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The Tears of the Kingdom Sages Now Have Names

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The Tears of the Kingdom Sages Now Have Names

In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, one of the biggest critiques about the story was how little characterisation the ancient sages got. Sure, they showed up in memory cutscenes in supporting roles, and spoke to their descendants in the game’s dungeons, but that was basically it. They weren’t named, we never saw their faces, and anything resembling a personality was entirely non-existent here. They were cardboard cutouts, and that was it.

But now things are getting a bit more interesting there. Why? Because Nintendo’s marketing for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment has revealed some very interesting details about these characters.

Their actual names and some of their personalities!

Yep, now the ancient sages from Tears of the Kingdom have actual names, and are going to be meaningful characters in the official precursor game. Here are the posts about it from Nintendo’s Twitter page:

As you can see, the sages are as follows (Japanese names in brackets):

  1. Agraston (Āgasuta), the Goron Sage of Fire
  2. Quia (Kia), the Zora Sage of Water
  3. Raphica (Kurafika), the Rito Sage of Wind
  4. And Ardi (Arudi), the Gerudo Sage of Lightning

What’s more, all of their names actually have a neat connecting factor between them too. Namely, they’re all named after some of the oldest objects, species and places related to their elements!

So, Agraston is named after the Acasta Gneiss, a geological location in Canada with some of the oldest rocks on Earth. Quia may get her name from the species Myllokunmingia, one of the oldest ancestors to modern day fish. Meanwhile, Raphica gets her name from Archaeopteryx lithographica, aka Archaeopteryx, a species known to be one of the first ever birds (or at least, their most bird-like early ancestor) and Ardi may be named after Ardipithecus, one of the earliest ever human ancestors.

It’s a neat naming theme, and one we’d never have guessed in a million years had it not been for the folks at Zelda Wiki and various Zelda lore channels.

And it’s not the only bit of interesting naming here either. No, Agraston’s name seems to show a change in Nintendo’s naming scheme for Gorons in general too. Why? Because up until recently, most notable Goron leaders had ‘Dar’ at the start of their name. Darunia. Darmani. Daruk. Etc

It was a common naming trend that carried through most Zelda games with Goron leaders, and one which stayed true from Ocarina of Time to Breath of the Wild.

But now it seems like it’s changing. Because not only does Echoes of Wisdom’s Darston continue the trend there, he also introduced a new one too. Naming Goron chiefs with ‘ston’ as a suffix.

With that naming scheme now being true of Agraston too. So yeah, it seems like we may have a new Goron naming setup here too.

Outside of names, we also get a few personality titbits too. It isn’t much, since it’s only marketing material here…

But it’s something nonetheless. For example, we now know that the Zora sage is both queen of the Zora and a brave fighter, sorta like Yona from Tears of the Kingdom. Meanwhile, Ardi is presented as a once loyal follower of Ganondorf that turns away from him once he becomes the demon king, and Agraston is a calmer and more intellectual Goron leader, rather than the hot-blooded and somewhat boisterous kind found in many previous games.

So yeah, we have something to go on now. Especially now the Japanese site also confirms he’s an old friend of Rauru as well.

Additionally, we also have a new character too. She’s not a sage like the others here are, but she’s an important character nonetheless, and presumably a fighter in-game too:

Yup, we’ve now got Lenalia as Zelda’s maid, and one of Rauru’s most trusted attendants. She’s an interesting character for sure, and one that reminds us an awful lot of Impa from the Oracle games:

Impa Artwork from Oracle of Seasons/Ages

She looks a fair bit like the new maid character, doesn’t she?

Still, those are the names and personalities of the sages from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, as well as a new character tied to Zelda. So, what do you think of them? Are you more interested in knowing about these guys now they’re not just nameless, faceless background characters found in a few memories? Or do you need more info to really find a reason to care?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below, or on our Discord server today!

Source:

Meet The Sages (And Zelda’s Maid) In Hyrule Warriors: Age Of Imprisonment (Nintendo Life)

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