Let’s dive into Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s bonkers ending

In a game like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomdesigned to encourage straying from the beaten track, it can be easy to lose the central storyline.

Like its predecessor, the sequel drops protagonist Link into a massive world filled with shrines, korok seeds, armor sets, iconic weapons, wandering dragons, and great fairies. Plus, this time around there are basically two additional open worlds to explore, and plenty of experimental hijinks to pull off along the way. That is, by the time you finally decide to confront the demon king Ganondorf, several hours may have passed since the last cutscene or the last pivotal plot point.

That’s where we come in. If you’ve finally completed the “Find Princess Zelda” questline (or if you don’t care about spoilers), use our how-to below to answer your burning story questions before reloading your last save and getting to work on your way to 100 % completion.

[Ed. note: It may go without saying, but spoilers follow for the end of Tears of the Kingdom.]

Is Zelda evil?

In the course of Tears of the Kingdom‘Regional Phenomena’ quest sequence, Link and his Sage companions witnessed Princess Zelda behaving strangely. For example, during Link’s mission to rid the Goron people of their addiction to Marbled Rock Roast, she was seen commanding Marbled Gohma, the eventual boss of the Fire Temple. Numerous NPCs in stables also tell strange stories about the heir to the throne of Hyrule acting out of character.

So, is the eponymous character evil? No. Far from it. Towards the end of the “Crisis at Hyrule Castle” questline, in which you must chase “Zelda” through the dilapidated corridors of the iconic abode, an apparition of the demon king Ganondorf appears and reveals that this version of the princess is merely a puppet apparition, just like the Phantom Ganon clones scattered all over the world. Whether you’ve encountered one of these enemies or not, the ensuing boss fight will involve several of them.

After that boss fight, with Hyrule Castle purged of its Phantom Ganon plague, the question remains: where is Princess Zelda? If you have completed “The Dragon’s Tears” storyline – in which you must find the Dragon Tear in each of the mysterious Glyphs that have sprung up across the surface of Hyrule – or have spoken to the Great Deku Tree after meeting Mineru, the Fifth Sage, then you’ve discovered the obvious: Zelda is a dragon. Duh!

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Let’s rewind. At the very beginning of Tears of the Kingdom, when Link and Zelda encounter Ganondorf’s tomb/prison cell, accidentally triggering an apocalypse and sending massive chunks of Hyrule into the sky, Zelda gradually fades out of existence as Link plummets to the ground. As we discover in Memory #4: An Unfamiliar World, Zelda has actually traveled back in time to the creation of Hyrule millennia ago. (From what I’ve seen, it’s not made explicitly clear How she traveled through time, or WHO sent her to the past to save her. My assumption is that, if the Sage of Time and the descendant of Sonia, whose signature Zonai ability is Recall, Zelda’s time manipulation abilities catapulted her into the past in survival mode.)

After spending a lot of time with Rauru and Sonia (who both founded Hyrule) and Mineru (the Zonai architect/engineer/genius who turned out to be the Sage of Spirit), Zelda is slowly running out of options to get back to her. to travel. own time. When Ganondorf, along with his pesky puppet Zelda, kills Sonia and steals her secret stone, then survives a counter-attack from Rauru, Mineru, Zelda, and the four original sages, Zelda goes into desperation mode. She confers with the dying Mineru and, despite the latter’s protests, decides to travel back to the future the hard way. Read: She swallows her own Secret Stone to become an immortal dragon that can roam the sky for thousands of years while charging the power of the Master Sword in his forehead before Link arrives to pry him out.

That is mean.

Is Zelda stuck like a dragon?

If you’ve landed on the Light Dragon (Zelda) and recovered the Master Sword, but have yet to kill Ganondorf and complete the “Find Princess Zelda” quest, it’s natural to wonder if Zelda is destined to be forever to be an immortal dragon.

Luckily she isn’t! After recovering the Legendary Blade, Link delves into The Depths beneath Hyrule Castle, enters the Forgotten Foundation, and again confronts the Demon King Ganondorf (with help from the five sages he recruited on his travels). Link and his team defeat Ganondorf, who then “activates” his secret stone (formerly Sonia’s) to face Link in one-on-one combat and be hotter too:

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Link, of course, survives this second phase of the fight and Ganondorf decides to take a page from the old ‘Eat a Secret Stone and turn into an Immortal Dragon’ playbook. Ganondorf, now known as the Demon Dragon, traps Link between his demonic gums and floats into the air. Zelda, as the Light Dragon, arrives, the Demon Dragon drops Link out of his mouth, and a Shadow of the colossus-like fight ensues. With Link perched on her huge head, Zelda flies above the Demon Dragon, allowing the comparatively petite Link to skydive on the back of the enemy, cut through a few weak points with the Master Sword, and then deliver the final blow to the Secret Stone that is embedded in the head of reptilian Ganondorf.

It explodes, Link’s Zonai arm glows gloriously and Link and Zelda are sent to an ethereal realm, where the spirits of Rauru and Sonia lend their power to Link’s Zonai arm (in some sort of Triforce?) to transform Zelda back into her Hylian form. Link wakes up falling back to Hyrule. He grabs hold of Zelda and makes good use of it Tears of the Kingdom‘s fantasy physics by diving into a deep lake at terminal velocity.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

It is at this point that Zelda answers the question: “Why didn’t she, in her Light Dragon form, just fly to Link while he was exploring Hyrule, and give him the Master Sword as soon as he left that first group of Sky. Islands?” Apparently, Zelda’s long stint as a dragon felt more like a dream, one she barely remembers. The implication is that she wasn’t whole there all the time, only gaining a sense of purpose when she saw the Demon attack Dragon Link. She tells Link that she had seen Hyrule during a period of peace before her transformation, and that she has many stories to tell him. Then the game is over. Kind of.

Is there a post-credits scene?

There is indeed a post-credits scene! Building on the conversation she had with Link after defeating Ganondorf, Zelda invites the other five sages (Mineru is in her spirit form) and Purah (because Purah rules) back to the platform where she first recovered the decaying Master Sword where she was shot. Past. Here she outlines her plan to bring eternal peace to Hyrule.

The Wise Men vow to help her with this – while Link just stands there in awkward silence – and the game is truly over.

Whether that never-ending peace will materialize, or whether the country will run into the apocalypse again in a possible sequel (I’d definitely like a trilogy of Zelda games) remains up in the air.