Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Theory/Analysis/Rant?kinda

Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Theory/Analysis/Rant?kinda

Since there is like 2 or so more months till Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is out and, since I saw a lot of people debating the name/logo/what will be the story/involvement of the Zonai Tribe (*insert Zonai Swirl meme here*) I wanna put my own two cents in here, so here goes nothing:

First, the Logo:

This thing made people on the internet (as far as I've seen) think this might be the end of the Zelda Timeline and take the 2 Dragons circling each other as confirmation that the timeline runs in a loop, an eternal samsara if you will.

I think that this isn't the case.

Usually, when it comes to the ouroboros symbol, the snake or dragon eats its own tail, and this doesn't seem to be the case here. The mouths of the 2 dragons are closed, and they appear to just chase after each other. In this case, instead of the symbol of a loop, the ouroboros might take onto the meaning of harmony.

Since there are two dragons there, it could mean two entities need to find harmony. This is also very much supported by this screenshot:

Look behind the logo.

We see the new God? Entity? Creature? - whoever the hell that is together with who I assume is Zelda. It could imply that the two need to find a way to work in harmony to defeat Ganondorf. This is also mirrored by Link and his new arm since they also need to work in harmony to fulfill their role as the Hero. And, because Nintendo loves the number three, Zelda and Link themselves need to work together to solve whatever is happening in Tears of the Kingdom.

Again, this logo is more about harmony rather than a never-ending loop.

But, the main question I ask myself when I look at the logo is: Why dragons? Why is the logo depicted with dragons? And why two of them?

Well, the answer has to do with the Zonai, a barbaric (were they really?) tribe who is behind a lot of the old structures around Hyrule, as well as being, apparently, very technologically advanced if we are to think that the monsters from the trailers (blocky moster and the one that looked like a one eyed mechanical cyclops) and the weapons shown (flamethrower, homming arrows and the canon that shoots out balls of evergy) are made by them.

And yet, every piece of lore about them says that they are "barbarians" or a "barbaric tribe." I will go on with this later but remeber one thing: the history is always written by the ones that survive the wars or cataclysmic situations.

Either way, back on track, the Zonai Tribe had three types of animal like structures they probably worshiped because the animals represented the Triforce:

1. The Boar/Pig structures most likely represent the Triforce of Power. This could also allude to Ganon's monster forms as they, usually, resemble a pig or a boar. (Also, as a side note, in the Farore Region, where you find the most Zonai ruins, the boar/pig statues are either buried in the earth or broken, so it is most likely they haven't had the same faith in them compared to the other two)

2. The Owl, which represents the Triforce of Wisdom. The owl is a symbol of wisdom and spiritual awakening, as well as a very intelligent animal in and of itself, which fits the bill for the mascot Wisdom. The bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom is always the reincarnation of Goddess Hylia. (Funnily enough, Typhlo Ruins, the ruins that are always shrouded in darkness in BoTW are full of torches in the form of the Owl structures from the Zonai Tribe. And owls are nocturnal animals.)

3. The Dragon, which represents the Triforce of Courage. Yes, you read it correctly. The Dragon represents the Triforce of Courage, aka the Hero of Hyrule, Link. Rather than being an animal/creature that represents courage, in this case, I think it refers to those who can face a dragon without backing down being called courageous. You know, like in fairytales where the Hero faces against the evil dragon and defeats it. After all, having courage doesn't mean not fearing anything; rather, it's about doing something in spite of the fear you feel. (On top of that, since the Faron Region is said to be the place where the Zonai Tribe lived before, you can tell that they were the most likely to be followers of the Dragon, aka the representation of Courage; that leaves the Sheika Tribe as the followers of the Owl, Wisdom and the Yiga Tribe as the followers of the Boar/Pig, the Power.)

Now that we have established this, let's look again at the logo:

Two green dragons chasing after each other in an attempt to create harmony... and everything in this logo is green, the color we associate with the Goddess of Courage Faroure. But, if Link, as the barer of the Triforce of Courage, is one of the green dragons, does this mean the other is the Goddess of Courage herself? Or is it someone else?

We will come back to this a bit later. For now, let's move on, onto the title:

Second, the Title:

We know that the producer of the Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, Eiji Aonuma, said that the title would be a huge spoiler. However, the way I see people look at it, they don't consider the title a spoiler, but the logo. Which, given the previous games in the franchise, it is a bit wrong to do.

Here are some examples:

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

The logo has the Wolf and the Fused Shadow silhouettes behind the text, but the title in itself alludes to, arguably the most important character in the game, Midna.

Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The Logo has the Majora's Mask itself, but the title not only gives us the name of the Mask but also the name of the villain in that specific game.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The Logo shows us the symbol that is now arguably the symbol of Hyrule itself, but the title tells us about a sword, which is later revealed to be the soon-to-become Master Sword that we know today.

As you can see, every single title does have something to do with the plot, and it is, in retrospect, a big spoiler. The Logos are a lot more vague about what they portray, especially since we don't know the names of the items shown before we play the games. (Who knew what the Fused Shadow was when they saw the silhouette in the logo?)

Regardless, when it comes to Tears of the Kingdom, things are indeed a bit vague. Since it was confirmed that "Tears" refers to actual teardrops, we can assume that it could have something to do with the Silent Realms in Skyward Sword where you will get Sacred Tears so you can forge the Master Sword. This makes a whole lot of sense when you see that in the Logo for Tears of the Kingdom, the Master Sword second half seems to be made of a green substance while the first half seems to be very damaged. (And we know that will most likely be a part of our quest from the trailers)

The problem I find with the title is the second part. "Kingdom." What Kingdom? We know this game happens at best, maybe 6 months after BoTW. Hyrule Kingdom is definitely not recreated overnight; nothing seems to have been worked on at all. So the question is "why call that a Kingdom?"

In BoTW, after you meet with the King at the Temple of Time at the beginning of the game, he says, "I was King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule. I was... the last leader of Hyrule. A kingdom which no longer exists."

So, if the Hyrule Kingdom no longer exists following the Calamity from 100 years ago... why is it called a kingdom now? Just because Zelda is alive, that doesn't mean the Kingdom is back, especially since all the Hylians are scattered around Hyrule and the only parts of the Royal Family and the Knight order remaining are Zelda and Link.

To answer this question, I need you to think back to the two dragons on the logo. If one is Link, why couldn't the other one be Link too, but from 10,100 years ago, the Hero that sealed Calamity Ganon first alongside that time's Zelda.

This is the tapestry that spoke of the first sealing of Calamity Ganon. This depiction of Link is very strange, though. Full of bluish-green around him, red hair and a golden arm that holds a sword.

Dosen't it remind you of this?

It is a bit of a stretch, but if the developers went for minimalism, then the golden ornaments around the arm could be the reason why the Hero's arm is golden in the tapestry.

Also, before you say something about Zelda, look here, outside of the power of the Goddess and her hair, her hands and face are a similar color of red like that Hero's face, legs and OTHER ARM. Meaning only one of his arms is golden in color.

Which brings me to the whole Harmony symbolism again. Link's arm is definently damaged beyond repair, so now he gets a new one, one that possibly belonged or was powered by the energy of the Hero from 10,100 years ago. So they need to find a balance and coexist to defeat Ganondorf.

So while the word "Tears" refers to what Link has to collect to repair the Master Sword this time, maybe the word "Kingdom" refers to the place where the green energy comes from initially aka the Kingdom of Hyrule from 10,100 years ago when they used, what is most likely, Zonai Magic to help defeat Calamity Ganon and seal him? This would certainly spoil a lot of the game if it is true, so maybe this is it.

But there are still some other mysteries I wanna touch on next:

The Zonai

As I said before, the Zonai Tribe is considered "barbaric" in nature, but there is a high chance they were behind the mechanics and weapons we have seen for Tears of the Kingdom so far. So why are they "barbaric"? Well, remember when I said, "History is written by the survivors"?

What if the Zonai were eliminated in that battle against Calamity Ganon? They could have lived in Hyrule for a whole millennia before that battle, which is how their structures are older than the Sheika Shrines and the like. There is also the fact that rather than being constructed for that time's hero, the Sheika Shrines we know in BoTW were made after the sealing of Calamity Ganon as tests for the future Hero who will have to seal Ganon again.

This way, we can confirm how Sheika Shrines ended up in Zonai made ruins (aka Typhlo Ruins). The shrines were erected after the fall of the Zonai. This means the Guardians and the 4 Divine Beats were constructed first.

But the question still remains: Why are the Zonai not mentioned in the History of Hyrule if they helped with the first Calamity Ganon?

Welp, there could be that the Zonai never really interacted with the people, thus making them seem "barbaric" and "unapproachable" for the Royal Family (of which we know has done some pretty stupid/dark stuff in past games) so they decided to not put them in the history books, thus they were forgotten.

And I can already hear you: "What about that time's Zelda and Link? Wouldn't they overule this or do something?"

You see, dead people can't complain, can they? We don't know if the Princess Zelda and the Link from that time were still alive after the sealing. For all we know, both could have died sealing Ganondorf underground (like we saw him the in trailers) and the King (cause, let's be honest, the kings of Hyrule have done some pretty shady or stupid stuff in the past) of that time decided to just go with making his daughter and the soldier that was with her into heroes in the Kingdom and let's the Zonai, a Tribe he couldn't control nor truly talk with, fade from the history.

Also, I said "soldier" and not "personal guard" like the legends about that time said about Link. Why? Welp, the tapestry.

Red hair Link... is not really likely right?

He is always blonde haired, at least in all the games we have right now. So why is he depicted with red hair, when Zelda has blonde hair in the Taspestry? Welp.

The Barabrian set, specifically the Barbarian Helm.

Red hair is overshadowing the blonde hair of Link, so there is a possibility that the Hero of that time was wearing a Barbarian Armor Set in battle. But it's a bit strange since... well, this is the compendium description of the helmet.

"A helmet once worn by the warriors of an ancient warlike tribe from the Faron region."

Why would the Hero wear a warrior set that is solely worn by a Tribe of the Faron region? Maybe because he was part of it.

Think about it. The Zonai were followers of the Dragon that represented the Triforce of Courage to them. Wouldn't it make sense for the Hero to be born in this Tribe?

And since Link and Zelda of that time had to work together to seal Ganondorf, the Hyrule Royal Family of that time couldn't ignore the existence of the Hero. So, instead of making Link as a part of the Zonai Tribe like he was at the time, the Royal Family made him into the personal guard of the Princess in the story, while people could explain the tapestry as an armour set that existed long ago and was worn by the Hero in combat (when the events were still fresh in the minds of people) or worn paper in the current time of Breath of the Wild.

The Mysterious Figure

This is the figure I meant.

Welp, she is definently not Zelda from 10,100 years ago, so maybe a Zonai depiction of Hylia. Cause well, she is apparently on a pedestal high in the sky, if those are clouds.

Also, notice that there are seven swirls around her. Maybe the tears we need to collect? Or maybe a depiction of the Seven Sages in Zelda? Who knows, but it is worth mentioning that this figure is seen intertwining hands with a depiction of Zelda behind the Logo.

The "Zelda" shown in the last trailer

This will be the last part of this long-ass rant/analysis/theory thingy I made so here we go.

This may not be our Zelda. At least not this timeline's Zelda.

Look a bit at the dress she is wearing. The blocky symbols and that eye towards the bottom of the dress are not of Sheikan origin. Which most likely means it is from the Zonai Tribe. I can’t put any more images, but there is a new eye symbol that is present on a new shield. An eye that is looking up and has five droplets falling from it. Just like this eye symbol that has five tassels attached to it.

And, if you wanna argue that it could be Hylia, look at the figure from the drawing above. The clothing is extremely intricate and very well detailed, but you don't see an eye with five droplets or tassels hanging from it on the clothing, right? Even tho the other details are so clear on the figure.

So, either this is the Princess from 10,100 years ago who fought together with the soldier from the Zonai Tribe that became the Hero, or our Zelda gets a Zonai get up from somewhere, cause the background reminds me of the Time Gates from Skyward Sword.

At this point, we don't have a clue and this is PURE SPECULATION.

So, if you read till now, congratulations! Hope you enjoyed my zainy ideas and theories for Tears of the Kingdom.

Tell me if you agree or disagree with anything here cause I am curious about your opinion on his.

Hope to see you guys again soon! (I WILL TRY to be more active)

P.S: If anything from here becomes reality, I called it, and I am gonna be so proud of what my brain came up with at 3 a.m. in the morning.

i’ve been curious for quite awhile now, so i’ll shoot - that one pink doodle sheet you did for sora, with the kh4 hairstyle, where did that sora with the dark shadowy (i’m assuming something like anti form going on) come from? it seems like such a neat thing and i’m interested in your thoughts!!

Yeah! I might have mentioned it in a previous ask, but I desire so much to see sora to really deal with his darkness, and everything else he's stomped down now that his heart is free of those who needed saving. Now he's only left with his own hurt to sit on instead of everyone else's, and I doubt he's gonna be able to ignore it for much longer, especially after what's been hinted at in KH3 and previous titles. I also wanna see it manifest in more kick-ass ways like rage form. I mean the bloody footprints and darkness tentacles??? more freak shit!!! sign me up!!! and AND with Riku at some point joining up with Sora, it would be a fantastic opportunity to have Riku be some sort of mentor for him through all of it. The series has been so consistent in showing us how good he is in providing guidance in a way sora can understand and trust. How his voice can reach sora through even the deepest layers of sleep/darkness. We've even seen a few times now that Riku's especially empathic towards how Sora feels without having to look at him. Plus the "if only sora listened to master yen sid the way he listens to riku..." line I mean c'mon!!! His resume is STAMPED. anyway YEAH that's why I drew it! :D TLDR: I think sora's in for a bad time with the upcoming installments, and I will suffer and I will be happy about it!

“What are you so afraid of?”

“Sora, let’s take the raft and go! Just the two of us!”

A Kingdom Hearts-y Oswald.

Some Repliku, Riku, and SoRiku thoughts

Was reading through this article again, highly recommend: (8) Blowing Off Some Steam on Tumblr

And I realized I had some further analysis to contribute to this topic. Specifically with regards to how Repliku fits into all this.

I think it's interesting how Riku gives Way to the Dawn to Repliku. People already pointed out that it's like Riku doesn't need it anymore at this stage of his character arc (dawn has broke, he's embraced his right to exist in the Realm of Light), but Repliku still needed it. He still needed to reach his light in the dark. To reach his dawn. To help the person he knew he could never have a real relationship with, despite her meaning so much to him.

I think Riku empathized with that. I don't think it's a coincidence that both Riku and Repliku make very prominent self-sacrifices in this story.

(Notice the light-entwined-with-dark visual parallels here)

I also think it's very interesting how Riku instinctively knows why Repliku was sacrificing himself, and who for. Namine wasn't a topic Repliku and Riku discussed even once in any of their scenes together. That was always a Repliku/Sora discussion point. Yet Riku instinctively knows there's only one context in which he, the real Riku, would sacrifice himself like that, so he connects the dots almost immediately. Hence why Riku has the endgame scene where he picks up Namine. It's him honoring the last will and testament of his fellow hopeless romantic.

Also, and this might be me stretching a bit, but I feel like this final scene between Riku and Repliku can be read a very particular way. Repliku tells Riku someone else needs the vessel more, and that Riku knows what he means. Riku immediately connects the dots using his knowledge of his own heart and the person he cares about most to figure out what Repliku intended.

And finally, we get the last moment of this scene. Both boys are staring at each other, both are thinking about the person they love most and what they'd be willing to sacrifice for them. It's a long moment of silence, as there's nothing to be said. They understand each other completely. And then, as Repliku fades away, he gives one final sentiment.

You could say this is him saying good luck in the battles ahead, which would be valid, but given the context of this scene, and the long stretch of silent understanding that comes just before this line, I'm inclined to think he's talking about Riku's own love story. Repliku's reached the end of his tale and done all he can do for the one he loves, but Riku's story is yet unwritten. Knowing this, Repliku's parting words are to wish his Other good luck in the pursuit of his happily ever after.

That's my two cents on the topic, anyway.