The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: Difference between revisions

* [[Beautiful Void]]: The “free” Zonai Shrines (as in, no puzzle in the actual Shrine, just an altar with Rauru's Blessing) is a bridge leading to an altar in the center of a sea of rippling astral light.

* [[Beneath the Earth]] : One of the ways Hyrule was massively expanded was via the addition of the Depths, a subterranean realm roughly equal to Hyrule itself which can be entered via ominous chasms in the overworld. These dark caves have an alien ecosystem with a high monster population, strange trees and plants, giant mushrooms, Zorai ruins, and patches of the dangerous Gloom spawned by Ganondorf’s foul magic.

* [[Benevolent Architecture]]: Whenever you need to use the Ultrahand to construct something, the materials are usually close by. (With a sign saying anyone is welcome to take them.) The hard part, of course, is figuring out how to use them.

* [[Beyond the Impossible]]: {{spoiler|Mineru made it perfectly clear that draconification is an irreversible process, and given how scientifically inclined she is, it's not like she was making wild assumptions. Yet at the end of the game, Link is able to turn the Light Dragon back into Zelda through [[The Power of Friendship]] and [[The Power of Love]]... as well as with a bit of help from Rauru and Sonia.}}

* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: If you understand Japanese Kanji, you can notice that the symbols of the Sages powers correspond to the appropriate element: Rauru is “light”, Sonia and Zelda (on the Recall icon) is “time”, {{spoiler|Mineru is “spirit”}}, Sidon has “water”, Yunobo “fire”, Tulin “wind”, Riju “lightning” (harder to read, as it’s upside down for some reason), and Ganondorf is “darkness”.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]:

** Link does this a lot, coming across a HyruleanHylian traveler fighting a lone monster, usually a Bokoblin or LizalfoLizalfos. Running in and helping out will earn Link a food item or advice. One notable example is where he comes to the rescue of a frightened Gerudo shopkeep who has been treedtrapped by a hungry Molduga.

* [[Bigger on the Inside]]: Unlike the Sheikah shrines from the last game (which seemed to be entrances to underground complexes) the Zonai Shrines seem to work this way. This is emphasized with the Crystal Retrieval quests, where bringing the Crystal to the right place causes it to grow and become the actual shrine.

* [[Blade on a Stick]]: Polearms return as weapons in this game, but Link can go [[Not Hyperbole]] here, using Fuse to attach almost any sharp object (like a Moblin Horn or another weapon) to a weapon to enhance it, creating a literal Blade on a Stick. You can even fuse a polearm with another polearm, creating a Blade on a Stick on a Stick!

* [[Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce]]: In one quest found in Lurelin Village, an NPC - Ralera - wants you to bring her Seafood Curry - made from Goron Spice, Hyrulian Rice, and any variety of Porgy. She’s happy when she gets it, but the spice is so overpowering, she needs Link to use a fan-weapon to cool her off!

* [[Blinded by the Light]]: Fusing a spotlight (a Zonai device) to his shield lets Link blind and stun foes for a few seconds. Dazzlefruit does the same thing, like a flash grenade.

* [[Bling Bling Bang]]: Link can use the Fuse ability to attach almost anything to a weapon, and if he does so with some gemstones, the weapon gains elemental properties. Doing so to Shields grants Link protection from the element. Rubies are Fire, Sapphires Cold, and Topazes Electricity.

* [[Blow You Away]]: Tulin’s power over Windwind is supposed to be used to boost Link’s distance with the paraglider, but it can also be used against enemies to blow them off of cliffs or ledges. Or for more mundane uses, like blowing fruit off of trees.

* [[Bloodless Carnage]]: {{spoiler|In one of the flashbacks, Ganondorf murders Sonia, stabbingattacking her from behind, but no blood is seen for the rest of the scene, even as Zelda tearfully cradles her body. Judging by the sound effect, this was either a censored back-stab, or Ganondorf simply ''punching her hard enough to snap her spine''.}}

* [[Body Armor as Hit Points]]: Link will oftencan encounter Mooks (mostly Bokoblins) who are covered withwearing stone or wearing plate armor. This gives them a second Lifelife Barbar that Link first must destroy using a blunt weapon before theiractually truelowering Lifetheir Bars can be depletedhealth.

* [[Body Horror]]: According to the item description for Moblin Horns, the Red Moblins gained those horns through ''intentional'' body mutilation to encourage unnatural growth. More than likely, they aren’t the only ones.

* [[Body Motifs]]: Hands. Symbolic of creativity, ingenuity, and cooperation, they play a major role in several parts of the story:

** Link loses his right arm, and gains a [[Magitek]] prosthetic; hand symbols mark places where Zonai technology is activated by a palm scan. The first skill he uses, Ultrahand, lets him move objects via telekinesis, and he can also learn Earthquake, a Yiga technique that lets him fight with bare fists.

** The Sages swear alliance to Link via shared contact with their hands, and their powers are activated via rings that are fused to the artificial hand’s fingers.

** The Gloom Spawn is likely Ganondorf’s deadliest creation, a living pool of sludge with demonic, grasping, clawed hands.

* [[Bonus Level of Heaven]]: The Sky Kingdom is, in fact, where Link’s journey starts, and he’ll have to explore more and more of it as the game progresses. The ruined and mostly-abandoned home of the Zorai, it contains foes, hazards, and a wealth of the rare Zonaite, plus the secrets of the Zorai’s miraculous technology.

* [[Book Ends]]:

** The opening cutscene ends with Link futilely trying to reach for Zelda with his damaged right hand as she appears to fall to her doom - he fails, and she vanishes into darkness. {{spoiler|At the end of the game, after Ganondorf is vanquished, they fall from Sky Kingdom, he reaches for her with his now-restored arm, succeeding and catching her, and they plummet into a lake below. Which is, in fact, a second Book End, as in the beginning of the game, he leaps off one of the Sky Kingdom’s islands and dives possibly a thousand or so feet into a lake below.}}

* [[Boomerang Comeback]]: {{In one of the Dragon Tear memories, the four Champions attempt this on Ganondorf, throwing their weapons at him so Zelda can use the Recall skill to reverse the trajectory and hit him from behind. It doesn’t work, seeing as she used the same trick before on a Phantom Ganon, but the attempt distracts him long enough for Rauru to use the sealing technique.}}

** Link can change his appearance into the design from ''BotW'' using the Old Hairband and the old version of the Champion's Tunic, now called Tunic of Memories.

** The game's logo is an ouroboros symbol composed of two dragons eating each other’s tails. This foreshadows {{spoiler|the [[Stable Time Loop]] that leads to Ganondorf’s initial defeat 10,000 years ago and the conflict between him and Link in the present day, from the time-displaced Zelda’s point of view. It also predicts the [[Final Battle]], with Ganondorf consuming his Stone to become the Dark Demon Dragon and the aerial battle high above Hyrule where Link engages the villain while riding atop Zelda’s similar aspect of the Light Dragon.}}

** When Ganondorf wakes up in the opening scene, he clearly recognizes Zelda (although she has no idea who he is) but not Link, only assuming it is him because he has the Master Sword. The reason for this - {{spoiler|he knew her personally in the distant past via the Stable Time Loop = isas revealed later in the Memories.}}

** When Link receives the Recall ability from Zelda, it foreshadows his alliance with the Sages and how he will gain their Vows; Zelda is later revealed {{spoiler|to be the Sage of Time, and the hand-to-hand contact is how their abilities are transferred to Link.}}

** On a similar note, the game at first implies that there are four Sages, one for each Elemental power, their oaths given to Link via rings on Rauru’s prosthetic hand. But…{{spoiler|But... the hand has five rings…rings...}}

** At the end of the Great Sky Island section (the tutorial level, more or less) there is a strange cutscene that foreshadows many important events in the game:

*** First, when Link places the broken Master Sword in an orb of light; Zelda briefly appears, takes it, and vanishes. Astute players will notice how this scene resembles how the surroundings change when Recall is used. {{spoiler|This subtly implies that Link is sending the Sword into the past so Zelda can retrieve it, although exactly how far into the past he sends it is not revealed until much later.}}

*** Second, after sending the sword to Zelda, the Light Dragon flies upwards through the nearby clouds, revealing the land of Hyrule below and eliminating the [[Broken Bridge]] that prevented Link from going there. {{spoiler|The Light Dragon is later revealed to be Zelda herself, having sacrificed her mind and personality in order to nourish the Master Sword with divine light over ten-thousand years so it would be at full power when Link was able to obtain it. Her actions in this scene hint that a small trace of Zelda’s true consciousness still remains, which becomes evident in the Final Battle. }}

*** Third, before Link can take this newly-opened route to the surface, Zelda’s voice calls to him, telling him he must find her. Once the whole story is revealed, and it becomes definite that ''this'' is the real Zelda, {{spoiler| all the supposed Zelda sightings over the course of the main line quest and most of the Lucky Clover Gazette side quests are the result of an imposter}}. While the player might realize that on his own, gameplay wise there is no way to make the connection and consider her “found”"found" until many of the memories are obtained from the Dragon Tears.

** Also, there are many hints that foreshadow the identity of the Light Dragon:

*** First, the mere existence of the Dragon of Light is suspicious, as itshe was not one of the dragons in the previous game (all three of whom return in this one). Also, unlike those dragons, this one is not given a name. If Link gains a scale, horn, or claw from ither, the description text says it exudes an “oddly"oddly familiar”familiar" power. {{spoiler|Also, these parts are used in every step of upgrading the Champion’sChampion's Leathers armor, which Zelda herself crafted prior to the events of this game, suggesting the Light Dragon is tied to Zelda and the armor in some way.}}

*** The quests to collect memories from the geoglyphs involves finding pools of water in the shape of glowing water, which become droplets that allow Link to view the memories from Zelda’s perspective. {{spoiler|Seeing as the name of the questline is “The"The Dragon’sDragon's Tears”Tears", it pretty much spells out the source of the memories and the identity of the Light Dragon right from the start.}}

*** [[Trailers Always Spoil| Even the trailer has some hints to this.]] The second trailer ends with “Zelda’s"Zelda’s Lullaby”Lullaby" played on an ehru, {{spoiler|the same instrument used for the LightSpirit Dragon’sDragons' [[Leitmotif]]. Since the Tears of the Kingdom are literally tears of a dragon, they give access to Zelda’s memories, and there is “coincidently” a never-before-seen dragon flying over Hyrule.}}

* [["Friend or Idol?" Decision]]: In the opening cutscene, Link drops the Gloom-ravaged Master Sword in his attempt to catch Zelda as she falls; he doesn't succeed, but fortunately Rauru manages to pick the Swordsword up.

* [[Free-Fall Fight]]: Colgera's boss fight mostly takes place in the sky, where a powerful updraft keeps Link afloat. Bonus points for being able to hurt the colossal monster ''throughby free-falling through its body!'' {{spoiler|The final battle against Ganondorf's Demon Dragon form also takes place high in the sky and through near-constant free-falling.}}