Moments pages are Spoilers Off. Read at your own risk!
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1 - Sixteen
- The moment where Impa surprises Zelda with a small birthday cake is heartwarming enough to induce some tears. The gifts that her father give her also induce some teary nostalgia in Zelda because one of them is an artifact that reminds her of her mother.
- Throughout the chapter, there's a heavy undertone of Zelda's lingering hopelessness that was made clear in the flashbacks in Breath of the Wild. At one point, Impa tries and fails to lift her spirits.
- The fact that on Zelda's sixteenth birthday, a horde of monsters attacks the castle. Especially because we already know what's going to happen on her next birthday...
- When Zelda conjures her powers and they're very weak, it's mentioned how she outright hates herself for failing. She even apologizes to her mother for it.
2 - Battle of Hyrule Field
- At one point, a redshirt army is attacked by a Moblin, killing several of them. They're saved by King Rhoam, but it's too late for several of them. Another soldier tries to get his friend on his feet...only for his head to just twist around at an unnatural angle. There's a moment spent with him grieving over his dead friend, with other soldiers comforting him. The dead guy's name is Nyllo.
- The descriptions of the violence are both disturbing and sad, as there are a lot of children among the dead. Some of the parents try to shield their kids' eyes from all this as they try to flee the devastation. And there are plenty of children who were separated from their families, left all alone.
- During the battle, Zelda is left behind in the castle, helpless to do anything. She looks to the sky and quietly begs her mother to just help her understand what she's doing wrong.
- When everyone retires for the night, Zelda writes in her diary. She mentions that this was her first birthday that she felt had meaning...since many of her prior birthdays were grandiose political gatherings. She also mentions that her childhood memories are all clouded by her desperation to succeed in her lifelong mission to unlock her powers. It's sad to see someone lose their childhood to things that adults struggle with.
- Even sadder is that her last line says, "I don't know what I'll do if it's all for nothing." We already know how it ends...
- The last scene is just as nightmarish as it is sad. It's an adaptation of the game cutscene where Harbinger Ganon kills everyone in Astor's cult except for him. Astor is made even more monstrous because some of the members are his family. His brother, his wife, his daughter, all of whom are killed by having their souls ripped out. What makes it worse is that all of them beg Astor to spare them, but he doesn't, and kills them one by one until only his daughter remains alive. She desperately pleads for her daddy not to kill her but he does so anyway, seduced by the power of Calamity Ganon.
3 - Road to the Ancient Tech Lab
- The chapter has a serious Downer Beginning with Hyrule Field dealing with the fallout of the invasion. People are dead, listed at 55, but likely to increase. Bani in fact is going around trying to at least take the names of the dead. Even worse is that most of the deaths were those of civilians.
- The White-Maned Lynel's fate is rather cruel. Link, Hestu, and Bani ambush it, but they stop when it flees them. It heals itself, only to then be killed by Sooga.
- Tyria brought her son on the trip to the Ancient Tech Lab. When things go awry with the rogue Guardian, the poor boy is left in complete and utter terror, and his mother is left terrified for her boy.
- Sooga and Kolana at the end of the chapter express an oddly somber and empathetic attitude towards Zelda's mother. Sooga implies that they were the ones who killed her, and that they're not happy about that fact.
4 - Eccentric Geniuses
- The deaths of the original Sheikah archaeology team that was supposed to meet them. The manner of deaths are disturbing, but even though only one of them gets a name posthumously, their deaths are still treated as tragic and the group takes steps to ensure that the Sheikah team are brought home from the labyrinth to be properly laid to rest.
5 - Cult of Demise
- King Rhoam has a moment where he speaks to his fallen wife, wondering if he is doing anything right, and admitting he's lost without her.
- The deaths of the Sheikah researchers in Lomei Labyrinth Island is enough that even the genki Hestu is saddened, and it's especially sad to see him have to
6 - Zora Wellspring
- The Lightning Lynel's ultimate fate is incredibly tragic and cruel, dying a horrible death that was completely undeserved.
- Master Kohga's fate is horrendous just the same. He's trapped in his own body, controlled by the much more sadistic and malicious Astor, unable to scream to his loyal lackeys for any help.
- King Dorephan's comments about not wanting Mipha to pilot Ruta because of the danger is just a massive Gut Punch to readers, because readers know that he's right about the danger. His worries aren't just reasonable, they will come to fruition.
- Muzu appears as well in his younger years, and even he comments that he can't lose her.
7 - Gerudo Tempest
- The Yiga really do care about each other, enough that when two footsoldiers are sent in as Cannon Fodder, it's enough to horrify Sooga and Kolana and to get Master Kohga to fight back against his Demonic Possession. It says a lot that what was an awesome fight scene from Zelda and Urbosa's perspective is rather sad and forlorn from the Yiga Clan, and the fact that Urbosa let them live is a bit of relief.
- Urbosa's quiet statement to her unborn baby where she says she's looking forward to the day her baby learns to control the family's power over lightning is sweet on the surface. And then you remember that Urbosa is killed by the Calamity when her baby is still an infant, and she'll never get to see that milestone.
