Given the years of development time for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, many fans built up massive expectations for the Breath of the Wild follow-up, and one of those was expanding the mechanics to include a new gameplay element. If this had occurred it could have taken TOTK in a direction not seen before in the Zelda franchise. Sadly, this expectation didn't come to , despite many theories that the trailer pointed to just that.
[Warning: Spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom below]
The introductory scene in which Link and Zelda explore the depths of Hyrule Castle shows the Demon King Ganondorf’s reawakening. The Master Sword is shattered, Link loses an arm, and he is sent to the Sky Islands, where the gameplay begins, while Zelda is banished to the distant past of Hyrule. Many players’ immediate assumption was that Zelda would play a prominent role, taking actions in the past that would allow Link to escape his floating prison in the present time. This would have tied perfectly with the TOTK time travel ideas fans had theorized prior to the game’s release.
Zelda Still Isn't Playable In Tears Of The Kingdom
Unfortunately, Zelda isn't playable in Tears of the Kingdom. Still, the notion of a Chrono Trigger-inspired game, where Zelda works to thwart the Demon King’s plans in the past while leaving relics to rescue a stranded Link in the present, would have been a novel twist for the series. If executed properly it could have made up for the sting of the prior two games where Zelda was the protagonist, the critically panned CD-i Zelda games, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda’s Adventure. Those titles are now considered non-canonical and are mostly ed through memes mocking their poor quality.
A proper Breath of the Wild style adventure, starring Zelda, feels deserved after years of the franchise’s title character acting primarily as a damsel in distress. The initial story beats set up a playable Zelda setting out to rescue Link perfectly. Instead, players guided Link through a series of Sky Island shrines before diving an absurd distance into the waters of Hyrule far below. Like Breath of the Wild, appearances from Zelda are mostly limited to cutscenes explaining her role in the past, where she primarily acted as an advisor, shaping events, so Link could once again save Hyrule instead of saving it herself.
Zelda’s role in the story is still critical, and the decision she made to allow herself to be transformed into a dragon to carry a restored Master Sword for Link to discover years later exhibited extreme self-sacrifice. It remains questionable why Zelda, along with the other Sages, needed to take on the role of ing cast for Link. Beyond the fact that it retreads a familiar story structure from Breath of the Wild, the idea of Link as the sole destined hero of Hyrule feels manufactured. All the Sages went to extreme ends to give Link the tools to defeat Ganondorf when they arguably could have done so themselves.
In Tears Of The Kingdom Princess Zelda Again Exists To Link Instead Of Being A Hero Herself
A group of Sages following a prophecy to aid a chosen one is a tired fantasy trope. While it pairs well enough with the single-player adventure design of the Zelda series, the antiquated role of Zelda as someone who exists to a strong man is beyond dated. Somehow the franchise has made no moves to modernize its take on gender roles where the title character is concerned. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom had an ideal opportunity to let Zelda save Link, and perhaps switch between the two as playable heroes, but instead Zelda literally gave up her humanity to carry Link so that he could defeat Ganondorf for her, once again.
