Tears Of The Kingdom Easter Egg Links To Skyward Sword
When it comes to video games timeline, few are quite as confusing as The Legend of Zelda's complicated history. Instead of moving in a typically linear sequence of mainline sequels coming after their previous outings, Nintendo decided to branch out with more than just prequels and spin-offs - giving us multiple timelines for the Hero of Time.
2017's The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild supposedly lies at the end of the current Zelda chronology and tries to tie everything together, while 2023's Tears of the Kingdom is expected to be a proper sequel. Even if we're lost in multiple timelines, it looks like the much-hyped Breath of the Wild sequel will be following in its predecessor's footsteps and honouring the franchise at large.
What Is The Tears Of The Kingdom Easter Egg?
Despite the fact we've seen barely anything about Tears of the Kingdom ahead of its May 12 release, eagle-eyed fans have spotted an Easter egg that homages 2011's The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Given that Skyward Sword takes place right at the start of the series' chronology, we're going way back for the ultimate throwback with this one.
In the Tears of the Kingdom name reveal trailer at the recent Nintendo Direct, we got a short trailer that teased the game's story. Leaving us with more questions than answers, it looks like Hyrule has been fractured into various floating lands. It could be a double meaning to the fantasy title's name, but remember it's pronounced "tears" like cry instead of "tears" like rips.
According to ComicBook.com, if you head to the 0:49 mark in the trailer, you'll see one of these floating masses appears to be a graveyard populated by a singular tree. It didn't take long for fans to point out this looks like a direct replica of the Skyloft graveyard found in Skyward sword. What this means remains to be seen, but consider us intrigued.
What Does The Skyward Sword Easter Egg Mean For Tears Of The Kingdom?
There's been plenty of theorising that Skyward Sword and Tears of the Kingdom are more deeply connected than Nintendo might lead us to believe. Some have their own theories that the titular tears are linked to the Sacred Tears you had to collect in the Wii game. Others have spotted the Vessel of Light on Link's belt - suggesting it could be more of a Twilight Princess sequel.
Perhaps the wildest idea we've heard is that Tears of the Kingdom is going full Westworld and really messing with the timelines. Bear with us on this one, but some claim Breath of the Wild was actually a Skyward Sword prequel, meaning these floating islands we see in Tears are the first formation of Skyloft. Even though we're not sold on that one, there's plenty of time to speculate ahead of Tears of the Kingdom's impending release.