How Each of the Champions Died in BOTW
Maybe it’s not as puzzling as we think.
One of the most highly debated topics in BOTW is the death of the Champions. Being Zelda’s chosen warriors and displayed as unusually skilled for their races, how could they have fallen to the Blights? While no one knows for sure how they perished, as they were trapped inside their Divine Beasts at the time, here’s a logical conclusion to how each of them fell during the Calamity.
Mipha Was the Weakest Champion
As a pacifist and healer, fighting isn’t Mipha’s strong suit. Calamity Ganon deliberately created Waterblight Ganon to utilize each of Mipha’s weaknesses. He wields an extremely long spear that could hit Mipha before she even got close to him. He is also giant compared to the tiny Zora Princess, complicating things for her further. In the second phase, she would also be unable to surpass the flying ice blocks, as she didn’t have the Cryonis rune necessary to break them.
Urbosa Likely Got Backstabbed
Considering Thunderblight’s lightning-speed movements and shock-based techniques, he most likely backstabbed Urbosa. Keeping up with his movements and swift one-handed attacks is not easy, even for Link 100 years into the future. He could’ve also easily shocked her as she didn’t have the Thunder Helm to protect her. Like Mipha, Urbosa also lacked a rune necessary to fight Thunderblight in the second phase: Magnesis, for lifting his metal pillars up to him to electrocute him.
Daruk Didn’t Have Bombs
Even though Daruk was fireproof and incredibly strong for a Goron, he also lacked a necessary Sheikah rune to finish off Fireblight. Bombs are the only thing that can break through the Blight’s shield in the second phase, and Daruk did not have this ability during his battle. It’s also possible that even being the original owner of his protection power, he still had a limited number of shields. When he exhausted this amount, he would leave himself exposed to Fireblight’s attacks.
Revali Has Poor Night Vision
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity reveals that Revali’s battle against Windblight Ganon happened at night. This directly works against Revali: the Rito, like real-life birds, have poor night vision. This disadvantage is greatly increased when you realize that Revali relies on his archery abilities to shoot Windblight. Since archery is a very precise skill and requires you to send an arrow flying dead-straight at your target, Revali probably easily lost to Windblight because he couldn’t see where he was shooting. He also likely had to fight multiple enemies along the way, exhausting his supply of arrows for the boss battle.
The Champions Were Taken By Surprise (And Didn’t Have Link’s Superior Equipment)
Since the Champions were with Zelda at the foot of Mount Lanayru when Calamity Ganon struck and didn’t have Sheikah Slates to instantly warp to their Divine Beasts, they had to travel a long way to get there. Urbosa and Revali even had to travel across nearly the entire stretch of Hyrule’s map to reach their beasts. This means that the Champions were likely already exhausted by the time they got to their Divine Beasts. Especially for Mipha, Urbosa, and Daruk, they would have had to fight enemies on their way, further wearing them and their weapons out.
The plan for Ganon’s arrival was for the Champions to aim their lasers at Ganon, while Zelda and Link finished him off. However, the Blights had likely – and unexpectedly – already taken control of the Divine Beasts before the Champions reached their destinations, preventing them from following suit. This would’ve also meant that the Blights could manipulate the beasts however they wanted to, potentially weakening the Champions and making them more vulnerable to their attacks.
The Champions also didn’t have Link’s superior equipment and food. Even Mipha probably didn’t have enough time to heal herself mid-battle. In the DLC “Champions’ Ballad,” the Illusory Realm reduces Link’s equipment to a limited arsenal designed to simulate what the Champions had during their fight. Very little food is provided, other Champion abilities are unusable, and even the weapons/bows are ones specific to the Beast’s corresponding race (for example, the Lightscale Trident is available in the Vah Ruta Illusory Realm challenge). These fights are significantly harder and put you in the situation of the Champions when they fought the Blights.
