014 why Zelda&#8217;s Lullaby instead of the more traditional Hyrulian Crest? What does it mean that this is found in the room where the final battle with Ganon begins? And why isn&#8217;t there an ocarina or any kind of musical instrument for Link to play in Breath of the Wild? Even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/wii\/legend_of_zelda_twilight_princess\">Twilight Princess<\/a> had playable grass!!<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"you-can-speedrun-bread\">You can speedrun bread<\/h3>\n<aside class=\"object object-youtube\">\n<figure class=\"youtube\" data-videoid=\"iXLAqWNg-ZI\">[embedded content]<figcaption class=\"youtube-sub\">Subscribe to <a class=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/subscription_center?add_user=nintendolife\">Nintendo Life<\/a> on <span class=\"g-ytsubscribe\" data-channel=\"nintendolife\" data-layout=\"default\" data-count=\"default\"><a class=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/nintendolife\">YouTube<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>It&#8217;s called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2021\/01\/random_breath_of_the_wild_players_are_trying_to_speedrun_bread\">Bread%<\/a>, it was invented by a speedrunner called The Bread Pirate, and the current world record holder is Cephla, with a time of 16m 27s. The run involves you having to find the ingredients for bread, and then make bread. That&#8217;s it! No Ganon, very little Zelda, but who needs those when you have tasty bread?<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"the-zora-are-secretly-musical\">The Zora are secretly musical<\/h3>\n<aside class=\"object object-youtube\">\n<figure class=\"youtube\" data-videoid=\"oC84xDccaos\">[embedded content]<figcaption class=\"youtube-sub\">Subscribe to <a class=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/subscription_center?add_user=nintendolife\">Nintendo Life<\/a> on <span class=\"g-ytsubscribe\" data-channel=\"nintendolife\" data-layout=\"default\" data-count=\"default\"><a class=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/nintendolife\">YouTube<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>A lot of the names in the Zora Domain are derived from musical terminology. You&#8217;ve got Bazz, Trello, Keye, Cleff, and Laflat, amongst a bunch of other names that we couldn&#8217;t tie to anything musical, like, uh, &#8220;Fronk&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>There are also some references to Majora&#8217;s Mask, which has the storyline about the Indigo-Gos, a dead bass player, and tadpoles serving as musical notes. It turns out that the Japanese word for &#8220;tadpoles&#8221;, \u30aa\u30bf\u30de\u30b8\u30e3\u30af\u30b7, is also the word for &#8220;musical note&#8221;, hence the musical theming for the Zora people \u2014 and there&#8217;s a bridge into the Zora Domain called Inogo Bridge, a reference to the Indigo-Gos.<\/p>\n<p>But it goes deeper than that. The Zora Royal Family, from King Dorephan and Prince Sidon to the sadly-departed Mipha, have their own <em>themes<\/em> \u2014 and they&#8217;re even named after them. You&#8217;ve probably heard of solf\u00e8ge, even if you don&#8217;t know that it&#8217;s called that: It&#8217;s the do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do scale. You know, from The Sound of Music.<\/p>\n<p>Sidon is si-do \u2014 Japanese solf\u00e8ge uses &#8220;si&#8221; rather than &#8220;ti&#8221; \u2014 and you can hear those notes in his theme. Same with Mipha, or mi-fa, and Dorephan, do-re-fa. It could even be argued that Zora is so-la in Japanese!<\/p>\n<aside class=\"object object-tweet\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p><span lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">When you look at Sidon&#8217;s theme, the two most prominent notes of his motif correspond to &#8220;Si&#8221; and &#8220;Do&#8221; in the most common solmization system (=assigning the syllables Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La and Si to notes).<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s basically spelling out his name!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BreathoftheWild?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BreathoftheWild<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/k8WHLpzjck\">pic.twitter.com\/k8WHLpzjck<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/span>\u2014 Kazuki (@Kuraudo1996) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kuraudo1996\/status\/939606011408715781?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 9, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<aside class=\"object object-tweet\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p><span lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thought this might have been just a coincidence, so I checked Mipha&#8217;s theme.<br \/>The two notes of her motif that stick out are &#8220;Mi&#8221; and &#8220;Fa&#8221;. This is so cool! Such an obscure and small musical detail lol.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BreathoftheWild?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BreathoftheWild<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GYTN4zjiW0\">pic.twitter.com\/GYTN4zjiW0<\/a><\/span>\u2014 Kazuki (@Kuraudo1996) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kuraudo1996\/status\/939611639548141568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 9, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/aside>\n<h3 id=\"the-kakariko-villagers-are-secretly-fruits\">The Kakariko villagers are secretly fruits<\/h3>\n<figure class=\"picture\"><a class=\"scanlines\" title=\"Olkin grows pumpkins\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/da3867a662478\/olkin-grows-pumpkins.large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA5MDAgNTA3Ij48L3N2Zz4=\" width=\"900\" height=\"507\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/da3867a662478\/olkin-grows-pumpkins.900x.jpg\" alt=\"Olkin grows pumpkins\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption\">Olkin, tending his namesakes \u2014 <em class=\"credit\">Image: <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/zelda.fandom.com\/wiki\/Olkin%27s_Pumpkins\">Croxodile<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>It&#8217;s not as exciting or deep as the Zora naming convention, but many of the villagers in Kakariko Village are named after fruits. You have Cado for avocado, Nanna for banana, Koko for coconut, Mellie for melon, Steen for mangosteen, Paya for papaya, and Dorian for durian.<\/p>\n<p>There are less obvious ones, too \u2014 Olkin is supposed to be a reference to pumpkins, and he&#8217;s called Tiron in French \u2014 short for potiron, the French word for pumpkin. Rola is named after a cherrola tomato, Lasli is named after raspberry, Trissa is a type of citrus, Ollie is olive, Cottla is apricot, and Claree is cranberry. A lot of these names are more obvious in French!<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"the-divine-beasts-have-an-ancient-secret\">The Divine Beasts have an ancient secret<\/h3>\n<figure class=\"picture\"><a class=\"scanlines\" title=\"Vah Ruta the Elephant\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/0a1edacc3816e\/vah-ruta-the-elephant.large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA5MDAgNTA3Ij48L3N2Zz4=\" width=\"900\" height=\"507\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/0a1edacc3816e\/vah-ruta-the-elephant.900x.jpg\" alt=\"Vah Ruta the Elephant\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Image: <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/zelda.fandom.com\/wiki\/Divine_Beast_Vah_Ruta?file=Divine_Beast_Vah_Ruta_BotW.webp\">Zelda Wiki<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Have you discovered the thread here? A lot of things in Breath of the Wild are named after other things! It makes sense for a game with <em>so<\/em> many things to name.<\/p>\n<p>The Divine Beasts&#8217; names are no exception to this rule:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Vah Medoh<\/strong> = <strong>Medli<\/strong> from Wind Waker, the Rito Sage of Earth<\/li>\n<li><strong>Van Rudania<\/strong> = <strong>Darunia<\/strong> from Ocarina of Time, the Goron Sage of Fire<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vah Naboris<\/strong> = <strong>Nabooru<\/strong> from Ocarina of Time, the Gerudo Sage of Spirit<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vah Ruta<\/strong> = <strong>Ruto<\/strong> from Ocarina of Time, the Zora Sage of Water<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"never-forget-tingle-and-his-bros\">Never forget Tingle (and his bros)<br \/><\/h3>\n<figure class=\"picture\"><a class=\"scanlines\" title=\"Tingleses\" href=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/1d62f960cc755\/tingleses.large.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZpZXdCb3g9IjAgMCA5MDAgMzg5Ij48L3N2Zz4=\" width=\"900\" height=\"389\" data-original=\"https:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/1d62f960cc755\/tingleses.900x.jpg\" alt=\"Tingleses\"><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption\"><em class=\"credit\">Image: <a class=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/zelda.fandom.com\/wiki\/Tingle_Siblings%3F\">Zelda Wiki<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Okay, one last &#8220;did you know this thing is named after this thing&#8221; fact. You may have figured out that Tingel Island, in the Akkala Highlands, is named after everyone&#8217;s favourite spandex-wearing fairy, but did you notice that all the other islands are named after his brothers?<\/p>\n<p>Tingle&#8217;s brothers were introduced in Wind Waker: Ankle, David Jr., and Knuckle are all dressed in different (but still skin-tight) outfits, and they reappear again in The Minish Cap, where they can help Link to get the Magical Boomerang.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the island names \u2014 you can probably figure out which is which:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Tingel Island<\/li>\n<li>Ankel Island<\/li>\n<li>Davdi Island<\/li>\n<li>Knuckel Island<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"the-bridge-of-hylia-wants-you-to-look-ugly\">The Bridge of Hylia wants you to look ugly<\/h3>\n<aside class=\"object object-youtube\">\n<figure class=\"youtube\" data-videoid=\"Io1Zqa1a8KE\">[embedded content]<figcaption class=\"youtube-sub\">Subscribe to <a class=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/subscription_center?add_user=nintendolife\">Nintendo Life<\/a> on <span class=\"g-ytsubscribe\" data-channel=\"nintendolife\" data-layout=\"default\" data-count=\"default\"><a class=\"external\" rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/nintendolife\">YouTube<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p>This is one secret that we actually discovered for ourselves \u2014 and that definitely wasn&#8217;t intentional!<\/p>\n<p>Breath of the Wild&#8217;s art style toes the line between realism and cel-shaded, and you might not even realise that the way the characters look is thanks to a special rendering effect layered on top of the 3D models. That is, unless you go to a very specific spot on the Bridge of Hylia, where \u2014 for whatever reason \u2014 there&#8217;s a tiny corner that strips away the effect, and makes Link look&#8230; <em>very<\/em> flat. And shiny.<\/p>\n<p>Modders have even managed to apply this shiny look to the whole game, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/news\/2021\/11\/random-ever-wondered-what-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-looks-like-without-cel-shading\">which you can see right here<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Image: Nintendo Life Oh, you think you know everything about Zelda, do you? Name all six sages. Juuuuust kidding, we&#8217;re no gate(of time)keepers here \u2014 but we do have a bunch of facts for you about Breath of the Wild, which is somehow a game that just keeps giving. Not a week goes by without [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}