Breath Of The Wild’s Terrifying Unused Divine Beasts

Much of the driving force in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the almost never-ending opportunity for discovery. The post-apocalyptic, sparsely populated Hyrule of Breath of the Wild tantalizes players with the possibility of new adventures and plenty of weird locations around every turn. In a game filled with breathtaking moments, the most awe-inspiring of all might be seeing the Divine Beasts for the first time, but the four that made it into the game weren’t the only ones designed.

The giant mechanical Divine Beasts hiding a tragic secret are truly unique in the vast, natural landscape of Breath of the Wild. They dominate the horizon, dwarfing everything in their vicinity, and encountering one for the first time can be quite intimidating. Their role in the game as gigantic puzzle dungeons required significant effort to execute, and so there were a handful of other Divine Beasts designs that were never fully realized.

According to behind-the-scenes book The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Creating a Champion, the Divine Beasts were difficult to design. Breath of the Wild Art Director Satoru Takizawa wanted something both cute and unsettling, “strange enough that the player would be curious enough about them to want to explore them right away.” Sketches of early Divine Beast concepts (pictured below) from Creating a Champion show there were a number of ideas that didn’t make it into the game.

Unused Divine Beast Might Explain Breath Of The Wild’s Empty Areas

While the game is anything but short on content, even after beating Breath of the Wild‘s story, there are areas of the game – such as Lurelin Village – where it feels like more was planned but then cut before release. Perhaps one of the aquatic Divine Beast sketches, like the ones resembling a manta ray and a whale, were meant to prowl the depths off Hyrule’s southeastern shore.

Takizawa mentioned the Divine Beasts being designed to have animal silhouettes composed of palaces, factories, and bridges. One of the sketches appears as some sort of wild power plant, crossed with a Brachiosaurus and surrounded by lightning. It would have fit right in with the frequent thunderstorms encountered in Breath of the Wild‘s Akkala region.

Breath of the Wild Wildlife Artist Aya Shida also noted ceremonial masks from Southeast Asia and children’s drawings were among the inspirations for the Divine Beasts. Designers began with easily recognizable animal motifs, then molded them “into something like a camel but drawn by someone who has never actually seen a camel” in order to give the Divine Beasts a unique, almost mythological feel.

This may explain the aforementioned Brachiosaurus-esque sketch, as well as one that looks like a city from The Jetsons was placed on top of an alien from War of the Worlds. Ultimately, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s team settled on the four Divine Beasts players are familiar with, but these concept sketches offer a glimpse into what could’ve been, and possibly things that almost were.

Source: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Creating a Champion

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