Zelda Breath of the Wild: Who Is the Old Man?

Who Is the Old Man? – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Spoiler Warning: There will be a major spoiler for the story of Breath of the Wild in this article. If you’d rather experience it on your own, we recommend you don’t read any further, and keep the question of ‘Who is the Old Man?’ a secret.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild is finally here on Nintendo Switch and Wii U. Although the story was mostly unknown before release, fans are starting to dig deeper and find out more about just what’s happened to Hyrule this time around. Shortly after you start the game, you’ll encounter a strange old man in a cloak, who sets you out on your journey and promises you a Paraglider in exchange for four Spirit Orbs.

After beating four trial shrines in the game and getting the Spirit Orbs, you’ll encounter the man again, and after a sequence of events he’ll give you the Paraglider, which is when you’ll find out his true identity. Here, the story of the game truly takes off, when you find out the Old Man is actually the King Rhoam, the Last King of Hyrule. He tells you the story of how Ganon used the mechanical Guardians to his advantage 100 years ago to destroy the kingdom. During the battle, Link himself fell, leaving Zelda to face Ganon all alone. Now Link has been resurrected 100 years later, and it’s up to him to stop Ganon again and rescue Zelda.

Of course, it’s going to take a bit for Link to be strong enough to take on Ganon, but luckily the King of Hyrule sets you on your way to look for Impa and get more help. Obviously, Link has some powerful allies looking out for him and helping him along the way, starting with the King of Hyrule.

You’ll meet plenty of other classic Zelda series characters along your journey, so keep an eye out.