| “ | *BONG!* | „ |
| ~ The Guardians upon seeing an enemy. |
| “ | The Sheikah of ancient Hyrule developed this as a weapon to combat Calamity Ganon. Its six legs give it extraordinary mobility compared to most current vehicles, and its powerful laser provides far greater offensive capability than conventional weaponry. | „ |
| ~ The Hyrule Compendium entry on Guardian Stalkers. |
The Guardians are major antagonists in the 2017 action-adventure game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its 2020 hack-and-slash spin-off Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
They are a series of combat robots that were developed by the Sheikah Tribe in Hyrule's ancient past to help defend the kingdom against Calamity Ganon. However, upon Calamity Ganon's reawakening 10,000 years later, the demon hijacked and possessed the Guardians, causing them to turn against their masters and lay waste to the people of Hyrule. After Princess Zelda seals herself and Calamity Ganon within Hyrule Castle, the Guardians continue to roam the land, eliminating anything that isn't a demon or monster that dare cross their paths.
History[]
Era of Prosperity[]
10,000 years before the Great Calamity, the Guardians were constructed by the Sheikah after they learned of Calamity Ganon's imminent rise to power. The Guardians were stationed around various towns and fortresses across the land to ward off the Calamity and its army of monsters. With the help of the Ancient Hero and the original Champions of Hyrule, Calamity Ganon was subdued and sealed away, leading to an age of peace.
Afterwards, the King of Hyrule and the Hylians grew paranoid and fearful of the Sheikah's technology. The king ordered that all the Sheikah tech be either destroyed or buried underground. Most Sheikah obeyed and continued to coexist with the Hylians, resulting in the Guardians being sealed underground and forgotten about over time. However, some Sheikah rebelled, believing that their technological advances should not be stifled due to fear of the future. These rebellious Sheikah were banished, causing them to swear loyalty to Calamity Ganon and form the terroristic Yiga Clan.
The Great Calamity[]
| “ | Ganon was cunning, and he responded with a plan beyond our imagining. He appeared from deep below Hyrule Castle, seized control of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, and turned them against us. | „ |
| ~ King Rhoam describing the Guardians' corruption. |
10,000 years later, a fortune teller predicts the return of Calamity Ganon. Seeking to avert the Calamity, King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule forms the new Champions of Hyrule and orders the excavation of all Sheikah technology, including the Guardians.
Rhoam's daughter, Princess Zelda, develops a fascination with Guardians from a young age, and even manages to construct her own, smaller variant named Terrako. Despite the king taking Terrako away from her to force her to focus on awakening her powers, Zelda continues to study the Guardians and Sheikah technology well into her teenage years.
Approaching her seventeenth birthday, Zelda befriends her bodyguard and leader of the Champions, Link, who covertly aids in her research. One day, while studying the Guardians with Link, Zelda is confronted by the furious King Rhoam, who shames her for wasting time with scientific research forbids her from interacting with the Guardians.
On her birthday, Calamity Ganon emerges from the seal. The Guardians are activated and the Champions go to pilot their Divine Beasts (massive, mechanical animals built by the Sheikah). However, having learned from his initial failure, Calamity Ganon proceeds to corrupt and possess all the Sheikah technology in Hyrule, resulting in the Blight Ganons forming within the Divine Beasts and killing off all of the Champions except Link.
The Guardians, now possessed by the Calamity's malice, turn on the Hylians and Sheikah and proceed to rampage across Hyrule. They massacre various settlements, starting with Castle Town and carving a path of death and destruction all the way to eastern portion of Hyrule. Many of the Hyrulean forces retreat to Akkala Citadel, the kingdom's strongest fortress built as a tower within a cliffside. Despite their efforts, however, the Guardians manage crawl up the Citadel and reach the top, killing any soldiers in their path. Upon breaking into the Citadel's walls, the Guardians proceed to slaughter everyone inside.
The last remnants of Hyrule's military gather at Fort Hateno, a strategically useless location. However, it sits directly outside the peaceful Hateno Village, the last settlement that has not been invaded. The soldiers, along with the townspeople, spend the entire night battling against the Guardians as wave after wave attempt to breach and crawl over the fortress. In a stroke of fate, the injured Link and Zelda happen to end up right outside the fortress, where the Guardians turn their attention to them. Link manages to destroy a large amount of Guardians, but a combination of their fatally powerful blasts and exhaustion from battling and fleeing for hours on end causes him to succumb to his injuries and collapse. As the Guardians approach to finish him off, Zelda awakens the powers of Hylia and unleashes a massive beam of light, destroying all of the Guardians in the area and saving both Link and Hateno Village.
Zelda, at the behest of Fi, delivers a dying Link to the Shrine of Resurrection to heal his wounds. She then heads off to Hyrule Castle, where she uses her power to seal herself and Calamity Ganon within the castle's sanctum until the hero reawakens to save the land. Despite Ganon's entrapment, the remaining Guardians continue the roam the land (particularly in Hyrule Field), killing any travelers who cross their path.
Breath of the Wild[]
100 years later, a healed, yet amnesiac Link awakens and is tasked by an old man with activating Hyrule's Sheikah Towers from a control panel on the Great Plateau. He is then tasked with learning Sheikah Runes from Shrines across the Plateau. On his way to the Ja Baij Shrine, Link is likely to encounter a Decayed Guardian, which activates and attempts to kill him.
After discovering that the old man is the ghost of King Rhoam and being gifted the Paraglider, Link leaves the Great Plateau and sets out on his adventure to save Hyrule and defeat Calamity Ganon. Along the way, he finds that many Shrines and the Divine Beasts are now infested with Guardian Scouts. Likewise, the Forgotten Temple is filled with Decayed Guardians and Guardian Turrets, Central Hyrule and the Akkala region are crawling with Guardian Stalkers and Skywatchers, and Hyrule Castle is being guarded by every type of Guardian simultaneously. As Link becomes more powerful, he can use Ancient parts to create weapons that will allow him to kill the Guardians with greater ease; Ancient Arrows in particular can instantly destroy Guardians with a shot directly to the eye.
After defeating Calamity Ganon at the end of the game, the Guardians are deactivated, ending their reign of terror across the land.
Tears of the Kingdom[]
Several years after the events of Breath of the Wild, the Guardians, along with most other Ancient Sheikah technology, are nowhere to be found; the only Guardian remaining is a deactivated husk on top of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. However, there are some subtle hints that the Guardians' parts may have been destroyed and salvaged for some of Purah's experiments. In particular, the robotic arms that grab hold of Link in Purah's Skyview Towers look identical to Guardian arms, which causes Link to visibly panic upon seeing them for the first time.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity[]
During the Great Calamity, Terrako is awoken. Terrako opens a portal through time too before the Calamity began, but is followed through by a fragment of Calamity Ganon, creating an alternate timeline. The fragment of Ganon then possesses this timeline's version of Terrako, creating Harbinger Ganon.
Harbinger Ganon is discovered by a cult worshipping Ganon. The Harbinger shows them visions of the future, including Hyrule's devastation at Ganon's hands. The cult begins performing rituals with the Harbinger, believing that it will allow them to become powerful prophets. However, during one such ritual, the Harbinger begins to agonizingly feast on the souls of all the cultists until one remains. The survivor, Astor, takes the Harbinger with him and manages to strike a deal with the Yiga Clan by using the visions provided to him by the Harbinger to feed them battle strategies.
Terrako is eventually discovered by Link (then just a normal, albeit skilled knight) and begins tagging alongside him as a sidekick. Robbie and Purah discover that Terrako is from the future and begin trying to restore its data. Throughout the game, Link, Impa, and Zelda— the latter of whom does not remember Terrako— use the small Guardian to regain control of any deactivated Guardians and aid them in battle.
When the Great Calamity begins, Calamity Ganon possesses all of the Guardians except Terrako and turns them against their masters, much like in the main timeline. However, the Harbinger's presence and Astor's dark magic amplify Calamity Ganon's power, allowing for elemental variants— Fire, Ice, and Lightning— of the Guardians to take shape, along with much stronger, pure Malice-born versions, and lay waste to Central Hyrule. All the while, Astor betrays the Yiga Clan and sacrifices many of their souls to the Harbinger, causing its power to grow. Nevertheless, Terrako summons the future Champions to turn the tides in the heroes' favor.
At the end of the game, as Link, Zelda, and Terrako storm Hyrule Castle and Zelda finds herself remembering Terrako before King Rhoam took it from her, the Harbinger possesses Terrako and turns it against them, forcing a reluctant Link to destroy it. As they reach the top of the castle, an enraged Astor orders the Harbinger to consume Link and Zelda, along with every one else standing against him; in response, the Harbinger simply consumes Astor instead, allowing it to fully regain its power and merge with its past self, becoming the true avatar of Calamity Ganon.
Together, Link and Zelda defeat Calamity Ganon, turning the Guardians back to normal and averting the Great Calamity. In the post-game, the duo, along with their friends, gather parts across Hyrule and manage to rebuild Terrako.
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 Villains
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The Demon King's Army Palace Guardians Koholint Island Termina World of the Ocean King Hytopia Yiga Clan Tecuums Other Foes Hyrule Warriors Cadence of Hyrule Manga Ganon's Army (CD-I) |