The final trailer for Tears of the Kingdom was an absolute blockbuster, and I’m still digesting all the information we got yesterday. However, one thing immediately jumped out, and that was the return of the Champions. This time it’s not the Champions we knew from Breath of the Wild, but their descendents, plus it looks like the will be fighting alongside Link in some capacity. Today I want to dive into the details of the Champions, check out who they are, why they appears to be holding the Tears plus what this could mean for gameplay and 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 about the new Champions, and how do you want it to work with them fighting alongside us?

Well, have you recovered yet? Yesterday’s final trailer for Tears of the Kingdom was not only one of the best trailers I’ve seen for a Legend of Zelda game, but hands down one of the best trailers of all time. It was roughly 3 mins packed full of dense information related to gameplay, characters, story, Ganondorf, Princess Zelda… and we had confirmation we’d be fighting alongside the descendents of Champions.

Return of Champions

The line up in Tears of the Kingdom is looking strong. In Breath of the Wild, you could easily miss the story if you didn’t go and collect all the memories. In Tears of the Kingdom, it looks like Nintendo are going a little bigger with the narrative portion of the game. We have Ganondorf, finally confirmed after years of speculation. We have Princess Zelda, who isn’t dead, she’s simply lost somewhere (or maybe not where, but when… but that’s a topic for another day). We’ve also got Sidon, Tulin and Riju, who are potentially the new Champions from each of the races in Hyrule – Rito, Gerudo and Zora. One thing did stick out from the trailer was the lack of a Goron Champion, although we did see a sneaky peak of the Goron’s weapon, so it’s likely Nintendo are still keeping one or two reveals up their sleeve.

The big difference in Tears of the Kingdom is these new Champions appear to be fighting alongside Link, rather than just characters in cut scenes, like we got in Breath of the Wild. At one point in the trailer we see Link flying in a Rito costime with Tulin, then later on we see Link fighting alongdside Sidon, and this doesn’t look like a cutscene, this looks like it’s coming from gameplay, which opens the door for exciting gameplay in Tears of the Kingdom. We also got a peak at Riju wearing the Thunder Helm, who appears to have grown a lot since Breath of the Wild, and also demonstrates Tears of the Kingdom is set a few years since the end of the previous game.

We didn’t get a glimpse at Yonobo, Breath of the Wild’s Goron Champion, who was notable with his absense. We did get to see a Goron standing on a hill with Link, and a bunch of Hylians (shoutout to the dude with the bucket on his head, getting ready to fight Ganondorf), but I don’t think this was Yonobo. Our Rito Champion Teba wasn’y there either, and she appears to have been replaced by Tulin, who is a new white Rito chaarcter. Perhaps something happened to Teba, and we may find out more details in the early stages of Tears of the Kingdom.

The footage of Link fighting alonside Sidon got me the most excited, as this has huge implications for gameplay. Rather than just interact with other characters in cutscenes, in Tears of the Kingdom we could be about to fight with companion characters. Will they be restricted to fight with us for boss fights, or just certain parts of the game, or will we be able to build up our party of characters and switch between them? The Champions played a huge role in Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity, and it looks like they are going to play a big role here too.

Champions in Breath of the Wild

The Champions in Breath of the Wild were from the five races across Hyrule; Goron, Zora, Rito, Gerudo and finally, Hylian. Princess Zelda led them in the fight against Calamity Ganon, backed up by the Champion hero chosen by the sword that seals the darkness. The other champions were pilots of their Divine Beasts, and provided Link and Zelda back up in the battle against Calamity Ganon, to seal it away forever.

Daruk was our Goron Champion, but he was killed in the fight against Fireblight Ganon. The Gorons added a stone memorial to their Champion in Goron City. We were introduced to Yonobo in Breath of the Wild, Daruk’s Descendent, although I don’t think we saw him in the trailer for Tears of the Kingdom, so we’ll have to see if it’s Yonobo we’ll working with, or perhaps another Goron.

Revali was our Champion of the Rito, but he was killed by Windblight Ganon in Breath of the Wild. Teba is the descendent of Revali, and featured heavily in Age of Calamity, but so far we haven’t seen Teba either. We do see a new Rito called Tulin. Tulin does feature in Breath of the Wild, he hangs out with Teba near the flight range. We don’t know what’s happened to Teba, but early indications are Tulin is the main Rito we’re going to be fighting alongside in Tears of the Kingdom.

Urbosa was our fearsome Champion of the Gerudo in Breath of the Wild but was killed by Blight Ganon. Riju is the daughter of Urbosa, and is likely to be as fearsome as her mother. Riju looks to be weilding the legendary Thunder Helm, allowing the Gerudo Champion to control thunder and lightning. Riju was seen in the trailer, and she’s going to be a valuable asset to fight alongside.

Mipha was our Zora Champion and she was killed in battle against Waterblight Ganon. Sidon is Mipha’s brother, and looks to be the new King of the Zora, given he can be seen wearing a crown in the trailer. Sidon looks pretty useful with a Trident based on the gameplay with Link, so he’ll be a useful asset in the battle againt Ganondorf.

Tears of the Kingdom

An interesting point in the trailer is the Champions appear to be wearing or using the Tears of the Kingdom. We see a shot of Sidon, and he doesn’t appear to have the tear, but then later he does have the tear. One theory is we have dungeons related to each race or champion, and we work with them to complete the dungeon and collect the tear. Princess Zelda has a tear, and we see this other character who could be Zonai, or perhaps Hylia herself, she also has a tear. Ganondorf also has a tear in the middle of his head in the trailer, which is quite tricky to see on first inspection, but he’s also got one.

It’s highly likely these tears are very powerful, and perhaps passed down through generations. It could be related to Sages returning to the game, as we saw another interesting character earlier in the trailer, who kind of looks like a goat. Behind him to the left you can just about see a Rito character, you can see the talons on the floor and the bow. On the right you can see a Gerudo character, so perhaps they are ancient champions from the first Calamity. There’s been speculation for some time that time travel will be involved in Tears of the Kingdom. I would love to fight with the modern day champions of the present, and head back to the past somehow and meet the first champions in the time of the Zonai.

Gameplay and Story

This is all very exicting stuff. One thing this trailer confirmed was Tears of the Kingdom is going to go hard on story. We’ve got Link, Zelda and Ganondorf in the same game for the first time in 17 years. We’ve got the Champions descendents, the Zonai, and some mystery characters in here too. In terms of impacting the story, we’re going to get to know the new champions very well. I think we’re likely to be fighting alongside them in dungeons associated with their region, help them recover their Tears of the Kingdom, and bring them all together to bring the fight to Ganondorf. Zelda is also lost, and where she is, or perhaps even when she is, that’s a huge question. Is she stuck in the sky somewhere, or is she in the past? I can’t wait to find out.

In regards to gameplay, we’re going to be battling alongside champions, with them taking a more active role, rather than just cutscenes or advice. I hope we can build up a party, or even rotate between characters. If we’re going to assist the champions in returning their tears to the rightful owners, then I hope we start out as Link but then take the controls to the champions, that would be very cool. Multiplayer is a bit of a dream, and a very unlikely one, but again, that would be a lot of fun.

Let me know what you think of the returning champions in the comments.