The Legend of Zelda franchise has had 18 mainline entries over the last four decades, most being given a unique subtitle. These subtitles often give fans a clear indication of the game's major story beats and mechanics. For instance, Zelda: Ocarina of Time immediately tells players that there's going to be some form of time-traveling mechanic, while the handheld Zelda: A Link Between Worlds implies through a fun little pun that Link will be traveling between two different realms. Other Zelda subtitles are used to give fans more of an idea about the game's tone, such as Zelda: Breath of Wild, which is all about exploration. But while all of Zelda's titles have been fairly straightforward, none seems quite as literal as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
When The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom first received its subtitle back in September of last year, fan speculation ran wild with what this could mean for the game's characters and setting. And though it's still shrouded in a lot of mystery, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom's latest trailer may have finally pulled back the curtain on its title's meaning, and it could be a lot more literal than fans might have first thought.
Link Could Be After the Literal Tears of the Kingdom
In the final Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer, fans can spot a number of glowing teardrop stones at different moments. The most obvious teardrop appearance comes right at the end of the trailer, with Zelda cupping a yellow teardrop gem in her hands. When looking back through the trailer, at least five more of these teardrops can be seen.
When Tears of the Kingdom's Ganondorf is revealed in all of his muscular glory, a red teardrop can be seen embedded into his head. The mysterious elf-like girl that looks suspiciously like Zelda wears a yellow teardrop around her neck, one that looks extremely similar to the one Zelda is holding at the end. And finally, Tulin, Sidon, and Riju are all wielding different teardrop stones during the trailer, with Tulin holding a green one in his talon, Sidon holding a blue one in the back of his hand, and Riju holding an orange one in her earring.
Almost every Legend of Zelda game has some sort of MacGuffin that the player needs to find in order to defeat the powers of evil and save the day. In the original Legend of Zelda - and a few later entries - Link is tasked with finding the Triforce and using it to defeat Ganon. In Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Link must reunite the Seven Sages to defeat Ganondorf. And in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Link must free the four Divine Beasts so he can take on Calamity Ganon. This is a core gameplay trope of Zelda, and now it seems extremely likely that Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is going to follow suit.
Though it still hasn't been officially confirmed, it seems extremely likely that Link will need to scour Hyrule for these mysterious Tears of the Kingdom, and give them to his closest allies in an attempt to defeat Ganondorf, or whatever true threat is at the heart of this mysterious calamity. If this is the overall objective of Tears of the Kingdom, then it could suggest a more traditional structure for the game. While players will of course still be able to explore the map at their own pace, they might have to approach each Tear-hunt linearly, especially if they end up granting Link a new power. This could end up leading to some dungeon gameplay as well, which fans have been desperately asking for since its disappearance in Breath of the Wild.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom will be released on May 12, 2023, for the Nintendo Switch.
