What Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Calamity Could Mean For BotW 2
The Zelda timeline is complex and challenging to untangle for even its biggest fans, but Nintendo may have given a clue to how the next two games are related. The naming convention behind Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity have led individuals like Game Rant's Joshua Duckworth to believe it may set the stage for Breath of the Wild 2 to end the long cycle of conflict between Zelda's core forces.
To understand how this theory works, you first need to examine basic facts about the Breath of the Wild and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity timeline. Breath of the Wild represents a point where the three primary Zelda timelines have merged, making it the final destination point for the entire series, in addition to placing it centuries after any other game. Well, any other game except for the upcoming Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which is set 100 years before the events of Breath of the Wild.
In Age of Calamity, Zelda's heroes fight a doomed war against the forces that devastated Hyrule at the bidding of Calamity Ganon. During that fight, Link is seriously injured, which is why he is in a restorative sleep for a hundred years. This healing slumber is what he awakens from at the beginning of the Breath of the Wild.
So, how does the specific naming convention for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity reflect on the upcoming Breath of the Wild 2? According to Game Rant's admittedly speculative analysis, Age of Calamity could refer to both the rise of Calamity Ganon and a period of extended strife. Often seen in both fiction and real-life are subsequent ages of opposites, and thus an Age of Calamity could foreshadow an impending Age of Peace.
By this logic, the prequel events of Age of Calamity could reflect the ultimate resolution of Breath of the Wild 2. A common theme throughout the Zelda universe is a conflict between the "'spirit of the hero' 'the blood of the godndss' and an 'incarnation of Demise's Hatred.'" By settling the conflict between these forces, the world could enter an Age of Peace, bringing an ultimate end to the seemingly infinite cycle of destruction that has trapped Zelda, Link, Ganondorf, and all of Hyrule throughout the series.
There are, of course, many other theories about how the two games tie together, so you'll have to wait until Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is released on Nov. 20 to learn more about how the Zelda heroes navigate this dangerous time. It does seem to set the stage, however, for some meaningful change in Hyrule.