Champions of Hyrule

Champions of Hyrule is the friendship between Link, Zelda, Mipha, Daruk, Revali, and Urbosa from the The Legend of Zelda fandom.

Breath of the Wild
The Champions were chosen by King Rhoam to become the pilots of the Divine Beasts in wake of Calamity Ganon's return and Princess Zelda travels to each region to speak with the potential warriors who will answer the call. In this order which Princess Zelda visits, Revali, Daruk, Mipha, and Urbosa were called upon for this task which they each accept the propositions for various reasons; Revali, through so much rigorous training, wanted to prove to himself to everyone his worth along with the desire to protect everyone, Daruk, who wanted to protect Hyrule to the death even if he ends up dying, Mipha while also wanted to save Hyrule, she also prioritizes potential possibilities by entrusting the domain to her brother, Sidon in the event that she never returns safely while also wanting to be close to Link, and Urbosa wanting to personally deal with Ganon due to his previous affiliation with her people which she hated, while seeing Nabooru as a hero who changed the Gerudo's ways for the better, resulting in better relations with Hyrule Royal Family as well as communing with other races. The Champions assemble for the inauguration ceremony where they each were given blue cloths with Divine Beast emblems embedded on them which Zelda made. They later spend time at the gazebo where they interact with one another until Mipha asks Zelda to take a photo of them together, which Purah then had them positioned together, but Daruk grabs everyone at the last second. This photo would later be printed and hung up on the wall at Link's house a century later, which also carries over into Tears of the Kingdom if the Breath of the Wild save file has already completed The Champions' Ballad with Link having already placing it on the wall.

The Champions would congregate for Link's appointed knight ceremony and are all essentially bored as they watch how Zelda is giving a depressing speech through the whole thing leading to them making comments on it, with Daruk and Revali briefly arguing until Urbosa states that Zelda sees Link as a reminder of her own failures. Link would then interact with each Champion during his travels with Zelda to get their Divine Beasts working in their favor, with Revali bragging about his accomplishments while also looking down on Link for relegating him to assistant, Daruk enjoying the sights with him while congratulating Link, Urbosa sharing Zelda's personal problems with Link, and Mipha wishing to spend more time with Link after they make it through while promising to heal him no matter how bad his injuries are. The Champions get together at the foot of Mt. Lanayru to meet with the returning Link and Zelda, who is distraught when it didn't do anything to help awaken her power needed to defeat Ganon. Once Calamity Ganon emerges, Daruk takes charge and orders the Champions to get to their Divine Beasts immediately and Link to get to Hyrule Castle while Zelda joins Link. However, thinks take a tragic turn when the Blight Ganons take hold of the Divine Beasts and managed to kill each of the Champions, while Zelda learns what happened and mourns with Link for their losses. Link also came dangerously close to death himself in a scuffle with the corrupted Guardians until Zelda awakened her power to protect him and has him sent to the Shrine of Resurrection to heal while she herself uses her newfound power to seal Ganon inside Hyrule Castle.

In the present age, Link wakes up to Zelda's voice calling to him and with the late King Rhoam's final wish and Impa's message, Link heads to the four regions to free the possessed Divine Beasts with the help of the Champions and managed to kill the Blight Ganons and avenge their deaths. Each of them gets into a firing position to get a precise shot once Calamity Ganon breaks free from its prison. When Calamity Ganon finally does, the Champions immediately open fire to slice Ganon's health in half.

Age of Calamity
Terrako, the Diminutive Guardian from Breath of the Wild's timeline travels back in time to warn the heroes of what will befall them, so the Champions are recruited by King Rhoam and Princess Zelda is sent to summon them alongside Link and Impa. They help Mipha in saving her missing brother Sidon from a Lynel when he wandered off without adult supervision as well as Zora's Domain from being overtaken by numerous monsters, with some wielding electricity. They journey with Daruk to reach the summit where they can retrieve Vah Rudania from the crator down below, while dealing with monsters trying to seize the Goron Mines. Zelda was not present when Link, Terrako, and Impa make their way to Rito Village when Revali and the Rito military attacks them, forcing them to fight back, and the following duel between Link and Revali was brought to a halt when Princess Zelda stops them, as Revali explains about another Guardian like Terrako that lead an attack against his village and accepts her proposition while still not certain about Link's position as Zelda's appointed knight. On their way to Gerudo Town, they were attacked by the Gerudo along the way to the Chieftain's Palace, where "Urbosa" attempts to kill them, only thwarted by the real Urbosa who reveals herself as the imposter is revealed to be Master Kohga, which the heroes and the Gerudo managed to drive them out.

The Champions are then seen escorting Zelda as they pass through Castle Town to calibrate the Divine Beasts for them, Mipha and Daruk discuss training at a later time to improve themselves to better prepare for the coming battle, but they are ambushed by the Yiga Clan commanded by Sooga, which they then must fight to protect the princess, but it only managed to trick them into moving away from Link and Zelda so Sooga can assassinate the former, which is thwarted by Link. The Champions are sent to Korok Forest to recover the Master Sword which Revali takes up the honor of handling the besieging monsters, but he takes his anger out at Link and questions his leadership and argues with Daruk briefly before he taunts Link again, until Urbosa asks how long they have to deal with his behavior before Revali summons Vah Medoh to begin his mission to take out the surrounding monsters before rejoining them. During their expedition, Mipha talks about the fog as Revali rants about them likely going in circles and gets into a snarky argument with Daruk, as Urbosa tells them that getting lost isn't the issue but being ambushed does. They come across the dancing Hestu, who was trying to get their attention and they take up an offer to protect him from the monsters. After the seer, Astor, was defeated, the Champions listen to the words from the Great Deku Tree. They make their way back to Hyrule Castle where they see Zelda getting all worried about her dormant sacred power, prompting Terrako to play her lullaby. They then deal with the monsters causing a disturbance, which they succeed. Urbosa gives Zelda pep talks while Daruk is cheering for Link as he is eating some food. The Champions gain their status and their blue cloths at the ceremony before they relax at the gazebo. When Impa and Terrako get into a fight, Mipha and Daruk talk about training with Mipha wanting to fight with Link before the latter catches on and approaches her, much to her embarrassment, as Impa and Terrako start invading Revali's space in their fight, much to the latter's annoyance to the point he angrily flew off. Urbosa assists Link and Zelda in activating the last Sheikah Tower and leads an attack against the Yiga Clan with Vah Naboris to teach the Yiga Clan a lesson.

When Calamity Ganon appears, the Champions react in shock from the Sheikah Towers and head to their Divine Beasts. Link and Zelda tried and were unable to save King Rhoam, who sacrificed himself to ensure their safety by making himself a bigger threat to the corrupted Guardians. After escaping the castle, Terrako shows them images of the Divine Beasts being attacked by Ganon which Zelda begins to sink into despair until Terrako summons four Gates of Time and sends them to the Divine Beasts, and saw that Vah Medoh has its blue circuity with Malice trailing from its wing, so they set off to rescue the Champions. Mipha and Daruk were saved by the adult Sidon and Yunobo to provide all the time the heroes need to reach their Divine Beasts to destroy Waterblight Ganon and Fireblight Ganon before the worst happened. Revali and Urbosa were also rescued by Teba and Riju to give the heroes extra time for Link and Zelda to make it to their Divine Beasts to destroy Windblight Ganon and Thunderblight Ganon before the unthinkable occurred. The living Champions and their future counterparts work together to lend further support by using their Divine Beasts to protect their allies and towns from the monsters at Akkala Citadel, Fort Hateno, and the Great Plateau. Purah uses the Sheikah Towers to summon them and armies of all races to lead a full-frontal assault against Ganon, despite the monster trying to give them a hard time, they break through to Hyrule Castle where they defeat Harbinger Ganon and Astor, the former consuming the latter to take on its true form while the Malice infects Terrako and turns it against them. With Terrako badly damaged, the Champions mourn for it before they head upstairs to the sanctum where Ganon awaited them. With Terrako's sacrifice, they managed to destroy it once and for all. With peace returning to Hyrule, the Champions say good-bye to the future warriors as they return to their own time, with Zelda thanking them for their help.

The Champions also work together to find Terrako's components where it was reassembled at the Ancient Tech Lab, which took a while for Terrako to be back online again. During the credits, Terrako meets with various people until they all assemble at Hyrule Castle where Daruk pulls the Champions together for a hug. During the secret DLC ending, the Champions each bond with their future rescuers and assemble at Hyrule Castle and are seen at the Sheikah Tower where they watch Zelda and Terrako float away on a paraglider.

Fanon
The friendship within the Champions of Hyrule is very popular with the fanbase due to how notable they are since their debut. In various fanfics involving the Era of the Wilds games, the Champions are often the focus and are bond to make an appearance, even if they aren't prominent in some of the stories. There are also numerous fanart that depicts them either together or individually to express their love for the Champions as well as their companionship. While some of the fans have their stories having them eventually die, other fans have put twists in their stories where they actually survive so they can have more time to give their relationships more depth while giving them obstacles for them to overcome. They would also have given of the Champions, who rarely interacts with another Champion in the games, more dialogue to help flesh them out much more and even include backstories for them as well to help move the narratives forward. There are a good number of fans who passionately despised how the Champions were relegated to minor mentions in Tears of the Kingdom despite their major role in the previous games, and how it wasted such an opportunity to have their stories written in books, monuments, or even hidden memoirs that their loved ones would have hidden which could have been easily added. As a result, the stories and/or sequels have included them during the events of that game's sequel.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION