Spoiler The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Pre-Release Spoiler Discussion Thread (Tag Story Spoilers)

[xtoc]

Sow, what about the weather conditions. Are they the same? And how would they react in the sky? Like lightning? Im sure they wont have any impact underground? Or are there any new ones added? I remember the atmosphere trailer which was really nice , lighting strikes to add a fire moved by the wind...

 

[BRRRRRING]

Sow, what about the weather conditions. Are they the same? And how would they react in the sky? Like lightning? Im sure they wont have any impact underground? Or are there any new ones added? I remember the atmosphere trailer which was really nice , lighting strikes to add a fire moved by the wind...

We've seen various weather patterns, but we haven't seen enough to know how they really evolve.

Due to being higher up, we inherently see distinct cloud patterns moving across Hyrule in a way we didn't see before. Distinct clouds casting shadows just wasn't a thing in BotW, but is here.

 

[xtoc]

We've seen various weather patterns, but we haven't seen enough to know how they really evolve.

Due to being higher up, we inherently see distinct cloud patterns moving across Hyrule in a way we didn't see before. Distinct clouds casting shadows just wasn't a thing in BotW, but is here.

But does rain starts falling below an island in the sky you currently located at. Wondering on how they implemented this.

 

[BRRRRRING]

But does rain starts falling below an island in the sky you currently located at. Wondering on how they implemented this.

We won't know until previews start, unfortunately. I want footage where somebody is just sitting on one of the sky islands looking out. We don't have any serene moments like that.

 

[Bobo]

We won't know until previews start, unfortunately. I want footage where somebody is just sitting on one of the sky islands looking out. We don't have any serene moments like that.

It’s a silly small thing but I would love it if you could sit at a ledge of a sky island with your feet dangling.

 

[Kevin]

1. So do you think there will be an expansion pass for this game and if so when do you think Nintendo will announce it?

2. Amiibo functionality is back but beyond paraglider art and weapons/materials we really don't know what all the Amiibo functionality will add (there are now more Zelda Amiibo as well). Breath of the Wild added some pretty cool stuff like costumes, Wolf Link, Epona, etc. Do you expect cool unlocks in Tears of the Kingdom? Will Wolf Link return? Will we get even more new Zelda amiibos announced? What are your guesses?

 

[Common Knowledge]

I don’t think we’ve even seen nighttime sky exploration yet, come to think of it.

 

[Horror Kid]

One shot when we first saw the sky islands was at night.

1. So do you think there will be an expansion pass for this game and if so when do you think Nintendo will announce it?

I hope they take their time but I am sure they will release something. Maybe along the release of the Switch Redacted.
I hope it is a Zelda/Sheikah standalone DLC (if there is no playable Zelda in TotK).

 

[Phendrift]

as someone who understands and doesn’t fault nintendo for not making Zelda playable in a mainline game, DLC is the perfect opportunity for it

 

[coolguychecker]

I've been a long term lurker in this thread and have appreciated all of your discussion of the leaked artbook. I feel few places have really gotten into it and it's been nice to see everybody here really going into it. I'm posting now because, for the first time, I feel like I have something to add to the discussion. I want to follow up on this post by ZeldaPY in particular:

This shot at the beginning of the Art book of Link in the tunnel is probably where Link wakes up and get's his arm attached. Link is still in his underwear and has the broken master sword on his back.
The holes in ceiling match up exactly with this island and even the platform he is standing on. I am thinking we only have choice to jump off the platform he is standing on and directly below him will be the starting set of islands.

What's funny to me, is that I have looked at this photo a million times, we were even discussing the tracks above the circle a long time ago and I never put two and two together until now. I don't think Link has the glider to land on the beginning islands below and I think after we jump the stone bird catches us allowing us to land on the starting group of islands below.

I definitely agree this is the starting point of the game in the sky but I think it goes further than that. The artbook shows a similar location on the surface of Hyrule on another page, if you compare to the starting location in the sky ZeldaPY posted:

They aren't exactly the same, but the differences between areas in the artbook also shown in the gameplay demo suggest that these two could be within margin of error of each other. The right artwork is located on the Great Plateau, possibly overlooking the Shrine of Resurrection or might even be the Zonai/ancient Shrine of Resurrection itself. I went to that location in Breath of the Wild to check if the background lines up:

The left is the cliff overlooking the Shrine of Resurrection and the right is the famous intro cutscene overlook outside the Shrine of Resurrection. I think the latter lines up more with artwork on the right but it's hard to tell for sure. The southside of the colosseum matches the perspective in the artwork either way, so it seems pretty definitive that this is located at the Shrine of Resurrection, it's just a matter of the exact height. If the sky island ZeldaPY identified is this same ancient Shrine of Resurrection, then this seems to align with people's thoughts the sky islands are perhaps ancient features of Hyrule lifted into the sky. But the ancient shrine of resurrection also featured in the latest trailer (source reddit):

Assuming this area is in the sky in present day Hyrule, it seems that rehydrated Ganondorf might not necessarily be a thing. These cutscenes of Ganondorf taking on his hydrated form seem to take place in the past, before these structures were lifted into the sky. We don't have to wonder if that is Demise, it's Ganondorf because that's Ganondorf in the ancient past when this Zonai structure was located in the Great Plateau and not in the sky. We also saw the ancient plateau featured in the blood moon cutscene in the February trailer (which also matches the artbook, identified on reddit as well):

So what do we make of all this? It seems like Link starts Tears of the Kingdom quite literally in the Shrine of Resurrection again, except it's in the sky. Ganondorf has some powering up cutscene in the past on the plateau but this seems like an entirely separate event from his reawakening in the present. Ganondorf might just be mummydorf in the present. The recent trailer involves a clever cut showing the malice shooting up to the sky, perhaps these cutscenes are thousands of years apart from each other.

It's possible Link and Zelda explore tunnels underneath the Shrine of Resurrection and that area gets lifted to the sky in order to save Link, but I'm somehow doubtful. I think mummydorf is found somewhere else, perhaps beneath Hyrule Castle or somewhere in the Gerudo desert. Whatever the case may be, Link ends up in the ancient Shrine of Resurrection in the sky, a location that seemingly has some importance for Ganondorf and perhaps served as a site of resurrection for himself in the ancient past.

 

[Starphanluke]

I think this is probably just a coincidence, but I just realized the green symbol thing on Zonai guy (Rauru)'s chest in the trailer looks sorta similar to the one on Ganondorf's chest in the Wind Waker.

 

[HockeyBird]

Looks like Ganondorf is standing on a structure near the River of the Dead on the Great Plateau. However, there is no structure there currently in BOTW....

 

[ZeldaPY]

I'm wondering if there is more to this shot of Gannondorf other than a dramatic cinematic view of him, because the Moon is huge in front of him. If he can actually make the moon come closer to Hyrule then this could be another explanation for Links anti-gravity jumping as having the Moon move closer would start to effect gravity. It would definitely change up the game play mid game type thing and would be cool to see how other things, like vehicles and objects behave in anti-gravity.

So far I think the leading candidates are the type of platforms Link is jumping on or he obtains a certain item. Other possibilities might be something Link could eat. I was also thinking if we were able to fuse clothing together or maybe cooking monster parts again with a particular animal. I did have as a candidate that Link could be able to fuse something like Hot footed frogs to his boots, as a crazy possibility, but even that wouldn't explain the animation we see, it would just probably be a longer jump animation rather than what looks like Link semi-floats for a second.

 

[NewPueblo]

Hey all! I'm not sure if this will be my last post here or not, but I do want to start withdrawing so that I don't get spoiled on stuff. What I do want to talk about before I leave though, is something that really excites me about TotK, that I feel wasn't fully realized in BotW, and that is dungeons.

SIDE NOTE: Reviewing the size of this post, I didn't realize how long it would be! I'll put some spoiler tags for the different sections so it's hopefully easier to read.

Spoiler: How many tears?

Before in a post I theorized that we would get 4 dungeons in this game, one for each of Hryule's fictitious races: Zora, Goron, Rito, & Gerudo. We see Zelda already possess the 'Time' tear, and Rauru the 'Light' tear. This just leaves the 'Shadow' tear (assuming they are following old Zelda traditions), which many have theorized belongs to Ganondorf since he possesses an unnamed tear.

Here's the thing though, in the artbook (on pg. 148) we see a very large and mysterious tower that has 7 chimney like structures coming out of it. On that same page of the artbook, there is an illustration of a device holding 7 tears.



I'm sure you see where I'm going with this, but this tower will likely be where you have to deposit the tears you collect, possibly empowering them for the champions to use, and also giving Link a new ability.

These collected tears might also activate something within the tower itself, since there's a physical representation of those 7 tears in the architecture of it.

The possibility that you'd only be able to deposit 4 tears (the champion's tears), into this tower, and then have to go to the final boss or story segment doesn't make a lot of sense when you consider that there's clearly space for 7 tears and some significance here to bring them to the tower we don't yet know about.

Also, if there's space for 7 tears, surely that couldn't include Ganondorf's tear? That would mean you couldn't complete the tower without obtaining his tear first, and due to how Nintendo handles the end of Zelda games, I seriously doubt you'd be able to deposit that tear after killing the final boss.

This only leaves one possibility in my mind, and that is that we are clearly going to be collecting more than just the four tears we've seen so far, and also that Ganondorf's tear is a special 8th one not included with the rest of the lot.

This idea that Ganondorf possesses a unique tear isn't new here, as I've seen some bring it up when discussing the abandoned 8th heroine of the Gerudo. However, an amazing post by @rin_kuto on Twitter strongly suggests the idea that his tear is unique, and malice themed.

You'll have to use Google translate if you don't speak the language, but I'd recommend you look at it here:

Going back to the dungeons, in trying to look at how things would change with both of these ideas (collecting 7 tears, and Ganondorf has a unique 8th tear), and I think the prospects are exciting.

Spoiler: Shadow Tear

For the 'Shadow' tear, I honestly do believe Paya could be the new sage, as silly as some people think that is. Nintendo already pretty much played with the idea of more childish characters becoming sages in OoT and WW before, so it's not that out of the ordinary.

Also, on page 199 of the artbook, Paya is seen wearing the same ornate hat as Impa, and having a more serious expression.



This might indicate that she has experienced some growth / had some training in between the events of BotW and TotK. Her becoming a full on sage might be the end of that character arc if the Zelda team decides to go that route.

Of course, if she does end up becoming a sage, and there is a 'Shadow' tear to be collected, it would likely be in an underground temple, hopefully balancing out the dungeons since only one other seems to be completely subterranean (the fire temple).

Spoiler: Light Tear

Opposing shadow, is the 'Light' tear, which Rauru is shown to possess. What is interesting about this fact, however, is that since we know Rauru plays some role in sealing Ganondorf away in the ancient past, that means that he is surely dead or in some form of stasis (unless he is immortal) in the present. So just because he has a tear in the past doesn't mean it's a going to be immediately helpful or accessible to Link.

I also can't see Rauru traveling to the future, as he still has an important role to play in his time period, and coming to the present would put that past world in jeopardy. Which means, Link would also need to find the 'Light' tear somewhere in the present.

There is a likely candidate for where this temple of light would be located, that I hadn't ever considered before, and that is this extremely tall pillar of sky islands.



What was interesting to learn from the latest trailer is that large groups of sky islands that I had thought would just be fun side content to explore actually ended up being important dungeon/story content. For example, the entirety of the sky islands above Zora's Domain are all stepping stones to the Zora dungeon above, or the Hebra Cyclone solely housing ancient Rito architecture.

Knowing that now, it's hard to look at this pillar of sky islands, undoubtedly the tallest structure in the game world, and very likely leading to the highest point in the map, and not see it as having some importance we don't yet know of.

If you want a size reference for this pillar, just look at the sphere at the bottom. That sphere is one of the same ones we see in the latest trailer, and that one is huge.

Plus, something cool to think about is that this tower is located above Mt. Lanayru, an important location in BotW, and a sacred site housing a spring thought to be able to communicate with the Goddess Hylia herself. If there is a temple of light in this game, then putting it high above such a 'holy' site would make a lot of sense, personally.

On a side note, here's some designs we haven't seen attached to any other interiors yet (they are sort of similar to the new shrine flooring but are still different and are gilded). Maybe this is the temple of light?

Spoiler: Time Tear

Finally, we have the 'Time' tear, that both Baskets and now Zelda possess. I don't think this tear will be attached to a dungeon because Zelda is undoubtedly coming back to the present at some point in the game, and with her she will have this tear.

Although Link will already have the ability to rewind objects, there's a strong possibility that once in the present, Zelda will be a companion you can bring with you just like we've seen Link he able to bring Sidon or Tulin along with him. Another exciting possibility, that we unfortunately won't know about till release (or if you are into leaks lol).

Sorry if I rambled at some bits. I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this. I do wanna keep myself as spoiler free as possible at this point from here on out, but I also might just lurk and not let y'all know that I'm doing it

 

[NabiscoFelt]

Hey all! I'm not sure if this will be my last post here or not, but I do want to start withdrawing so that I don't get spoiled on stuff. What I do want to talk about before I leave though, is something that really excites me about TotK, that I feel wasn't fully realized in BotW, and that is dungeons.

SIDE NOTE: Reviewing the size of this post, I didn't realize how long it would be! I'll put some spoiler tags for the different sections so it's hopefully easier to read.

Spoiler: How many tears?

Before in a post I theorized that we would get 4 dungeons in this game, one for each of Hryule's fictitious races: Zora, Goron, Rito, & Gerudo. We see Zelda already possess the 'Time' tear, and Rauru the 'Light' tear. This just leaves the 'Shadow' tear (assuming they are following old Zelda traditions), which many have theorized belongs to Ganondorf since he possesses an unnamed tear.

Here's the thing though, in the artbook (on pg. 148) we see a very large and mysterious tower that has 7 chimney like structures coming out of it. On that same page of the artbook, there is an illustration of a device holding 7 tears.



I'm sure you see where I'm going with this, but this tower will likely be where you have to deposit the tears you collect, possibly empowering them for the champions to use, and also giving Link a new ability.

These collected tears might also activate something within the tower itself, since there's a physical representation of those 7 tears in the architecture of it.

The possibility that you'd only be able to deposit 4 tears (the champion's tears), into this tower, and then have to go to the final boss or story segment doesn't make a lot of sense when you consider that there's clearly space for 7 tears and some significance here to bring them to the tower we don't yet know about.

Also, if there's space for 7 tears, surely that couldn't include Ganondorf's tear? That would mean you couldn't complete the tower without obtaining his tear first, and due to how Nintendo handles the end of Zelda games, I seriously doubt you'd be able to deposit that tear after killing the final boss.

This only leaves one possibility in my mind, and that is that we are clearly going to be collecting more than just the four tears we've seen so far, and also that Ganondorf's tear is a special 8th one not included with the rest of the lot.

This idea that Ganondorf possesses a unique tear isn't new here, as I've seen some bring it up when discussing the abandoned 8th heroine of the Gerudo. However, an amazing post by @rin_kuto on Twitter strongly suggests the idea that his tear is unique, and malice themed.

You'll have to use Google translate if you don't speak the language, but I'd recommend you look at it here:

Going back to the dungeons, in trying to look at how things would change with both of these ideas (collecting 7 tears, and Ganondorf has a unique 8th tear), and I think the prospects are exciting.

Spoiler: Shadow Tear

For the 'Shadow' tear, I honestly do believe Paya could be the new sage, as silly as some people think that is. Nintendo already pretty much played with the idea of more childish characters becoming sages in OoT and WW before, so it's not that out of the ordinary.

Also, on page 199 of the artbook, Paya is seen wearing the same ornate hat as Impa, and having a more serious expression.



This might indicate that she has experienced some growth / had some training in between the events of BotW and TotK. Her becoming a full on sage might be the end of that character arc if the Zelda team decides to go that route.

Of course, if she does end up becoming a sage, and there is a 'Shadow' tear to be collected, it would likely be in an underground temple, hopefully balancing out the dungeons since only one other seems to be completely subterranean (the fire temple).

Spoiler: Light Tear

Opposing shadow, is the 'Light' tear, which Rauru is shown to possess. What is interesting about this fact, however, is that since we know Rauru plays some role in sealing Ganondorf away in the ancient past, that means that he is surely dead or in some form of stasis (unless he is immortal) in the present. So just because he has a tear in the past doesn't mean it's a going to be immediately helpful or accessible to Link.

I also can't see Rauru traveling to the future, as he still has an important role to play in his time period, and coming to the present would put that past world in jeopardy. Which means, Link would also need to find the 'Light' tear somewhere in the present.

There is a likely candidate for where this temple of light would be located, that I hadn't ever considered before, and that is this extremely tall pillar of sky islands.



What was interesting to learn from the latest trailer is that large groups of sky islands that I had thought would just be fun side content to explore actually ended up being important dungeon/story content. For example, the entirety of the sky islands above Zora's Domain are all stepping stones to the Zora dungeon above, or the Hebra Cyclone solely housing ancient Rito architecture.

Knowing that now, it's hard to look at this pillar of sky islands, undoubtedly the tallest structure in the game world, and very likely leading to the highest point in the map, and not see it as having some importance we don't yet know of.

If you want a size reference for this pillar, just look at the sphere at the bottom. That sphere is one of the same ones we see in the latest trailer, and that one is huge.

Plus, something cool to think about is that this tower is located above Mt. Lanayru, an important location in BotW, and a sacred site housing a spring thought to be able to communicate with the Goddess Hylia herself. If there is a temple of light in this game, then putting it high above such a 'holy' site would make a lot of sense, personally.

On a side note, here's some designs we haven't seen attached to any other interiors yet (they are sort of similar to the new shrine flooring but are still different and are gilded). Maybe this is the temple of light?

Spoiler: Time Tear

Finally, we have the 'Time' tear, that both Baskets and now Zelda possess. I don't think this tear will be attached to a dungeon because Zelda is undoubtedly coming back to the present at some point in the game, and with her she will have this tear.

Although Link will already have the ability to rewind objects, there's a strong possibility that once in the present, Zelda will be a companion you can bring with you just like we've seen Link he able to bring Sidon or Tulin along with him. Another exciting possibility, that we unfortunately won't know about till release (or if you are into leaks lol).

Sorry if I rambled at some bits. I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this. I do wanna keep myself as spoiler free as possible at this point from here on out, but I also might just lurk and not let y'all know that I'm doing it

Great post! The Tear receptacle in the Sky Tower makes a pretty solid case that we'll be collecting them all. I don't think it's airtight (maybe the Tears are initially there in like, an early game or flashback cutscene and we never interact with them there at all) but it's solid

We'll miss you in speculation!

 

[Skittzo]

Hey all! I'm not sure if this will be my last post here or not, but I do want to start withdrawing so that I don't get spoiled on stuff. What I do want to talk about before I leave though, is something that really excites me about TotK, that I feel wasn't fully realized in BotW, and that is dungeons.

SIDE NOTE: Reviewing the size of this post, I didn't realize how long it would be! I'll put some spoiler tags for the different sections so it's hopefully easier to read.

Spoiler: How many tears?

Before in a post I theorized that we would get 4 dungeons in this game, one for each of Hryule's fictitious races: Zora, Goron, Rito, & Gerudo. We see Zelda already possess the 'Time' tear, and Rauru the 'Light' tear. This just leaves the 'Shadow' tear (assuming they are following old Zelda traditions), which many have theorized belongs to Ganondorf since he possesses an unnamed tear.

Here's the thing though, in the artbook (on pg. 148) we see a very large and mysterious tower that has 7 chimney like structures coming out of it. On that same page of the artbook, there is an illustration of a device holding 7 tears.



I'm sure you see where I'm going with this, but this tower will likely be where you have to deposit the tears you collect, possibly empowering them for the champions to use, and also giving Link a new ability.

These collected tears might also activate something within the tower itself, since there's a physical representation of those 7 tears in the architecture of it.

The possibility that you'd only be able to deposit 4 tears (the champion's tears), into this tower, and then have to go to the final boss or story segment doesn't make a lot of sense when you consider that there's clearly space for 7 tears and some significance here to bring them to the tower we don't yet know about.

Also, if there's space for 7 tears, surely that couldn't include Ganondorf's tear? That would mean you couldn't complete the tower without obtaining his tear first, and due to how Nintendo handles the end of Zelda games, I seriously doubt you'd be able to deposit that tear after killing the final boss.

This only leaves one possibility in my mind, and that is that we are clearly going to be collecting more than just the four tears we've seen so far, and also that Ganondorf's tear is a special 8th one not included with the rest of the lot.

This idea that Ganondorf possesses a unique tear isn't new here, as I've seen some bring it up when discussing the abandoned 8th heroine of the Gerudo. However, an amazing post by @rin_kuto on Twitter strongly suggests the idea that his tear is unique, and malice themed.

You'll have to use Google translate if you don't speak the language, but I'd recommend you look at it here:

Going back to the dungeons, in trying to look at how things would change with both of these ideas (collecting 7 tears, and Ganondorf has a unique 8th tear), and I think the prospects are exciting.

Spoiler: Shadow Tear

For the 'Shadow' tear, I honestly do believe Paya could be the new sage, as silly as some people think that is. Nintendo already pretty much played with the idea of more childish characters becoming sages in OoT and WW before, so it's not that out of the ordinary.

Also, on page 199 of the artbook, Paya is seen wearing the same ornate hat as Impa, and having a more serious expression.



This might indicate that she has experienced some growth / had some training in between the events of BotW and TotK. Her becoming a full on sage might be the end of that character arc if the Zelda team decides to go that route.

Of course, if she does end up becoming a sage, and there is a 'Shadow' tear to be collected, it would likely be in an underground temple, hopefully balancing out the dungeons since only one other seems to be completely subterranean (the fire temple).

Spoiler: Light Tear

Opposing shadow, is the 'Light' tear, which Rauru is shown to possess. What is interesting about this fact, however, is that since we know Rauru plays some role in sealing Ganondorf away in the ancient past, that means that he is surely dead or in some form of stasis (unless he is immortal) in the present. So just because he has a tear in the past doesn't mean it's a going to be immediately helpful or accessible to Link.

I also can't see Rauru traveling to the future, as he still has an important role to play in his time period, and coming to the present would put that past world in jeopardy. Which means, Link would also need to find the 'Light' tear somewhere in the present.

There is a likely candidate for where this temple of light would be located, that I hadn't ever considered before, and that is this extremely tall pillar of sky islands.



What was interesting to learn from the latest trailer is that large groups of sky islands that I had thought would just be fun side content to explore actually ended up being important dungeon/story content. For example, the entirety of the sky islands above Zora's Domain are all stepping stones to the Zora dungeon above, or the Hebra Cyclone solely housing ancient Rito architecture.

Knowing that now, it's hard to look at this pillar of sky islands, undoubtedly the tallest structure in the game world, and very likely leading to the highest point in the map, and not see it as having some importance we don't yet know of.

If you want a size reference for this pillar, just look at the sphere at the bottom. That sphere is one of the same ones we see in the latest trailer, and that one is huge.

Plus, something cool to think about is that this tower is located above Mt. Lanayru, an important location in BotW, and a sacred site housing a spring thought to be able to communicate with the Goddess Hylia herself. If there is a temple of light in this game, then putting it high above such a 'holy' site would make a lot of sense, personally.

On a side note, here's some designs we haven't seen attached to any other interiors yet (they are sort of similar to the new shrine flooring but are still different and are gilded). Maybe this is the temple of light?

Spoiler: Time Tear

Finally, we have the 'Time' tear, that both Baskets and now Zelda possess. I don't think this tear will be attached to a dungeon because Zelda is undoubtedly coming back to the present at some point in the game, and with her she will have this tear.

Although Link will already have the ability to rewind objects, there's a strong possibility that once in the present, Zelda will be a companion you can bring with you just like we've seen Link he able to bring Sidon or Tulin along with him. Another exciting possibility, that we unfortunately won't know about till release (or if you are into leaks lol).

Sorry if I rambled at some bits. I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this. I do wanna keep myself as spoiler free as possible at this point from here on out, but I also might just lurk and not let y'all know that I'm doing it

I had a different idea to explain how we'll be getting the tears and tear powers:

Two sets of tears- the tears from the past and the tears from the present.

The champions/Ganondorf/Zelda will all be wielding the present time tears, but through the use of the recall tear which both Zelda and Link will be holding across the ages, she will be able to give Link the "past" tears to collect, maybe to use in that tower as you speculated. That way we will get whatever these tear powers are and still allow the champions to use the tears as they need too.

 

[Horror Kid]

Or maybe we have to fuse two of one kind into a yin yang like symbol of each color to awaken their full power.

 

[Kenka]

I'm wondering if there is more to this shot of Gannondorf other than a dramatic cinematic view of him, because the Moon is huge in front of him. If he can actually make the moon come closer to Hyrule then this could be another explanation for Links anti-gravity jumping as having the Moon move closer would start to effect gravity. It would definitely change up the game play mid game type thing and would be cool to see how other things, like vehicles and objects behave in anti-gravity.

So far I think the leading candidates are the type of platforms Link is jumping on or he obtains a certain item. Other possibilities might be something Link could eat. I was also thinking if we were able to fuse clothing together or maybe cooking monster parts again with a particular animal. I did have as a candidate that Link could be able to fuse something like Hot footed frogs to his boots, as a crazy possibility, but even that wouldn't explain the animation we see, it would just probably be a longer jump animation rather than what looks like Link semi-floats for a second.

You know what. It is a fantastic idea.

 

[m051293]

If you want a size reference for this pillar, just look at the sphere at the bottom. That sphere is one of the same ones we see in the latest trailer, and that one is huge

Oh my god, I never noticed that.

 

[bathynomus]

Or maybe we have to fuse two of one kind into a yin yang like symbol of each color to awaken their full power.

I thought you meant the characters at first and…hell yeah I want Crystal Gems fusions of the characters lol

 

[Djehuty]

I had a different idea to explain how we'll be getting the tears and tear powers:

Two sets of tears- the tears from the past and the tears from the present.

The champions/Ganondorf/Zelda will all be wielding the present time tears, but through the use of the recall tear which both Zelda and Link will be holding across the ages, she will be able to give Link the "past" tears to collect, maybe to use in that tower as you speculated. That way we will get whatever these tear powers are and still allow the champions to use the tears as they need too.

I agree with this two personally

At the very least Zelda going to past will create a timeline with 8 tears, two time oens and the other 6. So while it’s desing Ed for 7 tears I do imagine in the actual political we can get the same ones from different time periods involved.

 

[Truno]

Hey all! I'm not sure if this will be my last post here or not, but I do want to start withdrawing so that I don't get spoiled on stuff. What I do want to talk about before I leave though, is something that really excites me about TotK, that I feel wasn't fully realized in BotW, and that is dungeons.

SIDE NOTE: Reviewing the size of this post, I didn't realize how long it would be! I'll put some spoiler tags for the different sections so it's hopefully easier to read.

Spoiler: How many tears?

Before in a post I theorized that we would get 4 dungeons in this game, one for each of Hryule's fictitious races: Zora, Goron, Rito, & Gerudo. We see Zelda already possess the 'Time' tear, and Rauru the 'Light' tear. This just leaves the 'Shadow' tear (assuming they are following old Zelda traditions), which many have theorized belongs to Ganondorf since he possesses an unnamed tear.

Here's the thing though, in the artbook (on pg. 148) we see a very large and mysterious tower that has 7 chimney like structures coming out of it. On that same page of the artbook, there is an illustration of a device holding 7 tears.



I'm sure you see where I'm going with this, but this tower will likely be where you have to deposit the tears you collect, possibly empowering them for the champions to use, and also giving Link a new ability.

These collected tears might also activate something within the tower itself, since there's a physical representation of those 7 tears in the architecture of it.

The possibility that you'd only be able to deposit 4 tears (the champion's tears), into this tower, and then have to go to the final boss or story segment doesn't make a lot of sense when you consider that there's clearly space for 7 tears and some significance here to bring them to the tower we don't yet know about.

Also, if there's space for 7 tears, surely that couldn't include Ganondorf's tear? That would mean you couldn't complete the tower without obtaining his tear first, and due to how Nintendo handles the end of Zelda games, I seriously doubt you'd be able to deposit that tear after killing the final boss.

This only leaves one possibility in my mind, and that is that we are clearly going to be collecting more than just the four tears we've seen so far, and also that Ganondorf's tear is a special 8th one not included with the rest of the lot.

This idea that Ganondorf possesses a unique tear isn't new here, as I've seen some bring it up when discussing the abandoned 8th heroine of the Gerudo. However, an amazing post by @rin_kuto on Twitter strongly suggests the idea that his tear is unique, and malice themed.

You'll have to use Google translate if you don't speak the language, but I'd recommend you look at it here:

Going back to the dungeons, in trying to look at how things would change with both of these ideas (collecting 7 tears, and Ganondorf has a unique 8th tear), and I think the prospects are exciting.

Spoiler: Shadow Tear

For the 'Shadow' tear, I honestly do believe Paya could be the new sage, as silly as some people think that is. Nintendo already pretty much played with the idea of more childish characters becoming sages in OoT and WW before, so it's not that out of the ordinary.

Also, on page 199 of the artbook, Paya is seen wearing the same ornate hat as Impa, and having a more serious expression.



This might indicate that she has experienced some growth / had some training in between the events of BotW and TotK. Her becoming a full on sage might be the end of that character arc if the Zelda team decides to go that route.

Of course, if she does end up becoming a sage, and there is a 'Shadow' tear to be collected, it would likely be in an underground temple, hopefully balancing out the dungeons since only one other seems to be completely subterranean (the fire temple).

Spoiler: Light Tear

Opposing shadow, is the 'Light' tear, which Rauru is shown to possess. What is interesting about this fact, however, is that since we know Rauru plays some role in sealing Ganondorf away in the ancient past, that means that he is surely dead or in some form of stasis (unless he is immortal) in the present. So just because he has a tear in the past doesn't mean it's a going to be immediately helpful or accessible to Link.

I also can't see Rauru traveling to the future, as he still has an important role to play in his time period, and coming to the present would put that past world in jeopardy. Which means, Link would also need to find the 'Light' tear somewhere in the present.

There is a likely candidate for where this temple of light would be located, that I hadn't ever considered before, and that is this extremely tall pillar of sky islands.



What was interesting to learn from the latest trailer is that large groups of sky islands that I had thought would just be fun side content to explore actually ended up being important dungeon/story content. For example, the entirety of the sky islands above Zora's Domain are all stepping stones to the Zora dungeon above, or the Hebra Cyclone solely housing ancient Rito architecture.

Knowing that now, it's hard to look at this pillar of sky islands, undoubtedly the tallest structure in the game world, and very likely leading to the highest point in the map, and not see it as having some importance we don't yet know of.

If you want a size reference for this pillar, just look at the sphere at the bottom. That sphere is one of the same ones we see in the latest trailer, and that one is huge.

Plus, something cool to think about is that this tower is located above Mt. Lanayru, an important location in BotW, and a sacred site housing a spring thought to be able to communicate with the Goddess Hylia herself. If there is a temple of light in this game, then putting it high above such a 'holy' site would make a lot of sense, personally.

On a side note, here's some designs we haven't seen attached to any other interiors yet (they are sort of similar to the new shrine flooring but are still different and are gilded). Maybe this is the temple of light?

Spoiler: Time Tear

Finally, we have the 'Time' tear, that both Baskets and now Zelda possess. I don't think this tear will be attached to a dungeon because Zelda is undoubtedly coming back to the present at some point in the game, and with her she will have this tear.

Although Link will already have the ability to rewind objects, there's a strong possibility that once in the present, Zelda will be a companion you can bring with you just like we've seen Link he able to bring Sidon or Tulin along with him. Another exciting possibility, that we unfortunately won't know about till release (or if you are into leaks lol).

Sorry if I rambled at some bits. I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this. I do wanna keep myself as spoiler free as possible at this point from here on out, but I also might just lurk and not let y'all know that I'm doing it

The fact that they haven't shown anything of the tower (only the silhouette) makes me think that it'll be highly relevant. Furthermore, imagine how disappointing it would be if they went out of their way to make 7 chimneys and 7 tears on the Lotus when only half of them are relevant to the gameplay.

At this point the only disappointments that can happen for me are the following:

• Glyphs are only story related and they offer no gameplay elements.
• The 7 tears that are showcased on the Tower don't have equal relevance, only 4 of them are linked to dungeons.
• The new towns that were mentioned by the press release are new settlements of the same races of BotW that had to relocate due to the Upheaval

 

[xtoc]

About this one :


I always though that the tower is something that you can use to shoot you in the air..?

 

[Dark Cloud]

About this one :


I always though that the tower is something that you can use to shoot you in the air..?

I thought the tower is the elevator that Link takes underground?

 

[HockeyBird]

I'm guessing that it's been a few years after BOTW. Hyrule is rebuilding but shit starts coming out of the ground. The Shiekah build research towers at prominent locations where this stuff is leaking out. Zelda and Link go down to what they think is the source and that's where the story kicks off. The research towers can be used to take you underground or bring you up for a better view. That's just my guess though.

 

[BRRRRRING]

I'm guessing that it's been a few years after BOTW. Hyrule is rebuilding but shit starts coming out of the ground. The Shiekah build research towers at prominent locations where this stuff is leaking out. Zelda and Link go down to what they think is the source and that's where the story kicks off. The research towers can be used to take you underground or bring you up for a better view. That's just my guess though.

I think that's a good idea. We see other "Malice Holes", and the towers are just a select few to build expeditionary tools over.

Given how they don't look like they are all present from the start, maybe there are dozens of malice holes without towers, and we are guiding the research efforts and selecting which ones are built over in what order. Hence the inconsistency in what and where they are. That type of development is something that Monolith has done in a bunch of their games.

 

[Dark Cloud]

We have

Towers
Malice spots
Glyphs
Caves
Underground
Spiral green rock formation things

And we don’t know how any of these function. I guess underground is self explanatory. And we can speculate others

 

[maidhhc]

I still think that the new shroomy iconography in Hateno is due to an influx of refugees from a subterranean settlement with a mushroom aesthetic

 

[BRRRRRING]

We have

Towers
Malice spots
Glyphs
Caves
Underground
Spiral green rock formation things

And we don’t know how any of these function. I guess underground is self explanatory. And we can speculate others

Spiral Green is almost certainly just the Shrine equivalent. They look like Shrines, they are placed like Shrines, they seemingly have the overall density of Shrines, and they have a visual cue that makes them visible from afar like Shrines. If they aren't equivalent to Shrines, then there's some underlying gargantuan shift in game flow and the density/reward structure from BotW that makes basically all other gameplay speculation totally moot.

 

[Riton]

I know this is a stretch - but on the first look this structure reminded me of this page in the artbook…

 

[Truno]

I know this is a stretch - but on the first look this structure reminded me of this page in the artbook…

But Link is in the map room, right? I'm so confused...

Anyways, now that I look at the map a bit closer, we're assuming that pirate scimitar coincides with the pirate ship that we see in the artbook. Did the Glyph appear due to the pirate ship, or vice versa? Is it a flashback that triggers with the Glyph? What is Link doing on top of it?

I have so many questions... these freaking Glyphs man

 

[Skittzo]

But Link is in the map room, right? I'm so confused...

Anyways, now that I look at the map a bit closer, we're assuming that pirate scimitar coincides with the pirate ship that we see in the artbook. Did the Glyph appear due to the pirate ship, or vice versa? Is it a flashback that triggers with the Glyph? What is Link doing on top of it?

I have so many questions... these freaking Glyphs man

I took that post to mean the shape of the object near Kakariko looks similar to the glyph near Kakariko from the map room.

 

[hannibunny2411]

Maybe there are parts of sky islands that fell down and we can use the recall ability to permanently put them back up to „repair“ islands, open new areas, etc.

 

[Deleted member 3433]

Zelda Lore's 1h+ analysis:

 

[StygianBlueGames]

This part of the artbook has always confused me. The image that the red arrows are coming from is strange. It's like a little floating platform with some blurry little green guy on it(possibly a construct or a korok?). I just don't see the connection between that and the larger green structure.

 

[Skittzo]

This part of the artbook has always confused me. The image that the red arrows are coming from is strange. It's like a little floating platform with some blurry little green guy on it(possibly a construct or a korok?). I just don't see the connection between that and the larger green structure.

Maybe it acts like a chip? It gets inserted into those sections on the larger green structure? The gold contacts act like, well, electrical contacts?

 

[BRRRRRING]

Maybe it acts like a chip? It gets inserted into those sections on the larger green structure? The gold contacts act like, well, electrical contacts?

Yeah, it looks like you are inserting circuitboards on the three sides as puzzles or devices to power the central device.

The Gerudo Divine Beast in BotW had a circuity/electricity theme, so if I had to guess where this appears it would be Shrines or the Dungeon in that area.

 

[Mango]

I'm guessing that it's been a few years after BOTW. Hyrule is rebuilding but shit starts coming out of the ground. The Shiekah build research towers at prominent locations where this stuff is leaking out. Zelda and Link go down to what they think is the source and that's where the story kicks off. The research towers can be used to take you underground or bring you up for a better view. That's just my guess though.

I think the Towers may have been built beforehand. We've seen a lot of man-made caves on Hyrules surface and I'm thinking there was a large push to mine for minerals after Calamity Ganon was dealt with, partly to gather the materials needed to start rebuilding and also because people were looking to get rich from selling ore.

This is also possibly why Hateno is all about mushrooms now.

 

[Jencks]

I am putting this thread on ignore and going to start blocking Zelda related stuff until launch. Gotta teach the algorithms that I don't know or care about Zelda so I don't get spoiled.

 

[Magic-Man]

I am putting this thread on ignore and going to start blocking Zelda related stuff until launch. Gotta teach the algorithms that I don't know or care about Zelda so I don't get spoiled.

FBI: "Hmm, interesting..... YouTube, you know what to do"

 

[Gabev]

It’s a silly small thing but I would love it if you could sit at a ledge of a sky island with your feet dangling.

I would love it if you could sit on random stumps or make you own chair to sit on like in Skyward Sword, I wanted to do that so many times in BotW just to take in the atmosphere and scenery.

 

[brainchild]

Zelda Lore's 1h+ analysis:

So many cool discoveries in that video.

Please let the whirlwind theory be true!!!

 

[brainchild]

I would love it if you could sit on random stumps or make you own chair to sit on like in Skyward Sword, I wanted to do that so many times in BotW just to take in the atmosphere and scenery.

I seriously miss that from Skyward Sword. So many times I just wanted to get comfy at the Noble Canteen or just sit on random furniture in Breath of the Wild.

 

[Mango]

This is a bit speculative, but given we've seen that many of the Malice Holes are where the shrines were located, I'm thinking the Shrines disappeared the same way the Monks in them disappeared. Their whole purpose was to test and retrain Link after he fell in the Calamity so it wouldn't really make sense for them to still be around. This would also make a lot of sense as to why there are now Malice holes where a lot of them once stood, as they all had long deep tunnels dug straight down to compensate for the elevators that took you to the Shrine interiors, if all of the Shrine itself suddenly disappeared then you'd obviously have a deep narrow hole going straight down into a cavern. The Malice element to said holes were added later after Ganondorf woke up.

 

[ZeldaPY]

I have been re-reading this thread from the beginning as a way to avoid spoilers but still get some safer Zelda news. I am not worried about speculation or anything from the Art book, it will really be the leaks and once distributors have the game in about 5 to 10 days that more substantial spoilers will get out and I will disappear until the 11th and return for the final hype. It's been fun reading what we predicted and know for fact what has come true and what hasn't. And I got say, we collectively as a group in this thread are doing a lot better than any You tube theorist.
I definitely recommend to anyone who wants to, to go back and read some of the symbolism and culture references posts, I had forgotten how detailed a lot of those were. I know I will enjoy this game a lot more because of those posts and from all my own poking around I have done on Shintoism in Japan, The Lotus flower, Japanese Gods, Tori gates and ancient cultures that this game is definitely inspired by.
I was so happy when the trailer showed re-hydrated Gannondorf and in the background I immediately noticed the Lotus flowers behind him when normally I wouldn't have probably given them a second thought. I screamed during that scene, for one it was cool has hell, but I might have been the only person who then said,"Oh Look! Lotus flowers! and be just as excited to see them as I was Ganondorf.

 

[NewPueblo]

Same, I'm getting out of here, but actually ASAP if I can! I just want to know before I leave, when should I be looking out for previews and reviews (if we are getting previews that is)? I'm disconnecting from a lot of usual places I browse as to free my mind of Zelda stuff until the game is in my hands.

It's been a pleasure theorizing and discussing stuff with you all. I probably won't be back until I'm finished with the game (which I dunno when that will even be haha).

 

[Horror Kid]

This and the non-artbook leak thread was very fun and the main reason I became active in this forum and not just lurking.
Thanks for all your indepth theories and speculation.

I will bow out soon as well (when it's clear that the game has leaked).
I am kind of sad that I won't be able to discuss everything I experienced in the game with this enthusiast crowd here as I am playing through the game, but I also don't want to spoil myself these experiences.

Will still be interesting to talk about the game one or two months later (it will take me a while to finish it). I hope not everything is discussed to death already then

 

[ZeldaPY]

Same, I'm getting out of here, but actually ASAP if I can! I just want to know before I leave, when should I be looking out for previews and reviews (if we are getting previews that is)? I'm disconnecting from a lot of usual places I browse as to free my mind of Zelda stuff until the game is in my hands.

It's been a pleasure theorizing and discussing stuff with you all. I probably won't be back until I'm finished with the game (which I dunno when that will even be haha).

This and the non-artbook leak thread was very fun and the main reason I became active in this forum and not just lurking.
Thanks for all your indepth theories and speculation.

I will bow out soon as well (when it's clear that the game has leaked).
I am kind of sad that I won't be able to discuss everything I experienced in the game with this enthusiast crowd here as I am playing through the game, but I also don't want to spoil myself these experiences.

Will still be interesting to talk about the game one or two months later (it will take me a while to finish it). I hope not everything is discussed to death already then

I’m going to be popping in from time to time once the game releases because I’m just as excited to hear everyone’s reactions to the game in general almost as much as I am to play it. I’m a little worried about spoilers too, but I got the week off so I will probably be ahead of most potential spoilers, plus I think for the most part people are pretty good here in these two threads about respecting other peoples fun. Eventually we will get everyone back tho, probably waiting for DLC and we can start all over agin

 

[maidhhc]

probably waiting for DLC and we can start all over again

Will be a great thrill to see the 4K DLC trailer in the Switch 2 reveal announcement I feel like they'll hold back something a bit meatier this time

 

[ZeldaPY]

Will be a great thrill to see the 4K DLC trailer in the Switch 2 reveal announcement I feel like they'll hold back something a bit meatier this time

Yah that’s what I’m thinking too, my best guess still is that we will play as Zelda finally and follow her character. But who knows could even be backstory on Rauru and Basket or go more in depth on Ganondorf finally. I’m sure they are knee deep in developing DLC as we speak.