Malice

"I know the light swirling around the castle is the manifestation of pure evil and all, but it's kind of beautiful."

- Olkin

Malice is a substance found in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It is the concentrated form of negative concepts like hatred and evil, and as such is highly toxic. It appears as a dark red jelly-like substance, and in some cases hardens into black rectangular crystals. It hurts Link upon contact, and despite their connection to it, instantly defeats enemies.

Malice was the form taken by Ganon in the game's backstory, forming Calamity Ganon. When Link, Princess Zelda, and the four Champions attempted to defeat Calamity Ganon in the same way it had been defeated a millennium before, it springs a trap in which it infects the innumerable Guardians and the four Divine Beasts with malice, turning them rogue and causing the Great Calamity. During the Great Calamity, malice was spread all across Hyrule, with some especially large quantities of it in certain places like the Akkala Citadel. A large cloud of malice hangs over the remains of Hyrule Castle, where Calamity Ganon lies dormant. Water that was polluted with malice became bottomless bog. Large quantities of malice remain in each of the Divine Beasts. Another seeming result of the malice's influence on Hyrule is the blood moon, which appears on certain nights and respawns Ganon's monsters, along with most other quantifiable entities across the land.

In a few locations, notably in the Divine Beasts and around Hyrule Castle, malice forms into glowing eyes, sometimes with multiple eyes connecting to each other. If these see Link, they will summon Cursed Bokoblins, Cursed Lizalfos, or Cursed Moblins from a mouth-like hole in the malice nearby. In most cases, the eyes can be destroyed from afar without them noticing Link via arrows, though in some cases the eyes will be closed, in which case Link needs to get extremely close in order for it to open and be destroyed. When the eyes are destroyed, it destroys the mouths and other nearby pieces of malice as well, which can free certain trapped objects and machinery.

Additionally in the Divine Beasts, there are four Blights, which appear to be a fusion of malice with Guardian-like technology. When near these, the evil radiating from them causes the Master Sword to become empowered if Link has obtained it. Upon defeating a Blight, the malice is cleansed from the Divine Beast and it can begin its attack on the dormant Calamity Ganon.

When Link reaches the Sanctum of the castle, he will discover a large mass of malice formed into an entity resembling both a heart and a placenta, from which Calamity Ganon will emerge. Like the Blights, it appears as a fusion of malice and Guardian technology, albeit slightly more human-like. When it is defeated, it will become Dark Beast Ganon, the original Ganon in a massive size entirely formed from malice. In order to destroy it, Light Arrows must be fired at certain spots along it marked by Zelda, and finally, one must be shot into its core through its open mouth, revealing an enormous cluster of giant malice eyes. Once this is done, Zelda will be ejected, and shrink Ganon and its malice into nothingness, ending the game.

In the game's sequel, malice is shown to continue to exist, leaking from the mummified corpse of Ganondorf.