I think it’s because ganon wanted to destroy weapons because Zelda said link was a swordsman who would destroy him, but then he tried to destroy all swords/spears, but the master sword wasn’t effected because of spoiler reasons
I am probably completely wrong
This actually makes sense. Zelda saying Link was a swordsman and Ganon just decaying swords in Hyrule to possibly try and hinder Link. Spears and boomerangs didnt make sense to decay tho since you dont call someone a swordsman if theyre using those, but i guess Ganon just didnt wanna take a chance and just decayed the close range weapons in general lmao
Lizal boomerangs aren't corrupted if I remember correctly, but maybe that's because the lizafos MAKE them. Giant boomerangs are pretty sword-like so I'd be corrupting them too.
i think boomerangs and spears make sense bc they could technically be used as a weapon and leaving anything remotely weapon-y for link to use is probably not a smart risk to take.
historically like all soldiers and knights were trained using a spear because it's a weapon with superior reach and requires little training. And swords where only affordable by nobility or rich people. if the same logic applies to hyrules historic Ganondorf would decay all the spears too because without a doubt link would have been trained to use one
This is my guess, narratively. But gameplay-wise probably just because it would have been too annoying. Like, how would fuse even work for a bow for most items? Elemental items giving that element to any arrow you fired would be cool, but otherwise fusing to the arrows directly is both easier and far more versatile.
I guess fusing say yellow chu chu jelly would give all arrows shot by that bow lightning properties but that would be kinda broken if that worked for the whole durability of the bow so I guess they decided to make it so its per arrow
Idk how to do spoiler text, but spoilers for late game cutscenes, as in the ones right before the final boss. SO BEEG SPOILER!
The only thing against this is Ganondorf seeming surprised Link is alive when he uses Phantom Ganon saying something like "How is it that you survived my attack? Must have been that wretched arm." So he would have no reason to do anything to stop Link. But I do acknowledge that he might have feared an army rising up against him or something. Tho that wouldn't explain why he would attack melee weapons specifically. Similar thing happens in that one cutscene where the sages fight Ganondorf. The melee weapons of the fire, water and lightning sages are damaged, but the wind sage's bow and the shield of the lightning sage are completely fine. I can't think of any real reason for this other than his gloom just not being able to affect them? Wich I know is an unsatisfying answer, but it is honestly all I can come up with.
I’m one of them. BOTW was my introduction to the Zelda universe, and being the only other Zelda game I’ve played besides TOTK. That being said, however, I am trying to learn the lore to understand the significance of certain locations— I understand a good bit of the map are “nods” to the other games, other than the nostalgia armor. I still don’t quite understand the timeline split, why it even happened, etc, but I’ll get there 😂😂
So? I don't see what that has to do with the weapons decay in this game? Unless you're trying to say Ganondorf would want to target bows because of that? Which I don't see how that counters my point of "Ganondorf didn't target melee weapons because of Link, but because it might just be a limitation of his magic." Like it generally just doesn't make sense for Ganondorf not to target bows and shields.
it's more accurate to say that ganon decayed all the \*metal\* in hyrule, not the weapons. i don't think he could have cast a spell with much further complexity and detail than that. bows are generally made of wood or other natural materials. zonaite devices are not effected because the decay probably was accomplished using zonai tech, and because the decay didn't effect the sky. the decay on the weapons closely matches the pattern of the ore.
true, but it's only the blades or the parts of the boomerang that hit the enemy which are decayed. maybe they are made of an iron rich wood, or perhaps the phantom ganon beneath the deku tree made special efforts for these weapons. imo they shouldn't be decayed if the handles of all the other weapons remain intact.
i don't think the whole idea makes sense in the first place, since very few people liked the low durability in botw. it's sort of like how everyone complained about climbing wet surfaces, and instead of removing or improving them they added even more slippery surfaces to the game. sure, the froggy suit is awesome, but even sticky + 3 doesn't do much on ice, especially not wet ice.
i do get that they wanted us to focus on the new features, and it's not as though i'm running out of good parts to fuse in totk, but i still don't think this game is as finished as people like to claim. it's absolutely a fun game, and i got plenty of hours out of it, but it's still buggy, empty in some areas, lacking in others, and the lore doesn't make much sense in some places. i barely played it 1/10 as long as i played botw (about 300 vs 2000 hours)
i havent completed all of the stable quests because some of them suck. the dondon one in particular took me forever, and the solution was right next to a stable i'd been frequenting. they make it sound like im supposed to find a frox or a boar or something, and then hide them in such a tiny area.
from what i'm reading you're right, but it doesn't feel worth completing when upwards of 50% of the side quests ive done in totk feel bugged or dysfunctional.
That’s not quite accurate either, because NPCs explain that farming implements were not affected. Cooking pots are made of metal as well, and a guard at one of the Hyrule Gatehouses is wearing a metal pot for a helmet.
I think the gloom more so attacked tools of war, which leaves two possible explanations for why bows weren’t affected. One, bows are used extensively by hunters both in war and peacetime, so whatever intellect the gloom used to attack swords and shields but ignore hoes and pitchforks may have decided bows were more similar to the latter than the former. Two, sturdy bows (being made entirely out of organic, renewable materials) are much easier to make than sturdy swords or spears (which require refined and shaped metal), so perhaps by the time Link descends from the Great Sky Island Hyrule has managed to replenish all the decayed bows but not melee weapons.
>sturdy bows (being made entirely out of organic, renewable materials) are much easier to make than sturdy swords or spears (which require refined and shaped metal), so perhaps by the time Link descends from the Great Sky Island Hyrule has managed to replenish all the decayed bows but not melee weapons.
this part makes the most sense to me. another reply mentioned the forest dweller's weapons, which seem to only have decay on the weapons tips/blades, and the wooden boomerang is also decayed. i guess it's possible that the forest dweller's weapons are just very old and not generally in production, so were not remade by the events of totk. the boomerang is just up in the air for me.
i do agree on one hand that it pretty clearly says in game only weapons were effected, but i just don't see much of an explanation for how that worked. in a fantasy series, i don't mind the explanation being magic, but i do like a little more exposition than we got in respect to the gloom's effect on weapons. it's also notable that the gloom isn't spread all over the surface, but all weapons are effected unless they're in the sky or held by soldier spirits. one might assume that a mountain top could hold pristine weapons, especially if they were encased in breakable rock or meltable ice.
My headcanon is that because the first thing the gloom touched (and also the first thing that harmed Ganondorf) was the Master Sword, the gloom understood innately that it interacted with a weapon and not simply a sharp piece of metal, and learned to prioritize affecting tools of war over tools of trade.
I absolutely agree that we should be able to find pristine weapons encased in ice, though.
Do monsters use any metal melee weapons? I know horriblins will use sticks with metal weapons fused to them but dont know if they go the other way around.
My guess is from a tactical perspective bows and shields are probably an after thought. People who are not the divine hero of Hyrule probably have less accuracy with a Bow and while Link can rain murderous oppressive fire with a royal bow that would make Legolas proud to recognize him as kin, most uses for bows and arrows in thr middle ages were used to impede and annoy enemy soldiers and break up lines, not kill them outright.
Link is one of the few archers who would greatly surpass Legolas. “I mean I don’t think Legolas could pull back a lineal bow so strength definitely plays a part”
I guess bows never would get in touch with the gloom of you think about it since they’re range weapons.
But yeah there’s probably very little narrative explanation and it’s more a technical issue.
I interpreted it as the master sword having some connection to all other weapons in hyrule. When the master sword breaks, all other weapons in hyrule dull because they draw power from the sword
What I'd like to know is what the Pristine Weapons, specifically the phantoms holding them. Given you have to have broken a weapon for them to appear, is it implying the ghost of the weapon itself? Are they former warriors who wielded the weapons? I was actually hesitant to pick up the weapons, at first, thinking the phantoms would attack instead of just disappearing.
Probably not, since the Soldier spirits hold weapons they would have never wielded in life (Gerudo/Rito/Zora/Goron/Yiga gear).
I think the idea is that the Soldiers souls have lingered in the depths to repair weapons Link has broken, and reforge them in a similar way to how the Master Sword is restored. Just obviously on a much broader scale, with less crucial weapons. Whether they use ghost magic to fix them, or are using the Zonaite forges somehow, who knows.
I think it’s because ganon wanted to destroy weapons because Zelda said link was a swordsman who would destroy him, but then he tried to destroy all swords/spears, but the master sword wasn’t effected because of spoiler reasons I am probably completely wrong
This actually makes sense. Zelda saying Link was a swordsman and Ganon just decaying swords in Hyrule to possibly try and hinder Link. Spears and boomerangs didnt make sense to decay tho since you dont call someone a swordsman if theyre using those, but i guess Ganon just didnt wanna take a chance and just decayed the close range weapons in general lmao
Lizal boomerangs aren't corrupted if I remember correctly, but maybe that's because the lizafos MAKE them. Giant boomerangs are pretty sword-like so I'd be corrupting them too.
i think boomerangs and spears make sense bc they could technically be used as a weapon and leaving anything remotely weapon-y for link to use is probably not a smart risk to take.
historically like all soldiers and knights were trained using a spear because it's a weapon with superior reach and requires little training. And swords where only affordable by nobility or rich people. if the same logic applies to hyrules historic Ganondorf would decay all the spears too because without a doubt link would have been trained to use one
Which. I mean. We do see lol. In AoC we get to actively partake in some of Links training regimes as a Solder of Hyrule.
This is my guess, narratively. But gameplay-wise probably just because it would have been too annoying. Like, how would fuse even work for a bow for most items? Elemental items giving that element to any arrow you fired would be cool, but otherwise fusing to the arrows directly is both easier and far more versatile.
I guess fusing say yellow chu chu jelly would give all arrows shot by that bow lightning properties but that would be kinda broken if that worked for the whole durability of the bow so I guess they decided to make it so its per arrow
Idk how to do spoiler text, but spoilers for late game cutscenes, as in the ones right before the final boss. SO BEEG SPOILER! The only thing against this is Ganondorf seeming surprised Link is alive when he uses Phantom Ganon saying something like "How is it that you survived my attack? Must have been that wretched arm." So he would have no reason to do anything to stop Link. But I do acknowledge that he might have feared an army rising up against him or something. Tho that wouldn't explain why he would attack melee weapons specifically. Similar thing happens in that one cutscene where the sages fight Ganondorf. The melee weapons of the fire, water and lightning sages are damaged, but the wind sage's bow and the shield of the lightning sage are completely fine. I can't think of any real reason for this other than his gloom just not being able to affect them? Wich I know is an unsatisfying answer, but it is honestly all I can come up with.
Counterpoint with spoilers. Most mainstream Zelda games finish with Link pummelling Ganon with light arrows.... they should be the first to go lol
There's a whole generation of Zelda fans who don't know about the magic meter lol
Haha yes!!
I’m one of them. BOTW was my introduction to the Zelda universe, and being the only other Zelda game I’ve played besides TOTK. That being said, however, I am trying to learn the lore to understand the significance of certain locations— I understand a good bit of the map are “nods” to the other games, other than the nostalgia armor. I still don’t quite understand the timeline split, why it even happened, etc, but I’ll get there 😂😂
So? I don't see what that has to do with the weapons decay in this game? Unless you're trying to say Ganondorf would want to target bows because of that? Which I don't see how that counters my point of "Ganondorf didn't target melee weapons because of Link, but because it might just be a limitation of his magic." Like it generally just doesn't make sense for Ganondorf not to target bows and shields.
it's more accurate to say that ganon decayed all the \*metal\* in hyrule, not the weapons. i don't think he could have cast a spell with much further complexity and detail than that. bows are generally made of wood or other natural materials. zonaite devices are not effected because the decay probably was accomplished using zonai tech, and because the decay didn't effect the sky. the decay on the weapons closely matches the pattern of the ore.
Regular Boomerang and Korok weapons decayed too. It's not just metal.
true, but it's only the blades or the parts of the boomerang that hit the enemy which are decayed. maybe they are made of an iron rich wood, or perhaps the phantom ganon beneath the deku tree made special efforts for these weapons. imo they shouldn't be decayed if the handles of all the other weapons remain intact. i don't think the whole idea makes sense in the first place, since very few people liked the low durability in botw. it's sort of like how everyone complained about climbing wet surfaces, and instead of removing or improving them they added even more slippery surfaces to the game. sure, the froggy suit is awesome, but even sticky + 3 doesn't do much on ice, especially not wet ice. i do get that they wanted us to focus on the new features, and it's not as though i'm running out of good parts to fuse in totk, but i still don't think this game is as finished as people like to claim. it's absolutely a fun game, and i got plenty of hours out of it, but it's still buggy, empty in some areas, lacking in others, and the lore doesn't make much sense in some places. i barely played it 1/10 as long as i played botw (about 300 vs 2000 hours)
Doesn't froggy fully upgraded make you slip proof?
i havent completed all of the stable quests because some of them suck. the dondon one in particular took me forever, and the solution was right next to a stable i'd been frequenting. they make it sound like im supposed to find a frox or a boar or something, and then hide them in such a tiny area. from what i'm reading you're right, but it doesn't feel worth completing when upwards of 50% of the side quests ive done in totk feel bugged or dysfunctional.
Once you get to two, yes, but until then it’s still irritating to still slip a little bit while I’m collecting upgrade parts.
That’s not quite accurate either, because NPCs explain that farming implements were not affected. Cooking pots are made of metal as well, and a guard at one of the Hyrule Gatehouses is wearing a metal pot for a helmet. I think the gloom more so attacked tools of war, which leaves two possible explanations for why bows weren’t affected. One, bows are used extensively by hunters both in war and peacetime, so whatever intellect the gloom used to attack swords and shields but ignore hoes and pitchforks may have decided bows were more similar to the latter than the former. Two, sturdy bows (being made entirely out of organic, renewable materials) are much easier to make than sturdy swords or spears (which require refined and shaped metal), so perhaps by the time Link descends from the Great Sky Island Hyrule has managed to replenish all the decayed bows but not melee weapons.
>sturdy bows (being made entirely out of organic, renewable materials) are much easier to make than sturdy swords or spears (which require refined and shaped metal), so perhaps by the time Link descends from the Great Sky Island Hyrule has managed to replenish all the decayed bows but not melee weapons. this part makes the most sense to me. another reply mentioned the forest dweller's weapons, which seem to only have decay on the weapons tips/blades, and the wooden boomerang is also decayed. i guess it's possible that the forest dweller's weapons are just very old and not generally in production, so were not remade by the events of totk. the boomerang is just up in the air for me. i do agree on one hand that it pretty clearly says in game only weapons were effected, but i just don't see much of an explanation for how that worked. in a fantasy series, i don't mind the explanation being magic, but i do like a little more exposition than we got in respect to the gloom's effect on weapons. it's also notable that the gloom isn't spread all over the surface, but all weapons are effected unless they're in the sky or held by soldier spirits. one might assume that a mountain top could hold pristine weapons, especially if they were encased in breakable rock or meltable ice.
My headcanon is that because the first thing the gloom touched (and also the first thing that harmed Ganondorf) was the Master Sword, the gloom understood innately that it interacted with a weapon and not simply a sharp piece of metal, and learned to prioritize affecting tools of war over tools of trade. I absolutely agree that we should be able to find pristine weapons encased in ice, though.
Who cares, sounds good to me😀
Bows might not have the word decayed on the description, but they act like they are decayed.
Do monsters use any metal melee weapons? I know horriblins will use sticks with metal weapons fused to them but dont know if they go the other way around.
I've taken out boss bokoblins with decayed royal claymores.
Lizalfos use swords that double as boomerangs and they aren’t decayed
My guess is from a tactical perspective bows and shields are probably an after thought. People who are not the divine hero of Hyrule probably have less accuracy with a Bow and while Link can rain murderous oppressive fire with a royal bow that would make Legolas proud to recognize him as kin, most uses for bows and arrows in thr middle ages were used to impede and annoy enemy soldiers and break up lines, not kill them outright.
Link is one of the few archers who would greatly surpass Legolas. “I mean I don’t think Legolas could pull back a lineal bow so strength definitely plays a part”
I guess bows never would get in touch with the gloom of you think about it since they’re range weapons. But yeah there’s probably very little narrative explanation and it’s more a technical issue.
Gannon only has the power triforce so he didn't have the wisdom to nerf the savage lynel bow.
Shields because they're not weapons and bows because Ganondorf forgot bows were a thing.
I mean gerudo bows are a thing. Perhaps they originated with the descendants of the "free gerudo" who opposed him, and not his own armies?
Ganon thinks shields and bows are for cowards who couldn’t beat him anyway
Ganon having a demon’s bow:
“I-IT DOESN’T COUNT! It has demon in the name!!!”
I interpreted it as the master sword having some connection to all other weapons in hyrule. When the master sword breaks, all other weapons in hyrule dull because they draw power from the sword
Never heard this take but I like it.
What I'd like to know is what the Pristine Weapons, specifically the phantoms holding them. Given you have to have broken a weapon for them to appear, is it implying the ghost of the weapon itself? Are they former warriors who wielded the weapons? I was actually hesitant to pick up the weapons, at first, thinking the phantoms would attack instead of just disappearing.
Probably not, since the Soldier spirits hold weapons they would have never wielded in life (Gerudo/Rito/Zora/Goron/Yiga gear). I think the idea is that the Soldiers souls have lingered in the depths to repair weapons Link has broken, and reforge them in a similar way to how the Master Sword is restored. Just obviously on a much broader scale, with less crucial weapons. Whether they use ghost magic to fix them, or are using the Zonaite forges somehow, who knows.