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The Flamebreaker Armor is a full plate armor present in the videogame The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which protects the wearer from heat. When fully upgraded, it makes the wearer fireproof and immune to damage from contact with flames or hot objects, including hardened magma, but not including molten lava.

Full Flamebreaker armor

What the Flamebreaker Armor seems to be is a protective armor that doesn't let the heat get through it. There seems to be a rubber or protective inside, with pieces of metal on the outside which honestly doesn't help its case. The suit seems to be made out of rubber, with pieces of metal all around it with a giant circular metal helmet, similar to early diving helmets.

Maybe this metal has insane melting temperatures because Gorons (a fantasy race of underground dwellers, rock-eating people) use metal for their buildings and bridges. And yet in the game they also smith with pieces of metal that seem to glow red with heat. So maybe it's made out of that metal.

Anyway, would this kind of armor be able to protect its wearer against high temperatures, as in the game?

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    $\begingroup$ Please start using capital letters and paragraph breaks. Your questions and answers are quite hard to read without them. $\endgroup$
    – F1Krazy
    Jan 16, 2020 at 16:26
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    $\begingroup$ @F1Krazy I’m impressed. I edit a lot of questions, and I’m a semi-pro editor in my job. But I couldn’t make heads or tails of this question as written. Good job with cleanup. There’s still a lot wrong. Something is 100 degrees... what is that thing? This question still needs clarity. $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Jan 16, 2020 at 16:30
  • $\begingroup$ I made one tweak to the title. Credit still goes to @F1Krazy! $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Jan 16, 2020 at 16:31
  • $\begingroup$ @SRM Yeah, it's a bit rambly and I'm pressed for time, so this is the best I can do for the minute. Likewise with OP's self-answer. Thanks for the kudos! $\endgroup$
    – F1Krazy
    Jan 16, 2020 at 16:31
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    $\begingroup$ @michaelgriffin The figure you heard may have been in Celsius, not Fahrenheit. 800° Celsius is 1472° Fahrenheit, which lines up with what BKlassen said. $\endgroup$
    – F1Krazy
    Jan 16, 2020 at 20:31

2 Answers 2

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Yes, it's a pumice armor

It's made from fire-resistant rocks to protect the wearer.

This is the in-game description of the armor, which means that it must be made from some sort of rock. Furthermore, if we poke around a bit further, we get a second very important piece of information: This isn't a fireproof armor, it's merely a fire resistant armor.

However, even with the entire set fully upgraded to the Level 4 (★★★★), the Fireproof set bonus cannot protect Link from damage caused by falling or briefly stepping in molten lava.

This a quote from the Zelda wiki, which means we're looking at a type of rock which is fire resistant, but not molten lava-proof. And the answer is pretty simple - the armor is made of pumice. If we look at this study, we find that pumice is a good insulator, which makes perfect sense - it's a rock with holes it in, and air is a remarkable insulator. (Admittedly, the in-game design doesn't look like pumice, but I would chalk that one up to superior Goron craftsmanship.) Now, I'm not saying this is a good set of armor to use - I'd imagine that the rocks would make it heavy, and somewhat brittle - but it would absolutely be fire resistant rock-based armor.

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  • $\begingroup$ We need stats on how well it protects against other damage. The pumice won’t do well against a sword strike. I think the answer is “no, this isn’t feasible armor because it ONLY protects from heat.” $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Jan 16, 2020 at 17:12
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    $\begingroup$ @michaelgriffin You asked for a reality check. The armor is going to shatter on the first impact. Thus, not realistic as armor. $\endgroup$
    – SRM
    Jan 16, 2020 at 17:39
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    $\begingroup$ I guess the open face design in the picture means the wearer is ok with 3rd degree burns on their face? $\endgroup$
    – BKlassen
    Jan 16, 2020 at 18:01
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    $\begingroup$ Body heat can't easily exit either...what about sweat pooling in the boots? Or perhaps worse, permeating pumice? Its a hot suit, in any environment. $\endgroup$
    – glen_geek
    Jan 16, 2020 at 19:52
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    $\begingroup$ Another famously fire-resistant "rock" is asbestos, but, well. I'd rather have pumice armor. $\endgroup$
    – Andon
    Jan 18, 2020 at 0:02
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Silicone rubber seems to be our best chance when it comes to it, as it resists up to 400° Celsius at the highest (752° Fahrenheit). This is great because the air around lava is definitely colder than the lava; best case scenario is about 800° Fahrenheit.

The other problem is the metal. Although I'm not a heat dynamics expert, all I know is that if thing = hot, then hot transfer to cold thing touching hot thing. I also looked for the heat conductivity of rubber, and that essentially stated that it doesn't necessarily conduct heat? It just resists it. I think. I assume that if it doesn't melt until just below lava temperature, then that means that it doesn't heat up as well.

The only other thing is just the metal parts which honestly worries me because the metal DOES surround the feet, which even though it's covered by silicone, I'm sure it does burn. I'm also sure if we were to improve the design of this armor then we wouldn't put literal pieces of metal on it.

After looking up actual real-world flame-resistant volcano suits, I realize that they use Kevlar strips, which resists up to 900° Fahrenheit, so the suits can can resist heat similar to the lava at Mt. Vesuvius like I mentioned in the question. I also found an amazing name: Whittington. But back to kevlar strips, that's an amazing substitute to the silicone rubber suits. And for the pieces of metal? I'd just rather remove those off the suit. Unless metal is good and I just don't understand heat well enough to realize or know that metal is good, in which case I would be wrong. I'd love it if someone commented, or made a better answer if anyone who is actually an expert, or knows more than me has a better answer.

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