The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been released to an impressive amount of praise. Critics and fans alike have been excited to get back lost in the world of Hyrule all over again, and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom provided all that and more. Not only does the surface of Hyrule feel refreshed, but there are also traversable sky islands and even an entire underground map. With an epic story pulling Link between all three elevations, players can once again take their time soaking in all that Tears of the Kingdom has to offer.
Plenty of secrets and Easter eggs dot the landscape, with the items referencing past games from Breath of the Wild's DLC now worked into the game as special treasures. Combined with story events and flashbacks all over the map, there are plenty of lore and references to past lore throughout Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The only issue is that this has made placing TotK into the Zelda timeline more difficult than expected. Going in, players thought that the prominent sky islands would surely connect Tears of the Kingdom to Skyward Sword, but couldn't have known how distinct each game really was.
This article contains spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Skyward Sword Seemed Like An Obvious Precursor to Tears of the Kingdom
As soon as the teaser trailer for Breath of the Wild 2 showed Hyrule Castle rising from the ground, the entire Zelda fandom thought of the sky islands from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Having been declared the earliest canonical entry, Skyward Sword fills a vital spot in Zelda lore. It contextualized many key events like Hylia's mortal reincarnation, the first assembly of the Triforce, the creation of the Master Sword, and, depending on how one interprets Demise's final words, the start of Link and Zelda's eternal struggle against evil.
Since Skyward Sword shared a writer and director with BotW and TotK, fans took the ascent of Hyrule Castle as early confirmation that Tears of the Kingdom would tie up the trilogy. Now that TotK is out, some theories such as Tears of the Kingdom partially taking place in the sky proved correct, and it could even be considered parallel to Skyward Sword as the final game in Zelda's known timeline. However, despite multiple references to Skyward Sword, Tears of the Kingdom does not lean on its predecessor's story, and may even contradict it.
Tears of the Kingdom References Zelda Lore Without Relying On It
Just about every major plot point Skyward Sword puts forth is paralleled in TotK in some way but ends up muddling their relationship instead of connecting them. Both titles cover the birth of the Kingdom of Hyrule, and address the cycle of Link fighting Ganondorf — though ToTK seemingly concerns a separate Hyrule haunted by the Demon King Ganondorf, rather than the Demon King Demise. Skyward Sword's Hyrule was also founded by Hylians from the sky, while TotK's introduces the airborne Zonai to co-found Hyrule with surface-dwelling Hylians.
That's not even getting into smaller parallels that seem coincidental like Zelda going into stasis until the present and the presence of sky islands at all. So many details like this are marginalized, such as Fi appearing to stir in the Master Sword again, that it's difficult to say if they truly mean anything. Nearly every potential connection to Skyward Sword appears accidental or as a simple homage, which is a surprise considering how many there are. Still, that means Tears of the Kingdom stands without its franchise' help and puts its own spin on Skyward Sword's ideas, which only speaks to the newer game's strength.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now on Nintendo Switch.
