The main story beats have been a closely guarded secret when it comes to the Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. We’ve had little teasers in the trailers, but otherwise we don’t have much to go on. Today I want to have a look at some of the best stories to continue from Breath of the Wild, as well as new story beats we can deduce from the trailers, so we can try and piece together the main story in the Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.

Before we get into it today let me know in the comments what you think the story is going to be in Tears of the Kingdom?

Tears of the Kingdom is the first direct sequel in a long time in the Legend of Zelda series. It’s happened before, The Adevture of Link is a direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda, both on the NES, and Majora’s Mask was a direct sequel to Ocarina of Time. One advantage of the direct sequel is we can pick up stories that originated in Breath of the Wild. That was such a rich game with so many stories, so without further delay let’s dive right into the list of potential stories.

Champion Descendants

Back in Breath of the Wild Link traveled across Hyrule to free the Divine Beasts from The Blights of Ganon, and on his travels he meets with the various tribes and people of the lands, as well as the descendents of the Champions. We meet Yunobo of the Goron, Riju of the Gerudo, Teba of the Rito and Sidon of the Zora. In Tears of the Kingdom it would be good to check in on these characters to see how they are doing, and perhaps they will take on the mantle of Champion, especially given the spirits of their ancestors are now at peace given the defeat of Calamity Ganon. If Ganondorf is back to threaten Hyrule, we’re going to need allies, and there are not better allies than the descendants of Champions.

Korok Spirits

We had a huge task in Breath of the Wild collecting all the 900 Korok seeds. This took us all over Hyrule, and involved nice little puzzles all throughout our adventure. We haven’t seen a hint of the Koroks in trailer so far, but given Hyrule has been split into pieces with the sky islands, then I would like to see the Korok spirits return.

Divine Beasts

The huge ancient Divine Beasts were central to the story in Breath of the Wild and I expect them to return in Tears of the Kingdom. All of the Divine Beasts including Vah Ruta, Vah Naboris, Vah Medoh, and Vah Rudania are key, as well as their champion pilots. What happened after the events of defeating Calamity Ganon, did they go back to their respective people and settle down once again, or will the returning Malice in Tears of the Kingdom start to cause problems once again with the Divine Beasts. I would love to travel back in time and see the construction of the Divine Beasts and maybe meet the original pilots in Tears of the Kingdom. The Divine Beasts were a major part of the Breath of the Wild story, and I fully expect them to be central once again in this new battle against Ganondorf and his armies in Tears of the Kingdom.

Towns of Hyrule

We had plenty of bustling towns in Breath of the Wild, and we’ve seen a glimpse of Hateno Village in the latest trailer for Tears of the Kingdom. It was dark, and we could see a spiral towards the centre of the village. We had villages and settlements in all the major inhabitants towns; Gerudo, Goron, Zora and Rito, as well as Kariko Village and Hateo, plus many more. The characters in the towns and villages help bring The Legend of Zelda to life, and I want to see more towns and villages, as well as revisit some old friends from Breath of the Wild. No doubt the facture and formation of the Sky Islands will have disrupted and potentially displaced some poeple, so it’d be great to find them, meet them and help them in Tears of the Kingdom.

Impa & Purah

Impa & Purah are two interesting characters from Breath of the Wild, originating from the Sheikah Tribe. In Tears of the Kingdom it appears Link has new divine powers in his arm, rather than leaning on the Sheikah Technology found in the Sheikah Slate. Infact, it looks like Princess Zelda is holding the Sheikah Slate, although this isn’t from a trailer yet, this is from promotional material we’ve seen Nintendo push out on social media. If Impa and Purah do return, then they could once again help Link and Zelda with Sheikah Technology, providing upgrades and assistance throughout the game.

Yiga Clan

While the Yiga Clan weren’t the main enemy in Breath of the Wild, they did have an impact on the story, from meeting them out in the wild in Hyrule, and sneaking into their Den. They also the focus of some of the bets side quests in the game, including one resident of Kakariko Village who fell in love with a woman, and ran away from the Clan. Yiga Clan members sworn alligence of Calamity Ganon, and now he’s gone, will they swear to Ganondorf, or whatever goes on to replace them? Yiga Clan members are still going to be out there in all parts of Hyrule, and whether they will fit in with Ganondorf’s plan remains to be seen.

Zonai Tribe

The mystery of the Zonai Tribe has been described by Zelda developers as “the greatest mystery in Hyrule that hasn’t yet been solved!”. In Breath of the Wild Hyrule is a land recovering from a great disaster, with only a few people left.One of the stories the landscape tells is that of the Zonai Tribe, and they are one of the biggest mysteries in the Legend of Zelda series. The Zonai has never appeared in a Legend of Zelda game, but many clues have been left around Hyrule that paint a picture of prehistoric people, and we could be about to find out more about them in Tears of the Kingdom.

The Zonai are comparable to the Aztec civilisation we have in our own world; they had their own basic technology, but they were clearly advanced enough to create great temples and structures strewn around Hyrule. We’ve seen plenty of clues that point to the existance of the Zonai in Tears of the Kingdom, with Dragon Heads central to the design of the weapons and vehicles, plus the central logo for Tears of the Kingdom are two dragons eating their own tails. I think it’s about time we found out more about this ancient people

Zelda playable

There has been much speculation in the community that Princess Zelda will be playable in Tears of the Kingdom. This all started way back in 2019 when we first saw Zelda exploring with Link underground, she looked dressed and ready for adventure, compared to the Princess Zelda’s we’ve seen in the past. After the most recent trailer at the start of 2023, Nintendo released some promotional material showing Princess Zelda holding the Sheikah Slate, or a Lite version of the Shiekah Slate, given its smaller form factor. I’d like to see Nintendo switch things up and have Zelda as a playable character in the game. God of War Ragnorok successfully implemented multiple playable chaarcters recently, and it’d be good to see Nintendo follow on from that.

Skyloft

One of the most striking features of Tears of the Kingdom are the SKy Islands. They look remarkably similar to Skyloft, the setting for the origins of the Legend of Zelda series in Skyward Sword. Hylians took to the skies to get away from Demise’s evil grip on Hyrule all those years ago, and there are definitely parallels to the narrative going on in Tears of the Kingdom. Could Tears of the Kingdom somehow be a prequel to Skyward Sword and we’re seeing the formation of the Sky Islands and SKyloft before our very eyes? We’ll have to wait and find out.

Twilight Realm

Twilight Princess is a hugely popular Legend of Zelda title and we also have visual comparisons in Tears of the Kingdom. The broken Master Sword, which we can see repaired in the main logo for the game, appears to have Twili inspired designs. In Twilight Princess the Twili were set on an invasion of Hyrule, led by their leader Zant. He ultimately killed Ganondorf, which has led to many questions about Ganondorf’s return. Perhaps Zant makes a return and revives Ganondorf’s corpse under Hyrule castle, under the bidding of some higher evil power? The Twilight Princess imagery is there in the Tears of the Kingdom trailers, so it’ll be interesting to see if this one pans out.

Master Sword

Our favourite Hylian weapon, The Master Sword is broken, and this has appeared in the delay trailer as well as promotional material. It’s highly likely we’re going to have to repair the Master Sword, and restore it to it’s former glory. From the cutscene snippets we’ve seen, it appears as if there’s an attack on the Master Sword with Malice from Ganondorf’s corpse, which leads to the corruption.

Godess Hylia

We have statues of Godess Hylia all over Hyrule, and they are used to help us get more health and stamina in Breath of the Wild. However, Hylia could be about to play a much bigger role in Tears of the Kingdom. Hylia played a major role in Skyward Sword, revealed to be the ancestor of every incarnation of Princess Zelda. Given we have clear comparions to Skyward Sword, Godess Hylia may play an even greater role in Tears of the Kingdom. The statues are there for us all to see, so we know Hylian’s are aware of her prescence.

Timeline Loop

When Nintendo revealed their logo for Tears of the Kingdom, one feature stuck out, and that was the two dragons eating each other’s tails, otherwise known as a Ouroboros.

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.

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’s Fate

Nintendo has been telling us a story through the trailers released so far, and in the first trailer we see Princess Zelda lose her footing, an arm reaches out and catches another arm, then in the second trailer, we see it… Princess Zelda falls backwards into the darkness.

We have seen Zelda in danger, then falling and in the mural, we have seen a female character depicted laying down, raised into the sky… and this certainly looks like it could be Princess Zelda. Even the name suggests something dark, ‘Tears of the Kingdom’… why is the whole Kingdom crying? It could be because Princess Zelda is gone, and this time maybe it’s for good.

Killing Princess Zelda is a bold move and one that Nintendo isn’t going to take lightly. If the trailers are anything to go by, Nintendo could have laid out a roadmap for the game here, with the first trailer showing Link and Zelda on their adventure, followed by Princess Zelda’s accident into the abyss. Given we see in the most recent trailer this figure at first laying down and horizontal, then in the next shot standing once again, it could be that the Princess is resurrected at some point throughout the game due to our actions. It looks like we have the ability to roll back time in certain circumstances, perhaps we can roll back time to before Princess Zelda dies?

Let me know in the comments what you think of the story in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, and let me know what you think will happen.