The Legend of Zelda collection has all the time been identified for its heroic fantasy tales, even when some of these tales observe a easy hero’s journey construction. But Tears of the Kingdom takes the franchise’s narrative ambitions to a brand new stage. It tells a sprawling epic that spans eras, digging into the misplaced historical past of Hyrule. It’s an necessary installment for the collection — one which’s certain to confuse the heck out of anybody who fancies themselves a “Zelda timeline” historian.
With all the time-jumping shenanigans and the heaps of lore, it may be somewhat laborious to maintain the occasions of Tears of the Kingdom straight. Whether you’re seeking to make clear some story beats or are simply thinking about seeing the place the story goes, we’re right here to assist with a rundown of each the primary story and ending of Tears of the Kingdom.
It goes with out saying that the following article comprises spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (in addition to the ending of Breath of the Wild). I’ll be going by what occurs in the reminiscences scattered round Hyrule, in addition to some content material tied to quests. That contains the ending, however I nonetheless extremely suggest taking part in the sport to its finish, as its remaining gameplay sequence is value experiencing firsthand.
Link’s story, explained
Tears of the Kingdom takes place after the occasions of Breath of the Wild, during which Link efficiently defeats Calamity Ganon. It’s not precisely clear how lengthy after that battle we decide up from, however plainly just a few years have handed. In any case, the story begins with Link and Zelda exploring the depths of Hyrule. They uncover just a few key issues down there, together with a pink substance known as gloom that’s infecting Hyrule.
The greater discovery, although, is a set of murals depicting an occasion known as the Imprisoning War. That battle noticed the historical individuals of Hyrule (the misplaced Zonai race) preventing the Demon King Ganondorf and sealing him away. While The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past additionally had an Imprisoning War with an analogous premise, the occasion in Tears of the Kingdom seems to be its personal factor completely. Shortly after that, Link and Zelda really discover the imprisoned corpse of Ganondorf, which has been sealed with a tear-like stone. That doesn’t final lengthy.
Ganondorf springs to life, which causes Link to attract the Master Sword – a weapon highly effective sufficient to defeat him. Unfortunately, Ganondorf makes use of the gloom to destroy each the sword and Link’s arm. Most notable about the scene is that Ganondorf one way or the other is aware of who Link and Zelda are, mocking somebody named Rauru for placing their religion in Link. With the heroes thwarted, Ganondorf raises Hyrule Castle into the sky. Zelda falls into the blackness under earlier than disappearing with a yellow flash, whereas a mysterious blue arm brings Link to security on the Sky Islands above.
We be taught that Link was saved by the spirit of Rauru, an historical Zonai creature who was the first king of Hyrule. It seems Ganondorf destroyed Link’s arm in the encounter, so Rauru changed it with a mechanical one which he’s in a position to talk by. After finishing just a few shrines, Rauru leads Link to the Temple of Time, the place he locations his destroyed Master Sword on a pedestal. It disappears, however one way or the other reappears in entrance of Zelda in the similar location.
Before I dive too deep into Zelda’ story, let’s get the simple half out of the means. Link should defeat Ganondorf by regaining his energy and investigating some mysteries in Hyrule. He goes to completely different cities and helps the varied races take care of points attributable to the gloom (the Zora’s water is poisoned, as an example). As he explores, he meets the ancestors of the folks that imprisoned Ganondorf initially: Sidon, Tulin, Riju, and Yunobo. Each character inherits their ancestors’ sage powers and tear stone throughout the essential story, vowing to assist Link in the remaining battle.
After gaining these allies, Link ultimately learns that there was a secret fifth sage as properly. A protracted questline ultimately takes him to an underground forge the place he meets the spirit of a Zonai named Mineru, the elder sister of Rauru and the spirit sage. Link creates a mech out of Zonai gadgets, which Mineru is ready to inhabit, permitting her to combat alongside the different sages in the battle in opposition to Ganondorf.
With all the items in place, Link has assembled a small military succesful of storming Ganondorf’s sky fort. There’s only one drawback: Where the heck is Zelda?
Zelda’s story explained
Here’s the place issues get somewhat unusual. There’s a doppelganger model of Zelda operating round Link’s time inflicting mayhem that doesn’t look like the actual princess.
It seems that when Zelda was separated from Link, she traveled again in time. She reemerges in historical Hyrule and meets Rauru and his spouse, Sonia, who take her in. That’s how she will get the destroyed Master Sword, which has one way or the other traveled again in time too. Zelda is decided to get again to her time, however the king and queen don’t understand how she will be able to. They recommend she converse to Mineru, who mentions that she may doubtlessly return by a course of known as dragonification. That happens when somebody swallows a tear stone, turning them into an everlasting dragon. Zelda may theoretically try this and return to her time just by residing lengthy sufficient, however the course of is strictly forbidden because it’s irreversible.
In the meantime, Sonia trains Zelda to harness the time powers she seems to own. The princess additionally tells Sonia about Link, the hero from her personal time who has the energy to combat darkness. That winds up being a vital element.
It seems that each one of that is occurring in the center of the Imprisoning War. Ganondorf launches an assault on Hyrule and is thwarted by Rauru. In defeat, the Demon King notices Rauru’s tear stone. Ganondorf pledges his allegiance to Rauru in Hyrule courtroom, however that’s merely a ruse to get nearer to his energy. The Demon King tries to trick Sonia by sending a gloom-creature disguised as Zelda to fulfill together with her. She sees by the ruse, however Ganondorf stabs her in the again, kills her, and steals her stone. That actually transforms him into the Demon King, forcing Rauru to retreat with Zelda as Ganondorf calls a military of monsters to Hyrule.
From there, we get extra backstory on the authentic sages. Rauru calls the 5 Link met collectively, in addition to Zelda, and provides every their very own stone. They pledge their allegiance to Rauru and turn out to be the sages sworn to defeat Ganondorf. Zelda tells Rauru that Ganondorf is alive in her time, so she is aware of no matter they do received’t really defeat him. Their solely hope is to stall him and depart the relaxation to Link in the future. That’s precisely what occurs, as the sages seal Ganondorf and Rauru sacrifices his life in the course of.
Tears of the Kingdom ending, explained
All of that units the stage for an epic remaining act the place time actually will get screwy. With Ganondorf imprisoned, Zelda nonetheless must discover a means again to her time with a restored Master Sword. It seems that the weapon might be repaired, nevertheless it’ll take a very long time as the blade must be bathed in gentle for some time. She finds a technique to kill two birds with one stone — and I imply that fairly actually.
Zelda places Mineru’s spirit into her Purah Pad and entrusts it with an historical Zonai who will give it to Link in the future. Then, she swallows her secret stone and grabs the destroyed Master Sword proper earlier than she transforms into an everlasting dragon. With the sword stabbed into her head, her gentle energy is ready to restore the blade over the course of centuries as Zelda lives lengthy sufficient to return to Link’s timeline. Link ultimately discovers all this and pulls the fastened sword out of Zelda’s head.
With 5 sages and a set Master Sword, Link heads to Hyrule Castle to defeat Ganondorf. It seems that he’s not really in the sky fortress although; he’s in the depths under the floor. Link and the sages dive down and launch an assault on Ganondorf’s military (if you happen to haven’t gotten all the sages, Link additionally has to combat the bosses at the finish of their temples too). After clearing out the military, Link and the sages battle Ganondorf.
On the brink of defeat, the Demon King pulls one final transfer: he swallows his personal stone and turns into a dragon himself. Luckily, Link has a dragon of his personal to assist him. Dragon Zelda swoops in and assists Link as he destroys Ganondorf for good. Link then makes use of Rauru and Sonia’s energy saved in his arm to revive Zelda again to her human type. The two collect again at the Temple of Time with the new sages and Mineru formally entrusts the kingdom of Hyrule to them.
That’s the place the completely happy ending leaves off. There isn’t a lot of a sequel setup aside from Zelda and Link swearing to guard Hyrule once more with new sages at their facet. It isn’t clear if the subsequent Zelda sport will proceed that story or soar into a brand new half of the timeline, however Tears of the Kingdom does tie off the story neatly. Perhaps we’ll get extra lore in a single remaining musou spinoff like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out now on Nintendo Switch.
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…. to be continued
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