Tears Of The Kingdom Hid A Breath Of The Wild Easter Egg In Plain Sight
Considered to be one of the biggest achievements in game design, "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" was released in 2017 to high praise and is arguably the most popular titles ever released for the Nintendo Switch. Boasting a map bigger than "Skyrim," an open-world, and a spectacular story, "Breath of the Wild" revolutionized the "Zelda" series and practically changed how open-world environments were created moving forward and even influenced other games that were made later. Years after its original release, "Breath of the Wild" will receive a sequel in "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom," which is scheduled for release on May 12, 2023. Already, fans have tons of theories about the advertising that's been shown.
The accompanying trailer that was released at a recent Nintendo Direct showed off tons of amazing imagery, including Link diving through the sky and climbing the sides of floating islands in an epic display of the game's verticality. However, during the trailer, one keen observer seemed to notice an Easter egg hiding in plain sight that any who weren't paying close attention might've missed. And as a result, some theories have begun to spring up.
Is Zelda returning to Hyrule?
Approximately 54 seconds into the new trailer, Link can be seen grabbing on to a rock that seemingly acts as an elevator to a higher location. On its own, it's a pretty cool shot, but Reddit user u/Lentoron seems to think that more can be gathered about "Tears of the Kingdom's" location by using this scene as a clue. In a side-by-side screenshot posted to the "Tears of the Kingdom" subreddit, Lentoron compares this location shown in the trailer to a similar location from "Breath of the Wild," suggesting that "Tears of the Kingdom" is set in the sky directly above Hyrule. One response to the comparison seemed convinced that the game's both take place in Hyrule and that it was likely Nintendo is optimizing the map they spent years of creating.
Experienced "Legend of Zelda" player and streamer PointCrow also made mention of this in their analysis of the trailer, even going as far as to give a specific location — the place where you fight Farosh, the dragon in Faron. From this, PointCrow deduced that the game will be set above the playable area in "Breath in the Wild" and deal with the ancient Kingdom of Zonai, an extinct tribe that were once wiped from Hyrule.
Others have suggested that the rock section is a rewind feature of some kind, or that it represents an alternate reality that Link is exploring. Hopefully, more answers come before next May.