- "Robbie is my subordinate. There, I said it. I think he's still up on the edge of Akkala researching Guardians... Haven't seen him in 100 years, though. So who knows."
- — Purah
Robbie, also known as Doctor Robbie, is a character from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Robbie is a male Sheikah and ancient technology researcher who can be found at the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab in the Deep Akkala region. He is one of the few people known to have lived during the events of the Great Calamity.
Personality and abilities[]
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
- "Hm? Me? Are you serious?! It seems I got so excited I forgot to introduce myself! I'll start over, hm? I am the lead Guardian researcher and director of the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab. Doctooooor... Robbie!"
- — Robbie
Robbie is an expert in ancient Sheikah technology, though unlike Purah his field of expertise appears to be mechanical engineering and high-tech weaponry while Purah is more focused on Sheikah Slate technology. Robbie is shown to have a lot of respect for Purah as her refers to her as Dr. Purah and even wished to have his son train under her, though was unaware of her mishap with a de-aging rune as she had kept it secret from even her own family. However he is not surprised to hear about Purah's mishap and even manages to understand the situation with Purah when Link has trouble explaining it, as Robbie implies that her having a mishap with an experiment is not surprising as he reveals she apparently hasn't changed much, implying he has witnessed or heard of previous experiments of Purah's that have gone wrong when he worked under her 100 years ago. Robbie is shown to be dedicated to helping Link by creating ancient weaponry to aid him in his quest after seeing the injuries Link endured fighting the Guardians during the Great Calamity, though he does ask Link to show him his scars in order to prove his identity presumably to ensure Link is not a disguised member of the Yiga Clan who have sworn to eliminate Ganon's enemies. He also regrets not being able to give Link the weapons or power needed to succeed as he had spent most of his time researching Guardians before the Great Calamity. He is also shown to be loyal to the Royal Family of Hyrule and is one of few people still alive to have known both Link and Princess Zelda. When introducing himself he has a habit of making a dramatic introduction including saying Doctor in a drawn out fashion before dramatically pointing to the sky and saying his name which is followed the noise of an electric guitar. He also poses once more (complete with electric guitar sound effect) again when he asks Link to join forces with him to destroy the Calamity, showing he is somewhat similar to Purah who has a similar habit of posing though she does it in a more playful manner, showing that Robbie takes matters more seriously and lacks her playfulness. However due to his age, Robbie can get ahead of himself and even forgets to do his introduction after Link relights the furnace, indicating he can be mildly senile especially when overexcited. However he is aware that some people may dislike his long introduction and theatrics which causes him to apologize to Link after his long preamble before getting back to the subject at hand.
He is shown to love his wife Jerrin, even as he took it upon himself to modify Cherry and began referring to it as the Ancient Oven after his wife revealed her feelings of jealousy towards his relationship with the machine which was named after his first love. He is also shown to be a caring father to his son Granté, whom his is proud of. Though he loves his wife, he admits he loves his creation whom he which he considers to be adorable and even assumes it was the power of love that restored power to Cherry before Link informed him he re-lit the lab's blue flame furnace. Though he avoids referring to the Ancient Oven as Cherry within earshot of his wife, he still occasionally slips up such as when he is talking to Link, though fortunately his wife does not hear him, as according to him she often gets mad and throws things when she catches him referring to the Ancient Oven as Cherry, showing that Robbie fears his wife's temper.
When he was younger, Robbie was apparently a capable fighter like most of the Sheikah and through his research of Guardians, he could defeat them in single combat making him one of the few warriors known to have the strength, skill, or power to defeat them such as Link, King Dorephan, and Princess Zelda after she had awakened her sealing magic. He was also capable of carrying the Blue Flame to lit his furnace, though his ability to do so effectively diminished as he aged, causing him to rely on Jerrin, his son, and later Link to do the job. Though he was a capable engineer, he had trouble with the implementing the complex modifications he wished to make to Cherry, which only his wife only had managed to figure out. In addition to working on Ancient Soldier Gear, Robbie had also be researching the possibility of freeing the Guardians from Ganon's control, though it is implied that his lack of funds combined with the difficulty of doing so, made it unwise to even attempt as he warns Link against the idea of trying and offers the Ancient Soldier Gear to combat them instead. However Robbie does require Link to insert Rupees into Cherry in addition to materials to forge Ancient Soldier Gear citing his lab's lack of funds as the main reason for charging Link to forge equipment, though he does reward Link with some free Ancient Arrows as a sample of his Anti-Calamity armaments. He has keen business sense as Link will eventually run out of Ancient Arrows and need to craft new weapons and shields after ones he purchased previously break thus making him a repeat customer. It is unclear what Robbie plans to do with the funds acquired from Link, but presumably he plans to use it to continue his research into freeing the Guardians from Ganon or the development of more ancient equipment.
Biography[]
Background[]
Before the Great Calamity, Robbie worked alongside Dr. Purah at the Royal Ancient Tech Lab in researching ancient Sheikah technology for the Royal Family of Hyrule. While Purah was focused on Sheikah Slate technology such as the Sheikah Sensor and Runes, Robbie focused on studying Guardians and later ancient soldier gear. They along with the other Sheikah still loyal to Hyrule assisted the Royal Family in preparing for the return of Calamity Ganon. Presumably he was responsible for overseeing the development of the Royal Guard's series of equipment created using Sheikah technology which were intended to be used by the Royal Guard to fight Ganon but though powerful, the weapons had low durability, a flaw which made them impractical on the battlefield. However it is implied in his memoirs that he spent most of his time studying Guardians and regretted not focusing more on weaponry, indicating that the defective nature of those weapons was due to Robbie being too focused on the Guardians and only realized his mistake after the Great Calamity. However Hyrule Castle did have Ancient Arrows crafted from ancient daggers and wooden arrows which Robbie either developed or studied.
However during the Great Calamity, Ganon corrupted the Divine Beasts and Guardians, killing their four Champion pilots Daruk, Mipha, Revali, and Urbosa. With the Guardians and Divine Beasts under his control, Ganon attacked Hyrule Castle Town, killing the King of Hyrule and destroying the Royal Ancient Tech Lab along with several towns and villages across Hyrule. Robbie and Purah managed to flee the lab's destruction and survived the Great Calamity.
Link was injured during a battle with an army of Guardians Fort Hateno, which caused Princess Zelda's powers to finally awaken. Having heard the voice of the Master Sword, Zelda after being found by two unnamed Sheikah warriors entrusted Link's care to Robbie, Impa, and Purah who transported him to the Shrine of Resurrection an ancient Sheikah medical facility located on the Great Plateau near the Temple of Time.
After Zelda entrusted the Master Sword to the Great Deku Tree, she confronted Ganon alone and sealed both him and herself in Hyrule Castle, saving the land of Hyrule for the time being though at great cost.
During the Age of Burning Fields, in Kakariko Village Robbie, Impa, and Purah decided to split up to ensure that one of them would survive to aid Link when he finally awoke as the Yiga Clan actively hunted Ganon's enemies with Zelda's adviser Impa and the Sheikah researchers presumably being chief among them given their knowledge of ancient technology and association with the Royal Family of Hyrule. After playing rock, paper, scissors to see who would go, Purah asked Robbie to accompany her to Hateno Village before he set out for the Akkala region. At Fort Hateno, Robbie became distracted by the remains of countless Guardians that Link had defeated and Purah continued on without him noticing. Seeing the Guardians convinced Robbie that Link would need Ancient Soldier Gear to assist him in battling the Guardians and decided to focus on development of Anti-Calamity armaments.
After parting ways with Purah, Robbie journeyed to a lighthouse located in Akkala and along the way encountered several Guardians which he dispatched one at a time using his knowledge of their weaknesses and presumably collected their ancient materials which would be invaluable to his research in developing equipment to combat them and Calamity Ganon. Eventually he made it to the lighthouse which he turned into the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab and began researching on how to make ancient soldier gear using guardian parts he obtained from broken and defeated Guardians in the Akkala region. He eventually decided it would be easier if he automated the process and modified his Guidance Stone into a machine he named Cherry after his first love. Robbie's lonely existence at the lab made him decide to upgrade Cherry but his plan proved to complex for him so he put it on hold. At some point during this, Robbie began writing his memoirs. Through his automation process Cherry could create Ancient equipment by giving her Guardian parts. Robbie eventually got himself into a routine of lighting the furnace that powered his lab.
When Robbie was around 90 years old, a female Sheikah named Jerrin appeared at his lab having been sent to assist him by Impa after having studied under Dr. Purah. Jerrin proved to be a more than capable assistant as she was able to complete the Robbie's modifications to Cherry, allowing it to speak and communicate like a living person. Robbie was so taken by Jerrin, he eventually married her despite her being a half-century yonger than him. However the early years of their marriage became rocky as Jerrin soon became jealous of Robbie's interactions with Cherry whom he came to rely on more and more. She later told Robbie about her uneasiness with Cherry, which he attributed to Cherry's namesake. Robbie decided to return Cherry to her original mechanical way of speaking and in order to not upset his wife, chose to refer to the machine as Ancient Oven instead of Cherry. Using Cherry to recycle old Ancient Materials, Robbie developed Anti-Calamity armaments to combat Calamity Ganon and the corrupted Guardians. He also discovered how to fashion Ancient Arrows using recycled Ancient materials and arrows.
Eventually, Jerrin and Robbie had a baby boy they named Granté and for a time they lived together as a happy family. However their peace did not last long as Zelda struggled to keep Ganon contained. Eventually his son grew up and decided to leave home to see the world and study Armor which was Granté's chosen field of research with Robbie's support despite needing Granté to relight the Furnace as Jerrin refused out of her lingering jealousy of Cherry. Robbie thought he might send his son to study under Dr. Purah at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, but Purah refused and told him not to send anybody there causing him to wonder if something had happened unaware that Purah had accidentally turned herself into a six year old girl after an accident with an experimental de-aging Rune she had been developing to presumably allow herself, Impa, and Robbie to restore their youth so they would be better able to help Link.
Grante eventually left home leaving Robbie and Jerrin to continue their research into ancient soldier gear while awaiting the return of Link.
Story[]
Robbie is first encountered by Link as part of the Robbie's Research Side Quest which Link receives from Purah after completing Locked Mementos Quest. If Link visits the research lab before the side quest, he will find the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab empty and Cherry barely able to speak and no sign of Robbie or Jerrin.
After completing side quest, Robbie will allow Link to use the ancient oven Cherry to craft ancient equipment in exchange for Guardian Parts and Rupees. The high tech equipment Robbie provides Link is extremely useful for combating Guardians, the Scourges of the Divine Beasts, and even Calamity Ganon himself. It also gives Link a source of re-obtainable weapons and shields. The "Ancient" armor set also provided protection and resistance to Guardian weaponry.
Quest[]
Spoiler warning: Spoilers end here.