The title may seen a bit cryptic here, but after getting the Master Sword, and feeling energised, I decided (after a couple more shrines and memories) to head to locations that in Breath of the Wild were quite important. This included a Goddess statue slightly to the west of the Great Plateau. This statue could not be used as a prayer location, because something was wrong with the Great Goddess statue in the Forgotten Temple. Sure enough, that statue had toppled, and to restore it to its former glory, I needed a scale (or nail, I forget) from the electric dragon, Farosh. Instead, I ended up with a nail from the ice dragon. Well, it’ll come in handy eventually, right?

I unlocked another memory, and this displayed a particularly intense moment. Ganondorf stood on a cliff near the Great Plateau, flanked by Gerudo warriors. Together, they directed a horde of Modulga monsters at the plateau, but the King, boosted by the Queen and by Zelda, used his power of light to drive the monsters away. Ganondorf reflected that brute force would not obtain the power he sought.

After pottering about a bit, I decided to return ‘home’. In this instance, home was the Great Plateau. It was where Link’s adventures on the Switch began. I figured it would have to be important in some way. There was zero chance of Nintendo not making a key connection there. Armed with the Master Sword (which I used to slay a Stone Talus in the Lost Woods, whereupon I took its heart), I took on a small bunch of bokoblins, and learned their little fort was in fact upon… a Stone Talus! All of them were slain, and from there, I went west, towards a shrine. I was nearly intercepted by more of those horrible gloomy hands, but made it beyond their reach, and now had a travel point back to the plateau as and when it was needed.

There was another Goddess Statue in the long-ruined Temple of Time, but this too required something from me in order to function. Something awaited in the waters within the plateau, but I could not figure out how to unravel that mystery. Instead, I took to more meandering. This led me, in a very roundabout manner, to a chasm, and within it were Yiga clan members on bikes! They were dispatched without difficulty, and then, of all things, Farosh showed up, in the depths! I had earlier tried to obtain her claw, but had missed my shot. Now, I was able to get it, and took it back to the Spring of Courage, where I revived the statue’s power, and received… topaz, as a reward. Well, I suppose it was better than nothing.

Did I mention that one of Breath of the Wild’s most annoying features returned? The Master Sword could once again run out of power, rendering it useless for ten-minute spells. Now, I fully understand why Nintendo introduced that mechanism. They want players to be challenged, and to have to be innovative. That said, after all the effort to get the sword, you’d think players might be rewarded with a weapon that, if said to be so sacred and powerful, imbued with the power of the gods as it were, that it didn’t, somehow, run out of juice. I mean, it’s a sword. Still, I could not do anything about it.

I tried to get into the Yiga clan’s HQ, learned I needed three pieces of Yiga armour if I wanted in, and when I revealed myself to be Link, I had to flee from a group of very hostile Yigas. After all of that, I went off to the Death Star, er, Gerudo Sky Globe? This strange environment saw Link virtually float from one platform to another, until I built a flying machine that could grant me access to a giant floating orb. Within the orb were mirrors, and a light source, and I had to direct the light to a central surface. All of that activated another shrine.

Next, I chased down more Tears, in fact, the final two. The story was now, to a degree, complete. Zelda had indeed ended up back in time, to the dawn of the Hylian Kingdom, and stood alongside the King, Queen and Sages, as they opposed the Demon King. She, and the Sages, could not save Hyrule, so the King had to sacrifice himself to keep the Demon King bound. With all the Tears found, one final Tear was shed by Zelda’s dragon form.

Zelda wished to return to her own time, but with no avenue available save one, she took to consuming her Secret Stone, and then, with the ruined Master Sword in hand, she transformed.

After this final memory, I took to trying to explore the depths. I hadn’t poked around there too much, but I figured there would be discoveries to make. I also hoped to link the shrines above to their roots, and wanted to continue to explore that connection. As a result, I nearly had a very unpleasant encounter with a large slug, and watched a corrupted stone talus amble about from a safe distance. In another twist, I followed a trail of bananas (I knew what this meant) to an underground colosseum.

Once I had grabbed the suspiciously-placed bananas in the middle of the chamber, two Yiga clan warriors appeared, taunted about how they had trapped me, and unleashed a hinox to fight me in the arena. Fortunately, my Sage companions were able to assist me in bringing the beast down, and I claimed a korok-finding mask as a reward.

After uncovering a little more of the Depths, I headed to the Castle Town, to take stock, and to complete a side quest involving a horned statue. This statue functioned a little like the Goddess statues, only it required an exchange in order to grant you power. In short, it was the opposite of the Goddess. The chamber it resided in could only be accessed via explosive force, but said chamber stretched on quite a way, and I followed it for a time, until I found a stalox, buried under rocks. I was grinding the thing down, then one stray hit killed me. Argh!

I decided not to fight it again, and instead, headed for where Tears of the Kingdom began: Hyrule Castle. I soared atop the uplifted castle, explored for a bit (I sought weapons and armour), then descended into the chasm beneath the castle. I had briefly poked around there before, but now I came to realise there was more to see, and in the course of my travels around the gloom-ridden landscape, I had my first encounter with one of the game’s most formidable foes.

Beyond that whirlwind of strikes stood a lynel. Lynels were easily the most dangerous enemies in Breath of the Wild, and that’s with a complete set of hearts, good weapons, and powerful shields. I had none of that, but was making reasonable progress, until the Master Sword ran out of juice. I decided to retire from the right, and returned to the castle town. I had a feeling I now knew where the Demon King could be found, but on current evidence, I was not ready for him. I had a lot of work to do.

On to Part Eight

Back to Tears of the Kingdom