Despite all signs pointing to her return, Fi's absence in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom begs the question of how long the series can go on until it gives her the opportunity to bring some closure to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Though she remains as arguably one of Zelda's more controversial characters, the significance Skyward Sword has for the series' canon and Fi's relationship to the Master Sword often leads to speculation about her possible return in a future game. Among other factors, this is likely what prompted fans to suspect Fi might return in Tears of the Kingdom.
Beyond this initial speculation, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gave far more hints that Fi was going to play an integral role due to early teases of the Master Sword's decayed state and the heavy emphasis on old kingdoms and sky islands. However, besides several references that seemed to pay tribute to Fi, such as her theme making a reprisal during cutscenes with the Master Sword, Fi never wound up appearing in Tears of the Kingdom. But Fi will always remain a contentious sticking point among fans as, unlike previous Zelda companions, she is technically always present within the Master Sword and in need of overdue closure.
How Skyward Sword and Fi Influenced Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Leading up to and even after its release, Tears of the Kingdom contained many ideas and themes that seemed to have been inspired by Skyward Sword. For instance, early trailers were quick to advertise Tears of the Kingdom's sky islands, while post-launch players soon pieced together its time-travel plot that appeared to parallel Skyward Sword's own plot of Hyrule's formation and islands lifted into the sky to escape evil's reach. Strengthened by the fact that Breath of the Wild also hinted towards a Skyward Sword connection with uncanny similarities with locations like the Spring of Power or the Forgotten Temple's Goddess Statue.
But beyond general speculation such as arguing that Tears of the Kingdom seems to break Skyward Sword's cycle and Fi should have returned as part of this closing narrative arc, there were more explicit signs that Fi would have returned. Between her theme being played during vital story cutscenes involving the Master Sword, the sword itself appearing to have some sentience signaled through glowing light, and characters referring to the sword with she/her pronouns, Fi's presence was keenly felt. Even in spite of the perfect storyline for her return involving the Master Sword's recovery from Ganondorf's Gloom, Fi remains canonically relevant but crucially absent.
Zelda Needs To Acknowledge Fi Eventually
Though she hasn't outright featured in Tears of the Kingdom yet, future Zelda games will need to address Fi eventually, as her role within the series narrative has been overlooked. For any other supporting characters like Navi or Ezlo, this wouldn't be an issue because their significance is limited to just one or two games, but Fi's purpose within the Master Sword spans the entirety of Zelda canon, making her Link's silent but ever-present companion. Given that Fi's character arc explored her relationship with Link and her own emotional development, her bittersweet goodbye and lack of sufficient closure have only been amplified by her continued absence.
More specifically, Skyward Sword's ending hinted at Fi's potential return at some point in the Zelda series, as she told Link that she hopes to meet him again. While this could have been Nintendo's way of tying up any loose ends for Zelda lore, it does imply that, alongside her Master Sword role, she would feature in another game. As Tears of the Kingdom has so far come to the closest to her return, Nintendo shouldn't hold back anymore and give Fi an arc to complete Skyward Sword's story, perhaps through future Tears of the Kingdom DLC or even all-new Zelda games.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available now on Nintendo Switch.
