The Yiga Clan was introduced in 2017 with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, as worshippers of Calamity Ganon who wish to revive him. They disguise themselves as travelers, only to reveal themselves once Link talks to them. Some also randomly spawn while Link is walking through Hyrule. In 2023’s Tears of the Kingdom, the Yiga add new tricks to their repertoire: disguising themselves as Zelda or as trees, and leaving traps for Link. However, there’s more to them than meets the eye. Let’s take a deeper look into the lore of the Yiga Clan.
The Inverted Eye
One of the most striking details of the Yiga Clan’s uniform, aside from the red of their outfits, is the upside-down Sheikah eye on their masks. This ties in with the backstory of the Yiga Clan. Several thousand years before the events of Breath of the Wild, the Sheikah created incredible technology to help protect Hyrule from Calamity Ganon. Through this technology, the Sheikah brought prosperity to Hyrule.
An ancient king of Hyrule came to see the Sheikah tribe’s technological prowess as a threat, exiling them. Some of the Sheikah chose to abandon their technology and try to live simpler lives, their descendants living in Kakariko Village during the time of Breath of the Wild. Others, however, turned against the kingdom and instead sided with the Calamity. Their descendants would go on to form the Yiga Clan, establishing their hideout in the Gerudo Desert.
The members of the Yiga Clan are deeply loyal to their leader, whom they call “Master Kohga”. When Link defeats Kohga, this causes more and stronger Yiga to spawn while Link is wandering around Hyrule. Those who disguise themselves as travelers will reference Kohga’s defeat when they attack Link. Their fierce loyalty to Kohga could be connected to their history, of having been shunned and exiled by a prior king of Hyrule.
After the Upheaval
After the Upheaval in Tears of the Kingdom, the Yiga can be found setting up outposts in the Depths. This is fitting, given that the Depths are crawling with Gloom-Wreathed enemies, and Gloom is a Malice-like substance that is implied to have been created by Ganondorf. In addition to their presence in the Depths, the Yiga also show great aptitude for building machines using Zonai Devices. Given the history of the Yiga, this makes a lot of sense.
Tears of the Kingdom is also the game that allows Link to find armor that allows him to disguise himself as a Yiga Clan member. While wearing this set of armor, Link can enter the Yiga Clan’s hideout and even learn the hidden Earthwake technique after becoming a Yiga Blademaster. This also allows Link to get a glimpse into the everyday life of a member of the Yiga – outside of plotting to kill Link and help Ganondorf take over Hyrule, the Yiga also compete with each other to make better machinery from Zonai Devices. Regular Yiga don’t recognize Link while he’s wearing the armor, but Kohga is able to immediately recognize him.
In an Alternate Universe
While Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is not canon to the Zelda series, the Yiga Clan also plays an important role in that game’s story. In that game, the Yiga Clan is working with a mysterious seer known as Astor. In their first appearance, when Link and Zelda are attempting to recruit Urbosa to become a Champion, Master Kohga disguises himself as Urbosa in an attempt to turn Hyrule and the Gerudo against each other. Another scene shows Kohga refusing to leave his right-hand man, Sooga, behind when the two are in danger. However, when Astor inevitably betrays the Yiga by using several Yiga Clan members’ souls to give more power to the Calamity, the Yiga ultimately side with Hyrule.
Final Thoughts
The Yiga Clan give an interesting look into the way that Hyrule’s royal family has often treated the Sheikah. While the Sheikah are often servants of the royal family, carrying out the royal family’s dirty work (as shown and implied in Ocarina of Time), there are also often very few Sheikah alive by the time of the game. In Ocarina of Time, there are only Sheik and Impa; in Twilight Princess there’s just Impaz. Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, and Age of Calamity are outliers in that regard, showing a thriving Kakariko Village that is full of Sheikah families.
With the Sheikah often portrayed as being wholly loyal to the royal family (such as Impaz staying in the Hidden Village alone by royal decree even after the other inhabitants of the village are long gone and what’s left is overtaken by monsters), it’s interesting to see a version of the Sheikah who go against the royal family. Could there be a future Zelda title that also plays with the relationship between the Sheikah and the royal family? Is there a possibility of the Yiga Clan appearing in a future title?
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