Zelda: TOTK 's pronunciation was clarified by Nintendo to be tears as in crying, not as in ripping something, according to Eurogamer . The title seems to indicate some kind of great tragedy or disaster, though the exact nature of it is difficult to predict. There are a number of different ways Tears of the Kingdom can be interpreted, however, and the title's relationship with the game's story could be something completely unexpected. It could also be meant completely figuratively, and correlate to some aspect of the world or gameplay instead of the story, the same way that Breath of the Wild 's title represents its vast open wo

Zelda's death can affect Tears of the Kingdom differently depending on whether it happens during the beginning or end of the game. If it's at the beginning, when she falls into the crevice, it's possible that she'll return as a spirit and become a companion to Link as she is in Zelda: Spirit Tracks . She could inhabit Link's new arm in BOTW 2 , and be the source of some of the new abilities that it's shown to grant him such as returning objects to a previous position and phasing through solid stone. Part of the main quest may even involve reviving Zelda via the Shrine of Resurrection if this is the case. On the other hand, if she were to perish during the ending of the game, the gameplay may not change overly much, but it could make for a very somber ending if she were not shown being revi

There's also more creative challenges like custom builds for Link to use in Breath of the Wild . For example, players might only wear the Guardian Armor and use Ancient and Guardian weapons, or the Barbarian armor with Bokoblin and Moblin weapons. They can play through the entire game with only the starting clothes and terribly weak weapons like Tree Branches if they so wish. Playing through the game on Master Mode - which is something of a survival mode that was introduced in BOTW 's Master Trials DLC - can also add an extra challenge. Players can even set smaller rules like only using archery in combat, or only using bombs. Breath of the Wild 's open-world format and its focus on player freedom mean that there's plenty of ways to play and keep the game fresh until _Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom shrines: Tears of the Kingdom _ comes

From the looks of TOTK 's trailers, this ability should prove very useful. BOTW comes with many boulders that players can roll at enemies, and vice versa. Being able to send them back where they came from sounds very fun and should make for some creative combat strategies. This ability may also become a recurring feature in whatever replaces BOTW 's shrines as its unique function has a great deal of potential for puzzles based around it. However, its uses for exploration seem lacking, and it may not be very good for traversing Hyrule outside certain niche situations such as the one in the trai

Yet another possibility for Tears of the Kingdom is that Hyrule will be destroyed outright instead of corrupted. The Malice that's unleashed at the beginning of the game may cause another event on the scale of the Great Calamity, leaving the land and its people in ruins rather than turned into monsters. Though the landscape seems to be relatively intact in the various trailers, the Malice may only target civilized areas like Zora's Domain and leave wild ones full of monsters alone. BOTW 2 's transformed skies also may offer a twist on this; it's possible that Malice will completely cover the surface in a toxic flood, forcing players to flee to the safety of the floating islands. TOTK 's free open-world format makes this unlikely, however, except perhaps as a temporary occurrence like BOTW 's Blood Mo

Link could hop on the Spinner to glide forward and use its spin attack against enemies, but he normally can't ride it for very long. The Spinner's true worth came in allowing Link to travel along rails or over hazards such as quicksand, opening new paths for the player, making it among the classic Zelda features worth including in TOTK . A return appearance in Tears of the Kingdom could take that trait of the Spinner and expand it. For example, It could be used to traverse a ruined temple by grinding along the edges of fallen columns or ledges. It could even be used to let Link traverse a hazardous surface that he couldn't otherwise, such as blazing hot magma or slippery ice she

The Tears of the Kingdom trailer doesn't show much, but there is another two-headed dragon symbol. This one is different from the Ouroboros and is related to Mesoamerican cultures, which could have offered some inspiration to the design of the Zonai ruins in Breath of the Wild . Link pushes open a stone door that has a dragon with two heads meeting at the top instead of two dragons eating each other's tails. The two-headed dragon symbolizes two things in Mesoamerican culture; first is the power of the earth, but the second is calamit

It may not even be the Hyrule players are familiar with that gets destroyed. Time and time travel are prominent elements in the Zelda series, and BOTW is not an exception. There's decent evidence to indicate that Link will be sent backwards in time in TOTK , perhaps even as far as the first Great Calamity 10,000 years before the events of BOTW , in which case it could be the event that brings the kingdom to tears. Little is known about this era aside from a story told by Impa, so there's a lot of potential for TOTK to show Calamity Ganon's origins and other events from that time such as the battle between him and the fabled hero and princess. What exactly _Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom _ 's name means for its story is too early to tell, but there are a great many exciting possibilit