http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/SurvivorsOfTheCalamityGanonAndYigaClan

A page for the direct products of the curse of Demise, which includes Calamity Ganon and the Blights. As the Yiga Clan are his devoted followers, they are listed here as well. For their depictions in the canon games, see here for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and here for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.

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Ganon

Calamity Ganon

The latest incarnation of the Demon King, Ganon. 100 years before The Myth of Link & Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it decimated Hyrule before Zelda sealed it in Hyrule Castle. Over the years, its power has only strengthened to the point where it gets dangerously close to escaping. It's truly the heroic soul of Ganondorf and the Boar Spirit being enslaved by Demise's ancient evil curse, from which they're finally freed thanks to Zelda.

Adaptational Badass: It fights with much greater power and efficiency to offset the fact that there are five Divine Beasts and Link and Impa fight it together. Its Dark Beast Ganon form is also more powerful, needing to be externally weakened by Link through the Wolf before Zelda can actually start to open holes in its surface.
Adaptational Intelligence: It's still an Almighty Idiot to a large degree, but it displays more tactics in its final battle. It has enough intelligence that it can come close to killing Link, with him only being saved by his Old Flame Mipha.
All Your Powers Combined: It fights with weaponry and tactics from all the different Blight Ganons, and then some more weaponry.
Almighty Idiot: It's much more like a malevolent animalistic being that's only focused on destruction. He still has moments of being tactical, but it's not the intelligent chessmaster that Ganondorf was in life. Subverted in the final battle, where he shows intelligent tactics, and it requires extensive teamwork to overpower and ultimately defeat him.
Ancient Evil: Calamity Ganon's legends go back thousands of years. It's truly the product of the curse of Demise, the God of Evil from over 120,000 years ago.
Animalistic Abomination: It's always described as being boar-life, especially its spectral form that flies around Hyrule Castle. It directly adopts the form of a giant boar as Dark Beast Ganon.
Animal Motifs: Boars. This is a result of enslaving the soul of the man who was meant to wield the Boar Spirit of power for its own malevolent purposes.
Anthropomorphic Personification: Of Demise's hatred. It's gotten to the point that it's essentially taken over everything that used to be the calculating chessmaster that was Ganondorf. Zelda manages to bring out the true Ganondorf from this hatred incarnate, extracting his soul from the curse.
Arm Cannon: It has Windblight Ganon's arm cannon. It's used to keep keep Impa focused on defending herself so that it could attack Link uninterrupted.
Artifact Title: Calamity Ganon is actually Ganondorf Dragmire afflicted by the power of Demise's curse. Once he's freed from the curse, the entity is still referred to as Ganon even though Ganon is no longer part of this monster.
Assimilation Backfire: Attempting to swallow Zelda whole was a big mistake. It confined him to Hyrule Castle for 100 years, and she was also able to open weak points in Dark Beast Ganon's Malice "flesh".
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Dark Beast Ganon is the largest entity to have ever been encountered by Link. He barely goes above half the height of its hooves.
Ax-Crazy: Very little remains of the patient calculating manipulator that was Ganondorf. It's focused on trying to break free from Zelda's grasp, and has no time to form a body, and as a result, is much more of a being of pure destruction than someone who wants to conquer Hyrule. And now that it's separated from Ganondorf's soul, there's no telling what it will do.
The Bad Guy Wins: It successfully destroyed Hyrule 100 years prior. The Myth of Link & Zelda: Breath of the Wild is basically Link doing what he can to help Zelda undo this victory.
Beard of Evil: For its first fight with Link and Impa, it has a skeletal face with a red beard.
BFS: It fights with Fireblight Ganon's greatsword.
Big Bad: It attacked Hyrule 10,000 years prior, and came back around again, this time decimating Hyrule absolutely. Hyrule has to come together to defeat it once and for all before it finishes the job 100 years after the fact.
Blade Below the Shoulder: It's got many limbs, and several of them carry weapons. Not just the Blights' weaponry, but even some original weapons, like some huge pair of scissors that could cut a human in half.
Blow You Away: It can create tornadoes like Windblight Ganon.
Body Horror: The description in the narration perfectly matches how disgusting this entity has become. It's a demon mix of the Blights in a spider-like creature that has a rotting Skull for a Head, a perfect sign of Ganondorf's degradation into this monster.
Boss Subtitles:
The Scourge of Hyrule Castle
Calamity Ganon
Hatred and Malice Incarnate
Dark Beast Ganon
Beam-O-War: Link and Dark Beast Ganon end up in one when they both adopt their One-Winged Angel forms. Link wins, weakening Dark Beast Ganon.
Breath Weapon: It uses a massive laser beam fired from its mouth.
Came Back Wrong: Calamity Ganon hasn't had a chance to have a proper reincarnation in thousands of years. Calamity Ganon's mission is to recreate a new body for itself. Zelda prevented that from happening, and Link and Impa's arrival made it emerge in an incomplete form. And then once Zelda separates the curse from Ganon, it completely forsakes reincarnation to adopt its form as Dark Beast Ganon.
Casting a Shadow: It has powers over the magical malevolent energy called Malice.
Clipped-Wing Angel: Downplayed. Dark Beast Ganon is pure raw power, but it initially is borderline unstoppable and nearly indestructible until Link weakens it in a massive Beam-O-War. However, upon this massive weakening, Ganon's lumbering size is a massive weakness that makes it very easy to kill, and its attack is very easy to evade.
The Corruption: Ganon's body is made of Malice, the dark energy that kills anything it touches and corrupts the technology its infused with. It manifests as a cloudy substance around Hyrule Castle, and a foul-smelling swamp when caked onto physical surfaces. It's Demise's curse in physical form, as Ganon himself is a victim of this corruption.
Crippling Overspecialization: Dark Beast Ganon is a being of entirely power and destruction, towering over Link who barely reaches above its hooves, and (at first) is completely invulnerable, which offsets its weaknesses of slow and lumbering body. After being weakened by Link, and with Zelda opening holes in its body from the inside, the weaknesses make it very easy for Link to deal with the creature.
Cyborg: Link and Impa interrupted its attempt to reincarnate. So when they arrive, it's still in a pulsating cocoon sac that shatters to reveal its form as a cybernetic creature made of Malice with several inhuman limbs, Guardian legs, and a rotting skull-face with red hair and a thick beard.
Dark Is Evil: It's the source of the dark malignant substance called Malice.
Determinator: He will stop at nothing to reincarnate. Even him "giving up on reincarnation" is him adopting a new form to once again attack Link and Hyrule. And Ganondorf, his host soul, is no different, who stopped at nothing to keep fighting from within Demise's curse.
Eldritch Abomination: It adopts a spectral form that flies around Hyrule Castle that's genuinely huge made of Malice. It gets even worse when Link and Impa fight it, and it manifests as a cyborg made of Malice with a rotting face. It then adopts the form of Dark Beast Ganon, which is literally a giant boar monster constructed of Malice, completely disconnected from Ganondorf, removing what little humanity it was tethered to before.
Elemental Powers: It can wield every elemental power of the Blights.
Evil Is Bigger: Eventually subverted, but still apparent. Calamity Ganon itself is big, a giant spider-like cyborg with some features that hint that it was once Ganondorf. But Dark Beast Ganon is a veritable kaiju whose hooves are higher than a horseback Link's head. The subversion is that Link and Impa can adopt forms of their own that can rival its size.
Evil Only Has to Win Once: It came very close to winning and destroying Hyrule 100 years earlier, as Calamity Ganon is reaching the apogee of its power, which will destroy Hyrule in one fell swoop.
Evil Redhead: Subverted. One of Calamity Ganon's only traits that indicate its past as Ganondorf is the red hair, which is lost upon its transformation into Dark Beast Ganon. The subversion is that the red hair is a sign of the good man that had been enslaved by the power of Demise's curse.
Extra Eyes: Dark Beast Ganon has a giant eye inside of its head. Striking it weakens it enough for Zelda to break free from its body and seal it away.
Eyes Do Not Belong There: It's got a disgusting Malice eye in its head.
Fangs Are Evil: Calamity Ganon's spectral form has enormous boar tusks coming forward from its mouth. Dark Beast Ganon has them too.
Full-Boar Action: Even when reduced to a spectral swirl of malevolent energy, it still adopts the form of a boar. This is because it corrupted the heroic Boar Spirit, using its power for its own purposes.
Generic Doomsday Villain: The power of Ganon, or more accurately, Demise's curse over Ganondorf's soul, has grown to such a degree that he's become little more than a force of nature, hellbent on absolute corruption and destruction. It has no mind to speak with. Ganondorf himself is not this, because he has enough power to reach out to Link, begging him to end the curse.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: It's described in its spectral form as having glowing yellow eyes.
Go for the Eye: Not its actual eyes. Instead, Link goes for the eye that comes out of its head when it's fully weakened.
Hell Is That Noise: The narration describes its spectral form's roar as being unnatural and even produces a shockwave that creates vicious winds across the kingdom. It's inherited from the Boar Spirit, which has a similar roar that doesn't produce a shockwave, but does send trembles through the ground as a threatening display.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Twice. Link first uses his Daybreaker Bracelets to shield himself from a massive blanketing attack of blaster shots, which is absorbed into the bracelets, which he then clashes to strike Ganon with its own beam. Second, he gets into a Beam-O-War with Dark Beast Ganon using his full power as the Wolf, which Link wins, and causes a blast of energy combining Dark Beast Ganon's own beam.
Holy Burns Evil: These are the only items that can harm it. The power of the Boar, Frog, or Owl, the Master Sword, Goddess Kodachi, and the Bow of Light.
I Have Many Names: It's called Calamity Ganon, the Calamity, Ganon, and the Great Calamity. The old man on the Great Plateau implies that there are even more obscure names for this thing.
Informed Attribute: The old man on the Great Plateau calls Calamity Ganon a cunning being who came up with an Evil Plan that caught Hyrule off guard 100 years earlier. But his plan was little more than a simple corruption of the Divine Beasts and the Guardians that helped his defeat thousands of years prior. That being said, his strategic behavior in his fight with Link and Impa indicate that he indeed may be a cunning being. Especially since he gets a fatal strike in on Link, as does his offshoot Thunderblight Ganon.
"It" Is Dehumanizing: Many times, the entity is referred to with male pronouns, but many times is referred to as "it". This fits perfectly with the fact that Ganon is the product of the inhuman curse of Demise overtaking the human soul of Ganondorf.
Kaiju: Dark Beast Ganon is the largest creature encountered by Link. He barely goes to the halfway up of one its hooves.
Leaking Can of Evil: For 100 years, he was sealed in Hyrule Castle by Zelda, but by the time Link wakes up, he's gaining power back and actually make an initial resurgence as its spectral form, signaling his growing power. Even beforehand, he was able to amplify his power by using the Blood Moon to resurrect his monsters. Link and Impa barely make it before he breaks free completely, at which point he manually turns the moon into a Blood Moon.
Legend Fades to Myth: His past as Ganondorf seems to have been forgotten by Hyrule, as he spent 10,000 consecutive years as Calamity Ganon. Urbosa indicates that his past as Ganondorf is a legend, one that serves as a stain on the Gerudo. This is remedied by the end, where he's freed from Demise's curse by Zelda, and several people, including the Gerudo themselves, have learned that Ganondorf was real and a victim of Demise's curse as much as they were.
Lightning Bruiser: The first incarnation that fights Link and Impa is no slouch despite his large size. He moves fast and strong, and is capable enough that he can overwhelm Link's defensive powers and very nearly kill him.
Made of Evil: He's the embodiment of Demise's curse and hatred, adopting the form of a boar made of Malice. And once he's freed from the curse, it adopts its own form that is nothing but hatred and malice with nothing human to hold it back.
Made of Iron: Here's a track of record of what this thing survives in its final moments. First, the Alpha Strike of five Divine Beasts. Second, a shock from Urbosa's Fury and being slashed in the face. Third, a concentrated beam of its own blaster energy. Fourth, being thrown like a rag doll by Impa and her numerous clones' frogs. Fifth, Link slicing deep into its side when Impa tosses Ganon over him.. Sixth, being impaled through the back with the Master Sword channeling the full power of the Wolf. Seventh, a blast from sixteen barrels of Sheikah magical explosive energy. Eighth, a massive beam of divine energy from the Wolf combined with its own beam of energy. The first seven are all against Calamity Ganon's first form alone. It takes all seven of them just to get Calamity Ganon to transform into Dark Beast Ganon.
Meaningful Rename: "Calamity" is part of Ganon's name. It is a calamity that's named Ganon, and many times just called the Calamity. This is especially the case once Ganon is taken out of the equation altogether, and it's literally the incarnation of hatred and malice.
Meaningless Villain Victory: 100 years ago, Calamity Ganon broke free from a ten-thousand-year imprisonment and overtook the weapons that wrecked him before, killing the Champions meant to stop him. But Zelda stops him before he gets any further, confining him to Hyrule Castle. Then when he's just about to break free again, it's with an incomplete body...and immediately put up against Link and Impa's combined strength.
Mechanical Abomination: It's an Eldritch Abomination that has the powers of a living computer virus. Its essence if infused into Guardians and Divine Beasts to make them an extension of itself. That, and Calamity Ganon's physical form is that of a rotting cybernetic spider mixing Malice and magitek.
Mechanical Monster: Before it's destroyed for the first time, it looks like a semi-organic, Malice-made, magitek cybernetic spider.
Metamorphosis: When Link and Impa walk in to the Sanctum, Ganon emerges from a large cocoon in which it was trying to reform a physical body. Zelda seems to have slowed down that process, which was why it fought them in such a disgusting incomplete form that looked more like a rotting spider-human-Malice-technology....thing than a living being.
Monster Progenitor: He created the Blights to kill the Champions and control the Divine Beasts. He also creates all the monsters that fill Hyrule, resurrecting them through the Blood Moon. The second power is one that he appropriated from Ganondorf's own natural given ability to use monsters as his lackeys, which he was always meant to do, but in favor of the heroes.
Motive Decay: Calamity Ganon is the incarnation of Ganondorf. The canon history from the games is retained, with most Ganondorf/Ganon incarnations being implied to just want to take over Hyrule and the rest of the world, usually by trying to obtain the Triforce. However, he seems to have turned into an entity dedicated entirely to creating an apocalypse to completely decimate and destroy Hyrule, forgoing any apparent attempt to take over Hyrule. And with Ganondorf being freed from the curse that made him this way, there's no way to know exactly what the curse's motive will be.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Calamity Ganon in its first form has as many arms as legs with each one carrying a weapon, and comes very close to killing Link.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: It doesn't get much worse than outright adding the name "calamity" to it.
Nigh-Invulnerable: Subverted. It's not nearly invulnerable as Dark Beast Ganon, it is. It takes Link striking it with equivalent power in a Beam-O-War that ends with him winning, and that's just for Zelda to open up holes in its body.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: In the final battle, it's as pragmatic as it is violent. As Impa and Link overpower it, he just keeps Impa busy with a continuous beam attack to force her into defending herself, and then gives Link an overwhelming blitz attack until it breaks Daruk's Protection, and would have killed Link had it not been for Mipha's Grace.
Oh, Crap!: three times in quick succession.
- The first time is when it's surprised to see that the Divine Beasts are about to fire upon him, shedding off so much of its strength.
- The second time is right after, where it's surprised to realize that Impa is now a chosen anti-calamity hero to fight alongside Link.
- Finally, Dark Beast Ganon looks upon Zelda with horror once she breaks free from him.
Omnicidal Maniac: It seems to have degraded into a living apocalypse at this point, 120,000 years after the events of Skyward Sword. When it awakens the first time 100 years in the past, it just tries to destroy everything in its path, and tries to do the same 100 years later.
One-Winged Angel: Dark Beast Ganon is Demise's curse in its most powerful form that's adopted once Link defeats Calamity Ganon and Zelda frees Ganondorf himself from Demise's curse. Dark Beast Ganon it utterly invulnerable, and is only stopped because there are other beings as powerful as it.
Orcus on His Throne: Justified. Zelda keeps Calamity Ganon locked away in Hyrule Castle. The best Ganon can do is revive monsters with the Blood Moon and keep Malice spread throughout Hyrule.
Person of Mass Destruction: Calamity Ganon is a living apocalypse. He doesn't actually need to use the Divine Beasts or the Guardians to do so, he just did that as a pragmatic move to keep them from being used against them.
The Power of Hate: Calamity Ganon is the result of Demise's curse growing stronger and stronger, and this one is the result of that happening over 120,000 years. It gets even better when Ganondorf is freed from the curse, meaning Dark Beast Ganon is literally just a manifestation of Demise's hate and dark magic.
Power-Upgrading Deformation: Calamity Ganon itself is completely degraded from the cunning manipulative Gerudo that was Ganondorf. King Rhoam's spirit says that Ganon underwent a transformation into Malice, turning him into a seemingly mindless apocalyptic entity. His first form against Link and Impa is a barely functional amalgam of a spider, Gerudo, Malice, and Sheikah technology. The second form, which no longer is tethered to Ganondorf, is completely devoid of any traits of the Gerudo that Ganondorf is.
Rage Quit: After Link, Impa, and Zelda work together to free Ganondorf from Demise's curse, the curse still has a mind of its own, and it refuses to stop trying to kill Link. Without a human mind to give it some rationality, it's nothing more than a completely mindless force of destruction that can't strategize.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: It's the manifestation of the magenta-black substance called Malice.
Rule of Symbolism: Ganon is a "wild" force of nature, which is far more beastly than even Demise millennia earlier. There's virtually nothing left of the man that used to be Ganondorf. Zelda manages to save what's left of the man from the curse, completely severing anything that was once human from the curse.
Sanity Has Advantages: As powerful as Calamity Ganon and Dark Beast Ganon are, they don't have anywhere near as much ability to strategize as the residents of Hyrule, which is what allows them to see to its defeat. That being said, Calamity Ganon is rather tactical.
Sanity Slippage: This thing is barely more than a force of nature at this point. But given that it was once Ganondorf, it's clear that something happened to the man that Demise's curse had enslaved. King Rhoam indicates that Ganondorf underwent a transformation. What this means isn't clarified, but if there was a transformation of Ganon, it clearly came at the cost of sanity and planning, as Ganon has much less ability to plan as canon versions of Ganon.
Sealed Evil in a Can: The curse of Demise is sealed away by Zelda's divine magic. But she and everyone else know that it will return one day, but this time, they'll be ready for it.
Sealed Evil in a Duel: Calamity Ganon was locked in a duel of magic inside Hyrule Castle. However, she's starting to lose the fight of wills against Ganon, and thus she calls in Link for backup.
Self-Constructed Being: Ganon is a malevolent spirit of Malice, but its goal is to create a physical body for itself. Thanks to Zelda, Ganon could only create a barely functional spider-like body with some Sheikah technology to boost its combat capabilities.
Shockwave Stomp: It's not very strong, but Calamity Ganon uses this attack to get Link and Impa away from it.
Shrouded in Myth: Few people remember what Ganondorf was, aside from the fact that he was a Gerudo. The Gerudo themselves think that it was just a disguise adopted by Calamity Ganon, and they see this as a stain on their people. And there's not much revealed about the transformation into Malice he underwent. The myths surrounding Ganondorf are cleared up when it's revealed that he was a heroic man who was enslaved when Demise's curse overtook him.
Silent Antagonist: The only time he speaks is when the real Ganondorf reaches out to Link in a dream, begging him to end Demise's curse. But outside of that, he never says a single word in the real world.
SkeleBot 9000: His first form looks like a damaged mechanical skeletal spider with misplaced appendages held together my Sheikah technology.
Skull for a Head: Its face when faced in Hyrule Castle is described as skeletal in appearance.
Spider People: It barely looks human in its first appearance. It looks more like a spider, and even then, not really. It's just a gathering of Guardian limbs, unnatural limbs, and some weaponry around a collection of unstable Malice. The only hint of humanity is his skeletal face with the red hair and beard.
Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: Calamity Ganon is nothing more than a collection of hatred and malice hellbent on annihilating Hyrule entirely. Dark Beast Ganon is brought to life when the curse is separated from Ganondorf's soul, and it tries to destroy everything in sight that it can, for no reason beyond hatred and anger.
Super Smoke: It's literally a spectral creature seen in a swirling cloud of Malice surrounding Hyrule Castle. This is from its nature as one of the four heroic spirits, as each of them manifest in smoky forms, too.
Sword and Gun: Calamity Ganon's first form uses Windblight Ganon's blaster and several blades of light, including the three other Blights' weapons.
Taking You with Me: Upon defeat, and upon Zelda separating Demise's curse from Ganondorf's soul, it takes all of its available energy and adopts its form as Dark Beast Ganon with no goal beyond killing everyone that it can out of anger and spite.
Technopath: Its Malice functions like a computer virus, infecting and conquering Sheikah technology that it's infused with.
Turns Red: Literally. As Link and Impa attack it relentlessly, it literally turns red to shield itself from attacks. It takes a tremendous effort from Link to pierce this barrier.
Villainous Breakdown: It loses whatever little sanity it had when Zelda frees Ganondorf from the curse's clutches, leaving the Malice without a human mind. It then assumes a pure enraged form to attack Hyrule yet again. It then, when seeing that Zelda broke free from him and is ready to seal him away, makes on final defiant attempt to wipe her out.
Volumetric Mouth: Its spectral mouth can open as wide as 90 degrees, to Link's discomfort.
Was Once a Man: Legends reference Calamity Ganon's past as Ganondorf, the ancient Gerudo King. However, it's been so long that some people think that it was just a simple disguise adopted by a monster and that Ganondorf wasn't actually a real Gerudo. This is fixed by the end, when Zelda frees Ganondorf's soul from the curse, allowing him to become a man again. Urbosa and Riju admit their mistake in believing that Ganondorf was the monster when he was really enslaved by the curse.

The Blight Ganons

Shards of Calamity Ganon

The abominations born from Calamity Ganon's power, phantoms of Demise's curse conjured to kill the Champions and overtake the Divine Beasts. All of them successfully accomplished both tasks, but Zelda sealing Ganon in Hyrule Castle severed their power, rendering them inert. But when his power started to overwhelm Zelda, they reawakened, and with these mechanical wonders under their control, they wreaked havoc across the corners of Hyrule, threatening homes and invoking natural disasters. Link must vanquish these malicious entities to regain control of the Divine Beasts.

Adaptational Badass: They fight much more ferociously and creatively. Since this is a written story and not a game with gameplay restrictions, there are far more methods to use for both Link and these monsters. They're so badass that Link can't actually beat them himself, he needs the help of his Robot Buddy Cerako.
Battle in the Center of the Mind: In order to get to the Final Trial, Link must return to each Divine Beast and relive the Blight Battle he endured, but this time he must do it with fewer resources that reflect more closely each Champions' final fight for their lives.
Beat Them at Their Own Game:
- Link realizes after beating two of them that they're all designed as dark counterparts to the Champions. Mipha and Waterblight Ganon were both used polearms but Waterblight didn't have a power like Mipha's, rather it used its power to create Cryonis ice. Urbosa and Thunderblight Ganon were electric-oriented sword-shield wielders, and both of them had the power to control electricity. Revali and Windblight Ganon were ranged fighters with significant power over wind. Daruk and Fireblight Ganon both used blades with the power of fire and had the power to surround themselves with an impenetrable (though not indestructible) shield.
- Link himself invokes this on the by taking advantage of their weakness to Sheikah technological weapons, specifically ancient arrows, firing right into their eyes.
Boss Subtitles: Each time one is encountered, the narration says "Scourge of Divine Beast Vah _____".
Bright Is Not Good: They teleport through bright blue lights, have vibrant magenta colors, and explode in brilliant magenta light. They're all extensions of Calamity Ganon and are all out for blood.
Cool Mask: They're faces are made of Sheikah technology with a single eye, less like a face and more like a mask over the Malice that makes up their bodies.
Counterpart Combat Coordination: Each Blight wields a weapon like their counterpart Champion. Polearm against polearm (Waterblight vs. Mipha), sword and shield against sword and shield (Thunderblight vs. Urbosa), bow against blaster (Windblight vs. Revali), and fire greatsword against fire greatsword (Fireblight vs. Daruk). As revealed under Beat Them at Their Own Game, the Blights all win.
Cyber Cyclops: They all have one eye, just like the Guardian Stalkers and Scout models.
Cyborg: For any given definition of "organism". They're made of Malice in place of flesh, meshed with Sheikah technology.
Elemental Powers: Each one wields an element that counterparts their Champion's powers.
Elite Four: The dark version of the Champions, basically serving this role to Calamity Ganon and ensuring his victory 100 years ago.
Evil Counterpart:
- Each Blight, as Link realizes, has the same power and weapon setup as the Champion they killed. Three of them use identical weapons while Windblight uses a blaster instead of a bow to reflect a ranged weapon setup. Three of them even have explicit powers that reflect their Champion, with the only exception being Waterblight, who instead uses Cryonis powers to counter Mipha's aquakinesis.
- Calamity Ganon is Link's even counterpart, wielding every Blight weapon and then some.
- Dark Beast Ganon is the evil counterpart to the spirits wielded by Link, Zelda, and Impa, representing the sheer scale of the spirits' power corrupted for evil.
Evil Redhead: They all have long red hair somewhere on them. It's a remnant of their time as Ganondorf, or more accurately, the soul of their collective enslaved victim.
Eye Beams: They can use these, but they don't do it often against Link.
Foreshadowing: They're all twisted constructions made of Malice fused with Sheikah technology, in the same vein as the Clipped-Wing Angel in The Fly (1986) where Brundlefly is a barely functional mishmash of technology and flesh. Calamity Ganon itself isn't very different. This is because of Ganondorf himself fighting from the inside, fighting back against the curse, ending with Zelda finally setting his soul free from the curse.
Go for the Eye: Link is fond of attacking eyes, and he makes no exception for the Blights when he sees their Guardian-like eyes.
Hell Is That Noise: As each one manifests, fights, and eventually is vanquished, the only sounds they make are demonic shrieks that hurt Link's ears.
Hero Killer: Each one killed one of the four chosen Champions. Thunderblight Ganon almost did the same to Link, but Mipha was able to save him by healing him.
Humanoid Abomination: And only very vaguely humanoid, as each one has only a few humanoid features like arms in an otherwise entirely inhuman frame.
It Can Think: They were created to counter the Champions, and Link learns that they're smart. Thunderblight is smart enough to trick Link into impaling its flesh, knowing that it would put Link in a vulnerable position with little effect on itself.
Laser Blade: Windblight Ganon is the only one that doesn't use one of these. The rest use one that counterparts their respective Champion's primary weapon of battle.
Made of Evil: They're made of Malice, literally Demise's curse in physical form.
Magitek: They're cyborg monsters that haphazardly combine Malice with long-lost and very powerful Sheikah technology.
Mechanical Abomination: None of these things resemble living things. They're just constructs of Sheikah technology glued together with unstable Malice that are sent to kill the Champions and conquer the Divine Beasts.
Natural Weapon: They are not natural, but their weapons qualify because they're literally part of their bodies. They often sacrifice one or arm to carry the weapons they wield. Windblight's arm is made into an arm cannon, and Thunderblight's sword is actually a Hook Hand. The other two have Blade Below the Shoulder effect with their weapons.
Power Floats: They all levitate in the air, as none of them have legs.
The Psycho Rangers: They are the Champions to Calamity Ganon as the actual Champions were to Hyrule.
Teleport Spam: They're fond of teleporting with blue energy streaks.
Turns Red: As Link overwhelms each one, they adopt a new tactic that's stronger and more deadly. Waterblight starts using Cryonis after flooding the room. Thunderblight starts using metal rods to attract lightning across the chamber, and uses said lightning to electrify its weapons. Windblight summons a barrage of attack drones to reflect and amplify its beam's power. Fireblight shields itself and fuses its blade with the power of heat.
Wild Hair: Link notes that they each have red hair somewhere on their bodies. And it's not very kempt. Thunderblight's is the most noticeable, and reflects Calamity Ganon's appearance the most.

Waterblight Ganon

A shard of Calamity Ganon created to kill Mipha and conquer Ruta.

Animal Motifs: The way the entity is described reflects elephants, fitting for it overtaking an elephant-shaped Divine Beast.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Its spear manifests from a projector embedded in its arm.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Link quickly overwhelms it with eye shots before it even has a chance to mount an offense. It's not until it raises the water level that it becomes more threatening.
Ice Magic Is Water: Its magic allows it to manipulate water and ice alike.
An Ice Person: It summons blocks of Cryonis ice to throw at Link, who can use the same rune to destroy these Cryonis blocks.

Thunderblight Ganon

A shard of Calamity Ganon created to kill Urbosa and conquer Naboris.

Blade Below the Shoulder: Its sword manifests directly from its arm.
Bolt of Divine Retribution: It ups its game by summoning metal chunks and throwing them around the room, and charging its weapon with electrical power.
Fast as Lightning: Thunderblight is smaller than the others, but makes up for it with incredible speed and ingenuity. For its speed, it combines that speed with its strong sword, slashing away with incredible power.
Flash Step: It dashes around faster than Link can see it, leaving him on defense most of the time.
Genius Bruiser: It's clever enough to trick Link into impaling its main body, which won't be as effective as striking its eye. It takes advantage of this to try and kill Link, which Urbosa implies killed her.
Glass Cannon: Averted! It actually can take quite a bit of punishment, more than Waterblight before it. Impalements and slices don't do as much damage as its size would imply.
Hero Killer: The only reason it doesn't kill Link is because of Mipha's Grace.
Hoist by Their Own Petard: Link lifts one of its metal chunks with Magnesis and throws it at Thunderblight, causing it to zap itself by accident. He does this again in the illusory realm by using Urbosa's Fury on it extensively.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: It uses a shield to block Link's attacks, but Link can briefly overwhelm and destroy it to leave it without a shield.
Pintsized Powerhouse: Link notes that it's way smaller than Waterblight. Doesn't stop it from nearly killing Link.
Shock and Awe: It starts using electricity when Link starts to overwhelm it.
The Smart Guy: Of the Blights. It's clever enough to allow Link to impale it, knowing that it won't be effective even with the Master Sword, giving it an opening to strike a vulnerable Link.
Sword Beam: It throws electrical balls from its sword as it gets more infuriated as it loses the fight.
Speed Blitz: Thunderblight tries to overwhelm Link with brutal speed.

Windblight Ganon

A shard of Calamity Ganon created to kill Revali and conquer Medoh.

Arm Cannon: Link describes one of its arms as being entirely a cannon.
Attack Drones: It starts making use of these as Link overwhelms it. They bounce and amplify the power behind its blasters before firing a much more powerful beam right at Link.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: It's bigger than Waterblight Ganon, making it the biggest of the Blights.
Beam Spam: Revali mentions that it fights dirty, and it does so by trying to do this.
Blow You Away: It creates whirlwinds to attack Link, and they're strong. Strong enough that Link doesn't risk getting hit by them.
Combat Pragmatist: It uses anything at its disposal to kill Link. Revali even calls it a dirty fighter.
Flunky Boss: It uses Attack Drones as Link overwhelms it.
Hoist by His Own Petard:
- When it starts using attack drones, Cerako takes advantage of it, specifically, she hijacks one of the drones and uses it to direct Windblight's drone-amplified beam against it.
- Link absorbs the power of one drone-amplified attack into his Daybreaker Bracelets originally own by Urbosa. He channels this power through the Master Sword to help kill Windblight after the above example of this trope.
High-Altitude Battle: And it nearly gets Link killed when Windblight nearly knocks him off Medoh's back.
Pinball Projectile: It ups its game by sending out drones that bounce around its beams to power them up. It then tries to hit Link's blind spot with a massively powerful beam that would kill him. Cerako takes advantage of this by hijacking a drone and using it to direct Windblight's beam right back at it.

Fireblight Ganon

Waterblight Ganon

A shard of Calamity Ganon created to kill Daruk and conquer Rudania.

BFS: Its weapon is a huge blade of light that counterparts the Boulder Breaker.
The Brute: It's the most destruction-oriented Blight that solely focuses on offense, until it starts losing the fight.
Deflector Shields: It ups its game by summoning an impenetrable barrier. The only way around it is to Feed It a Bomb.
Feed It a Bomb: Link has to do this when it starts sucking in air...but it's not as easy because the vacuum effect is powerful enough to suck Link and Cerako towards it.
Fireballs: It can use these and fire beams.
Flaming Sword: It ignites its blade with fire. But it never actually uses the blade in this state. It only uses extensive fire manipulation powers.
Genius Bruiser: Not as much as Thunderblight, but it's still smart enough to hold off Cerako so that Link wouldn't have support in the fight.
Lightning Bruiser: Before it Turns Red, it drops any pretense of holding back and moves quickly, much faster than Link realized it could move.
Made of Iron: It survives Link using the Ending Blow on its eye, combined with the power of the Wolf and Urbosa's Fury.
Magma Man: What makes it far more dangerous than its game counterpart is that once it gets sufficiently infuriated, it starts manipulating the magma inside Death Mountain and creating massive magma bombs to attack Link.
Painfully Slow Projectile: Not this time. Nope. This time, its suctioning air signals that it's going to use an incredibly powerful explosive attack that would immediately kill them both. The only way to get out of its range is to rise high into the air, and even then, they couldn't escape its shockwave.
Playing with Fire: It can use its powers to control and manipulate fire, shield itself with fire-based powers, and even conjure magma bombs from the surrounding lava.

Malice

The substance that's growing and spreading across Hyrule like a cancer. It originated from Calamity Ganon's return 100 years ago. Large swamps of it can be found across Hyrule in areas where Ganon's influence is the strongest. The Divine Beasts and Hyrule Castle, where his influence is direct and strongest, are the most infected with it. Some of this Malice has disgusting maws that create floating monster skulls, all of which are paired with eyes that allow it to spot and attack using this.

Black Eyes of Crazy: Some Malice swamps are connected to disgusting-looking eyes. Upon their destruction, their connected Malice vanishes.
Evil Smells Bad: Physical Malice, not the gaseous Malice thankfully, smells like rotting meat. It's so intense that Link almost throws up the first time he gets a whiff of it.
Go for the Eye: It's the only way to get rid of Malice, and that's if there's an eye attached to it. Otherwise, the only way to get rid of it is to destroy whatever power is creating it.
Made of Evil: The Malice is the physical manifestation of Demise's evil and hatred. Paya's vision where all Impa, Ganondorf, Zelda, and Link are all capable of transforming into Calamitous Malice forms must not mean anything good.
Meat Moss: It's more like poisonous flesh than anything else, and is explicitly described as smelling like rotting meat. It's all over the place in area like Hyrule Castle and the Divine Beasts, and some of it has eyes attached to it, along with maws that create floating monster skulls.
Mook Maker: A few Malice swamps have toothy mouths that are connected to eyes. When these eyes spot Link, floating monster skulls come out of these mouths. When a Blood Moon occurs, every monster throughout Hyrule is resurrected from the dead, and even worse, they get stronger with each resurrection.
No Ontological Inertia: When Link frees a Divine Beast, all the Malice inside of them disappears. The same happens to all of Hyrule when Zelda frees Ganondorf from Demise's curse...though he still had some residual Malice around him that exploded outwards... and absorbed into the bodies of Impa, Link, and Zelda.
The Power of Hate: Specifically, Demise's hate given a physical substance. Anything not made from Ganon's Malice is harmed by this poisonous substance.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: This stuff is Calamity Ganon's hatred and evil manifested in a physical fleshy poisonous form. Its main colors are black and magenta, and red if the Blood Moon is any indication.

Hollows

Four constructs of Malice created in the image of the Champions of old. Astor creates them during the Yiga War's final fight to try and wipe out the new generation of heroes once and for all.

Counterpart Combat Coordination: The Hollows of the four Champions all fight the real Champions' successors in the present day Hyrule, and the Malice Guardians fight the Diminutive Guardian Sisters. However, Hollow Link doesn't fighting Link himself.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Hollow Revali's fight with Teba is the shortest of all the fights, as Teba easily overpowers and obliterates it before it has a chance to fight back.
Evil Knockoff: They're Malice-created doppelgangers of the Champions that exist only to kill the heroes fighting against Calamity Ganon.
Half the Woman She Used to Be: Hollow Urbosa is ripped in half by Patricia's tusks, and several more times is torn apart into separate pieces. The same happens to Hollow Mipha at Sidon's hands, and this is the move that ends its existence.
Hollywood Acid: Hollow Mipha's water attacks instead use a magenta-colored liquid that burns anything it touches like an acid.

Yiga Clan

General

The Sheikah Tribe willingly gave up the technology, so as not to inspire civil war within the kingdom. The ones who felt betrayed became the Yiga Clan and swore allegiance to Ganon.

—Kass

10,000 Years ago, the Hylians and Hyrulean Royal Family betrayed the Sheikah, shunning the very technology that was used to protect them. Some of the Sheikah found this unforgiveable, and swore allegiance to Ganon and titled themselves the Yiga Clan. They seek to eliminate the hero once and for all.

Adaptational Villainy: They're much more atrocious in this fanfic series than in the canon games, where Link actually sees some of their torture victims and the murder victims. It's a gruesome sight for him to witness.
The Ageless: This time, there's no ambiguity about the natural lifespan of Yiga Clan members. Thanks to Astor's power, the Yiga Clan doesn't age at all.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: After Link had freed all the Divine Beasts, they send out an all out assault against the settlements of Hyrule, determined to destroy the last bastions of resistance against Calamity Ganon.
Ambiguous Situation: Everything that's happened in the last 10,000 years have been a massive chess game set up by the Golden Goddesses and Hylia to ensure the destruction of Demise's curse. This means that the Yiga were likely part of it, so the story of their creation might not have been what it seemed.
Ancient Conspiracy: They're an ancient cult dedicated to Calamity Ganon, born from the Sheikah who hated the royal family's betrayal of the Sheikah tribe over ten thousand years before The Myth of Link & Zelda: Breath of the Wild. How much of this is actually true is questionable with the reveal that the Goddesses have been running a Long Game to eliminate Demise's curse for good.
Animal Motif: They inherited the Sheikah's inclination towards Frog statues, only theirs have the inverted eye instead of the Sheikah eye.
Apocalypse Cult: They are absolutely determined to kill Link and thus allowing Calamity Ganon back into the world unopposed. They've been around since the original Calamity Ganon encounter over ten thousand prior to the Great Calamity, but their role in Ganon's return is unclear.
Berserk Button: Owing to their origins as Sheikah scorned by betrayal, they do not take it well when their own members turn on them. Dorian turned on them and in retaliation lost his wife, and nearly lost his kids to the Yiga Clan.
Beware the Silly Ones: They're not as silly as they were in the games, but they still have some rather comical behavior and moments. That doesn't change the fact that they're still a cult that is willing to murder and torture to get their goals, of just For the Evulz. Dorian's story especially, considering how they blackmailed him by killing his wife, and then intended to kill him for outliving his usefulness. They also came close to murdering Zelda in the past.
Category Traitor: The Yiga Clan will hunt down anyone who defects from their clan, and that includes family members. Just ask Dorian, who lost his wife and nearly lost his own life and that of his kids. In fact, Link discovers a list of names of those who defected from the tribe.
Cool Mask: All of them wear white masks with a red Yiga symbol on them.
Dark Action Girl: Many of their members are explicitly described as women.
Decapitated Army: Subverted. When Master Kohga is killed, they still have other leadership they can default to, primarily Sooga, Kolana, and Astor. They have enough control to be organized into a full onslaught army dedicated to attacking and wiping out all remaining settlements around Divine Beasts in a last ditch effort to stop their plan from coming to fruition.
Desert Bandits: They live in a canyon in the desert, near to Gerudo Town. They didn't originate from the desert, but that's where their hideout is until the end where they retreat to the Hebra Mountains.
Disproportionate Retribution: Not being their ally is enough to mark you for death. If anyone leaves, they and their families are marked for death.
The Dreaded: After Link first encounters one, the local horse stable owner remarks to him that no one has ever killed a Yiga before, at least around him. Everyone is afraid of them, especially because of their skill in disguise.
Dwindling Party: They suffer loss after loss at the hands of the heroes, until their reduced to a few dozen members forced to retreat to the Hebra Mountains.
Evil Counterpart: To the Sheikah. They're actually a splinter cell from the Sheikah. In fact, their fighting styles, even after ten thousand years of separation, remain the same. Their symbol is an inverted Sheikah eye colored red.
Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Aside from defectors, they seem to deeply care about each other. They're shown mourning the loss of their friends and they all mourn the loss of their leader.
Evil Is Petty: They terrorize Hyrule over a betrayal that happened ten thousand years in the past in an age long since forgotten by essentially everyone, including most of their own members. This is the equivalent of people today getting into war over a conflict from the Neolithic era. This is thrown for a loop when Hylia reveals that everything that's happened is part of a Long Game to destroy Demise's curse, and how much of this the Yiga is part of is unspecified.
Face–Heel Turn: The Yiga Clan are made up of Sheikah who betrayed the Hyrulean Royal Family as payback for the latter's betrayal of them. They joined forces with Ganon to do so.
Faceless Goons: All of the Yiga members wear masks. The only time they're seen unmasked is when they're in disguise, and when Link deliberately looks under one's mask after killing them. Others are maskless in the aftermath of their devastating loss against Hyrule's remaining settlements, but no one is actually described in any detail.
Far East Asian Terrorists: They're ninja-like and are determined to destroy Hyrule.
For the Evulz: Several members of the Yiga engage in cruel acts out of spite. One person kills a random girl who had sold some bananas to Link, just for the hell of it. This is why Link hates them so much.
Hand Seals: Like the Sheikah, they use mudras to cast spells.
Hate Sink: Calamity Ganon serves as the story's primary Big Bad, but it's much more like a mindless hurricane than a true character until it's revealed that he's a victim of Demise's curse overtaking him and controlling him. The monsters of Hyrule, even Lynels, are more territorial monsters that don't take well to people getting too close to them. The murderous and devious Yiga Clan are left to take the hate, and they're even more disgusting than in the original game. They engage in violent torture of innocents including children. One specific Yiga Blademaster had already killed Dorian's wife and was ready to do the same to him and his kids until Link intervened. Only Sooga and Kolana avert this, as they express some distaste with the clan's action under Master Kohga.
- Subverted in Age of Calamity, where they're noticeably less violent, and much more pragmatic in their targeted violence, and several members are shown not liking something that happened in the past, and for apparently causing the Queen of Hyrule's death.
The Heavy: Calamity Ganon is trapped in a duel with Zelda, the Blights can't leave their Divine Beasts, and the monsters aren't interested in hunting Link. This leaves the Yiga to be the primary foe.
Hidden Agenda Villain: They are actively trying to resurrect Calamity Ganon for reasons unknown. In Age of Calamity, Sooga and Kolana's conversations indicate that they have a different agenda in mind than Astor for why they want Calamity Ganon awakened, and they repeatedly mention that they have a purpose to fulfill.
Highly-Visible Ninja: Averted, just like the games. Link can't tell who they are until they reveal themselves either physically, or by dialogue who they are. That is, if they even do this, because some of them just ambush him along the way. Urbosa can spot them even in disguise.
Les Collaborateurs: The Sheikah serve Hylia and the Golden Goddesses against Ganon. The Yiga serve Ganon against Hylia and the Golden Goddesses. But oddly, they're not resurrected by the Blood Moon.
Magic Knight: They're skilled in combat arts and certain forms of combat magic.
Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Throughout the story, it's established that just like in the canon games, the ancient people and contemporary royal family of Hyrule grew afraid of the very Guardians and Divine Beasts that had helped them fight Calamity Ganon, and subsequently banned the technology from the kingdom. They forced the Sheikah who created it to give up the technology, and the ones who were furious with this splintered away and swore allegiance to Ganon, eventually adopting the name Yiga. Link doesn't sympathize, especially since said event was 10,000 years in the past.
Ninja: Just like the Sheikah from whom they splintered.
No Name Given: Very few Yiga are given actual names. The number that do can be counted on one hand.
Paper Talisman: One trait they share with their parent clan the Sheikah. They teleport in a blast of paper talismans with the Yiga/Sheikah symbol.
Psycho Supporter: They're all incredibly skilled and powerful warriors...who serve the apocalyptic entity Calamity Ganon and seek to kill the hero of Hyrule.
Renegade Splinter Faction: They were originally formed from disgruntled members of the peaceful Sheikah after they believed they had been wronged by an ungrateful kingdom.
Revenge Before Reason: They threw in their lot with Calamity Ganon as a way of getting revenge on the very people and kingdom that shunned them. But Calamity Ganon's Blood Moon doesn't resurrect any of them, and very likely would destroy them along with the rest of the world.
Then Let Me Be Evil: The Sheikah who originally created the group that one day would be called the Yiga Clan were created from Sheikah members who decided to fulfill the people's fears that they're technology would be used against the kingdom.
Took a Level in Jerkass: They overall seem much less like the evil Hate Sinks they are in the present day as they were in Age of Calamity. They seemed more pragmatic than before, not inciting unnecessary violence, and the violence they did incite was pragmatic rather than torturous.
Trademark Favorite Food: Mighty Bananas. They really like them, but it's not as prominent as it was in the games. Here, it's just referenced in that the Yiga in the hideout who aren't aware of Link's presence typically eat them, and have a trash bin full of their peels.
Uncertain Doom: Averted. They are explicitly killed, with their blood spilling out onto the ground where they die. Many of them die in very gorny ways even.
Undying Loyalty: To Master Kohga, and to Calamity Ganon. When Yiga members defect, retribution will be swift and fatal. And killing Master Kohga makes them even more furious. After his death, they express absolute loyalty towards Master Sooga and Kolana.
Would Hurt a Child: They were willing to kill the teenage Zelda, and are shown having murdered children in their torture chambers, including a pregnant Sheikah woman. Some express distaste with this.

Footsoldiers

Yiga Footsoldiers

The common soldier rank in the Yiga Clan. They are experts of disguise, and can and will hide among common people to get close to targets of assassination. They usually adopt the appearance of travelers, and will use their sickles and other weapons to try and kill Link.

Avenging the Villain: Several of them attempt to avenge Master Kohga's death at Link's hands (or so they like to think). They all fail. One ambushed Link in his home, even.
Battle Cry: "FOR MASTER KOHGA!" They all scream this with Sooga, Astor, and Kolana right before they set off to destroy the settlements of Hyrule.
Beneath Notice: They are incredibly effective at disguise. So much that Link can't tell who they are. Urbosa is the only one who can see through their disguises.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Virtually every time they try to fight Link, he kills them in one or two strikes at most.
Death from Above: They're fond of teleporting above their targets to try and slice into their heads. Link learns to read and counter it.
Faceless Goons: They all wear, like the other members of their Clan, masks emblazoned with the Yiga inverted eye. The only time they're not seen wearing it is when they're in disguise.
Glass Cannon: They wield dangerously sharp weapons, but they're nothing compared to Link. That being said, one character remarks that they've never seen anyone kill a Yiga Clan member before. Link is just that good to make them look bad.
Knight of Cerebus: The first time Link encounters one, it comes as a massive shock to him. And from that moment on, any time one of them shows up, the mood considerably darkens, with excessive violence and trauma and death surrounding the Yiga Footsoldiers.
Mage Marksman: They all have the power to teleport, which they use in conjunction with their attacks, whether they're archers or blade-wielders.
Master of Disguise: They can create flawless disguises, pretending to be typical Yiga. One of them even kills a traveler when they come under attack from Bokoblins and feigns being a victim to draw the heroic Link in to save her.
Multishot: Some of them use duplex bows that they can use to fire two arrows at the same time.
Rings of Death: One of their weapons is a Demon Carver, described as a circular weapon designed to rupture organs and shatter bones. The first time this is seen is when a Yiga attempts to kill Link in his own home just hours after he'd killed Master Kohga.
Sinister Scythe: Many of the Footsoldiers use Vicious Sickles. In fact, it's their signature weapon.
Teleport Spam: Most of them make their entrance by teleporting. Disguised members change into their Yiga uniforms by teleportation. However, they always teleport with a glowing Yiga glyph, telegraphing their attacks.
They Look Like Everyone Else: The very first time that Link is attacked by a disguised Yiga traveler, Link suspects absolutely nothing because the guy seems rather normal. Makes it all the more shocking to Link when he suddenly transforms into an evil ninja and tries to kill Link.
Throwing Down the Gauntlet: The disguised Yiga Clan members declare their intent to kill Link before actually challenging him. It helps them get killed because they don't catch him off guard.
Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Link and Paya run into a couple of travelers under attack by Bokoblins, and one of them is already dead, with the Bokoblins slowly surrounding and closing in on the other. Link and Paya run in to save them. The man is dead because the woman, who's really a Yiga, slit his throat. The woman was a Yiga Footsoldier who was taking advantage of Link's heroic nature.

Blademasters

Yiga Blademasters

The much more elite soldiers in the Yiga Clan. They're slower than Footsoldiers, but they have much more powerful techniques, and are far more lethal in combat. Most of them are found in the Yiga hideout, but many of them serve as captains in the Yiga War.

BFS: They wield Windcleavers, enormous blades that can create Razor Wind.
Curb-Stomp Battle: The very first one suffers this at Link's hand. He's killed with Link using an ancient arrow to instantly disintegrate him.
Elite Mooks: They're much stronger than their Footsoldier counterparts, and are considered the most dangerous foes among the Yiga.
Evil Is Bigger: They're described as being very tall. For reference, their blades are nearly as long as Link is tall.
Evil Sounds Deep: Blademasters, or at least the first one met, has a really deep villainous voice.
Faceless Goons: They're faces are never seen, because they never are seen in any kind of disguise. It's implied that some of them removed their masks on the Great Plateau after their major loss in the Yiga War, but they're not mentioned or described.
Hoist by Their Own Petard: One scene features someone grabbing a Windcleaver and using it to kill Yiga members, including Blademasters.
Just Whistle: A single Blademaster with his dying breath was able to whistle to alert the rest of the Yiga Clan's Hideout to Link and Buliara's internal assault, summoning every reinforcement down on them.
Mouth of Sauron: One Yiga Blademaster serves as the voice for the entire clan in one scene. It's the scene in Chapter 15 adapted from the Lakna Rokee Quest in the main game. It serves to establish the nature of the clan, where they extort victims and kill them once their purpose is fulfilled.
Razor Wind: Their Windcleavers are named for the fact that they have the power to launch beams of sharp winds at the enemy. These winds are sharp enough to completely bisect a living being.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The first Yiga Blademaster attempts to execute Dorian after he fulfilled the extortion demands given to him in giving up the Sheikah Orb in Impa's home to let them steal it. Link puts a stop to it.

Master Kohga

The egotistical leader of the Yiga Clan.

Acrofatic: He's described as paunchy but that doesn't diminish that he's a skilled evil ninja wizard.
Affably Evil: 100 years ago in Age of Calamity, Master Kohga was less violent than he would become 100 years later.
Ambiguous Situation: Astor casts a Mind Control spell over Master Kohga, bending him to his will, which noticeably changes his behavior. It's unknown if this mind control is part of the reason for his personality change that would occur 100 years later.
Bad Boss: His first reaction when Link reveals that he slaughtered most of his Yiga subordinates? He complains about cleaning the mess. Subverted, because as Sooga says to Kolana, he had a unique way of expressing grief, and there's no evidence that he was ever abusive to any of his lackeys.
Beat: He tries to be dramatic to say his last move will destroy Link. The narration literally calls it "dramatic pause".
Benevolent Boss: The Yiga love him, and upon his death, they remain loyal and loving to him. He genuinely loves his people, enough that he breaks through a mind control spell to try and defend them, and even weakens the spell.
Beware the Silly Ones: He's a goofy guy and his fight is practically a joke, but he's still in charge of a terrorist ninja clan that engages in torture, and successfully confiscated the Thunder Helm from the Gerudo.
Big Bad Wannabe: He's barely a threat to Link, hardly even a noticeable fight among the many fights Link gets into.
Brilliant, but Lazy: He's the master of Yiga arts, and that's why he's the leader, but he never actually leaves his own hideout.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Age of Calamity shows that he is in fact a good ninja, despite his laziness. [[spoiler:His sheer will keeps
Curb-Stomp Battle: His fight with Link barely lasts a quarter of a page before it ends with Link winning, and Kohga killing himself by mistake.
Demonic Possession: In Age of Calamity, Astor subjects him to a Malice-empowered Mind Control spell that imprisons him in his own body.
Dishing Out Dirt: His main attacks include conjuring spheres of stone and metal. It's not really effective, and Link easily counters his attacks.
Disney Villain Death: He falls to his death after his last-ditch attack backfires when the ball starts rolling back towards him, knocking him into the infinitely deep pit behind him.
The Dragon: The Yiga worship Ganon, and Kohga leads them, essentially making him this to Calamity Ganon. Ganon doesn't see him as this, though, as he doesn't bring back the Yiga with each passing Blood Moon.
Dying Curse: When he suffers his Disney Villain Death, he declares that the Yiga Clan will hunt him down. One fulfills the promise that very same day, ambushing Link in his own home. They go one step further, as Sooga comes up with a plan to try to wipe out all of Hyrule in one fell swoop in Kohga's honor.
Epic Fail: Link is thoroughly unimpressed with Master Kohga, especially when his "special Yiga technique passed down from his father" is summoning a giant metal ball that Link could easily move with Magnesis. And Link doesn't even need to use it, because the ball rolls back onto Kohga, who forgets about his levitation and teleportation powers, and falls to his death.
Extra-ore-dinary: All of his attacks on Link consist of conjuring balls of rock or metal to attack him with.
The Faceless: Link never sees him without his mask, just like most of the Yiga Clan members.
Fat Bastard: He's described as paunchy, and he's the leader of the terrorist Yiga Clan.
Faux Affably Evil: In Breath of the Wild, he's quite polite when speaking to Link, and is still presented as goofy, but he's still an evil ninja, and more focus is given to his brutality. He has a torture chamber in his hideout full of bloodied victims, including a pregnant Sheikah woman.
Fighting from the Inside: When Astor has him under Demonic Possession, Master Kohga fights back enough to weaken the spell when his underlings are threatened.
Forgot About His Powers: The narration itself lampshades this when a metal ball rolls back onto him, and he forgets that he can levitate and teleport, leading to his humiliating death.
Hoist by His Own Petard: His "epic" spell that he learned from his father is him conjuring a giant metal spiked sphere. It kills him when it rolls back to him and knocks him into the giant pit.
Kung-Fu Wizard: Subverted. He uses mostly magical techniques, even though he's supposed to be the leader of the Yiga Clan ninjas. That, and he's not competent. At all.
Large Ham: Much of his dialogue is written in all caps, indicating him yelling and screaming. He does it quite a few times.
Laughably Evil: His behavior is incredibly idiotic and silly who constantly falls victim to his own attacks backfiring on him, despite being the leader of a malevolent clan of ninja terrorists. Link doesn't find him funny because of the torture chamber.
Legacy Character: Sooga and Kolana have a conversation that confirms that Master Kohga is a title that's given to the Yiga Clan's leader.
Malevolent Masked Man: He's a ninja terrorist who wears a mask along with the rest of his clan.
Meaningful Name: Aside from the linguistics of his name, a kohga is the name for a ninja throwing star, a shuriken.
Mind over Matter: He has the power of telekinesis.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: He may be a goofy guy, but make no mistake he's a really messed up dude. He has a cellblock filled with tortured victims, including a pregnant Sheikah woman whose child was ripped from her body.
Orcus on His Throne: He never once leaves his own hideout to look for Link. He prefers to let his underlings do most of the hard work while he enjoys himself a huge power nap.
Power Floats: He's capable of levitation.
Psychopathic Manchild: He's extremely childish and idiotic in behavior, even throwing an explicit tantrum when he loses to Link. And he also seems to think that dedicating himself to Calamity Ganon is a good idea, even though it's an apocalyptic entity that wants to destroy Hyrule.
Really 700 Years Old: Astor's powers gave the Yiga Clan agelessness. He and many other Clan members are over 100 years old.
Self-Disposing Villain: He's literally done in by his own last-ditch Yiga technique. Link isn't even fazed when he did this because of his complete idiocy that he displayed in the first ten seconds of their brief fight.
Small Name, Big Ego: He talks as if he's all that, but he's nowhere near as dangerous in a fight as he may seem. He does order some really messed up things, but as a fighter, he's nobody. Monk Maz Koshia fights in a way that Link recognizes is not so different from Kohga, though he doesn't overtly comment on it. Kohga's fight barely lasts half of a page on the PDF. Maz Koshia's fights nearly gets Link killed.
Spectacular Spinning: It's his first move when fighting Link. He doesn't get a chance to do more spinning because the fight is just so brief.
Tactical Suicide Boss: Master Kohga is a complete idiot in a fight, getting himself hurt and killed with attack moves. Link is thoroughly taken aback by how stupid Kohga is.
Undignified Death: Master Kohga is the boss of the Yiga Clan but goes out in one of the most humiliating ways possible. He attempts to use his greatest technique, which fails because the metal ball he summons is too big. And then, it rolls back on him and pushes him into the Bottomless Pit behind him...forgetting that he could either levitate or teleport. Link is just standing there and outright calls him a "fucking idiot".
Universally Beloved Leader: He's a lazy and egotistical and cowardly leader, but his people nonetheless love him. They don't take it very well when he's killed by Link (or really by himself during a fight with Link).

Sooga

The second-in-command of the Yiga Clan during the time of the Calamity. He resembles a Yiga Blademaster, but with two swords, and a greater variety of powers.

Ace Custom: He's the only Blademaster that wields the Swords of Devotion, a unique form of Windcleavers. No other in the Clan is ever shown wielding weaponry like this.
Affably Evil: Unlike his more Ax-Crazy boss, he's much more affable than evil. He's very polite to his foes and friends (save Astor), respects and acknowledges their abilities and skills, and is nothing but loving towards all his Yiga subordinates. He shares a cordial conversation with Link (who doesn't reciprocate the attitude).
Benevolent Boss: He cares deeply for his people, and will protect them as needed.
BFS: He wields two Windcleaver blades, which themselves are enormous blades. He's described as being incredibly tall like other Blademasters so it makes sense that he would wield these.
Blade Below the Shoulder: At one point, he blocks one of Link's attacks with a set of spiked blades on his cloth vambraces.
Combat Pragmatist: [He created a plan to wipe out the settlements that would have annihilated any chance of saving Hyrule from Calamity Ganon. It was created in total secrecy, and would have gone nearly flawlessly had one Gerudo spy not happened to find them in the final stages of the plan. It involved division of forces and incredible stealth that they had to forego because of their adversary's warning. He also is smart enough to take Link where he won't have a direct advantage or assistance from anyone else.
Cool Mask: His mask is described as it appears in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, having a scar on it and red horns on the side.
The Creon: He's the much more effective subordinate to Master Kohga, but he's perfectly fine being his subordinate. He deeply mourns his leader, and is reluctant to lead them himself. He's nonetheless an effective leader in his own right but he adamantly refuses to take up the mantle of Master Kohga himself. In Age of Calamity, he's more effective than Kohga but still chooses to be his second-in-command.
The Dragon: He serves as one for Master Kohga, who sees himself as this to Calamity Ganon itself. But they're never actually seen together in Breath of the Wild, as he's only seen long after Kohga is dead.
Dragon Ascendant: He's never seen with his master, so as a result, he adopts the role of most active Big Bad from the moment he's first seen.
Dual Wielding" He wields two Windcleavers specifically named the Swords of Devotion.
Even Evil Has Standards: He's not above killing kids, but he finds torture to be pointless from a pragmatic perspective and shares Kolana's belief that murdering pregnant women, even if they're foes, is a step too far.
Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is described as rivaling Daruk and King Rhoam's in its deep pitch. However, he and Kolana are the subordinate leaders of the Yiga Clan, and both of them have some deep voices.
Extra-ore-dinary: Not as much as his master, but it's shown that he can conjure metal circles.
Foil: Master Kohga was a rather cowardly, lazy, narcissistic ninja who's paunchy and out of shape and couldn't give Link a good fight. Sooga is courageous, dead serious, and very muscular who personally leads his Yiga subordinates.
The Heavy: After Kohga's death, Sooga takes up this mantle from him.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: He's way more effective in combat than his leader, but his behavior throughout Breath of the Wild indicates the utmost respect for his leader.
King Mook: One of two uniquely named and appeared Blademasters among the Yiga.
Know When to Fold 'Em: He immediately knows that he's the only Yiga who could fight Link one and one and have a possible chance of winning. During the attack on the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab, he immediately commands his Blademasters to stay out of the way. And he knows to retreat when he's lost the fight with Link.
Last Stand: He makes one against Link, Impa, Paya, Purah, the New Champions, Hestu, and the Diminutive Guardians. Beforehand, he commands all his surviving forces to retreat to a safe place.
Ninja: Just like the rest of the Yiga Clan, an entire faction of Sheikah devoted to Calamity Ganon.
Noble Demon: He's the leader of the murderous Yiga, but he's nothing but respectful of his foes and loves his Yiga subordinates dearly. He was this 100 years earlier in Age of Calamity as well.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: He makes no jokes, has no goofy mannerisms, and has no egotistical qualities, and is not as much a sadistic freak as Astor. He engages in a conversation with Link before they fight, and even compliments the Gerudo for figuring out his plans. The fact that his plan to destroy the settlements of Hyrule could have worked speaks volumes about his capabilities.
Only Sane Man: There Is Another, but he serves this role when compared to Master Kohga, who's a cowardly narcissist, and Astor who openly disparages the Yiga. He wasn't on board with Master Kohga's torturing and excessively murderous activities, thinking it would draw too much unwanted hatred and attention. He was right.
The Paralyzer: He can freeze his victims to leave them helpless by summoning a large symbol in front of him. Link falls victim to it, and only survives it because of Daruk's Protection saving his life.
Sword and Sorcerer: He and Kolana are the swords to Astor and Master Kohga's sorcerers. They both rely more on sword and combat techniques over magic like the latter two.
Sword Beam: His Swords of Devotion are a kind of Windcleaver, so that means he can fire off massive doses of Razor Wind.
Tactical Withdrawal: He knows when he's outmatched and will retreat as needed. In fact, he at one point orders the surviving Yiga members from the massive failed attack to retreat to the Hebra region so that they could survive another day.
Undying Loyalty: He remains loyal and faithful to Master Kohga, even when Kohga has died.

Kolana

The third in command to the Yiga Clan. Like Sooga, she fights like a Blademaster, but with a greater variety of powers at her disposal. She's not as powerful as Sooga, but she's a veritable threat nonetheless.

Affably Evil: Just like Sooga, she's quite a friendly person, even though she's the leader of a clan of murderous assassins. She's even kind to Riju, even when addressing the topic of Kolana murdering Riju's mother. Kolana is nothing but respectful of the girl and of her mother, openly stating that she saw Riju's mother as a worthy adversary, and considers losing to Riju in a fight to be a worthy loss.
Benevolent Boss: Just like Sooga. She's very caring and empathetic with her fellow Yiga, even consoling them on some of their losses.
BFS: She's a Blademaster, so it comes with the territory that she'd have one of these.
Braids of Action: Her long black hair is worn in a braid.
Cool Mask: Her mask has a Malice eye inside of the Yiga emblem.
Dark Action Girl: She's the third in a chain of leaders of the Yiga Clan, and she has no qualms kicking ass as needed without morality to hold her back.
The Dragon: She's Sooga's right hand. She didn't become this until after Kohga's death, but she's never seen until after Kohga's death, so she serves this role right off the bat.
Distaff Counterpart: She shares lots of tropes with her superior, Sooga, and is essentially him in female form.
Even Evil Has Standards: She's not happy with some of Master Kohga's bloodier activities.
Evil Is Bigger: She's a Yiga Blademaster, and she's described as being a very tall woman.
Evil Counterpart: To Urbosa. Both are athletic swordswomen who have a high-ranking position in their own groups, but Urbosa is a heroic Champion while Kolana is a member of the murderous Yiga Clan.
Evil Sounds Deep: She's a Yiga leader with a deep commanding voice.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: She's just as capable of fighting as her superior Sooga, and the Yiga listen to her as much as they do Sooga.
I Am a Monster: She drops the trope name when speaking to Riju, acknowledging that she's not a good person by any means.
King Mook: Queen, but still. She's one of the strongest Blademasters in the Yiga Clan, only ranked below the King Blademaster himself, Sooga.
Know When to Fold 'Em: She's no fool. If a retreat is necessary, she will fall back so that she can fight another day.
Last Stand: She stand with Sooga and Astor against Hyrule's most powerful warriors, allowing the rest of the Yiga to retreat.
Ninja: She's a Yiga, a villainous offshoot of the Sheikah, so it comes naturally.
Noble Demon: She's a ruthless Yiga who is a calming voice of reason and comfort to her fellow Yiga Clan members and Sooga, and respects her adversaries genuinely.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: Just like her boss Sooga, but she's this independently to Riju, as she killed Riju's mother. She speaks with Riju, but not to gloat. Rather, she compliments Riju and her mother, citing both of them as the greatest warriors she ever faced.
Sword and Sorcerer: She and Sooga are the swords to Astor and Kohga's sorcerer, as she focuses on tactics and training over magic.
Sword Beam: She's a Blademaster, meaning her main weapon is a Windcleaver, so she's capable of firing off beams of Razor Wind from her sword.
Tragic Keepsake: An unusual case, as she considered Riju's mother a worthy opponent to her. She kept this person's necklace as a memento before giving it to Riju.
Undying Loyalty: She's devoted to her superior Sooga, who was just the same for Master Kohga.
Villain Respect: She has nothing but the utmost genuine respect for Riju and her mother, even keeping a necklace belonging to Riju's mother as a memento to the fallen adversary.
We Need a Distraction: Her mission when attacking Gerudo Town is only to keep the Gerudo busy while other Yiga use bombs to draw in a herd of Moldugas to wreck Gerudo Town.
Worthy Opponent: She sees Riju and her mother as being very powerful warriors, and says as much to Riju. Kolana claims that if Riju or her mother had killed her, she'd consider that an honorable death. Riju doesn't return the sentiment, but that doesn't change Kolana's feeling.

Astor

A dark seer who fights alongside the Yiga Clan with determination to free Calamity Ganon from Hyrule Castle.

Adaptational Villainy: He was already the most despicable person in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, but he tops the line in his first scene in Age of Calamity. His apocalypse cult isn't just killed by Harbinger Ganon, he kills all of them himself to give himself power.
Apocalypse Cult: Age of Calamity reveals that this version of him was also a member of a cult worshipping Ganon as a God. Not just him, but his family
Artifact of Doom: His Malice Orb, which is a ball of Sheikah technology and Malice energy, which he uses like a Crystal Ball. It actually has a mind of its own, and was enslaved through the power of Malice, and it's freed once Link beats him in a fight and its freed from the Malice.
Astrologer: As is in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, his attacks, moveset, and general use of his seer powers are described as having a heavy constellation theme about them. It reflects constellation-like patterns seen in the Sheikah Shrines, hinting at its Sheikah origins.
Ax-Crazy: He's described as carrying a malicious and sadistic smile when the clan is coming up with its plan of attack on the settlements.
Bad Boss: He's one of the leaders of the Yiga Clan, but only shows one hint of his true attitude towards the Yiga Clan when he calls the Yiga Footsoldiers and Blademasters "junk". Sooga has none of it, and neither does Kolana.
Bad Liar: He attempts to try and tell Kolana and Sooga that he didn't mean to call the Yiga Clan "junk". They don't buy it for one second.
Bad Powers, Bad People: He's a villainous member of the Yiga Clan who uses Malice as a weapon in combat. His allegiances and evil nature aren't surprising in the slightest. While he loses his powers of foresight when he loses the Malice Orb, he seems to retain his Malice-based powers.
Black Cloak: As part of his outfit. It comes with cape that has the Gerudo emblem.
Black Speech: He speaks in an incomprehensible language while he chants during spellcasting episodes. The PDF uses ancient Hylian glyphs to indicate this language the second time he speaks it.
Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Sooga makes it very apparent to him that the sole reason that they tolerate Astor's presence in the clan is because he is still useful to them.
Casting a Shadow: His powers are based on manipulating Malice.
Combo Platter Powers: He has numerous powers thanks to his Malice Orb. They include precognition, levitation, barrier spells, conjuration, and numerous other powers.
Dark Is Evil: He wears a black hooded robe, as described in his very first appearance in the first story.
Dark Messiah: He's outright chosen by the Catalyst Guardians to help bring about Calamity Ganon's revival.
Deflector Shields: He makes use of this to protect himself when King Dorephan calls down a massive water torrent powerful enough to obliterate him into nothingness in the water on impact. He also uses one to enshroud the Great Plateau in a barrier that can't be penetrated to give their clan time to recover from their devastating losses from attacking Hryule's settlements.
Enemy Summoner: He can conjure Malice constructed versions of the Champions, the Hollows, as well as Malice Guardians of all types.
Eyes Do Not Belong There: He wears a head ornament that has an eye that looks like those that occur in Malice swamps, evoking something like this.
Faux Affably Evil: He's polite and calm for most of his appearances, but unlike Sooga and Kolana, he lets it slip just how despicable and contemptuous of his own allies he really is. Cemented in Age of Calamity when he kills his own cult, including his daughter, to harvest their souls to power himself up.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Kolana and Sooga very much don't like him. They make this clear when he's idiotic enough to mumble disparaging comments about the clan in their presence.
Genocide from the Inside: His apocalypse cult isn't killed by the Catalyst Guardians. Astor kills them all himself, leaving himself as the Sole Survivor.
A God Am I: This trait is absent in Breath of the Wild, but his first scene in Age of Calamity immediately displays how he sees himself as being the Calamity instead of just being chosen by it.
Lack of Empathy: He's got no empathy for any living person. The second chapter of Age of Calamity makes this clear. He was a member of a cult dedicated to Calamity Ganon that also included his daughter and her mother. Once the Malice Orb and the Catalyst Guardians choose him, he sucks out all their souls without any remorse.
Offing the Offspring: As soon as he has the power of Malice and the Calamity, he immediately disposes of his Apocalypse Cult, including his own young daughter.
Phony Psychic: He's not a true seer. He only gets his powers from the Malice Orb. When he loses it, he loses the power along with it, and he only ever had it because he stole the orb, then called the Sheikah Orb, from a true seer.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: In a case unique to him, his Malice is blood red even though Malice is usually magenta. The reason for this is not yet known.
Remember the New Guy?: Not him. He makes no mention of having any family in Breath of the Wild, but he suddenly has a daughter and apparently a wife in his first scene in Age of Calamity. Given that he murdered them to harvest their souls once obtaining the power of Malice, he likely saw no reason to mention them, as they were so worthless to him.
Seers: His Malice Orb gives him the power to see into the future. Losing it takes these powers away.
Sequel Hook: His final lines in Breath of the Wild serve as one. He mentions the existence of a mummified corpse hidden somewhere in the land that is the source of incredibly powerful Malice. It serves as their only hope to bring back Calamity Ganon, or at least the malicious power that created him.
The Sociopath: He showed hints of it in Breath of the Wild, but his very first scene in Age of Calamity makes it obvious. He murders his own cult, including his daughter and her mother to strengthen his powers once he's been chosen by the Catalyst Guardians.
Squishy Wizard: He's described as being nonathletic, and during his attack on Zora's Domain, leaves his underlings to keep the Zora tribe busy while he charged up his conjuration power.
Sword and Sorcerer: He and Kohga are the magic-using sorcerers to the sword-using Kolana and Sooga.
Villainous Cheekbones: Invoked by the Catalyst Guardians. When they choose him to be their Dark Messiah, his eyes sink in, and his cheekbones become prominent, making him look like an undead corpse just to further his dark image as a Calamity supporter.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Astor does this to his own apocalypse cult. Once chosen by the Calamity as the Dark Messiah, he immediately declares that his cult is worthless, and the only thing they're worth now is for the power of their souls to strengthen his powers. This includes his own daughter.

Characters / Survivors of the Calamity: Ganon and Yiga Clan

Ganon

Calamity Ganon

Shards of Calamity Ganon

Waterblight Ganon

Thunderblight Ganon

Windblight Ganon

Waterblight Ganon

Malice

Yiga Clan

Yiga Footsoldiers

Yiga Blademasters

Master Kohga

Sooga

Kolana

Astor

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Characters / Survivors of the Calamity: Ganon and Yiga Clan

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Ganon

Calamity Ganon

Shards of Calamity Ganon

Waterblight Ganon

Thunderblight Ganon

Windblight Ganon

Waterblight Ganon

Malice

Yiga Clan

Yiga Footsoldiers

Yiga Blademasters

Master Kohga

Sooga

Kolana

Astor

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