History TearJerker / TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild

** In Gerudo Town, there is an NPC named Deltan who is at the Noble Canteen, a place that sells drinks that "only adults can drink". You find her there on a table with her head down, sobbing over a failed relationship between her and a guy she liked. Note that there's 3 bottles next to her. Yup. This is a woman who is drinking her sorrows away in a Nintendo game. Hits even harder for anyone who ever went though a similar situation.

* Prince Shidon is cheerful, encouraging, and never gives up at all. Despite all that, there is one thing that brings him down quite a lot. [[spoiler:Mipha was his older sister, who was killed by the Divine Beast, Ruta. Even after Link defeated the Ganon Blight and freed Mipha's spirit, you can sometimes catch Sidon wondering if Mipha is watching over Link, followed by Sidon mentioning how lonely he is without his sister at his side. When Sidon notices Link had overheard him, he just apologizes for showing a moment of weakness and doesn't try to brush it off with his usual happy self. You can feel his grief still lingering even after Mipha was put to rest.]]

--> '''Zelda:''' [[spoiler:What's wrong with me?]]

-->'''Zelda:''' [[spoiler:I left them all... to die...]]

*** He's also seen riding with Zelda at certain points. Whether or not this is merely a memory has yet to be seen.

** When he ''does'' find out, it arguably makes things worse for him: [[spoiler: he was Princess Zelda's personal bodyguard and the champion of the kingdom, helping her prepare to take down Calamity Ganon and being the leader of the team of champions who were pilot the Divine Beasts. Except that all of those preparations failed, the four other champions were killed, and the beasts they were piloting have made things ''worse''. In short, when Link discovers his past, he discovers that he ''failed'' his primary mission to protect the kingdom, and almost all of his friends are dead.]]
** There are a handful of creatures in Hyrule who are long-lived enough to remember Link. Some of the first ones you're likely to meet? [[spoiler: Some old Zora soldiers who used to fight along side him. They also just so happen to put the blame squarely on Link for the death of the Zora champion, Princess Mipha. As if Link didn't have it bad enough, the few acquaintances he still has ''hate'' him because of what happened. Granted, after you take down Vah Ruta they start to come around and warm up to him, but still.]]

-->'''Zelda:''' [[spoiler: I left them all... to die...]]
* Poor [[spoiler: Zelda]] is such a [[TheWoobie woobie]] in this game. [[spoiler: She's more of an academic than a leader, and yet she's expected to be able to seal away Ganon when the moment arrives, despite having no guidance on how to unlock her power (since the queen died before training began). The future of the entire kingdom rests on her shoulders; Link and the other champions can wound Ganon over and over, but only Zelda can lock him away. Yet, no matter how hard she studies and prays, she can't figure it out.]]
** [[spoiler: This self-loathing is personified in one of her diary entries. Throughout the memories, we witness Zelda being pretty cold towards Link; part of this is because she resents that, contrary to her, Link is a born leader and hero. But it's also because she fears that Link is silently judging her because of her inability to access her Triforce powers - she thinks Link actually hates her.]]

** You start to become attached to the Old Man in the opening plateau, he's always where you seem to be heading. Gives you tips on hunting, cooking, resting, shrines, exploring and so on. [[spoiler: Then he reveals who he really is, shares his sad story, before entrusting you to shut down Ganon for good, [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence then passes on]]. And when he's gone... you feel like you lost a dear friend. As you wander around the plateau area... you couldn't feel ''more alone''.]]
** He's also seen riding with Zelda at certain points. Whether or not this is merely a memory has yet to be seen.
** It's even worse when you find out more about his relationship with Zelda: [[spoiler: Needless to say, it wasn't the best. He constantly belittled her interests and put an enormous amount of pressure on her to tap into her divine power, which likely directly contributed to her inability to do so. It's clear that he greatly regrets how he treated her, as well as the fact that it ultimately contributed to the downfall of his kingdom, and everything he does for Link he's doing as a last-ditch attempt to make up for all his past failures. Finally, he ends up passing on before Zelda is rescued, meaning he never gets a chance to see her again.]]
** There's an in-game explanation for why Link never speaks: [[spoiler: he explained to Zelda that the pressure and responsibility weigh so heavily upon him that the only way he can cope and prevent from cracking is to remain silent and stoic. So even before the kingdom fell, Link felt very alone.]]

** It gets worse with the reveal that [[spoiler: Ganon has pretty much given up reincarnating just to unleash absolutely everything he's got just to kill you]]. It's mitigated (or made worse) by [[spoiler: Zelda mentioning that Ganon will someday return from being sealed away, meaning he's still not finished off.]]

* Prince Shidon is cheerful, encouraging, and never gives up at all. Despite all that, there is one thing that brings him down quite a lot. [[spoiler: Mipha was his older sister, who was killed by the Divine Beast, Ruta. Even after Link defeated the Ganon Blight and freed Mipha's spirit, you can sometimes catch Sidon wondering if Mipha is watching over Link, followed by Sidon mentioning how lonely he is without his sister at his side. When Sidon notices Link had overheard him, he just apologizes for showing a moment of weakness and doesn't try to brush it off with his usual happy self. You can feel his grief still lingering even after Mipha was put to rest.]]

** It's even worse when you look at it from his point of view: you just woke up from a century-long slumber. You have no memory of who you are or where you're from, and the world before you is completely unfamiliar (not to mention dangerous). Yet everyone else knows who you are, and will gladly point out how [[spoiler: ''you'' failed to stop the world from going to hell.]] And you have no idea why they blame you.
* In Memory #13 [[spoiler: Zelda, while praying to Hylia to awaken her power, breaks down about how she's spent her entire life praying, that she's set to inherit some kind of power but doesn't know how or what, and that her father dismisses her interests as 'playing at being a scholar'. The scene ends with her asking a quiet, pitiful question, that perfectly sums up how this Zelda feels about the weight on her shoulders and where she believes the blame to lie.]]
--> '''Zelda:''' [[spoiler: What's wrong with me?]]

* In the last of Zelda's journal entries, which was written on the day [[spoiler: Calamity Ganon returns,]] she mentions how she hasn't [[spoiler: seen her father since the argument they had a few days ago. She never sees her father again, because he is killed during Ganon's attack.]]

* Prince Shidon is cheerful, encouraging, and never gives up at all. Despite all that, there is one thing that brings him down quite a lot. [[spoiler: Mipha was his younger sister, who was killed by the Divine Beast, Ruta. Even after Link defeated the Ganon Blight and freed Mipha's spirit, you can sometimes catch Sidon wondering if Mipha is watching over Link, followed by Sidon mentioning how lonely he is without his sister at his side. When Sidon notices Link had overheard him, he just apologizes for showing a moment of weakness and doesn't try to brush it off with his usual happy self. You can feel his grief still lingering even after Mipha was put to rest.]]

* In the last of Zelda's journal entries, which is written on the day [[spoiler: Calamity Ganon returns,]] she mentions how she hasn't [[spoiler: seen her father since the argument they had a few days ago. She never sees her father again, because he is killed during Ganon's attack.]]

* [[spoiler: In Memory #13 'Slumbering Power', Zelda, while praying to Hylia to awaken her power, breaks down about how she's spent her entire life praying, that she's set to inherit some kind of power but doesn't know how or what, and that her father dismisses her interests as 'playing at being a scholar'. The scene ends with her asking a quiet, pitiful question, that perfectly sums up how this Zelda feels about the weight on her shoulders and where she believes the blame to lie.]]
--> '''[[spoiler: Zelda:]]''' [[spoiler: What's wrong with me?]]

*

** The sheer ''number'' of ruined villages and farmholds: they are '''everywhere''' and outnumber the still inhabited settlements by far: as the game progresses it becomes clear that Hyrule was once a much, '''much''' more densely populated kingdom. It eventually veers into [[NightmareFuel/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild nightmarish territories]] as each new ruin found hammer home the fact that Hyrule wasn't merely invaded and didn't merely lose it's royal castle and citadel: it's population ended up on a [[InferredHolocaust genocide's receiving end]] 100 years ago

** This game being in ruins AfterTheEnd has confirmed one thing. [[spoiler: Now that we know it is the farthest point of the Child Timeline, it means that in every history created by the Hero of Time, Hyrule is destroyed. By flood, by war, and now by calamity, the great kingdom of the series must ''always'' fall to evil at some point.]]

** There's an in-game explanation for why Link never speaks: [[spoiler: he explained to Zelda that the pressure and responsibility weigh so heavily upon him that the only way he can cope and prevent from cracking is to remain silent and stoic.]]

** Now that the context of the moment has been revealed, it's even more heartbreaking: [[spoiler:Zelda is weeping because, despite all their preparations, everything has gone wrong - leading to the deaths of her father, the champions, and the destruction of most of the kingdom. The kicker? She's supposed to be the one who can seal Calamity Ganon away, but she utterly failed in unlocking her hidden power. As far as Zelda's aware, the cataclysm and death of nearly everyone she ever knew is due to her own incompetence.]]

** Now that the context of the moment has been revealed, it's even more heartbreaking: [[Zelda is weeping because, despite all their preparations, everything has gone wrong - leading to the deaths of her father, the champions, and the destruction of most of the kingdom. The kicker? She's supposed to be the one who can seal Calamity Ganon away, but she utterly failed in unlocking her hidden power. As far as Zelda's aware, the cataclysm and death of nearly everyone she ever knew is due to her own incompetence.]]
* Poor [[spoiler: Zelda]] is such a [[Woobie]] in this game. [[She's more of an academic than a leader, and yet she's expected to be able to seal away Ganon when the moment arrives, despite having no guidance on how to unlock her power (since the queen died before training began). The future of the entire kingdom rests on her shoulders; Link and the other champions can wound Ganon over and over, but only Zelda can lock him away. Yet, no matter how hard she studies and prays, she can't figure it out.]]
** [[This self-loathing is personified in one of her diary entries. Throughout the memories, we witness Zelda being pretty cold towards Link; part of this is because she resents that, contrary to her, Link is a born leader and hero. But it's also because she fears that Link is silently judging her because of her inability to access her Triforce powers - she thinks Link actually hates her.]]

*** [[spoiler: We don't know that at all, though. We have no clue which timeline this is in, or if it's somehow a new one, or even if's after all other existent games in that timeline.]]

*** [[soiler: We don't know that at all, though. We have no clue which timeline this is in, or if it's somehow a new one, or even if's after all other existent games in that timeline.]]