Tears of the Kingdom might have had a secret revealed thanks to the dedicated effort of a fan, teasing the possibility of a fan-favorite trickster.
With the release date of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom confirmed, a recent fan theory might have uncovered a connection to Twilight Princess. The Legend of Zelda series has always paid homage to older titles, making the extra effort to keep fans smiling, like with the The Wind Waker's Rito appearing in BOTW. The darker influence of Twilight Princess has been something fans have asked for more of since its successful release. In the game, Link can be transformed into a wolf to access the Twilight Realm, with his ultimate goal being to stop Twilight from completely engulfing Hyrule.
The Twilight Realm is led by a different princess than Zelda, that Link ends up helping throughout Twilight Princess. Named Midna, the ruler of the Twilight Realm is a powerful magician cursed by another before the beginning of the game. Initially, she insults Zelda throughout the game, finding it foolish that she'd doom Hyrule into Twilight rather than die. It isn't until after Zelda sacrifices herself for Midna that the Twili ruler realizes the mistake she'd made. Midna possibly appearing in the BoTW sequel might have been revealed thanks to a dedicated fan who put some pieces together.
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Cataloged through the efforts of Reddit user WhatWasThatHowl, Tears of the Kingdom appears to have strong connections to Twilight Princess. Detailed in their theory are several pictures pointing out the snake motif Twilight Princess displays throughout the game, and the large green circle that is part of the new game's logo shares a similar design. A fresh eye design can also be seen in the new trailer, which doesn't appear to be Sheikah. The strongest argument for the connection may be the dual representation of the Twili princess Midna, her imp and true form visible on a wall carving of some kind. The wall carving during TOTK's title reveal trailer shows two females appearing to cross or hold their hands, with one representing Zelda while the other looks very different from most of the designs in BOTW.
Though it could be simply coincidence, Reddit user WhatWasThatHowl believes that the art similarities are far too close to be an accident. The deliberate effort to hide and partially cover the second female figure in the carving feels intentional, giving credence to an assumption that the development team is trying to hide the surprise. Along with a new flying mount, the new Zelda trailer also shows Hyrule being engulfed by a mist filled with monsters which may allude to another instance of the twilight realm taking over Hyrule. However, until the next new trailer or the release of the game, this theory can't exactly be proven true.
As fans continue to analyze the trailer, more theories will be speculated upon, yet this one involving the GameCube and Wii favorite seemingly has plenty of evidence backing it. It would be ironic to see Nintendo release a game that focuses on aspects of Twilight Princess before bringing a much-requested port of the game to the Switch. Regardless of the influences of previous The Legend of Zelda titles, Tears of the Kingdom appears to bring a lot of fresh mechanics to the BOTW sequel.
As a writer for ScreenRant, Jennifer dedicates her time to learning more about the games she plays and writes. Her hobbies include drawing and fiction writing. Jennifer is a big fan of games, from fighting to RPGs or even racing.