Wait, the Divine Beast Themes Have Morse Code?

To be an authentic Zelda game, Breath of the Wild can’t just have awesome gameplay – it also needs awesome music. But BOTW had more than just awesome music. It hid the tiniest – and most horrifying – details in its Divine Beast interior themes, incorporating Morse code in the soft piano notes.

The Champions Called Out For Help

The Divine Beast themes have always been heart-wrenching. They save the use of more majestic sounds for the exterior battle, but when you get inside, they change completely to supposedly peaceful piano tunes. But soon enough, they reveal the horror of the Champions’ deaths: SOS is played out in Morse code in each theme (3 short taps, 3 long taps, 3 short taps). However, the SOS disappears once you activate the first terminal, showing that the Champions have gained hope of Link saving their trapped spirits at last. The SOS code also indicates when the Champions died fighting the Blights.

Mipha

Mipha’s SOS is heard at the beginning of the Divine Beast Vah Ruta interior theme. The time when the signal is heard probably signifies when the Champions knew they needed help. Since Mipha was the weakest of the four Champions, and she has no method of defense, she probably died first and desperately needed help shortly into the battle with Waterblight. Her SOS comes out loud and clear.

Daruk

Second is Daruk. His SOS can be heard toward the beginning, like Mipha’s, meaning he quickly fell to Fireblight. The Blight likely overwhelmed Daruk with his rapid-firing flame balls. Daruk was fireproof from birth, but he quickly recognized he needed help when Fireblight began pummeling him.

Urbosa

The third is Urbosa. Her signal comes later in the Vah Naboris interior theme, and it is much fainter than both Mipha and Daruk’s. Since she, as a Gerudo, was more battle-trained than the pacifistic Mipha and faster than the heavy Daruk, on top of her extremely powerful Fury, she probably lasted longer in the battle. However, she was undoubtedly later overwhelmed by Thunderblight’s relentless speed and agility. Using Urbosa’s Fury around the metallic pillars he drops would only work against her, as the lightning would strike the pillars and shock herself. She couldn’t even pass this phase even if she dodged the pillars; she lacked the Magnesis rune necessary to return the attack to Thunderblight, leaving her dodging around endlessly. This left her no choice but to send out her SOS in her dying moments, explaining the faintness.

Revali

The latest to be heard was Revali’s SOS. It also is the most hurried and frantic since he sent it out right before he died. There are two possibilities why his SOS came in after the other three Champions. Reason 1 is the popular opinion: that Revali refused to send out his SOS earlier, out of his arrogance and refusal to admit he needed help from Link. Reason 2 is the logical opinion. Revali, since he could fly and dodge most of Windblight’s projectiles easily, survived the first phase of the fight. But the second phase made the situation harder for him. The Blight now employs several unpredictable torpedoes on which he bounces his deadly lasers against, creating a web of rapidly moving danger. The only way to escape it was flying far away from Medoh and basically running away from Windblight. But Revali reasonably didn’t want to do this, since his job was to beat the Blight instead of escaping it.

When he realized he needed help at the last second, Windblight likely was about to strike the finishing blow to Revali. That was when he sent out his SOS. He knew he was going to die, and he also knew no one could or would come for him that late in the game.

Ganon’s Code

SOS isn’t the only Morse code that appears in the Divine Beast themes. There’s also SAD, standing for Search and Destroy or Seek and Destroy. This is equally heartbreaking, as the Seek and Destroy easily could mean that Ganon sought out the Champions and destroyed them. SAD comes in at the same time of the SOS in some of the themes, and after in others. SAD could also mean Ganon’s overlapping mission to seek out Princess Zelda and Link, and destroy them (Memory #16: Despair).

For your information, if this gave you nightmares, don’t come crying to me.