The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is packed full of secrets and easter eggs. The game is huge and it’s packed full of references to previous Zelda games. I’ve already been through a bunch of secrets from Tears of the Kingdom, and you should definitely check that out, today I’m going to go through more things you should know about Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.

Without further delay, lets dive into the secrets.

Twilight Princess Weapons

Tears of the Kingdom has a whole load of references to older games with weapons, even narrative moments. Some of the biggest and best references to older games lies with some of the weapons that can be found all over Hyrule. A couple of the most recognisable weapons are from Twilight Princess and they include the Dusk Bow and Dusk Claymore. While the original weapons have different names (Twilight Bow and Sword of the Six Sages) they are very recognisable regarding their design. You can find the Dusk Bow in Hyrule Castle and the Claymore is found in the Thyphlo Ruins north of Great Hyrule Forest. If you want to seek out these weapons then do be aware you will need to complete “Regional Phenomena” questline and also start the “Investigate Thyphlo Ruins” side adventure.

Cherry Blossom Guidance

There are loads of interesting plants and trees in Tears of the Kingdom, including beautiful cherry trees often found on the top of hills around Hyrule. They stand out in the landscape given their pale pink leaves. These trees also hold interesting secrets. At the base of each cherry blossom tree you’ll find a stone altar. Place a piece of fruit on the altar, a Satori Lord of the Mountain will appear. Satori then marks all the surrounding caves will a pillar of light. These directions stay on the map for a full day and night, allowing you to explore them in good time, plus they also stay there if you fast travel. If you are having trouble finding the cherry trees, do not worry. If you go to Hyrule Field’s Outskirts Stable, you’ll find a map there with every cherry blossom tree marked. Take a photo of it with your Pura Pad, and you can then use this for reference when hunting for caves.

Unique Gerudo Dialogue

There is a lone Gerudo in the sewers beneath Gerudo Town named Calyban. You will have likely seen the messages in the bottles floating in the water in the sewers if you’ve been down there, and they are all penned by Calyban. You can read the messages, plus you can also find Calyban, however, this isn’t enough to trigger the side quest. You can return a bottle to Calyban, that will trigger the unique dialogue and this leads to Calyban falling in love with Link. If you speak to Dalia near the Noble Canteen you’ll be able to start Calyban’s Side Quest. Dalia is having problems in her orchard, as garbage is polluting the water supply. Here you’ll be able to kick off the quest “The Myster Polluter”, Link then learns that Calyban is responsible for the trash, given she’s been throwing away her Hyrdomelon waste into the water. If you bring her 10 wildberries, then she’ll apologise and help Dalia cleanup.

Buff weapons

Similar to Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom features breakable weapons. Thanks to the Fuse ability you can bolster weapons and make them more robust, but eventually they will break. This is where Rock Octoroks come into play. These are the large enemies that pop out of the ground and fire rocks at Link, damaging him from a distance. If you throw your weapons into the Octorok’s mouth, it will suck up the weapon into it’s belly. Then something happens, the weapon is repaired, and additionally gets a random buff. It also turns rusty weapons into regular weapons. Unfortunately, you don’t get to choose what buff the weapon gets, but you can save just before you do it and reload until you get the weapon buff you want. Rock Octoroks also have one repair per bloodmoon, so it’s worth baring that in mind. Also, Rock Octoroks can’t repair weapons gained through amiibos.

A Link To The Past

Throughout the story we hear much about the Imprisoning War. This happens in the very distant past, plus we learn much about the battles between the Sages, Rauru and Ganondorf. However, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about the Imprisioning War. A Link To The Past also mentions the Imprisioning War when sealing away Ganon in the Dark World. I assume these are the same war, even though one is imprisioning Ganon, and one Ganondorf.

Ganondorf Kneeling

There’s one callback above all others that stands out in Tears of the Kingdom, and that’s Ganondorf kneeling infront of King Rauru. In Ocarina of Time, when we first meet Princess Zelda as child Link, we peak through a window to see Ganondorf kneeling before the King of Hyrule. Ganondorf turns and sees Link at the window, before Link hides. In Tears of the Kingdom we have a cutscene during one of the Dragon Tear memories, where Ganondorf pledges alliegence to King Rauru, in a moment that was clearly designed to call back to Ocarina of Time.

Tal Tal Peak

Above Tal Tal Peak you’ll find a fish shaped island. Tal Tal Peak is a callback to Link’s Awakening and it’s very own Tal Tal Mountain and the Wind Fish. In Tears of the Kingdom you’ll find the Fish Shaped Island over Tal Tal Peak as part of the “Clues to the Sky” Zora questline.

Create ice blocks

One of the main differences with Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, are Link’s abilities. Back in Breath of the Wild one of the most useful abilities to traverse across bodies of water was Cryonis, the ability to allow Link to freeze something and create ice blocks. In Tears of the Kingdom you can create ice blocks, however, the method is slightly different. We have items called Ice Fruit or White Chu Chu Jelly to help us create ice blocks. These items can be thrown into water and once again, Link can create ice blocks to help traversal across water.

Rito Wind Waker References

The Rito questline has a number of callbacks to Wind Waker, including the music, the environment and also the boss fight. We’ve heard musical connections to Wind Waker through the Rito with the use of the Dragon Roost Island theme. As we approach the Wind Temple we have to navigate a number of flying boats, plus the boss Colgera is similar to Molgera from Wind Waker. Also, when we fight Colgera, we get a nice remix of the Dragon Roost Island theme.

Twinrova

In another callback to Ocarina of Time, we see a brief glimpse of Koume And Kotake, otherwise known as Twinrova. In Ocarina of Time Ganondorf was raised by two witches, and each of them have the ability to control elements; one fire and one ice. During memory 7, called “Fealty” Ganondorf meets King Rauru, but is flanked by two Gerudo women. One is wearing a red sash and one is wearing a blue sash, nodding to Koume And Kotake’s fire and ice abilities.

Midna Musical Easter Egg

One of the biggest easter eggs in the game is a fairly regular occurence, and one that’s hard to spot at first, but when you do, it’s hard to get out of your head. Whenever Link finds a shrine in Tears of the Kingdom a short piece of music plays. This is very similar to Midna’s theme from Twilight Princess. I don’t know if Nintendo is alluding to a link between the Twili and the Zonai, but it’s clearly the same notes and Nintendo are always deliberate with their music in Zelda games.

Let me know in the comments what you think, and share your Tears of the Kingdom secrets with the community.