Recently Nintendo unveiled the name and release date for their next Legend of Zelda game called Tears of the Kingdom, and alongside the name, they also revealed the logo. This has some very interesting illustrations contained within the logo, and today I want to go through what this could mean in relation to the story of Tears of the Kingdom, plus look at the implications on the Zelda timeline as a whole.

Before we get stuck into the details today let me know in the comments what you are most excited for when it comes to Tears of the Kingdom, plus what do you think the logo means?

Nintendo ended their recent Nintendo Direct with the news many of us had been waiting for, the much-aniticipated name and release date for the next Legend of Zelda game, formerly known as Breath of the Wild 2, to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Alongside the name, we also got some very interesting illustrations as part of the logo, and that’s a dragon eating its own tail. A Dragon eating its own tail also has a specific meaning. It’s called an Ouroboros.

Ouroboros meaning

Dragons have a particular meaning in The Legend of Zelda series, and most recently Breath of the Wild. In Breath of the Wild, there are three dragons; Dinraal named for the Goddess Din, Farosh named for the Goddess Farore, and Naydra named for the Goddess Nayru. According to the Dragon enthusiast Ronn, legend states that one must be blessed by Hylia to be able to see Dragon Spirits indicating Link has been blessed with such ability as he is essentially Hylia’s Champion chosen by Master Sword.

The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The Ouroboros entered Western tradition via ancient Egyptian iconography and the Greek magical tradition. The Ouroboros is often interpreted as a symbol for eternal cyclic renewal or a cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

This is an interesting line, most applicable to The Legend of Zelda “eternal cyclic renewal or a cycle of life, death, and rebirth”. There’s an instance of this, put in place by Demise at the end of Skyward Sword, canonically the first game in the Legend of Zelda timeline.

At the end of Skyward Sword, Demise is trying to steal Zelda’s power, when Link challenges him. To Demise’s shock, Link manages to defeat him, but in his death throes, he warns Link that it is not over and that an incarnation of his hatred will be reborn as a being to pursue domination of the world, as well as those with the blood of the Goddess and the spirit of the Hero, in a cycle of rebirth. Demise is sealed away within Master Sword, where his remains begin to decay.

Once again, this line is very important, and also very similar to the description of the Ouroboros.

“An incarnation of his hatred will be reborn as a being to pursue domination of the world, as well as those with the blood of the Goddess and the spirit of the Hero, in a cycle of rebirth”

What does this mean for Tears of the Kingdom?

Tears of the Kingdom shares many design elements with Skyward Sword; The Skydiving, the floating islands, the malice. While Skyward Sword is the canonically the first game in the timeline, it could be that Tears of the Kingdom is the last, and we could be about to witness the moment where the end becomes the beginning and time circles back on itself.

We have seen two Link designs in the trailers so far. One Champion’s Tunic wearing Link, with hair tied back, and also another Link, with longer hair, and a different outfit, looking much more basic in attire. In Tears of the Kingdom we could be about to play within two timelines, one near the end of the timeline, and one near the start. Time is a circle is The Legend of Zelda, with Demise’s curse damning Zelda and Link to fight against his hatred for all eternity. Could we be about to break that curse? Or are we cursed to operate witin that timeline forever?

Zelda Timeline

The Legend of Zelda timeline starts with Skyward Sword, and branches after Ocarina of Time into 3 distinct routes; The Hero Is Defeated (including A Link To The Past, Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link), The Hero Is Triumphant (Twilight Princess and Four Swords Adventures) and Adult Timeline: Ganon is Sealed Away (Wind Waker and Spirit Tracks).

Link and Zelda may facing a branching timeline, but eventually the circle completes and time loops back around on itself. There are references from all three timelines in Breath of the Wild, which has confused many in the past, meaning Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom may be the convergence point.

Tears of the Kingdom Story

We’ve seen in Tears of the Kingdom early trailers, Malice pouring out of the mysterious corpse, who many are assuming is Ganondorf. This Malice appears to be directly related to pieces of Hyrule floating up into the sky. These floating sky islands could end up being Skyloft, taking us all the way back to where it all began in Skyward Sword.

We see in the latest trailer a tapestry, which holds important plot points for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. We see a battle supported by Malice, a large-yet-unidentified-figure surrounded by seven items, plus a female figure passed out and raised into the sky, followed by what appears to be the same female figure holding hands with a mystery partner.

I don’t know how it’s all going to tie together just yet, but I believe a couple of things. The pieces of hyrule floating back up into the sky will turn into Skyloft, the female figure in the tapestry is Princess Zelda and she’s either dead, or transforming back into the Godess Hylia. The seven items are likely to be the literal Tears of the Kingdom. We’re either going to collect those, or they will be held by the Seven Sages. From a gameplay perspective I am hopeful the seven items, or seven tears means Dungeons, that would answer one of the major pieces of audience feedback related to Breath of the Wild with many people asking for the return of Dungeons.

Link has a cannister or device on his hip, it could be related to collecting the Tears of the Kingdom, and there maybe some Time Travel implications here. We’ve seen Link controlling time to a certain extent through pushing this spiked ball back up the hill, plus we’ve seen Link traveling up into the air via a falling block reversing into the air. We’ve also seen Link reversing time by traveling up into the air via a droplet mechanic, or these could be the ‘Tears’.

As for the mysterious figure, I have a feeling it’s Link, or a representation of Link. This is likely to be the owner of the mysterious arm we’ve seen holding Ganondorf in place under Hyrule Castle, which could be why the arm latches onto Link and the convergence moment starts once again, just like it has thousands of times before in the time loop. I believe we’ll witness the moment of The End, where time circles back on itself. Each piece of the Triforce is going to play an important role; Power, Courage and Wisdom. There will likely be a moment with Ganondorf/Demise, Zelda/Hylia and Link/This Creature.

Let me know in the comments what you think of the Ouroboros, plus the timeline implications for Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.

Thats it for this look at The End Is The Beginning in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. For more Legend of Zelda content like this check out Triforce Times on YouTube and subscribe today.