Zelda Characters Brought to Life: AI’s Astonishing Real-Life Makeovers

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is already being hailed as the best Nintendo Switch game ever. The sequel to the popular Breath of the Wild game has been highly anticipated by longtime and brand-new fans around the world since its announcement at E3 2019.

The game was released on May 12th, and the reviews describe it as “a new kind of magic” and “a masterful adventure.”

To celebrate this momentous release, UK tech retailer Currys has harnessed the power of AI to re-imagine the much-loved (and hated) characters of the franchise in real life, with some stunning, and disturbing, results.

1.    Link: Champion and Knight of Hyrule

Link, with his trademark pointy ears and blonde hair, translates well into real life. In ‘Breath of the Wild’ he sports many different outfits, but his most notable colours are definitely his Breath of the Wild champion tunic blue and his ‘Ocarina of Time’ green.

2.    Princess Zelda

Princess Zelda is seen mainly in memories during ‘Breath of the Wild’, due to being trapped in the castle holding back Calamity Ganon for 100 years. Although Zelda can be seen wearing a variety of outfits in the game her official art, her amiibo, and many of the memories/cut scenes in which she is present show her in a blue adventuring outfit.

3.    Ganondorf

For the duration of ‘Breath of the Wild’ the boss is Calamity Ganon (or simply Ganon), a primal evil that has appeared throughout Hyrule’s history. Ten thousand years before the events of ‘Breath of the Wild’, he appeared to ravage the world. However, the main and consistent antagonist of the franchise in human form is Ganondorf and he has been presented as everything from a simple monster to a powerful warlock across the games.

4.    Beedle

From his enthusiastic “Wow!” when you sell him items to the ability to knock him off his feet by bumping into him and his huge backpack, Beedle is a staple of ‘Breath of the Wild’ and is rumoured to be returning for ‘Tears of the Kingdom’ too. He is a merchant who has featured across many of the Zelda games.

5.    Lady Riju, Chief of the Gerudo

Lady Riju is the young chief of the Gerudo, based in Gerudo Town. This place is full of Amazonian-esque women, who do not allow Voes (also known as men) into their town, forcing Link to disguise himself as a Vai (woman). This is likely due to the fact the last male Gerudo leader was Ganon himself. Lady Riju is a young leader, taking her mother’s place after her untimely death.

6.    Sidon, Prince of the Zora

Sidon, the Prince of the Zora, makes his first Zelda franchise appearance in ‘Breath of the Wild’. He helps Link take back the Divine Beast Vah Ruta, and he is also rumoured to appear in ‘Tears of the Kingdom’. The Zora are aquatic folk who possess fish and amphibian-like traits, including fins, webbed feet, and gills, which allow them to swim and thrive underwater.

7.    A Bokoblin

Bokoblins are a standard enemy in the Zelda franchise and can be seen in various colours across the ‘Breath of the Wild’ map. They have instantly recognisable big ears and a pig snout.

8.    ChuChu

ChuChu is a gelatinous enemy which has many forms. The normal guise is blue but there are also ice, fire, and electric ChuChu which emerge from the ground in the relevant regions of ‘Breath of the Wild’.