The Old Man and Link’s Purpose
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Story and Ending Explained
That old man you soon run in to seems to be a bit of a jerk at first. He asks link for a favor, and in return he’ll give him that fancy Paraglider so he can get off of the Plateau (the game’s starting area). The thing is, after Link does exactly what he asks, he doesn’t keep his end of the bargain and makes Link do quite a bit more. But don’t worry, although he seems like he’s just jerking your chain, he’s actually just testing you to make sure you’re ready for both his true identity as well as the challenge ahead of you.
The old man is actually King Rhoam, the last king of Hyrule, and Zelda’s father. More accurately, it’s the spirit of King Rhoam. He perished during the fight with Ganon while trying to support Zelda and Link as well as keep his kingdom safe. He knows firsthand how grave the current situation surrounding the land is, and he wanted to make sure you had the tools you needed to set out, which is why he forced you to complete the Shrines, which are actually Hero training tests.
Even though evil is in control, the Goddess still shows favor for the heroes of Hyrule, so with the Orbs he earns as tokens of Shrine completion, he’s able to build his strength to face off against Ganon once again, hopefully with a much better outcome this time around. Link’s mission is to travel to each kingdom and regain both allies and the Divine Beasts that were entrusted to each of them:
- Vah Rudania of the Gorons
- Vah Medoh of the Rito
- Vah Ruta of the Zora
- Vah Naboris of the Gerudo
You can of course go straight to Ganon, but since that led to an ending where everyone died, it’s best to get the weapons developed to destroy the evil first.
