Legend of Zelda Creating a Champion

THE LEGEND 0F

c PION

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MASTER WORKS CREATING A CHAMPION

Publisher Revisions Publisher
TAKASHIYAMAMORI DAISAKU SATO MIKE RICHARDSON

Editor in Chief Editing Collaborators Editor
KAZUYASAKAl KIMIKO KANMURI PATRICK THORPE
HARUE KANMURI
Editors MASATO FURUYA Fact Checking
MIKA KAN MURI IAN FLYNN
YUKARITASAI Supervision and Collaboration DAVID OXFORD
NINTENDO CO., LTD.
Writers Designer & Digital Art Tecl111ician
NAOYUKIKAYAMA Design CARY GRAZZINI
YUUKI FUMOTO (FREE\VAY LTD.)
KI KAI KATSUYUKIMURAMASTU (FREE\VAY LTD.) Cover Illustration
AKINORISAO TAKUMIWADA
CH ISATO MI KAME SH OMA SAITO (FREE\VAY LTD.)
HAYA Kl SAITO (FREE\VAY LTD.) Cover Design
Map Creation AYUMI HONDA (FREE\VAY LTD.) CARYGRAZZINI
TAKASHI OKAZAWA TOMOMI YAE (FREE\VAY LTD.)

Photographer Art Director
SHOJI NAKAMICHI SHI ON SAITOU (FREEWAY LTD.)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild-Master Works was published by Ambit Ltd. First edition: December 2017.

Special thanks to Eiji Aonuma, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Satoru Takizawa, Takumi Wada,
Rich Amtower, Audrey Drake, MelenaJankanish, Dave Marshall, Nick McWhorter, Michael Gombos,

Vanessa Todd-Holmes, Sarah Terry, David Nestelle, and Annie Gullion.

President and P11blisher Mike Richardson· Exec11tive VicePresident Neil Hankerson · Cl,;ef Fina11cial Officer Tom weddle- Vice President ofP11blis/1i11g Randy Stradley· Chief B11si11ess Development Officer Nick McWhorter
Vice Preside11t of Marketi11g Matt Parkinson· Vice Preside11t of Informatio11 Tedmology Dale LaFountain · Vice President ofProd11ctio11 and Scl,ed11/i11g Cara Niece· Vice President of Book Trade a11d Digital Sales Mark Bernardi
General Counsel Ken Lizzi · Editor in Chief Dave Marshall · Editorial Director Davey Estrada · Senior Books Editor Chris Warner · Director of Specialty Projects Car)' Grazz!nt · Art Director Lia Ribacchi
Director of Print P11rchasi11g Vanessa Todd-Holmes · Director of Digital Art a11d Prepress Matt Dryer· Director of International PublisMng and Licensing Michael Gombos · Director of C11stom Programs Kari Yadro

'Ihe Legend ofZelda© 1986 Nintendo
Tlie Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time© 1998 Nintendo
11,e Legend oj Zelda: Skyward Sword© 2011 Nintendo
Tlie Legend ofZelda: Tl,c Wind Waker HD© 2002-2013 Nintendo
Tire Legend of Zelda: Majora'sMask 3D © 2000-2015 Nintendo
11,e Legend ofZelda: liviliglrtPl'incess HD© 2006-2016 Nintendo
1/,eLegend of Zelda: Breath of tire Wild© 2017 Nintendo

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: BREATH OF THE WILD-CREATING A CHAMPION

The Legend of Zelda~© 1986-2018 Nintendo.© Ambit 2017. All rights reserved. Dark Horse Books" and the Dark Horse logo are registered trademarks of
Dark Horse Comics, Inc. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in an)' form or by an)' means, without the express written

permission of Dark Horse Comics, Inc. Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication either are the product of the author's imagination
or a re used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons {living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric intent, is coincidental.

Published by Dark Horse Books
A division of Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

10956 SE Main Street
Milwaukie, OR 97222

Dark Horse.corn

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

International Licensing: (503) 905-2377

First English edition: November2018
ISBN 978-1-50671-010-S

Hero's edition: November 2018
ISBN 978-1-50671-011-2

Champions' edition: November2018
ISBN 978-1-50671-114-0

Digital edition: November20l8
ISBN 978· 1·50671-018-1

THE LEGEND 0F

REATH°FTHE ILD

CREATING A CHAMPION

Translation Partner
ULATUS
Translator

KEATON C. WHITE
Reviewer

SHINICHIRO TANAKA

All concept illustrations that originally
contained handwritten notes in Japanese have been

translated into English for this book.

DARK HORSE BOOKS

ILLUSTRATIONS

Key Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Character Art 40

DEVELOPMENT

Link 59

Princess Zelda 67

Ganon 75

The Champions 83

The Hylians 93

The Sheikah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

The Zora 111

The Gorons 119

The Rito 125

The Gerudo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Spirits of the Land 141

Monsters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Creatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Weapons & Shields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Armor & Clothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Parts, Ingredients & Ore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Sheikah Relics 203

Central Hyrule 221

Necluda 257

Lanayru 273

Akkala 285

Eldin 293

Hebra 305

Gerudo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

Faron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Notable Locales 337

The Champions' Ballad 347

HISTORY 358
360
History Written on the Geography of Hyrule 366
The History ofHyrule: Chronology & Events 372
10,000 Years Ago: Lore 380
About 100 Years Ago: Preparing for Calamity 390
The Great Calamity: Downfall 412
The Present: Resurrection of the Hero
Ruins from Times Unknown: Mysteries ofHyrule

BACK TO OUR ROOTS: 416
418
BUILDING THE WORLD OF BREATH OF THE WILD 420
422
Hidemaro Fujibayashi
Satoru Takizawa
Takumi Wada
E1J1 Aonuma













DEVELSPER's NeTE

Initially, I was considering a composition that was inspired
by the box art illustration for the original Legend ofZelda on
the Famicom in addition to Link climbing a cliff, because,
when I first played Breath of the Wild, it felt to me that it
shared a similar essence with the original.

Ultimately, we decided to showcase how new and
different this ga1ne was from what came before, and so we
did not use the original Legend of Zelda composition for
the E3 illustration. I ended up using the homage idea for
an official Twitter illustration (page 35).

ILLUSTRATOR: TAKUJ\fl WADA

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When I drew the official box art and E3
illustration, I wanted to give the sense
that Link was confronting the world.

My first sketch portrayed Link
looking out over Hyrule with bis back
to the viewer. I then experimented
with several other compositions that
more prominently featured Link, but
eventually settled on the direction of my
initial idea. I felt that the world itself, not
just the characters, had a leading role in
this game.

I also wanted to convey that this was
the beginning of a new Zelda, so I drew
the sky at daybreak.

ILLUSTRATOR: TAKUJ\11 WAl>A



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DEVEL0PER's NeTE that a new Zelda was coming out, so I paired him with the iconic
original Link for reference.
Since the Weekly Famitsu artwork would be seen in places like
convenience stores and bookstores by people who might not be To celebrate the launch of the title, I didn't want the focus to be
familiar with video games, I was concerned that an image of Link on the size difference or the weapon but a sense of inheritance from
wearing a blue tunic wouldn't make it clear that this was 'Ihe Legend past to present.
of Zelda. I wanted to make sure that as many people as possible knew
ILLUSTRATOR: TAKUllfl WADA



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