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

A page for the Hylians and the Sheikah, the two main humanoid races of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Beware of spoilers!

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Hylians

General

The Hylians

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hylians_botw.png

Hylians are Hyrule's dominant race of humans. They dwell in all parts of Hyrule, often running Stables in all provinces, but live primarily in Hateno Village in West Necluda and Lurelin Village in Faron.

All Swords Are the Same: Actually averted: the Hylian people favor double-edged straight swords and they couldn't get used to the Sheikah-designed katanas being made for them, forcing the Sheikah craftsmen to adopt different sword-making techniques to compensate (of course, Link himself has no problem with either).
Cast of Snowflakes: Every single named Hylian who's not explicitly someone else's identical twin has a unique combination of facial features, hair style, and clothing. While some may share a few of those, none will look completely identical unless there's a reason. Anyone who looks identical to another NPC but isn't where they're supposed to be is a Yiga assassin in disguise. The technical reason why this is all possible is because they all use a custom version of the Mii system under the hood.
Divine Right of Kings: In the past, Hylians were the dominant race of the land due to being the chosen people of the Goddess Hylia.
Dramatic Irony: The old Hylians feared the Divine Beasts and the Guardians due to their destructive potential, so much that they banished their creators, the Sheikah, from the land after the first Calamity Ganon sealing. 10,000 years later, their descendants became enthralled by these ancient marvels and had them excavated to fight the Calamity Ganon again... only for Ganon to turn the machines against them, thus vindicating the old generation's fear.
Elaborate Equals Effective: The higher ranking the Hylian gear you find, the more ornate it becomes, from Rusted to Traveler to Soldier to Knight to Royal. The Flavor Text even mentions this, citing that even though the Royal weapons once wielded by the Praetorian Guard are very powerful, the elaborate ornamentation has mostly led them to become pieces for collectors.
Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity: Being essentially stand-ins for medieval Europeans, they gravitate the most towards using one-handed broadswords alongside shields. Notably, the description of the Edge of Duality, a double-edged Sheikah-made longsword, notes that it was designed to be used by Hylian knights used to their own weapons and unpracticed at using the single-edged kind the Sheikah favor.
Gold-Colored Superiority: The Royal weapons all have prominent gold ornamentation, and they are among the best weapons in the game, being on par with the Champions' weapons in strength.
Humans Are Average: Hylians are notably a lot more mundane than the other races, even compared to the other humans such as the Gerudo. That being said, they have the most diverse cultures because they are so numerous. This is even shown in their weapon sets, which offer no real bonuses but are reliable in terms of damage and durability compared to the weapons of the other races.
Humans Are Special: Although they are noticeably a lot more average than the other races, they are in fact the chosen people and descendants of the Goddess Hylia. The Hylians are adventurous and enjoy travelling abroad. They don't concentrate themselves to a single biome (Zora, Goron and Sheikah), and migrate from their homeland for reasons other than reproduction (Gerudo) or forced exile (Yiga, Sheikah). While travelling across the breadth of Hyrule, Link encounters more Hylian travelers than any other civilized culture. Only monster species have greater environmental diversity, though it can be argued that several are naturally invasive (such as the Bokoblins) or doing so on Ganon's behalf. Hylian weapons are even significantly more powerful than the equivalents of other races, having no real special properties otherwise.
Infinity -1 Sword: Their native Royal Weapons function as this. Their base power is on par with the Champions' weapons, Ancient and Guardian++ weapons, and Mighty Lynel weapons. In addition, while rare at the beginning of the game, they become fairly plentiful later on thanks to Level Scaling making them found on many Silver and Gold enemies. As a result, they are highly reliable to find and use anywhere from mid-to-late game and are only truly outstripped by the aforementioned Ancient and Guardian++ weapons with the Ancient Proficiency boost of the Ancient Set and the Savage Lynel weapons, both of which are options more readily available late game and/or remain rare even then. While their base power is greatly diminished in Tears of the Kingdom, Royal weapons gain the "Improved Flurry Rush" attribute that doubles damage during said attack, easily the most damage-for-durability efficient attribute of the melee weapons short of the Master Sword itself.
Pointy Ears: Although other races have them too, pointed ears have come to be the Hylians' defining trait.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Hylians banished the Sheikah and buried the Guardians below Hyrule because they feared that such powerful technology would be used against the kingdom, to which the Hylians had no defense against. Their decision proved disastrous for their descendants when Calamity Ganon came back 10,000 years later. Because the Sheikah gave up their advanced technology for a normal society, they did not have the skills to replicate their own feats, let alone update and upgrade the ancient Guardians. And since the Guardians remained unchanged since the last sealing, Ganon easily took control of them through his Malice. Thus the Kingdom of Hyrule fell to the very Guardians the Hylians feared thanks to the ignorance of their own descendants.
Tiered by Name: Hylian equipment come in four tiers. From weakest to strongest, they are Traveler, Soldier, Knight, and Royal. In addition, there are Rusted Hylian weapons that can be found in several places. They're slightly stronger than Traveler Weapons but break easily, but if you feed a Rusted weapon to a Rock Octorok, it will spit out a corresponding Hylian weapon of random level. There's also the Royal Guard items, which are made in the same design as the Royal set but use Sheikah techniques. They're incredibly powerful but break quickly due to design flaws.
We Are as Mayflies: Compared to the slightly longer-lived Sheikah and the very Long-Lived Zora, Hylians have the same life expectancy as regular humans; about a century, give or take. This is confirmed by Rivan, one of Link's old Zora friends.
Rivan: We used to swim together when I was but a child... Remember? Well, it has been 100 years since then. And now I'm over 130 years old... I must say you've aged well for a Hylian. Unbelievablely well! Now that I think about it-shouldn't you be dead?
You ALL Look Familiar: Averted. While there are a handful of exceptions, each Hylian Non-Player Character townsperson has something that makes their appearance different from another: such as facial features, hair, or attire. Everyone even has their own name.

In the wild

The Old Man (UNMARKED BREATH OF THE WILD SPOILERS!)

King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/226px_botw_old_man_model.png

^{Click to see him as King of Hyrule}

Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka (Japanese), Bill Rogers (English) ^{Foreign VAs}

"Me? I'll spare you my life story. I'm just an old fool who has lived here alone, for quite some time now."

A mysterious elder who lives on the Great Plateau. He gives Link as much information as he can when the young hero first awakens, and seems to know a little more than what he lets on.

This is because he is in truth, the spirit of Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, Zelda’s father and the last king of Hyrule, trapped on the Great Plateau since his life was taken by Calamity Ganon’s assault, a tragedy he felt his strained relationship with his daughter contributed to. Not wanting to overwhelm the recently resurrected Link, he temporarily took the form of an old hermit to secretly help him prepare for his quest to save Zelda and destroy Ganon.

Abusive Parents: Something he was forced to be, even if he wasn't proud of it. While genuinely caring about his daughter, his fears of the Calamity happening and the talk of Zelda being a failure caused him to be more strict to the point of giving her even more grief and forbidding her from doing what she loved or assisting in another way.
Adipose Rex: Even when alive, he was a very sizable man, certainly large enough to tower over most of his subjects.
Ambiguously Brown: He has a distinct greyish-brown skintone, although in his true form he’s noticeably fairer-skinned.
Ambiguously Human: Though he appears to be a physical being, wisps of blue fire start to surround him after Link collects the Spirit Orbs at the Great Plateau and he has unexplained Offscreen Teleportation abilities. As it turns out, he is the ghost of the King of Hyrule.
Anti-Hero: He is a caring king who has is subjects best interests in mind and wants to save his kingdom, and thus thousands of innocent lives, from a then-impending Calamity. The problem is he is daughter is the key to saving the kingdom and he ended up being overly stern and harsh to Zelda to get her to awaken her divine powers. He had no clear idea how he was supposed to otherwise, as the only person who could have taught Zelda, her mother, died before she could teach Zelda.
Assurance Backfire: After telling Zelda that she's seen by her subjects as an Inadequate Inheritor, he tries to bolster her resolve by insisting it's her destiny to prove them wrong, by unlocking her sacred power. Unfortunately, this only serves to heap more pressure onto her, thus further hindering her attempts to do so.
Big Ol' Eyebrows: He sports quite an impressive one. The eyebrows are perhaps the one physical similarity Rhoam shares with Zelda.
Canine Companion: He's mentioned as having had one when he was alive, according to the Hyrule Compendium. It was the ancestor of every Hylian Retriever you encounter in the game.
Character Development: He was very strict and controlling in training Zelda, something that he gradually realized was not effective in helping her awaken her powers. One hundred years after his death due in part to her subsequent failure to seal Ganon at the time, he guides Link in a more indirect, hands-off, and even playful manner instead.
Cool Old Guy: In the present day, at least. He pops up periodically across the Great Plateau, teaching Link various techniques and gameplay mechanics that are necessary for survival, while sprinkling in practical jokes and humorous comments every so often.
Corrupted Character Copy: His appearance, ghostly nature, and status as Hyrule's last king make him very similar to King Daphnes from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. As revealed later in the game, however, Rhoam was a verbally abusive Fantasy-Forbidding Father when he was alive. Even after he's mellowed out, he's much more of a Trickster Mentor than Daphnes.
Dare to Be Badass: After chastising Zelda for shirking her duties and noting how courtiers have been gossiping about how much of a failure she is, he maintains that it's still her destiny to prove those gossipers wrong. It doesn't come across as nearly as encouraging as he would've liked.
Dead All Along: He reveals himself to be the spirit of King Rhoam, who lost his life to Calamity Ganon a hundred years ago.
Deliberately Monochrome: His skin and eyes both have a grayish tone to them, and his style of dress is very dull and muted in color. This diminishes once he reveals his true form to you, and Link's memories show that when alive, his visage was much more vibrant.
Didn't Think This Through: He laments in his diary that the cold resistance offered by Spicy Meat and Seafood Fry is only temporary, unlike the indefinite protection offered by the Warm Doublet which he traded to Link for the recipe. Presumably, he meant this as a way of teaching the distinction to Link, seeing as a ghost like him probably wouldn't need to bother with either one.
Dramatic Irony: Finding his diary in Hyrule Castle reveals that he had considered that maybe Zelda's powers will awaken in her own way, but couldn't take the risk. He commits to lightening up if she fails to awaken her power at Lanayru, as she would have officially done everything she could. The Calamity happened while she was away. Worse, he was indeed correct about Zelda's power awakening in their own way, with his own inflexibility preventing that from happening before Calamity Ganon awoke.
Exact Words: Choosing the supplicant response to him Moving the Goalposts causes him to point out that he originally only asked for "treasure", but never said whether there would be more than one treasure. Choose the more indignant response, and he'll just say that he changed his mind.
Expy: Is one for both the Old Man from the original game and King Daphnes from The Wind Waker, being the person who gives Link the tools he needs to survive and being a spirit all along. His status as the King of Hyrule and true appearance both noticeably harken back to the latter.
Fantasy-Forbidding Father: He's shown to have been a very strict parent in Link's memories, in which he urged Zelda to devote all her energy toward unlocking her sacred power and chided her for wanting to focus on other prospects, even when it was clear she was doing all she could. His diary reveals how he'd planned to reconcile with her on the day of the Calamity, but which he died before he could have that chance.
Fatal Flaw: King Rhoam suffered from a severe lack of patience, and was unable to handle his anxiety in life. After doing all that he could, by dedicating the entire Kingdom to excavating the Sheikah tech and summoning the five Champions (Link included), the King looked for things he couldn't control and began hammering at those. Who cared if Zelda wanted to help with the Sheikah tech? Anyone studious enough for the task, such as Purah and Robbie, could fill Zelda's spot; only Zelda could invoke the Goddess's powers, though, and Zelda hadn't shown any results. The King's prodding merely transferred some of his own anxiety onto Zelda in a different form, making her less emotionally-prepared for when the Calamity came, resulting in a bigger fallout than what would have happened otherwise.
Figure It Out Yourself: He tells Link to do this if asked for directions to the Great Plateau shrines (in stark contrast to most Zelda quest givers), pointing out that he already has all the tools he needs to do so: a map, beacons, a telescope, and a good vantage point.
First-Episode Twist: He reveals his true identity just as Link prepares to leave the Great Plateau.
Foreshadowing:
- When he describes the Temple of Time to Link, he says it's "Yet another forgotten entity. A mere ghost of its former self..." Much like he himself is the old, forgotten ghost of the former King of Hyrule.
- He carries a Poe lantern with him at all times.
- The Great Plateau is largely cut off from the rest of Hyrule; it would be very difficult for someone to climb up its cliffs, and Link himself cannot leave without the Paraglider. The Old Man has both lived up there a long time but is also knowledgeable about the Great Calamity and the state of Hyrule in the subsequent century, implying that he isn't just some hermit living in such an isolated location. He's a ghost, so he wouldn't have to worry about physically getting up there, and he's the former king who was at ground zero of Ganon's return and lost his life there.
The Gadfly: Stealing food from him at the start has him call out the player on theft, only to turn around and say he was messing with you and couldn't help himself as he gives it to you anyway. Since he's a ghost, he probably doesn't need it anyway.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: The last King of Hyrule, who died with no on-screen pomp or circumstance and left his child nothing. The top of Mount Hylia has a crude monument of some sort implied to be his grave^note; it's unmarked, with only a hunk of Amber adorning it.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He has the largest male Hylian body in the game, and towers imposingly over his own daughter.
Irony:
- He pushed Zelda a bit too hard to develop her powers, resulting in her being away from the castle when Calamity Ganon attacked. Given how Zelda ultimately realized her powers, more people may have survived (possibly including himself) if Zelda were there when it happened.
- He ordered the excavation of the Guardians in preparation for Calamity Ganon; these tools, which were invented 10,000 years ago to essentially do the heavy lifting for Link and minimize losses, were instead used by Ganon to do most of the killing and even brought Link down.
It May Help You on Your Quest: Subverted at first, as at best he offers a baked apple rather than, say, a sword like in the original — although he does point you towards his axe and says that you can have it. Also, if you find his house in the southeast section of the Plateau and cook his Spicy Meat & Fish Fry ^note for him, he'll give you a Warm Doublet to protect you from the cold on Mount Hylia. If you somehow make it to the very top of the mountain without it, he'll give you the Doublet anyway, amazed that you made it up there without it.
Jerkass Has a Point: Ultimately, the King wasn't wrong in emphasizing Zelda's sealing powers over her passion for the Sheikah tech, though he was perhaps too demanding about it. Zelda would've had to at least double the power of the Divine Beasts^notebased on their performance in-game to handle Calamity Ganon with just the Sheikah tech, and the King simply didn't have the time; in fact, he and Zelda had even less time than he thought.
Killed Offscreen: He was killed during the Great Calamity, though his death is not shown.
Legacy Character: Based on his title and role so far, he seems to fulfill the same role as the Old Man from the original The Legend of Zelda. He also fulfills the role of the deceased Hyrule King, like Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule.
Leitmotif: Notably, his is the original Hyrule Castle theme from previous games, despite the song being completely replaced for the castle in this one.
Lord Country: King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule. It seems to be some form of tradition.
Meaningful Name: His first name is Rhoam, which is pronounced just like "Roam". Indeed, he encourages Link to roam around the Great Plateau to find the Shrines, he wants Link to roam around Hyrule to get strong enough to fight Ganon, and the iteration of Hyrule he rules over is a Wide-Open Sandbox designed for the player to roam around.
Moving the Goalposts: He promises Link the Paraglider if he gets a special treasure from a Sheikah Shrine. After Link obtains the Spirit Orb from inside, the Old Man tells him to do the same at three other shrines on the plateau in exchange for the paraglider. It's eventually explained that getting Link to obtain the runes, increase his health or stamina with the Spirit Orbs, and learn how to traverse the Great Plateau were his original goals for Link in the first place.
Mr. Exposition: He tells Link of how Hyrule fell to ruin and points him in the direction of vanquishing the Calamity Ganon.
Musical Spoiler: Whenever he glides down to land in front of Link, a brief piano motif plays in the background. It's the first few notes of the Hyrule Castle theme from previous games.
My Greatest Failure: His failure in coping with Zelda's inadequacies is implied to be this. He died without the chance to make amends for being so harsh with her, and spent the next century stewing over the tragedy that resulted.
Not a Game: He uses this phrase when stressing to Zelda how important it is that she master her sacred powers, as he feels she's focusing on researching Sheikah technology to distract herself from trying to unlock them.
Offscreen Teleportation: When he first teaches you how to fast-travel, you can either do so to get back to the Great Plateau Tower or hoof it there on foot. Going the former route will have the Old Man already there when you arrive, causing him to playfully chide you for taking so long. This is later revealed to be due to his ghostly nature.
Our Ghosts Are Different: He's corporeal, for one, despite being dead and buried. He can also choose his form. He's the only ghost in the game who's like this, however.
Papa Wolf: Strict parenting issues aside, he didn’t hesitate to assign the greatest swordsman in Hyrule, not to mention the Hylian Champion, to act as Zelda’s bodyguard, showing how much he valued and prioritized his daughter’s safety.
Parents as People: He dearly loved his daughter, Zelda, but put a lot of pressure on her to fulfill her role. He admits that he was wrong for doing so.
Permanently Missable Content: In the base version of the game, you could miss out on the ability to sleep in the bed in his hut, of all things, if you didn't get his permission to do so before leaving the Great Plateau. A software update eventually patched this out.
The Reveal: He is the ghost of King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule, the last king of Hyrule and Zelda's father.
Stealth Mentor: He does intend to help Link be prepared for his destiny, but his teaching methods are carefully framed as little errands to earn his Paraglider, which is the only way off the Great Plateau.
Stepford Smiler: The Old Man may be a hearty and easygoing fellow, but his jovial personality is a masquerade by King Rhoam, who is more melancholy and serious when he finally reveals himself. However, he did enjoy putting on a performance as the Old Man, which is perhaps one of the few times that he has ever been happy for the past 100 years.
Suspiciously Specific Denial: When asked about his identity, the Old Man dismisses the question, saying that he is just an old fool who has lived on the Great Plateau alone for a long time. Yet he is also quite knowledgeable about the events that happened 100 years ago, implying that he's not just some strange old man. Later on, the Old Man reveals himself to be the deceased King Rhoam, and he assumed the persona of a hermit to not overwhelm Link's mind.
Took a Level in Kindness: He's had a hundred years spent as a spirit to reflect on his failures in parenting Zelda. As a result, he's notably more mellow towards Link than he was in his lifetime, and seems to take strides to make sure his training doesn't end up the same way.
Trademark Favorite Food: His favorite recipe is Spicy Meat and Seafood Fry, which keeps him warm in the snowy peak of Mt. Hylia. Lately, he has forgotten about the last ingredient. Link can help by catching him a fish. He also seems quite fond of Baked Apples, as you can usually find one near a few of his hangout spots on the plateau.
Unfinished Business: Unlike the Champions, whose spirits physically could not escape the Divine Beasts they were trapped inside, nothing was forcing Rhoam to stay in the world of the living; nothing but his desire to see Link reawakened and guide him back to his identity. It's also suggested that he kept watch over Zelda in her struggles against Ganon, as he only truly passes on after seeing her safely rescued.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Despite his best intentions and belief in Zelda, his strict parenting only made things worse for her and their kingdom when Ganon attacked, making her unable to access the divine powers of her bloodline until it was far too late.
Walking Spoiler: His backstory and true identity make most of his characteristics fall into spoilers.
Was Too Hard on Him: Reading his journal reveals that he regretted how he treated his daughter and knew full well she was trying her hardest, but the struggles of preventing Calamity Ganon and people calling Zelda a failure made him be more strict. On the day she left to pray at the final spring on her birthday, he admits this and promises to apologize should she return without success and allow her to pursue her interests in the Guardians because she would have finally done everything she could to unlock her ancestral power. He is killed in the Calamity before he can make good on this promise.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Downplayed, as the extent of his extremism is simply being an abusive parent at worst; still bad but not nearly as horrible as most examples of this trope. He was only acting as stern to Zelda as he did because he believed it was the only way he could awaken her divine magic. Said magic was vital to adverting the Calamity and thus saving Hyrule, lest thousands of innocent lives be lost and the kingdom be destroyed; and Zelda was the only one who could do it. He and his daughter have the fate of the kingdom in their hands (a mountain of pressure) and worst yet is the fact that Zelda's mother, the only person who could have taught Zelda how to use her magic, died before she could do so, leaving no clear options in exactly how to go about teaching Zelda.

Queen of Hyrule

The Queen of Hyrule

When Princess Zelda was a little girl, her mother filled the role of her teacher and encourager. The death of the queen would have a major impact on both her daughter and her husband.

Best Friend: She and Urbosa were this, which goes to explain the latter's relationship with Zelda.
The Lost Lenore: Her death left King Rhoam rather lost as to how to motivate Zelda to learn how to defeat Ganon. Had her encouraging personality still been a factor, he might have been easier on the Princess.
No Name Given: She is only ever referred to as "mother" by Zelda, "my wife" by her husband, and "the queen" or "my friend" by Urbosa. This may be to respect the One-Steve Limit, since The Adventure of Link established that most women in the Royal Family are named Zelda.
Posthumous Character: She is dead well before the events of even the first recovered memory.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: She was the blue one to her red husband, being calm and encouraging in contrast to him being strict and demanding.
Royalty Superpower: Here the divine sealing power is implied to be passed down through the women of the Royal Family, unlike The Wind Waker where the king was also shown to have magical ability. The queen's death was likely as much a factor in Zelda's inability to use said power as King Rhoam's strict methods.
Sorceress Queen: She bore the divine blood of Hylia granting her powerful sealing magic like her mother before her and passed it down to her own daughter. It is her untimely demise that left Zelda without a teacher to teach her to harness this power as she passed a year before Zelda's lessons were meant to begin.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Implied, considering that the only recognizable trait Zelda got from her dad was the Big Ol' Eyebrows.

Queen Sonia (UNMARKED TEARS OF THE KINGDOM SPOILERS)

Queen Sonia

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sonia_8.png

Voiced by: Yuko Kaida (Japanese), Cherami Leigh (English)^{Foreign VAs}

The very first queen of Hyrule, and Rauru's Hylian wife. Zelda meets her and Rauru during her adventures in the past.

Action Girl: Sonia was shown to be a proactive queen in a fight such as, alongside with Zelda, assisting Rauru killing a herd of Molduga by combining her magic with his to create a giant laser of light.
Action Mom: Given that Zelda descends from her and Rauru, she must have a child offscreen somewhere.
Aerith and Bob: "Sonia" is a relatively common and modern-sounding name in comparison to most characters in the series, most notably her own husband.
Ambiguously Related: She's presumably a descendant from the Link and Zelda of Skyward Sword, but her precise relationship to them is never mentioned, and the ambiguous timeline makes any relationship uncertain.
Battle Couple: When Ganondorf attempts to attack their kingdom with a herd of Molduga, Rauru and Sonia repel them with their magic combined with Zelda's.
Didn't See That Coming: Although she anticipated Ganondorf sending an assassin after her after falsely swearing fealty, she did not plan on Ganondorf himself appearing to kill her.
Dull Surprise: When Phantom Ganon disguised as Zelda attacks her, she barely reacts. She says the lines that someone would say with surprise without any surprise whatsoever, making it blatantly obvious that she very much knew that it wasn't really Zelda.
Earthy Barefoot Character: Befitting her pure and earthy nature, Queen Sonia goes barefoot. Same goes for her husband Rauru and her sister-in-law Mineru.
Excellent Judge of Character: She immediately trusted Zelda the moment she saw the time-displaced princess while Rauru took some time before agreeing with her. She also could tell that Zelda was worrying about more things other than just trying to go back to the future, with Rauru then remarking that it's impossible to keep secrets from her. She, along with Zelda, also knew Ganondorf was bad news from the start, and that his minion was masquerading as Zelda to assassinate her.
Sonia: Oh? I believed her (Zelda) right away. You needed the secret stone as proof, Rauru?
Fantasy Counterpart Religion: Due to being a priestess from an ancient age she's one to the mythical Himiko of Yamatai.
Flower Motifs: While not to the same extent as Zelda, she is associated with the Sundelion, implied to be her favorite flower as the Silent Princess is Zelda's since Sonia is buried with three Sundelions planted on her grave. To symbolize Sonia and Zelda's connection, the Sundelion is a near-complete color inversion of the Silent Princess.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has ashen blonde hair, and is a compassionate woman like her husband, Rauru.
Happily Married: To Rauru. Initially she was a priestess who made a name for herself for how boldly she would give Rauru advice despite his high status as both king and a being revered as a god by most Hylians and how he also appreciated such advice and took it to heart. The implication is that she became a confidant of his and this led to them falling in love and marrying.
The High Queen: Sonia is a beautiful, gracious queen, who treats everyone around her with impeccable kindness.
Interspecies Romance: She, a Hylian, married King Rauru, a Zonai.
In the Back: Ganondorf murders her by sneaking up behind her and delivering a brutal punch to her back, the sheer force of which likely snapped Sonia's spine.
Loved by All: Outside of her close (and distant in Zelda's case) family, it's implied that Sonia was a very popular queen when she was alive. Notably, Ganondorf murdering her in cold blood and using her Secret Stone to turn himself into the Demon King is what caused the entire Gerudo race to turn on their former leader.
Meaningful Name: Sonia means "wisdom", and she is a very wise queen. She's also the ancestor of Zelda, who wields the Triforce of Wisdom.
Mundane Utility: She uses her Recall ability to prevent Zelda's dropped cup of tea from smashing and becoming a waste.
Nice Girl: Like Rauru, Sonia is shown to be a tremendously kindhearted and warm ruler wanting only the best for her people and becomes a mother figure to Zelda, helping her master her time powers with an open mind.
Odd Name Out: She's the first known and named female member of the Royal Family not named Zelda.
Parental Substitute: When Zelda arrives in the past, Sonia quickly takes a shine to her and dotes on her much like a mother would and invites her to stay as part of their court, claiming her as a distant relative. Its particularly poignant given that Zelda lost her own mother at a young age and thereafter struggled to master her sacred sealing powers in Breath of the Wild, since Sonia also offers to help her gain control of her new time powers, something Zelda's mother was unable to do with respect to her sealing powers.
Pointy Ears: She has the classic Hylian long ears, but hers are much longer than those of present-day Hylians.
Posthumous Character: She's only ever seen alive in flashbacks, and in the present only shows herself once as a spirit.
Religious Bruiser: She was a priestess before being crowned Queen, and can help wipe out a herd of Moldugas.
Shipper on Deck: Despite the fact that she lived thousands of years before his birth, Sonia notes how fondly Zelda speaks of Link, acting like an approving mother as she talks about getting her home to put his mind at ease.
Squishy Wizard: She's a Time Master who originated the "Recall" power, and she works with Rauru and Zelda to summon a mighty blast of energy that obliterates a huge swarm of Moldugas. But when her guard is down, she is killed with a single punch to the back from Ganondorf.
Time Master: She has the power of time which is enhanced by her secret stone, it is from her that the royal family's ability to manipulate time originates.
Together in Death: She reunites with her husband, Rauru, at the end of Tears of the Kingdom as they channel their powers through Link to restore Link and Zelda's bodies back to normal. They then take each other's hands and move on to the afterlife.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: She is murdered in cold blood by Ganondorf so he can get ahold of her secret stone.
Walking Spoiler: As the folder disclaimer suggests, her very existence is a huge spoiler.

Stable Association

Across the plains of Hyrule are fifteen stables, massive tents set up with roofs designed to look like the head of a horse. At these locations, the workers will let Link register wild horses, take out registered horses, sleep in the beds, and provide provisions and quests. Tears of the Kingdom introduces Mini Stables which provide the same services outside of the Inn and the Rewards Program.

Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Their fur hats and clothes, love of horses, and yurt-like temporary buildings give them a strong resemblance to Mongolians and other traditionally steppe-based Central Asian cultures. Their skin tones and other physical features are more heterogeneous than Mongolians, but Central Asians are also quite heterogeneous.
Nothing Is the Same Anymore: In Tears of the Kingdom, the Rito and Gerudo Canyon Stables have closed down due to Traysi purchasing the former as her Lucky Clover Gazette headquarters and the latter being too unsafe to function following the Upheaval turning the Gerudo Canyon into a danger zone, forcing it to close. Additionally, the Serene Stable in Salari Plain was closed and moved to North Hyrule Plain near the Breach of Demise, and is now the New Serene Stable.
Punny Name: The stablemaster at Highland Stables is called Padok, which is only a few letters short of "paddock".
Visual Pun: Fitting for the Dueling Peaks Stable which in Breath of the Wild housed two Shrines which had a twin motif and solution, this stable is staffed by twins.

The Stable Trotters

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stable_trotters.jpg

From left to right: Violynne, Pyper, Eustus, Beetz, and Mastro

A musical troupe that performs at the various stables across Hyrule in Tears of the Kingdom. The members are as follows:

Conductor: Mastro

Violinist: Violynne

Drummer: Beetz

Flutist: Pyper

Hornist: Eustus

All for Nothing: Eustus was trying to bring food to Rito Village, but he was stuck in the pit for so long that the food spoiled.
Cartoon Conductor: Inverted. Mastro swings his baton around a random while the others perform. When you talk to him during a performance, he is worried how the troupe can perform without his conducting, only to realize they're playing as usual. Violynne tells Link that he has no melodic sense, but he is nonetheless important for the troupe's morale and devoted to bringing joy to people through music.
Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Much like Kass in the previous game, they play Epona's Song when performing at a stable in counterpoint to the stable theme.
Escort Mission: After gathering one of their old members whom the local Great Fairy is a fan of, they ask Link to help escort them to the Great Fairy via their personal horse cart, which usually involves pulling it with a horse or modifying it with Zonai Devices.
Gag Nose: Mastro has a massive red nose that stands out compared to other Hylians, contributing to his overall goofy design.
Meaningful Rename: After Link helps the troupe regroup, Mastro declares that they will be known as the "Stable Heroes" going forward.
Mythology Gag: The flutist Pyper's dance sees him kicking his legs out identically to the flute-playing Skull Kids from Ocarina of Time.
Punny Name: Each of the members is name after their instrument: Mastro-the maestro, Violynne-violin, Beetz-beats, Pyper-piper. Eustus is the only ambiguous one, possibly being named after the euphonium horn or Saint Eustace who is associated with a hunting horn.
Puppy Love: Pyper is clearly crushing on Haite, a stable worker his age.
Putting the Band Back Together: Link needs to gather up the members after they split up.

Beedle

"The name's Beedle, but you can call me — Actually, let's just stick with Beedle."

A traveling merchant who can be found moving between stables peddling his wares.

Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: Beedle will overcharge you for arrows compared to other merchants. But since he is the only merchant around for most of the places you find him, the convenience is (probably) worth it.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: If he sees you have a beetle on you, he'll immediately drop his sales pitch to try to negotiate an exchange for it instead. Any beetle will do, though he offers better elixirs and food items for rarer ones.
Awesome Backpack: His bag is probably as large as he is tall and has a built-in folding tray for doing business. Because of how heavy it is, he looks positively ripped as a result.
Beetle Maniac: Beedle is aptly named and will trade you food or elixirs for beetles that you find.
Beware the Nice Ones: If you ever happen to deny giving him a rare beetle, he will respond with some disdain... and under his breath plot to hire someone to steal it from Link so he doesn't stain his hands.
Bold Explorer: You can find Beedle in every major region of Hyrule, usually near one of the horse stables, though you'll occasionally see him on the road.
Didn't Think This Through: He travels everywhere wearing his shorts and a tank top, which isn't always a good idea...
- You'll find him shivering in the Hebra Tundra. If you speak to him, he says he heard the region was cold, but hadn't expected it to be that frigid and says he wished he had packed warmer clothing.
- Beedle also turns up at the Kara Kara Bazaar, which is an oasis settlement that borders the Gerudo Desert. He'll be fanning himself during the day and laments not having a chilly elixir with him.
Intrepid Merchant: He is the player's main source of supplies when visiting stables.
Legacy Character: He's been a recurring NPC since The Wind Waker, and has always been a merchant. Beedle offhandedly acknowledges the fact by joking he and Link must have been married in a past life.
Non-Standard Character Design: His cartoonish face and proportions definitely stick out compared to the rest of the human cast.
Recurring Traveller: Beedle lampshades his status, pointing out how often he encounters Link.
Reincarnation Romance: It's used as a subtle Mythology Gag regarding Beedle's recurring role in the series, as a travelling merchant.
Took a Shortcut: Beedle will always be at the stable Link is visiting; no matter how fast Link got there, Beedle will have arrived there before him.

Kilton

-Fang and Bone-
Come see ol' Kilton for the most monstrous deals in all of Hyrule!

"I just love the field of monster research so much that I decided to open a shop all about monsters!"

The eccentric and monster-obsessed owner of a travelling monster-themed shop called Fang and Bone. Initially found setting up his establishment in the middle of Skull Lake, he can subsequently be found near each of the villages at night. In Tears of the Kingdom, he has retired from shopkeeping to run a small museum dedicated to educating Hyrule's denizens about monsters.

Action Survivor: He claims to have had a nearly fatal encounter with a Lynel just to get the details for its respective disguise mask right.
Adam Smith Hates Your Guts: In rather odd way, as he made his own currency so Link has to trade him monster parts in order to buy any gear from him. The "Mon" the parts often trade for also tends to be for half of how many rupees you could get for them.
Admiring the Abomination: He is very enthusiastic about monsters, and he'll excitedly tell Link about the three types of boss monsters found across Hyrule when asked. Though he's at least smart enough to admire the monsters from a safe distance.
Ambiguously Human: Even in a world of humanoid birds and fish people, Kilton's status as a Hylian is questionable at best. He has a large triangular head and dark grey skin, traits no other race have. There's also his hands, which are blue and lizard-like, though they could just be gloves. The Creating a Champion claims he just dresses like a monster, and that his fangs are painted on. As his brother Koltin looks just like him but with pale light skin, it can be presumed the weird look just runs in his family.
And Your Reward Is Clothes: Many of the items in his shop are unique monster masks that let Link blend in with the species of said mask as well as the Dark Link armor that allows him to trick monsters and become stealthier during the night.
Big Brother Instinct: From what is shown of his relationship with Koltin, he seems to be a doting older brother who supports Koltin’s dream of becoming a Satori. Whenever you want to find Koltin, Kilton somehow knows where his little brother is.
Creepy Good: Despite his creepy appearance and monster obsession, he's still a nice character who provides Link with items that help in fights against monsters.
Gonk: He's easily the ugliest non-monster character in the game, and his design is completely unique, not fitting with either Hylians (which he supposedly is), any of the other friendly races, or even any of the monster races.
Mad Love: Towards all of Hyrule's monsters, but that doesn't stop him from asking you to kill some specific types for his research. If Link tells Kilton he also likes monsters, or in fact "adores" them, he gets rather aggressively defensive when claiming he "loves" them more than you do.
Meaningful Name: His name sounds rather like the word kilter, and a rather off-kilter person he is. It may also be a pun about how his shop requires you to kill a ton of monsters for currency for his store.
Nightmare Face: He has a rather unnerving-looking face. One guard in the Akkala region even requests a photo of Kilton's face to determine if he is a suspicious-looking individual.
Nightmare Fetishist: He loves all things monstrous and creepy, to point that he has fang-like markings on his bottom lip and clawed gloves to make himself look like a monster. When promoting the Lynel mask, he states that almost getting killed by a Lynel was one of the best moments of his life.
The Nose Knows: His obsession is to the point he can identify a monster based on how it smells, which leads to mistaking Link for one whenever he can't see him. Probably justified, considering how many monsters Link has killed and how many of their body parts he carries around on a daily basis.
Perfectly Cromulent Word: His attempts to describe what monsters look like to Hudson (so that he can make statues of them) use "words" like this. For example, Kilton says that a Bokoblin's nose is "FWOOPY" and a Frox is "GABAAANTIC" in size. As you might expect, these descriptions are basically useless to Hudson, necessitating Link provide photographs of the monsters from the Purah Pad.
Walking Wasteland: Downplayed, but the areas immediately surrounding the places where he sets up his cart have dead grass and dry, barren earth. It's unclear why this is exactly, but it looks similar to the effects of Malice on an area and it only appears once Kilton starts setting up shop in these places.

Koltin

Kilton's younger brother, introduced in Tears of the Kingdom, who took over Fang and Bone from him. Just as nutty as his brother, but his obsession is with the elusive Satori, to the point that he wants to become one. And he has... ideas on how to achieve that; thus he will trade various items in exchange for all the Bubbul Gems you can find.

And Your Reward Is Clothes: Trading Bubbul Gems with Koltin gives you both monster parts and all of the masks Kilton gave you in the first game with the inclusion of the new Horriblin mask as well as the Mystic armor set. Giving Koltin all of the Bubbul Gems in the game will have him reward you with the Koltin paraglider fabric right before he transforms into a Blupee. Informing his brother Kilton about this will have him place Koltin's stand on Mount Satori where three Blupees will spawn next to it.
Anti-Frustration Features: Should the player intend to complete Koltin's quest for all the Bubbul Gems beyond all his possible rewards, he gains the ability to sense Bubbulfrogs in the region he is currently in and will point Link in the direction of them. This in turn allows the player to more easily find caves they haven't discovered yet, though this does not work with every single cave in the game.
The Cloud Cuckoolander Was Right: His idea of becoming a Satori by eating Bubbul Gems is questionable to say the least, but then he starts actually getting superpowers from all the crystals he's eaten, like the ability to feel where Bubbulfrogs are. And on eating all the Bubbul Gems... He turns into a Blupee, looking like a very young Satori as a result.
Expy: A diminutive man with an obsession with becoming a supernatural creature, travels around with a balloon, and exasperates his family? He's the Wild Saga's answer to Tingle.
I Regret Nothing: Upon swallowing the last of the Bubbul Gems he loudly proclaims "No matter the outcome, I have no regrets! NONE!" as he transforms into a tiny Blupee and hops away. When you give Kilton the news, he says that Koltin lived his whole life chasing his dream, and he's certain his brother is happy wherever he is now.
No-Sell: The main utility of Koltin's armor offerings is to avoid taking damage entirely, through nonstandard means. The Masks make it so enemies won't attack Link (unless Link attacks first), letting him slip through infested places. Each Mystic set piece reduces whatever damage gets through Link's Defense by a set amount, at the cost of 10 Rupees per quarter-Heart saved. None of these pieces can be upgraded; this makes the Masks something to switch away from if you're not Cherry Tapping, and it makes the Mystic pieces scale unfavorably with 4-star gear, but the costumes let Link ignore or mess around with lesser threats.
Strong Family Resemblance: He looks exactly like his brother, just completely white instead of black.
Theme Twin Naming: An anagram with his brother's name "Kilton." However, it isn’t known if he and Kilton are twins.

Traysi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/121316561_4478770498864588_777400171789021355_o.jpg

"I AM an award-winning investigative journalist, after all!"

A journalist for the "Rumor Mill" publication. Despite its somewhat tabloid-y nature, it actually contains plenty of useful hints about the surrounding area. While her writings can be found at most stables, the woman herself can be encountered in person in Gerudo Town. In Tears of The Kingdom, Traysi becomes the head of her own news company known as the "Lucky Clover Gazette" and uses the former Rito stable as its headquarters after buying it.

And Your Reward Is Clothes: In Tears of the Kingdom, she essentially bribes Link with the Froggy set, which lets him climb slick surfaces unimpeded if he wears all three pieces. Granted, this entails visiting every Stable and handling the side adventures there, covering a vast portion of the Hyrule map in the process.
Benevolent Boss: In Tears of the Kingdom she is less of a travelling snoop and more of a chief of a major newspaper with many people under her. She employs both of her sisters and even the old stable owner, and despite him having zero newspaper related skills and even accidentally burned a whole print patch, she allows him to stay as a handyman. She gradually increases Link and Penn's pay as the gazette gets more popular, even adding a hefty bonus (this is even though Link is not actually even an employee). When Penn is clearly in a funk she sends him on a vacation for his wellbeing.
Covert Pervert: Dialogue from Penn indicates that she really wanted to personally investigate the rumour about the explorers in their underpants.
Distracted by the Sexy: Penn invoked this as applying to her when denying her from investigating the unclothed explorers, stating "distracted eyes miss the info prize" as he flew away before she could argue.
Intrepid Reporter: She travels all across Hyrule investigating various rumors and folktales. She's so intrepid that she even goes by herself to investigate the appearance of the Molduking despite the obvious danger.
My Nayme Is: Her name is presumably an alternate spelling of the common English name "Tracy".
Not What It Looks Like: Similar to Pikango with the Sheikah, she is subject to quite a bit of distrust from the Gerudo due to both her methods of asking about recent events and their paranoia about the Yiga Clan.
Secret-Keeper:
- In Breath of the Wild, if you talk to her during her Molduking-researching expedition wearing anything other than the Gerudo garb, she'll deduce that you were actually the "cute vai" she met in town but promise not to say anything about it. If you talk to her while wearing the Gerudo garb, she'll say her scoop radar is going crazy and deduce that Link is a young man dressed in "fabulous Gerudo clothes".
- In Tears of the Kingdom, she knows that Link is the famous knight who protects Princess Zelda, but Penn does not. She tells Link that it would be best not to let the latter know to avoid any complications as they investigate rumors of Zelda's presence across Hyrule.

Mina & Mils

Mina and Mils

A brother-and-sister duo that roams Hyrule in search of treasure. In Tears of the Kingdom, the siblings go their separate ways; Mina can be found traveling to Lurelin Village for a vacation, while Mils joined the Zonai Survey Team for treasure leads.

Adventurer Archaeologist: They search the rubble of ruined villages and outposts in hopes of finding lost treasure.
And Your Reward Is Edible: They'll offer a meal to Link if he saves them.
Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: If Link is only responsible for 50% or less of the damage on the Bokoblins, Mina might complain about him taking his time.
Cute Clumsy Girl: Mina has a trip and fall animation when she's panicking during a fight. It occurs repeatedly if you can maneuver a Guardian to her position.
The Drag-Along: Mils clearly doesn't want to go around raiding monster-infested ruins, but Mina won't listen to his complaints.
The Everyman: The siblings represent what ordinary Hylians with fighting experience are like in combat. They're survivors who can wield a sword and shield, but unable to handle anything stronger than a Bokoblin.
Greed: They are willing to travel through endless stretches of monster-infested territory in search of treasure. In "The Champions' Ballad," their first instinct upon hearing that a precious Shrine Orb has been stolen from the Gerudo is to try to retrieve it themselves and make a quick buck off it, and they're angry at Link for using it for its intended purpose of unlocking a Shrine.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Mina has ruled out the possibility of invading Hyrule Castle due to the Guardians that defend it.
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Their fighting style is very defense-oriented when opposing Bokoblins (most likely to give Link time to bail them out).
Robbing the Dead: What they call treasure hunting. Link encounters them at the ruins of villages and garrisons destroyed by the Guardians.
Those Two Guys: They appear at several locations, usually battling Bokoblins.
Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay: They're only equipped with Traveler's Swords and Shields, which is low-level gear, so they struggle with any enemy that's stronger than a Red Bokoblin, due to their increased defense and HP — just as the player would. It's still possible for Mina and Mils to eventually triumph, assuming you're patient enough to watch.
Ungrateful Bastard: Averted if Link does at least 51% of the damage on the Bokoblins, in which case it becomes And Your Reward Is Edible.
Victory by Endurance: If you're patient enough to watch, you'll find that Mina and her brother can usually fend for themselves. The amount of time depends on the strength of the enemy they're facing, since Mina and Mils are armed with low-level weapons and shields.

Nat & Meghyn

A pair of sisters who roam the wilds hunting down mushrooms to eat, which leads them to frequently run afoul of monsters.

And Your Reward Is Edible: Like all travelers beset by monsters, they'll offer a meal to Link if he saves them.
The Drag-Along: Meghyn constantly blames Nat for getting them in trouble with monsters, but feels forced to come along as she loves mushrooms as much as her sister.
Graceful Loser: As part of their questline in Tears of the Kingdom, they challenge Link to a race to find the glowing mushroom haven in the Hebra region. Once Link finds it, they concede defeat and allow Link to help himself to all of the mushrooms inside.
The Fellowship Has Ended: After completing their questline in Tears of the Kingdom, they decide to go their separate ways so they can hunt for mushrooms independently. They can be seen randomly traveling the roads afterwards.
Trademark Favorite Food: They love eating mushrooms, especially Hearty Truffles. Their questline in Tears of the Kingdom has them search for a cave that's an ideal haven for mushrooms.

Hino

A selenologist with a vested interest in the Blood Moon. Initially conducting his research at Dueling Peaks Stable in Breath of the Wild, he moves on in Tears of the Kingdom to studying monster forts up close... invariably getting captured and imprisoned by them.

And Your Reward Is Edible: Upon being rescued in Tears of the Kingdom, he rewards Link with two low-level cooked meals. Then, deciding that they aren't enough to convey his gratitude, he gifts Link with a third elixir with a rare material such as a hearty elixir, enduring elixir, or fairy tonic.
Flat Joy: If rescued past the first time at the Hyrule Field monster fort, he simply responds with a flat sigh thanking Link for saving him. That said, he's still ultimately grateful, only being tired of the routine of being always captured, and he will still reward Link with two meals and a rare elixir afterwards.
Mr. Exposition: In Breath of the Wild, he explains the Blood Moon and how it causes all killed monsters to be resurrected. This is important since it is likely the player won't have experienced one assuming they follow the recommended path.
Too Dumb to Live: In Tears of the Kingdom, he repeatedly tries to sneak into monster forts just to see what kind of effects the Blood Moon has on them, always getting captured and waiting for Link to save him. He even admits that as long as he's curious about his research, he'll never stop sneaking into forts again and again.
With Catlike Tread: He has no combat training whatsoever, so he attempts to resort to sneaking into monster forts to conduct his research. His attempts never work out, getting captured and necessitating a rescue.

Magda

A woman who has grown a flower garden around Hila Rao Shrine on the Floret Sandbar. She will get rather upset if you walk over or otherwise damage the flowers while trying to reach the Shrine.

Ax-Crazy: If you step on her flowers enough times, she completely flips her lid and becomes the only NPC (other than disguised Yiga) to outright attack Link! (Though, granted, she can never actually kill him.)
Badass Bystander: She appears to be just a harmless minor NPC, but if you anger her, she'll do more damage to Link in one attack than any boss in the game can do.
Berserk Button: If you value your life, never trample her flowers.
Disproportionate Retribution: Trampling her beloved flowers apparently warrants being violently attacked.
HP to One: Angering her three times leads to her getting ticked off enough to give Link a massive beating. (Don't worry though, it's not fatal.)
Hypocritical Humor: Her outburst against Link is preceded by her trampling the flowers herself in her blind rage.
Laser-Guided Karma: In Tears of the Kingdom, while she does return, the Zonai ruins end up destroying her flowers.
Rule of Three: You'll have to step on or damage the flowers three times to trigger her violent retribution.
Skewed Priorities: She's grown a flower garden in an intricate maze pattern around the shrine along Hyrule's riverbank. And she'll get angry as all Hell if anyone steps on them, even if it's done accidentally. So apparently, she doesn't care what fate befalls the rest of the kingdom, so long as no one tramples her flowers.
Took a Level in Kindness: In Tears of the Kingdom, while she's still less than pleased if you attack her flowers, she won't fly off the handle and attack you like in Breath of the Wild. It's implied to be due to the influence of Princess Zelda, who helped Magda make the flower garden neater.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: Subverted — you can deliberately destroy her flowers if you so choose, but doing so too many times will incur her wrath. However, you can get away with destroying her flowers completely scot-free if you do it from a distance where she can't reach you.

Loone

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/20861618_1599004690174531_614842387686999589_o.jpg

"You're so ancient and special, Roscoe! YES, YOU ARE!!"

A woman found on Puffer Beach with her "sweet Roscoe," actually a ball-shaped key to a shrine. In Tears of the Kingdom, she has become obsessed with the Leviathan skeletons.

Admiring the Abomination: She'll ditch Roscoe if Link can show her pictures of three types of Guardians. While she'll admire the Guardians with much of the same language she used with Roscoe, she'll still acknowledges that they're too dangerous to go anywhere near. Indeed, if you manage to lure the Guardian Stalker down the beach to her location, she'll run away in terror like any other NPC.
Companion Cube: She treats the inanimate Roscoe like it's her lover.
Meaningful Name: She's certainly a loon.

Bozai

So yeah, hey, the name's Bozai. I'm 35, single, and I LOVE jogging. Especially on sand.

A young man who camps outside Gerudo Town, desperate for a girlfriend. He's the one who grants Link the snow boots and sand boots.

Amazon Chaser: He camps outside of the home of the Gerudo, many of whom are tall, muscular and fierce warriors.
Butt-Monkey:
- To the player. After the Disguised in Drag Link completes his missions and gets the Snow and Sand Boots, the player has no choice but to reject him. He's not even allowed to finish his sentence. Link has also taken both of the pairs of shoes he had on him, leaving him to cross the desert sands barefoot.
- Things don't get better for him in Tears of the Kingdom. He flees to the rooftops of the abandoned Gerudo Town due to the Gibdo infestation. Even with the Gibdos gone, he's stuck up there or else he risks immediate arrest by the guards.
Everyone Has Standards: He gives the cute-looking vai who's interested in his boots an Impossible Task in the hopes that she'll waste her time and get closer to him... but when he hears that she's gone into the freezing, monster-filled Gerudo Highlands chasing after the task, he works himself into a panic and falls all over himself apologizing when she gets back. And while he does give her another impossible task later, it's only after she succeeded in the first one, so the 'impossible' aspect has more to do with perseverance than actual physical danger.
Hopeless Suitor: The Gerudo aren't that desperate for husbands, they have certain criteria they must fill. They should either be healthy, have a good work ethic, and not be obviously desperate. Bozai loafs around, is rude to anyone not a woman, and camps outside a town full of women. He's essentially the only compatible male in Hyrule who stands no chance with them.
Jerkass: To Link for not being a girl. Heck, even when Link is disguised as one, he's not that nice as he gives Link missions that seem impossible just in the hopes of getting a girlfriend should Link fail. Even Link doesn't like talking to him very much, as evident by the blunt dialogue options the player is presented while disguised as a woman.
Meaningful Name: His name sounds extremely similar to bozo, and he's very much a hapless idiot who doesn't understand that his methods of going after women (especially to Gerudo women) are only ensuring he has no chance of ever getting with any of them.
Pet the Dog: In his own way of being nice, he seems to notice Link being upset and asks what's wrong.
Put on a Bus: After Link completes his final mission for Bozai, he disappears, never to be seen again in game. He makes a return in ''Tears of the Kingdom''.

Moza

A...rather enthusiastic "chef" who took residence on a small mountain in the south of the Gerudo Highlands. In Tears of the Kingdom, she's moved to the Rikoka Hills Well, where she's planning to open a restaurant.

Hot-Blooded: She always treats cooking like battles, and even wields a Wooden Ladle and Pot Lid in a battle stance while "fighting" whatever's in her cooking pot.
Lethal Chef: In Breath of the Wild, she's surrounded by smouldering garbage which is no doubt the remains of her cookery experiments, and all of her suggested recipes to Link start off rather normal...only to drop into variants on Dubious Food or Rock-Hard Food due to her extra ingredients. In Tears of the Kingdom, she's somehow improved a bit after getting ahold of Monster Extract and offers to resurrect any Dubious or Rock-Hard Food into much more palatable Monster Dishes.

Ghost Soldiers

The departed souls of Hylian soldiers killed in the Great Calamity, they stand silently on cairns in the Depths holding weapons uncorrupted by the Gloom.

Friendly Ghost: They standing waiting for Link to pick up weapons that will help on his quest to defeat Ganondorf.
Ghostly Goals: They were casualties in the war against Calamity Ganon/Ganondorf (emphasized by their cairns being directly below memorials that Princess Zelda set up on the surface to honor those who died in the Great Calamity), and their offerings of uncorrupted weapons are meant to help Link finish what they could not. Once he does collect the weapons, the ghosts disappear.
Invisible to Normals: A Yiga Clan field report on the Depths discusses the weapons the ghosts hold, but it says that there are weapons inexplicably floating in the air. This indicates that only Link can see the ghosts themselves.

Zonai Survey Team

General

A research group formed by Princess Zelda prior to Tears of the Kingdom that has been tasked with researching Zonai artifacts and ruins.

Flock of Wolves: In the Depths. Apart from the one or two team members used to introduce the place at the beginning of the game (assuming the player follows the storyline nudges), every single researcher you encounter down there is guaranteed to be a Yiga Clan member in disguise.
Locked Out of the Loop: Despite being specialists in Zonai research, surprisingly few of them get the chance to find out about the stuff that Link discovers about the Zonai. The fact that many Zonai devices can only be opened or activated by Zonai (or Link with his transplanted Zonai arm) prevents them from doing so.
Mondegreen Gag: The guys in the team operating out of Foothill Stable have stripped down to their boxers because they heard Princess Zelda tell them to "explore in underpants." But Lecia, another ZST member who comes across the strange situation, says that Zelda actually told them to "explore all other paths", a revelation that leaves them shocked and embarrassed.

Tauro

The leader of the Zonai Survey Team and only person who can translate Zonai writing. He is originally from Lurelin Village.

Accent Slip-Up: When he gets overly excited, he tends to relapse into his Lurelian accent, which is just fishing analogies.
Adventurer Archaeologist: Downplayed. He has the physique of an adventurer and does do field work, but much of his time is devoted to simply translating Zonai writing and pouring over documents, leaving the action to Link.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As the flamboyant head of the Zonai Research Team. He has a manic energy that some of his own research team find it hard to keep up with, would doff all his clothes down to his skivvies if propriety allowed, and has a preternatural intuition when it comes to Zonai archaeological research.
Gentle Giant: He's huge in all senses, but he's very kind.
The Insomniac: Calip writes of a time when he saw Tauro sitting on the ground looking at a stone slab one morning and remembered that Tauro had been doing that the previous night. He realizes that Tauro had been so focused on contemplating the stone slab that he didn't even notice how much time had gone, all without becoming sleepy.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Of the Zonai Survey Team. Everyone looks up to him.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He is quite cut, has a swarthy skintone typical of Lurelin-native Hylians, and is also atypically tall for a Hylian.
Walking Shirtless Scene: His coat is always tied around his waist and his open vest shows off his six-pack. If Link talks to him while naked, Tauro will admit he also wishes he could run around totally naked.

Calip

An arrogant Hylian researcher. In Breath of the Wild, he lives in a cabin just past Fort Hateno researching Sheikah Shrines, and he directs Link's attention to an ancient text about some nearby statues that eventually grants access to one such Shrine. In Tears of the Kingdom, he has joined the Zonai Survey Team and is part of the group helping Tauro and Paya investigate the Ring Ruins that fell around Kakariko Village.

Always Someone Better: He flips between appreciation of Tauro's accomplishments and envy over Tauro's greater drive and focus.
Ascended Extra: He was a character involved in a single isolated Shrine Quest in Breath of the Wild. In Tears of the Kingdom, by contrast, he helps the ZST research the Ring Ruins around Kakariko Village, something that eventually puts Link on the path to recruit Mineru.
Legacy Seeker: Especially in Tears of the Kingdom, he's obsessed with posterity remembering him by name as a brilliant researcher of the past. He even wants landmarks named after him.
Small Name, Big Ego: He clearly considers himself smarter and more important than he really is. Thankfully, he's nice enough to share his research if someone strokes his ego.
They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: He insists on being called "Doctor" Calip, saying that "I didn't study my rear end off to be called 'Mr. Calip.'" He'll be more eager to talk to you about his research if you do so.

Brigo

"I'll stay here and chat with you for a while, if you'd like."

Wait a minute! Please, think about what you're doing!

A man with a spear that patrols Proxim Bridge alone, in order to keep it clear of monsters. In Tears of the Kingdom, he's joined the Zonai Survey Team.

Badass Normal: He's able to keep monsters away from the bridge all by himself. He also says that he was able to escape a Guardian with his "lightning fast reflexes" (although he does state after that he thinks he simply got lucky)
Easter Egg: If the player climbs onto the ledge of the bridge, Brigo will think Link is trying to commit suicide and will try to talk him down.
You won't change the world by jumping carelessly to your doom, don't ya know!
Meaningful Name: Brigo is spelled awfully similar to "bridge", and that's exactly where you can find him. His name also may or may not be a reference to Kevin Briggs, a police officer that talked hundreds of people out of jumping from the Golden Gate bridge in real life. Indeed, that's exactly what Brigo tries to do if he sees Link standing at the bridge's ledge.
Nice Guy: He watches over a bridge so he can keep it free of monsters and safe for travelers. There's every implication that he does this in his own time, with no official pay, only because it's the right thing to do. There's also the whole bit where he tries to talk Link out of jumping off the bridge.
Properly Paranoid: He's constantly watching the inactive Guardian not far from the bridge, worried that it might still be active^note It's not . What makes it proper is that not only are there Decayed Guardians, there are also active Guardian Stalkers that are colored similarly to the decayed ones, giving the impression of being inactive.
Small Role, Big Impact: He's a minor character, but he's very likely to be the first living person Link encounters if they take Rhoam's advice and head straight for the Dueling Peaks. Your encounter with him will no doubt stick in your mind.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: When he tries to talk Link down from the ledge, there's nothing stopping you from jumping anyway in front of the poor guy. If you do, he will chew you out and say he was scared out of his wits for you (the fall is actually quite survivable).

Hateno Village

Mayor Reede

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/reede_9.png

The mayor of Hateno Village.

Ascended Extra: All he did in Breath of the Wild was give some exposition about his village and the Great Calamity that was explained in much more detail by other characters. In Tears of the Kingdom, he gets frustrated with Cece changing the character of Hateno and ends up competing with her in an election fight that covers multiple separate quests.
Good Old Ways: He likes how tranquil and peaceful his village is, so he is quite frustrated when Cece's fashion has turned the unpopular village into a popular settlement that's filled to the brim with her mushroom fashion and decoration.
Hypocrite: He secretly draws inspiration from Cece's work so that he can convince the children that Hateno's ways are interesting.

Sophie

A shy and quiet girl in Hateno Village. She runs the local clothing shop, Ventest Clothing.

Ascended Extra: She had no big role in Breath of the Wild, being just one of many shopkeepers. In Tears of the Kingdom, she gets dragged into the mayoral election by her sister Cece, making her a pivotal part of a multi-quest story arc.
Opposites Attract: She's a shy, quiet girl whose boyfriend, Karson, is much more extraverted than her.
Shrinking Violet: She's always seen in a withdrawn stance, is usually quiet in voice, and frequently inhabits the corner closest to the door in her store.
Suddenly Shouting: In Tears of the Kingdom, she finally has enough of the constant arguing between Cece and Mayor Reede and loudly interrupts their electoral debate to point out how they should be working together to make Hateno Village great.

Cece

A renowned fashionista and older sister of Sophie. She takes over Ventest Clothing as her own boutique and sets out to revolutionize her hometown of Hateno Village as a center for fashion, much to the chagrin of Hateno's older generation and its mayor.

Anti-Frustration Features: After clearing the mayoral election questline in Hateno, she serves Granté's role in Breath of the Wild by providing copies of clothes plus the Hylian Shield.
Big Beautiful Woman: She's an ostentatiously pretty fashionista who is also rather chubby.
Big Eater: Secretly sneaks into a food silo at night to wolf down as much food as she pleases.
Dramatic Irony: She always cites her mushroom-themed fashion as the height of modernity. Unbeknownst to her, Zelda had introduced said fashion 10,000 years in the past which became a huge hit, meaning that Cece is actually echoing the distant past.
The Fashionista: Her fashion designs have made her many fans among the younger denizens of Hyrule.
Food as Bribe: She tasks Link with giving the undecided voters of Hateno mushrooms to sway them to her side. This doesn't quite work out for her, not because those people dislike the mushrooms or even have anything against Cece and her fashions, but because they simply think her fancy clothing line is impractical for their farming work.
Hidden Depths: While she paints herself as a revolutionary for the ways of Hateno Village, she actually enjoys the village's simple, agrarian ways and enjoys eating their vegetables.
Hypocrite: She loves gorging herself on the village's vegetables, despite her campaign running on trying to change Hateno's old ways.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Although the "jerk" part is downplayed. She acts full of herself, haughty and arrogant, but she's a good person and genuinely cares about the village.
Motifs: Mushrooms; the clothes her fans wear have mushroom patterns on them, her hats look like the cap of a mushroom, and her outdoor decorations for Hateno are giant mushrooms.
You Have Researched Breathing: Cece is the only one in Tears who is able to raise and lower Link's Hylian Hood, which she offers to do only after the completion of the mayoral election questline. This despite Link wearing a lowered hood in the game's own prologue.

Hateno School

From left to right: Aster, Azu, Karin, and Sefaro.

A school that Princess Zelda sets up right before Tears of the Kingdom to teach the children of Hateno Village, with Symin as its main teacher. The students consist of: Aster, the daughter of farmer Medda; Karin, the daughter of Mayor Reede and Clavia; Azu, the son of shopkeeper Pruce and Amira and brother of Ivee; and Sefaro, son of Kochi Dye shop proprietor Sayge and Senna.

Cassandra Truth: In Breath of the Wild, Karin catches sight of a young Sheikah girl living at the Ancient Tech Lab up the hill, but none of the adults believe her because they know that only the elderly Purah and Symin live there. Of course, the young girl is actually a de-aged Purah, but even with Azu and Sefaro spying on the lab for her they never have another sighting of the "girl" or find out the whole story.
Gender-Equal Ensemble: There are exactly two girls and two boys in the class.
Legend Fades to Myth: The Great Calamity took place so long before they were born that the kids at the school think it's just a fairy tale. Symin (who was alive before the Calamity) asks Link to take a picture of the tapestry depicting Calamity Ganon's first attack to prove otherwise.

Sheikah

General

The Sheikah Tribe

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_botw_blue_sheikah_eye_symbol.png

"We of the Sheikah tribe have long been heralded as a people of great wisdom. Our technology became the key to sealing Ganon away during the Great Calamity, some ten thousand years ago. At one point, our technology was praised as the power of the gods...but eventually the people turned on it. Turned on us. Our creations came to be viewed as a threat to the kingdom."

— Cado

A tribe of mystical humans, considered a subgroup of the Hylians, who have been friends to the greater Hylian people for generations. They hold one of the first major spots of civilization that Link encounters in the wasteland of Hyrule, in their mountainous village of Kakariko.

Ambiguously Brown: The Sheikah are universally light-skinned with the exception of the elderly couple Steen and Trissa and the fletcher Rola, who have dark brown skin. In Tears of the Kingdom Rola does mention that she comes originally from Lurelin Village.
And Man Grew Proud: Invoked. Millenia ago, a King of Hyrule grew fearful of the mystical prowess of the Sheikah and banished them from Hyrule. Despite this betrayal, most of the Sheikah chose to simply give up most of their magitek and live a quiet life in Kakariko — those who rejected this idea became the Yiga Clan.
Animal Motif: Frogs. They have numerous statues of frogs surrounding their village. Some of them even have trays where Link can offer food tribute.
Ascended Extra: The Sheikah were notably obscure despite being around since their debut as a race in Ocarina of Time. Impa (or Impaz) was the only Sheikah that appeared in many games, and was often stated to be the last of her kind. In Breath of the Wild, not only does the lore of the Sheikah expand greatly, but the rest of the Sheikah tribe finally appear for the first time ever. They even get an Evil Counterpart in the form of the Yiga Clan.
Cargo Cult: One of the Sheikah's sacred relics is a ball, like the ones found in Ancient Shrines, which has been in Kakariko Village for around 10,000 years. They have a prophecy that eventually some hero will earn the right to take it, and Impa amusingly assumes it's not Link at first.
Cast of Snowflakes: Like the Hylians, every single named, living Sheikah has a unique face.
Culture Chop Suey: They're mainly based on Jomon-era Japan, but one of their main crops is the pumpkin, a New World plant.
Edible Theme Naming: All of the present day members of the clan (with the exceptions of Impa and Pikango) are named after fruits. The Shrine Monks however don't follow this pattern at all.
Elaborate Underground Base: Each of the shrines basically have a Test Chamber underneath them filled with traps, puzzles, uncorrupted Guardians and the monk who designed and resides in theirs.
Every Japanese Sword is a Katana: Defied. Their native swords, the Eightfold Blade and Eightfold Longblade, are based on different Japanese swords, with the Eightfold Blade being a kodachi and the Eightfold Longblade being a tachi. The Yiga Windcleaver is based on a zanbato.
Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity: As their culture is based on medieval Japan with a particular focus on Ninja elements, they use single-edged katana-like swords and bows designed for sniping distant foes.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Sheikah are very Japanese in theme this time around, their monks resemble Japanese Buddhist mummies, their swords resemble katanas, their bows resemble yumi, their spears resemble sasumata, and they favor eating their meals with Hylian Rice. Even the Guardians are made to resemble Jomon Pottery.
Flawed Prototype: The Sheikah-made Royal Guard set of weapons are noted to be more powerful than the traditional Hylian Royal weapons, but they were also built with critical design flaws, explaining their lack of durability.Since monsters never break their own weapons, the Royal Guard set is ultimately much more useful in enemy hands than in good hands, much like most of the ancient Sheikah's other creations.
Frog Ninja: Not only do they (and the Yiga Clan) have several frog statues at their homes but they can summon giant frogs with their ninja techniques if young Impa's skills were any indication.
Hidden Badass:
- It's implied their techniques are similar or identical to the Yiga. You'd never imagine it from observing how peaceful and fun loving they are, but Maz Koshia can do all of the Yiga's tricks and then some.
- The food store in Kakariko Village regularly stocks and sells Bokoblin Guts. This implies that either they can eat one of the most notorious monsters in Hyrule, or the peaceful Sheikah of Kakariko have a regular use for effect-based elixirs. The owner of said food store is an old lady, and if you buy her entire supply of Bokoblin Guts, will go out and restock after the next Blood Moon. Bokoblin Guts don't grow on trees.
Human Subspecies: As shown in the bios in Tears of the Kingdom, rather than being seen as their own full race (which also act as species in the Zelda universe), they are considered a sub-race of the Hylians and simply have distinguishing, but not biologically dramatic differences from the majority.
Katanas Are Just Better: Averted. While their traditional swords are the curved Eightfold Blade (a one-handed wakizashi) and Eightfold Longblade (a two-handed katana), the former isn't much stronger than the common Soldier's Broadsword, and the latter, while a very good weapon, is still outclassed by several others, even the Hylian Knight's Claymore.
Laser Blade: Their Ancient technology produced swords, axes, and spears and even energy shields made out of Hard Light.
Long-Lived: Sheikah can live longer than other Hylians can, and there are a number of elders in Kakariko who were actually there when Calamity Ganon devastated Hyrule a century before, Impa for instance being around 120 years old by the time of Breath of the Wild. Even older still are the Shrine Monks, who go back ten thousand years to the time of the first Great Calamity, though they're heavily implied to have undergone special means to endure so long. Unlike with the Zora, though, it's considered relatively uncommon for them to live past 150. Kass's teacher is explicitly said to have been around Zelda's age (17 years) before the Calamity, yet he died of natural causes by the time Link meets Kass a century later.
Lost Technology: Although Impa explains that they chose to give up most of their magical technology, it's implied that even if they wanted to reverse that decision, the generations of technological absence before the rise of Calamity Ganon and the subsequent destruction of Hyrule has made it impossible for them to revive their old materials, although Purah and Robbie are striving to reverse that.
Mystical White Hair: While seen on incarnations of Impa before, this game reveals that a lot of Sheikah have natural white hair, not just her, and they're known for being direct servants of the goddess Hylia.
Mythology Gag: The Sheikah Armor suit is almost the spitting image of Sheik's outfit from Ocarina of Time, just with a different hairstyle and face-mask (and you can get the classic face-mask with amiibo or in the Depths in the second game).
Neglectful Precursors: Subverted. Ten thousand years ago, they built an army of nigh-unstoppable, semi-autonomous robots, successfully defeating Ganon with them. They never installed any kind of supernatural antivirus measures on the Divine Beasts and Guardians, which leads to the Great Calamity when Ganon took over the machines the next time they were used millennia later^note. However, the Sheikah never got to work further on the Divine Beasts and Guardians, because, seeing the technology's power, the King of Hyrule at the time banished the Sheikah and buried their machines for fear that they would be turned against Hyrule. Because of this, eons later, this very fear comes to pass, utterly devastating the kingdom.
Ninja: The Sheikah's armor set resembles ninja gear, complete with a Cool Mask. This set, of course, gives Link bonuses to stealth, and the complete suit, when the three parts have all been upgraded at least twice, increases Link's speed at night. Tears of the Kingdom also gives their weapons a damage bonus on Sneakstrikes, further encouraging sneaky behavior.
People of Hair Color: Their primary distinguishing physical feature from Hylians is their Mystical White Hair. By contrast, the Yiga dye their hair black.
Precursors: The Sheikah created all of the magitek that Link discovers in the game, from Laser Blade and Energy Shield weapons to his Sheikah Slate to the Guardians and Divine Beasts. This was all made 10,000 years ago.
Recursive Precursors: Tears of the Kingdom reveals that they themselves had an even older precursor in the otherworldly Zonai, whose Ruins you could find in Breath of the Wild but their significance was not yet clear. It can be presumed that they owed a great deal of their technological prowess to knowledge from the Zonai, as they had built even greater technological marvels long before the Sheikah are known to have. It should be noted as well that as a species Zonai had a third eye gilded with 3 decorative eyelashes, and tear symbols feature prominently in their culture. The fact that the Sheikah symbol is an eye with 3 eyelashes with a teardrop is probably not a coincidence.
Shoddy Knockoff Product: The Royal Guard's Sword is a Sheikah-made replica of the Master Sword that has the same low durability of the other Royal Guard weapons.
Shrines and Temples: Impa's house is a cross between temple and town hall. At the base of the stairs leading to the building are a row of Sheikah prayer statues, and inside the house is a confession book the villagers write their concerns in. Though she doesn't wear the traditional outfit, Paya's daily routine is the same as an ordinary Miko and she has tattoo Facial Markings only seen on ancient Sheikah monks.
The Slow Path: Impa, Purah, and Robbie spent the past century setting things up for the final battle against Calamity Ganon while waiting for Link to emerge from the Slumber of Resurrection. So did Kass's teacher, though unlike those three, he sadly died before he could see the fruits of his efforts.
Tribe of Priests: More so than in previous games. They have 144 self-mummified monks who wait meditating in the Shrines to give Link a Spirit Orb while blessing him in the name of the Goddess Hylia. Paya is also the only character in the present besides retired priest Kapson to be depicted undertaking any sort of religious activities.
Unexplained Recovery: In previous Zelda games, the tribe was said to be dying out, with Impa herself often being one of the last of her tribe. Despite the massive Time Skip, said to be far after any current game in the series, the Sheikah tribe is fine and dandy for the first time in the series, although the revised backstory of Hyrule's past in Tears of the Kingdom probably gives them more breathing room than in other timelines.
You ALL Look Familiar: Averted. While there are a handful of exceptions, each Sheikah Non-Player Character villager has something that makes their appearance different from another: such as facial features, hair, or attire. Everyone even has their own name.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Their shrines are completely absent in Tears of the Kingdom, with no explanation on what happened to them.
Wutai: Kakariko Village resembles a feudal Japanese village.

Impa

"It's been a long time... Link. I am much older now, but you remember me, don't you?"

Voiced by: Showko Tsuda (Japanese), Andi Gibson (English) ^{Foreign VAs}

The elder of the Sheikah tribe. In her youth one hundred years ago, Impa was an adviser to the royal court of Hyrule and fought alongside the Champions. When Link was at death's door, it is Impa who ordered her sister and Robbie to seal Link within the Shrine of Resurrection.

For her younger incarnation that appears in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, see here.

Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Impa eventually gets fed up with Paya's bashfulness and Link pestering Paya to tell him where her birthmark is, and tells him where it is herself. Paya is utterly mortified.
Ancient Keeper: Impa plays the role well, guarding secrets meant for Link for the past hundred years; of course, this isn't even the oldest Impa in the series or even the oldest Sheikah in the game.
Facial Markings: She has the Sheikah eye tattooed on her forehead, much like the Shrine Monks and her granddaughter, although Impa's is violet instead of red (Paya) or white (all of the Monks).
The Ghost: She apparently knew Link and Zelda quite well, but she never appears in any flashbacks, and is only mentioned in one of Zelda's diary entries.
Hat of Authority: Turns out that large conical hat with metal decorations she wears in Breath is also mark of being the Kakariko chief, as Paya inherits both the position and the hat when Impa bequeaths the chief position in Tears. Paya wrote in her diary that said hat is actually quite heavy.
Hidden in Plain Sight: She had the location of Link's final memory framed as a picture on her wall, but its contents and intention aren't revealed until Link recovers nearly all of his memories and Impa tells him to go find where the last one is.
Irony: Despite what the appearance of her sister Purah may imply, especially because of the latter's age-reversing rune experiment, Impa is technically Purah's younger sister.
I Was Quite a Looker: When Impa was younger, she had an almost-identical appearance to Paya, as Age of Calamity revealed.
Legacy Character: She shares her name with various other women who have served as caretakers and advisers to their Zelda.
Miniature Senior Citizen: She is absolutely tiny, sitting on a large stack of pillows to even be eye level with Link, who is not very tall himself. Strangely, she's unique in this, as other ancients from the same period (who haven't accidentally de-aged themselves to pre-adolescence) are still quite normal looking. For a hint of her stature when she was in her prime, look to her Identical Granddaughter, Paya.
Ms. Exposition: As is traditional for Impa. She gives details about the backstory concerning Calamity Ganon, the Divine Beasts, and the Champions that the Old Man left out during his own bit of exposition on the Great Plateau. She's also the one who first points you in the direction of the spots where Link can recover his memories and get even more backstory.
My Greatest Failure: Being the leader of the Sheikah tribe who helped unearth and research the Divine Beasts and the Guardians, she feels responsible for the deaths of the Champions and all the others.
Ninja: Impa is the current leader of the Sheikah, an ancient clan of ninja-like warriors who serve the Goddess Hylia and the Royal Family, and in her youth was a skilled warrior herself. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity shows her fighting using a ninja sword and kunai, shadow clones, paper talismans, and a substitution jutsu.
No Doubt the Years Have Changed Me: How she greets Link, as seen in the quote accompanying her picture above. Link has lost too many memories to recognize her in any capacity, however.
Passing the Torch: Prior to the events of Tears of the Kingdom, she retired and handed her job as Chief of Kakariko Village over to Paya.
Retired Badass: Impa was much mightier in her youth compared to her feeble appearance now, having fought in the Great Calamity. True to form, if Link swings a weapon at her, she will do a Nonchalant Dodge and call him a fool instead of cowering like most NPCs. Her prowess is shown off in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, where she's shown fighting alongside Link and the Champions.
Shipper on Deck: Even though she's aware of Zelda's feelings for Link, it doesn't stop her from helping Paya gain a lead in the race.
- Her revelation of Paya's birthmark location coincides after a diary entry where Paya asks Impa why thinking about Link causes her temperature to rise and heart to beat erratically. She's trying to get her granddaughter to shed the Shrinking Violet persona around Link. Before she knew of Paya's desire for Link, Impa would abruptly ask Link not to pry further about the birthmark.
- She's the first to suggest that Link stay overnight and keep Paya company after her granddaughter suffered Break the Cutie from the Shrine Orb being stolen from their home.
Suddenly Voiced: Breath of the Wild is the first official Zelda title to feature Impa speaking.
Telepathy: She seems to have this ability, albeit to a much lesser extent than Zelda, as she is able to sense when the Champions and their Divine Beasts have been freed.

Purah

Dr. Purah

(Left) Tears of the Kingdom (Right) Breath of the Wild

"You may already know this, but although Impa looks a looooot older than me, she's actually my little sister."

Voiced by: Ayano Shibuya (Japanese), Kate Higgins (English) ^{Foreign VAs}

Impa's elder sister, a magitek researcher dedicated to reawakening the ancient technology of the Sheikah. Despite being chronologically older than Impa, a reverse-aging experiment has left her with the body of a little girl. In Tears of the Kingdom, she has aged herself back up to adulthood and serves as the leader of Lookout Landing, coordinating efforts to find Princess Zelda and guiding Link to resolve the various troubles of Hyrule's major settlements.

For her younger, yet physically older, incarnation that appears in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity see here.

Adorably Precocious Child: Zigzagged. She looks and acts the part in Breath of the Wild, but she's really 124 years old.
Affectionate Nickname: She always calls Link "Linky" whenever she talks to him, even when she ages herself up back to young adulthood in Tears of the Kingdom.
The Artifact: Her Tears of the Kingdom character profile picture shows her child appearance alongside her current adult appearance despite the younger form not being in the sequel at all. This is presumably so players of Breath of the Wild will be able to recognize her.
Big Good: In Tears of the Kingdom. She is the chief of the Player Headquarters and coordinates all of the various efforts across Hyrule to find Princess Zelda and protect the land. The other races of Hyrule join in her operations once their local crises are resolved.
Breakout Character: In Breath of the Wild she had some slight story relevance but otherwise was relegated to a small sidequest. However, her personality quirks and amusing interactions with other characters resulted in massive popularity among the fanbase, which was responded to first by giving her a prominent role in the Age of Calamity prequel, and when Tears of the Kingdom came around she was boosted up to the Big Good of the entire plot.
Character Catchphrase: She has two depending on her mood.
- "Click snap!" whenever she uses the camera on the Sheikah Slate.
- "Check it!" whenever she properly introduces herself, complete with her little hand gestures.
Characterization Marches On: At least in regards to her 20 year old self is portrayed. In Age of Calamity, Purah was much more of an excitable and free-spirited character who wasn't above annoying her younger sister and performing crazy experiments for the sake of it. While she's still somewhat energetic in Tears of the Kingdom, Purah is much more reserved and focused, taking the Upheaval and Zelda's disappearance far more seriously. Though given that she's Really 700 Years Old at this point, Purah likely is just far more emotionally mature now.
Child Hater: The people in Hateno Village say that Purah really doesn't like kids, which is why they're understandably confused by the rumors that there is a young girl living at her lab now. She seems to have grown out of it by Tears of the Kingdom, given she has child prodigy Josha working with her.
Edible Theme Naming: Harder to tell than most of the others, but it's a corruption of the word "Prune". In Japanese, it's an anagram of "Apple".
Epic Fail: In one of her diaries in Tears of the Kingdom, she mentions that a lot of her earlier inventions tended to blow up, including the explosion-preventing devices.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: She named the Sheikah Slate because it is just that, a tablet crafted by the Sheikah Tribe. Zelda even says in her research notes that it's a bit on the nose. Made even moreso by her own version of it, the Purah Pad.
Fountain of Youth: She's over 120 years old, but an age-reversing Rune experiment Gone Horribly Right regressed her into a child. By the time of Tears of the Kingdom, she's worked the kinks out of it and aged herself to her physical prime, though her child appearance is still visible in her character profile entry.
Genki Girl: She's a very energetic and showy character with quite a few theatrical character tics, at several points chiding the stoic Link for not playing along with her sense of fun. It's implied, based on a brief bit of dialogue with Jerrin, that she retained this personality even as a centenarian pre-Fountain of Youth.
Gone Horribly Right: She wanted to create an age-reversing Rune that she could use to restore Hyrule's population of Old Soldiers back to their youthful vigor and health. It worked all too well, quickly reverting her to the physical form of a 6-year-old. Her diary has her writing plans to hopefully reverse the process. By the time of the sequel, she has aged back up to a young adult.
I Was Quite the Looker: Manny the love-desperate Hylian speculates, while discussing the "beauties" in Hateno Village, that Purah was once a "looker" when she was younger. We never see Purah when she was a young adult in the game proper, although the reward for completing the Compendium is implied to be a picture of her back in the day. However, she does make an appearance in the prequel and Tears of the Kingdom, and we're shown that Purah was indeed quite attractive◊, and now back to such in the latter.
Irony: Speculated by the residents of Hateno Village to be a Child Hater. Her age-reversing rune promptly went too far and transformed her into a 6-year-old. She got better at some point between the games and seems to be fine at least with older children now, given Josha works with her.
Labcoat of Science and Medicine: She wears a beige coat that resembles a scientist's labcoat in Tears of the Kingdom.
Little Big Sister: She's actually older than Impa, but due to her Rune experiment, she resembles a child. Even after she ages up in Tears of the Kingdom, she looks much much younger than Impa.
Mad Scientist: Purah is more than a little outrageous in her experimentation.
The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Played straight, but not to the extent you might think. Her goofy mannerisms are very immature, but those are things she's already known for. However, you can tell the tone she writes her diary in changes as the aging process reverses and eventually reached a point where Symin stopped taking her as seriously. When she gets the aging rune right and ages herself up to her 20s by Tears, she doesn't act much like the Purah seen in Age of Calamity who was in the same age range, and even using her catchphrase around Josha seems to feel a bit forced, implying that personality-wise, she's back to being the person she was before the aging process, rather than her rockstar self during the Calamity.
Overnight Age-Up: By the time Tears of the Kingdom begins, she's aged considerably, now having the physical appearance of a young adult. While there was a Time Skip between this game and Breath of the Wild, it was only a few years at the most, but exploring her old lab near Hateno Village, you'll find her diary, which explains she worked out the kinks in her age reversing tech.
Please Put Some Clothes On: If Link approaches her in Tears of the Kingdom without clothes, she gently scolds him saying that while she admires his free spirit, people look up to him and he should really put some clothes on while in the camp.
Professor Guinea Pig: When she finally had her Age-Reversal Rune prototype done, she naturally decided she should test it on herself. She overshot her target and now plans test an aging ray on herself soon so she can stop being a six-year-old. She succeeds in Tears of the Kingdom.
Ragnarök Proofing: Her Purah Pad is shown to be extremely durable, as it survived at least 10,000 years while being held by a Construct and housing Mineru's spirit. By the time Link gets his hands on it, it's completely fine aside from the Camera Rune being disabled for some reason which only takes Robbie a few seconds to correct.
Really 700 Years Old: More so than the other elder Sheikah, as she looks like a fresh-faced 6-year-old girl, later an attractive 20-something in Tears, despite being over 120 years old.
Sibling Yin-Yang: While Impa is a fairly serious and reserved character who focuses on the spiritual traditions of Sheikah culture and who has a granddaughter, Purah is an energetic and showy character who focuses more on the scientific traditions of Sheikah culture and who doesn't seem to have started a family of her own (implied based on dialogue with people in Hateno Village to be because she is a Child Hater).
Smart People Wear Glasses: She's a really good scientist, and has the glasses to prove it. She has mechanical glasses that can look in the same direction as her eyes, and another pair of red glasses on top.
Suddenly Voiced: She only speaks in text, with Voice Grunting thrown in, at least until her appearance as a young adult in Age of Calamity and Tears of the Kingdom where she's fully voiced. In "The Champions' Ballad" DLC for Breath of the Wild itself, though, while we don't see her on screen, we hear her signature "Click, snap!" as she's taking a photo of Link, Zelda, and the Champions.
Troll: She likes to mess with people's heads for kicks.
- When Link is trying to find the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab's director, Purah points towards Symin and claims to be his assistant. When Symin clears up the confusion for Link, Purah proudly introduces herself and rhetorically asks if Link was surprised by her appearance.
- Purah will know if Link read her secret diary upstairs and is not happy about it. She punishes Link by deleting all of the Sheikah Slate features... only to reveal that she didn't and was only making the sound of the Slate's system update to make it seem she did just to get a rise out of Link.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Really, how does no one in Hyrule cotton onto the fact that Purah has essentially cracked the code of eternal youth?
Womanchild: She acts in a way befitting her physical age, and yet she's over a hundred years old. Subverted, though, given that the age reversing rune she used on herself did have some mental effects, and by the time of Tears of the Kingdom, she acts much more mature and focused, almost to the point of seeming Wise Beyond Her Years if she were actually in her 20s and not Really 700 Years Old.

Symin

Purah's assistant who helps you with the camera based features of your Sheikah Slate. In Tears of the Kingdom, he's left the assistant role to Josha, as Zelda put him in charge of Hateno Village's new school.

Actually, That's My Assistant: Purah introduces you to him by trying to convince you he's the one Impa sent you to Hateno to talk to, since she looks like a child and wanted to see how Link would react to Symin correcting him.
Anti-Frustration Features: Serves as this two ways with one function: Selling you photos for your Hyrule Compendium. This is so you can get images of monsters and gear too difficult to fight or find even if they are otherwise unavailable in your game anymore. And as the Compendium both gives you information about where things are found and is connected to your Sheikah Sensor, you can then use these entries to make it easier to find whatever it is you needed to buy from that point onward. (In Tears of the Kingdom this role is given to Robbie.)
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Princess Zelda certainly sees him as one, to the point that she recruits him to teach the kids at Hateno School because being Purah's assistant for so long "makes him well-equipped to deal with the needs of quirky children."
Covert Pervert: If you manage to collect an image for every single entry on the Compendium, he provides you with a special photograph in an envelope that you can't actually view in game. It's strongly hinted to be a picture of Purah as a young adult, and possibly illicit^{Item description}.
Edible Theme Naming: Persimmon, while also seeming like a weird way of spelling the name "Simon".
Older Than They Look: A note he wrote to Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom mentions the foreboding feeling he had about her and Link journeying beneath Hyrule Castle to investigate the gloom, comparing it to how he felt right before the Great Calamity more than a century ago. This is despite the fact that he looks middle aged at the oldest, while the other Sheikah who were alive to see the Calamity are noticeably aged to the point of being hunched over and shorter (except for Purah, who made herself younger).

Paya

"Well... My name is Paya. Th-the reason I was named Paya is because I have a birthmark shaped like a papaya seed..."

^{Click here to see Paya in Breath of the Wild.}

Impa's granddaughter, she takes care of Impa's duties in her old age. By Tears of the Kingdom, she's become the new chief of Kakariko Village.

Beware the Nice Ones: Paya may be a shy girl prone to stammering when she's startled or embarrassed, but she's still a Sheikah with zero tolerance for the Yiga, and will firmly inform Link of this if he tries to talk to her while wearing a Yiga disguise.
Paya: To us Sheikah, that garb is a symbol of something truly loathsome. As chief, I cannot allow myself to be seen speaking to someone dressed like that. To that end, please excuse me, Master Link.
Big Ol' Eyebrows: One of the few physical traits that distinguish Paya from Impa in her youth is her noticeably thicker eyebrows.
Blush Sticker: She always has them whenever Link interacts with her. By the time of Tears of the Kingdom, she's almost downright bubbly and fully able to talk to Link without blushing. Until he talks to her without clothes on, anyway.
Break the Cutie: The poor girl breaks down after the shrine orb was stolen by a Yiga Clan member, only getting better once Link gets to use it properly. The theft distressed Paya on multiple levels: 1) The shrine orb was an artifact her bloodline safeguarded for 9 generations, which spanned 10,000 years, and she was the first to unwittingly lose it. 2) Her research about the orb had just revealed it was the key to unlocking a hidden shrine near the village, meaning the loss negatively impacted the man she was hopelessly in love with. 3) Only someone in the village could have stolen the orb, as no one outside knew it existed as far as the village was concerned, breaking her unwavering trust of the community.
Cannot Talk to Men: She has such a schoolgirl crush on Link that she can barely compose herself when he's near her. If he shows up without any clothes, or asks any questions about her, her extreme shyness causes her to cover her face... while sneaking peeks at him. By the time of Tears, she can carry on a conversation with Link with nary a stutter, unless of course Link bares the aforementioned eye candy, which embarrasses her again.
Distinguishing Mark: She was named after her papaya seed-shaped birthmark, though if asked where it is, she'll stammer that she'll tell Link where it is someday, but not that day. Impa claims it's on her left butt cheek.
Eating the Eye Candy: Everything about Link causes her to go weak in the knees. His hair and ears draw her attention, but she especially drowns herself in his eyes. If he talks to her without a shirt, she will hide her face and stammer he needs to dress himself, while sneaking glances at him every few seconds.
Edible Theme Naming: She was named Paya because she has a birthmark resembling a papaya seed. She uses "Papaya" as an alias in the town's Journal of Various Worries.
Emotionally Tongue-Tied: She gets so flustered at Link's presence when they first meet that she can barely even tell him her name.
Paya: "As for me, my name is Pa... Paaa... Paaay... Oh! My name is Paya! Phew! I got it out... I know I should be able to say that easily, seeing as how it's my own name and all. I'm so... sorry."
Establishing Character Moment: The first thing she exclaims when Link suddenly appears in front of her for the first time is, "A MAN?!", while bashfully hiding her face.
Everyone Can See It: It seems everyone in Kakariko Village except Paya can tell just how smitten she is with Link. When she tries to get some medicine after falling "ill" with love, Impa and the two guards outside their house simply chuckle knowingly.
Everyone Has Standards: Though she's still close and friendly with Link in Tears of the Kingdom, she will become absolutely disgusted with him if he wears the Yiga Clan outfit in her presence, and refuses to speak to him until he takes it off.
Facial Markings: Possessing unwavering piety for her noble ancestry, she has the Sheikah emblem tattooed upon her forehead and nose, imparting a subtle Third Eye motif.
Hereditary Hairstyle: She has her sideburns tied up in a way identical to her grandmother's.
Hopeless Suitor: Downplayed. Paya never attempts to court Link because she only has a vague understanding of her feelings for him. While, at the same time, being keenly aware that Link and Princess Zelda are close to one another. One of her diary entries has her wonder if they're in a relationship and says it makes her heart ache, but she'd be fine with it if they were.
Hypocritical Humor: She'll suggest that Link get some sleep if she is spoken to late at night, noting that "Staying up late can't be great for your health." She nevertheless does so herself, staying up until the pre-dawn morning hours and only sleeping about two hours. She even makes the suggestion immediately after saying that sleep is less important than the work she does keeping an eye on the village.
Identical Granddaughter: As revealed in Age of Calamity, Paya looks almost exactly like her grandmother in her prime. The only major difference between herself and Impa at that age is the color of the Sheikah eye (red, as opposed to Impa's purple), Paya has thicker eyebrows, and Impa kept her hair much longer than Paya does (ankle-level, as opposed to Paya's small of her back).
The Ingenue: She's never interacted with a male her age (there isn't one in the village), and therefore has zero experience at romance. Her innocence at not understanding she's fallen in love with Link is adorable.
The Insomniac: She spends so much time fulfilling not only her own duties but Impa's as well that she rarely has any time to sleep. She doesn't mind though, stating that compared to the well-being of her people and her village, "sleep seems inconsequential".
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Paya ponders in her diary if Link is in love with the Princess, and despite her feelings for him, admits it would be a good match and would make her happy despite the heartache.
Like Parent, Unlike Child: Impa is described by her older sister Purah as having been every bit as uptight and serious in her youth as she is now, which is supported by her younger self/alternate counterpart in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. Paya on the other hand, is a very shy but friendly young woman who spends her days praying for the safety of her people, her village, and Link. There's also the fact that Paya is smitten with Link to the point of getting flustered almost every time she interacts with him, whereas Impa in Age of Calamity never shows awkwardness when interacting with Link back when they were still closer in age and doesn't seem to have any special affection for him beyond platonic camaraderie.
Love at First Sight: From the moment Link appeared on her doorstep, she never understands why his appearance and heroics won't stop running through her mind. She even dreams about Link during the limited amount of sleep she finds.
Love Before First Sight: Downplayed. She was raised on tales of Link's heroism and his coming reawakening, and upon meeting him for the first time deems him "the very picture of the hero I always imagined," but it wasn't until actually seeing him in-person that she becomes truly enamored with him.
Miko: Paya fills a similar role to one. She is the granddaughter of Impa, the religious and political leader of the Sheikah, and spends each day cleaning the hybrid temple/town hall building and tending to the prayer statues outside. She also sports Facial Markings in the shape of the Sheikah tribe's Third Eye emblem to honor her ancestry, and while she doesn't wear the traditional outfit, she does have the white-with-red-trimmings wardrobe all the Sheikah wear that faintly evokes it.
Older Than They Look: Despite her cute appearance and shy personality, Word of God states that she's an adult woman of about 18 to 20 years old.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Her pseudonym in the Book of Worries regarding the ancient heirloom she's looking after is just "Papaya".
Parental Abandonment: Her parents are not present in Kakariko Village, and neither she nor anyone else mentions them. She was presumably raised by her grandmother.
Please Put Some Clothes On: Talking to Paya without clothes in Breath of the Wild will make her bashfully cover her face and beg Link to put something on. If Link approaches her without clothes in Tears of the Kingdom, she reverts to her shy, stuttering nature around him and asks him to put some clothes on.
Shipper on Deck: Despite her own crush on Link, she ships him with Princess Zelda, seeing them as a good match.
Ship Tease: Her interactions with Link is dripping with it, as she can't contain her affections for him. She admits she can't get her mind off of the hero, and worries that Link is already in a relationship with Zelda.
Shrinking Violet: Oh so much. She gets embarrassed and shy incredibly easily for many reasons. For example, Link standing too close (or within ten feet of her), Link not wearing a shirt, being asked about the birthmark she was named after, the list goes on. It slightly goes away, in that she stops getting embarrassed at some of Link's more benign questions, after Link spends the day protecting her from the Yiga clan after they steal the Shrine Orb out of her and Impa's house, though she will still get flustered at the above instances. By the time of Tears of the Kingdom, she's mainly outgrown this, but will revert back to said behavior if Link shows up without any clothes on.
Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: She's a shy village girl with a schoolgirl crush on the legendary Hero of Hyrule. No pressure there.
Single-Target Sexuality: She's got it bad for Link. It's more explicit in the second game where she shows no romantic interest in her contemporary and peer Tauro, despite spending lots of time with him (although that may be because both are fixated on studying the Ring Ruins around Kakariko Village), and her own character entry in the Purah Pad explicitly notes that she still carries a lot of affection for Link.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: As shown in her diary, she develops a big crush on Link.
Smitten Teenage Girl: She develops a crush on Link because of stories told about the legendary hero, and discovers he is exactly as handsome and competent as she hoped.
Statuesque Stunner: She's One Head Taller than Link, and she's adorable.
What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: When Paya is distraught over her crush on Link, she believes she has contracted some sort of illness.
What the Hell, Hero?: In Tears, if you talk to her while wearing the Yiga outfit, she'll politely but sternly demand that Link change out of it and refuse to talk further with him until he does, in one of the few instances of her getting angry at him.
You Are in Command Now: In Tears, she's now the Kakariko chief after Impa steps down to research the geoglyphs.

Cado

"Well, my wife left me today. The last thing she said to me was, 'What's more important, the Cuccos or me?!' I chose the Cuccos."

A Sheikah bodyguard of Impa's household. On his time off, he also tends to a flock of Cuccos and has become so obsessed with that it led to an estrangement with his wife and owner of the Curious Quiver, Rola. In Tears of the Kingdom, with his home having been demolished in the Upheaval, he accompanies Impa on her expeditions researching the geoglyphs.

Bow and Sword in Accord: He is also equipped with a sword along with his bow and arrow, and he pulls out his sword should Link wildly swing his weapon around.
Butt-Monkey: In the first game, his wife leaves him. Then in the sequel, half his house is destroyed by a rock that literally fell from the sky, the only building to be actually damaged in Kakariko during the Upheaval. What's left of it is turned into a research lab by the Zonai Survey Team while the guy was away escorting Impa. Nobody asked for his permission or even told him until he came back. To add salt to the wound, his beloved Cuccos abandon him. The poor man can't catch a break.
Cloudcuckoolander: The confessions book in Impa's home shows that he's not all right in the head. How so? He put his Cuccos before his wife!
Edible Theme Naming: Avocado.
Foil: To Dorian. Cado is a guy who ruined his family life because of his Cucco obsession and has sharper facial features, while Dorian is a staunch family man with rounder facial features.
Mr. Exposition: Of all those who fill in Link about the Sheikah and Yiga Clan conflict, Cado offers the best details of that history.
No Sense of Direction: In Tears of the Kingdom, if you ignore the hints to meet Impa at New Serres Stable and explore elsewhere instead, you will find him all over the map. If spoken to in regions that are way off target, he will admit that he is hopelessly lost.
Puzzle Reset: Gather up Cado's seven "lost" Cuccos for his sidequest, and they'll all be back where they were when you leave and return. Does Cado mind? No; he even lampshades this, saying that his Cuccos are playing happily "because of you".
Room Full of Crazy: Visit his house and you'll find his walls are plastered with Cucco posters and drawings.
Serious Business: He's so serious about taking care of the Cuccos that it has resulted in him being estranged from his wife. Speaking to him reveals he has some regrets but can't bring himself to abandon his pets.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: Downplayed. Three of Cado's ten Cuccos are already in the pen for his sidequest, and he'll comment on their absence if you mischievously take them out. However, the three will find their way back to the pen if you leave and come back, so you can't amplify Cado's torment forever.

Dorian

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/3kokocattla2.jpg

Dorian and his two daughters, Cottla and Koko

A Sheikah bodyguard of Impa's house. On his time off he also takes care of his two daughters by himself.

Aerith and Bob: Dorian is a relatively mundane name (although not common in real life) that amazingly still manages to fit into the Sheikah's fruit-themed names. (It's based on Durian, by the way.)
Category Traitor: Because he left the Yiga Clan, he is considered as a traitor by them.
Defecting for Love: His wife is the reason why he decided to change his ways and leave the Yiga Clan.
Defector from Decadence: He was a former member of the Yiga Clan.
Edible Theme Naming: His name is only one letter off from Durian.
I Did What I Had to Do: He gave away information regarding Link and Kakariko Village in exchange to keep his children safe. Unfortunately, the Yiga thought otherwise, and sent a Blademaster to deal with him.
Papa Wolf: The main reason for his personal grudge against the Yiga Clan. They murdered his wife after his defection, and along these lines, he wanted to avenge her for his children's sake.
Regretful Traitor: Although he left the Yiga Clan, he still leaks information to them in order to protect his children (and later Impa and Paya) from their blades. After Link saves him from the Yiga Blademaster, Dorian regrets his spy stint and swears to sever all ties with the Yiga Clan.
Secret-Keeper: He's one of three people who knows of the Great Fairy who protects their village, and actively tries to keep her fountain's location a secret from outsiders. On the flip side, Link becomes this to him after learning he's an ex-Yiga.
Small Role, Big Impact: He's a minor character, sure. But his backstory reveals how much of a threat and a Card-Carrying Villain the Yiga Clan is.
Trademark Favorite Food: According to Koko, tough meat-stuffed pumpkin. In Tears of the Kingdom, a hidden diary by Dorian's late wife also indicates this.
Video Game Cruelty Potential: While most of the major Sheikah characters will understandably react negatively to Link wearing the Yiga set, it's especially mean to do so with Dorian considering his wife was killed by the Yiga Clan. You can even wait at his house for him to return while wearing it, making him freak out at what looks like a Yiga ambush.
Walking Spoiler: Before completing "The Stolen Heirloom" quest, you are given the impression that he is just a simple guard NPC.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: The Yiga Clan considers him this after he gave them information about Kakariko Village and Link, and the blademaster would've killed Dorian had Link not been spotted eavesdropping.

Koko & Cottla

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/koko_and_cottla.jpg

Koko and Cottla in Tears of the Kingdom. For their appearance in Breath of the Wild, see Dorian's folder.

The two daughters of Dorian and his deceased wife. The older sister Koko is learning how to cook for her family, while the younger sister Cottla prefers to play games with Link.

Edible Theme Naming: Apricot and Coconut.
Extreme Omnivore: Cottla calls Rock Salt "crunchy crunchables" and "her secret treasure", implying that she eats them while no one else is looking. It's a nice ingredient for cooking, but not even Link will eat it straight-up.
Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Cottla plays tag and hide-and-seek with Link, while Koko cooks various recipes for her family. In Tears of the Kingdom, Cottla draws Ring Ruins in the dirt, while Koko makes and sells ring garlands to travelers, but subverted since Cottla is also secretly trying to learn to cook in the Kakariko Village Well with her mother's diary.
He's Just Hiding: An In-Universe example; unlike Koko, Cottla is too young to recognize her mother's passing. Instead, she assumes that she's the sobbing woman from the stories Dorian tells them — implied to actually be the Great Fairy Cotera — and so spends each morning playing hide-and-seek with her atop the hill.
Heal the Cutie: A Downplayed instance, but by bringing her missing ingredients, Link can help encourage Koko in her efforts to become a great cook like her deceased mother.
Identical Stranger: Cottla bears a certain resemblance to Cotera, the Great Fairy who lives near the village and a figure of whom her father is quite protective, in addition to both of them having similar names. If there's any meaning to this, it's not addressed in the game proper.
Promotion to Parent: Due to the death of Dorian's wife, Koko tries her hardest to act as a mother toward her younger sister.
Supreme Chef: Their mother apparently was. Koko is trying her hardest to follow in her footsteps, which Link can assist in by bringing the ingredients she needs for her recipes. In Tears of the Kingdom, since Dorian and Koko are always busy, Cottla is also secretly trying to learn to cook in the Kakariko Village Well with her mother's diary.
Trademark Favorite Food: According to Koko's sidequest, Cottla's is veggie cream soup. She's also said to love Hot buttered apple. Koko herself loves honeyed apple.
Third-Person Person: Koko speaks in third person. This is most easily noticed when Link is helping her gather ingredients and she never refers to herself with "I". In Tears of the Kingdom, she's trying to break this habit and catches herself when she falls into it.
What the Hell, Hero?: If Link stands on her Ring Garland stand, Koko will chastise him and tell him to act like an adult.
When You Coming Home, Dad?: Cottla's sidequest centers on her feeling lonely and bored during the day, while her father is busy working and her sister is occupied cooking her meals. Link can offer to play with her in order to lift her spirits.
Worthless Treasure Twist: The "secret treasure" Cottla gives Link for playing with her turns out to be... A piece of rock salt. Subverted in some instances when she gives him something slightly more valuable: Amber.

Pikango

"I hear it's breathtakingly beautiful."

"As for me, I just looove art. In fact, I'm traveling in the world in search of beautiful landscapes."

A painter who's very well traveled; if you find the first Great Fairy Spring for him, he will help you find memory locations.

Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: He's an old painter who has his greying hair in a ponytail so that it looks like a large white paintbrush with some black ink on its tip. One of the chopsticks holding it is even replaced with a pencil.
Because You Were Nice to Me: The people of Kakariko Village didn't trust him because he's not lived there for many years. So he befriends Link for listening to his story about the Great Fairy fountain that was said to be hidden in the forest surrounding the village. Once Link helps him find it, Pikango returns the favor ten-fold by helping Link find the locations shown in Zelda's pictographs.
Birds of a Feather: He regards Link as a fellow traveler and for their mutual appreciation of beautiful landscapes, which is why Pikango says he became a painter.
Bold Explorer: Pikango travelled across much of Hyrule in his youth, which is why he's familiar with each of the vistas seen in Zelda's photos.
Cool Old Guy: Despite having already seen much of Hyrule, he still travels the continent in search of new vistas for his paintings. He also helps Link by pointing him toward each location associated with his lost memories.
Convection, Schmonvection: Averted. He uses fireproof elixir to survive on Death Mountain but it doesn’t do jack for his paintings so he can only admire the scenery of the volcano without committing it to a canvas that would immediately burst into flames.
Hero of Another Story: He's quite the traveler, able to go nearly anywhere Link can — even Death Mountain, and is traveled enough to help Link regain his memories.
Meaningful Name:
- Pikango could easily be for "Pic and go", "Pic" being short for "Picture". He's a traveling artist who also gives you hints to where you should go to find memory locations based on the pictures you show him.
- It may also be a play on Pablo Picasso's name, who was a world renowned Spanish painter.
- It could also be related to the pitanga fruit.
Not What It Looks Like: Invoked. When you first meet him at Kakariko Village, he laments that though he just wants to see the beautiful Great Fairy said to reside somewhere nearby, his methods of asking the locals about her (coupled with their paranoia about the Yiga Clan) fueled their existing distrust for him as a stranger, and so now nobody will tell him where she is. You have to find her for him before he will offer you his help.
Stranger in a Familiar Land: He's a Sheikah who grew up in Kakariko Village but spent most of his life wandering Hyrule. By the time he returns to his home village, he is treated as a complete stranger by the locals. Before Create A Champion revealed more of his backstory, many players initially thought he was just an old Hylian who happened to look like a Sheikah because of how the village treats him. However, folk such as Sagessa and Mellie reveal that non-Sheikah are forbidden from wearing their traditional dress, including Hylians.
Terrible Artist: His paintings are hilariously childish. He can’t even manage a decent horse despite three being just a few feet from him. However, as his name is very similar to Picasso's, the childish style may be on purpose.
Took a Shortcut: He will always arrive at certain locations near memory spots before Link. Considering Pikango's introductory sidequest establishes him as having a hard time getting around due to old age, this trope stands out in his case. It's possible he does so using Sheikah magic.

Robbie

Dr. Robbie

"I am the lead Guardian researcher and director of the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab. Doctooooor... Robbie!"

A Sheikah scientist, and one of Purah's colleagues, who's set up home at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab.

For his younger incarnation that appears in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, see here.

Absurdly Elderly Mother: Or rather Father in his case. Robbie was in his 90s when his son was born. While men don't have an equivalent to menopause, it's still very rare.
Aerith and Bob: Among a race with many exotic-sounding names, Robbie sticks out among the Sheikah for having a relatively mundane name.
And Your Reward Is Clothes: When Link fully completes his Hyrule Compendium in Tears of the Kingdom, Robbie will award him the Robbie paraglider fabric.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: As ridiculous as he is, his weapons are top-notch, with some of the best damage output of any weapon class and being able to tear Guardians to shreds. A well-placed shot from one of his arrows is enough to kill a Guardian instantly, and against any other (non-boss) enemy it seemingly sucks them into a black hole, instantly destroying them. According to his diary, he's also quite adept at dispatching hostile Guardians and put down several on the trek to establish his lab. He also makes Link prove his identity by stripping down to his undies to show off his scars. His appearence in Age Of Calamity shows that he was like that even in his youth.
Captain Ersatz: He looks bizarrely similar to Desty Nova, and his personality isn't too far off, either.
Cargo Ship: In-Universe, with an 'ancient oven' that can refine ancient weaponry and armor, and which was initially named after his first love. This bothered his wife Jerrin to the point he downgraded Cherry's abilities (and name) for her sake despite the fact that she initially built the upgrades herself to help him.
Edible Theme Naming: Despite his fairly unassuming name, Robbie follows Sheikah naming tradition; it comes from Strawberry.
Large Ham: He frequently EMPHASIZES certain important words in ALL CAPS as if he were SCREAMING them, and his INTRODUCTION has him shuffle a bit and POSE, with a guitar riff playing in the background. In fact, the first thing we see him do in the "Untold Chronicles from 100 Years Past" trailer is doing such a pose, complete with guitar riff.
Laser Blade: One of the purveyors of such (the others being the various Guardian Scouts in shrines). His Ancient weapons are approximately on par with the Royal Weapons in strength, but the former far exceed the latter in durability. His weapons also do 1.5x damage on all Guardians, and they can be further boosted by the Ancient Proficiency bonus given by his Ancient Armor, applying a 1.8x damage increase.
The Lost Lenore: His original name for the ancient oven was Cherry, after his first love Cheria.
Mad Scientist: Maybe not mad, but he's certainly out there, and specializes in advanced technology. Some travelers even describe him as the trope name verbatim.
May–December Romance: There's at least a 50-year age gap between Robbie and his wife.
Miniature Senior Citizen: Like Impa, he's old but tiny.
My God, What Have I Done?: His reaction when he realized how using "Cherry" as an assistant, in addition to considering her namesake, was hurting his wife by making her feel replaced and unwanted and his motivation behind downgrading the Ancient Oven to its current state as he couldn't stand how he unwittingly caused Jerrin's hard work to cause her pain.
Named After Somebody Famous: His name is a short version of Robin, who was such a big fan of the series that he named his daughter "Zelda" after it.
No Hero Discount: Justified. The Hyrulean government's collapse 100 years ago cut Robbie off from the funding needed for his research, so to get by he needs Link to pay him for ancient weapons along with the materials needed to make them with.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: In Tears of the Kingdom, Robbie manages to navigate through the Depths all on his own right at the beginning of the game when they're a relatively new discovery, making it all the way to the very first Lightroot before deciding to head back.
Older Than They Look: Downplayed. Despite being over a century old and shrunken, he's as spry as a healthy 60-year-old. By contrast, Impa, a fellow veteran of the Calamity, looks as feeble as her age implies.
Reassigned to Antarctica: His lab is located in the deepest corner of Akkala, a wild and remote region. He's not there by choice: He and Purah played rock paper scissors and he lost, leaving him to take over research in the hostile wilderness while Purah stayed in the outskirts of cozy Hateno Village. No longer the case in Tears of The Kingdom; he takes over the Hateno lab after Purah moves her operation to Lookout Landing next to the Castle Town ruins.
Retired Badass: There are lots of destroyed Guardians around his tech lab. He is the reason they are destroyed.
Ultimate Blacksmith: While not a blacksmith per se, Robbie's ancient oven allows him to create ancient weapons and armor for Link, only requiring raw materials (and research funds). This equipment is among the best in the game, especially the Ancient Arrows.
Wacky Parent, Serious Child: With his son Granté, who is much more laid back and awkward than he is, given Robbie's penchant for acting like a wannabe rock star Mad Scientist.

Shrine Monks

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monk_9.jpg

"May the Goddess smile upon you."

Sheikah monks serving the Goddess Hylia, entombed within the various shrines across Hyrule.

Ambiguous Situation: Neither the words "dead" nor "alive" are ever applied to them, leaving it unclear if they're still alive in very deep meditation, or spirits tethered to their dead bodies until they can pass on. This may be deliberate, as real Buddhist monks who practiced sokushinbutsu (self-mummification) are still seen as alive in meditation by their followers, despite scientifically being viewed as long past clinically dead. Maz Koshia makes this even more confusing by standing up and fighting like a master. Is he undead? Still alive and reawakened? A spirit with unique control over his old body? Never clarified.
Age Without Youth: They began their vigils more than 10,000 years before the start of the game and very much show their age.
Arc Symbol: Several of the monks are posed making triangular hand signs in reverence of the Triforce.
Body Horror: They're mummies that have, presumably, been living beneath Hyrule for over 10,000 years.
Creepy Good: They look kind of like dark-skinned; shriveled-up Yodas, but they're there to give Link what he needs in order to complete his quest.
Disappears into Light: When they finish talking with Link, they disperse into motes of ghostly light. Just like the centuries-old Impa did at the end of Skyward Sword.
Eyes Always Shut: The monks with visible faces have closed eyes, emphasizing a meditative state.
Facial Markings: All of them have the Sheikah sigil painted on their foreheads. Many other monks take this further by having a white cloth with the sigil on it draped in front of their faces as well.
Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The Sheikah continue their tradition of Japanese influence, this time resembling a sect of Japanese Buddhist monks who have undergone the Sokushinbutsu ritual to become living mummies in order to attain enlightenment.
Gadgeteer Genius: All of them designed and built the shrines they were entombed in, designing a number of magitek traps and tests.
Master Swordsman: Ta'loh Naeg, the monk of Kakariko Village, is stated to have been a great swordsman before he was enshrined as a mummy. He was also the leader of the Test of Strength Monks. His trial consists of him teaching Link the more advanced aspects of combat through a Guardian Scout (i.e. Perfect Dodge, Flurry Rush, and Parrying). His legacy is still known in Kakariko, as both Steen and Olkin wish to take his trial.
Mummy: They resemble Buddhist mummies that have gone through ritual self-mummification.
The Noseless: They are so desiccated that all that is left of their noses is the nasal aperture.
Nothing but Skin and Bones: They are shriveled to the point where they have no noses and their bones are clearly visible through their skin.
Purpose-Driven Immortality: While it is unclear if they can be considered alive or undead, the monks lasted more than 10,000 years alone in their shrines waiting to fulfill their duty to Hylia in guiding her chosen hero in his time of need. As soon as Link completes their trials, they allow themselves to pass on and their corpse-like bodies fade away into light.
Religion is Magic: In the grand Zelda tradition, the monks' connection and devotion to the gods, in this case, the Goddess Hylia, gives them magical powers.
Significant Anagram: Many of the monks' names are anagrams of the people involved in the making of the game. For example, Oman Au is an anagram of Eiji Aonuma's last name.
Theme Naming: All of the monks have two-part names of some common language, probably as a tradition of their order. While it's not stated, their names seem to be compound rather than a first-name last-name situation, given the general lack of last names in the series and the more religious tone of having one name. The only other Sheikah who has this name format is Nanna in the French version, where she is known as Bah Nahna.
Time Abyss: As revealed in the story, the Sheikah shrines were made during the era when the Guardians and Divine Beasts were made — ten thousand years ago.

Maz Koshia (UNMARKED THE CHAMPIONS' BALLAD SPOILERS!)

Monk Maz Koshia

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mazkoshia.jpg

"In the name of the goddess Hylia... I offer this final trial!"

A powerful Sheikah monk who was entombed within the Final Trial. After giving Link a series of trials across Hyrule, he personally tests Link's mettle in a final duel to test if he is worthy of the Master Cycle Zero.

The Ace: All the Sheikah monks are extremely impressive, as they manage to continue meditating and retain the ability of telepathic speech even 10,000 years into the present day. But Maz Koshia is the only one who's so strong he can still use his physical body and even fight with it. Furthermore, while all the other monks hold on just long enough to give Link a Spirit Orb before passing on, Maz Koshia sticks around to meditate even after fighting Link at full power and has enough strength left to rematch him whenever he wants. He's what you get when you combine the full range of mystical abilities one develops through 10,000 years of meditation with a body so strong that it can still use them after all that time.
Bait-and-Switch: When you reach him at the end of the Final Trial, he gives the typical shrine monk spiel congratulating you for reaching the end goal. But when it gets to the part where he says "In the name of the Goddess Hylia," his fingers start twitching, he stands up, and he says he has one final test to offer before teleporting you both to an arena above the Great Plateau.
Boss-Altering Consequence: If you drop a Mighty Banana while fighting him, he will become distracted and temporarily stop fighting to eat it. This will only work once per battle, though.
Bow and Sword in Accord: He uses both a Phrenic Bow with the Fire, Ice, and Shock Arrows and a Guardian Sword++.
Cool Old Guy: He's devoted to his cause, will rematch Link whenever he wants, and even takes time to enjoy some bananas during their fight if Link brings them. He's also faster and more magically gifted than Link himself, not to mention able to cross blades with him. This is in spite of Maz Koshia's body being totally emaciated and likely physically dead while Link is still physically 17.
Delicious Distraction: If Link drops Mighty Bananas on the ground, he will stop everything and go straight for them, hinting at where the Yiga's love came from. However, It Only Works Once.
Dishing Out Dirt: He can use the same spell the Yiga Blademasters use, conjuring a fissure of the earth to attack Link. These ones are larger, and can only be escaped by riding the updraft they create.
Doppelgänger Attack: The second phase of his fight has him conjure up a large number of shadow clones to attack and distract you. While a Maz Koshia may break off to snipe you from above the rest of the group, it isn't even guaranteed to be the real one. The Camera rune will show which one is real, but surrounded by enemies, it's not the safest thing to use.
Eye Beams: A variant. The cloth that covers his face has the Eye of Truth symbol of the Sheikah on it, and he can use a spell to fire a laser from it like a Guardian.
Extra-ore-dinary: The third phase of his boss fight involves firing balls of spiked metal at Link.
Final-Exam Boss: He takes several elements from other battles in the game such as the Yiga Footsoldiers, Yiga Blademasters, Thunderblight Ganon, Master Kohga, Hinox, and the Guardians.
Finger-Twitching Revival: Downplayed as he was always alive, but by the time you meet him the average player would not expect a monk to be moving at all before disappearing into light. Maz Koshia is the first monk Link sees in the game to actually move in front of him, and he breaks his meditation stance by moving his fingers first.
Flash Step: One of his attacks in his first stage is this, moving so fast that the air blurs and he leaves afterimages before striking within a second of moving. Frankly, the only reason the player has enough time to react to this is that he doesn't dash straight toward you, instead dashing to two other spots while closing the distance before striking.
Giant Foot of Stomping: For the final phase of his boss fight, he will do this to Link as one of his primary attacks while tossing regular-size clones at him.
Go for the Eye: In addition to successfully countering his attacks during his giant phase, hitting the eye on his face veil three times can also stun him and bring him down to the ground.
Good Counterpart: There are parallels between Maz Koshia and Master Kohga. The two have similar names, both have face coverings that leave their eye symbols as the only "face" they present, each uses spiked balls in their attacks, and while each subverts expectations, they do so in opposite ways. Kohga is built up as a tremendous threat but turns out to be a comical joke and a very easy boss, while Maz Koshia presents himself as a humble monk like all the rest before turning out to be the trickiest boss in the game. Maz Koshia also serves as a counterpart to the general Yiga forces, being an agile Sheikah warrior with (among other things) the teleportation, archery, and earth mastery of Yiga Footsoldiers and Blademasters. Of course, the Yiga only have these techniques because they were devised by the Sheikah they used to be a part of, and Maz Koshia may well be one of the first to use them. In short, compared to the Yiga Clan and Master Kohga, he's the real deal.
Hand Seals: Maz Koshia does hand signs as a Magical Gesture to cast his spells.
Hoist by His Own Petard: His two metal ball attacks during the giant phase echo previous bosses, backfires included. One will have him tossing spiked balls at you before electrifying them, but you can use Magnesis to hold one up to him, and he'll end up shocking himself, like Thunderblight Ganon and his metal rods. His other attack has him rolling spiked balls across the arena as he tilts it around, but grabbing one with Magnesis and beating him with it a few times can stun him, much like Master Kohga's fight.
I Choose to Stay: He is the only monk in the game that doesn't pass on after his duty is fulfilled, seeing fit to remain in meditation under the Shrine of Resurrection. In addition, speaking to him after finishing his trial will have him accept another battle with you, as many times as you like.
It Only Works Once: Like the Yiga Clan enemies, he can be distracted by dropping Mighty Bananas onto the arena. Unlike the Yiga Clan, however, this only works the first time you drop the bananas; try it a second time, and he'll ignore them.
Kung-Fu Wizard: He is accomplished in both martial techniques and sorcery, as well as being a master of Sheikah technology.
Laser Blade: He wields a Guardian Sword++ in Reverse Grip at the beginning of the fight.
Leitmotif: His battle theme is based around the background of the Shrine Battle theme used for Guardian Scouts.
Levitating Lotus Position: He does this to move around for the third phase of his boss fight, and briefly does so to clone himself before the second phase.
Me's a Crowd: In the second phase of his fight, he will begin to conjure copies of himself to fight you, forcing you to find the real one to damage him.
Not Quite Flight: In addition to his regular floating, if led off the battle platform he will walk on the air as if there is an invisible surface beneath his feet.
Not So Above It All: He is as vigilant as any of the other monks, but he will still get distracted if you drop bananas, eating them gleefully.
Old Master: He's an ancient Sheikah Monk who built the Shrine guarding the Divine Beast: Master Cycle Zero. He also has access to a huge number of abilities including swordplay, laser beams, gigantification, duplication and steel orb projectiles. In the case of the orbs, it's actually a version of Master Kohga's attack from the Yiga Clan, implying Maz Koshia or his fellow Sheikah are actually the progenitors of the technique. And of course, Maz Koshia himself is far older than any of the characters in the game, explaining his intense mastery of his techniques.
Optional Boss: He is the final challenge of "The Champions' Ballad" DLC scenario. You are likely quite powerful by the time you fight him, and once the fight starts, you're given back the upgraded Champion powers you got before his dungeon...and he's still the hardest boss in the game.
Paper Talisman: His teleportation has the same visual effect as that used by the Yiga, emblazoned with the eye symbol. However, since the two factions' symbols are the same but inverted, the talismans work for both — Maz Koshia's can just be seen as oriented the other way.
Power Glows: The Sheikah eye symbol on his face mask glows orange to signify how powerful he is, and goes out whenever he's stunned.
Religious Bruiser: He is an ancient mummified Sheikah monk dedicated to serving Hylia, but he is also a powerful warrior, able to reanimate with full strength centuries after his mummification.
Shock and Awe: He will use electric magic in several phases of his fight, including Shock Arrows and electrified spike balls.
Sizeshifter: In the final phase of his fight, he will use his powers to grow to a tremendous size.
Smoke Out: Like the Yiga Clan members, he can vanish in a puff of smoke and Paper Talismans. Of course, it was a Sheikah technique first.
Suddenly Voiced: All of the Sheikah monks' speech was vocalized by ethereal moaning from the beyond, signifying their spirits being greater than their bodies, Maz Koshia included. However, when he re-animates and starts to fight, he grunts and groans and the voice is clearly coming from his body.
Superboss: He's an entirely optional encounter found at the end of a lengthy sidequest added in a DLC, and is far and away the strongest and hardest boss in the game.
Supernatural Floating Hair: As a signifier of his immense power and to emphasize the stark contrast of his motion vs. the 143 other monks' perfect stillness, his hair gently undulates.
Trademark Favorite Food: Like the Yiga, he loves Mighty Bananas, and Link can distract him by dropping them onto the battlefield. According to Word of God, this is a trait that the Sheikah clan had ten thousand years ago.
Walking Spoiler: Up until he stands up in his chamber and challenges Link to a duel, you are led to believe he is simply your Mission Control through "The Champions' Ballad" quest and will reward you just for reaching him like every other Shrine Monk.
Warrior Monk: He is a very powerful fighter, and unlike the other shrine monks, he challenges Link to single combat to test his worthiness. His fight's difficulty surpasses the Final Boss itself, and he oversees the strongest Divine Beast's ownership.
Weaksauce Weakness: His cloning technique can be countered by simply taking out the camera rune and seeing which copy registers.
What Happened to the Mouse?: In Tears of the Kingdom, the Shrine of Resurrection is gutted to the cave walls and his Shrine underneath is completely gone, without any information of what happened to him.
Worf Had the Flu: By the time he fights you, he's been meditating for 10,000 years straight, so like the other monks, his body has withered away. While one would expect him to have significant magical abilities after so much meditation, the fact he can physically outpace Link even with his worn-out body might imply that he was even stronger in his youth.

Kass's Teacher (UNMARKED SPOILERS!)

Unidentified Sheikah Poet

An unnamed Sheikah man who was a courtier around Zelda's age when the Great Calamity struck. He was in love with the Princess, but she only had eyes for Link, making the young Sheikah very jealous of the Hylian Champion. But Link's Heroic Sacrifice in defense of Zelda led to a change in attitude, and the Sheikah man spent the post-Calamity period collecting various songs about the previous hero from ten thousand years ago to help Link once the latter emerged from the Shrine of Resurrection. He managed to teach these songs to Kass before passing away.

The Atoner: In order to make up for the jealous attitude he held toward Link, he spent the rest of his life researching important songs about the Hero of Hyrule so that they could be of use to the latter. Furthermore, in "The Champions' Ballad", he had Kass pass on a photo he held of the Champions that he undoubtedly knew would have sentimental value for Link, showing that he truly wanted to bury the hatchet with the Hylian Champion.
Blue Blood: On account of him being a courtier. Indeed, a major reason he was so intensely jealous of Link was that the latter was neither nobility nor royalty.
Expy: His role closely mirrors that of Osfala from A Link Between Worlds. Both were haughty young men of high standing who disdained Link and were in love with Zelda but ultimately acknowledged that Link would be the one to win out in the end.
The Ghost: By virtue of being dead since before the game begins, we never see what he looks like. However, Kass mentions he saw Link give his life for Zelda, suggesting he was one of the two Sheikahs who appeared in Link's final memory.
Graceful Loser: Ultimately becomes this in relation to Link following the Great Calamity.
Green-Eyed Monster: He was intensely jealous of Link due to the latter being Zelda's sole object of affection. He got over this following the Great Calamity.
Hopeless Suitor: Though he knew Princess Zelda wouldn't return his affections, he still fell in love with her.
Interspecies Friendship: With the Rito musician Kass.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He was so impressed with the reports of Link's last desperate fight to protect Zelda that he finally realized that the Hylian was the better man for the Princess. He thus collects the songs for Link's future use knowing that it would be the last, best hope for rescuing Zelda from Calamity Ganon.
No Name Given: We never learn his name.
Posthumous Character: The first little bit of information we get about him is that he is Kass's late mentor.
Small Role, Big Impact: The bulk of story about him comes from Kass's final bit of exposition, but it manages to clarify a lot about the relationship between Link and Zelda.
Unknown Rival: He saw Link as competition for Zelda's affections, but Link has no memory of him and is never shown interacting with him in any flashbacks.
Unrequited Love: He had feelings for Zelda, but she was only interested in Link.

Josha

Voiced by: Maya Aoki Tuttle (English)

Purah's assistant at the Lookout Landing, a Child Prodigy who leads researches on the Depths and the relics and statues found within.

Bespectacled Cutie: A cute, eager young girl who wears glasses similar to Purah's.
Child Prodigy: Despite her young age, she's already in charge of leading research on the Depths of Hyrule.
Fangirl: She idolizes Purah, to the point that she took on some of her mannerisms.
Irony: Although she leads all research on the Depths, she's disappointed to know that she's simply too young to go into the hellhole under Hyrule.
The Nicknamer: She almost never refers to anyone by their actual name. To wit, she calls Link "Swordsman", Robbie "Goggles", and Purah "Doc".

Characters / The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Hylians and Sheikah

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Hylians

The Hylians

In the wild

King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule

The Queen of Hyrule

Queen Sonia

Stable Association

The Stable Trotters

Beedle

Kilton

Koltin

Traysi

Mina and Mils

Nat & Meghyn

Hino

Magda

Loone

Bozai

Moza

Ghost Soldiers

Zonai Survey Team

Tauro

Calip

Brigo

Hateno Village

Mayor Reede

Sophie

Cece

Hateno School

Sheikah

The Sheikah Tribe

Impa

Dr. Purah

Symin

Paya

Cado

Dorian

Koko & Cottla

Pikango

Dr. Robbie

Shrine Monks

Monk Maz Koshia

Unidentified Sheikah Poet

Josha

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