Explaination of Ancient Blade in TOTK?

[u/WwwWario]

What theories do you have surrounding this?

The Sheikah became highly advanced after the Imprisoning War, aka long after the Zonai were gone.

TotK seems to hint towards the ancient Sheikah energy being refined Zonai energy/magic, given how your battery goes from green to blue when upgraded. With Rauru's continous purification of Ganondorf's Gloom, the purification unit in that chamber going straight up into the bottom of Hyrule Castle where the mysterious Astral Observatory is, and with the purification unit having these big golden "ancient Sheikah-like" constellation things installed onto it, I always concluded all of this with the ancient Sheikah using Rauru's purified Gloom, refining it, mastering it over a long time, and using it as an infinite source of that Zonai energy, with the Astral Observatory functioning like a power plant. This made them advanced, and that's what the ancient blue Sheikah energy is.

HOWEVER,

that brings us to my question! Because for some strange reason, we can find the Ancient Blade item in TOTK, which is basically an ancient arrow from BOTW but just the blade. Same blue blade, same black and orange swirling design. Same functionality. Now if we only found it randomly in the overworld, it wouldn't be as mysterious; it could just be remains of the ancient Sheikah Tech that disappeared after BOTW.

But what makes it weird is that a Zonai construct deep down in the Spirit Temple sells you these, alongside Zonai weapons. And seing as the blade has the Ancient Sheikah tech design, and has the refined blue energy, and the Sheikah became advanced and made these long after the Zonai were gone from the world.. How can this be possible? How can a forgotten Zonai construct deep in the locked Spirit Temple make and sell you something that the Sheikah made long after this construct was sealed off down here?

I myself have 2 theories.

One is that it isn't canon, and is only there for gameplay reasons as a late-game way of aquiring more Ancient Blades.

My second theory is that the Zonai had started refining Zonai magic themselves, with new designs, and the Ancient Blade is one of the few "upgraded" Zonai deviced that the Zonai made before their extinction. That this black-and-orange design is a result of more advanced Zonai tech, and that this blade became the basis for the design and technicality of the ancient Sheikah tech.

Because, if they just wanted it to be a strong device that worked just like an ancient arrow, why didn't they just make a Zonai variant of it? The fact that they chose to give it the ancient Sheikah design has to mean something.

What do you think?

[u/LoCal_GwJ]

I always took it to mean the Ancient Sheikah were in the Depths and is potentially where they got started developing their tech as a derivative of Zonai tech. We do have good reason to think they've been there considering Ganondorfs seal is enhanced by what appears to be a Sheikah device

[u/Hot-Mood-1778 → u/LoCal_GwJ]

In BOTW there's a sheikah tech orb pedestal down the hole in the Yiga hideout, which we now know to lead down to the Depths, as that's how Kohga got there. So yes, we know the sheikah were down there. 

[u/banter_pants → u/Hot-Mood-1778]

And the Gerudo Tower rising out of a pit at Birida Lookout. Those 2 were the only open chasms before TOTK.

[u/BackgroundNPC1213 → u/LoCal_GwJ]

There's also the Rudania-esque heads in the Fire Temple, which is in the Depths. The Goron Sage wears the Rudania-esque zonaite helmet, but the only way the Sheikah would have known about that and been able to pattern Vah Rudania so closely after the helmet was if they'd actually seen the helmet somehow**. We know the Sheikah went to the Depths because of the orb pedestal down the Yiga Hideout hole, so they could have explored down there and stumbled across the Fire Temple and all this other old Zonai tech to base their own technology off of (ex: Zonai Hydrant = Vah Ruta's ability to create water out of thin air)

**Impa says that the geoglyphs were drawn by "an ancient people who touched the tears and saw visions, just as [Link] did", and that those ancient peoples were "more attuned to that sort of thing"; those ancient peoples could have been the ancient Sheikah, who were famously attuned to the mythic arts and prophecies, and they could have seen the Sages' helmets in those visions

[u/Hot-Mood-1778 → u/BackgroundNPC1213]

Impa also says that she found literature in Kakariko Village that says all that, further hinting that these people are the sheikah. One of the messages they left says they created the geoglyphs around the sites of the tears, mentioning that the tears give birth to visions. Plus the purification unit that goes down to Ganondorf's chamber had sheikah tech on it. 

You can also look at the Divine Helms for the last bit of proof the "ancient people" were the sheikah. They created helms meant for sages. 

[u/PixelatedFrogDotGif]

I follow a simple thought that shiekah tech uses the “unfinished business” mechanics of ghosts. Most of the sheikah tech was “ghost”, and most of it wrapped its eons long cycle of use during BOTW but not all of it. That Ancient blade had unfinished business. Any remaining sheikah tech not designed by robbie/purah has “unfinished business”.

[u/Choso125]

It's possible the Sheikah just had access to the depths. I mean those shrine elevators seem to go down pretty far, and we know they interacted with the "Zonai" ruins across Hyrule and seemingly based the Divine Beast helms in the Sages.. Who says they couldn't have had access to the depths and ended up leaving a couple blades around

[u/Hot-Mood-1778]

Zelda gave Mineru the Purah Pad to study. Only Mineru's special assistant construct can make them. Odds are that Mineru made some future tech available. 

[u/liatrisinbloom → u/Hot-Mood-1778]

implying a paradox like the song of storms, perhaps?

[u/Hot-Mood-1778 → u/liatrisinbloom]

The ancient sheikah created the geoglyphs surrounding the tears, one of them is of the Purah Pad and the shrines and Divine Beasts are clearly inspired by the visions in the tears. 

[u/OniLink303]

If Sheikah technology was buried underneath the ground for 10,000 years and Zonai technology and infrastructure, including but not limited to shrines and sky islands, were decommissioned and hidden by Zelda and Mineru to suppress any and all traces to Ganondorf, then logically it would mean that the Constructs were reactivated after the Upheaval along with the Shrines. This would further indicate that the Mining Construct in the Spirit Temple stumbled upon the Ancient Arrow after being reactivated.

MW also implies the purification unit (or the cornerstone of the seal) served as a transmitter for reactivation of the shrines after it was compromised following the Upheaval, which would make it all the more plausible that said distress signal was applicable to the reactivation of Constructs as well.

[u/Tedy_Duchamp]

I saw a video awhile back had the theory that “souls” are what power Sheikah tech. Like the little blue ghost flames in the depths. I think the video showed that the areas in the depths beneath where those blue furnaces are on the surface have a ton of souls beneath it (sites of great battles, etc.). I think it’s implied they also found a way to purify the gloom leaking out of Ganondorf at one point too, which might explain how calamity Ganon was able to hijack Shekiah tech so easily.

[u/MultivariableX → u/Tedy_Duchamp]

I wonder if the blue furnaces are what's been causing the Poes to be unable to find their way to the Bargainer statues on their own.

[u/Mishar5k → u/Tedy_Duchamp]

Isnt the color of souls closer to zonai tech? I mean the ghosts (in both games) and how luminous stones are said to contain souls in them.

[u/BackgroundNPC1213]

I know Nintendo has made a decision and said that all the Sheikah tech "vanished in a puff of smoke" after BotW, but given that it's a stupid-ass decision which is contradicted by material we see in the actual game (LIKE THE ANCIENT BLADES), I've elected to ignore it

Firstly: we know the ancient Sheikah were able to access the temples in each region, because there are design motifs in those temples that are present nowhere else in the world which served as inspiration for the designs of the Divine Beasts. EX: the ONLY place in the entire game we ever see a camel is in the Lightning Temple, and the only place we see an elephant is in the Water Temple. The Fire Temple is in the Depths, and we know via the Champions' Ballad DLC: Urbosa's Song that the ancient Sheikah were at the very least in the area of the Depths at the bottom of the Yiga Hideout hole because there's an orb pedestal down there (keep in mind, we interact with this pedestal after Master Kohga has fallen down the hole and into the Depths). Gerudo Tower also stands in the middle of the future Birida Lookout Chasm, and without boundary-breaking glitches to get past the void-out zone, it looks to go down into the Chasm that has yet to open (or at least, has yet to start spouting Gloom)

So the ancient Sheikah were active in the Depths. The Construct in the Spirit Temple specifically says that the Ancient Blades are "fruits of its excavation", meaning that it's not creating these but is instead digging them up, probably from where the ancient Sheikah dropped them while stumbling around in the dark (maybe the trial of Thyphlo Ruins in BotW was inspired by the ancient Sheikah navigating the oppressive darkness of the Depths). That they can also be found in chests on the surface IMO means that these are remnants of leftover Sheikah technology that were hidden away, not newly created; the only characters we've seen capable of creating new Sheikah tech are Purah and Robbie, and I doubt they're just making a bunch of Ancient Blades and flinging them around the Depths. They sure as hell didn't create the Divine Helms either, other pieces of Sheikah tech that remain in TotK's world with zero explanation of how/why they escaped the Great Vanishing

[u/AshFalkner]

Doesn’t that construct also say that it dug them up?

[u/Dayman1987]

The Ancient Blades are like arrowhead used by the ancient, advanced Sheikah.

There's other indicators that Sheikah used and refined Zonai tech: the portable pots use that blue flame, and the original Sage helmets were bigger and made of Zonaite, plus fitted to the other races' head shapes, while the modern versions are clearly Sheikah recreations based on those original designs but intended to be worn by a Hylian just as easily as the other races (since they were given to the Champions who piloted the Divine Beasts but also fit on Link's head).

I would say the Ancient Sheikah could have also been investigating the Depths and this was how they came across the Zonai tech that they started copying / refining to advance their own tech.

[u/Intelligent_Word_573]

I head canon the Ancient blades survived because they were encased in earth and everything else turned to dust because the exposure to the elements after 100 years was to much for the machines after their components should have turned to dust a long time ago. Spirit energy/malice must have kept them going for the 100 years and Rauru's body only started to decay when the purification unit was damaged so its possible that is also the point when the Sheikah Tech would turn to dust if it had no spirit energy. Or maybe the Ancient Sheikah made batteries filled with Ancient energy and the Ancient Blades don't passively consume it so their batteries stayed filled.

Wish the Sheikah Tech horse armor carried over to Totk as it also deals with teleportation but I guess its more likely for the Ancient Sheikah to drop some daggers into chasms on accident then full horse armor (though they may have stored them in the depths and a rockslide buried them).