Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity baby Guardian — What is it and what does it do?

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is the latest entry in the Legend of Zelda series and acts as both a pseudo-sequel to Hyrule Warriors, as well as a prequel to the events of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In Age of Calamity, players get a chance to live through the events that destroyed Hyrule first-hand as Link joins forces with familiar faces to stop the calamity from happening.

Joining Link on his new quest is a familiar foe, except this time, it's way cuter and not trying to kill Link. At least not yet, anyway. In Koei Tecmo's Tokyo Game Show 2020 preview of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, the baby Guardian was revealed. Not much is known about how it functions, but the video offered a few interesting tidbits of information.

What is a baby Guardian?

In the TGS game footage, Link stumbles upon a small dormant Guardian among some rubble, but fans of Breath of the Wild know that a Guardian is not to be messed with. Originally created by the Sheikah to battle Calamity Ganon, In Breath of the Wild, Guardians roam the ruined fields of Hyrule, lying in wait until an unsuspecting prey wanders into their sights.

Guardians are one of the strongest foes you can encounter in Breath of the Wild, and a single laser bolt from one of them would make quick work of Link. Guardians come in different varieties as well — there are stalkers, scouts, and flying Guardians, each just as deadly as the last. From the footage we've seen so far, however, the baby Guardian doesn't seem hostile. It instead follows Link around and seems to be tied to the Sheikah Slate in some way.

What does the baby Guardian do?

We don't know exactly what the Guardian does, but we can assume a couple of things from the video. After Link spots Impa being chased by a Mobiln mob, Impa stumbles and accidentally tosses the Shiekah Slate in the air. A quick-acting Link catches the Sheikah Slate, but it inexplicably activates, causing the baby Guardian to awaken and a Sheikah Tower to rise from the ground. After this, Link has access to the Shiekah Slate and can use bombs.

Perhaps the baby Guardian can be used as a radar of sorts? It seems to follow whoever is operating the Shiekah Slate and seems drawn to the technology. Maybe he can help find other Shiekah towers and strengthen the powers of the slate, or maybe inadvertently power other Guardians. The Guardians were hidden away for thousands of years before being rediscovered by the Sheikah, so maybe the ancient Sheikah knew of the Guardians' power was too great to be controlled.

One thing is for certain: the baby Guardian is reacting to the Sheikah technology in interesting ways.

The beginning of the end

As of now, the baby Guardian remains a mystery, but we're sure to learn more about what it does and the role it plays in Hyrule's desperate struggle against Calamity Ganon as we get closer to release. The one thing we know for sure is that things don't end well for our heroes. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is unlike any mainline Zelda game we've seen, blending Dynasty Warriors gameplay with a storyline directly linked to a mainline Zelda title. A sequel to one of the best Nintendo Switch games is nothing to scoff at, so make sure you preorder the game to get access to some exclusive in-game weapons when the game launches on November 20th, 2020.