He entered each Divine Beast and defeated the Blight Ganons controlling them, freeing the spirits of their pilots in the process.

When Link awoke from the Shrine of Resurrection, he set out to free the Divine Beasts from Ganon's control.

Ganon used them to bring further strife to Hyrule: Ruta caused an unending rain on Zora's Domain that threatened to flood all of Hyrule, Rudania caused Death Mountain to erupt endlessly, Medoh prevented the Rito from soaring at their preferred altitude, and Naboris caused an unending sandstorm–complete with risk of deadly lightning–in the Gerudo Desert. And with him arose the Divine Beasts and the Guardians, still under his command. However, shortly before Link's awakening, and due to Zelda's power fading, Ganon began to stir. This gave the survivors of the Great Calamity time to try and recover, and for life to begin to flourish once more in the land of Hyrule. But following Zelda's containment of Ganon at Hyrule Castle, for nearly 100 years thence, the Divine Beasts and all of the Guardians under his control fell dormant. The Blights succeeded the pilots of each Divine Beast were killed, and Ganon took control of the four Beasts. Their mission failed when Ganon, now aware of the threat that the Divine Beasts posed to him, sent the four Blight Ganons to wrest control of each Beast. This time, Ruta was piloted by the Zora princess Mipha, Rudania was piloted by the Goron Daruk, Medoh was piloted by the Rito warrior Revali, and Naboris was piloted by the Gerudo chief Urbosa. After several years, all four of these machines were found after intensive excavations. Over 100 years ago, due to rising fears of the return of Calamity Ganon, the Royal Family of Hyrule ordered that the Divine Beasts be unearthed and readied for another battle owing to a fortune teller's prophecy. The Divine Beasts were buried beneath the ground, and their existence passed on into legend. Shortly after this, the king of Hyrule at that time, gripped with fear due to the awesome firepower that these technologies possessed, had all further research and development abolished. Piloted by four Champions from across the land, they paved the way for victory against Ganon. 10,000 years ago, the Sheikah built Ruta the elephant, Rudania the salamander, Medoh the eagle, and Naboris the camel to combat the anticipated revival of Calamity Ganon.

Zelda divine beast symbols