Everything I know and more: BOTW

100 Years After the Calamity: The Great Plateau

Link snapped out of his daze and regained control of himself. He stumbled down the steps of the Tower and landed at the bottom, where the old man flew in.

"My, my," he intoned, "We seem to have quite the enigma here." He proceeded to explain that towers just like the one Link just climbed down were rising throughout the land. He then asked whether Link had recognized the voice he had heard, disappointed when Link shook his head no. He also told Link that the name of the monstrosity surrounding the castle was Calamity Ganon, an ancient evil that had been there for many years.

"So, courageous one, do you intend to make your way to the castle?"

"I do." Replied Link confidently.

"I had a feeling you might say that," the old man sighed. He explained that, though it looks like flat ground, the Plateau is actually surrounded with steep cliffs from all angles, with no way down, and therefore no way to the castle.

"Of course," he added, "If you had a paraglider like mine, that would be a different story."

"Hand it over," gestured Link.

Of course, the old man refused, stating that nothing on this world is free, but...

"How about I trade it for a bit of treasure that slumbers nearby," the old man offered. Link accepted the offer, and followed the old man over to a price of land that jutted out from the surrounding scenery. At the tip, a strange structure built much like the tower could be seen.

There, he explained, rested an ancient treasure that only woke once the Towers had been activated.

Link took a walk over towards the shrine and opened it with a tap of his Sheikah slate to the pedestal to the right of the doorway. He stepped into the shrine, and an elevator-like thing carried him downwards.

The Magnesis Shrine, constructed by Oman Au, is an intense and engaging piece of architecture. From its revolutionary Magnesis distilling technology, to its metal slabs, pointless canal, stone and magnetic blocks, and weak robot, everything about the Magnesis shrine is designed to maintain a high stress level while also being simple to complete, going through those large, metal doors with ease, though nobody realizes it.

Link made it through all these obstacles, and received a "Spirit Orb" from Oman Au, who promptly disappeared into dust.

After exiting the shrine, Link was descended upon by the old man and his paraglider.

"It seems you managed to get your hands on a Spirit Orb," the old man said.

"Paraglider, please," Link replied.

The old man once again refused, despite the fact that Link had, indeed gotten the ancient treasure, and instead sent Link on a journey to get the spirit orbs from all four shrines scattered across the Great Plateau.

Link complied begrudgingly, and first went off for the Bomb shrine, located in the Eastern Abbey.

Since the Great Plateau was originally a site for people to worship Hylia and the other three Golden Goddesses, it sported many abbeys and houses for monks and nuns, as well as a large temple known as the Temple of Time.

Unfortunately, the Abbey had been destroyed by a ruthless creature paired with the wear and tear of the ages, and the whole building was in ruin. In the middle of one of the rooms was a Guardian, a machine seemingly designed to kill, and it targeted Link before he ran deeper into the ruins. He climbed a wall, and found himself at the Ja Bajj Shrine, otherwise known as the Bomb Trial.

Inside of the Bomb Trial built by Ja Bajj, there is not only a Bomb distilling piece of technology, but also plenty of rock walls to break through with this newfound power. With the square Bomb, you can stop the Bomb from rolling anywhere, including off of the floating platform that leads into an even larger room with platforms that can launch your bombs into the air! Once you're done busting through all those stone walls, you can extract a sprit orb from Ja Bajj, the legend itself!

Once Link had made it past all those trials, he slowly made his way to the Stasis Shrine, knocking down a tree and tightroping across it to make it to a large cliff that's easy to climb because of its numerous ledges.

All of this was orchestrated by Owa Daim, who placed the Stasis Trial on that very mountain. Inside of the Stasis shrine, you'll see that to your left, there is a Stasis distilling machine, and right in front of you is a large spinning platform. Once that platform is motionless after putting it in stasis, you can run across it and towards the next obstacle, which is a large rolling ball. Stop the ball at the right time, and you can run up the ramp without being crushed! If you follow the path to the left, you'll see a lovely iron sledgehammer, courtesy of Owa Daim. This sledgehammer can be used to build up momentum on an immovable ball, so the thin path can be tread. To collect your complimentary Spirit Orb, you must first talk to Owa Daim. Finally, you will magically exit the shrine.

Once Link had cleared all of these obstacles, it was time for the final shrine on the Great Plateau. He travelled through the icy tundra of the highlands, and climbed the tallest hill there, only to find that there was no shrine atop its pointy peak and instead there stood the old man and what looked to be a gravestone. As a reward for making it all this way, the old man gave Link a warm doublet so that he wouldn't take damage in the icy cold. Soon after, Link trudged up a snowy slope with boulder rolling down it, and at the very top of the mountain was the Cryonis Shrine.

The Cryonis Shrine, built by Keh Namut sports many huge bodies of water where you can test your newfound skill of Cryonis, which is distilled with the lavish Cryonis distillation system at the left of the first pool. Once you've made it across the ledge using the freezing power, you can open a gate, using Cryonis to lift it up. If you round the corner from there, you can have the luxury of anxiety as you're brutally attacked by a guardian scout I, and finally, you can tilt a ramp to a staircase that will lead you up to Keh Namut.

Link passed all of these tests, and was teleported outside the shrine, only for the old man to glide in and tell him that it is time to tell him everything, however he must meet him at the place where the four shrines coincide. He then disappeared in a flash of blue flame.

Link, confused, somehow determined that that place was in fact the Temple of Time, and moved quickly to ensure that he was not too late. Once he arrived at the old and forgotten building, he heard a voice above him; the voice of the old man, beckoning him to the roof of the Temple to Hylia. He climbed a ladder and found the old man in what used to be the bell tower of the church, long forgotten.

The old man, now revealed to be Zelda's deceased father, the King, explained essentially what went on between 100 years ago: Ganon's rise and Link's slumber.

Finally, Link obtained the paraglider, and went on his merry way to destroy Ganon. But first, there were a few things he needed to attend to.