Nintendo announcedHyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonmentin its Switch 2 Direct on April 2. The third game in the crossover series between The Legend of Zelda and Koei Tecmo’s Warriors games, Age of Imprisonment will be set several years before the events of Tears of the Kingdom.
The game will focus on the untold story of when Zelda was sent to the past during the events of Tears of the Kingdom, working with six other sages in their quest to defeat Ganondorf. While the game’s canon story will mostly focus on characters from the past, it’s also possible that figures from the present-day timeline will also be featured.
Race
Sheikah
Impa is Zelda’s guardian, and the most recurring character in the series outside the main trio of Link, Zelda, and Ganon. Her incarnation from Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, like in most of her appearances, is as an elderly woman. This opens up the possibility that she was alive during the events of Age of Imprisonment.
There is already a precedent for a younger Impa to appear in the Hyrule Warriors series, as Age of Calamity, set 100 years before the events of Breath of the Wild, featured a teenage version of Impa. There’s a strong possibility that Koei Tecmo will bring her back again for another prequel to a mainline Zelda game.
While Impa has appeared in various Zelda games, it is unknown whether she is a legacy character in different incarnations, like Link and Zelda, or the same character across multiple games, like Ganon.
Hylian/Zonai
King Rauru and Queen Sonia were the co-founders of Hyrule. Players are introduced to them in Tears of the Kingdom when Zelda travels back in time. Rauru had a powerful right arm that Link would later inherit, while Sonia’s time-control abilities would be passed on to Zelda in the future. While both have been confirmed to be playable, there is believed to be a third unseen member of the family.
That’s because Zelda is stated to be a descendant of the two, meaning the two of them likely had a child together. Given that both Rauru and Sonia were killed in battle, that assures that this character had already been born by the time of the game’s events, and may be old enough to join the battle.
Gerudo
In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link encounters two twin witches named Koume and Kotake. While not too powerful on their own, when they fuse together, they become the all-powerful Twinrova, who are to this day consideredone of the best bosses in the series.
While they have not made a major appearance since, their appearance was hinted at in a flashback scene in Tears of the Kingdom, where Ganondorf is seen standing next to two twin female Gerudo. Notably, they have the green skin tone of the witches as opposed to the brown skin tone most Gerudo have. This has led many fans to speculate that they are instead Koume and Kotake.
Doron (Fire), Gerudo (Lightning), Zora (Water), Rito (Wind)
Outside the core named characters, there are also four unnamed sages who accompanied Rauru in battle. In Tears of the Kingdom, these characters only appeared as spirits who communicated with Link.
Because these characters got some of the least spotlight in the game, there is arguably more potential to expand their stories than any other past character. The four sages each represent a different element - fire, lightning, water, and wind - and have plenty of moveset variety to work with because of that.
Ganondorf briefly appeared in the trailer for Age of Imprisonment, confirming his involvement in the plot. The only version of the character shown so far has been his base form, but it’s likely his transformed Demon King incarnation will also appear.
That’s because, after he killed Sonia in the past, he would steal her Secret Stone and use its power to transform himself intohis more powerful form. Given that he was in that form for the battle in which Rauru died, it seems fitting that there will be more than one Ganondorf in Age of Imprisonment.
Unknown
The Ancient Hero is a character prominently featured in both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. As a precursor to Link, the two of them share a lot of similarities, and in the backstory of Breath of the Wild, he was the one who sealed away Calamity Ganon for thousands of years.
His Tears of the Kingdom appearance is not actually the Ancient Hero himself. Rather, Link eventually obtains his armor in-game, and when he puts it on, he takes on the appearance of the hero, complete with his dog-like skin. In the possible absence of Link, given the game’s time period, this precursor to the series protagonist seems like a natural substitute.
Hylian
As the protagonist of The Legend of Zelda series andone of the most iconic video game heroes of all time, it would feel wrong for Link not to be playable in a Hyrule Warriors game. However, Age of Imprisonment is set in the past long before he was even born, and while Zelda’s appearance makes sense given she was sent back in time in Tears of the Kingdom, Link was not.
It’s still possible that he appears in the game regardless, either because he too travels back in time, or because Koei Tecmo puts him in as a non-canonical bonus character. He has tons of new abilities to choose from Tears of the Kingdom, like Rauru’s arm, and will definitely be a major selling point should he be included.
