Purah

Purah is a character from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Purah is a Sheikah ancient technology researcher who can be found in the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab of Hateno Village in the East Necluda region. Despite her appearance, she is actually the elder sister of Impa and lived during the Great Calamity.

Zelda's Research Team
According to Zelda's Research Notes before the Great Calamity, Princess Zelda met with Purah's sister Impa and at this time she was introduced to Purah and her subordinate Robbie both of who Zelda referred to as respected members of their tribe. The day after meeting Purah and Robbie, Zelda set out on an excavation with Purah and Robbie hoping to find ancient tech with which to operate the Guidance Stones. During their excavation they discovered a rectangular object, small enough to be held in my two hands, and made of the same stone-like material as shrines. The next day Purah decided to name the stone relic the Sheikah Slate as the relic was slate made by the Sheikah and they had found no references to a name for it in the ancient texts, however Zelda herself felt the name was a bit on the nose, though the Princess decided it was not an argument she could win and wisely decided not to push the issue any further. After some tinkering, they eventually managed to restore functionality to the Sheikah Slate's Camera Rune, album, and Hyrule Compendium. During their research, Zelda and her team became convinced it may have a function that could control Guidance Stones which later proved correct.

In the "Champions' Ballad" DLC, in a memory, though only heard not seen, she was the one who took a group picture of the Champions with the Sheikah Slate's Camera Rune. This picture was later printed and the printed photo became the cherished possession of the Royal Family's court poet an unnamed Sheikah who mentored the Rito Kass whom later inherited the photo which he later gives to Link after he assists Kass in completing his teacher's unfinished work The Champions' Ballad. If Link has purchased the old house in Hateno Village during "Hylian Homeowner" the picture will appear framed near Link's bed as a cherished memento of his time with the Champions.

In addition to their Sheikah Slate and Guidance Stone research, Purah, Zelda, and their team also oversaw the four Champion training to pilot their respective Divine Beasts. The Zora Princess Mipha mastered Vah Ruta with ease. Daruk had trouble at first but soon got the hang of controlling Vah Rudania. Urbosa and Revali managed just fine as well, making them hopeful that they would be able to stop the rise of the Calamity.

However unfortunately despite all of Zelda and teams efforts they were unable to enter most of the shrines, though they did discover the Shrines contained trials to train the hero and Purah developed a theory that the Sheikah Slate was key to opening them, a theory which was supported by Zelda herself, though she found herself unable to open the Tena Ko'sah Shrine in Tabantha Frontier which Zelda surmised was due to the Shrines being designed only to be accessed by the Master Sword's Chosen One whom she and Purah knew was Link. However Zelda resented Link's talent and never thought to seek his aid in accessing them. It is unclear if Purah was aware of this though it is likely she was or suspected it. Unfortunately the Shrines did not have power as the Sheikah Towers were buried and neither Zelda or Purah realized the true nature of the Sheikah Slate until much later. In addition to Purah and Robbie, the Royal Family's court poet assisted Princess Zelda in a survey of the Shrines knowledge he would pass on to Kass. However it is unclear if he had any official connection with Purah's research team as he may have simply been assisting the Princess with whom he was implied to be infatuated with.

However Zelda and her team did manage to uncover the Shrine of Resurrection which they discovered as they speculated was a medical facility. They also discovered it had a long term stasis function called the Slumber of Restoration that could be activated and maintained until healing was complete. Fearing the power Calamity Ganon must possess to necessitate such a facility, Zelda and her team worked to make all the adjustments to restore it to full working order. Eventually King Rhoam forbid Zelda from researching to force her to focus her every waking moment to awakening her sealing powers as he considered her research little more than Zelda playing at being a scholar. As a result Purah lead the research team without Zelda. Before her father forbid her research efforts, Zelda observed the Sheikah test a Guardian and believed that they could defeat Ganon with the Guardians and Divine Beasts which they had learned to control through Purah, Robbie, and Zelda's research efforts. This was in sharp contrast to a previous test in which a Guardian went out of control forcing Link to destroy it which lead to his appointment to the Imperial Guard assigned to protect Zelda, indicating Purah and her team had some early failures and mishaps through they managed to learn from these early mistakes.

The Great Calamity
Though Impa, Purah, Robbie, and the Champions thought they were fully prepared to confront Calamity Ganon with the Guardians and Divine Beasts, they never foresaw the possibly that Ganon, after having been defeated by the same technology in the past would decide to turn that very same technology against Hyrule. Ganon used his power to corrupt the Guardians and created four phantoms of himself to kill the Divine Beasts' Champion pilots and imprison their spirits becoming the Scourges of the Divine Beasts which took control of the Divine Beasts giving Ganon control over them. Ganon's revenge was swift and brutal with much of Central Hyrule destroyed and Hyrule Castle soon fell to Ganon. The Royal Ancient Tech Lab was destroyed as well though Purah and Robbie escaped with their most of their research and two Guidance Stones. Link and Zelda survived and fled from Hyrule Castle stopping briefly when Zelda broke down out of grief and hopelessness of their situation. The fled to the boarder of Necluda, but were cornered by corrupted Guardians. Wielding the Master Sword which gleamed with its true power due to Ganon's influence within the Guardians, Link valiantly defended Zelda and Fort Hateno however eventually the Master Sword's true power faded leaving Link ill prepared to face the onslaught of Guardians though he refused to abandon his duty even when Zelda begged him to flee.

After Zelda selfless attempts to convince Link to flee failed she tried to shield the exhausted Link from an attacking Guardian which suddenly caused her sealing powers to finally awaken which freed the Guardians of Ganon's influence shutting them down. However despite her success Link collapsed from his injuries near death. As Zelda wondered what to do as she could not defeat Ganon without him, she heard the ancient spirit of the Master Sword inform her Link could be saved reminding Zelda of the Shrine of Resurrection. Found by two Sheikah warriors Zelda insisted Link be transported to the Great Plateau. After reuniting with her remaining allies Zelda requested Impa, Robbie, and Purah to protect him as she guided by the Master Sword still had a role to play. Purah and Robbie thus took him to the Shrine of Resurrection in order to hide him and heal, though they were forced to resort to the untested Slumber of Restoration in order to save Link's life. Robbie and Purah witnessed Link's battle scars and took possession of his Champion's Tunic which was given to Impa though left chests containing clothes and the Sheikah Slate formerly owned by Zelda in the Shrine for Link when he awoke though the clothes eventually deteriorated into an Old Shirt and Well-Worn Trousers. Unbeknownst to Purah or Robbie, King Rhoam's spirit chose to watch over Link as the Old Man taking advantage of his ghostly form to watch over and protect Link as he slept whom was being hunted by evil Sheikah of the Yiga Clan. Zelda entrusted the Master Sword's protection to the Great Deku Tree and Korok tribe as Korok Forest was surrounded by the fabled Lost Woods which provided a nature barrier. Zelda informs the Great Deku Tree of her plans and noted Link may suffer amnesia whenever he awakes but has faith he will find and reclaim the sword.

After Zelda choose to seal Ganon in Hyrule Castle, in Kakariko Village Impa, Purah, and Robbie decided to separate to ensure at least one of them would survive to aid Link when he finally awoke. However Purah insisted Robbie escort her to Hateno Village, they eventually made their way to Fort Hateno where they parted company. Purah set up shop in the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab where she worked as director researching Runes to assist Link when he will come back. As the Slumber of Restoration was untested, neither Purah, Robbie, or Impa knew how long Link would remain in stasis and like Zelda feared the process might rob Link of his memories, though hoped that was not the case.

Age of Burning Fields
Fortunately for Purah, the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab had been constructed before the Calamity with funding from Hyrule Castle which she implies Impa and possibly Zelda where responsible for. At thirty years old, Purah began continuing her research focusing on Runes and discovered the existence of runes she was previously unaware of such as Stasis and Remote Bombs. She also developed the Sheikah Sensor+ an upgrade which linked the Sensor with the Hyrule Compendium which took her 50 years to complete as she was 80 years old when it was finished though was unable to add them to the Sheikah Slate for Link as by that time she was too old to make the journey to the Great Plateau thus planned to give it to Link along with the other Runes she discovered when he awoke. As she aged Purah grew concerned that the Sheikah that survived would not live to see Link's return which caused her to develop the idea to use technology to combat the effects of aging so she and the other elderly Sheikah could be restored to their physical prime allowing them to better aid Link and even survive beyond their natural lifespans if need be.

Over the years Purah mentored Nanna and later Jerrin who was later sent by Impa to assist Robbie whom she eventually married. At some point, Nanna returned to Kakariko Village settled down and had a family, though later regretted not heeding Purah's ideas and warnings about the dangers of growing old indicating she was aware of Purah's age reversing research, though apparently did not assist her in the endeavor thus explaing Nanna's regret in old age. While Purah remained single, her sister started a family having at least one child and eventually a grandchild named Paya thus making Purah a great aunt. Though most of the villagers in Hateno Village grew to respect her over the years with most having known of her their whole lives and respectfully refer to her as the "Director", they generally do not bother her and even the elders of the village who lived during the Age of Burning Fields are not aware of the nature of her research though apparently the children of the village do not and it is implied she had to deal with their ocassional curiosity which apparently caused her to gain a reputation for disliking children as the years went by. Purah used the blue flame from the Sheikah Furnace found in Hateno Village to power her Guidance Stone and laboratory, though would occasionally have to relit her lab's small furnace when the flame went out which became more difficult as she aged. As a result, the people of Hateno Village came to associate the blue flame with the director though few understood its true purpose. It is also implied Purah helped rebuild Hateno Village following the Calamity as the town has lampposts with low tech lanterns that function as streetlights. She also installed Lantern Torches throughout Hateno Village which could kit with Blue Flame making the proccess of lighting her Furnace easier. It is also implied she was responsible for the village's survival after Link's battle at Fort Hateno allowed it to survive the Calamity and rebuild, as the town has survived for a century despite the presence of monsters and Yiga Clan as well as her labs large telescope which allows her to keep an eye on the road leading to the village.

Age-reversing Rune
As she got older, Purah began researching an age reversing rune to strengthen the Hyrulean army to fight the inevitable return of Calamity Ganon. Symin was sent by Impa to assist her. Purah would later complain about his uselessness in a letter sent to Robbie and Jerrin. Her research initially proved fruitful as it reversed her age at first to a Sheikah woman in her early fifties. But she feared she might wake up and find herself in the body of an infant. Her age continued to regress to a woman in her thirties then twenties, later to a teenager going through puberty, and eventually stopped at the age of a six year old girl. She began working on a Rune to reverse the process, but her Guidance Stone ran out of energy, and she was unable to relight the furnace that powered her tech lab. Symin proved to be unsuited to this task, and she was forced to light them herself. A girl in the village saw her and she was thus forcing her to resort to gas powered lights. When Robbie wrote her a letter about sending his son Granté to study under her, she replied not to send anyone, presumably embarrassed by her current state which is reinforced by her choosing to keep her condition a secret from even her own family as neither Impa nor Paya are aware of it. She also became frustrated waiting for Link to awaken, even wanting to travel to the Great Plateau to kick him awake, though doubted Symin would support her in reaching the Plateau as she could not reach it alone in her six year old body.

If Link visits the lab before receiving the Locked Mementos quest from Impa, Purah will even pretend that Symin's the lab's director and that she is his assistant as a practical joke and will continue this ruse until Link receives the quest.

Locked Mementos
After seeking out Impa, Link is informed that his Sheikah Slate is missing some of its components and Impa tells him to seek out the director of the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab to get it fixed. Upon arriving at the lab, Purah plays a joke on Link by pretending that Symin is the director, though Symin tells him the truth and Purah reveals herself to be the labs true director. She explains that her current condition is the result of an experiment gone wrong but tells him he should read her diary to learn more about it. She takes a look at Link's Sheikah Slate and is surprised to find it has Remote Bombs, Magnesis Rune, Stasis Rune, and Stasis Runes which Link acquired inside the Shrines located on the Great Plateau, yet lacks standard runes such as the Camera Rune, Album, and Hyrule Compendium. She states she her Guidance Stone can restore the missing components, but first her lab's furnace must be relit with the Blue Flame as her lab is powered by it. Link can find a Torch inside the Lab and can obtain the Blue Flame from the Ancient Furnace inside Hateno Village. He can light special lanterns along the way incase he loses the flame, making it easier to relit if it goes out. Link is unable to light the lanterns or the lab's furnace if it raining. Once Link lights the labs furnace, power is restored to the lab's Travel Gate and Guidance Stone. Purah tells Link to place the Sheikah Slate in the Guidance Stone which restores the missing components and fixes all corrupted data. This unlocks the Camera Rune, Hyrule Compendium, and restores the pictures originally stored in the album. Purah suspects that the images were taken by Princess Zelda when it was in her possession as the pictures are of locations as they appeared before the Great Calamity. Purah suggests he talk to Impa as she was close to Princess Zelda and would likely know more. She also mentions that if Link brings her some ancient parts, she will give him something good and tells him to speak to Robbie at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab as he has been working on something that might aid him. Interestingly, despite her telling him to read her diary earlier to learn more about her condition and even points out its location, she insists he not read it. If Link reads Purah's diary, she will punish him by taking his Sheikah Slate and seemingly erasing all its components, however when Link checks it, he discovers nothing is missing and Purah reveals she had played another joke on him, even imitating the Guidance Stone's voice to fool him, indicating she really has no problem with Link reading her diary and was simply pranking him, thus explaining her contradictory behavior. Link can also find two manuals written by Purah, the Sheikah Slate Manual and Camera Manual on the table next to her which provide instructions on the Sheikah Slate and Camera Rune respectively.

Slated for Upgrades
If Link asks her about the something good she promised, she explains that in exchange for ancient materials she can power-up Link's runes, such as the Sheikah Sensor for three Ancient Screws, Remote Bombs for three Ancient Shafts, and Stasis for three Ancient Cores. Link can also ask her about Ancient Materials which Purah reveals are what Guardians drop when he defeats them or by examining broken Guardians.

Upgrading the Sheikah Sensor links it to the Hyrule Compendium allowing it to detect the objects Link records in the Hyrule Compendium when he takes pictures of them with the Camera and causes Symin to want to test it by having Link use it to find a Sunshroom behind the lab and take its picture leading to the "Sunshroom Sensing" side quest. After Link completes Symin's side quest, Symin discovers Purah's Guidance Stone has photographic data stored in its memory which can be uploaded to the Hyrule Compendium to fill in missing entries. Purah permits Link to try it out for free but afterwards forces Symin to charge Link for this service justifying it out of necessity to fund their research. The pictures he can purchase are separated by type though the picture of that type received is random and the free test run picture is completely random as Link cannot select the type. These pictures are lost if its entry's picture is overwritten. Unlike rune upgrades Link purchases these pictures from Symin.

Upgrading the Remote Bombs increases their power while decreasing their recharge time. Upgrading the Stasis Rune allows it to effect enemies.

Link can also ask her about Robbie who she explains is her subordinate who runs the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab and tells Link he should bring Ancient Materials to Robbie as well. This leads to the side quest, "Robbie's Research".

Physical appearance
She appears to look like a six year old girl due to using a Rune to reverse her aging that went too far. Interestingly, she is the only member of her family to have inherited the Sheikah's traditional red eye color, as Impa and Paya both have brown eyes (much like depictions of Impa before the release of Ocarina of Time). However like her sister and grandniece, she has white hair which she has tied up in a bun. She wears a pair of glasses and a mask with Lizalfos-like eyes on her head which are identical to the ones her subordinate Robbie wears. She wears Sheikah clothing which takes the form of a dress with a frilled skirt and Mary Jane shoes. She wears Sheikah gauntlets and leggings. She wears a backpack like device on her back with what appears to be a flute attached to it.

She also lacks the Sheikah eye crest tattooed on her forehead like Impa and Paya despite coming from a family with a strong Sheikah lineage as it is customary for Sheikah with such lineage to tattoo the crest or their forehead, though presumably this may be out of vanity or it is concealed by her hair and/or the bandana also concealed under her hair. Additionally it is possible that because Purah studies ancient technology, she doesn't follow Sheikah tradition as faithfully as her sister and grandniece, as the Sheikah had given up much of their ancient technology, while Purah herself embraces and studies it. It may also be due to the fact that Purah is a scientist and may reject such practices as superstition as the Sheikah eye chest is considered a protective talisman. There is, potentially, some hinting that she still honors her heritage, as her glasses are designed with the same pattern as the Sheikah crest's "eyebrow" (slightly mimicking the Lens Of Truth).

Personality
Unlike her sister, Purah is shown to be playful and somewhat mischievous as she takes advantage of Link's amnesia to play practical jokes on Link whom she affectionally calls "Linky". She has a habit of posing like she's having her picture taken and saying "Snap". Her behavior resembles and is apparently modelled after girls in today's social media based culture which fits with her role restoring the Camera Rune which makes the Sheikah Slate more like modern day smartphones. She is also somewhat vain which is one of her reasons behind her anti-aging research and even obsesses about a pimple when she regresses back to a teenager going through puberty though it is stated that her mental state had regressed to that of a teenager due to hormones. Not surprisingly she enjoys having her picture taken and poses for Link to test out the restore Camera Rune. She tends to treat her assistant Symin poorly even kicking him awake to run tests after she used the anti-aging rune on herself, though it is implied that this is due to her considering him inept compared to her past assistants and due to being close to her brilliant student Jerrin whom Symin had replaced after Impa ordered Jerrin to assist the elderly Robbie whom Jerrin later married. She warned her former assistant Nanna about the dangers of aging which Nanna ignored until she became an old woman and even wished she had listed to Purah indicating she was dismissive of her anti-aging research but later regretted not helping Purah perfect it when she reached old age and understood Purah's reasoning. Some of the Hateno Villagers dislike her personality to the point some such as Thadd even warns travelers to avoid her lab and he describes her as a yappy old woman. Some of the villager imply she dislikes children which is ironic considering her personality and condition. She admits to Link she was not as close to Princess Zelda as her sister though she and Zelda worked well together due to their shared interest in ancient technology though Zelda felt the name Sheikah Slate was a bit too on the nose, though decided not to challenge Purah on the name indicating even Princess Zelda was wary of arguing with Purah. Though she and Robbie get along, he is not surprised to learn of her mishap with the anti-aging rune even noting she hadn't changed implying she suffered similar experimental mishaps in the past. Amira and Nikki are implied to even suspect the truth that Sheikah girl that had been spotted at the lab might be Purah herself while gossiping indicating they to would not be surprised by it though can't fathom how such a thing would be possible as they are unfamiliar with Sheikah technology unlike Robbie. Her student Jerrin and her apparently got along well as Jerrin even picked up Purah's habits such as playing jokes and even impersonates Purah's mannerisms. She also became frustrated with waiting for Link to awaken even humorously wanting to go kick him awake through doubted Symin would assis her and it would be hard for her to reach the Great Plateau with her six year old body. This implies the jokes she pulls on Link are payback for making her wait a century. Impa respects her elder sister and is somehow aware of her giving Link the run around despite being unaware of her condition. Paya's relationship with her great aunt is unknown beyond the fact she respects her as she does her grandmother.

Despite her negative personality traits and quirks, Purah is a loyal Sheikah like her sister and grandniece who is dedicated to combating Ganon using her research to discover the purpose of the ancient Sheikah technology left behind by their ancestors and takes her research seriously even authoring several manuals on the Sheikah Slate and its Runes. As a result, Purah is an respected expert in her field and even helped Zelda uncover several important discoveries such as the Sheikah Slate and the purpose of the Shrine of Resurrection. Also despite her pranking Link, she respects his abilities and worked hard to develop rune upgrades though she does require him to trade Ancient Materials in order to support her research, though fortunately her lab is not in a desperate need for funding as Robbie is, as her lab was created before the Great Calamity with funding from Hyrule Castle while Robbie built the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab out of the old lighthouse in Deep Akkala during the Age of Burning Fields. However eventually she decides to force Symin to charge Link to use her Guidance Stone to upload photos to the Hyrule Compendium after letting Link test it out for free, justifying it as a contribution to their research though it may also be due to Purah's admitted dislike of people using her Guidance Stone. It should also be noted the Rune upgrades had been created especially for Link thus explaining why she only required Ancient Materials and did not charge Link any Rupees, while the pictures had been inadvertently discovered by Symin while doing a routine diagnostic on the stone thus saw them as an opportunity to acquire additional funding as the pictures were not vital to Link's quest thus she could easily justify charging for it to both Symin and Link. She also helps Link by directing him to Robbie and even suggests he speak to her sister about using the pictures Zelda took to restore his memory as she knew Zelda more personally. Even the villagers of Hateno Village respectfully call her the director and it is implied most have known her their whole lives as she has lived there for a century. However they tend to leave her alone to do her research apparently respecting the signs warning people to enter at their own risk and to respect the Blue Flame lanterns. Purah herself is apparently very secretive about her research presumably to protect it from being misused and/or from the Yiga Clan. The village street lights made from lanterns are implied to be due to Purah's ingenuity and technical knowledge being applied to less advanced technology.

Like Robbie, Purah prizes her lab's Guidance Stone which she dotes on like her baby. She even admits to disliking people using it though makes exceptions for Link and allows her assistant Symin to examine its data as part of a diagnostic. However she refuses to allow it to be used for free as Link restoring power to it and her lab qualified as payment for restoring the Sheikah Slate and she requires materials to be traded to upgrade its runes, and Rupees to add pictures to the Hyrule Compendium after permitting a one time free trial which she only allows at Symin's assistance and to test the service out, all of which benefit her lab and research. She is also aware of Robbie's modifications to his Guidance Stone Cherry though she fails to remember the name Robbie had given it though knows it can manufacturer ancient soldier gear.