Summary
After waiting for over six years, fans ofThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wildare finally able to play its anticipated sequel,The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. While Nintendo’s new offeringhas been endlessly praisedbecause of its mechanics, its content, and its presentation, there’s something that the most dedicated fans have been eagerly waiting for - answers.
Breath of the Wildfeatured a brand-new timeline for the franchise, in a new version ofHyrulethat was filled to the brim with intriguing mysteries about the lore, characters, and world. Fans have been theorizing about all these unsolved questions for years and, luckily for them,Tears of the Kingdomhas now answered some of the bigger ones.
1Who Were The Founders Of Hyrule?
King Rauru & Queen Sonia
InBreath of the Wild, it was stated that Princess Zelda is part of the royal family that has ruled and protected the land of Hyrule for centuries. The burning question that arose from this was: Where did exactly this royal lineage come from? And why was their tribe chosen to rule Hyrule over the other ones?
InTears of the Kingdom, Zelda travels back in time and meets her ancestors:King Rauru and Queen Sonia. This couple of a Zonai and a Hylian were the founders of the kingdom of Hyrule and unified all the tribes in the land to coexist in peace. This was a major lore revelation that explained a lot about the world established in the previous game.
2Who Were The Zonai?
The Descendants Of The Gods
The mysterious Zonai Tribe is mentioned a few times throughoutBreath of the Wild. While some players may have missed these mentions at first, the fate of this lost civilization has been one of the biggest mysteries of that game, and fans were excited to see if its sequel was going to reveal more about them.
Tears of the Kingdomdid not just explain what the Zonai Tribe was, but they were a big part of this game’s story. King Rauru himself is a Zonai, as they were a civilization that came to the earth from the sky, had advanced technology, and are said to be descendants of the gods themselves. Interestingly enough, they seem to haveno relation with the mysterious Barbarian Tribe, even though most fans used to believe they were the same.
3Why Did Each Race Get A Divine Beast?
The Fate Of The Six Sages
As previously mentioned, Hyrule consists of several races, aside from the Hylians and Zonai: Gorons, Gerudos, Rito, Zora, etc. So a complex plot point has existed within the community: Why did every race in the kingdom have its own Champion and Divine Beast? And why were they specifically chosen to protect the land?
The flashbacks inTears of the Kingdomshed some light on this matter, as it’s explained that King Rauru bestowed Secret Stonesto six different sages, each one of a different race, to defeat Ganondorf. This confirmed that all the races in Hyrule joined forces to face a bigger threat. What’s especially interesting is that each sage wore a mask that had the same design astheir respective Divine Beast.
4Why Are There Dragons Roaming Through Hyrule?
The Process Of Draconification
InBreath of the Wild, three different dragons can be found roaming around the skies of Hyrule. Known as Dinraal, Farosh, and Naydra, these creatures remained a huge mystery in that adventure, seeing as the game itself barely mentioned them and never really explained where they came from.
Weirdly enough,Tears of the Kingdomdid not explain the origins of these dragons either, but it did confirm where dragons in general come from. When someone ingests a Secret Stone, their body goes through a transformation known as Draconificationin which they turn into a huge dragon, similar to Dinraal, Farosh, and Naydra. Both Princess Zelda and Ganondorf are seen going through this process, so it’s not too far out to believe that the roaming dragons spawned in the same way.
5What’s Underneath Hyrule?
Unraveling The Depths
When Link had to face Master Kohgaback inBreath of the Wild, the confrontation ended with the leader of the Yiga Clan accidentally throwing himself through a big hole in the ground. Although this was done with comedic intent, a lot of people kept wondering: Where did Koha go? Is there somewhere to go underground? Two questions were later answered with the introduction of The Depths inTears of the Kingdom.
The sequel revealed that there’s an entire underground system underneath the land of Hyrule. Brimming with deep darkness, fearsome monsters, and gloom puddles, this ended up being one of the biggest sections to explore in the game.Master Kohga even managed to find Zonai technologyin the Depths and created a brand-new base for the Yiga Clan in this location, tying with the hint set up in the previous title.
6Who Was Ganondorf?
The Demon King
The main antagonist ofBreath of the Wildis Calamity Ganon, an abstract entity made up of darkness and evil. Because of its properties and pig-like appearance, fans immediately made a connection withlongtime Zelda villain Ganondorf, especially after the cutscene in which Urbosa mentioned how Ganon used to be a Gerudo who was precisely named Ganondorf. So, who exactly was this character? How did he create a being as evil and powerful as Calamity Ganon?
The story ofTears of the Kingdomrevolves around Ganondorf and the time he tried to conquer all of Hyrule. Known as the Demon King, he was a power-hungry Gerudo wizard who wielded dark magic known as Gloom and had control over the monsters of the land. And, while King Rauru managed to seal him underneath Hyrule Castle, it is implied that all of his hatred spawned in the form of Calamity Ganon, which eventually gave Rauru’s descendants a lot of trouble as well. This not only revealed the identity of the mysterious villain but also gave a clear explanation of where the previous game’s antagonist came from.
