Yunobo

Daruk
Species	Goron
Affiliation	Champions, Sages
Hair color	White
Eye color	Black
Relatives	Daruk (grandfather) Ancient Sage of Fire (ancestor)
Voiced by	Joe Hernandez
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Yunobo is a prominent Goron character from the The Legend of Zelda series who appeared as a supporting character in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, becoming the Sage of Fire in the latter game. He was also featured as a playable character in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.

Background

Yunobo was a Goron who was descended from the legendary Goron champion Duruk. His personality contrasted that of his fearless ancestor, as he was quite timid and tended to hide from most sources of danger. Yunobo inherited the shield ability known as Daruk's Protection, which he used to protect himself from enemies. His Goron Boss, the elder Bludo, regarded him as a slacker. After Vah Rudana, the Divine Beast that used to be piloted by Daruk started causing rampages on Death Mountin that set off eruptions which disrupted the Gorons' mining operations, Yunobo began helping Bludo to regularly drive Rudania back, by acting as a living cannonball that Bludo would blast out of a cannon at the Beast. Only Yunobo could fulfill that purpose, as Daruk's Protection kept him from being harmed in the process. He was only left in a dizzied state afterwards. Yunobo also regularly retrieved painkillers for Bludo to help him with his back pains so that he could operate the cannon properly.

Breath of the Wild

In Breath of the Wild, he was on one of those painkiller trips when he was trapped in the vault area by some rocks that collapses as a result of Rudania's attack. Link was able to operate a cannon to destroy the rubble and save him. Yunobo initially assumed that Link was a monster and was frightened, but after seeing that he was a Hylian and realizing what had happened, he was left impressed that Link was able to operate the cannon. Yunobo then hurried back to deliver the painkillers and encouraged Link to speak to Bludo for a reward. After dropping off the painkillers, Yunobo went ahead towards the Bridge of Eldin to wait for Bludo, only for Link to arrive instead, as Bludo's back pains turned out to be too bad for him to carry out the attack on Rudania on that day. Instead, Yunobo found out that Link planned to enter Rudania to take control of it from within. Yunobo agreed to help him. And so, the two made their way up the mountain, with Link using whistling as a signal for when Yunobo should move or stop, in order to avoid being spotted by sentries. Yunobo was fired at Rudania several times throughout their ascent, until it was weakened enough that Link could board it.

After Link succeeded in liberating Vah Rudania, Yunobo watched as the Divine Beast took its perch atop Death Mountain and fired its beam towards Calamity Ganon. Daruk's spirit saw him and acknowledged him with a raised fist, at which point Yunobo excitedly waved to him while laughing and cheering. Yunobo met Link back at the village, where he thanked Link for what he did and felt that his encounter with Daruk's spirit left him feeling a lot braver, even if he was also confused as to the nature of Daruk's appearance up there. Yunobo then brought him back to see Bludo, who commended Link for his accomplishments and credited him for Yunobo "getting his act together". Afterwards, Yunobo could generally be seen around Goron City, and at night he went by a bridge that he considered to be his secret hideout.

Tears of the Kingdom

Over the course of the several years that passed between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, Yunobo formed a company called YunoboCo from a group of admirers in order to mine and sell ore that became accessible after Death Mountain went dormant. He worked to boost the economy of Goron City and to welcome travelers now that Death Mountain was cool enough to allow more non-Goron visiters. He also authorized other projects such as Mine-Cart Land. Things shifted in the afermath of The Upheaval, when Yunobo met with an apparition of Princess Zelda. Believing her to be the real Zelda, Yunobo accepted the mask that she gave to him. This mask altered Yunobo's personality to make him into the servant of that apparition. He started acting uncharacteristically aggressive and rude towards others, even Bludo, and he pushed others to keep mining only for marbled rock roast under the fake Zelda's orders. The marbled rock roast had an effect on the personalities of the other Gorons (aside from the children and elderly), as it made them only want to eat marbled rock roast, seek out more marbled rock roast and scam others for Rupees.

Link eventually came to Goron City, and Yunobo was standoffish even to him. Link confronted him by YunoboCo HQ during a meeting with the fake Zelda, but just as Link was starting to get through to him, the Zelda apparition used her control over Yunobo to make him attack Link. Link was able to stop Yunobo by destroying the mask, which made Yunobo come to his senses and quickly become apologetic for his behavior. Link and Yunobo proceeded to traverse Death Mountain together in pursuit of the fake Zelda. After destroying Moragia, the two of them went down a chasm within Death Mountain's crater which led them to a part of Hyrule's Depths which contained the ruins of Gorondia, also known as the Fire Temple. As they explored it, Yunobo heard a voice calling out to him. Although they did not find the apparition of Zelda, they did find a Zonai secret stone after defeating the Marbled Gohma. This caused Yunobo to meet the owner of the voice that was calling out to him: it was his ancestor, a Goron who acted as the Sage of Fire. Yunobo's ancestor told him about the battle of the Demon King Ganondorf and how Yunobo needed to act as a sage in the current conflict. Yunobo's secret stone formed into a belt that he wore, and he formed a pact with Link as he awakened as the Sage of Fire. As part of this pact, Yunobo granted Link the ability to summon an avatar of him that could help Link in battle whenever Yunobo himself was not around.

Yunobo returned to Goron City to confront those he had wronged while under the mask's influence. He then remained at Goron City while resuming YunoboCo's normal operations, and he sent his young friends Slergo and Offrak to help at Lookout Landing. Yunobo later came into action with the other sages at Hyrule Castle after Link defeated Phantom Ganon. They arrived in time to protect Link from a surge of gloom energy. Ganondorf attempted to torment them with visions of what he would do to Hyrule, and Yunobo was left terrified in the aftermath of the vision, but Riju was able to calm them down by pointing out that Ganondorf was not yet at his full power. After regrouping at Lookout Landing, they decided to look into reports of a fifth sage, and everyone returned to their respective homes to investigate around there. Yunobo remained at Goron City and collected what information he could. Link did eventually find the fifth sage, and the sages came into action during the final battles against Ganondorf. In the chasms far below Hyrule Castle, the sages showed up to help fight off Ganondorf's forces, only for Ganondorf to distract them by summoning the same monsters that had plagued each temple. Yunobo took on the Marbled Gohma again while Link went ahead. The sages later caught up with Link to help fight against the Demon King Ganondorf and his apparitions, although Ganondorf ultimately knocked them all out after accumulating power. Regardless, Ganondorf was still destroyed, and peace returned to the land. In the aftermath of Ganondorf's defeat, the sages gathered at the Great Sky Island, where they bid farewell to Mineru and swore an oath to protect Princess Zelda.

In Other Zelda Games

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity depicted an alternate timeline in which a small Guardian named Terrako traveled back in time and guided the heroes of the past in an attempt to prevent the Great Calamity from unfolding. In Chapter 5, Terrako opened up time portals within each of the Divine Beasts to draw in someone from the future timeline to help save the respective Champion from one of the Blight Ganons. This resulted in Yunobo being pulled into Vah Rudania just in time to save Daruk from being finished off by Fireblight Ganon, with Daruk immediately noting that Yunobo had the same power as him. They worked together during the following fight, and Daruk helped to calm Yunobo, who drew fighting spirit from expressing that it would be pointless if he needed to be saved from Daruk after coming to save him. Together, they held off Fireblight Ganon long enough for a third warrior to arrive, and together they slew Fireblight Ganon. Afterwards, Yunobo and Daruk piloted Vah Rudania together to drive off the enemy forces and defend their stronghold.

During one of the DLC scenarios, Yunobo worked with Daruk to protect Kakariko Village from an invading force. In the aftermath, they were hailed at heroes. Yunobo initially shrank from the spotlight, as he felt that only Daruk was a hero worthy of praise, and he explained how he became braver after being influenced by Link. Daruk proceeded to raise Yunobo's arm up with his in acknowledgement of the villagers' cheers. Daruk made it clear that he was proud of Yunobo and that he was a Champion of the Future. He also told him that he owed his friend for helping him get so far. At the end of the DLC scenarios, the two were seen eating sirloin rocks together.

Ultimately, the combined forces were successful in destroying Calamity Ganon and undoing the Calamity in that timeline. In the aftermath of the victory, the warriors from the future were pulled back to their original time. As they parted, Yunobo and Daruk shared a fist bump. Daruk wished that they could have more time together. Yunobo told Daruk that being with him was a lot of fun and that he was the best, before he faded away from that timeline.

Trivia

• His name is spelled as "Yun-bō" in Japanese. This seems to be a play on a Japanese word for a hydraulic excavator, with "bō" also being an honorific used for young boys.
• Yunobo and Daruk are only referred to as descendant and ancestor within Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity. It is only the official book Creating a Champion that specifically referred to Yunobo as Daruk's grandchild.