All the secrets of the Zelda: Tears Of the Kingdom trailer

All the secrets of the Zelda

Just over twenty-four hours have passed since Nintendo showed, within the last Direct, the second trailer for The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom (pre-orderable on Amazon). A handful of minutes designed to feed the fans' hype, show the darkest and apocalyptic atmospheres of Link's new adventure and, above all, reassure players that there will be no postponement and that the game will be released worldwide world, as planned, on May 12th .

In just over two minutes, however, Nintendo was also able, thanks to ad hoc editing, to introduce a series of details that require more than a vision to be grasped in their entirety. It is a series of elements that range from some welcome returns to elements that, if combined with the information present in the previous trailer, could tell many more aspects of the plot than those one might imagine by distractedly watching the double trailer released for Tears Of The Kingdom.

Shrines and tears of the kingdom

Let's start with a couple of details that, in the past few hours, have been able to generate some of the best flights of fancy read in a while at this part. The first of these was born following having noticed a small set of will-o'-the-wisps positioned just to the right of the Bokoblin intent on picking a rocky structure in the first moments of the Tears Of The Kingdom trailer.

The color used to represent these little flames is the one canonically used for the spirits present in the mythology of The Legend Of Zelda but their current identity is a mystery. Thus, at a glance, they recall the spirits of the people seen in Twilight Princess but their peculiar positioning could indicate a hypothetical point of interest during the exploratory phases. Theories about these will-o'-the-wisps have been wasted on the web, ranging from the hypothesis that they are collectibles to wanting to identify them precisely with the tears of the kingdom that give the title to this new chapter in Link's adventures.



The second interesting detail can also be glimpsed in the first moments of the trailer and it is a pair of conical-shaped structures, wrapped in an orange glow. At a very first glance, it would appear that two Shrines still need to be completed, a detail that would provide more clues as to why there is not a strong presence of elements connected to the power of the Sheikah in this latest trailer but the internet is a place wonderful and, in the last few hours, it has even come to think that the two coniform structures are nothing less than the aliens who made a fleeting appearance in the peculiar Majora's Mask.

An interesting but unconvincing theory compared to the more rational one which provides that, for reasons still unknown, Link will find himself facing shrines again to regain his lost powers.

And if it were a trilogy?

Eiji Aonuma  and Hidemaro Fujibayashi have repeatedly remarked that this new narrative course of The Legend Of Zelda saga would not have been consumed in a single chapter but that, given the large deployment of forces used to create the game world, and the lore, of Breath Of The Wild, this new Hyrule would have been the scene of "at least" two chapters.

A peculiar decision and which if first of all it could recall what Nintendo did with Majora's Mask, by virtue of the short time available to make it, in this specific guise it could represent something different, something deeper, or rather the creation of a trilogy that expands the concept to the base of the Triforce, dedicating a chapter to each element. In this case, Breath Of the Wild would be the awakening of wisdom (depicted by Princess Zelda), Tears Of The Kingdom the awakening of power (represented by Ganondorf) and a future third chapter could be dedicated to the rise of the hero, Link, to represent the coming of courage.

What made me reflect on this aspect was the peculiar sentence that Zelda says during the last trailer: “Link, I'm afraid that not even you will be able to defeat him.”. A sentence which, if decontextualized within the trailer, may not offer much food for thought but which as soon as it is compared to the typical stylistic features of the "Zeldian" narrative takes on much more interesting and, in some ways, unprecedented characters.

Of course, this is a mere guess, especially considering the development timing of this sequel, but considering Nintendo's strong will to open a new course for The Legend Of Zelda saga, it wouldn't surprise me to discover that Tears Of The Kingdom is only the second chapter of a larger project.

Some welcome returns

During the Tears Of the Kingdom trailer, specifically when becomes aware of the effects caused by the meteor shower generated by the red moon, one can clearly glimpse, among the silhouettes of the various enemies present in the scene, a Re-Dead, the famous and iconic Zombie who since the time of Ocarina Of Ti me, he does his utmost to generate anxiety in the players with his anguished screams. Undoubtedly an appreciated return considering that, if one wanted to pin something to the previous Breath Of The Wild, the lack of variety of threats could be one of the few weak points of what is considered one of the best games of the last decade.



Furthermore, if you look a little closer in the first moments of the Tears Of The Kingdom trailer, you can see a three-headed dragon presiding over the bridge of Hylia. Now, it is not possible to say with certainty whether it is a quote or a return of another iconic opponent of Link but everything leads us to think that it is Gleeok, the iconic three-headed dragon already present in numerous chapters of Zelda in different shapes and colors. Originally present in the first, immortal, game of the saga, Gleeojk has undergone several restyles over the years, presenting itself in a multitude of different aspects. Knowing, however, that the source of inspiration for this new course of The Legend Of Zelda is precisely the original chapter of 1986, it would not surprise me to find Gleeok in all its glory.

A handshake carved in stone.

During the Tears Of The Kingdom trailer, we witness a scene where Zelda shakes hands with a mysterious character. The gesture, as it is depicted, is halfway between helping to get up and an understanding handshake.

The way the trailer was assembled, one might immediately think that the arm is the one by Link but, looking closely behind Princess Zelda, you can see a floating structure, clearly of "Zonaian" origin, similar to the one shown in the engraving in the first Tears Of The Kingdom trailer in which, among other things, a rural handshake was shown between the princess and a figure that was deliberately hidden.

Obviously, given how the two trailers were assembled ad hoc, one could think of the most banal of narrative solutions, with the canonical legend that tells of the deeds of the princess and the hero, but a whole series of elements included in this second trailer of Tears Of The Kingdom, and which I will analyze in the next paragraph, lead the deductions in a very different direction rsa.

Midna…is it a Zonai?

Ever since the first trailer for The Tears Of Kingdom, when the game was still without a name, the energy green that can be seen released in numerous scenes immediately reminded fans of the luminous runes present on the arms of Midna, the Twili queen of the twilight kingdom, present in Twilight Princess.

If, however, in the reveal trailer most of the doubts instilled in the players were about the connection between this energy and the awakening of Ganondorf, in the latest trailer of Tears Of Kingdom you can understand something more about this peculiar association of elements, especially when you enter more in the mythology of  Breath Of The Wild going to analyze the tribe of the Zonai.

Although very little is known about the Zonai , it is known that they were a wild and warlike tribe of the Faron region. Their stone artwork depicted the Triforce through the perspective of a prehistoric tribe, using dragons to represent courage, owls to represent wisdom, and boars to represent power. They built several ancient ruins out of stone and their name comes from the largest find site - the Zonai Ruins. They are known for their wild, indomitable ways, and their vast knowledge of magic and technology. They have been repeatedly associated with the Mayans due to a very similar iconography and which can also be seen on the sides of the vehicle driven by Link in the Tears Of the Kingdom trailer.



Furthermore, once you know that the stone associated with this tribe is engraved with a spiral symbol, similar to the green energy vortexes that were shown in the two trailers, you can begin to deduce something more about the plot of Tears Of The Kingdom beginning to assume that the Zonai, long before, managed to seal the remains of the only man ever existed of the Gerudo race; a body that was previously used by Ganon to reincarnate in earthly form. Something at the beginning of Tears Of The Kingdom will allow the entity to reacquire its mortal coil, kicking off that theater of destruction seen in the latest trailer. Princess Zelda, in the throes of despair, will ask the Zonai for help (although we still don't know how) by asking the ancient tribe to instill their power in Link, so that he can save him from a borderline situation of survival. This could therefore be the genesis of the new powers associated with the famous Hylian's arm.

All these elements, however, would lead us to think that Midna will not be present in Tears Of The Kingdom even if, never being told of what race were the members of the Zonai tribe, it would not surprise me to find out that they were Twili but only time will be able to answer this question.



Obviously many of these elements are limited to being "mere assumptions", elaborated following the myriad of details inserted by Nintendo in the latest Tears Of The Kingdom trailer. As things stand, for all we know, this could simply be a plethora of quotes designed to keep fans like me speculating until the time of the game's release but it remains impressive how, in a matter of minutes, Nintendo was able to show how vast, and full of potential, the mythology behind The Legend Of Zelda saga really is.