Breath of the Wild What is calamity Ganon? (all data and theory)

[Amy Lu Minati]

Breath of the Wild. Master sword is broken. There's a Giant smoke pig swirling around the castle. What is going on in hyrule? According to a mystical voice and some old dude, weird stuff went down while Link was taking his 100 year beauty rest. There's a giant monster that wants to kill everyone.
The Voice says this about calamity ganon: “The Beast… When the beast regains its true power, this world will face its end."
“Now then… You must hurry… Before it’s too late.”
The voice calls it "The Beast." Keep this in mind later.

The old man says this about the creature:
“I assume you caught a full sight of that atrocity swarming around the castle. That… Is the calamity Ganon. It brought ruin and destruction upon the kingdom of Hyrule 100 years ago.”
“It appeared suddenly, leaving countless innocents in its wake.”
“Over the last century, the kingdom’s purest symbol; Hyrule Castle, has been able to contain that evil. But just barely.”
“There it festers, building its strength for the moment it will unleash it’s blight upon the land once again. It would appear that moment is fast approaching.”
So the old guy gave it a name. Calamity Ganon. But is this actually Ganon? I don't think so. I think its Demise's consciousness broken free of the master sword's seal. Sounds farfetched? Absolutely, but lets look at what we know about Demise (or the Imprisoned).
1. Demise absolutely LOVES to break out of seals! He does it a whole freaking ton of times in SS.
2. Demise's breakouts happen at random times (storywise, not gameplay wise). So Demise has a reputation for "appearing suddenly." His first appearance is out of a fissure from an earthquake which happens out of nowhere.
3. Demise builds up strength when he is sealed. He "festers" like Calamity Ganon does.
4. Demise appears in swirling black smoke, like Calamity Ganon. He also has magic that glows red, like his dark halo, it glows red in bursts.
5. At the end of SS Demise is "eradicated" while at the same time, "Demise's consciousness has been absorbed into the master sword."

The Calamity Ganon is obviously missing it's body. It's looks like a swirling mass of hatred. Why would it be missing its body though? Well, if it WAS Demise's consciousness, that would explain the whole thing.

The Master Sword in BOTW looks like somebody smacked it across a rock and then dragged it through a field of mud, waited a few months, and then did the whole thing again. The master sword looks like it is in no shape to be sealing anything away. Maybe it looks like this because Demise's consciousness somehow gained enough power to break out? Well, that sure makes more sense than water damage or weathering to me, since its a MAGIC SWORD! :/ also, Demise and this Calamity Ganon have quite a lot in common, and all the pieces we currently have shows them to be quite similar.
But what do you think? Is the Old Man being literal when he says it is Ganon, or is that just because Ganon is integrated into his culture so much that he believes any giant pig monster is Ganon?

 

[Spirit]

I hate Demise...

I dont think its him. Demise took the form of a giant Fail Whale/Pinecone with toes in SS, not a boar like beast creature. For Demise to take a Ganon-like shape doesnt make too much sense.

Also, calling him Ganon puts BotW (presumably) after OoT which was the first appearance of Ganon, so the culture knows who Ganon is or knows enough about him to fear the name, hence dubbing the smoke pig Ganon.

The Master Sword's power may be failing but i doubt thag would unlock Demise. I think after SS Demise's story is over. His essence being absorbed into the Master Sword i think was symbolic of him being over and Ganon beginning considering that stupid reincarnation curse Demise puts on the three of them is canon.

I'm pretty sure it is Ganon, if Nintendo wanted it to be Demise they would have called it Demise.

 

[Amy Lu Minati]

I don't think what we see of the master sword is "failing" It was failing in WW and it still looked completely unscathed, what we are seeing right now is more likely to be a completely broken sword, besides, it never ever stated that Demise would be sealed away within the sword forever, or even a long long time.
Also, if Ganondorf is a reincarnation of Demise's "hatred" and he takes the form of a pig, why wouldn't a bodiless Demise take the same shape?
:/ Nintendo could be pulling everyone's leg.

 

[Dio]

I don't think what we see of the master sword is "failing" It was failing in WW and it still looked completely unscathed, what we are seeing right now is more likely to be a completely broken sword, besides, it never ever stated that Demise would be sealed away within the sword forever, or even a long long time.
Also, if Ganondorf is a reincarnation of Demise's "hatred" and he takes the form of a pig, why wouldn't a bodiless Demise take the same shape?
:/ Nintendo could be pulling everyone's leg.

Fi said his consciousness would be absorbed into the sword where it would decay. Which means over time there would be nothing left.

Demise is no more as far as I am concerned. I dont think we will ever see him again. He was just created to be a primordial Ganon, who is the successor in all games after SS.

 

[Amy Lu Minati]

Fi said his consciousness would be absorbed into the sword where it would decay. Which means over time there would be nothing left.

Demise is no more as far as I am concerned. I dont think we will ever see him again. He was just created to be a primordial Ganon, who is the successor in all games after SS.

She never says it will decay. She just says she has sealed away his residual consciousness. :/ But if you can find where you got that bring it forward. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09TJnCdFPUo

1.45 shows when his consciousness is absorbed. No mention of decay in there.

I can see where you might have made an error, because later Fi tells link that HER consciousness is fading away. But that has literally nothing to do with demise at all.

 

[Dio]

She never says it will decay. She just says she has sealed away his residual consciousness. :/ But if you can find where you got that bring it forward. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09TJnCdFPUo

1.45 shows when his consciousness is absorbed. No mention of decay in there.

It's actually impa that says it. That's the error I made and that's why you couldn't find it.

 

[Mike Riendeau]

So let's just say it is Demise, alright? In what time line would the game take place at this point? In which continuity could Demise come back, and it make sense? Personally, I can't think of a timeline where Demise coming back would make sense. This makes my mind lean heavily to calamity Ganon, just being that. Ganon taking a completely different form.

 

[Amy Lu Minati]

It's actually impa that says it. That's the error I made and that's why you couldn't find it.

...Okay, so can you show me where?

So let's just say it is Demise, alright? In what time line would the game take place at this point? In which continuity could Demise come back, and it make sense? Personally, I can't think of a timeline where Demise coming back would make sense. This makes my mind lean heavily to calamity Ganon, just being that. Ganon taking a completely different form.

How about any of the timelines? If he's in there in all of them it could literally happen at any given time. I don't see why it doesn't make any sense to you.

It's actually impa that says it. That's the error I made and that's why you couldn't find it.

I just watched all of the cutscenes after the Master Sword becomes a big deal in the game (the last 2/3rds) and Impa says nothing of the sort. In fact, she barely even talks about the Master Sword at all. (Yes, old and young Impa) But if you can find it where I missed it...

EDIT: Merged 3 posts into 1. Please edit previous post rather than posting multiple times in a row if nobody else has replied yet.

 

[ITheSuperior]

Ok, with that you gave me the inspiration I needed for a Timeline placement theory.
So:
In bith the Link is Victorious timelines, we have a game where Gannon dies, probably b
destroying Demise's evil spirit in the process .
However in the last (storywise) game of the Link is Defeated timeline, Ganon never dies. He is merely prevented from resurecting, which means that demises spirit is still there.
So the game takes plase after Zelda2 (not necessarily the same Link).
The mastersword was not found during Zelda2 and it was forgoten, passed into the legend.
The magic seal on it tarnished, allowing Demise's spirit to escape and take the form of Calamity Ganon, since Ganon was his last form, but without a body. Just his anger and will for revenge.

 

[Amy Lu Minati]

Ok, with that you gave me the inspiration I needed for a Timeline placement theory.
So:
In bith the Link is Victorious timelines, we have a game where Gannon dies, probably b
destroying Demise's evil spirit in the process .
However in the last (storywise) game of the Link is Defeated timeline, Ganon never dies. He is merely prevented from resurecting, which means that demises spirit is still there.
So the game takes plase after Zelda2 (not necessarily the same Link).
The mastersword was not found during Zelda2 and it was forgoten, passed into the legend.
The magic seal on it tarnished, allowing Demise's spirit to escape and take the form of Calamity Ganon, since Ganon was his last form, but without a body. Just his anger and will for revenge.

I really like this! But I'm curious as to why you'd assume Demise would be destroyed at the same time as Ganon in the adult timeline. Wouldn't it make more sense to have Demise spring forth after Ganon is dead because he no longer has an incarnation? I really like your theory though, it still makes sense to me. I just think your reasoning for ruling out the other timelines needs some more explanation.

 

[Mike Riendeau]

I just don't think Demise and Ganon are the same! I know a lot of people think they are but they aren't. Ganon is the curse set by Demise at the end of Skyward Sword. Demise is done in my book.

 

[Amy Lu Minati]

Some people have speculated that in this game, Zelda may return to being the goddess Hylia. While I find this highly unlikely, it would make sense that if Hylia makes a return, so would Demise. But there isn't any evidence for her return besides a stone goddess statue in the ToT which you can pray to. But since we only know 1 1/2% of the game... Its really impossible to say anything IS or ISN'T at this point. We can only theorize, which makes it all the more fun!

 

[Mipha]

I just don't think Demise and Ganon are the same! I know a lot of people think they are but they aren't. Ganon is the curse set by Demise at the end of Skyward Sword. Demise is done in my book.

The curse is that Demise will forever reincarnate(like Link), and that reincarnation is heavily implied to be Ganondorf. That's why people think that, because it's most likely true(if not outright confirmed). So that's kind of like saying Link isn't Link, or SS Zelda isn't Hylia.

 

[Aku]

Well, judging from their statements about it, we can infer:

It's not plain Ganon anymore, it's Calamity Ganon.
The creature is refered to as an 'it' rather then a 'him' or 'he.'
It has the potential to bring the world to an end, but it's not yet regained enough strength to do so.
It appeared suddenly (but then, I don't think any baddie announces his presence brfore he attacks) and people refer to it as The Beast (goes hand in hand with calling the thing 'it,' plus it's a giant pig, so no surprise there.)

So two major clues: a slightly different name and the fact they use the pronoun 'It' and not 'Him' means that this might be an altogether different Ganon. This is not Ganondorf but Calamity Ganon. Otherwise why not just cut to the chase and state it's same guy/creature that has been endangering Hyrule all of these years? Because it isn't, and if it's Zelda speaking to Link, she would have said so, because it's something every Link needs to know.
Plus it's an 'It,' meaning they don't know this creature. Ganondorf is male, he's even known to be human prior, but they don't know if this thing enough to even call it male or female. (I think it's a male personally, because mainly male piggies have the big cutters like this one has.)

Could it be Demise? Sure. I won't completely throw out that possibility. Do I think it's Demise? No. Demise never says anything about himself coming back. He says plenty about others coming in his stead though, often as 'incarnations' of his hatred. Plus Demise likes to look like a spiny avocado with puffy white marshmallow toes, not a pig. For him to look like a pig would be almost out of character at this point, since piggies are Ganondorf's thing. The devs could have made Demise a big-ass demonic boar to connect him with Ganondorf (and explain why Ganondorf keeps trying to turn himself into one) but they didn't, so they missed that opportunity.

So my verdict is... This isn't the Dorf nor is it Demise. The devs likely are going for an entity we've never seen before, one that we have to discover all over again how to defeat. It's going to be 'Ganon,' it keeps the epic pigginess and threat to Hyrule, but adds 'Calamity' so you don't mistake it for Old Ganon. This is likely 'Breaking Zelda Conventions' Ganon. It is more spirit entity then physical embodiment, more animal then 'human.' Will it possibly have a backstory eventually? Maybe. But probably not of a former human this time, but something more monstrous, more Cthulhu. I think they wanted to restore the threat of 'Ganon,' but the threat level of old Ganon got 'diluted' over time by being constantly beaten by Link. So this might be how they do it, by giving this one eldritch powers.

 

[Fraxinus]

The Master Sword in BOTW looks like somebody smacked it across a rock and then dragged it through a field of mud, waited a few months, and then did the whole thing again. The master sword looks like it is in no shape to be sealing anything away. Maybe it looks like this because Demise's consciousness somehow gained enough power to break out? Well, that sure makes more sense than water damage or weathering to me, since its a MAGIC SWORD! :/

I don't think what we see of the master sword is "failing" It was failing in WW and it still looked completely unscathed, what we are seeing right now is more likely to be a completely broken sword, besides, it never ever stated that Demise would be sealed away within the sword forever, or even a long long time.

Are you familiar with how the Master Sword in A Link to the Past looked? It was aged and worn but still at full power.

I don't have an opinion on this, however. I haven't been following the "lore" of Breath of the Wild too closely, to be honest. Though, if the quotes provided in the OP are word-for-word accurate, then the thing that catches my eye is the fact that it's not referred to as "Calamity Ganon;" rather "The Calamity Ganon." Dunno if that is signififant.