Yiga Clan

The Yiga Clan are an enemy group from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The Yiga Clan consists of Sheikah who abandoned the Royal Family of Hyrule and pledged their allegiance to Calamity Ganon. The clan is headed by Kohga. Their secret headquarters is the Yiga Clan Hideout, which is located in the Gerudo Desert. Mighty Bananas are very important to them; Yiga Footsoldiers and Blademasters are attracted by them, and will drop them after being defeated.

History
It is revealed by the Sheikah Cado that after having proved to be key in sealing Calamity Ganon 10,000 years ago, the ancient Sheikah technology was at first praised as the power of the gods. However, the people of Hyrule began to fear their technology as a threat to the kingdom. As a result, the Sheikah became outcasts and lived in exile. Although most Sheikah chose to cast off their technology and live simple lives, others fostered hatred towards the kingdom of Hyrule for shunning the Sheikah despite all they had done for it, leading them to swear allegiance to Ganon. This resulted in the creation of the Yiga Clan, who dedicate themselves to eliminating all who stand against Ganon.

According to Zelda's Diary, it is revealed the Yiga Clan were active 100 years ago shortly before the events of the Great Calamity. At one point, the Yiga Clan attempted to assassinate Princess Zelda before she could awaken her sealing powers which were a great threat to Calamity Ganon's return. However Zelda's appointed knight, the Hylian Champion Link heroically defended her from the Yiga Clan blades, causing Zelda to open up to Link about her insecurities and apologize for her harsh treatment of him.

However despite their failure, Calamity Ganon managed to turn the tables on the Champions and their allies when he corrupted the four Divine Beasts with his blights which killed their champion pilots. Link was ultimately injured defending Zelda from Guardians at Fort Hateno, causing Zelda's powers to fully awaken. Even with Link incapacitated, the Yiga failed to kill Zelda who used her power to seal herself and Calamity Ganon in Hyrule Castle. The Yiga Clan's activities during the Age of Burning Fields is unknown but it is implied that they continued to hunt down the enemies of Ganon such as surviving Knights of Hyrule and Hyrulean Soldiers. However they were unable to eliminate Zelda and Link's Sheikah allies Robbie, Purah, and Impa who split up in order to survive long enough to aid Link. Impa remained in Kakariko Village to lead the Sheikah still loyal to the Royal Family and Sheikah who came to reject the evil ways of the Yiga Clan, while Purah and Robbie left to establish the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab and Akkala Ancient Tech Lab respectively with all three of them avoiding being killed by the Yiga for 100 years.

Story
Sometime before the events of Breath of the Wild, the Yiga Clan had managed to steal the Thunder Helm, a valuable heirloom of the royal Gerudo family line, with its recent heiress being Riju. Until the Thunder Helm is reclaimed from the Yiga, Link cannot go and reclaim the Divine Beast Vah Naboris, as the Divine Beast uses powerful lightning that not even the Rubber Armor set can nullify. After asking around for the possible location of the Yiga Clan Hideout, Link eventually manages to find it in Karusa Valley. Link must then sneak his way through the hideout where he confronts Master Kohga to reclaim the Thunder Helm.

After managing to successfully sneak his way through the hideout, defeat Master Kohga, and reclaim Vah Naboris, the Yiga become more aggressive and begin pursuing Link out in the open. Some random travelers are Yiga in disguise, and will mention Master Kohga's defeat before they start attacking. Like many enemies Link encounters, the Yiga that were killed by Link will be revived on the night of the Blood Moon.

If someone should decide to turn their back on the Yiga and leave for whatever reason, like Dorian did because he had fallen in love with his wife, the consequences for such an action, as revealed in the Shrine Quest "The Stolen Heirloom", can range from extortion, such as targeting the lives of either the deserter or the loved ones of the deserter unless orders are carried out, to death of either the deserter or their loved ones.

List of Yiga enemies

 * Master Kohga (boss)
 * Yiga Blademaster
 * Yiga Footsoldier

Former members

 * Dorian

Weaponry & Abilities
The Yiga Clan wield a variety of unique weapons designed for killing and striking fear into their enemies. These include the Demon Carver blade, Vicious Sickle, Windcleaver swords, and Duplex Bow. Yiga Footsoldiers commonly wield Demon Carvers, Vicious Sickles, and Duplex Bows, while Yiga Blademasters primarily wield a Windcleaver. The boss of the Yiga clan, Master Kohga attacks with large Boulders and large metallic spiked balls both of with feature the Yiga Clan symbol on them. The boulders can only be dodged while Link can use Magnesis Rune to use the spiked balls to use them against Kohga.

The Yiga Clan are masters of disguise and stealth, often taking the appearance of harmless Hylian travelers to catch their targets off guard. However unlike normal travelers, they are unnamed and are simply referred to as "Traveler" in their dialog box. Yiga are shown to be capable of disguising themselves physically and vocally as both males and females, despite having masculine voices in their true form indicating they can shapeshift to alter their appearance and voice. Though unconfirmed their masculine voices and appearance in their true forms implies that most if not all Yiga are males and may simply be mascaraing as Hylian females (similar to how Zelda disguised herself as a Sheikah male Sheik in Ocarina of Time) to better deceive their targets. However it is possible some of Yiga he encounters are indeed female but disguise their voices and appearance to appear male in order to make all Yiga Footsoldiers and Blademasters seem identical. One Yiga disguised as a female Hylian remarks that they find Master Kohga to be dreamy and even finding his pudgy belly attractive, indicating it is possible that this Yiga is in fact a female Sheikah attracted to Master Kohga. However Yiga Footsoldiers are known to be somewhat fanatical or mentally unhinged which shows in some of Link's interactions with disguised Yiga who occasionally say odd things that give them away. Yiga Blademasters are shown more disciplined and capable compared to Yiga Clan Footsoldiers. Yiga have a strange fascination and obsession with Mighty Bananas, to the point Link can use them to distract Yiga in the Yiga Clan Hideout. One disguised Yiga who pretends to be a merchant, will even sell Link Mighty Bananas while in disguise. Yiga often drop Mighty Bananas when killed as well. Regardless the Yiga Clan as a whole are shown to be quite capable as they were able to steal the Thunder Helm from the well guarded Gerudo Town and kill Dorian's wife (who was a Sheikah herself) when he turned his back on the Yiga Clan.

The Sheikah still loyal to Hyrule are shown to view the Yiga as a serious threat, to the point that even walking around Kakariko Village at night was considered dangerous. It is also implied that Robbie has Link show him his scars during the Robbie's Research Side Quest to prove his identity, to ensure he was not a Yiga in disguise as Robbie is an enemy of Ganon who has been working developing ancient weaponry for Link to aid him in his quest. Like most of Ganon's allies and minions slain by Link, the Yiga Blademasters and Yiga Footsoldiers are apparently revived at midnight every Blood Moon when Ganon's power is at its peak.

Along with the Guardians, the Yiga Clan are the only enemies in Breath of the Wild who are not depicted as being monsters. As Sheikah, the Yiga are notably the only humanoid enemies in Breath of the Wild. Despite not being monsters, they appear in the "Monster" section of the Hyrule Compendium (though it should be noted that all enemies appear in that section).