Ganondorf launches an attack on Hyrule and is thwarted by Rauru. It turns out that all of this is occurring in the middle of the Imprisoning War. The princess also tells Sonia about Link, the hero from her own time who has the power to fight darkness. In the meantime, Sonia trains Zelda to harness the time powers she appears to possess. Zelda could theoretically do that and return to her time simply by living long enough, but the process is strictly forbidden as it’s irreversible. That occurs when someone swallows a tear stone, turning them into an eternal dragon. They suggest she speak to Mineru, who mentions that she could potentially return through a process called dragonification. Zelda is determined to get back to her time, but the king and queen don’t know how she can. That’s how she gets the destroyed Master Sword, which has somehow traveled back in time too. She reemerges in ancient Hyrule and meets Rauru and his wife, Sonia, who take her in. It turns out that when Zelda was separated from Link, she traveled back in time. There’s a doppelganger version of Zelda running around Link’s time causing mayhem that doesn’t appear to be the real princess. Here’s where things get a little strange. There’s just one problem: Where the heck is Zelda? Zelda’s story explained With all the pieces in place, Link has assembled a small army capable of storming Ganondorf’s sky castle. Link creates a mech out of Zonai devices, which Mineru is able to inhabit, allowing her to fight alongside the other sages in the battle against Ganondorf. A long questline eventually takes him to an underground forge where he meets the spirit of a Zonai named Mineru, the elder sister of Rauru and the spirit sage. Each character inherits their ancestors’ sage powers and tear stone during the main story, vowing to help Link in the final battle.Īfter gaining those allies, Link eventually learns that there was a secret fifth sage as well. As he explores, he meets the ancestors of the people that imprisoned Ganondorf originally: Sidon, Tulin, Riju, and Yunobo.

He goes to different cities and helps the various races deal with issues caused by the gloom (the Zora’s water is poisoned, for instance). Link must defeat Ganondorf by regaining his power and investigating some mysteries in Hyrule. It disappears, but somehow reappears in front of Zelda in the same location.īefore I dive too deep into Zelda’ story, let’s get the easy part out of the way. After completing a few shrines, Rauru leads Link to the Temple of Time, where he places his destroyed Master Sword on a pedestal. It turns out Ganondorf destroyed Link’s arm in the encounter, so Rauru replaced it with a mechanical one that he’s able to communicate through. We learn that Link was saved by the spirit of Rauru, an ancient Zonai creature who was the first king of Hyrule. Zelda falls into the blackness below before disappearing with a yellow flash, while a mysterious blue arm brings Link to safety on the Sky Islands above. With the heroes thwarted, Ganondorf raises Hyrule Castle into the sky. Most notable about the scene is that Ganondorf somehow knows who Link and Zelda are, mocking someone named Rauru for putting their faith in Link. Unfortunately, Ganondorf uses the gloom to destroy both the sword and Link’s arm. Ganondorf springs to life, which causes Link to draw the Master Sword – a weapon powerful enough to defeat him. Shortly after that, Link and Zelda actually find the imprisoned corpse of Ganondorf, which has been sealed with a tear-like stone.

While The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past also had an Imprisoning War with a similar premise, the event in Tears of the Kingdom appears to be its own thing entirely. That conflict saw the ancient people of Hyrule (the lost Zonai race) fighting the Demon King Ganondorf and sealing him away. The bigger discovery, though, is a set of murals depicting an event called the Imprisoning War.

They discover a few key things down there, including a red substance called gloom that’s infecting Hyrule. In any case, the story begins with Link and Zelda exploring the depths of Hyrule. It’s not exactly clear how long after that battle we pick up from, but it seems that a few years have passed. Tears of the Kingdom takes place after the events of Breath of the Wild, in which Link successfully defeats Calamity Ganon. That includes the ending, but I still highly recommend playing the game to its end, as its final gameplay sequence is worth experiencing firsthand. I’ll be going through what happens in the memories scattered around Hyrule, as well as some content tied to quests. It goes without saying that the following article contains spoilers for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (as well as the ending of Breath of the Wild).

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