Secrets of the UPHEAVAL - Tears of the Kingdom Lore

Let's UNEARTH the secrets of the Upheaval in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!
- Magicpixiedreamgirl
- Banuune ( / banuune1 )
- You!
Thumbnail Art by:
Jerome Comentale
www.artstation...
#tearsofthekingdom #zeldatearsofthekingdom #zelda

[@MonsterMaze]

Have a great rest of your weekend everyone!

[@Cliffordlonghead]

First

[@Cliffordlonghead]

Awesome video

[@willian1917]

I'm just excited for part 2!

[@LawfulBased]

9:03 About the castles flight. In TotK it is "reasoned" that the Castle itself being stuck in the ground... was somehow enabling a strenghtening of the seal. So Ganondorf did had a reason to just lift it up. In order to break free. It was necessary for him to break free. He was bound by more than just physical walls. There was some kind of holy force holding him back as well, in form of the Castle being stuck in the ground.

[@Cannon_The_Guy]

⁠also I believe ganondorf lifted up the castle because it was meant to protect the seal over him. How he may have known this I don’t know

[@akakay0131]

The way I saw it, the Upheaval is the result of two opposing plans, Hyrule’s and Ganon’s, coming into effect. For example, there’s a Construct on the Great Sky Island that explains that the Sky Islands were made to keep important structures out of Ganondorf’s reach in preparation for his inevitable return. It makes sense that, upon said return, they automatically lowered themselves just close enough to the surface that Link could access them. In that way it’s a lot like the Sheikah’s tech (the five pillars especially), which were also designed to automatically activate when Ganon was detected. I also assumed the whole falling ruins thing was unintentional, a result of all those ancient structures being moved for the first time in millennia.

[@MonsterMaze]

Absolutely! There were 2 plans being executed at the same time

[@paulog123]

Hyrules plan = zelda’s plan!

[@d3va383]

@@MonsterMazedoesn’t the beginning of the game show Zelda in dragon form part the cloud barrier that keeps you from getting to the surface in the tutorial? My interpretation was that the dragon parted the sky barrier that was also present in skyward sword. My personal theory was that the dragons went above the sky barrier in BOTW, and those were what the portals were. Maybe the light dragon was hiding above the cloud barrier in BOTW and that’s why we haven’t seen her until now.

[@tumultuousv]

​@@d3va383well yes. That's exactly it honestly

[@speedude0164]

That's pretty much it. The people of Hyrule likely made it so the Sky Islands and Shrines would appear after what I assumed was Rauru's awakening, but this video suggests it's the purification unit's activation. This means Link can then travel to the fallen Ring Ruins in Kakariko Village resulting in him meeting Mineru and embarking on a quest to find the Master Sword and other 4 Sages. However, Ganondorf learned of the plan and unleashed various regional phenomena to hide the Secret Stones, then corrupted Mineru's construct and deceived the researchers to prevent Link from reaching her. The chasms I think are how he unleashed the Gloom that summoned all the monsters and decayed the weapons.

[@dorianwiesner4477]

I always thought Ganondorf pushed Hyrule Castle in the air, because of its purpose as a seal. It not only works in a magical way like this, but also in a mechanical way to prevent Ganondorfs power from actually reaching the surface, like a bulkhead on a damaged ship prevents the water from flooding the rest of the ships hull. Looking at Hyrule Castle always reminded me of an extended piston.

[@FierceDeity35]

Exactly. We even get a tablet saying so.

[@dradon.]

Something I noticed is that sheikah technology seems to be made of zonaite. We know the sheikah had at least some access to the depths with the birida lookout and yoga clan chams in botw, both of which had sheikah technology at the bottom. In the spirit temple, there is a construct who exchanges zonaite for ancient blades, implying it is making the blades out of zonaite. Another point is that the divine helms, are upgraded using large amounts of zonaite.

[@MonsterMaze]

Good call! The helms are already on the list of talking points for the upcoming video

[@hugoah0]

And your battery becomes blue when you're fully upgraded, instead of green !

[@loamjomes]

This is accurate to the properties of zonaite as well: it doesn’t conduct electricity and has a dull sheen

[@coffeec8873]

i’m pretty sure the ancient blades were discovered in the depths by that construct! it tells you that it found them while searching for materials - i can’t remember if it just found a couple or like a whole pile.

[@mandrag4286]

Keep in mind that the Sheikah also are Hylia's emissaries and are endowed with mystical abilities as an act of divine providence on her part, for which she also has ties to blue hue energy like the Skyward Strike and the Gates of Time. On the flip side though, the land of Hyrule is also referred to as the "Holy Land" on account of it being the first place the Goddesses touched ground, and its a given that its rich with an abundance of latent force that condenses into ore material that can be extracted and refined/converted into energy. Ore and mineral stones like Timeshift ore, Opal, Topaz, Sapphire, Rubies, Rupee ore, Zonaite, the four elements from The Minish Cap, etc, are all collectively endowed with elemental latent energy on account of Hyrule being the Holy Land blessed from the eminence of the Goddesses at the dawn of creation.

[@paolog3213]

I think (also reading the stone tablet under the castle) that the Castle itself was a kind of seal. He had to move this "seal" to free himself triggering the purification unit.

[@onewingedmoogle]

I agree. It does make sense that it would have other purposes besides acting as a seal, though. The ones who built it likely knew that it wouldn't hold if Rauru's primary seal broke and planned for certain events to trigger if the seal was ever removed.

[@rangedweevil6150]

Same, when I first saw it I assumed it was basically just another, albeit colossal, sealing spike, akin to the one used in the sealed grounds to keep the Imprisoned Demise at bay

[@jakobr_]

I imagine it’s like a gigantic cork.

[@12parakeetsinahumansuit]

This was my assumption as well. Plus, i feel like removing the castle would make it a bit easier for him to release gloom into Hyrule. Like a sink drain, but in reverse

[@Blubbpaule]

To add on to this, this entire contraption was also a big fat warning. If the seal broke the castle would rise and a lot of stuff happen that ANYONE on the kingdom knew whats going on. Sorta home security warning because of an intruder. It would be much worse if the seal broke and ganondorf got a silent getaway.

[@cheez-it808]

Calling the geoglyphs “Hyruleglyphs” is actually pretty fun and unique.

[@chrislevack405]

Pretty sure he said heiroglyphs... but I love the idea of Hyruleglyphs, so that is officially their name now.

[@javiervasquez625]

I bet Nintendo will canonize the word in the next sequel.

[@MonsterMaze]

Smart!

[@jimmicks8185]

​@@MonsterMazeits geoglyphs smh lol

[@sboinkthelegday3892]

It's the same story with TotK as Ancient Cistern, The Spider's Thread. Since elevation references escaping the land of death, it makes sense Zonai look like Anubis. Your heart has to be as light as a loftwing feather. Sheikah towers just have this The Jetsons aesthetic that Hyrule Castle joins now.

[@SebbyWest]

With other theory channels I never have really big “oh my gosh that makes so much sense” type revelations, but you somehow always give me that reaction. Your videos are so well researched and thought provoking. Love it!

[@MonsterMaze]

Thanks Aydens, that means a lot to hear! I try my best to structure my videos that way, haha.

[@Dieozam]

I would have NEVER thought the platform from the beginning was another floating structure, I thought it was attached to a pillar akin to the one under the castle. My mind is BLOWN!

[@Limoncita_]

Same!!

[@fallatiuso]

I didn't even _notice_ that it was a floating platform, i thought it was all floored and the center platform fell because the floor broke due to Ganondorf.

[@howlpendragon36]

I think the floor broke on purpose When the purification unit was activated, it was probably designed to break the floor and stop Ganondorf from escaping the chamber

[@kobiestarr4770]

Huh?

[@tecinde3669]

“purification unit” is really interesting to me because Ganondorf says “you bind my heart and steal my magic” to Rauru - what immediately jumped to my mind was the possibility that it’s literally purifying all the magic being siphoned off of Ganondorf by Rauru’s seal, and using that as an energy source. Maybe even some of Rauru’s magic as well. it would be really interesting if some Zonai, even Sheikah tech (a central control unit exists, after all) is literally powered by the seal that the castle is built on as well. I do think it’s likely Mineru had at least a hand in the direction of the Upheaval. she did raise the Great Sky Island, after all, and I’d think the measures in place related to her sage questlines were of her design as well. that being said - the Zonai/Sheikah connections, which btw I’m very excited to see your thoughts on since they’re a topic I’ve thought about a lot in the past, do make me wonder if it couldn’t have been a bit of both - her and the ancient Sheikah. Mineru herself has more than a few links to the Sheikah, so it’s very possible that she worked with them in some shape or form imo. (yes I’m the Mineru person from discord. I’m only a little biased, dw.) really intriguing video and observations. glad to see you back!

[@adrienetourneau5988]

That really reminds me of Zeltik and NBC’s theory a while ago when we only had the first trailer, where they basically theorized that Ganondorf’s malice/gloom was purified to be used as the energy source of the sheikah technology

[@tecinde3669]

oh hmm, the shrines of light say they “imprison and _purify_ evil”

[@tonym3697]

Ohh, that would explain why people say the shrines started to "glow" after the Upheaval. They are channeling and storing the energy that Rauru is purifying from Ganondorf all those years. So, when the seal was broken, the shrines activated to be used for purifying the people who reaches their end! That's very cool if true. Gosh I wish they would let all of these unanswered questions to search in post game missions or something, to complete the lore. It would have been glorious.

[@SEMIA123]

I think it's neat that a lot of the sky islands can be matched up to spots on the surface of hyrule where they lifted off from.

[@JorgeRodriguez-xz5ec]

They weren't on the surface though, the sky islands appear after Zelda altered the present by time traveling to the Past and telling Rauru about the stuff happening in the present.

[@raskolnikov6443]

@@JorgeRodriguez-xz5ecthey were already there. It’s a closed time loop.

[@sietebueyes]

This is BY FAR the best TotK's theory since the game released. Happy to see Monster Maze back and clearly in good shape!

[@mkjjoe]

It's well done and explained but I'd call these more facts than theory, people infer all sorts of incorrect things but I don't see much room to interpret this part differently

[@sietebueyes]

I agree with you. More facts than theories, but still a gently amount of speculation and a lot of room to do so. I mean, Zelda's lore is everything but conclusive. At least the last time I checked. 😅

[@CatlordCalamity]

10:10 I remember being told somewhere in the game that Hyrule Castle is actually a seal itself. Ganondorf's character profile stated that Rauru's seal weakened because of the Calamity that damaged the castle severely, and Ganondorf rose the castle is a way of him to stay away from the castle so that he wouldn't get sealed again.

[@davidwave4]

My guess on who set it all up is that Mineru, Zelda, or Rauru left behind plans to the first Hylians, and the plans ultimately helped a certain subgroup of them -- the Sheikah -- becomes technologically advanced in their own right.

[@tylerpharez901]

I think when zelda disappears it changes the past, zonai tech means sheika never needed to develop it

[@Gyaradosage]

Which makes a sort of “song of storms” paradox, because Zelda’s expertise is sheikah technology.

[@ExtraBurntToast]

​@tylerpharez901 Due to the fact that the murals in the depths show Zelda as a dragon, it seems more likely than not that Zelda was always meant to go back in time. This means her time travel never affected anything since she already existed in the past.

[@hikkun_ch]

My take with this is that the trigger was not the hit but the amount of malice used. Kinda like a trigger they intetionally put there to send a signal to the sky islands, telling them that Ganon awakened and was time to lower the islands. And the plataform falling was a safety measure they tried to maybe kill or delay Ganon, 15:04 here the altar breaks from the '"edge to center", trying to prevent him from running away. I say this cuz falling objects tend to fall at same speed so the altar breaking apart like this could be on purpose,

[@GossipGeist]

Awesome observation. I noticed the floating platform Ganondorf was on but I never saw the constellations on the purification unit, what a great catch! That one little detail makes everything come together perfectly. It might have even triggered the dematerialization of almost all existing sheikah technology, save for the few pieces scattered around the Tech Labs and Lookout Landing. Another amazing video!

[@MonsterMaze]

Thanks Gossip! I see you've been on a roll with your content, cheers!

[@aratherbritishdinosaur]

Just what I needed right now. With this and Zeltik’s video on the same day, looks like the big theory channels are back to making theories. I’ve been waiting for this! Edit: I think Ganondorf lifted Hyrule Castle to create the Hyrule Castle Chasm so his gloom could reach the surface world, meaning he could create new monsters and decay the weapons, among other things.

[@bepperrs9801]

Finding out that theirs sheika markings on the purifier literally blew my MIND, I'm so happy to see the sheika being used even in small ways that fill major plot holes

[@emprax_D]

One of the theories that I've got is that Rauru's spiraling output energy is powering that central unit, using his secret stone to drain ganondorfs power and utilizing that power.

[@odile2odette]

rauru really turned himself into a zonai shrine for the greater good

[@MonsterMaze]

The origin of the aAncient Energy from BotW perhaps? 👀

[@sboinkthelegday3892]

Clearly a reference to nuclear energy. I've been keeping tabs on everything blue, and it's now clear it's converted malice into energy, that Sheikah found as a fuel source. Gloom could be it's radioactive waste product. However I think Fujibayashi is hinting at time itself being this energy source, even in Age of Calamity that he supervised. Green is the fusion of time, and so it's a "green" energy version of energy from STOPPED time. Let's say Sonia has actually USED time powers before, for actual, tangible effect. And this was a mass recall. She prevented a war in the future by recalling it's components into her time, the people, Zonai, and the Secret Stones that would be invented for that purpose. But by postponing such a war, she placed it actually EARLIER, in HER time. Now she has a passive effect of drawing things from the future, including Zelda, which is like the counter force to upheaval. Upheaval fills the gaps when things are dislocated in time, but the idea of time dislocation is to prevent a single, massive overflow all at once in a time of calamity. This is what she tries to teach Zelda to do, because THIS is the function of Hyrule.

[@legomaster2538]

5:02 Conveniently, the gloom decayed all weapons except those wielded by Teba and the new four sages.

[@obits3]

The wind sage has his bow stolen. The fire sage is drugged out by a mask. The water sage is forced to contend with massive pollution. The lightning sage is bad at aiming. The sage of spirit is trapped. The demon king probably thought he had his bases covered. Also, it is established that the champion weapons can be remade from even decayed weapons, so destroying them wouldn't be as effective.

[@legomaster2538]

@@obits3 The bow Tulin had stolen from him wasn’t the Great Eagle Bow, it was a Swallow Bow.

[@dsur5547]

@@legomaster2538bows weren’t decayed at all

[@legomaster2538]

@@dsur5547 I know, I just wanted to include the Rito.

[@a.jthomas6132]

While it is true that the Sacred Stone of the Zonai is capable if amplified the user's abilities, I feel the who reason how Ganondorf became so powerful and all that cataclysms are happing in both games is due to the dark magic he learned from the two Gerduo Masked figures. If you remembered playing Ocarina of Time, Kotake and Koume are the surrogate mothers of Ganondorf who taught the Gerudo King everything from dark magic to military strategies so they could lead their people out of their misery by placing his false legions to the Hyrulian King to get up close for reaching the Sacred Realm which hold his grand prize: The Triforce. When facing them in a boss battle, the two Gerudo witches fused together into Twinrova. Since they names are written in every Gloom weapons and they have made a brief appearance in two Dragon Tear memories, my hope is we get to see how this version of Kotake and Koume in Ganondorf's story a possible future Tears of the Kingdom DLC.

[@blacklynx2526]

Great video! Really cool theory with the Purification Unit Bering some sort of central action unit. But I wonder what is now holding up the sky islands? Great to have you back Don!

[@MonsterMaze]

It's good to be back! Yeah it's difficult to tell what holds up the other islands. There must be even more to it. We know not all islands are the same. The Great Sky Islands was said to be lifted into the sky by the sages. But other islands are much older and had to have existed back when the other Zonai were still around.

[@jotasietesiete4397]

​@@MonsterMaze they may have some kind of secondary power generation, or part of the island is just a big battery (which considering the power density of large bateries, these islands could still keep floating for eons)

[@aylinilya.]

my theory is that the sheikah were behind the zonai structures built after the imprisoning war, the older looking zonai ruins are obviously drastically different from the architecture in the sky, i think the sheikah were imitating their style, this would explain all the sheikah shrines tied to the ruins in botw, not to mentions the “sheikah zonai ruins” can be seen breaking and falling apart and behind those ruins are the cleaner “actual zonai architecture,” so the sheikah were covering it up to keep it safe from the outside world, this would also explain why the zonai were perceived as barbarians, another cover up story by the sheikah, this would also explain why the sheikah tech looks so similar to the zonai tech

[@UltimateTobi]

The Lomei Labyrinth structures in the Depths have the same, "barbaric" style like the ruins in Faron. Either that is an oversight, or the Sheikah had access to the Depths and built these structures/covered them up, too. I'd assume the Depths had been mined long before,during and some time after the past shown in TotK.

[@MonsterMaze]

I think you absolutely nailed it. And I will definitely be talking about the Zonai ruins on the surface vs those in the sky/depths

[@Ryujishida]

​@@UltimateTobiThe issue with that is the floating parts of the labyrinths. If the Sheikah did build the surface and depths parts of the labyrinths how would that account for the Zonai trials that require you to complete all three? I think the older Zonai ruins are just that. Zonai ruins from before they first ascended skyward and the three different clans mentioned at each labyrinth give us a look into how the Zonai society was structured. There was a line of Tauro's in game mentioning how the Zonai ruins on the surface seem to predate the ones that fell from the sky after all.

[@UltimateTobi]

@@Ryujishida The idea wasn't exactly that they built them, but covered them up, as mentioned in the initial comment, in order to make it seem more crude. The ruins in Faron do have the sleek Zonai architecture beneath the crude stone work/cover. The same one as the Lomei Labyrinths have. Also the ones in the sky. Now the question is: did the sky parts rise from the ground or were they always there like the rest?

[@jotasietesiete4397]

This has a flaw, the sky islards rose shortly after zelda's draconification, but the sheikah we know of didnt appear until many calamities later (enough to spot a pattern), this leaves many thousands of years between he sky islands and the sheikah

[@banukaii]

Another great video, as always MM. I wonder if the name Purification Unit is supposed to mean that at some point in totk's development the old "battery theory" was the direction they were going. G says "You bind my heart and steal my magic" too. We know this isnt the case anymore, but totk went through so many changes in dev that it just makes me wonder.

[@mackerel6099]

Awesome to be able to see the full models of the platform and the purification unite. Excited to hear more of your thoughts on who put it together to orchestrate the upheaval. It may be possible that Mineru and Zelda had a hand in it even if it was just laying out plans for others to carry out depending on what exactly the timeframe was from Imp. War to Draconification.

[@mxmoore]

4:08 As pointed out in the video, the Japanese term for “Upheaval” refers to some sort of cataclysmic event, but the individual characters literally translate to something along the lines of “the skies change and the earth separates” which is wonderfully appropriate for what actually happens during the Upheaval. I’m sure the localisation team toiled over how to translate this into English (as someone who works in translation / localisation I can relate), I think they did a really good job as “Upheaval” evokes a feeling of heavy movement.

[@NoiseDay]

I'm so excited for the Sheikah/Zonai analysis! Hoping for a Twili mention as well. Also, I'm curious if falling into the depths is actually going through a portal to the Dark World a la Link Between Worlds.

[@Ryujishida]

The Dark World in Link to the Past (Link Between Worlds was Lorule, not the Dark World) is the Sacred Realm corrupted by Ganon's wish on the Triforce, and it was returned to normal at the end of Link to the Past by Link's wish. So I doubt it and the depths are the same.

[@M33f3r]

@@RyujishidaTrue but it’s an extremely large nod to it with how the depths are a sort of inverted mirror of the surface

[@Ryujishida]

@@M33f3r Oh, definitely, intentional or not, it's hard to argue that point. And to be honest, if it wasn't so easily countered by the information provided in LttP, I'd have thought that the depths and the Dark World being the same would be a really interesting theory.

[@cato3277]

Insane hype whenever you upload, can’t wait to see this one

[@jommyheyman1180]

From seeing what the Purification Unit is, it sounds pretty plausible to me that it was originally made by the Ancient Sheikah. Perhaps the Ancient Sheikah were also the ones who worked with the sages to lift up the Zonai Sky Islands, originally just replicating the technology the Zonai had made before them. Then over time their technology advanced & diverged to eventually become the Ancient Sheikah tech we know & love. I say "advanced" because I personally think the Sheikah tech was a bit more practical than the Zonai tech. It's a theory of mine that the Sheikah tech was powered by & based around the use of another dimension (the Blue Aether you see above the ceilings of Sheikah shrines). Not only could the blue liquid which filled it be used infinitely by devices powered by Ancient Furnaces, but things like Shrines or Divine Beasts could occupy space in that dimension rather than the Normal world (since, you know, the Sky & Depths are filled with things that shouldn't be interfered with). The dimension could even be used to teleport you or a group of people to designated spots in that dimension or the normal world. But yeah I definitely can't wait to see what the opinions are on the relationship between the Zonai & Ancient Sheikah!

[@QuasarEE]

There's even a name for that dimension in the game's files - it's called the Illusory Realm.

[@MonsterMaze]

It really feelks like the Sheikah started out as "copycats" who eventually evolved the Zonai's technology to something even more sophisticated. I can't wait to go in-depth on this connection

[@althrouve007]

Another prolific and insightful video! I think that the placement of Ganondorf below the purification units is to serve both as a source of the raw energy that powers the major floating Zonai structures and as a fail safe mechanism. That upon the disruption of said energy source and the unfortunate effect of them falling from the sky is to alert Hyrule’s incarnation of the hero and goddess of that era. As a means to start training the hero for the battle ahead. I also would like to hypothesise that Zelda and Mineru might have brought the inception and establishment of the Shiekah clan as the people behind the scenes to keep the knowledge alive albeit in secrecy. Further, I see strong semblances of Mineru on Purah’s designs. Lastly, one last observation and might be quite symbolic as well. On the cutscene of Mineru’s passing at the end of the game, when all the other sages were pledging their fealty to Zelda, the scene shows Purah standing in solidarity although in the shadows or by the shade of a column reaffirming the “in the shadows” nature of the Shiekah, after all Mineru was the Sage of Spirit, and she was wise yet cloistered away in the shadows (as per the other cutscenes and the location of her temple/Secret Stone).

[@MonsterMaze]

Couldn't agree more. "Purification" also indicates that it's filtering something out, leaving you with a new substance. Perhaps the Ancient Energy the Sheikah tapped into in BotW? It would be amazing if the Sheikah turn out to have been established in the way you describe it. I also see the resemblances. I even expected them to go there in TotK, where it turns out Paya would take up the role of the 5th sage or something. I think that would've been more interesting.

[@althrouve007]

@@MonsterMaze I wholly concur that the Purification unit must be responsible for synthesizing the corrupted/raw energy from Ganondorf, (fitting that he is the holder of the Triforce of "Power") and it could be that that is the case regarding the energy source utilized by the Shiekah, after all the towers, shrines, even the furnaces were connected to the ground where its sourced. Which also leads me to believe the reason why for example the bombs were almost instantaneous when recharging as there is ambient energy everywhere coming from [hypothetically] the towers, and could also be one other reason why and how Ganondorf was able to posses or infect the ancient technology as it was already feeding off of him. Whereas, when in the present, said energy got cut short, we are then forced with the need to expand the Zonai batteries or wait for them to fully recharge before being able to use again or use the expendable Zonai charges. The way it panned out in my head regarding the establishment of the Shiekah is as follows: Of her time spent in the Founding Past, Zelda must surely be talking about the future Hyrule she is from, coordinating with King Rauru and the other sages, learning to hone her divine skills from Queen Sonia, and Mineru being the wise and inquisitive sort must have also learnt much from Zelda and both hatched a plan to establish a sect of select individuals to become the Shiekah tribe. Thus resulting in them being more cognizant and adept at using technologies similar to the Zonai and creating their own version. As for Paya, I agree it would have been truly interesting of a twist is she became the Sage of Spirit. Her character became more developed in ToTK and she became more studious per se about the Ring ruins and the Zonai. However, she was under the guidance of Impa and was already wearing the hat that looks like it has a tower on top in BoTW, which led me to believe that she will be following the footsteps of Impa.

[@althrouve007]

@@MonsterMaze PS. Thanks to auto-correct by the way, when it corrected Zonai to Sonia... you reckon that is the reason why Rauru chose her to be his and Hyrule's founding Queen? Haha! Also I hope that you are feeling much better and continually recuperating. We as a community appreciate your videos. Thank you again.

[@-emir5484]

The name purification unit makes me wonder, does it purify ganon's malice/gloom by drawing it out? If so, maybe that's why the underground is full of it and that might also be why people had to move out of the depths because iy was getting too dangerous to live there

[@MonsterMaze]

I think so! It may even be the source of the Ancient Energy from BotW. Which was abundant in specific locations around Hyrule. The castle being the most potent one if I remember correctly.

[@DonutSwordsman]

Amazing editing at 3:30. Castle looks so cool with the moon like that

[@ArtemisWasHere]

10:12 my guess, given the end of the giant column has raurus magic circling around it, is that it’s like a stopper or cork on a bottle of very angry champagne

[@MonsterMaze]

An angry champagne is probably the best analogy to describe Ganondorf in this game xD

[@FierceDeity35]

​@MonsterMaze there's a stone tablet saying something similar under the spiral staircase in the royal passageway. It calls the castle a seal and the condition of the castle is directly linked to the effectiveness of holding Ganondorfs power back. Since the original calamity, the castle has fallen into ruin... leading to the malice seeping out.

[@ArtemisWasHere]

@@MonsterMaze can’t take credit for it, I quoted from Zeltic

[@milliondollarmistake]

The Upheaval being a sort of security system is really interesting. Upon detecting Ganon's awakening it destroys the platform holding him up but also raises the castle into the perfect defensive position.

[@paperpopper2586]

All these huge and important things that we just *wouldnt* know if it werent for people digging into the game and fans doing their own research. Personally i think this kind of lore solving is really neat; letting people come to their own conclusions and interpretations based on what the different parts of the games show and tell us. Its a lot funner than having the game just tell you everything outright imo

[@MonsterMaze]

It's very fun digging into things that aren't accesible through regular means. It's like peaking behind the curtain ^^

[@PuffnStuff117]

They’ve been doing this since Demon Souls, and most fromsoft games lol. It works for those games. Not Zelda games

[@paperpopper2586]

@@PuffnStuff117 yeah, i love those games too lmao. But i do think it works for botw and totk at the very least, they arent your conventional zelda games after all

[@tumultuousv]

​@@PuffnStuff117wrong.

[@jesusurzua3988]

As always, Don: EXCELLENT work and video! thank you for making it I was so eager to start “discussing” everything that happens in TotK with my fave Zeldatubers hoping for more and the next videos to come from that community I definitely share many many of your thoughts on this one and it even opened my mind to other questions regarding this but it does make sense that the Upheaval, as in game it is implied, is primarily a plan orchestrated by Rauru and Zelda and Ganondorf was just the precursor as to when it needed to start and help Link As for the Chasms, it also makes sense to go with the same train of thought… they are just filled with gloom because it is looking for a place to emerge and to start weakening soldiers and habitants but intended for Link to reach Mineru, the mines and Gorondia.

[@skyesilverwing8922]

Personally, I figure the purification unit as being built into the base of the castle to amplify and reinforce Rauru's seal. It might be similar to some of the ornamentation seen above the statues at the end of the Shrines. I think Ganondorf was flexing his might by pushing away an object that had been metaphorically and literally holding him down, and in doing so, pushed the castle up a hundred feet. I do think that most of the changes that we see throughout Tears of the Kingdom from Breath of the Wild are actually caused by Zelda's temporal meddling. It fits solidly with Skyward Sword's "the tree was always here, but I don't know why we didn't think to pick the fruit before now" time shift style. The missing Shieka tech, without even so much as a hole left behind and the fact that there are mysteriously "new" ruins situated on Akala Citadel seems to prove a change in the past has altered the current landscape without most of the people even noticing. Who is behind it all? Zelda. You want more proof? Look at the Light Dragon during the tutorial. It is missing the ribbons of light that indicate that the Master Sword is there, until you send the sword back in time.

[@Bromaster]

That Thumbnail art looks Badass!

[@Ylurple]

wow i never thought about the green crystal that makes up hover stones being part of the floating islands. and then when you said that zonai devices are activated when force is applied i was like DUH! wow great connections!

[@marissabulso6439]

Excellent video. Thank you! I think it shows great wisdom and foresight, that the ancient people of Hyrule put a countermove into effect for Ganon’s revival-one that would help to aid the people faced with that disaster, while also working to thwart Ganon from the start. It never occurred to me that it was not Ganon’s plan to fall into the Depths. It doesn’t seem to have bothered him overly much, but now I’m thinking that was not his intention when he flung his malice upward.

[@iceneko9170]

that fact that ganondorfs sealing platform was floating makes that scene make SO much sense. great video man.

[@FiveFour5454]

I always thought that the shieka tech simply no longer existed in tears of the kingdom, because all of the things they would have had to make were made by the zonai in the timeline zelda accidentally made.

[@trapadvisor]

Have you noticed how the perfect circles within circles the zonai use are naturally forming on the silver enimies horns such as the lizalfo and lynel. I think this could imply something about how secret stones are used and it may be Ganons way of making a mockery out of what the zonai have created. Or it’s a natural forming pattern from use of secret stones.

[@cosmo2590]

considering that she was involved in the making of sky islands by leaving her records to link, and that impa fulfilled this role in many zelda games, i wonder if the chamberlain was actually the first sheikah of botw/totk

[@Demanufactur3r]

What was Ganondorf even doing this deep below the castle? Can't imagine him being tricked to go there only to be ambushed.

[@sa3270]

I keep wondering how Link and Zelda made their way to the imprisoning chamber prior to the upheaval. Presumably those passages were sealed up during the upheaval. It seems they may have come down that stairwell with all the lizalfos on it, and those areas that we see them in with the dondon would have been above that.

[@MonsterMaze]

Yep, there's a whole network of rooms and hallways down there. It's crazy!

[@sa3270]

@@MonsterMaze That dondon from the trailer may have been trapped down there.

[@Haregue]

Glad you’re back MM! These vids get my inner lore man buzzing!

[@anthonibrookshire3867]

Builder 1: "Where should we put the Anti-Ganon Device?" Builder 2: "First thing he'll want to do is destroy the castle above. Put the device in the way so he plays himself."

[@The_Story_Of_Us]

Well the upheaval itself I believe was deliberate by Ganondorf. The raising of Hyrule Castle, the eruption of all these holes in the ground leading down to the depths, he made those so that his army of demons from the very underworld itself could spew out into the kingdom of Hyrule. That's why all the monsters have horns now, they're the very ones sealed below ground during his own time after his defeat, separated from those left behind on the surface that lost their horns over time due to what I'd assume is their diminished power separated from the Demon King whereas as we can see in the Depths, it became a world of total darkness and malice having once been a part of the thriving Zonai civilization that died with King Rauru, the monsters down there are stronger with Ganondorf's miasma, capable of sapping the life force of any people they attack. So Ganondorf's reason for causing the upheaval was to open the floodgates for his army to invade Hyrule again and also for his miasma from the underworld to seep into Hyrule, infecting its inhabitants and degrading the kingdom's weapons. The descent of the Zonai sky islands, including that of the appearance of several sky architecture like the boat and the Zora temple was planned to correspond to his revival so as to give the hero more tools to fight the Demon King and also awaken the sages. It's confirmed that the sages of the time planned all of this with Zelda and themselves raised everything into the sky and hiding it so it might aid Link in the future. The way in which it was hidden I would guess is similar to how the Zonai hide all these superstructures inside their tiny shrines, it's all in a different realm.

[@NPandDulce]

I have not been to the end of the game yet at all, just to the area right before Ganon must be at, where all of the debris from the Imprisoning Chamber is at, I've been there tons of times just for fun, and still couldn't find an answer as to what the green rock was, I knew it was something Zonai, but no clue, and now with the 3D models YOU JUST BLEW MY MIND! I wanted one answer and you show us everything! It's just so awesome you can show us this kind of content not many have the access to, which is so important for the theories and lore of the game!👏🏻🤯

[@Silvio_Nightwind]

Always a good day when I catch one of your videos. Hope you're taking care of yourself Monster Maze!

[@dragnbane]

What if after Ganondorf was imprisoned, the purification unit was added to use the malice, but also as a type of security device for when he woke back up? Like, making the castle rise up so high, what better way to let the entire kingdom know something was going down than to raise the capitol up so everyone would see it?

[@CaptainDoge1]

Such a cool thumbnail 😎 very nice job to the artist.

[@MonsterMaze]

Oh yeah, Jerome is an extremely talented concept artist! He made this artwork long before the game was even out

[@Mr.G_717]

No u

[@CaptainDoge1]

@@Mr.G_717 u 🫵

[@pikmin4743]

the upheaval was like champagne and ganon woke up and hastily popped the cork 🍾

[@IamayMizono]

OMG, it's a defense system! Picture this: Ganondorf wanted to escape Hyrule castle after he woke up. He pushed on the pillar above him to try and make an exit hole but the purification pillar detected this and caused the floor to collapse beneath him and send a signal to the Zonai devices concealing the sky islands and opening some of the chasms to the underground. Some of the chasms are probably Ganondorf's doing but most I'd say are the Zonai doing it.

[@Nyxael5845]

In the European and Latam Spanish translation of Tears of the Kingdom, the Upheaval is known as "la catástrofe" which translates to "The Catastrophe"

[@neonswift]

Nice discoveries and theory. I take it that Ganondorf knew what that object was, like he may have been partly aware, because he's getting as physically away from it as possible, but he never leaves the underworld. Maybe because its still functioning and all he can do is summon monsters, phantoms and gloom. Its like pushing it gave me enough power to take action on the surface but not free himself. Its likely the bosses underground were first and he became able to send them forth byrhe chasms opening but was unable to attack his targets directly.

[@nojustno4099]

I think the reason he raised the castle was because the castle was what kept him completely sealed, and raising it up was able to make his power heal at a faster pace, even though he knew it'd make him more vulnerable.

[@Dogman415]

I'm going to post this before watching the rest of the video and before watching the Zonai/Sheikah connections one, but I suspect the Sheikah tech was somehow powered by the malice being siphoned and purified by the seal, and that's why it was so easy for Ganondorf to take control of the tech.

[@amirhosseinmaghsoodi388]

Interesting as always. It makes sense since the hylians of that time did a lot to prepare.

[@Cwronaga216]

I assumed the pillar above ganon was like a giant cork. He had to lift it up to allow his full power to flow over the land as the "cork" acted like a seal. The builders knew this and used its removal as the trigger for the "last line of defence"

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

Great video! And I agree and to add it's likely the perfcation unit turned Gloom to shika juice and then Clamity Ganon turned that into malice in the last game. Which I wonder if the shieka are the green ground Zoni from BOTW?

[@kelseyarnold1756]

Is there any indication in the game of how long after the Imprisoning War Mineru went into the Purah Pad, and how long after that Zelda went through with the draconification? We know she talked to all the sages after the battle so their descendants would prepare for Ganondorf's return. I assumed that whatever other setup there was to do, must have been done during that time. Great video!!

[@alexandertkachenko1432]

I think the sky islands actually were always there. They were just obscured by the cloud barrier which was broken by the light dragon once link sent the master sword back in time. Maybe the ring ruins and sky temples being revealed was intentional on her part. (Revealing two secret stones and mineru) Ganondorf likely sensed this and sent Colgera and Muktorok to guard the stones.

[@SeniorLady]

Thanks for the video and additional information - so eye-opening! I have pondered the regional 'disturbances': Clearly the ancient Sages each created a safe haven for their Secret Stones to reside, to be obtained by their worthy heir, but how would Ganondorf, sealed underground (with or without castle) have known about them, and therefore known to have sent the mini-bosses to thwart the Sages' plans? Hmmmmm...... OR, did the Ancient Sages also put the mini-boss in place to insure that only the true heir would succeed? No, because they state that Ganondorf was to blame for the mini-boss... Hmmmmm.....

[@kevinphandy2]

Purification Unit Observation: Seems some of the Stars in the Constellations line up with a Ripple pattern. This pattern is all throughout Zonai architecture. Of the top of my head there's the ripples in the ceiling of the Shrines. No idea what that means, but feels deliberate.

[@MungkaeX]

I thought that Pillar of rock holding up Hyrule Castle was simply the Malice Ganondorf used to lift it solidified. The words on it I assumed (but didn’t check) that it was related to whatever spell Ganondorf used.

[@Антонович-я4ф]

Great video Monster Maze! Regards from Mexico. You are amazing in regarding uncovering details and secrets! I will be waiting the second part video analysis!

[@BloopersINCjr]

“It’s been so long…” Seriously tho glad you uploaded again!

[@MonsterMaze]

It's been... 84 years

[@BloopersINCjr]

@@MonsterMaze “Now I think you are ready to know what happened 84 years ago…”

[@SkysWeirdProductions]

The upheaval is technically the second upheaval in Hyrule's history. The first upheaval occured when the Zonai descended upon primordial hyrule, which was a large hillscape of prairies. The Zonai ripped the land apart, and flipped the land upside down like a giant slate, and set it down on its back. This exposed zonite ores, cave systems, mountains, lakes, for the Zonai to flourish in their new home. However this came at a cost, the mountains cut off the Gerudo who originally resided in the Savana-like continent, and isolated them in a desert, cutting them off from the eastern lands. This caused the gerudo to almost eternally despise the Zonai for pretending to be gods, and ruining their home. This hatred and need for revenge was inherited by Ganondorf centuries later, and after he became the demon king.

[@KParsa]

Another masterfully done video! The question I have now is why was ganondorf in that chamber specifically at the time of war? Was he cornered by the sages and Rauru or did he have a reason to be in that particular part of the depths?

[@MonsterMaze]

That is a very good question, and one I've been curious about as well

[@tonym3697]

I said something like this in a comment, but it would be absolutely fantastic if they bringed all the lore answers in a post ending to chase. Maybe with a few missions with the investigation team? Like the one for the thunder islands. Imagine that kind of post ending to do. It's a pity who much is left unanswered, even the story of the pelican from the newspaper (who now I don't remember his name lol, but I will). I would loved to see him finding his answers as well, such a good and weird lad.

[@catalyst539]

I would like to add, the Tobio’s Hollow Chasm area sits on Tobio’s Hollow, a small pond of water. But wait, that’s not right- it was a swamp mire in BotW! The same with the Bottomless Swamp where the big monster skull was in BotW, it’s all water now and the skull is just gone. This cannot go unexplained. There has to be a connection between the Upheaval and these two locations.

[@FierceDeity35]

I think people just cleaned it up. If they destroyed all the sheika tech, they could easily clean up some swamps. They are pretty organized.

[@jotasietesiete4397]

​@@FierceDeity35 link and zelda were going to investigate vah ruta at the end of botw, so maybe the zora were using it to clean up the mess the various pools of malice created, and in the process also cleaned this

[@catalyst539]

@@jotasietesiete4397 as much as I want to believe that it’s simply not possible, vah ruta stopped working and there’s too little a gap between beating dark beast ganon and the true ending

[@tristanneal9552]

My theory is that it's all a bootstrap paradox. We know Zelda made preparations to assist Link in the future prior to her draconification, based on knowledge of what happened in that opening cutscenes (the fact that she saw Ganondorf's return influences her to set up the future sages to help Link). I think this is all an extended part of her plan. The cental unit is made to respond to Ganondorf's gloom and trigger events around Hyrule that would assist Link, just like the Shiekah tech that Zelda once studied. How would Zelda know to put the unit on the ceiling above? Because she saw Ganondorf's gloom shoot up to the ceiling in that opening cutscene! It's all a circle with no end, just like the logo.

[@JoshyG]

What a BANGER video! I’m happy to hear about your recovery as well. Thanks Don!!

[@jeremyetremblay6663]

Should we tell him there is a reason why ganondorf pushed the castle upward or should we let him figure it out?

[@FierceDeity35]

People in the comments are saying it, he'll see it.

[@BakkerfeelingAdventures]

Cool video, very nicely presented and well put together. I always enjoy watching these lore videos after completing the game to pick up on things I might have missed. It really makes sense that the purification unit, once triggered, set of a series of things that were intentionally prepared for Link to aid on his mission and give access to places that were hidden from sight. Being so that when Ganondorf woke up, all was set in motion. As Mineru help Zelda before her hibernation into the Pura pad, she might also have helped with the construction of the purification unit. Preparing everything to aid the hero in the future. Just like the Goddess Hylia did in Skyward sword for example. But the Zonai-Sheika connection seems like an interesting option too. Looking forward to see that video. Thanks for the work that went into making this one. May the Goddess smile upon you. 😄👍

[@Ghricy]

Good video. Btw that might be the coolest thumbnail ever

[@Banana-lf4lm]

Something i noticed at 8:51 is that central hyrule used to be a lake, if I'm reading the map correctly, has noth8ng to do with the theory but i thought it was cool

[@exedra1013]

Could Rauru's arm have been providing the battery/power to a system holding up some islands or preventing the upheaval from happening rather than Ganondorf activating a battery? A sort of dead man's switch where the upheaval and Ganondorf's return would happen in sync

[@hulkman245]

One thing I don't really like is that BOTW and TOTK makes you ask a lot of questions that will never be answered. Some questions I get but there are like A LOT

[@SMM00797]

The quality and depth of these videos are truly unmatched.

[@layzzzee9484]

0:58 no but like link is so strong bc even though his dominant arm was taken out by loads of gloom and his vitality was stolen, making him heavily injured, he still found enough strength to raise the master sword to protect himself and zelda from the 2nd wave.

[@derekhogan9685]

The unit was likely a very visible part of a larger mechanism that was meant to purify Ganon's magic as Rauru's sacrifice drained it. Kind of like putting a filter on what's leaking. I only say this because it's a stated fact in the game that the castle was built as a type of seal to Ganon. It's also possibly why Calamity Ganon or malice could periodically leak into Hyrule or why spires appeared in Botw when it manifested.

[@aaronolson6736]

Wait that at the end could be why the Shiekah served the Hyrulean Royal Family, Zelda enlisted those who served the Zonai and had an idea how their tech worked in order to prepare things for the millenia to come, they would then use the color blue for their creations as that is the color the of the Light Dragon

[@Serennekin]

Amazing theory!!! So much research and incredibly compelling! Great video man thank you 👌

[@Cubebass]

this has got to be the best TOTK theory video I've seen since the release of the game!!!!

[@scottcrimmins1754]

Glad to have you back. Hope you're well

[@Luca-ls2xk]

What a great video! I was always excited for any content you produce, but such fresh and deep theorys were rare since botw. Btw, i dont know if that is helpful, but in the german localisation the gloom is also called Miasma and the upheaval is called Kataclysmus (cataclysm)

[@Aladato]

Very cool video! It seems Ganondorf activated their trap card! Upon revival, the platform would give in, sending him to the depths to give time for the surface to survive. It worked too well, he's stuck down there the whole game... On a serious note, I feel like we don't really understand the shrines and their purification purpose fully yet.

[@LinkAlmeida]

Everyone and their mothers know that Zelda is a dragon...except if they live in Hyrule 😅

[@KryyssTV]

Given that the Sheikah were sworn protectors of Hylia's incanations it would make sense that the group was founded after the assasination of Queen Sonia - who was herself one of Hylia's reincarnations. Therefore the location where Ganondorf the First was captured would be well-known to the newly assembled Sheikah. The Aspect of the Hero also shows that at least one other Zonai was in Hyrule after Mineru and Rauru were killed so there would have been a possible blend of Sheikah and Zonai technology nessersary to create the purification unit.

[@Earthquaker_Pan]

to think i found out about ur channel from the life as a boko vid alone

[@excelup5358]

i love the idea that ganondorf's hubris and self importance in rising hyrule castle as a trophy was in actuality a trap put in place by the zonai and sheikah to trigger the upheavel and assist link in his journey to defeat him it actually shows that they learned what kind of a person ganondorf was and was able to predict how he'd act. they used his overwhelming power against him to essentially boost all of the ancient zonai tech back into overdive

[@princessalora3178]

I have a feeling that the "ancient warlike tribe" that was in the Faron region that made the barbarian armor and all of these events are somewhat connected since the barbarian armor strangely resembles Ganondorf with the red hair. The different zonai technology that can also be found in the Faron region also helps with this theory, so like maybe that tribe were different kids of shiekah, but I'm not really sure how to put my thoughts into a proper sentence that makes sense lol so basically my thoughts on this consist of Ancient warlike tribe in the Faron region, Ganondorf, different zonai ruins, and old and maybe different shiekah that are all connected that made it happen. Weird theory but yeah. I could also be HORRIBLY wrong on this and maybe I missed something huge but idk

[@UltimateTobi]

The Construct in the Gerudo Abandoned Mine mentioned that he remembers chasms being in the Lanayru region. That would mean chasms have existed before he was constructed. But they clearly aren't there in BotW. But perhaps they were and only the superficial layer of earth gave way during the Upheavel. Irregardless, these chasms are not creations of Ganon(dorf) and so I'd think they are just corrupted with Gloom, but were created to have easy access to the Depths (be it for mining, construction, etc.)

[@MonsterMaze]

Aah, good catch. Yeah the chasms must've exited long before Ganondorf became the Demon King. Their placement is also way too coincidental for them to be random holes.

[@sa3270]

Perhaps they were created by, or for, the dragons long ago, since they seem to enjoy using them now that they've reopened. It's funny, because when I first stumbled upon the Yiga pit in BOTW, it was before I found the front of their hideout, and I thought that must be where the dragons come out.

[@mediocreone9465]

I do think you made so good points tho, there probably could have been prep to stop ganon from winnig, and i really do love the video

[@trevdoesweirdthings]

"Everyone and their mother knows that Zelda is a dragon" If I told my mother this she would think I was a furry and disown me.

[@kylehnatko4542]

I think it may be too convenient of an answer but i believe that the force of gloom/malice that ganondorf let out was so powerful it forced the castle skyward. Just a theory... A gaaaame theory :)

[@Matthew-Martinsson]

Geweldig filmpje weer. Het blijft een goed spel!

[@CrimsonOrange.]

“A third blast of my asthma” 💀💀