Tears of the Kingdom did a great job with continuity, moving the story forward for many familiar characters from Breath of the Wild. However, there’s one important character missing, and that’s our wandering Rito Bard Kass. Today I want to have a closer look at where Kass is, why he’s not in Tears of the Kingdom, plus how he could return in upcoming DLC for The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.

Kass was an integral part of Breath of the Wild, and he managed to gather many fans over the years with his Rito songs and the way he supported Link through his adventures. In Tears of the Kingdom we haven’t seen Kass yet, although we have made a new Rito friend by the name of Penn, a fellow journalist from the Lucky Clover Gazette, who’s been helping Link with clues in the Potential Princess Sightings side adventure.

Who is Kass?

Kass is a wandering bard who helps Link in his quest to defeat Calamity Ganon. When Link first meets Kass, he doesn’t remember him, although throughout the game and their adventures together the pair became good friends. Kass describes the role of the Court Poet to Link, Kass’s teacher who once served the Royal Family of Hyrule. When the Court Poet died, Kass was then trusted with the task of sharing the ancient songs with Link.

We met Kass early in Breath of the Wild, he helped finding hidden shrines as we had to travel across Hyrule to search for ancient songs. Meeting Kass usually meant a reward ws just around the corner, whether it was a shrine or some loot or treasure. He also played a very important role in the Breath of the Wild DLC called Champion’s Ballad, but at the end of the DLC Kass’ story had pretty much been wrapped up. Meeting Kass was always interesting because he would dig deep into the ancient history of Hyrule and tell a story through his ballads.

Here’s an example of an entry from Kass’s journal:

“The ancient song of Gerudo Tower.”
I’ve heard word there is an ancient song about a tall structure called Gerudo Tower.
I don’t know where this Gerudo Tower is, but mysterious towers have popped up all around Hyrule recently.
This Gerudo Tower may be the tower that appeared in the Gerudo region.

After completing the Champion’s Ballad, Kass will perform one final song and will give Link a photo of Princess Zelda and all the Champion’s. This photo may be taken to Link’s home in Hateno Village (if you’ve completed the quest) to be displayed on the wall there.

Why is Kass missing?

Kass being missing from Tears of the Kingdom is strange, given his popularity as a character and the continuation of the Rito story. We even have a band in the game, The Stable Trotters, who have been split up before we embark on a side adventure to bring the band back together, plus open up the Great Fairy Fountains for Link to upgrade his armor.

While we haven’t yet seen Kass in Tears of the Kingdom, we have had the tiniest of clues. During the Potential Princess Sightings quest, where we follow Penn all over Hyrule visiting various stables and completing side adventures, Penn mentions a famous bard that studied the songs of Hyrule with Link. Penn says these words during the side adventure “A famous bard once perfected his craft in this place, studying the songs of this land”.

Will Kass Return?

While Kass hasn’t been found in the base game of Tears of the Kingdom, perhaps Nintendo are setting the scene for Kass to return at a later date in DLC. We don’t have any details about potential DLC for Tears of the Kingdom, but I would imagine it’s coming, hopefully by the end of 2023. Given Kass played an essential role in the Champion’s Ballad DLC, he could return and play an important role once again.

Kass could easily fly up into the Sky Islands, plus be found in various locations across Hyrule, and also down below in the Depths in Tears of the Kingdom. Given his love for history and lore, he could tell us stories of the Zonai we haven’t yet heard through ancient songs, and he could lead us to new Shrines and Side Adventures. Personally, I’d love to see a new Temple, Side Adventures, Shrines and Zonai Devices plus it’d be great to see our Rito friend Kass too.

It’s clear that some time has passed since Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Perhaps in DLC, we could flashback to an earlier time, just after Breath of the Wild finishes and find out what happened to Kass. There could be a significant reason why Kass isn’t in Tears of the Kingdom, and it maynot be a happy ending for our Rito friend. Given his prominence in Breath of the Wild, there are plenty of unanswered questions when thinking about our wandering rito bard.

Let me know what you think of Kass missing in Tears of the Kingdom and do you think he’ll return in the DLC?