Spoiler warning for Tears of the Kingdom
Tears of the Kingdom belongs to Princess Zelda. While she isn’t playable and you spend the entire game as Link, she has an integral role in saving Hyrule and all the people stranded across its plains, in its sky, and deep in its depths.
She conducts an orchestra of ancient beings to the melody of Link’s triumphant fanfare as he earns new abilities and pieces together the components required to defeat Ganondorf once and for all. Without Zelda going back in time and correcting future mistakes, none of this would have been possible. Except she isn’t merely in the past, but also watching over Link from the skies for the entirety of his journey. Once you know this, it takes on new meaning.
After you complete the Great Sky Island in the game’s opening hours, the clouds part as the land of Hyrule is finally unveiled to our valiant hero. It’s accompanied by a haunting piece of music as a roaring dragon slices through the sky. For a first time player, its presence holds little significance, and is merely a returning serpent who roamed the skies freely throughout Breath of the Wild. You pay it no mind as you dive downward and towards the endless road of adventure that awaits. But once the dragon’s identity becomes clear, it breaks your heart.
Throughout the game’s memory sequences, which can be found by uncovering fallen tears in certain parts of the open world. It will become clear that for centuries the heroes of Hyrule have resorted to consuming the tears that hold their power in order to hold back the forces of evil. In doing so you’re transformed into an immortal dragon, one who loses its sense of self and is doomed to spend eternity watching over Hyrule on an eternal journey.
For centuries, Zelda has trailed across the skies waiting for Link to be ready. Watching the cycle of good versus evil play out again and again and again, knowing she can’t stop the piling corpses until the time is right. Tears never stop falling from her immovable eyes, and planted in her forehead are the remnants of the Master Sword slowly being restored to full power. It now ebbs and flows with an ethereal energy, waiting for Link to find out the truth as he takes to the skies once again in search of a princess who has done everything she can to ensure his victory. When I found out what was required of me, I wasn’t at all prepared.
Once all the memories are collected, or even before if you know where to look, Link is able to mount Zelda and pull the Master Sword from her forehead. It’s wrapped in a fur-like silk which has embraced the rotting body, restoring it to a former glory over hundreds of years. Doing so is no small task, with Link having to mash buttons as he hangs on for his very life, watching as his stamina is zapped away while hurtling through the sky. The sequence is a magical moment of narrative in a game otherwise fuelled by its own emergent freedom.
I struggle to conjure up a more tangible crescendo in the entire series, and that’s without spoiling a final act that goes even harder. Link and Zelda’s quasi-romantic bond throughout Tears of the Kingdom is already considerable, and this tugging of heartstrings across space and time only drives home not only how much they mean to each other, but all that they’re willing to do if it means protecting the kingdom they call home. Patricia Summersett’s vocal performance pairs beautifully with Link's understated silence to create a culmination of fated destiny that ups the drama before fading back into the open world.
Now alone on the very same sky plateau that Zelda rose from in the opening moments, Link is no longer seeking out a daunting mystery, but knows where to go and what to do in order to make things right and honour Zelda’s sacrifice. So we soldier onward with Master Sword in hand.