Blood Moon

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Blood Moons,[1][2] also known as Red Moons,[3] and the Nights of the Red Moon,[4] are a recurring event in The Legend of Zelda series.

Overview

Breath of the Wild

Blood Moons occur at midnight on nights when Calamity Ganon's power reaches its peak and escapes from Zelda's control within Hyrule Castle,[5][1] dyeing the night sky and the Moon red with Malice.[4] The effects of this Malice revive any fallen monsters and enemies, returning them to where they once were prior to being slain.

The effects of the Blood Moon begin around 11:30 PM, though the Blood Moon itself can usually be seen as early as 10:00 PM when the Moon rises into the sky. At 11:30 PM, Malice will rise from the ground, like when Link is aboard a corrupted Divine Beast, around Pools of Malice, or on the grounds of Hyrule Castle. At 11:50 PM, the sky will turn red, and the clouds will begin to fly by very fast. When midnight hits, a cutscene begins where the Blood Moon has risen, and monsters are seen respawning across Hyrule. Princess Zelda telepathically informs Link that the Blood Moon has risen and urges Link to be careful. After that, the Blood Moon dissipates.[6]

Hino of the Dueling Peaks Stable is the primary source of information on Blood Moons, and can be seen acting strangely during the time period that it affects the overworld. Link can determine if that night will be a Blood Moon, as if he asks Hino what moon will be out tonight, he'll say; "I'm getting that feeling again... Something is going to happen tonight. I can taste it."

For the time from 11:30 PM to 12:15 AM when Malice lingers in the air for, certain other effects of the Blood Moon can be seen. Hino will seemingly be inflicted with lunacy and begin to run in circles shouting. Cooking during this time gives Food an effect boost, as noted in Chef Aurie Taamu, Vol. 2.[7] This time period is also when standing on the Pedestal at Washa's Bluff will allow Mijah Rokee Shrine to appear. These effects wear off at 12:15 and will not occur again until the next regular Blood Moon.

Blood Moons are always represented by a full Moon regardless of which phase the Moon is in.

Tears of the Kingdom

Blood Moons reappear in Tears of the Kingdom where they serve the same function, though as a result of Ganondorf's power rather than Calamity Ganon. Correspondingly, Gloom fills the air and revives monsters rather than Malice. Unlike in Breath of the Wild, if a Blood Moon occurs while Link passes time, the Gloom lingers and fades from the air afterwards, no matter the time of day.

The first time the Blood Moon occurs, a cutscene plays depicting it reviving monsters, while Zelda narrates an explanation of the monsters rising, "just as they did in a war long past"[8]. A shorter version of this cutscene plays every subsequent time. After it is revealed that Zelda was actually a Phantom Ganon impostor, the cutscene will play but without narration.

The Blood Moon also appears in certain Memories, where it is shown to be a direct result of Ganondorf's power. In "Birth of the Demon King" after Ganondorf steals Sonia's Secret Stone, Gloom comes forth from his body and creates armies of monsters under the glow of an unnaturally giant Blood Moon. It is seen again when he and his army attack in "The Demon King's Army".

During the "Crisis at Hyrule Castle" Main Quest, a large Blood Moon rises when the puppet Zelda appears to lure Link to Hyrule Castle. Similarly, when the Demon Dragon's final weak point is revealed, the sky shifts to red as an enormous Blood Moon looms.

Hino reappears, now a dedicated researcher of the Blood Moon. He can be found in a cage in several Monster Strongholds in need of rescue. When Link saves him, he will explain he was attempting to study the Blood Moon by getting close to monsters but got captured.[9] He will then tell Link the current phase of the Moon, and still displays signs of lunacy if it is a Blood Moon.

Mechanics

For an even more technical explanation of the Blood Moon mechanic, see ZeldaMods wiki's pages on the Blood Moon, Time and WorldMgr.

The function of the Blood Moon is to revive slain Enemies and respawn Weapons. Contrary to what it may seem, the Blood Moon does not act as a "world reset" mechanic (Materials and other objects are not respawned), nor does it serve to clear the game's memory. (The statuses of slain enemies and obtained weapons are always kept in memory.) However, if certain, specific conditions are met regarding memory usage, a "forced Blood Moon" (see below) can occur to reload the game world in order to clear the game's memory. The Blood Moon is simply the game mechanic used to execute this.

Scheduling and prohibition

The Blood Moon is not dependent on in-game days such as the Moon's cycle nor the amount of enemies killed, but rather a running timer of real time spent in-game (not in menus or loading screens). When this timer is checked, a Blood Moon is scheduled for the next midnight. This is why the Blood Moon can occur if Link passes the night using a Bed or Campfire on such a night; but continually doing so will not speed up the arrival of the Blood Moon if one is not scheduled– in fact, this only serves to effectively delay it since the timer does not run during cutscenes.

If certain conditions are met on a night when the Blood Moon is scheduled, it will be pushed to the next night. Taking advantage of these conditions every night means that a Blood Moon can technically be indefinitely postponed, unless one is forced. Forced Blood Moons can still occur during some of these conditions.

Although overall similar, the mechanics of the Blood Moon timer and checks vary somewhat between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

In Breath of the Wild

In Breath of the Wild, the Blood Moon timer is 168 minutes (2 hours 48 minutes, or 7 days in-game) begins upon leaving the Shrine of Resurrection. This timer is checked every night at midnight, and if it exceeds 2 hours 48 minutes, a Blood Moon is scheduled for the following night.

In Breath of the Wild, conditions that prohibit a scheduled Blood Moon include:

Note that unlike with the other three Divine Beast battles, Blood Moons can occur during the Vah Rudania battle with Yunobo. If this happens, the Sentries will not be revived, but the Black Moblins in the area will.

In Tears of the Kingdom

In Tears of the Kingdom, the Blood Moon timer is reduced to only 144 minutes (2 hours 24 minutes, or 6 in-game days). This timer begins upon receiving the Main Quest "The Closed Door" from Rauru at the Temple of Time. The timer is checked every frame instead of only at midnight as in Breath of the Wild, and if the time is exceeded and it is before 9 PM (so as to allow the moon to rise), the Blood Moon will appear that night. Both of these mean Blood Moons are scheduled to happen more frequently in Tears of the Kingdom than in Breath of the Wild.

In Tears of the Kingdom, the following conditions are known to prohibit a scheduled Blood Moon; unlike the above this list is not exhaustive, as research is still ongoing.

Forced Blood Moons have different checks; see below.

Effects

On the night of a Blood Moon, a 45-minute "relief" period occurs from 11:30 PM to 12:15 AM. It is during this period that the Mijah Rokee Shrine for the "Under a Red Moon" quest can appear,(BotW) Hino will become incensed, and Cooking will receive critical boosts (with the chance of a boost increasing the closer it is to midnight).

Once midnight falls and a Blood Moon is allowed, the cutscene of Zelda warning Link will play, and monsters and weapons are respawned. The following are revived by a Blood Moon:

The following are not affected by the Blood Moon:

The Blood Moon also does not replenish enemy health, unless it is a forced Blood Moon due to it reloading the game world. Certain enemies can technically be revived by the Blood Moon but will never do so given other restrictions, such as the mounted Bokoblins at Fural Plain once the quest "The Horseback Hoodlums" is complete, or the Yiga Blademaster who threatens Dorian as part of the quest "The Stolen Heirloom."

After the Blood Moon cutscene occurs, the Blood Moon timer is reset and the cycle starts over.

Forced Blood Moons

If certain conditions are met in regards to the game's memory allocation, a so-called "forced Blood Moon" (also known as a "panic Blood Moon", and internally referred to as having the reason ForMemory as opposed to Schedule) may be induced regardless of the usual timer and time of day. This is not influenced by killing enemies, postponing regular Blood moons, or any other player actions, nor is it a generic fallback mechanic for errors; it simply occurs because something in the current game state is causing trouble with certain subsystems for loading and handling resources.

Forced Blood Moons reset the entire "game scene", effectively the same as when going through a loading screen (e.g. when warping, or going from a Shrine to the overworld). This is why certain objects' positions are reset, and notably enemies will regain any health they lost. Because a forced Blood Moon uses the normal cutscene, it will revive Enemies and Weapons. However, this has no effect on the regular Blood Moon timer, and does not have the other properties of regularly scheduled Blood Moons, such as cooking boosts, affecting Hino, or enabling Mijah Rokee Shrine to appear.

While forced Blood Moons do not rely on the prohibitions that apply regularly, Link still must be in the overworld with no event in progress, as well as several other technical checks. However, this does allow for a rare chance for a Blood Moon to occur in places it normally would not, one notable example being a forced Blood Moon occurring while Link is battling Calamity Ganon, replenishing the Boss's health. However, in Tears of the Kingdom, a forced Blood Moon cannot happen during the War in the Depths of Hyrule (fighting the Demon King's Army and subsequent boss rush), or while battling Demon King Ganondorf and the Demon Dragon.

In Tears of the Kingdom, there are also four circular areas surrounding the locations of the "Regional Phenomena" quest (Rito Village, Goron City, Zora's Domain and Gerudo Town) that force an immediate Blood Moon when entered if Link has not experienced one before. The reason for this being implemented is unknown.

Other Appearances

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

During the Scenario "All Hyrule, United", a Blood Moon rises following the Divine Beasts bombarding Calamity Ganon with their lasers after Zelda banished the protective barrier[10], reviving all monsters that were slain during the course of the battle, then revived half of the monsters after they were re-killed by the Warriors. After the united forces of Hyrule broke through the Calamity's forces, the Blood Moon remained in the sky until Calamity Ganon was sealed again.

Following the completion of the last Scenario and the start of the postgame, Blood Moons start appearing. They turn Scenarios into Blood Moon Battlefields.[11] These Blood Moon Battlefield events enhance the enemies of past Scenarios, one Scenario per waxing, changing the icon of the boosted Scenario into a Blood Moon icon, raises the recommended levels by up to sixfold, and colors the map with a red filter. It also improves the quality of Weapon drops, and increases their frequency.

When a Blood Moon rises, it changes the map theme to its "Amid the Calamity" version.[12] Other than doubling the Rupee counts after completing the Scenario battles, including the Divine Beast combat segments, nothing else changes.

It is up to random chance which Scenarios becomes a Blood Moon Battlefield, and the frequency of the Blood Moon waxing is erratic, ranging from a Blood Moon rising immediately after clearing a Blood Moon Battlefield to after several battles. Potentially, a Blood Moon could rise over the same Scenario twice in a row. If players go to Challenge maps or other Scenario maps, it resets the Blood Moon Battlefield.

Trivia

  • The sky turning red as happens during a Blood Moon also occurs when Dark Beast Ganon reveals its core, allowing Link to deal the final blow. This effect is also used in Tears of the Kingdom when Gloom Spawn shrieks at Link.

Nomenclature

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Gallery

See Also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Whenever the clock strikes midnight on unlucky nights, the sky turns blood red. That's the blood moon. When that happens, monsters come back to life, no matter how many times you've defeated them. It's happened for so long now that no one really pays it any mind, but I have no plans to give up on my research." — Hino (Breath of the Wild)
  2. "Due to the Blood Moon, the enemies in each area have been revived!" — Battle Log (Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity)
  3. "Under a Red Moon
    Hyrule Ridge
    " — Adventure Log (Breath of the Wild)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Creating a Champion, Dark Horse Books, pg. 406
  5. "... Link... Link... Be on your guard. Ganon's power grows...it rises to its peak under the hour of the blood moon. By its glow, the aimless spirits of monsters slain in the name of the light return to flesh. Link...please be careful." — Zelda (Breath of the Wild)
  6. "The blood moon rises once again. Please be careful, Link..." — Zelda (Breath of the Wild)
  7. "Sometimes you'll witness incredible success in your cooking adventures. When this happens, the strength and duration of your cooked food's effects will increase well beyond normal. Using more than the usual number of ingredients is a sure way to boost the effects of your food. But I've also heard rumors that the light of the red moon can have a positive effect on your cooking as well." — Chef Aurie Taamu, Vol. 2 (Breath of the Wild)
  8. "Witness the blood moon's rise. When its red glow shines upon the land... the aimless spirits of slain monsters return to flesh. Just as they did in a war long past. The world is threatened once again." — Zelda (Tears of the Kingdom)
  9. "You might be wondering how I got here. A fine question! To explain, I must tell you about...the blood moon!
    Some nights, no matter the moon's phase, it rises full and red. Precisely at midnight, the whole sky turns crimson. And then...defeated monsters appear again! There you have it.
    The blood moon!
    It is my life's work to research this event. Why do the monsters revive? What connects them to the blood moon? I thought if I studied the monsters' ecology, I would discover something...
    But I got too close, and here I am.
    " — Hino (Tears of the Kingdom)
  10. [1] , YouTube.
  11. "The hour of the Blood Moon... it is then that Calamity Ganon's power waxes fully. Stronger enemies await in these extremely grueling battles. Do you dare challenge them?" — Tutorial (Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity)
  12. [2] , YouTube.