🛡️🎮 Nintendo's Tears of the Kingdom has multiple meanings

Note: I mainly write about Formula 1, and that isn’t likely to change soon. But I very occasionally write about other things. In this case, video games. Thanks for your continued support. This contains spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom.

The new Zelda game looks incredible. Improving on Breath of the Wild was always going to be difficult, and satisfying the demands of Zelda lore enthusiasts, newcomers to the series and people who only knew Link and the gang from Smash Brothers is a near-impossible task, but it’s entirely possible that Nintendo have pulled it off. Before you read on, take a look at the final trailer for the game.

Breath of the Wild is a clever game. Part of its appeal - much more so than other games in the series - is how non-linear it is. If you want, after you’ve done the basic training and armed with three hearts and a deathwish, you can travel straight to Hyrule Castle to take on the gauntlet of four underbosses and Ganon himself.

For most, it does not go well, encouraging people to challenge the game’s take on dungeons, boosting their skills by completing shrines and finishing the occasional sidequest along the way. By the time players take on Ganon for real, they’re normally better prepared and most importantly ready.

And that innovation in BOTW has created a sub-genre of trick shots and improbable combinations that Nintendo has leaned into, building its marketing to casual players around the question “You can do what?”

The Zelda universe is about creating a world, adding minimal rules and abilities that allow players to explore it their own way, at their own pace. To this day, there are players who have not gone to the final battle because they’re still exploring.

As the new game comes out, the trailers show innovation, but it extends beyond that too. This is going to look at the title of the game, so if you’re not into spoilers, look away now and I won’t think any less of you.

The title has multiple meanings, and so far, there are three interpretations.

TEARS (as is in crying)

Something that is key to the game are tear-shaped gems held by characters and clearly visible in trailers and something Princess Zelda focuses on a lot. Eagle-eyed trailer watchers also saw supporting characters having them on their body somewhere, and people are also speculating whether Link will have one too. After all, if Zelda has yellow and Ganondorf has red, then it would be inconceivable that the other part of the interlinked trio would not.

But that feels like the most literal interpretation. Would Nintendo be so obvious that Tears of the Kingdom would be a literal object held by its main cast? In short, no.

TEARS (as in rips)

The trailer at the top sees the sky islands being created, separating themselves from the surface of Hyrule. Even Hyrule Castle seems to be airborne, held up by the impassable malice of BOTW.

As a result, maybe it isn’t just crying tears, but ripping tears, showing a kingdom divided, quite literally.

Then there are the different NPCs within Hyrule. Almost all of them are either supportive or neutral towards Link and his mission, except for one group. The Yiga clan pop up in BOTW, led by Master Kohga.

As we don’t see Kohga die in BOTW, my feeling is it is a safe assumption he - if not the whole clan - return in the sequel as low-level antagonists.

With so many new enemies to come, alongside refined versions of the familiar enemy roster, the Yiga Clan act as a palate cleanser of sorts. In BOTW, they had a hideout. I’d like to see an openly hostile town where every resident is unhelpful and is trying to annoy, harass and get under Link’s skin - showing further evidence of the rips - or tears - in the kingdom.

TIERS (as in levels)

This thought was inspired a bit by lockdown. Back in 2020, parts of the UK were put into different Tiers, going up to Tier 4. Given the prime minister at the time, it spawned the obvious headline of Tiers of a Clown (yes, I have the song in my head now too.)

The new Zelda game also focuses a lot on the new sky islands. This has made some people think this game completes and unifies the entire Zelda timeline, looping around back to Skyward Sword and putting the series into an eternal limbo.

There is nothing wrong with this theory if there wasn’t money to be made and the reality that the Zelda franchise is a lucrative one. Restricting the timelines to a circular loop restricts the next game and for fans, only fills gaps in the series’ history, rather than expanding it.

So while the sky islands are important, they’re something of a red staminoka bass. What we have seen in some footage is that there are more than two tiers to Hyrule. Lorule, if you will. There appears to be a an entire underground world which hasn’t really been talked about in the previews with its own systems and rules - and its own enemies, creating an entirely new world within a world and presumably offering new ways to progress in the game.

Combined with the Ascend ability, the key to this game is that people are going to do the same task in all sorts of different ways.

It’s going to culminate in an epic adventure, and I can’t wait. Fire up the orchestra!

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