The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a rare direct sequel in the Zelda series, and the only one so far to re-use the majority of the previous game's world - but the returning characters and story elements from Breath of the Wild also bring with them some noticeable plotholes.

Other games in the Zelda series are usually more like separate parts of an anthology than continuous pieces of the same story, so the series has rarely had to concern itself much with keeping a strict continuity, but this approach may have backfired when it comes to TOTK. Although every mainline Zelda game stars a hero named Link (or, in most games before BOTW, whatever the player named him), different games in the series will rarely star the same "Link" - and even those that do, like Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, tend not to re-use the same game world.

BOTW's Link Can Explain One TOTK Plothole

TOTK's NPC Plothole Has A Few Possible Explanations

In the transition from Breath of the Wild to Tears of the Kingdom, however, using the same protagonist, the same Hyrule, and many of the same returning characters will have some players wondering about one noticeable plothole. Despite most characters from BOTW returning in the sequel, many of those NPCs don't seem to recognize Link in Tears of the Kingdom, sometimes in spite of being side quest givers in the previous game.

An easy, but potentially unsatisfying explanation, is simply that Nintendo wanted to minimize confusion for players who skipped the previous game, and so only carried forward Link's relationship with a select few important NPCs - but another way to reconcile the inconsistency is to assume that TOTK follows up on BOTW's main story without acknowledging its side content.

Most of the NPCs that don't recognize Link in TOTK are primarily associated with relatively minor side quests in BOTW, so the assumption that Link just canonically didn't bother with many of those side quests is one way to make Zelda: TOTK's plotholes make more sense. Alternatively, it's relatively easy to rationalize that, in the years that have ed between the end of BOTW and TOTK, many of the NPCs that Link interacted with may have just forgotten the person that did a relatively minor task for them once.

The forgetfulness of some NPCs is harder to reconcile than others, though - Bolson, for example, doesn't recognize Link in TOTK at all, despite having sold him a house that later becomes known as Zelda's house in TOTK. And since buying the house in BOTW is a prerequisite to helping Rhondson (who does Link in TOTK) build Tarrey Town, the discrepancies between the two games can make even less sense to players who pay attention to the smaller details.

TOTK's Plotholes Can Detract From The Game's Appeal

TOTK's Plotholes Are Relatively Minor, But Can Still Hurt The Experience

Of course, the relatively small discrepancies between BOTW and TOTK aren't majorly game-ruining details. But as one of the very few direct sequels in the Zelda series, it can feel like a missed opportunity for TOTK to not build more on the story of its predecessor.

Even though many of its plotholes, like NPCs not recognizing Link, or the absence of Sheikah structures from the first game, can be easily rationalized, explained, or even ignored, playing TOTK can make it feel like many of BOTW's smaller details don't matter. And it can hurt a player's connection to the world.

Though critically acclaimed, and widely agreed-upon as one of the best games of 2023, TOTK sometimes fails to build on BOTW in important ways. NPCs not recognizing Link is relatively easy to rationalize or explain after-the-fact, but in the moment, the seeming lack of continuity can be jarring for many players, and take away from the feeling that TOTK is taking place in a world that continued on from the end of the previous game.

Although TOTK is a direct continuation of BOTW, some details from the first game are noticeably left out. Thinking of BOTW's side content as mostly non-canon, or rationalizing that NPCs may have just forgotten about a person they didn't have much interaction with are easy ways to reconcile this plothole. However, making the extra effort to preserve continuity could have made The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom a more satisfying experience.