The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is just around the corner, and the tension in the air is palpable. Can you taste it? That’s the sweet flavor of pure video games, baby. There may be a few of you out there who perhaps missed Breath of the Wild a few years ago, or maybe are new to the Legend of Zelda series entirely – no worries. Here’s what you need to know before firing up Tears of the Kingdom on May 12. Full spoilers below for Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity – if you want to skip the spoilers, go straight to the last section.
What Happened In The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild?
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a bit of a strange game in the timeline, because all we know is that it happens roughly 10,000 years after any of the previous games. The Zelda timeline is wacky at best, but, essentially, each game is set in one of three diverging timelines. Problem is, Breath of the Wild contains references, structures, and locations from all of them. The only explanation at this point is that Breath of the Wild is the end of all three timelines – essentially, no matter what happens 10,000 years ago, it always ends in the apocalyptic Calamity. If you’re new to Hyrule, check out our “what should I know” guide here.
If you missed it or just need a refresher, Breath of the Wild takes place 100 years after The Calamity, an apocalyptic event caused by corrupted machines destroying Hyrule and the surrounding kingdoms. This corruption is the essence of Ganon, the Demon King that you are most likely familiar with from previous Zelda titles. While in his primal form, as in Breath of the Wild, he’s referred to as Ganon the Beast King, whereas when he is in a humanoid form he is called Ganondorf, the form you’re likely more familiar with.
The Four Champions, each chosen from one of the Kingdoms, joined Princess Zelda and her Knight, Link, to attempt to stop the Calamity. Zelda’s powers were still unstable, and unable to seal the darkness. Thus, Ganon killed the King and the Four Champions (Revali the Rito, Daruk the Goron, Urbosa the Gerudo, and Mipha the Zora). Link was injured badly and on death’s door, so, with her last breath, Zelda hauled him to the Shrine of Resurrection in an attempt to save him, and laid him in stasis there while she worked to contain the evil.
Fast forward to one hundred years later. Link awakens in the Shrine of Resurrection with no memory of the events that transpired during the Calamity, and is tasked by the ghost of King Rhoam to find his daughter Zelda and save Hyrule. In order to combat Ganon a century ago, each of the four kingdoms had built a gigantic machine called a Divine Beast with the hopes that all four together could take down Ganon. Each of the ghosts of the Champions are still sealed inside the now corrupted Divine Beasts, and Link must travel the world and purge the darkness from all four of them.
Along the way, he recovers his memories of Zelda and the Champions from one hundred years ago and meets the new Champions. Teba, the new Rito Champion, was not related to Revali but was directly appointed by him as his successor before his death. It is worth noting that in Tears of the Kingdom, Teba seems to have passed the mantle on to his young son, Tulin, and it is not known what has become of Teba. Tears of the Kingdom is set three years after Breath of the Wild, so it’s possible Teba has died and passed the Champion title to his son, or perhaps Tulin has taken it on of his own accord upon reaching adulthood.
For the Gorons, Daruk’s goofy but lovable nephew Yunobo is the new Champion. For the Gerudo, Urbosa’s granddaughter Riju takes up the title, who appeared in Breath of the Wild as an uncertain young queen but has blossomed into a competent and capable ruler. And finally for the Zora, Mipha’s enthusiastic younger brother Sidon becomes the Champion to follow in his sister’s footsteps. The four new Champions look to play central roles in Tears of the Kingdom, even acting as companions during the game. (If you’re curious about the disparity of generations between the old and new Champions, it’s due to the fact that the different races all age and reproduce at different rates.)
With the help of the ghosts of the old Champions guiding the new ones, Link reclaims each of the four Divine Beasts and the alliance focuses its fire on Ganon. Link enters Hyrule Castle, Ganon’s base, with the Master Sword (aka The Sword That Seals The Darkness) and faces off against him. With the aid of the Champions, Link harnesses Zelda’s powers of light into arrows and takes down the Great Beast Ganon once and for all. Or does he? After the Calamity is destroyed, the corruption leaves Hyrule and the Champions, their duty fulfilled, pass on to the next world. We end on Link and Zelda looking over a brave new world as it attempts to rebuild after one hundred years of darkness.
What Happened In Other Zelda Games That I Might Need To Know?
There seem to be a good few connections in Tears of the Kingdom to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which originally released on the Wii in 2011 but got a very well-made remaster last year for the Switch. Skyward Sword is the first game in the Legend of Zelda chronology, and takes place at the beginning of Hyrule’s history. It is likely that the original form of Ganon, called Demise, will play a pivotal part in Tears of the Kingdom’s story. When Link kills Demise at the end of Skyward Sword, Demise places a curse on Link.
“My hate… never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end! I will rise again. Those like you… Those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero… They are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time!”
Demise is then sealed inside the Master Sword until generations later, when he escapes and manifests as Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time. It looks like we will be getting some good Demise content in Tears of the Kingdom, as he briefly appears in the trailer, so make sure to keep the curse in mind!
Do I Need To Play Breath of the Wild Before Tears of the Kingdom?
In short, no. For story purposes it isn’t really necessary. The recap above will serve just fine. However, I’d like to get out there and say that Breath of the Wild is one of the greatest video games of all time, and you’re doing yourself a disservice by not playing it first. Seeing the evolution of Hyrule over time from the first game to this one will be highly rewarding, so I implore you to go back to Breath of the Wild before sinking your teeth into Tears of the Kingdom. If you’re curious about Age of Calamity, the Breath of the Wild prequel, you can get by on watching a story summary on YouTube if you don’t have 20 hours to dedicate to it now.
Thanks for reading, and make sure to stick around for a lot more content on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!
