Blood Moons,^[1] also known as Red Moons,^[2] Nights of the Red Moon,^[3] and The Hour of the Blood Moon is a recurring event in The Legend of Zelda series.

Overview[]

Breath of the Wild[]

	Link... Be on your guard. Ganon's power grows...it rises to its peak under the hour of the blood moon. By its glow, the aimless spirits of monsters that were slain in the name of the light return to flesh. Link...please be careful.
— Princess Zelda during the first in-game Blood Moon.

Blood Moons occur at midnight on nights when Calamity Ganon's power reaches its peak and escapes from Princess Zelda's control within Hyrule Castle,^[4][1] dyeing the night sky and the Moon red with Malice.^[3] The effects of this Malice revive any fallen monsters and enemies, returning them to where they once were prior to being slain. In addition to reviving enemies and Overworld Bosses, Ore Deposits are replenished, and Materials ranging from plants and trees, to gear left lying in the field, effectively respawn, allowing Link to collect them again if the ones he took before the Blood Moon broke in the interim period. Blood Moons do not start occurring until Link obtains the Paraglider and leaves the Great Plateau.

Mechanically, Blood Moons are a way to restore enemies and weapons to the world of Breath of the Wild to keep the difficulty from dropping permanently as enemies are exterminated, and to ensure Link can still find resources such as weapons and food ingredients as the game goes on. Data stored within the game's long-term memory is reset, including the presence or lack of Materials and Weapons. Blood Moons do not affect things handled through short-term memory, such as Creatures, Grass, Trees, and Barrels. Blood Moons also do not affect storyline progression, side quests, or major bosses such as Master Kohga and the Bosses inside the Divine Beasts.

Blood Moons most commonly appear once every 2-3 hours of continuous gameplay and, under normal circumstances, will trigger at midnight in-game. However, in situations where the game is running out of memory or assets are not loading correctly, a "Panic" Blood Moon^[5] will be triggered, even during daytime. When this occurs, the game does a harder reset of the game state, attempting to clear memory and go to a known, possibly less buggy state, in order to prevent a crash or game-breaking glitch. This extended reset usually causes the Blood Moon cutscene to be unskippable, and the loading screen afterwards to take tens of seconds. If Link is in a battle with Calamity Ganon or another area where saving is disabled and a Blood Moon appears, the game will revert its state to the most recent save data. Blood Moons can be interrupted by entering specific areas such as Ancient Shrines and Hyrule Castle before midnight, and mini-games though the game will simply try to spawn one the next night. This also occurs if Link is doing the One-Hit Obliterator challenge on the Great Plateau. Blood Moons are always represented by a full moon, regardless of which phase the moon is in.

The effects of the Blood Moon begin around 11:30 PM, though the Blood Moon itself can usually be seen as early as 10:00 PM when the moon rises into the sky. At 11:30 PM, Malice will rise from the ground, similar to the interior of a Divine Beast or on the grounds of Hyrule Castle. At 11:50 PM, the sky will turn red, and the clouds will begin to fly by very fast. At midnight, a cutscene begins, depicting the Blood Moon in the highest point in the sky as monsters are seen respawning across Hyrule. Princess Zelda telepathically informs Link that the Blood Moon has risen and urges Link to be careful. After that, the Blood Moon dissipates.^[6] If Link attempts to skip the night by resting at a Campfire or sleeping in a Bed, the cutscene will still play if a Blood Moon is scheduled to trigger that night. During a Panic Blood Moon, these effects play much quicker than they do under normal circumstances and the soundtrack that plays leading up to the cutscene is omitted.

Hino of the Dueling Peaks Stable is the primary source of information on Blood Moons, and can be seen acting strangely during the time period that it affects the overworld. During the day, Link can ask if the following night will contain Blood Moon. If there is, he will say, "I'm getting that feeling again... Something is going to happen tonight. I can taste it."

Cooking during this time gives Food an effect boost.^[7] This time period can be easily identified, as specks of Malice linger in the air for those 45 minutes, or by determining if Hino is still acting strange. If he has returned to normal, the effect has worn off, and Link must wait for the next Blood Moon.

Tears of the Kingdom[]

	Witness the Blood Moon’s rise. When its red glow shines upon the land... the aimless spirits of slain monsters return to flesh. Just as they did in a war long past. The world is threatened once again.
— Phantom Ganon, posing as Princess Zelda during the first in-game Blood Moon.

The purpose and mechanics behind the Blood Moons in Tears of the Kingdom are largely identical to their function in Breath of the Wild. The only key differences are that they do not begin until after Link leaves the Great Sky Island and the cutscene is different, featuring Phantom Ganon disguised as Princess Zelda as he narrates the effects of the Blood Moon in a far more bleak, ominous tone. After defeating Phantom Ganon, the narration during the cutscene no longer plays and the fake Zelda is not present.

A Blood Moon occurs in the memory "Birth of the Demon King", which is heavily implied to have been caused by Ganondorf's usage of Queen Sonia's Secret Stone. After assuming his new form as the Demon King, he utilizes his newfound magic to summon monsters all across Hyrule in a similar manner to the Blood Moon respawning them.

Other Appearances[]

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity[]

Trivia[]

• An exception to the Blood Moon failing to trigger at midnight while in Hyrule Castle is during the first fight against Calamity Ganon. If midnight strikes on a Blood Moon night during this first battle, Calamity Ganon's health will refill to maximum as if neither Link nor the Divine Beasts had done him any damage. This exception does not apply to the battle against Dark Beast Ganon.
• An early indicator that a Blood Moon may occur is that the night sky will be devoid of stars.^{[citation needed]}
• Another glitch can occur if Link is able to open his map within a few frames before 12:00 AM strikes, and warp. It does not matter if, for example, Link is already standing on a warp arrival point when he does this. When the game drops Link at the location, the game will have entered its post-Blood Moon state without having done the reset, and will have even reset the wait time before the next Blood Moon as if the scheduled one had successfully occurred.
• The effect of the sky turning red associated with Blood Moons also occurs when Dark Beast Ganon reveals its core, right before Link delivers the final blow.
• Blood Moons do not occur when Link is in The Depths. Upon returning to Hyrule or the Sky, if a Blood Moon is pending, it will appear the following night. Despite this, all enemies found in the Depths will still be reset after the event.
• The effect of the sky turning red associated with Blood Moons also occurs when the Demon Dragon's Secret Stone becomes vulnerable.

Nomenclature[]

Names in Other Regions
Language		Name	Meaning
	Japanese	赤き月 (Akaki Tsuki)	Red Moon
	FrenchEU	Lune de Sang	Blood Moon
	German	Blutmond	Blood Moon
	Russian	Кроволуние (Krovoluniye)	Blood Moon. From кровь (blood) and полнолуние (full moon).
	SpanishLA	Luna Carmesí	Crimson Moon

Gallery[]

• 

  The Blood Moon beginning

• 

  The Blood Moon reviving various enemies

• 

  Blood Moon icon from Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

• 

  Artwork of Calamity Ganon with a Blood Moon

See Also[]

• Blood Moon (Theme)
• Moon
• Omen of the Blood Moon
• Under a Red Moon

References