The Legend of open-world Zelda: Ocarina of Time was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998 and pushed the boundaries of what Nintendo's consoles could do at the time. Its story and graphics were widely acclaimed, but there were aspects of the game that were cut during development. One cut feature was portals, which would have specifically been used in Legend of Zelda's Hyrule Castle . These portals would come from crystals, with players able to see the other side of the portal in the crystal's glassy reflection. Interestingly, the portals were animated and implemented into the game well, but the Nintendo 64 ultimately couldn't handle the portals along with the rest of the game's size. This led to the feature being scrap

The most obvious recurring location in Tears of the Kingdom is Hyrule Castle itself. Hyrule Castle has been prominently featured in trailers for the sequel, floating above Hyrule Field. In many Zelda games including Breath of the Wild , a corrupted Hyrule Castle has served as the final dungeon. This floating fortress of Malice looks set to be Tears of the Kingdom ’s own final dungeon, with Link and Zelda perhaps storming the castle after breaking a seal similar to Ocarina of Time . It remains to be seen, however, if Hyrule Castle Town has been rebuilt since the events of the previous game, now living in the floating castle’s sha

The other part of the rumor comes from both the images of Link with a broken Master Sword and the mention in Breath of the Wild that Fi's spirit is dormant within it. Even if Demise doesn't make an appearance in Tears of the Kingdom , it seems likely that Fi will. She's referenced multiple times in BOTW , with her signature sound effect even playing, and she did hope to meet one of Link's future incarnations. But as one of the safeguards against Demise, it seems more likely that they would both appear in TOTK instead of only one or the other being inclu

Despite the minimal information given in the trailer for Tears of the Kingdom from the September 2022 Nintendo Direct, the imagery from the hieroglyphs suggests that the Zonai will play an important role. It also seems that Hyrule's history will be further explored, particularly the darker portions and possibly their role in the Great Calamities. This isn't the first time that Hyrule's history has been referenced as being dark, but the events of that history are not always expanded upon in-g

As far as what type of culture the Zonai had, it seems that they valued power and enjoyed war. The item description of the Barbarian Helm mentions " an ancient warlike tribe from the Faron Region ," and this can be assumed to refer to the Zonai as the majority of their ruins are found in Faron. It's possible that their warlike nature led to the Zonai becoming a lost tribe in Breath of the Wild , but since none of the tribe remain, players have to look at the ruins to find clues about why this tribe vanis

This isn't the only rumor that involves Skyward Sword , but the floating islands in Nintendo's trailers for TOTK make it likely to be true. Skyward Sword is placed at the beginning of the Zelda timeline, its events happening before those of any other Zelda title. Since BOTW , and therefore TOTK , haven't been given a place on the timeline, it's uncertain what state Skyloft would be in if it appears in the g

Nintendo hasn't revealed much in the way of information regarding the sequel to **The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ** , but it is possible that the game could incorporate a scrapped feature from Ocarina of Time . The first animated teaser in 2019 showed Link and Zelda exploring some ruins where they seemingly encountered Calamity Ganon. However, no gameplay footage was shown until E3 2021 when Nintendo released a proper trailer for the game. This trailer shows Zelda falling into a pit of darkness before cutting to gameplay footage that showcases new features coming to the long-awaited seq

The Dark World is a realm of evil created by Ganon’s corruption of the Sacred Realm in The Legend of Zelda series. While the Sacred Realm itself may return in TOTK , it’s possible that the twisted Dark World may make an appearance, too. Ganon’s malice is shown to corrupt most of Hyrule in BOTW, making it possible for it to extend into the game’s iteration of the Sacred Realm as w

Since Breath of the Wild is said to take place at the very end of the Zelda timeline, it stands to reason that its sequel may reincorporate past plots, characters, and locations to resolve various aspects of the series narrative. Fans have been quick to note the references to games like Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword already present in both BOTW and the three TOTK trailers released so far. As such, it’s possible that the fate set in motion by the events of TOTK’s predecessors may lead to a reappearance of Zelda’s most important magical realms in the upcoming g

This rumor is based heavily on the hieroglyphics in the Nintendo Direct trailer. The Zonai remain a mystery throughout Breath of the Wild , but one theory connects the tribe to the Twili from Zelda: Twilight Princess . By the time players explore Hyrule in BOTW , only ruins of the Zonai are left, but the writing matches that by the stone images in the Tears of the Kingdom trailer. This rumor connects to the first one listed in that, if any of the Zonai are alive, they may have relocated to the floating islands in order to survive a possible calamity, assuming some of said islands don't come from the ground like floating Hyrule Castle in the first reveal trailer. Since information on the Zonai is limited, players have to look to the symbolism found in their ruins and the TOTK to craft this ru