Princess Zelda (Age of Calamity)

Princess Zelda is a playable character in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. As princess of Hyrule, Zelda initially fights using the Sheikah Slate for her attacks using the various runes from it. Once she awakens her power granted by the Triforce and Hylia, she fights using light-based attacks along with the Light Bow. As princess of Hyrule, she's sworn to protect it at all costs from Calamity Ganon.

Role In Game
Zelda is first seen coming out of the castle to check on Impa following after Link rescued her from a mob of monsters, only to then meet Terrako, the small Guardian that time-traveled back to before the Great Calamity to warn them of its impending return. It appears to recognize Zelda, but she is unable to recognize it. Still, wondering why it is here, Zelda goes with Link and Impa to the Royal Science Academy to have Robbie and Purah look it over, only to be attacked on the way there by a Guardian Stalker infected with Malice. After destroying it and reaching the Academy, Zelda is shocked when shown the images of Hyrule Castle Town burning from the Great Calamity attacking it, and realizes they need to prepare for its return soon than they though. With Impa, Link, and Terrako joining her, she travels to recruit Princess Mipha of the Zoras, Daruk of the Gorons, Revali of the Rito, and Urbosa of the Gerudo to become the Champions who would pilot the Divine Beasts against the Calamity. However, they find that the regions where the Champions live are plagued by monster attacks, such as Revali mistaking Link and Terrako to be in league with them, or Master Kohga having disguised himself as Urbosa to turn the Gerudo warrior women against Zelda. In Revali and Urbosa's cases, Zelda is able to stop Revali from shooting Link in the back with a potentially fatal shot from his bow, while the real Urbosa arrives just in time to use her lightning to electrocute Kohga into submission before he could strike Zelda, forcing him to drop his disguise and summon his Yiga Clan warriors to distract the good guys while he escaped.

After all four Champions are assembled, they are sent with Link, Zelda, and Impa into the Korok Forest to recover the Master Sword, meeting and helping out Hestu along the way. However, once in the grove where the Master Sword resided, Link and Zelda are attacked by Astor, the seer loyal to Calamity Ganon, and the Hollows, Malice-born copies of the Champions. Right before the Hollow of Urbosa could stab Zelda in the face and kill her, the Master Sword responds and banishes the Hollows before Link pulls it from the stone it was embedded in and becomes its wielder, fighting off Astor and his Hollows, forcing him to retreat. After dealing with monster attacks on the way back to Hyrule Castle, Zelda begins to doubt herself, but Urbosa offers her some wise advice to remind her that Link is still the same boy she met before he acquired the Blade of Evil's Bane, and nothing will change that, putting Zelda at ease. Before the monsters appear, Terrako tries to cheer Zelda up by playing Zelda's Lullaby to her, causing her to start remembering him before being interrupted by the attacks.

Back at Castle Town, Link and the other Champions are officially given their Champion titles and attire, and Zelda joins them afterwards, enjoying watching as Terrako annoys and infuriates Impa with his disrespect in front of Zelda until they try to get Revali involved and he takes his leave in disgust. However, further research by Robbie and Purah warns King Rhoam that Zelda's 17th birthday is the day that Calamity Ganon is to return, and Zelda is ordered by her father to head to the Spring of Courage to try and awaken her dormant sealing magic, joined by Impa and Link, while King Rhoam has Castle Town and surrounding communities evacuated of civilians and soldiers to prevent collateral damage when the Calamity returns, transferring the evacuated soldiers to Akkala Citadel and Fort Hateno to reinforce the garrisons there.

However, once at the Spring, Zelda is unable to awaken her powers before the spring is attacked by more of Ganon's monsters. Though Link and Impa fight them off, especially once Zelda uses her knowledge of the area to help them, she feels more despondent than ever about her powers not awakening, though Impa tries to cheer her up by reminding her of her foresight of the area that helped them escape. When they return to Castle Town, Zelda decides to head to Mount Lanayru to train at the Spring of Wisdom as soon as she turns 17 because no one is allowed on the mountain until they are 17. However, just as she is leaving with Link and Impa to do so, Terrako arrives with the Sheikah Slate, having just escaped the Royal Science Academy with it after Robbie and Purah are ambushed by Yiga Clan spies disguised as some of their Sheikah research team, and just as Impa and Zelda see the new images extracted from Terrako's memory banks, Calamity Ganon awakens from his slumber and attacks the castle. King Rhoam and his Royal Knights appear to sacrifice themselves to buy Link time to grab Zelda and flee before they are killed by the corrupted Guardian Stalkers.

After regrouping with Impa and witnessing Calamity Ganon engulf Hyrule Castle, Zelda is then shown images from Terrako's timeline of the Divine Beasts under Calamity Ganon's control. Horrified that the Divine Beasts will fall to Ganon as well, Zelda collapses in guilt and grief, blaming herself for Hyrule's downfall, and condemning the fact that her sealing magic has yet to awaken, and now Hyrule needs it more than ever and it still hasn't surfaced yet. As Terrako tries to cheer Zelda up by playing Zelda's Lullaby again, a tear from Zelda falls on it, causing it to suddenly summon several time portals similar to the one it opened to escape into the past, leaving Link, Zelda, and Impa confused by it, until they hear the screech of Divine Beast Vah Medoh, Revali's Divine Beast, and see that, despite the Malice bleeding from its wings, the circuity on Vah Medoh is still flickering blue, indicating Revali is holding on and still has control of Vah Medoh. Realizing there is still hope to save the Champions and keep the Divine Beasts on their side, Zelda joins Link, Impa, and Terrako with going to rescue them.

After rescuing Mipha from Waterblight Ganon, thanks to her brother Sidon being summoned from the future to help her until Link arrived to help slay the Blight Ganon, Zelda then works with Vah Ruta to clear the way to Vah Rudania to help Daruk against Fireblight Ganon, with Daruk being aided by Yunobo similar to Sidon being summoned to help Mipha. After the Blight Ganon is slain, Sidon explains that he came from the future to help, but Daruk laughs it off as they can deal with it later before asking Zelda about what happened at the castle.

After saving Urbosa from Thunderblight Ganon, thanks to Riju and Patricia being summoned from the future to help her until Link arrived to slay the Blight Ganon, Zelda works with Vah Nabrois to reach Vah Medoh to help Revali, who was struggling against Windblight Ganon, even with help from Teba, who had been summoned from the future like Riju to help Revali. However, unlike the other Blight Ganons, Windblight Ganon escapes for the moment before being slain later on by Revali and Teba with Vah Medoh. Nevertheless, Urbosa thanks Zelda for coming to her aid, and then inquires as to what happened at Hyrule Castle.

With all four Champions saved and the Divine Beasts still under their control, Zelda soon figures out that Terrako was the one responsible for summoning the future Champions to help protect Urbosa, Daruk, Mipha, and Revali until Link could arrive to defeat the Blight Ganons and keep the Divine Beasts from falling under Ganon's control, the Blights killing the Champions, and then be free to run rampant across their respective regions to cause chaos against their respective races. After thanking Terrako, Zelda decides their next point of battle is Akkala Citadel, knowing they have to protect the fortress from falling, or Hyrule will lose one of its vital strongholds and be one step closer to total destruction.

Thanks to the Divine Beasts still being under Hyrulean control, the Citadel is able to hold the line and fight off the siege by Ganon's monsters and corrupted Guardian automatons, keeping the fortress intact. Shortly thereafter, Zelda heads to Fort Hateno with Link and Zelda, as it too was under siege by both monsters and corrupted Guardians. However, Astor appears again, with the revived Blight Ganons no less, and prepares to attack Zelda and kill her. Link stays behind to fight the Blights and Astor, while Impa grabs Zelda and flees. However, after losing her father, Zelda can't bear to see Link fall, and is able to break free from Impa and run back towards Link. In the process, she finally awakens her sealing magic granted to her by the Triforce and Hylia, causing the corrupted Guardians to shut down upon being exorcised of the Malice possessing them, and stunning the Blight Ganons. As a result, Link is able to slay the four abominations again, and Purah launches a failsafe that shuts down and/or destroys most of the corrupted Guardians, saving Fort Hateno, and Hyrule at large as, without the Guardians, Ganon lost a huge chunk of his army that razed Hyrule to the ground in the Breath of the Wild timeline, leaving only a handful left to reinforce his monsters, not enough to completely raze Hyrule to the ground.

With her sealing power awakened, Zelda rallies the surviving Hyrulean soldiers to her banner, and later, is surprised with Impa when they are confronted by Kohga, who now wishes to ally with them out of revenge against Astor for using his Yiga clansmen as a blood sacrifice to revive the Blight Ganons. With Kohga and the Yiga helping them, Zelda launches a successful defense of the Great Plateau, but upon reaching the Temple of Time, is shocked to find King Rhoam there, still very much alive. He reveals that the ancient Sheikah device she gave him earlier before the Calamity struck deployed a Guardian Shield, protecting him and his Royal Knights from the corrupted Guardian Stalkers' lasers, stunning the automatons long enough for Rhoam to order his men to retreat before they recovered and fall back to the Great Plateau and the Temple of Time to regroup. After Rhoam and Zelda makes amends, Rhoam passes command of the army over to her as they prepare to take back Hyrule Castle from the Calamity.

After Purah summons the Divine Beasts, their Champions, both present and future, and the united coalition of Gorons, Zoras, Gerudo, Rito, and Sheikah in Kohga and the Yiga Clan together, Zelda gives a heartfelt speech to motivate the troops, before with a battle cry to assault Hyrule Castle and take back their homes, the united army lays siege to Hyrule Castle. Though Calamity Ganon tries to stop them with a Blood Moon and his strongest Guardians and monsters still under his command, Zelda and the army break through, until they find themselves facing Astor and Harbinger Ganon, the Terrako of that timeline infected by Malice that followed the Terrako from the Breath of the Wild timeline into the past. After fighting the Blight Ganons one more time, along with Astor and Harbinger Ganon, Zelda watches as, mad with insanity at thinking he could be defeated, Astor orders Ganon to consume Zelda and Link, but as Sooga had forwarned earlier, Ganon was no one's slave or puppet, and Astor finds himself being assimilated by Calamity Ganon to use alongside Harbinger Ganon to give Calamity Ganon a perfected physical body. Shortly after acquiring his perfected body, Calamity Ganon manages to hit Terrako with several shots of Malice, corrupting the little Guardian into turning on Link and Zelda, forcing them to fight it to purge the Malice, but leaving Terrako critcally damaged. Zelda is horrified, as she finally remembers that Terrako was built by her when she was little to give her comfort after her mother, the Queen of Hyrule, passed away, before King Rhoam took Terrako away, thinking it a distraction from Zelda's training. Overcome with anger and fury at what Calamity Ganon has done, Zelda vows that his threat ends here and now.

Fighting into the inner sanctum of the castle citadel, Zelda and the others fight Calamity Ganon, but he proves invulnerable to all their attacks. It is not until Zelda tries blocking one of his powerful assaults with her holy power that Terrako, despite its critically-wounded state, is able to reactivate, sensing that its princess needs it, and manages to scamper into the sanctum, and in a heroic sacrifice, flings itself at Calamity Ganon, self-destructing with enough force that Calamity Ganon's defenses are shattered, leaving him vulnerable to damage. Once he has been weakened enough, Link delivers the finishing blow with cleaving Calamity Ganon in half with the Master Sword, before having Zelda move to seal him away once more. Calamity Ganon tries to retaliate and fight back, but his final, desperate punch at Zelda is easily repulsed by her holy light, and there is nothing Calamity Ganon can do as Zelda seals him away once and for all, ending his threat to Hyrule.

With Calamity Ganon gone, Hyrule begins to recover from the war. At the castle, the only relic Zelda has left of Terrako is the ancient screw that was the last piece she put into him to bring him to life. However, some of the time-travel energy remained on it, and that residual energy is enough to send Teba, Yunobo, Sidon, Riju, and Patricia back to their own timeline now that their services were completed, but they promise to always remember their time shared with the Champions and helping to save Hyrule and make a difference for it in an alternate timeline before being returned to their own timeline.

Later, after recovering most of Terrako's scattered parts after it self-destructed, Robbie and Purah are able to rebuild it, but it initially seems unable to respond to any of them, even when Impa tries smacking it to get it to wake up, until Zelda steps in. Seeing Zelda, Terrako fully recovers, much to everyone's relief, and Zelda takes Terrako in her arms, happy to have him back as she welcomes him home. However, unaware that Zelda was crying out of joy, and not sadness, Terrako begins playing Zelda's Lullaby again to comfort her.

Quotes
"I shall fight for Hyrule!"

Gameplay
Zelda has two attack patterns for herself: One with the Sheikah Slate, the other after awakening her Triforce powers.