"Even in darkness, the light can be found. / It has never shone brighter than when you're around."
— Princess Zelda
Open your eyes, Zelda.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released in 2017, and yet everybody wondered what might have gone on a hundred years before the events of the game. A potential source of answers reared its head with the announcement of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, but—Plot Twist—that didn't give us the backstory we so desperately wanted.
This is where "Songs From The Wild: A Hyrulean Song Cycle" comes in. A one-act piece centered around the untold story of Link, Princess Zelda and the Champions, this song cycle offers a new perspective on the story we all thought we knew.
Songs From The Wild contains examples of:
- Adaptation Distillation: To condense the story down to a one-act piece, and simplify it so as to be understandable to audiences unfamiliar with the game, numerous story beats had to be reworked or removed entirely.
- The Yiga Clan are removed from the story entirely. In the original game, Zelda changes her mind about Link when he saves her from an attack at Kara Kara Bazaar; instead, Mipha sings to her in Zora's Domain about how complicated growing up can be.
- The Shrines are removed from the story. Although the "Stop following me!" scene is still included, Zelda instead attempts to access Vah Medoh with the Sheikah Slate, and is frustrated when it denies her, not being the Rito Champion.
- Counterpoint Duet: "She" is such a song between Princess Zelda and Urbosa. The Gerudo tells Zelda about how inspiring she found the late Queen, while Zelda admits how lost she feels without her guidance.
- Dark Reprise:
- Princess Zelda's big song in the first half, "Still Waiting", gets a reprise as she pleads with the Goddess Hylia to awaken her innate sealing power.
- Sadder still, the show's opening song gets a reprise as Calamity Ganon has left Hyrule ruined, the Champions and King all gone, and Zelda is left lamenting the way she handled the situation.
- The Eleven O'Clock Number: "Fallen (Reprise)". With Calamity Ganon having succeeded his takeover of the Guardians and Divine Beasts, the Champions and King have fallen. Zelda laments how she ran out of time, waiting for the Goddess' sealing powers to be granted to her.
- Greek Chorus: Two major examples.
- Most directly, Kass addresses the audience for the majority of the show, with the Bard chiming in every so often (such as during the opening number).
- During the songs "Knight Annointed" and "Calamity Awakens", the Champions take charge of the narration.
- "I Am Great!" Song: While the other Champions use their big numbers to comfort or advise Princess Zelda, Revali begins his by singing his own praises (literally, singing), before mocking the decision to make Link Hyrule's hero for its remainder.
- "I Want" Song: We meet Princess Zelda for the first time singing "Still Waiting", a song which takes place as Zelda leaves her study and walks to her throne room to meet with her father, while she wishes he would stop closing himself off from her, following the death of the Queen a decade prior.
- Opening Chorus: The show is set one hundred years after the Great Calamity, a little before the opening of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. As such, we open on a group of bards, attempting to raise the Kingdom's morale by sharing stories of heroes gone by, in the hope that one will save them from their own plight—Foreshadowing for the game's events.
- Parental Love Song:
- The song "She" features Zelda singing initially about her mother, before echoing a refrain of "Still Waiting" as she pleads to her mother for guidance.
- In a way, the songs "Still Waiting" and "Focus" can be seen as these. Similar in their structures, progressions and refrains, the first depicts Zelda as she asks for the her father, King Rhoam, to stop shutting her out and let them be a family again. In contrast, "Focus" depicts the King as he scolds his daughter out of a place of misguided love, instructing her to do as he says to ensure their safety.
- Tenor Boy: Averted. As the show's songwriter is a countertenor, and the singing cast is largely female, the score is written primarily for altos. Revali is written as a countertenor, while Daruk and King Rhoam are written for either Baritones or Basses.
- The Song Before the Storm: "What Happens Then?" is a largely acoustic song sung by the Champions, quelling Princess Zelda's fears regarding her potential failure to awaken her powers atop Mt. Lanayru. In actual fact, her failure the next day is the reason for the Champions' deaths and the collapse of Hyrule.
