Hidemaro Fujibayashi—director of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom—has revealed why the open-world title didn’t expand on the story of the Sages as much as spin-off Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment did. In an interview with 4Gamer (courtesy of Nintendo Everything), Fujibayashi revealed that Nintendo decided to hold back on revealing many of the details about the Sages from Tears of the Kingdom that would then be revealed in Age of Imprisonment.
Fujibayashi spoke about the central themes of Tears of the Kingdom which featured the Sages having their faces hidden and their names not being revealed. However, these characters would go on to get quite a bit more screen time in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, which also happens to take place before the events of Tears of the Kingdom. In the title, the Sages would be revealed as being Ardi of the Gerudo, Qia of the Zora, Raphica of the Rito, and Agraston of the Goron.
“In Tears of the Kingdom there was a central theme running through the main story, and the Sages are depicted with their faces hidden by masks and without names. If we had shown their personalities and faces, the story would have naturally grown too much, so there were many things we intentionally held back,” said Fujibayashi. “That’s why I’m truly happy that the Sages have been more carefully picked up upon here in the Imprisoning War.”
The fact that Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment would focus on the events preceding The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has come as no surprise, since the title was explicitly revealed to be telling the “untold story”. The title was released on Nintendo Switch 2, and got a launch trailer on the day of its release back in November.
The main story of Age of Imprisonment revolves around Zelda getting transported to the past where a war between Hyrule and Demon King Ganondorf seems to be imminent. In the process, Zelda also gets to meet King Rauru and Queen Sonia, who are the rulers of Hyrule at the time. Zelda finds herself having to team up with the Sages, along with a Korok as well as other allies, including one that has an uncanny resemblance with Link, to take on Ganondorf’s forces.
The Legend of Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma had previously spoken about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment being a meaningful collaboration between Nintendo and Koei Tecmo, as well as how this partnership could potentially help define future Zelda games as well. “The inspiration we received from this collaboration with Koei Tecmo may be reflected in the (next) Zelda we create,” said Aonuma. “Please picture this while playing Age of Imprisonment, and look forward to our Zelda.”
Age of Imprisonment’s studio head Yusuke Hayashi also spoke about how the initial discussions between the two companies revolved around wanting to combine the classic Zelda approach, as well as the back-and-forth that a player typically expects from a musou game. “We aimed to combine these two approaches; the Zelda-like, strategic back-and-forth of using Zonai gear and varied techniques against powerful foes with the exhilaration of musou (i.e. feeling mighty powerful as you cut down waves of weaker foes),” said Hayashi.
For more details about Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment, check out our review. The title is available on Nintendo Switch 2.
