We are ONE month away from the release of Tears of the Kingdom and Nintendo just released the third and final pre-release trailer of the game, and holy heck they did not hold back with this one! The 4-minute video revealed A LOT about what we can expect in the muchly anticipated Breath of the Wild sequel, but it also created even more questions about what’s to come in this game. We got confirmation on the return of Ganondorf, and we saw some jaw-dropping lore implications that long-time Zelda fans will be frothing over. We also got a look at some gameplay mechanics that just builds the anticipation to play this game.
Based on everything we have seen about the game so far, here are some of my thoughts and theories about Tears of the Kingdom.
It’s Official: The Return of the Demon King, Ganondorf
Until now there had only been speculation as other trailers had strongly implied that Link’s long-time rival would be heavily involved in Tears of the Kingdom, but now it is official; Ganondorf, the Demon King, is returning.
This is the first appearance of Ganondorf in a mainline Zelda title since Twilight Princess back in 2006! To those of you remembering Ganon in Breath of the Wild, you are actually remembering Calamity Ganon as the villain of the game; he never appeared in his human form. This trailer featured an up-close look at the Demon King himself, so there was no mistaking that he is in fact the overarching evil in Tears of the Kingdom, but an ominous quote from Ganondorf has me thinking that perhaps he is not the only villain in Tears of the Kingdom, or perhaps he takes on more forms than just his human form. He says:
“Do not look away. You witness a king’s revival; and the birth of his new world.”
There is still a lot to discover about Ganondorf’s involvement in Tears of the Kingdom, but all I know is that he looks incredible (please, Nintendo, give us an amiibo!) and the new rendition of his theme song is epic.
Umm, excuse me?! WHO IS THIS?! Are you Zonai, or someone (or something) else?!
We have had previous confirmation that the Zonai – a prehistoric tribe of barbarians, previously unseen with their existence being marked by ancient ruins in Breath of the Wild – will be present in Tears of the Kingdom. Although we still don’t really know how they will be involved, it seems that they will have quite a big role in this game.
At the 1:42 mark of the third trailer, we are introduced to this being:
At the 1:42 mark of the third trailer, we are introduced to a new character: a very dark and sinister looking being with gold horns, dark skin, and long, pointy white hair.
We don’t know anything about this character’s allegiance, but they do bear a strong resemblance to the hieroglyphics that we saw in the first trailer.
The hieroglyphics depict that this being is in a position of great power; what that power actually is and/or who that power is over exactly is yet to be discovered, but it seems like this being is going to be quite central to the Tears of the Kingdom story. Also, with Ganondorf alluding to the potential of him not being the game’s only big villain, could this actually be the leader of the Zonai and therefore be a co-villain in the story?
Are these the “Tears of the Kingdom”?
One of the biggest questions surrounding this game has been “what in the world even are the tears of the kingdom?!” and it seems like we might actually finally have an answer! This third trailer provided us with a close-up shot of Zelda’s hands holding a magatama, which is very reminiscent of the several magatamas that were shown surrounding the previously discussed being in the hieroglyphics we saw in the first trailer.
It sure seems as though these are the tears that the game’s title is hinting at. I mean, if you have a keen eye, you can see these little golden tears throughout the third trailer; we see Zelda holding one, Ganondorf has one on his forehead, Zora Prince Sidon has one on his wrist, and we also see another female character (I’ll talk more about her in a moment) with one around her neck.
So, what exactly are these little golden tears? Does each one hold a different power? Will Link have to track down all seven of them? Do they belong to the Zonai? How did Zelda come into possession of one of them? How did Ganondorf get one? What do they mean and what do they do?! It seems like we’ve been left with more questions than answers!
It is completely plausible that Link will be required to track them all down; collecting things is something we have been doing in the Zelda series for years. However, there is just something about these little golden tears that screams of realm travel to me. Remember in Skyward Sword when Link had to collect the Sacred Tears, and in Twilight Princess when he had to collect Tears of Light? Can’t be just a coincidence, right?
Who is she?! Is this Din? Or Perhaps Hylia? Or maybe Zelda in another form?!
In a blink and you’ll miss it scene, we saw this beautiful character grace our screen. She has one of the golden magatama tears around her neck, and we can see her using the light magic from her hand that Zelda had in Breath of the Wild. So, that begs the question: is this Din, the Goddess of Power?
In the Zelda lore, Din (the Goddess of Power) and her sisters Nayru (the Goddess of Wisdom) and Farore (the Goddess of Wisdom) are at the centre of Hyrule’s creation story. When the three sisters departed Hyrule, they left behind the three pieces that create the Triforce.
So, if this is Din, does that mean that we will be seeing the her sisters and therefore seeing the Triforce in a whole new way, or even its creation?! COULD THIS BE HYLIA?!
BUT this character is blonde and has the same earrings and clothes that Zelda can be seen wearing at different points in the trailer, AND she has the magatama around her neck, AND is using the light magic seen in Breath of the Wild… so is this just a transformed Zelda or – if we follow from the Skyward Sword storyline where Hylia takes human form in Zelda’s body -is this Hylia?
Speaking of Creation…
There are some really strong elements of creation throughout this third trailer. We have Ganondorf proclaiming a birth of a new world; and there are countless images mimicking Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam artwork (you know, the one with the hands reaching to each other).
The first two images are clearly showing a world falling into darkness as per Ganondorf’s “birth of his new world”… but that third image is reaching into light, and that darker hand looks to be Zonai… which really has me leaning into the theory that the beauty I discussed in the previous section is in fact the Goddess Hylia in the flesh, and we are witnessing the creation of a world.
Back to the future and a Link to the Past?
With any news about Tears of the Kingdom, the question has always been “where did Zelda go when she fell into that dark chasm?” and it seems like we may have an answer. We see Zelda wearing Zonai clothing and accessories, so perhaps she fell back in time to ancient times and spent some time with the Zonai.
The hand on her shoulder is also in Zonai armour, and kind of looks like the arm that Link gets that we see throughout the trailer. So, is this person Link, or do they just know who Link is?
There is just A LOT of Zonai presence in this trailer, so it really does suggest that there may be some time shenanigans at play.
Also, we see the Master Sword in 2 forms: we’ve see it shattered in previous clips, and also in the Tears of the Kingdom logo it is shattered; and in this third trailer we see it complete in its restored form. We also see the sword in the place we retrieved it from in the forest with the Koroks in Breath of the Wild.
I also, I’m not really sure how to explain what we saw here with Zelda standing in front of this mechanical stone wall / doorway, but I feel like we were witnessing the creation of the Temple of Time.
Also, you can’t tell me that this image of Link riding Epona and rearing isn’t reminiscent of Ocarina of Time!
There is also a moment at the end of the trailer where Zelda says “Link… you must find me.” and she is standing on a platform that looks very much like one in Skyward Sword (one that Link can be seen falling passed at another point in the trailer, also pictured below). However, it looks like at this stage this potential sky island is on the surface… so could this be another hint towards time travel or time shifting?
With so much going on, it’s hard to deny that there will be time travel at play in this game. I’m also getting some heavy vibes from different Zelda games – Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, and even elements of Twilight Princess – not just from imagery, but with the magatama. So perhaps Tears of the Kingdom will be the game that connects all of these stories and timelines together, which just further pushes forth the theory of time travel.
Rebuilding the Kingdom
There are a couple of moments in the final trailer that indicate that Hyrule is rebuilding after the events of Breath of the Wild. There is a clear shot of a settlement forming near the fountain outside Hyrule Castle. I am wondering if this is the beginning of Zelda and Link’s mission to rebuild Hyrule, as following on from the final scenes in Breath of the Wild – which is totally plausible because I am pretty sure that I can see Link walking through the middle of the settlement.
Nintendo has also confirmed that many locations across Hyrule have been transformed, with new villages and updates to Hateno village. There are also shots in the trailer of the villagers bearing arms and fighting in battle alongside Link, indicating a high morale and sense of community amongst Hyrule civilians.
Another key feature that has been seen is the appearance of the sky islands. The official Tears of the Kingdom website states that Link will need to learn new abilities before returning to the surface world. The key word here for me is “returning“.
The website also outlines new abilities that Link can learn, one of which is recall. The recall ability allows you to reverse the movement of an object, which will allow Link to ride masses of land skyward, and thus returning them to the sky world. This fits with my theory that the fallen sky islands are a metaphor for the tears and that we will be rebuilding the Sky Kingdom, Skyloft.
If you look closely, you can also clearly see some Skyloft landmarks from Skyward Sword, so this just further builds the case that we will be rebuilding the Skyloft as well as Hyrule… and perhaps the new world won’t be exactly what Ganondorf is expecting either; perhaps it is world completely rebuilt like it was before, with the sky world and the surface world as two separate realms.
A World Below
Another thing that indicates some kind of time travel – or time shifting like in Skyward Sword – or the rebuilding of the world, was the shot of Link in a minecart that was on some working tracks. If you remember in Breath of the Wild, there were old mines with broken tracks around Death Mountain, as well as the mines underneath Hyrule Castle. This image clearly shows lava, so I am assuming that we will be exploring the mines of Death Mountain. Nintendo has confirmed that there will be new caves and areas around the world to explore, so I am really looking forward to discovering what this minecart all about, because this gives me some serious Skyward Sword vibes.
Link gets some significant Battle Companions
It seems that it’s not just the civilians of Hyrule getting in on the battle action in Tears of the Kingdom. Another interesting scene in this final trailer was that we Zora Prince Sidon and the Gerudo Chief Riju fighting alongside Link. We also see Tulin – Rito champion Teba’s son – flying around with Link. With the return of Breath of the Wild‘s Divine Beast pilots, does this mean that the Devine Beasts will be used in battle to protect Hyrule against the vices of the Demon King?
I also feel that it is important to note that there was no sighting of the champions from 100 years ago, so I am wondering if Revali, Mipha, Daruk, and Urbosa will play any role in this story. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
The Demon King brings some Old School Bosses Back for the Battle
It looks like we will be seeing a return of some classic Legend of Zelda enemies. In a very clear shot, we see that Gleeok has returned as a boss that Link must face-off against, which is both very exciting and very terrifying for me. I love this enemy because it is just so legendary in Legend of Zelda games, but I also hate it because frankly, Gleeok is an asshole… ok, maybe I just have a hard time fighting him. Although, I am hoping that the new fuse ability will be a huge help here because still after all these years I am absolutely hopeless with a bow and arrow.
We also saw some images of what looked like an ice-spider, a mudfish, and a giant concrete box man that I’m not 100 per cent sure what the heck that was but I am terrified to go up against it because it looks HECTIC.
Is that a… DUNGEON?!
In the final trailer we saw a structure emerging from the ground in a kind of reminiscent way to that of the Shrines in Breath of the Wild; BUT, if you look closely at the shape of the structure, it begs the question of all the old school Legend of Zelda fans, “is this a dungeon?!’.
Don’t get me wrong, the Sheikah Shrines and the Divine Beasts in Breath of the Wild were great, but there is just nothing like that classic lock-and-key based puzzle of a Legend of Zelda dungeon. There’s still no official confirmation, but if this is a classic style dungeon there will be a heck of a lot of excited old school Legend of Zelda fans across the world – myself included!
Even if it’s not the classic style dungeon, a reimagined dungeon experience with aspects of the Sheikah Shrines and the classic lock-and-key experience would also be pretty cool… but I am still praying to Hylia that it’s a classic dungeon.
New Abilities
As I mentioned before, there are new abilities. As outlined on the Tears of the Kingdom website, Link will be getting the following new abilities:
| Ultrahand | Pick up, move, and rotate objects. Attach things together to create bridges, vehicles, etc. |
| Fuse | Fuse objects to Link’s current weapon, shield, or arrow to increase durability, damage, or add a new effect. |
| Ascend | Gives Link the ability to pass through solid objects above him. Rise up through ceilings, hillsides, and certain enemies to create seemingly impossible shortcuts. |
| Recall | Reverse an object’s movement, allowing Link to ride fallen boulders skyward, recover thrown weapons, or send projectiles back where they came from. |
These abilities are really going to transform the gameplay experience in some really creative ways, and I seriously can not wait to get super imaginative with some of these and see what other people are coming up with too. It seems that anything is possible with these new abilities.
Squirrel Link?
I’m not really sure what’s going on here, and I don’t really have a lot to say about it except for “IS THAT A SQUIRREL SUIT?!” and “OH MY FREAKING GOD, THAT LOOKS EPIC!”.
I don’t know if this is in a dungeon or what is going on here, but it looks dope and I am here for it. BRING ON THE SQUIRREL SUIT!
Less that a month to go!
With less that a month to go until Tears of the Kingdom will be in our hands, it seems like the final pre-release trailer has given us more questions than answers about what to expect with the game. I don’t know about you, but I am beyond excited to play this game and am counting down the days until my entire life is consumed by adventure through Hyrule once again. Until then, check out the final trailer here and le me know if you spotted anything that I may have missed. I would also love to know your thoughts and theories on the game.
Until next time,
my neuro diaries 
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