The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the first Nintendo first-party games to have a robust post-launch content plan, with downloadable missions, items, and uber-challenges. Shortly after the game hit Switch and Wii U this spring, Nintendo dropped DLC Pack 1, which featured a lengthy new dungeon, the ability to track where you’ve been on the world map, an item that added more granular fast travel, a higher-difficulty mode, and a slew of new items and costumes for Link.
During E3, Nintendo revealed that the second DLC pack, called The Champions’ Ballad, would feature a “new dungeon and a new original story.” It will focus on the pilots of the four Divine Beasts: the Goron, Daruk; Urbosa the Gerudo; Revali of the Rito tribe; and Mipha, a Zora Princess. All four of them died defending Hyrule from Calamity Ganon, with Ganon’s spectral henchmen usurping control of the Divine Beasts.
An Ancient Verse
The first trailer released for the second DLC pack seems to suggest that this new story will take place in the past, before the events of Breath of the Wild and before Calamity Ganon takes over Hyrule. It opens with a quote from a character named Kass, who throughout Breath of the Wild asks Link if he’s heard an ancient song called “The Champions’ Ballad,” which he plays on his accordion. Then we see footage of the four Champions interacting with Link. Additionally, the fact that the four Champions are dead when Link awakens after his century-long slumber seems to suggest we’ll need to go back in time to give them more screen time.
We saw these four Champions in scenes connected to main storyline missions in Breath of the Wild, but in truth, we actually know little about them and their relationships with Princess Zelda and Link. We do know that timid Mipha, a childhood friend of Link, harbored romantic feelings for him that she couldn’t confess before her death. Revali, praised amongst his people for his mastery of flight and archery, resented Link for being Zelda’s primary Champion. Gerudo Warrior Urbosa seems to have had a very close relationship with Princess Zelda, and Daruk appears to have initially struggled in learning how to control his Divine Beast.
Of the four, the most fleshed out story and personality is Mipha, with Revali coming a close second. But Urbosa and Daruk haven’t been given much time in cutscenes or in Breath of the Wild’s numerous ways of world-building to establish themselves strongly. Hopefully, The Champions Ballad gives these two more time in the spotlight. Perhaps we’ll see why Urbosa seems so protective — almost motherly — towards Zelda, and why she’s so tough. Daruk needs a bit more character development too, as we still don’t know why he had the most trouble of all four Champions in piloting his Divine Beast.
Daddy Issues
There are a few other plot points from the main story in Breath of the Wild that could use a bit more explaining. In one of the photo Memories players must collect to banish Link’s 100-year-old amnesia, we see Zelda’s father, King Rhoam berate his daughter for not awakening her powers sooner. He goes so far as to call her “a princess of failure.” Clearly, this father-daughter relationship has its fair share of troubles. But Link hears none of this from the ghost of King Rhoam as he guides the hero through the opening hours of the game. Some more backstory for these family matters would be something to include in the new story content.
What Up With Koroks?
There’s one last thread this story-focused DLC could — and should — pick up: What’s up with the Koroks? Why have 900 of them scattered across Hyrule? Why did they leave the Korok Forest? And why is the Korok Forest hidden inside another really creepy forest? The Koroks are everywhere in Breath of the Wild and yet we know very little about them. Their presence in the game does connect them to another Zelda title, The Wind Waker, which makes it seem like Breath of the Wild takes place in the Zelda timeline after the events of that game. Could this be true?
And perhaps we’ll see more of Prince Sidon. We like him a lot.
The Champions Ballad is scheduled to drop this holiday season.
