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

A page for the Hylians and the Sheikah, the primary humanoid races throughout Hyrule.

Beware of spoilers!

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Hylians

General

Hylians are the dominant race of Hyrule, and the ones that most immediately resemble humans. They're ubiquitous throughout every part of Hyrule, but their main homes are in Hateno Village in the West Necluda Region, and the Lurelin Village in the Faron Region.

Adaptational Heroism: As a race. In the backstory of the original game, all of Hyrule and Hylians are implied to have turned on the Sheikah and their technology. In this version, there were many people who did not support this. The four races built settlements near shrines, and horse stables were constructed by Hylians near other Sheikah Shrines in protest. But it was all for naught. This partly is because this is implied to be part of the Goddesses' Long Game to destroy Demise's curse. If that's the case, the protesters could truly do nothing to stop the ban on Sheikah technology.
All Swords Are the Same: This time, it's played straight, unlike the canon games. Hylian people are described as being the most versatile of the races, being the master of no specific specialty of combat, and anyone can use virtually any weapon, save for Goron weaponry which almost no Hylian can use. That being said, it's also averted because Link mentions that combat is an art and the weapons are the tools of the art, and mastering one means you lose skill in another. They have an affinity for swords and shields.
Cast of Snowflakes: Averted, as this is a written adaptation of a game that plays it straight. Several characters, including minor ones, are given decently unique descriptions, but many of them don't receive anything beyond a name. Most of the time, the narrative just mentions the presence of numerous Hylians without any descriptions at all.
Divine Right of Kings: The Hylians are the dominant cosmopolitan race that was literally created by Hylia herself before the existence of Hyrule itself. The royal bloodline of women are her descendants.
Dramatic Irony: In ancient times, Hylians came to fear the Divine Beasts and the Guardians that helped them combat Ganon for fear of their destructive capability. They banished their creators from the land and forced them to forsake the technology. Ten thousand years following this, Hylians rediscovered the technology and sought to reuse it to follow the ancients' path in using them to combat Calamity Ganon...and then Ganon fulfilled this fear by conquering and controlling the Divine Beasts and the Guardians and using them to decimate Hyrule. The worry was vindicated. Except it's not ironic. The Great Calamity was always going to happen as part of a long-running game by the Goddesses meant to end Demise's curse. The involvement of the ancients is unknown.
Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity: Swords and shields. They're most similar to human beings who favored the same weapon setup in medieval Europe.
Humans Are Average: They're the most humanlike Hyruleans and occasionally are referred to as humans, and they're also much less specialized than the other races, even the equally human Gerudo and Sheikah. On the other side, they're the most diverse because of this lack of specialty. They master nothing, so they can do anything.
Humans Are Special: While they're much more mundane the races like the Gerudo, Sheikah, Zora, Gorons, and Rito, Hylians are the ones who descend directly from Hylia, hence their demonym. They are not constricted to one biome, they willingly migrate for recreational reasons, and can specialize in a huge variety of skillsets. Link encounters more Hylians than any other race.
Jack of All Trades: They don't have any specific specialty unto themselves. The Zora are the best fishermen and spearmen, the Gerudo are the best tailors, the Rito are the best archers and singers, and the Gorons are the best miners and rock breakers. Hylians are none of these by nature, but that means a group of them can specialize in all of them.
Pointy Ears: A passing line in Breath of the Wild confirms that Hylians have pointed ears.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Hylians exiled the Sheikah tribe and their technology, burying said technology deep in the ground for fear it would be used against the kingdom itself and thus would be helpless. This would be a cataclysmic error down the line, as their descendants 10,000 years later would excavate these relics and try to repeat history. The lack of progress on technology for 10,000 years meant that the original creators of the technology never had a chance to upgrade it, and the present day scientists barely had the capability to activate, let alone upgrade the Guardians and the Divine Beasts. Because they were exactly the same as they were when Ganon last encountered them, he easily gained demonic control over them and used them for that very purpose. Except the prophecy would have been fulfilled either way, and the ancients may have done this deliberately as part of the Long Game set up by the Goddesses to finally eliminate Calamity Ganon and Demise's curse.
Ungrateful Bastard: The Hylians banished the Sheikah and their technology even after said technology gave them a huge advantage over Calamity Ganon and had incredibly potential in the future. Thankfully, there were lots of people, including Hylians, who disagreed with this, hence why horse stables and towns were built near the Sheikah Shrines as a form of protest (and because shrines were said to bring good luck). That is, if this act wasn't done at the behest of the Goddesses' Long Game to finally end the curse of Demise.
We Are as Mayflies: Hylians have the shortest natural lifespan, possibly the same as the Gerudo. Princess Lochlia of the long-lived Zora Link's daughter, shared her experiences about it.
Lochlia: I had a best friend. Milla. We met when she was a child. I would swim out of the domain all the time to visit her. We'd play, I trained her in using spears. She was my closest friend for a long time. That was when I was 20. As the years passed, she grew old, and I didn't. Eventually, she couldn’t use spears, she couldn’t even swim that well. She died of old age while I was still physically a teenager.

The Old Man

A strange old man who lives alone on the Great Plateau. He gives out some expository information to a newly awakened Link, and it becomes clear that he knows more than he originally lets on.

Abusive Parents: Of the unintentional emotional kind, and even then, he wasn't happy with it. He dearly loved his daughter, but his focus on defying the Calamity made him very distant and strict with Zelda, something that caused her more and more grief and pain until he tried to restrict her from doing what she loved, at which point she snapped back at him.
Adaptational Superpower Change: As a spirit, his power includes tactile telepathy. Through a touch, he projects the cutscene in the game that plays with his voice-over as an image in Link's mind.
Ambiguously Brown: His skin when he's first seen by Link out of disguise is described as light brown in color. His wife was probably a black woman if his daughter Zelda's appearance is any indication.
Ambiguously Human: For a while, he just looks like a regular, if enormous, Hylian/human, but he always seems to be one step ahead of Link. And then suddenly he's surrounded by ethereal flames and disappears into light after Link collects the four Spirit Orbs on the Great Plateau. It's because he's actually dead. He's the spirit of King Rhoam.
Assurance Backfire: When he tells Zelda that the gossipmongers are saying that she's not a worthy successor to her mother, he tries to remediate this by telling her that it's her destiny to prove them wrong. It not only increases the pressure on Zelda's shoulders, but causes her to lash out at him for apparently only seeing her as a reputation prop instead of his actual daughter.
Because I Said So: Link is not happy when he blatantly moves the goalposts. This is the old man's only excuse given. He really just wanted to make sure Link acquired the four Spirit Orbs and the runes within them for his journey ahead.
Big Ol' Eyebrows: One of his described features are his thick eyebrows. Zelda seems to have inherited her eyebrows from him.
Cool Old Guy: He pops up all over the Great Plateau, offering Link some advice and even letting the guy sleep in his bed for the night. He even plays a few jokes on him, but nonetheless clearly cares about him. He wasn't this in life when raising his daughter.
Dare to Be Badass: He gives Zelda a lot of strain for ostensibly shirking her duties as Hyrule's princess, and tries to motivate her by reminding her it's her duty to prove the gossipmongers talking bad about her wrong. It only results in Zelda lashing out at him for apparently using her only as an object for reputation purposes instead of his actual daughter...and he realizes his error as she leaves.
Dead All Along: This old man is actually the spirit of the long dead King Rhoam of Hyrule.
Dramatic Irony: After his daughter lashes out at him, he has a Jerkass Realization, and hopes that Zelda will one day forgive him. He never gets that chance because he'll be dead in a short time, and his daughter never gets a chance to return home from the Spring of Wisdom.
Fantasy-Forbidding Father: He was a very strict parent to Princess Zelda. He didn't allow her to devote any energy to what she loved, which was the Sheikah technology, which even Link noted was the only time she was really animated and happy. King Rhoam seems to realize this after she lashes out at him, but he dies before he has a chance to reconcile with her.
First-Episode Twist: His identity is revealed to Link in the third of 50/51 chapters.
Foreshadowing: Link openly asks the old man how he even got up to the Great Plateau at all given how cut off it is from the rest of Hyrule, and asks why he's all alone. The old man evades the question. The old man also addresses Link by name even though Link never tells him, and at one point says "you never ceased to scare or impress me". He's a ghost who can teleport, and thus that's why he's on the plateau. And he's also the former King under whom Link served, and that's why the old man knew Link's name.
The Gadfly: He pretends to admonish Link for taking a baked apple off the ground near his campfire. It freaks Link out, but the old man immediately reassures him that it was just a little joke, and allows him to eat. It's not like the old man needs it since he's already dead.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: The old man towers over Link, who in turn already towers over Zelda. One can only imagine the immense height disparity if they were to be seen in real life.
I Never Told You My Name: He lets slip a couple uses of Link's name. Link doesn't realize it the first time, but he does the second time. The old man knew Link back when he was alive 100 years ago, back when Link was an active knight in the royal family and the old man was still the king of Hyrule.
It May Help You on Your Quest: He gives Link a canteen to hold water and the warm doublet to help stave off the cold on Mount Hylia.
Killed Offscreen: He was killed during the Great Calamity, but his death isn't shown in the flashbacks.
Large and in Charge: He's way taller than Link is, something that is given more credence in a flashback to before his death.
Lord Country: King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule.
Moving the Goalposts: To Link's annoyance, the old man changes the criteria to obtain the paraglider from retrieving the treasure from one Sheikah Shrine to the four across the Great Plateau. He really just wanted to be sure that Link got the runes and the Spirit Orbs that would allow him to regain some strength and prepare him for the dangers of the world.
Mr. Exposition: He fills in the amnesiac Link on what happened to Hyrule because of Calamity Ganon. He explains in more detail after revealing his true identity, and also reveals to Link who he was before the Calamity and who he has to find in order to recover the lost life he needs.
My Greatest Failure: He spent 100 years in limbo as a spirit because of his failure in helping Zelda unlock her powers. He never had the chance to make amends with her in life, but he gets the chance in death by visiting her as a spirit after Calamity Ganon's been sealed away.
Not a Game: He outright tells his daughter to stop treating her duty as princess of Hyrule as a "childish game", seeing her love of Sheikah relics and technology as a distraction. Zelda has none of it and lashes out at him for accusing her of this when she's been taking it seriously all her life.
Offscreen Teleportation: Link is surprised to find that the old man somehow beat him to the top of the Great Plateau Tower. The old man jokingly admonishes Link for taking too long. He has the power of teleportation because he's a spirit.
Outliving One's Offspring: He has his daughter's hair comb and knows how to braid hair. In his own words, he used to braid his daughter's hair all the time, and Link immediately notices "used to" and doesn't press the issue. Subverted when it's revealed that he's the dead one and his daughter Zelda is fighting to save Hyrule from Calamity Ganon.
Papa Wolf: He's a strict dad but he clearly loves his daughter Zelda. He assigned the greatest swordsman in the land to protect her from danger, very much valuing her safety.
Parents as People: He loved his daughter dearly, but he didn't know how to mentor her in her powers, as his wife was the parent with the powers. He ultimately failed to do so.
The Reveal: The old man is the ghost of King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, the king of Hyrule reigning when Calamity Ganon awakened, and Zelda's father.
Stealth Mentor: He helps Link on his quest, but he pretends to send him on errands to earn the paraglider, the only way for Link to get off the plateau. Unlike his direct and stern methods of mentoring his daughter, it works without a hitch.
Stepford Smiler: The old man seems quite easygoing, jovial, and even a little bit of a jokester. That's a mask for the spirit of the king of Hyrule, who is weighed down by his tremendous failure to protect his kingdom from Calamity Ganon. But the performance as the old man seems to be one of the only times he's ever seen happy.
Suspiciously Specific Denial: When Link asks anything about his identity or how he came to be on the Great Plateau, he immediately becomes evasive. He tells Link that he's just some old fool, and that the question of how he got to the Great Plateau is a good question for a later time. This is in spite of the fact of being very forthcoming with Link regarding events that happened 100 years ago. The old man reveals that he's actually the spirit of King Rhoam. He assumed the form of the old man so as not to overwhelm the clearly amnesiac Link.
Took a Level in Kindness: In life, he was a strict and stern parent, and that only served to hinder Zelda in unlocking her sealing powers. He's had 100 years to dwell and reflect on this failure, and he takes steps to do things differently with the amnesiac Link.
Unfinished Business: Unlike the Champions who are imprisoned in their Divine Beasts, there is nothing keeping King Rhoam in the physical world. The only thing that kept him in the world was the desire to make things right by helping Link to help his daughter as she struggles to hold Ganon back. He doesn't move on until after he's visited Zelda one final time to apologize to her for what he did to her in life.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He truly meant well, but intentions aside, his methods in trying to mentor Zelda in unlocking her sealing power made things worse, and more difficult for her to succeed. It led to Calamity Ganon committing a vicious attack that decimated the kingdom, and Zelda wasn't able to access the powers of her bloodline until it was too late to save the Champions, her father, or the kingdom.
Walking Spoiler: Like in canon, his backstory and identity are spoilers for much of the story.
Was Too Hard on Her: His last act before moving on is apologizing to his daughter Zelda for how strict he was with her in life. She forgives him for it because she knows that he really meant well.

Queen of Hyrule

The late mother of Zelda, wife of King Rhoam, and reigning queen of Hyrule. She was Zelda's mother and mentor, but she died when Zelda was very young, leaving a major impact and hole in her surviving daughter and husband.

Affectionate Nickname: She called Zelda her "little bird", which was carried by Urbosa after her death. She may very well have known that Zelda was meant to wield the Owl Spirit, hence the nickname.
Benevolent Mage Ruler: She carries the blood of the goddess Hylia, granting her powerful magic abilities. These were passed down to her daughter who was meant to become this once her reign as queen was over, but her premature death while Zelda was still a child, before her lessons were to begin.
Best Friend: This was her relationship with Urbosa, which is why Urbosa and Zelda are so close. Urbosa has nothing but fond words for her late friend.
The Lost Lenore: Her death left a big hole in her family, and her husband King Rhoam was no exception. It left him without any knowledge of how to educate and help Zelda unlock her powers to seal Ganon away. Had she been around, especially because she was the parent with the powers, she might have been able to help Zelda.
No Name Given: She is never referred to by name. Urbosa calls her "my friend", her husband calls her "my wife", and "Mother" by Zelda. If the women who preceded Zelda had her same powers because of Hylia's bloodline in them, it's possible her name in life was also Zelda.
Posthumous Character: She is dead over ten years before the very earliest recovered memories.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm, encouraging, and sweet blue to her husband's strict, demanding, and overbearing red.
Royalty Superpower: The divine sealing power is passed in the women of her bloodline. Zelda mentions that her grandmother had powers as well. If she meant maternal grandmother, that means that each generation of Hyrulean royal women is meant to inherit this power. Zelda's failure was in no small part because of the loss of her mother early in life.
The Unreveal: It's never revealed exactly how she died. Age of Calamity implies that the Yiga killed her.

Tasseren

The owner of the Dueling Peaks Stable just off the Blatchery Plain.

Bit Character: He exists for barely more than a page on Breath of the Wild's PDF.
Nice Guy: For his only scene, he's quite friendly and empathetic to Link. He offers to clean Link's blood-stained shirt.
You Did Everything You Could: Link feels guilt that he didn't sense the Yiga Clan earlier in time to save Leena. Tasseren reassures him by telling him that he couldn't have known that a ninja expert in stealth was lurking nearby, and that he did the right thing for her in death.

Leena

A young woman who sells fruit to travelers for a living.

Bit Character: She only exists physically in the story for about a half a page before she's murdered by the Yiga.
Cruel and Unusual Death: She suffers a Slashed Throat at the hands of a Yiga Footsoldier, and the narrative goes into detail about her last agonizing moments where she's desperately trying to escape and clutching her throat trying to stem the bleeding.
The Dead Have Names: In-Universe, Link didn't know who she was. Out of universe, she was just a Red Shirt. But nonetheless, her name comes up time and time again when Link feels guilty about failing to save someone's life.
Dies Wide Open: She's killed by the Yiga and dies looking up at the stars until her open eyes go blank and glassy. Link closes them when he finds her body.
Red Herring: She offers and sells Mighty Bananas to Link. In the canon game, that's a clear tell-tale sign that the traveler is a Yiga Clan member, but that's not the case with her. She's murdered by the Yiga Clan right after she sells the bananas to Link.
Sacrificial Lamb: She had no characterization, and Link didn't even know her. However, the fact that she was murdered by a Yiga Footsoldier right under his nose leaves a huge impact on him because he feels that he failed to save her, and triggers his immense hatred towards the Yiga Clan.
Slashed Throat: Her fate at a Yiga Footsoldier's hand.
Small Role, Big Impact: Her death at the Yiga Clan's hands is what signals how dangerous and murderous they are, and triggers Link's hatred for them, leading him to annihilate everyone in their hideout. This in turn leads to Master Kohga's death and the subsequent revenge plot that would have destroyed most of the settlements of Hyrule.
Surprisingly Sudden Death: She's built up to be a potential Yiga Footsoldier in disguise, but that's not the case. It's proven that she isn't when she's promptly murdered by a Yiga Clan member stalking them.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Nothing's really learned about who she is before or after her death. She's only given a name after she's died, and it's revealed that she was a traveler who wanted to travel all of Hyrule, and had stayed at the Dueling peaks stable several times over the past few years.

Beedle

A traveling bug-obsessed merchant.

Awesome Backpack: His backpack is bigger than he is.
Beetle Maniac: It's all in his name, which is Beedle.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: He's introduced as a potential assistant who travels to Hateno Village to discover more about the Sheikah Slate. After he arrives...he's dropped from the story and never seen again.

Holden and Mara

A couple traveling to Hateno Village that happen to encounter Link.

Bit Character: Aside from the fact that they're married, travel, and live in Hateno Village, nothing is known about them, and they only last roughly a page on the over 700-page PDF of this story.
Red Shirt: They barely avoid this fate at the hands of Bokoblins because Link comes to their rescue.

Ulo

One of Link's fellow elite knights from the pre-Calamity era.

BFS: He favors using a greatsword. Deconstructed because this means he has little capability to defend himself since he needs both hands to wield the sword.
Combat and Support: He's the combat to Tyria's support, who defends his flank since he has no shield or swiftness for defense.
Damned by Faint Praise: He playfully accuses Link's praise and advice in the first chapter of being this.
Male Might, Female Finesse: He favors a big greatsword that focuses on offense and damage, while Tyria favors more standard sword and shield that balances offense and defense and gives her more mobility on the battlefield.
Original Character: He has no counterpart in the games.
Posthumous Character: He's an adult Hylian in Age of Calamity, so he's likely dead by the time of Breath of the Wild.

Tyria

One of Link's fellow knights from the pre-Calamity era.

Action Girl: She's an elite knight who fights alongside Link, Impa, and King Rhoam in battle.
Action Mom: She's a mother to a young son, and that doesn't slow her down at all.
Combat and Support: She's the support to Ulo's combat, who fights with a huge greatsword that leaves him with weak defense.
Male Might, Female Finesse: Tyria favors a sword and shield fighting style that balances offense and defense and gives her more mobility on the battlefield, while Ulo uses a greatsword that limits mobility and defensive capabilities in exchange for offensive power.
Original Character: She has no counterpart in the games.
Posthumous Character: As an adult Hylian woman, she's dead by the time of Breath of the Wild a century later.
Second Episode Introduction: She's introduced in the second chapter of Age of Calamity.

Sheikah

General

"In ancient times, Sheikah technology flourished. The whole kingdom of Hyrule was a blossoming civilization, and Sheikah technology was a common aspect of life, used to combat Calamity Ganon...Well, the people became afraid. After Calamity Ganon’s defeat, the people and the Royal Family feared the consequences of this technology falling into the wrong hands. It was eventually forbidden, but many did not support this. Many people of many races across the kingdom moved their villages near the then-newly constructed shrines in protest."

— Kass

A race of mystical humanoids who appear at a glance like Hylians. The two races have been bonded together for generations, and they're among the first people that Link encounters in the vast wilderness of Hyrule. They always knew his true fate and have been waiting for his return.

All Japanese Swords Are Katanas: Their primary weaponry evokes Japanese weaponry, with their weapons being curved and very sharp, based on katana and nodachi designs. Impa's central weapon is a kodachi.
And Man Grew Proud: Invoked. Ten thousand years in the past, a Hyrulean King became afraid of the prowess and power of Sheikah technology, and thus banished the Sheikah and their technology. Many of them handled the betrayal and chose to give up the technology, while others swore allegiance to Ganon, the original Sheikah traitors who would become the Yiga Clan. By the present, the technology had largely been forgotten. It's later revealed that the invocation of this trope came from possibly the Golden Goddesses, as they have been running a long-running scheme with the end goal to end Demise's curse permanently.
Animal Motif: Frogs. The statues around Kakariko Village are frog statues, and their spirit animal wielded by Impa is also a spectral frog, deliberately created by Hylia in the image of their patron animal.
Ascended Extra: In the canon game, the Sheikah were already ascended, having been upgraded from an obscure race only represented by the Last of Her Kind Impa/Impaz to a full race with their own extensive lore and an Evil Counterpart in the Yiga. This story ascends them even further, giving them their own Champion, Divine Beast, and even their own goddess-chosen hero in Impa.
Edible Theme Naming: Aside from Impa, they're all named for fruits. The ancient Shrine Monks don't follow this pattern as they predate the modern Sheikah by millennia.
Elaborate Underground Base: The shrines on the Great Plateau, and some of the ones elsewhere in Hyrule, are extensive test chambers buried within the ground filled with traps, puzzles, and Guardians untouched by Ganon. Most of them are just blessing shrines, so they don't qualify.
Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity: They favor weapons akin to ancient Japanese weaponry, with katana-like blades, kodachis, and especially kunai blades.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: They retain all of their Japanese affinities that they have in the game. Their weaponry reflect katanas, the monks are the game's version of Japanese Buddhists undergoing self-mummification, and they favor ninja tactics.
Frog Ninja: Frogs are their patron animals. They have statues of them around Kakariko Village, some of them can summon giant frogs with their magic, and their spirit animal wielded by Impa is a spectral frog.
Hidden Badass: They live a very peaceful life, but as Impa and Paya reveal, they are not slouches, as every member goes through training in the spirit realm, where they learn combat arts directly from their ancestors. It shows in their battles against the Yiga Clan when they ambush their home, which goes swiftly in their direction. Even the elderly Impa gets in on the action, as is nigh-effortless in dispatching Yiga members.
Katanas Are Just Better: Averted. Their weapons, and specifically their kodachi blades, are quite effective, but they have their own strengths and weaknesses and aren't presented any better or worse than any other race's weaponry.
Laser Blade: Their ancient technology produces blades of light in the form of axes, swords, spears, and shields.
Long-Lived: They live longer than Hylians can, but not as long as the Zora. The oldest members met are in their 12th decade of life. The Shrine Monks don't count, as explicit magic keeps them "alive" until they can fulfil their purpose. Not all of them are so lucky, as Kass's teacher has died of old age, even though he would have "only" been 117 years old compared to Impa's 120 and Purah's 124.
Lost Technology: They were forced to give up their technology by the king of Hyrule right after the last encounter with Calamity Ganon. The thousands of years of neglect and gradual loss of memory towards the technology has made it nigh-impossible to restore this lost technology to its true potential. Robbie, Symin, Purah, and Jerrin are taking steps to reverse this, and Paya's newfound powers and knowledge obtained from the Sheikah Orb seemed poised to complete the reversal.
Mystical White Hair: It's a natural trait of the Sheikah as a race. Even the Shrine Monks have white hair.
Neglectful Precursors: Averted, because they weren't neglectful, they were forced to give up the technology. They had built an army of powerful nearly unstoppable autonomous magitek robots, and gargantuan wonders of magic-mechanical power. They didn't install any kind of protection measures to prevent any other powerful being from taking control of them, but that's because they never got the chance to work on it. The King of Hyrule at the time possibly at the behest of the Golden Goddesses banished the technology from the kingdom supposedly because he feared that it would turn against Hyrule. The abandonment of the technology ensured this would happen ten thousand years later, nearly annihilating all of Hyrule.
Ninja: Their armor is designed for stealth, concealing the face, hair and body in a way that makes him very hard to detect, like an archetypical ninja.
Precursors: The magitek wonders of the world were constructed by the Sheikah tribe 10,000 years in the past.
Shrines and Temples: They're quite fond of these, even outside of the ancient shrines. For instance, their home in Kakariko Village features extensive worship imagery, and Impa's home is large enough to be a small temple in its own right.
The Slow Path: Impa, Purah, Robbie, and Kass's teacher waited for 100 years for Link to wake up so that they could finally fight back against Calamity Ganon. The last of these four died before that happened.
Tribe of Priests: They have over two dozen self-mummified Sheikah Monks who wait in perpetual meditation for Link to arrive so they may give him a blessing in the Spirit Orbs in the name of Goddess Hylia. Paya also seems quite religious, and when Hylia addresses her, Impa, and Purah, they have incredibly reverence for her.
Wutai: Kakariko Village's description fits with a feudal Japanese village.

Purah

Impa's elder sister, a magitek scientist who dedicates her life to rediscovering and advancing ancient Sheikah technology. She's older than Impa, but an experiment Gone Horribly Right de-aged her until she had the body of a little girl.

Action Girl: What she lacks in strength, she makes up for with her intelligence in Sheikah technology, using it to the fullest in combat in later chapters of the first story.
Adorably Precocious Child: Appears to be this at first sight, but she's actually 124 years old.
Ascended Extra: She gets far more to do in the fic than in the game, as she's not restricted to the lab, and gets out and gets in the thick of things.
Attack Drones: She manages to construct a remote controlled Skywatcher.
Catchphrase: "Click snap!"
Edible Theme Naming: Her name is an anagram of the Japanese word for "apple". It's also similar in English to the word prune.
Fountain of Youth: She's 124 years old, but an age-reversion experiment went too well and regressed her into a child's age. She perfects it with Symin and Paya's help, and she uses it to de-age Impa and Muava.
Genki Girl: She's extremely energetic and vibrant person. It isn't fully known if she was like this in her centenarian age, but Impa implies that's the case, with her saying that she was afraid that she was giving Link the run-around.
Gone Horribly Right: She worked to create a rune that could reverse aging so that the old soldiers in Hyrule could be restored to their youthful strength. It worked too much, aging her back to being a six-year-old. She eventually perfects it with the help of Paya, Symin, and the dust of a Star Fragment perfect it, which allows her to deage her sister Impa, the Gerudo elder Muava, and age herself up to 24 years old.
I Was Quite a Looker: Most of Hyrule knew her as a shriveled 124 year old Sheikah woman, or a six-year-old child. She perfects her aging runes, and ages herself up to age 24, and the description given to her makes it clear that she is quite a beautiful young woman.
Little Big Sister: She's older than Impa by four years, but her rune experiment made her look like a child. This is remedied by the end when Impa is deaged to her 20-year-old body, and Purah herself ages herself up to age 24.
Mad Scientist: You have to be a little out of it to risk experimenting on yourself with an reverse-aging rune.
The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Averted. Her behavior is consistent no matter the age she appears to be. Her behavior fits her child age, but she always had that personality, as seen in the final memory sequence, where she's just as energetic and bubbly as a 124-year-old child. And the very last sequence, where she's already aged herself back to a 24-year-old is just the same, with her catchphrase "Click snap!" still intact. Age doesn't affect her behavior whatsoever. However, smaller quirks do change with age as Link notes when reading her journal, going from being coherent to having doodles as she gets younger and younger.
Miniature Senior Citizens: Inverted. She's a tiny little thing, but that's because her de-aging rune regressed her body to that of a child.
Professor Guinea Pig: When she finally had completed a beta version of a de-aging rune, she used it on herself to test it.
Really 700 Years Old: She looks like a little six-year-old girl, but she's older than either Robbie or Impa at 124.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Impa is serious, reserved and from all appearances quite a traditional Sheikah woman with a granddaughter, meaning she had children. Purah is bubbly, vivacious, energetic, and almost manic at times who focuses on the scientific Sheikah aspects and has no children.
Torso with a View: When she finally gets in on the action, she uses cannons that are strong enough to punch holes through foes. She gives Symin a set of them too.
Troll: She's fond of messing with people. To boot, when Link reads her diary, she immediately knows and then punishes Link by erasing everything on his Sheikah Slate. Except she didn't, and she only imitated the Sheikah Slate's voice herself to mess with Link.

Symin

Purah's assistant in the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab who helps with the Sheikah Slate's restoration.

Adaptational Badass: He never gets into action in the game. He's a participant in the Yiga War.
Edible Theme Naming: Symin, for Persimmon.
My Nayme Is: His name is a very unusual spelling of "Simon".
The Smart Guy: Along with Purah, he helps make some significant advancements in Sheikah technology including the diminutive Guardians.

Paya

Impa's granddaughter, who she takes care of. Paya eventually becomes a more prominent and active character in the fight against Calamity Ganon and the Yiga, and even becomes a full-fledged warrior in her own right.

Adaptational Badass: She becomes an Action Girl as the fanfic progresses, something that she never gets anywhere close to doing in the original game.
Ascended Extra: She's a minor character who never leaves her village in the game. In the first of the trilogy, she sets out with Link to Hateno Village to help upgrade Sheikah technology, and eventually gains the power to control and see through time, and joins the forces of Hyrule in the war against the Yiga and Calamity Ganon.
Astrologer: She inherits Astor's star motif when the freed Sheikah Orb chooses her as its master.
Break the Cutie: She falls apart when her family's heirloom, the Sheikah Shrine Orb is stolen by someone in the Yiga Clan. The theft is very disturbing for her, because this orb was in her family for a long time, and she was the first to lose it. She especially feels bad because someone invaded her home, which means they could have harmed her or her grandmother. It leads to her wanting to learn to fight for herself so that she can protect herself and her grandmother. But this isn't all. At one point, she and Link help a bystander under attack from Bokoblins...only for that person to be a Yiga Clan member that tries to kill them. It leaves her rattled yet again.
Cannot Talk to Men: She's so shy and inexperienced socially that she could barely even utter her own name to Link. She gets a little bit better as the story progresses, but still constantly trips over herself trying to talk to Link.
The Chosen One: The Sheikah Orb, the Malice Orb purged of its Malice influence, chooses Paya to be its wielder.
Combo Platter Powers: Thanks to the Sheikah Orb, she gets the ability to access a variety of powers, including time manipulation, future visions, and summoning monsters from across time and history.
The Confidant: She becomes one to Link, who often tells her things that have happened. The most noticeable instance is when Link confesses to her that he has a daughter.
Distinguishing Mark: She has a papaya seed-shaped birthmark. Impa yells out that it's right in the middle of her left butt cheek, much to Paya's humiliation.
Eating the Eye Candy: She tries to resist this when she walks in on Link without a shirt on. He's fine with her seeing him, but puts on his tunic to humor her. She's still flustered when she leaves.
Edible Theme Naming: The only one pointed out In-Universe, as papaya is directly referenced as an origin in her name, specifically for a papaya seed-shaped birthmark.
Emotionally Tongue-Tied: She's so flustered when Link first arrives that she can hardly even get out her own name. Later on, she sees Link and becomes very flustered when she sees that he doesn't have a shirt, and trips over her own words asking him to put some clothes on.
Establishing Character Moment: She's very quickly established as a shy girl when she shyly hides her face upon seeing Link, and is very shocked to see a man.
Everyone Can See It: Paya is the only person in Kakariko Village who can't tell that she has a crush on Link. She thought that she was just sick.
Facial Markings: She has a red Sheikah eye emblem on her face and nose.
Grew a Spine: She starts as a shy, socially awkward, and and incredibly easy to embarrass for any number of reasons. She ends as a more confident, if still a bit soft-spoken, woman who can confidently fight for herself and is better with talking with other people.
Hopeless Suitor: Paya doesn't attempt to flirt with Link because she has no understanding of her feelings for him, and is also aware that his love is Zelda. She's happy for him either way.
Identical Granddaughter: Link tells Paya that she looks like her grandmother when she was young. The only difference is their Sheikah Facial Markings are different colors, and Impa's hair was longer than Paya's. She sees this for herself when Purah de-ages her grandmother to her 20-year-old body.
The Ingenue: She's the only one of her age in Kakariko Village, and thus has no experience in any romantic capacity. She's so innocent that she doesn't realize that she's in love with Link, and remains very shy seeing Link without a top.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: She falls in love with Link without even realizing it, but once she does, she's nothing but happy that Link is with Zelda. It broke her heart at first, but she's fine with it.
Like Parent, Unlike Child: Paya is an incredibly shy girl who's friendly and very naïve. Impa is described as being more serious and down-to-earth even when she was young.
Love at First Sight: She immediately starts crushing on Link from the moment he first meets her, and she thinks that the way her heart flutters and her flushness is a sign of illness.
Parental Abandonment: Her parents are never even mentioned, not even by Impa. It's heavily implied that Impa raised Paya herself.
Reset Button: Her powers over time allow her to fix damage to architecture by reversing time over selective areas of the world and reversing time to heal damage.
Seers: This is one of the powers granted to her by the Sheikah Orb.
Shipper on Deck: She has a crush on Link but is fully happy with Link and Zelda being together.
Shrinking Violet: So very much, and she only slightly gets over it as she develops. At first, Link just standing near her sends her into an embarrassed fit. Afterwards, him not wearing a shirt, being asked about her birthmark, and just being there on occasion do the same thing. She gets over it slightly, but not by much.
Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: She's a small village girl with a cute schoolgirl's crush on the Hero of Hyrule.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She has a huge crush on Link, the legendary hero meant to save them all from Calamity Ganon.
Smitten Teenage Girl: She's a teenager who develops a crush on the handsome and heroic Link.
Statuesque Stunner: Link finds her to be cute, and she's described as being as tall as Link himself, who's nearly six-feet-tall.
Time Master: She can manipulate the flow of time with the Sheikah Orb.
Took a Level in Badass: She started out as a in credibly Shrinking Violet who stutters a lot and can barely speak coherently to Link, her crush. While she goes through the ringer later on, the events that emotionally broke her also end up making her want to learn how to fight so she can protect herself and her grandmother. By the end of the story, she not only is a physically capable fighter, but she's also the chosen wielder of the purified Shiekah Orb, which grants her time manipulation, precognition, and monster-summoning, among other things.
What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: She mistakes falling in love with Link for her falling ill. Impa and even Paya and Link find it a bit funny.

Cado

One of two Sheikah bodyguards for Impa's home.

Demoted to Extra: Unlike his canon counterpart, not much of his life is explored beyond just being a bodyguard for Impa's home. His role of Mr. Exposition is mostly given to Kass.
Edible Theme Naming: Cado, from avocado.

Dorian

A Sheikah guard of Impa's house who has two daughters.

Aerith and Bob: Dorian is a relatively mundane name, but it still fits with the Sheikah's theme of names.
Category Traitor: The Yiga see him as a traitor because he left the clan.
Defecting for Love: Falling in love with his wife and having two daughters with her is what inspired him to abandon the Yiga Clan.
Edible Theme Naming: He's named after the durian fruit.
I Did What I Had to Do: He reluctantly acted as a spy for the Yiga Clan to keep his children alive. But they were going to kill him anyways, sending a Blademaster to deal with him.
Oh, Crap!: His reaction when Link tells him he annihilated the Yiga in the hideout, including Master Kohga. Dorian warns him that this will only enrage the survivors to come after him with greater ferocity.
Papa Wolf: The Yiga Clan murdered his wife as revenge for his defection. He did what he needed to keep his children alive.
Punny Name: His name sounds like the durian fruit, to fit with the Edible Theme Naming he shares with his two daughters and a few other Shiekah.
Recurring Character: He makes a few sporadic appearances outside of his Day in the Limelight in Chapter 15. he gets the chance to partake in the war against the Yiga Clan.
Regretful Traitor: He was extorted into acting as a spy for the Yiga Clan even after his defection to the Sheikah. They had threatened his children, Paya, and Impa. Once Link saves him, he swears to sever all ties with the Yiga.
Small Role, Big Impact: He, along with Leena, establish the threat of the Yiga Clan.
Walking Spoiler: He seems like a complete extra with a unique name, until Chapter 15 happens.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: A Yiga Blademaster invokes this on him, ready to kill him once he's fulfilled his spy purposes. He would have been killed had Link not intervened.

Cottla and Koko

Two little Sheikah girls living in Kakariko Village with their father Dorian, who lost their mother. Cottla is seen playing hide and seek, and Koko is seen actively mourning her mother's death.

Edible Theme Naming: Cottla, as in apricot. Koko, as in coconut.
He's Just Hiding: In-Universe with Cottla, who literally believes that her dead mother is just playing hide-and-seek with her. When Link runs into her, she's running around trying to find her mother.
Promotion to Parent: Koko wants to be strong for her baby sister, since their mother died. This news hits Link in the heart, as by that point, he learned that he's a father.
Third-Person Person: Koko refers to herself in the third person.

Robbie

A Sheikah scientist who once worked alongside Purah. He set up his home in Akkala Ancient Tech Lab at the far north of Hyrule.

Absurdly Elderly Father: He was in his nineties when he had his son with his much younger wife. Sheikah must not have the same kind of reproductive decline as real life humans do.
Aerith and Bob: His name is a rather mundane one compared to some of the much more extravagant names throughout Hyrule, especially among the modern Sheikah.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Much like Purah, he has an eccentric personality with a flair for the dramatic, and even engaging in flashy poses. But his ancient gear is incredibly effective, as it can kill Guardians in one shot, and will kill any other lesser enemy in Hyrule by disintegrating them into nothingness.
Cargo Ship: In-Universe. He has a massive affinity for the "ancient oven" that functions as the refinery for ancient weaponry. It only comes up once when he calls it his love, much to Jerrin's anger.
Edible Theme Naming: Robbie's name is the same as it is in canon, and it comes from strawberry.
Large Ham: Less so than in the game, but it's still there with Link taking notice of his liking for flashiness and posing in dramatic ways. He doesn't yell in ALL CAPS as much as in the game.
Laser Blade: His specialty at the tech lab. His ancient oven uses resources to create weapons that area made from Sheikah technology, which is the only weaponry powerful enough to damage Guardians meaningfully.
Mad Scientist: He's not an Ax-Crazy psychopath, but he is very eccentric, and very good at his job of creating weapons made from advanced technology.
Laser Blade: His specialty at the tech lab. His ancient oven uses resources to create weapons that area made from Sheikah technology, which is the only weaponry powerful enough to damage Guardians meaningfully.
May–December Romance: He's at least 50 years older than his wife, putting Link's own Age-Gap Romance with Zelda to shame.
Miniature Senior Citizen: He's extremely old and extremely tiny, just like Impa before she's deaged.
Older Than They Look: He actually does look his age, but he can move quite quickly and often acts like he's "only" in his sixties. Impa looks as feeble as her 120-year-old age implies not that she actually is feeble.
Reassigned to Antarctica: His lab is located in the wild, lonely, and remote Akkala wilderness. It becomes a little less remote with the construction of Tarrey Town nearby, an island of civilization in the wilderness.
Ultimate Blacksmith: He's not really a blacksmith, but he functionally is one through his ancient oven. It only requires some raw materials, which he already has a surplus of, and funds, which he doesn't. The equipment gives Link a trump card over the Guardians.
Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Granté is noticeably more subdued and laidback than is father Robbie. Until he sees flashes of light signaling Yiga members teleporting in front of his parents' tech lab, which sends him into a panic.

Melonie

A young Sheikah girl who was once close with Paya, who disappeared for unknown reasons.

Asshole Victim: Paya is more devastated that she betrayed the Sheikah Tribe to the Yiga Clan than she was to witness her death.
Cruel and Unusual Death: She attacks Link, and as a result, she gets a huge gash in her leg and two broken legs that are promptly healed by Link, who then kills her by impaling her and electrocuting her to death.
Department of Redundancy Department: In her "Reason You Suck" Speech to Link, she says "You're no different than we are" twice in quick succession.
Edible Theme Naming: Her name obviously comes from "melon".
Evil Former Friend: She was once best friends with Paya, but she ran off and joined the Yiga Clan.
He Who Fights Monsters: Pulls this on Link, claiming that he's just as bad as he sees the Yiga Clan, with how violently and aggressively he hunted down the Yiga in the hideout. Link has none of it.
No Body Left Behind: The residents of Hateno Village discard of her body outside of the village.
What Happened to the Mouse?: From Paya's perspective. She was close friends with Melonie when they were children, but then Melonie disappeared one day without explanation. She's devastated to learn that she joined the Yiga Clan.

Cheria

A female Sheikah who worked with the royal family before the Great Calamity struck. She makes her appearance in the flesh in Age of Calamity, during the time period before the Great Calamity occurred.

Action Girl: She fights alongside the others during the battle, though for her, it's offscreen.
Ascended Extra: Compared to the games, where she's just mentioned or only seen as a merchant, her character is considerably expanded. She has an active role, dialogue with other characters, and has an actual presence as a character.
Posthumous Character: She never appears in Breath of the Wild, nor is she mentioned by anyone else, so she's likely dead at that point 100 years later.

Shrine Monks

Sheikah monks serving Goddess Hylia, all awaiting Link's eventual arrival with the shrines all over Hyrule.

Adapted Out: Most of the Shrine Monks are removed from Breath of the Wild as part of Adaptation Distillation. The only ones retained are the ones in the Springs of Power, Courage, and Wisdom, the Great Plateau, and the ones around the settlements of Hyrule.
Ambiguous Situation: Link notes that they look to be completely mummified, but the fact that they wait for Link to find them may hint at some form of being "alive". They seem to hover between life and death, being just enough to be alive to wait for Link so that they may give him their Spirit Orbs.
Age Without Youth: They went into their Shrines and began their vigils 10,000 years before the start of Breath of the Wild, and they very much look like it.
Arc Symbol: Along with the rest of the story, triangles. Oman Au is the only one explicitly described as hold his hands in a triangular shape, but it's implied that other Shrine Monks may have similar poses to him.
Body Horror: They're visibly mummified, with many of them having no noses, and have been "living" in their shrines for 10,000 years.
Cast of Snowflakes: Originally averted, but an Orwellian Retcon by the author added descriptions for every single Sheikah Monk, sometimes referencing other monks who had the same pose. Only Jitan Sa'mi and Shae Katha are indistinguishable from each other.
Creepy Good: They're very ominous, shrivel-up, and they creep Link out at first, but they're in place to give Link Spirit Orbs so that he may gain great power and strength.
Disappears into Light: Each one vanishes into a cloud of light particles. Monk Maz Koshia is the sole exception.
Eyes Always Shut: For those whose eyes are seen, they're always closed.
Facial Markings: For the ones whose faces are seen, they have the Sheikah symbol painted on them.
Gadgeteer Genius: The four actually nine on the Great Plateau designed their respective shrines to test Link with numerous magitek tests and traps. The rest across Hyrule are simple blessing shrines.
Good Luck Charm: Part of the reason why every settlement and horse stable save for a single one is near an ancient shrine is because it was said that they brought luck and protection to those around them.
Mummy: They're stated to look like mummified Sheikah. The sight is enough to unnerve Link.
The Noseless: For those whose faces aren't covered by a facial tapestry, they have no actual noses.
Nothing but Skin and Bones: They're completely mummified and shriveled. They have no noses and their ribs are visible through their skin.
Purpose-Driven Immortality: They don't pass on until Link comes to get the gifts they have for him. Neither do the ones who were waiting for him to claim the Master Sword or the Wolf Spirit, nor do the ones who were waiting for Impa to arrive so that she may claim the Frog Spirit.
Religion is Magic: Their devotion to Goddess Hylia grants them magical powers.
10,000 Years: This is how long they've been entombed in their shrines waiting to fulfill their purpose.
Theme Naming: All of them have dual names, compared to most characters that only have a singular name. Impa is the only current Sheikah who has more than one name, but the Shrine Monks' names may not be the typical first-late name set up.
Time Abyss: All of them have been waiting to finally fulfil their duties for 10,000 years, which is the time when the Guardians and Divine Beasts were created.

Kass's Teacher SPOILERS

The unnamed Sheikah man who was a court poet around Zelda's age. He was in love with Princess Zelda, but to his fury, she only had eyes for Link, a commoner. He was jealous of Link for a long time, but witnessing his Heroic Sacrifice to save Zelda on the Blatchery Plain changed his attitude, and he spent his post-Calamity life working to create and collect songs about the hero of 10,000 years prior, all for Link once he would awaken from the Shrine of Resurrection. He taught these songs to Kass before his passing.

All Love Is Unrequited: He fell in love with Zelda, whose affection was solely given to Link.
The Atoner: He spent a long time being envious of Link, but he spent the rest of his life trying to research songs about the ancient Hero of Hyrule that came before the current one. He even found the photo of the Champions that Daruk photobombed, and gave it to Kass so that he could give it to Link.
Blue Blood: He was a poet for the royal family, and thus was jealous that Link, a commoner with no noble blood, was Zelda's love.
The Ghost: He's dead before Breath of the Wild begins, and thus Link never meets or sees him and the audience never learns what he looked like. Kass's words indicate that he was there at the Blatchery Plain when Link gave his life for Zelda, but the two Sheikah who arrived there moments later were Purah and Robbie, meaning even then, he was unseen.
Graceful Loser: After the Calamity, he makes a sort of one-sided reconciliation with Link.
Green-Eyed Monster: He was very jealous of Link for having become Zelda's one love. He overcame it after seeing Link give his life to save Zelda.
Hopeless Suitor: He knew that he had no chance to be with Zelda, but he fell in love with her either way.
Interspecies Friendship: He was a mentor and close friend to the Rito minstrel Kass.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Seeing Link give his life to save Zelda changed his views on Link, making him see that Link really was a good man worthy of Zelda's love, and probably the better one for her. He spends the rest of his life trying to make sure that he can help Link in any way for when he wakes up from the Shrine of Resurrection, knowing that he would be the only hope to save Zelda from Calamity Ganon.
No Name Given: Kass never calls him by name to Link.
Posthumous Character: The first thing that is clear about Kass's teacher is that he was already dead before Link woke up from the Shrine of Resurrection.
Unknown Rival: He viewed Link as his competition for Zelda's love, but Link has no memory of such a man, and the flashbacks don't indicate that he met anyone jealous of the princess's love for him.

Maz Koshia SPOILERS

See here.

Characters / Survivors of the Calamity: Hylians and Sheikah

Hylians

Sheikah

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Characters / Survivors of the Calamity: Hylians and Sheikah

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Hylians

Sheikah

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