The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

• Main
• Trivia
• YMMV
• Fridge
• Crowners
  • Heartwarming
• Wikipedia
• All Subpages
• Create New

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the 20th main entry in The Legend of Zelda franchise, the seventh fully 3D installment, and the direct sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was released on Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023, after being pushed back two years due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Several years ago (in Breath of the Wild), Zelda’s loyal guardian and retainer Link woke from a hundred-year slumber, having healed from Calamity Ganon's onslaught a century ago. Finding Hyrule in shambles with Zelda locked in a continual battle with the villain, he sought to find and release the souls of his old allies while fighting Ganon's dark minions in the ravaged land of Hyrule, before finally confronting and slaying the beast in an epic battle.

With hope among citizens finally restored and Zelda resuming her role as a benevolent ruler, Hyrule has started to heal and rebuild, regaining a semblance of its former majesty.

But evil has a tendency to return... And it seems this time, it never left.

Picking up several years after the destruction of Calamity Ganon, reconstruction efforts are disrupted when a strange dark substance called "the Gloom" starts seeping up from the deepest depths of Hyrule, causing those who touch it to lose their strength and vitality. Delving into the depths beneath Hyrule Castle, Link and Zelda discover the ruins of a civilization called the Zonai, a people believed to hold divine power who ruled Hyrule ten-thousand years ago. Descending further, they find the cause of the affliction, a tomb - or rather, a prison - holding the decayed but still-living body of Ganondorf, an ancient Gerudo King who sought to conquer Hyrule and remake the kingdom in his own image, only to be defeated by the King of the Zonai and sealed in this crypt through the efforts of the Seven Sages. But the seal keeping him in this state has slowly been weakening over the last ten millennia, his vile power leaking onto Hyrule, creating monstrosities like the Calamity and the Gloom to spawn from his bottomless well of Hate. As Zelda and Link enter, the seal holding Ganondorf is undone - part of a long-term plan put in place by his jailers, in hopes the two heroes would destroy him once and for all… But it all goes terribly wrong.

As Link attempts to protect Zelda from the ancient evil, he is horribly wounded, his body marred and the Master Sword is shattered. Ganondorf's release triggers "the Great Upheaval", a cataclysm that causes the villain’s dark army to be reborn, Hyrule Castle to rise into the air, rifts to open all over Hyrule leading to the dark Depths below, and Zonai ruins to appear among the clouds. As the tomb collapses around them, Zelda and Link are separated, Zelda plummeting into a dark abyss and Link being barely saved by the Sage of Light's arm. Awakening on one of the new sky islands, Link finds his corrupted right arm has been replaced with that of the ancient sage's, and is tasked by the Sage's spirit, a member of the Zonai named Rauru, to seek out Princess Zelda.

With only this, the near-useless Master Sword and what remains of the clothes on his back, Link must learn the secrets of the Zonai, rebuild his arsenal, and face Ganondof’s dark minions in order to put a stop to Ganondorf's millennia-old ambitions once more. But above all, he must find Zelda!

Like the previous game, Tears of the Kingdom is a survival-themed Action-adventure game, with more emphasis this time on the Wide Open Sandbox element, with not only an altered world map, but two new places to explore; the mysterious Sky Islands that have emerged above Hyrule, and the dark, Gloom-infested cavernous Depths down below. In addition, there is focus on Item Crafting, where Link manipulates physical objects and the miraculous technology of the Zonai with new game mechanics: Fuse, which can weld objects to Link's weapons, shields, and arrows to strengthen them and imbue them with special properties, and Ultrahand, which can pick objects up bind them together to create a wide variety of structures and devices, simple bridges to elaborate flying machines.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a Spoilered Rotten game, so be warned, spoilers might be unmarked.

Tropes used in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom include:

A

• 100% Adoration Rating: You won't find many Hylian citizens with a bad word to say about Zelda. It does seem she has been very active during the Time Skip, volunteering her time and spending an impressive amount of funds and resources into the building that rule. Fortunately, it's also leads to a great deal of Undying Loyalty among the citizenry, never questioning her orders (and often misinterpreting them) and easily falling for the lies of the imposter Zeldas.
• Actionized Sequel: This is likely the most combat-oriented Zelda game to date, making this an Action Adventure game with some RPG elements. It tends to throw far more enemies at you than before and even with maximum Hearts and the strongest armor, some attacks hit pretty hard. Regular old hack and slash isn’t always effective in dealing with foes. Plus, Link recruits allies to fight alongside him!
• Admiring the Abomination:
  • In the opening sequence, Zelda can barely contain her excitement upon finding hieroglyphics depicting the carnage caused by the Demon King during the Imprisoning War.
  • Also, Loone returns from Breath of the Wild, and this time her weird fixation is on the Leviathan Fossils, which she finds adorable. She requests for Link to accompany her as she travels Hyrule to observe and admire the giant skeletons. She is disappointed to find that the fossils are incomplete, but Link can make her happy by using Ultrahand to fix them.
• Adorable Evil Minion:
  • In addition to the Chuchus making a return from the last game, we have the Little Frox, little frog-like rock monsters found in the depths, and curiously the only mobs in the Depths with no Gloom corruption. Unfortunately, it seems the reason they were put there was to foreshadow the appearance of their big brother, who is... not adorable at all.
  • Bokoblins. Be honest, it's hard not to love these guys, especially when you gain the Bokoblin Mask and are able to safely get close to them, especially iven how their actions at their strongholds when they don't know Link is watching - like dancing or squabbling with each other over fruit.
  • Horriblins; most would agree calling them "horrible" might be a little unfair. They may not be very adorable (and they are certainly very dangerous), but they can be rather funny at times, like the way bounce around yelping and clutching their buttcheeks when Link knocks them off the ceiling.
• Affectionate Nickname: While you're exploring the Fire Temple, the Sage of Fire will call Yunobo, his descendant, "Little Rock" while speaking to him and Link.
• Airborne Mook: One of the new enemies introduced in this game is the Aerocuda, which the Bokoblins use for transport. Not very formidable, they can be destroyed with one hit from an arrow. They can, however, attack Link when he’s using his glider or a Zonai-built flying machine, making them slightly dangerous there.
• Alien Sky: The roof of the Depths has a swirling miasma of motes and fumes that can become clearer as more Lightroots are activated, giving the area an eerie appearance of a strange "sky".
• Ambiguously Brown: Zelda's ancestor Sonia has a rather dark skin-tone, but jury's out on if it's a suntan or her natural skin color. Further complicating things is that while Zelda's as pale as can be, Rhoam, her father, was shown to dark-skinned himself in Breath of the Wild.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • Thanks to how surprisingly little this game touches upon the events of Breath of the Wild, it's hard to tell what sort of relationship Ganondorf had with Calamity Ganon. Was he directly controlling it, or was it an independent manifestation of his rage and malice? If Ganondorf could see what was going on through Calamity Ganon's eyes, he sure doesn't mention it, and he doesn't recognize Link either (While he does recognize Zelda, it's because he already met her in the distant past thanks to the game's Stable Time Loop.
  • There’s also the issue of the exact nature of Link and Zelda’s relationship, where the story seems to be letting the players come to their own conclusion. Zelda was obviously using Link's house during the Time Skip, as made clear when Link arrives at his house in Hateno that he could purchase in the previous game, but there is no confirmation that they were living together or if Link gave it to her. On one hand, the table is set for two people, and Link seems to have no problem using the bed (which can be used to restore his health) and Zelda would not have needed the secret study in the cavern underneath if she had the house to herself. On the other hand, none of the townsfolk in Hateno seem familiar with Link, implying that he didn’t spend much time there, and there’s a long sidequest where he seems intent on getting a new house in Tarrey Town, which wouldn’t be necessary had he been living in Hateno.
  • It's fairly tough to tell just how much time has passed between this game and Breath of the Wild. Enough years have passed for Hudson and Rhondson of Tarrey Town to have a daughter who is old enough to talk and get into mischief, while Tulin, Kass' daughters, and several of the Gerudo children are now preteens. However, some children like Hunie, Shanae, and the kids in Hateno Village don't seem to have aged a day.
• Amnesia Missed a Spot: In the Final Battle, the Light Dragon - who is Zelda, having sacrificed her mind, soul, and memory in order to aid Link - seems to recognize Link at least subconsciously. She rushes forth to engage Ganondorf, letting Link take the Master Sword (assuming he hasn’t gotten it already) and serves as a platform for him to ride on as he engages the villain, also flying beneath to catch him if he falls during the battle.
• Amplifier Artifact: According to Mineru, this is the purpose of the Sages’ Stones. They amplify existing power, but do not grant it. The new Sages (Tulin, Riju, Sidon, and Yunobo) use them to increase their own power and create spirit avatars of themselves to accompany Link.
• Anachronic Order: More than likely, the player will uncover the Dragon Tear Memories in the wrong order, making the flashback stories incomprehensible until they can all be viewed as a whole. In fact, it is possible the player can discover exactly what happened to Zelda long before the plotline that involves tracking her down is resolved. Of course, Link will never relate this information to inquiring NPCs until the plotline is resolved, suggesting that he is learning them in the correct order even if the player is not.
• Anticlimax Boss: The final stage of the final battle with Ganondorf, where he turns himself into the Demon Dragon, is meant to be a visual spectacle, and dear god, does it deliver. Still, as far as gameplay goes, it’s lackluster. Link rides into battle on Dragon Zelda’s back, paraglides onto the back of the Demon Dragon, and attacks the patches of Malice on its back. Link cannot die by falling in this battle (every time Ganondorf shakes him off, Zelda is certain to catch him) and his attacks are infrequent and so heavily telegraphed that you practically have to throw yourself into their path in order to get hurt. While it does put an extra spin on the skydiving ability and is a fun battle overall, it's not much tougher than the infamously underwhelming Dark Beast Ganon fight in Breath of the Wild.
• And Your Reward Is Clothes:
  • Literally every Misko quest rewards you with a piece of armor, and in some cases a matching weapon, such as the Fierce Deity Sword.
  • Complete every Shrine, and your reward is the Ancient Hero's Aspect, which makes Link resemble the great hero (who is confirmed to have been a Zonai) who sealed Calamity Ganon away over 10,000 years ago.
• An Arm and a Leg: Link loses his right arm at the beginning of the game, an explanation for the Bag of Spilling plot point. He quickly gets it replaced by a prosthetic one, which had formerly replaced King Raruru’s destroyed arm.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Zigzagged with the Blood Moon. It no longer appears randomly, occurring every 168 minutes playing time. This means its appearance is what you predict, but it also means the player cannot "fast forward" it by having Link make camp or sleep at inns.
  • Like before, the map of Hyrule is mostly blank, and Link must activate a group of towers in order to illuminate the map. This time however, the towers have been modified, so the activation console is on the bottom, not the top, so Link no longer has to climb the entire thing to reach it. Plus, the process in which he activates them is much more fun than last time. While you'll often be forced to complete some sort of sidequest or clear hazards to activate them, it's a lot less repetitive than the samey climbs from the previous game.
  • Ask any fan what the most annoying feature was in Breath of the Wild, and they will most likely say it was the rain. This would happen at the most inopportune times, often while Link was climbing a mountain, causing him to fall. While this still happens, there is a potion called the Sticky Elixir that Link can use to save himself, plus the Frog Armor (gained from the Gazette quest) that provides a more permanent solution. You'll still slip occasionally, but it's a lot less frequent than normal.
  • Joy Con Drift is a common problem in most Nintendo Switch games, and this can be a big problem here, as a feature of the Ultra Hand involves wagging the R stick to separate items, which can make the drift worse. Fortunately (and the game does not tell you this) shaking the whole controller can do the same thing.
  • Any new recipe you discover is recorded in a cookbook, which lets Link gather up the ingredients for it with one button, assuming they are in his inventory.
  • If you need to cook but are far from a cooking pot, one useful Zonai device is a portable one. It’s one use, however.
  • If Link opens a chest with a weapon but lacks inventory space to take it, the game now presents an option to discard an item in the inventory to make room.
  • Autobuild is an unlockable ability that lets you construct any Zonai–made contraption you have previously built. You can even conjure up the parts by using Zonaite, but items created this way only last a few minutes.
  • Zonai devices require Zonaite charges to function, but fortunately, the ones you use in Shrines have unlimited power, so there’s no chance of failing the puzzle by running out of juice.
  • In the previous game, there were a wide variety of arrows Link could buy for specific situations, like Fire Arrows for ice-based enemies, Freeze Arrows for the opposite, Shock Arrows to deal damage to foes in water, and Bomb Arrows for, well, blowing things up. In this game, only regular Arrows are used, but Link can use the Fusion power to attach resources to arrows for those effects and more. Plus, arrows respawn much faster than they did in the previous game, and stores always restock them rather than wait until Link is low on ammo.
  • Also, Elemental weapons in Breath of the Wild tended to be the hardest weapons to obtain, making them Too Awesome to Use; the fire and ice weapons were useful not just for instantly killing enemies of the opposite element but also making it through hot and cold climates. The same can be said for any special arrows. With the Fuse power this time around, Link can quickly turn any weapon into an elemental weapon, with the proper materials. Elemental enemies drop parts that can add an effect to your weapon, gemstones now lend their stated elemental powers to your weaponry when Fused on, and certain fruits can be used as arrowheads to give them an elemental kick.
  • In contrast to the Stasis power in Breath of the Wild, the game world will freeze while Link readies the Recall power, enabling him to use it in tense situations, like when a Zonai-made contraption is about to fall off a cliff. Recall also has the furthest range of all of Link's Zonai skills, adding further to this quality-of-life.
  • In the same vein, Ascend doesn't immediately pop you out on top of a surface — Link peeks out the top and the game world also freezes while Link is offered the ability to emerge or descend back down the portal. This gives the player the chance to assess what's going on in the area they Ascended to and allows them not to engage in a situation they're not ready for.
  • The incredibly helpful Korok Mask (which acts up when the player is near a Korok) is now available early in the game, rather than being a DLC item. The Travel Medallion and Hero's Path can now be acquired at Robbie's lab, and with the Medallion feature, you can pre-set up to three player-placed fast-travel points instead of just one.
  • Mobs like Keese and Octorocks are still little more than annoyances, but the drops you get from them have new uses when attached to arrows, providing better range and accuracy.
  • Brightbloom Seeds are extremely useful in exploring the Depths while searching for Lightroots to illuminate the areas, since they can create patches of light where they're thrown to light the way. They’re easy to find, present in almost any cave.
  • The Ascend power has visual cues to show when the player is in position to successfully Ascend through an overhang, but it also has a chiming sound that immediately plays at the same moment. Thus you don’t always have to tilt the camera to use it.
  • Unlike the previous game, the Great Fairies and the Horse God get special map icons once they've been met, making it easier to remember where they are. Also, once you unlock the first Great Fairy, Tera, through the quest at the Woodland Stable, she'll tell the player the locations of her three sisters, giving their locations new map icons. While sidequests (rather than Rupees) are now needed to unlock them, making them all easier to get to, especially Tera, who was previously located in the dangerous Gerudo Desert.
  • In the previous game, you could only get one dragon body fragment per encounter, if you were lucky - dragon encounters were very random and they were very high up in the air, making getting their parts both difficult and very tedious. In this game, you can now encounter the dragons underground, and actually stand on top of them, allowing you to knock off as many parts as you want before they ascend back to the surface.
  • Unlike before, if you fall into water while your stamina is empty, you get back a tiny bit of extra stamina, allowing you to reach the shore if it's close by and preventing you from instantly drowning. Also, you use way less stamina while swimming, which actually makes it a practical method of traversal. The frequent swimming sections during the very beginning of the game almost feel like Nintendo is hosting an informal apology tour for how bad swimming was in the first game.
  • Rusty weapons and rocks will regularly spawn when you're smashing through dense rock walls in tunnels, providing the means to craft new rock hammers right away with the Fuse power if you run out of the ones you brought.
  • Zonai device dispensers (which are basically big Gachapon machines that use Zonaite rather than coins) have separate inventories, but offer a relatively high output for relatively few Zonai materials deposited, making it easy to travel from dispenser to dispenser and accrue a healthy supply of whatever Zonai parts you need to craft vehicles on the fly or get access to weapon devices that don’t have to be salvaged or searched for.
  • The ends of the minecart rails in the Fire Temple feature turntables and simple switches that allow the player to instantly flip the minecart the other way on the track to return without having to manually rotate the cart with Ultrahand.
  • Aerocuda parts will be automatically collected if they happen to fall towards the surface while traversing the Sky, making it worthwhile to take them down even while gliding between islands.
  • The sensor feature now beeps downward and says a target is "nearby below" when you're walking directly over the target, if it’s inside a mountain, hill, or cave; this prevents the player from walking in circles trying to determine where the shrine, creature, monster, or item they're tracking is. Conversely, it also beeps upward with a "nearby above" note for a target that's over your head somewhere.
  • It can be very useful to understand how the three map layers relate to each other, and even to navigate with one map while in the layer of another, so the game doesn't lock the map display to wherever you are and you can switch to the map of another layer quickly on the minimap. This is particularly useful with the Depths, where Lightroots are always right below some Shrines and some map structures are replicated. Using the surface map as the minimap in the Depths can help you navigate even completely dark areas of the underground once you know how the two maps relate.
  • Shooting arrows in midair has been reworked to be more manageable: Instead of rapidly draining your stamina while aiming like in Breath of the Wild, the stamina meter essentially stops draining entirely during aiming, instead having a chunk of the meter highlighted that will be spent once the arrow is fired. This way, players no longer have to feel rushed when lining up their shots, although Link still slowly falls during midair aiming.
  • Korok Forest has a new "exit shortcut": it's an ogre tree in a location that's much more integrated into the sanctuary, and is now easier to find and remember than before. The original exit tree is still there, but can't even be entered now since it is within the lost fog around the forest.
  • Gloom-infected monsters do far less damage than the same type of monster does normally, an even trade-off considering that Gloom-inflicted wounds cannot be healed normally.
• Apocalypse Not:
  • Regional example. Sometime during the Time Skip, Death Mountain erupted, requiring Goron City to be evacuated and later rebuilt. This has, in fact, been of a benefit to them and Hyrule at large, as the City’s location no longer requires visitors to wear heat proof armor to survive.
  • Also, Hyrule seems to be reacting to the most recent crisis far better than they did during the calamity. While Zelda being missing is a grave concern, the Hylian volunteer army is making a conscious effort to locate her and root out Ganondorf's minions. These efforts are a constant reminder to Link that this time, he is not alone.
• Arc Symbol: Tears are an omnipresent symbol in this game. The gemstones worn by the Zonai and the Sage Stones are all tear-shaped. Plus, a vital part of the plot has Link looking for "Dragon Tears", mysterious pools of water within the geoglyphs that unlock Memories; it is eventually revealed that these are literally tears shed by the Light Dragon - who is, in fact, Zelda.
• Art Evolution:
  • Many returning monsters have more horns on their heads than before (or have them now if they didn’t before); this is not simply cosmetic, as the horns are monster drops and can be used to make Link’s weapons stronger.
  • Tulin was a hatchling in BotW, and his now an early adolescent, with "hair" tufts that make him resemble his father, larger wings, and larger eyes with noticeable sclera.
  • The Blood Moon looks a lot larger in the sky and is far more detailed. Consequently, the normal moon is also larger.
• Arch Enemy: Interestingly, Ganondorf's nemesis isn't Link. Instead, it's Rauru, whose benevolent rule as a king disgusted him due to his own Social Darwinist leanings and his disbelief that someone with absolute power like him wouldn't use it to crush others under his heel. Most of his villainy seems partially rooted in spiting Rauru while Link is little more than an amusing distraction for him at least before Link well and truly earns his hatred after pushing him to his breaking point in the final battle.
• Artistic License Chemistry Complete the "Message in a Bottle" quest and give the recipe for Hateno Cheese to Koyin, and she will have a batch at the dairy farm for sale as soon as you next arrive there. While it is possible to make homemade cheese in as short a time as an hour, fine cheese (which it supposedly is) can take anywhere from three weeks to two years to make as aging is required for best taste. Though of course, this isn't really a case of the developers not doing their homework so much as it is an Acceptable Break From Reality.
• Ascended Extra: In Breath of the Wild, Teba's son Tulin's was a minor NPC, who does little but watch Link shoot archery targets as part of an optional side quest. Tears of the Kingdom has an older Tulin replacing his father in the role of the Rito's regional hero, as he has developed a new wind-gust technique that leads to him becoming Link’s partner for the Hebra portion of the main line quest where he and Link explore the Wind Temple, aiding Link in the boss battle as the Sage of Wind.
• Ascended Glitch:
  • In Breath of the Wild, it was possible to construct flying machines with some creativity and Loophole Abuse of the physics engine, such as by stacking two minecarts together and then using Magnesis on the bottom one. The Ultrahand ability allows for such vehicles to be built deliberately, the developers going so far as to demonstrate the building of one during the March 2023 Gameplay Demonstration.
  • The Ascend feature of the Pad (ironically) was originally a glitch, but the developers loved the idea so much, they made it an actual game mechanic.
• Assist Character: Much like the last game, Link has a sidekick for each Temple mission, but after completing each Temple, the sidekick is bestowed with the powers of an Elemental Sage, meaning he is accompanied by a spiritual avatar for the rest of the game. (Except during the key moments in the endgame, where they show up in person.) The sidekicks are:
  • Tulin, a Rito and the Wind Sage. He can fight alongside Link with his bow and arrows and can create a powerful gust, letting Link fly farther with his glider without losing altitude.
  • Yunobo (Link’s partner in the Goron chapter of the last game) is this for the Fire Temple; a decent close quarters fighter, his charge attack can smash through breakable stone, including tough bedrock that cannot be broken by anything else. If he's active while you're driving a vehicle, he acts as a glorified cannonball with unlimited uses.
  • Prince Sidon (again from the previous game) is this for the Water Temple, his ability covers Link in a bubble of water, which augments any Zorua weapon, making Link's attacks with them stronger and doing Water damage (more useful than it sounds). It also protects him from one attack for use, no matter how strong that attack is.
  • Riju returns and is this for the Lightning Temple. As the Sage of Lightning, she can call lightning down from the heavens to smite monsters, but she needs Link to help her aim by using his arrows. It's a slow attack, but very powerful.
  • Mineru, who joins your party while you explore the Construct Factory. A Badass Bookworm of the Zonai whose soul is downloaded into a mini mecha, Link can Fuse any weapon or Zonai device to her arms and ride on her back into battle against foes.
  • The Dragon of Light (as in, Zelda herself) helps Link in the final battle as he takes to the skies to combat the Demon Dragon.
• Attack Its Weak Point: Many, seeing as this Trope is a staple of the franchise:
  • Like the previous game, Hinoxes can be stunned by aiming for their single eye, Stalnox (the undead variants) can only be defeated by destroying their eyes once it is separated from its body, and Taluses can only be harmed by striking the ore deposits on their backs,
  • Like-Likes are nearly invulnerable most of the time, but if you get close enough to it for it to bite you, it will expose its "tongue" with a bulb-like protrusion; hitting this tongue once will stun the Like-Like and leave it vulnerable. With Rock Likes, even achieving that requires destroying the rocky armor that shields it.
  • A Frox shares traits of both a Hinox and Talus, it can be stunned by striking it in the eye or throwing an explosive into its maw, and the ore deposit on its back must be then be destroyed.
  • Marbled Gohma can only be harmed by striking its huge, single eye; this requires Link to first use Yunobo’s charge attack to destroy two of its legs, which stuns it and makes it vulnerable.
  • Colgera cannot be harmed except by striking the three icy disks on its body. Link can either shoot them with arrows or position himself above it and skydive through them (more dangerous, but far more fun).
• A Twinkle in the Sky: Once Link defeats Master Kohga for the final time, he tries to attack with a barrage of missiles, only for them to backfire and send him rocketing out of the Depths Team Rocket-style.
• Audience Surrogate: The Yiga Clan seem to have a lot in common with the player regarding their experimentation with Zonai technology. The devices they have built are... unsubtle, but practical, and they tend to give their invention odd names that would not seem out of place among fandom. Also, their bases in the Depths have journals detailing their discoveries, much the same way a dedicated player would take notes on the exploration.
• Automatic New Game: Much like the previous games, the beginning of the game is practically a cutscene with Link and Zelda exploring under Hyrule Castle, with the player having limited control of Link as a tutorial on the basics.
• Awesome But Impractical:
  • Fusing Zonai devices to your shield can create some cool accessories, like a flamethrower, or high-power flashlight, but it also expends the durability of the shield quickly.
  • The Sage spirits provide much-needed backup in combat, especially against large groups, but other than that, their abilities are situational and often get in the way, their abilities often quite cumbersome in some areas.
  • The White Sword of the Sky, which is gained via the quest "The Mother Goddess Statue" or the Skyward Sword Amiibo. This weapon gives an improved Sneakstrike Ability, and let's be honest, using the original version of the Master Sword is pretty cool. However, unless you use the Amiibo, you can only have one at a time, and fixing it once it breaks (you must offer a claw from each of the dragons to all three springs again and then pray at the Mother Goddess statue) is a big headache that is just not worth it. Most players simply use it as a decorative trophy for Link’s new house.
  • Ancient Arrows (the insta-kill weapons from the previous game) can be crafted by Fusing an Ancient Blade to an arrow; unfortunately, even one Ancient Blade requires giving 50 Zonite to a Smith Construct at the Spirit Temple, a location that is (assuming the player doesn’t do any Sequence Breaking) only two steps before the endgame, On top of it, while they instantly kill any enemy they hit, the slain monster drops no loot, so it’s ultimately pointless outside of getting a really annoying enemy off your back.
  • A few Armor sets count:
    • The Charge Set makes Link look like some anime thunder god, making him glow with electric energy. It increases his Attack power during thunderstorms, makes his attacks faster, and causes his attacks to do Lightning damage at the end of a combo or charged attack. Each piece has a base Defense of 3 and a maximum of 20 with the final upgrade. Unfortunately, this is very situational, as it depends on a weather condition and as such, only works outdoors. There are a few ways to force that condition, but they aren’t very practical. The bonus combo damage isn’t as much a benefit as it seems, and the set gives you no resistance to electricity, something you kind of need in a thunderstorm.
    • The Ember Set is similar to the Charge Set, again with the design of an anime deity, but with a fire theme. It increases his Attack Power in hot weather and causes his attacks to do Fire Damage at the end of a combo or charged attack. The biggest difference is, each piece has a base Defense of 2 and a maximum of 16 with the final upgrade, making it less than the Charge Set and slightly less than average. Not as situational as the Charge Set though, it’s slightly better, but not by much.
    • Rounding out the anime deity armor is the Frostbite Set. As a god of winter, Link’s attack power increases in cold weather, and his attacks do Cold Damage at the end of a combo or charged attack. Like the Ember set, it has Defense of 2 and a maximum of 16 with the final upgrade, and no actual immunity from Cold. Seeing as cold weather is common in two regions, it’s the least situational of the three, but still not very good.
    • The Desert Voe set, which makes Link look like a male Gerudo, gives some Heat Resistance (essential for surviving the Gerudo Desert), and once you have the whole set, some Shock damage. Unfortunately it gives no offensive capabilities and its defense is only mediocre, so outside the Desert it’s not very remarkable.
    • The Climbing Set was incredibly useful in Breath of the Wild, given how often Link has to climb, but in this game, not so much. While still somewhat useful, there are much better and faster ways for Link to make vertical ascensions, like the Ascend skill, Zonai Rockets, hot-air balloons, and flying machines of all shapes and sizes.
    • The Evil Spirit Armor Set. Aesthetically, this is wicked-cool, making Link look like Phantom Ganon from Ocarina of Time. Equip a spear or similar weapon and Fuse a Silver Lizalfos Horn and Link looks like the Grim Reaper. Unfortunately, this set cannot do anything the Radiant Set cannot. They have the same set bonus, but only the Radiant Set can be upgraded by the Great Fairies. What’s more, getting the Evil Spirit set requires completing the three Labyrinths, each of which is three times longer than the ones in Breath of the Wild.
    • The Dark Set, as its name implies, makes Link look like Dark Link from Ocarina of Time, which is pretty cool, but sadly, a disappointment. All it does is increase your movement speed at night, and while the player could simply have Link sleep during the day and only travel at night, this is something many other Sets do better. Also, like the Evil Spirit set, it cannot be upgraded at all.
    • The Miner Set looks kind of cool, but its effect - makes Link glow, letting him see where he’s going better in the Depths - isn’t as useful as it seems. Most of the time, you’re better off using Seeds, and those can be found in almost any caves.
    • The Divine Helms are an interesting throwback to Breath of the Wild, but the elemental resistances they give can be gotten from other sets and food buffs, plus they have lower defense than most other helms, so they aren’t worth it.
    • Downplayed with the Rubber Set. The resistance to Lightning Damage does seem very situational, but you will be very glad to have it when up against an Electric Lizalfos.
    • The Phantom set is good to have early in the game. Each piece comes with a base stat of +8 defense (compared to the standard +3 defense you’d find on most sets). And it boosts your attack, and makes you look like a scary armored devil monster. Again, however, it can’t be upgraded, so while you start off with better defense than the Soldier set, the Soldier set will quickly bypass it in terms of usefulness.
    • The Royal Guard set is the most stylish-looking armor in the game, making Link look like one of the Vatican’s Swiss Guard. Its full-set bonus increases Link’s Stamina and power of charged attacks, but not his overall attack power, making the Barbarian and Fierce Deity much better. It can be gained relatively early, but so can the Soldier set, and in many ways, you are better with that.
    • Say what you will about the Yiga Clan, but they've got excellent taste in fashion, and their uniform does look pretty good on Link. Unfortunately, while it again gives bonuses to stealth and night speed, each piece has a base defense of only 1 and a max defense of 12. It’s better than the Dark Link or Tingle set, but much worse than the Stealth set, so aside from the questline that requires it, this set isn’t worth using.
  • Some Zonai Devices are this, while none are truly useless, many are far less useful than others:
    • Zonai Time Bombs: These can be used much like the Bomb Flowers, and while powerful and useful when many are used at once, the Bomb Flowers are always much better and easier to obtain.
    • Zonai Hydrants: these devices create a limitless supply of water. This has two practical uses, washing away the sludge during the Zora scenario (a problem that is no longer there after you kill Mucktorok) and turning lava into solid rock in order to cross it or use the rock with Ultrahand. That’s it. If you truly need water, it’s easier to use Splashfruit or Sidon’s ability.
    • Zonai Lights can give your Ultrahand-crafted vehicle a headlight, which is pretty useful, especially while exploring the Depths. However, Brightbloom seeds are much more powerful in this regard, much more common, much easier to use, and won’t drain your battery like the Zonai Light does.
    • The Zonai Hot Air Balloon has uses, as there are many cliffs in the Depths that are impossible to climb without Stamina-enhancing food or elixirs. Unfortunately, The Hot Air Balloon is slow as molasses, and needs to be attached to a platform for Link to stand on and a reliable source of fire. Both Rockets and Springboards are more practical and faster.
    • Zonai Mirrors. Fuse one of these to your shield and you can reflect sunlight - that’s about it. It can also be used to destroy the undead, but since this can only be used during the day, that effect is only good when you’re dealing with Gibdos. Ultimately, there are far better things you can fuse to a shield.
    • Some of the Zonai Emitters are very useful, and when used properly can take out a group of enemies with the ease of mowing a lawn. However, the Lightning Emitter isn’t as good. It can maybe stun-lock a foe, but in most cases, you’re better off inflicting damage.
    • The main selling point of the Zonai Sled is that it has less friction than a cart and can be used to move at high speed over snow, sand, grass, or even Gloom. However, it can’t do anything on its own, and like the Hot Air Balloon, needs something to propel it (usually a Fan) and a Steering Stick in order to control.
    • Downplayed with the Zonai Small Wheels. When used to build a vehicle, the vehicle is very fast, at least over flat ground. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the ground in Hyrule is not flat. The Large Wheels may be slower, but they are safer and more maneuverable.
    • The Zorai Cannon is one of the best Zonai Devices (see below) but while placing it on a sword (creating a magical boomstick) is outright hilarious, it not only eats through the batteries fast, the projectiles are very likely to hit Link if he tries to use it on a moving target. An immobile target is safer, like using it to batter down a breakable wall, but it’s much easier (and safer) to use Yunobo for that.
  • The Amiibo Function of the Skill Wheel. This is an okay ability that lets Link gain some stuff easier, assuming the player has the right Amiibo, otherwise its worthless. But it really doesn’t encourage anyone to go and get an Amiibo either. There is nothing you can get with this skill that is not obtainable in the game - the skill just makes it easier, and as anyone who has played an online game can attest, putting in-game items behind a paywall is never a good idea.
• Awesome Yet Practical:
  • The Ascend ability. Use this and so long as there is a proper ceiling above Link and a space above it, he will phase through it and emerge above. You can use this to sneak into enemy encampments and get the drop on them before they can react, use it to ascend through caverns and find hidden caves, use them to make a quick escape from a cavern, or even use it at specific points in the Depths to access hidden areas on the surface, like the Underground Lost Woods, which is the only way to get into Korok Forest. Not exactly a flexible ability or one with much variety, but still incredibly useful.
  • The Recall ability. Use this on a moving object or an object that was moving a minute ago, and the object starts moving in the opposite direction. The game’s ability to remember the movement patterns of any object that this ability could conceivably be used on is uncanny, testament to the incredible attention to detail put in by the developers. The ability itself is incredibly versatile, and can be used, for example, to recover something you built that falls into rapid water or off a cliff, on a chunk of fallen debris in order to ride it up to the sky islands, or on a thrown projectile to propel it back onto the thrower.
  • In Breath of the Wild, an omnipresent game mechanic was defeating enemies in order to collect drops in order to enhance your gear. This time around, this mechanic is further extended with the Fuse ability. If Link can pick it up, he can use this ability to fuse it to his weapon or shield for a wide variety of effects, to simply fusing a boulder to an old sword in order to turn it into a sledgehammer, to fusing a ruby to it in order to make it a flamethrower. He can fuse a Zonai rocket to his shield in order to propel himself into the sky, fuse an explosive barrel to it to make a nasty booby-trap for those Bokoblins, or even a minecart to turn it into a skateboard! And of course there are the various trick arrows you can create with it; this ability is almost addictive. Best of all, each and every fused object has its own custom icon!
  • Of course, there is Ultrahand. Like an Erector Set that builds real vehicles, the possibilities regarding this power are limited only by the player’s imagination, and as Youtubers have shown, players have very vivid imaginations.
  • Autobuild makes Ultrahand even more awesome and more practical, as it lets you re-construct the previous 30 Zonai–made contraptions you have previously built with Ultrahand. You can also save 10 of them in a list of favorites and construct them from Zonai schematics found in the depths. You can even conjure up the parts by using Zonaite, but items created this way cannot be disassembled and only last a few minutes.
  • Many armor sets fit the Trope well:
    • The Barbarian Armor set - looks pretty decent, giving Link the Skeletons in the Coat Closet look, gives a bonus to Attack and decreases the Stamina used with charged attacks, plus a baseline Defense of 3 with a maximum of 21 when fully upgraded. The only downside is that these bonuses do not stack with food power-ups, but it's still a pretty decent set overall.
    • The Fierce Deity set is pretty much identical to the Barbarian set as far as gameplay goes, and is even more aesthetically pleasing, making Link look like a cross between his classic self and a ghost samurai warrior.
    • The Depths Set. Of all the Evil Is Cool armor sets, this one is the coolest, making Link look like some sort of evil cultist. This armor only gives mediocre defense, but the benefit is, it gives you some Gloom resistance, giving Link extra Heart Containers (1 to 3, depending on the upgrade level) that absorb the Gloom Damage before any of his actual Hearts do. As anyone who has spent any time exploring the Depths knows, this is a huge benefit.
    • The Mystic Set is again, incredibly cool looking, giving Link a mane of white hair and an outfit that makes him look like a Dragonball Z hero. Its efficiency depends on where you are in the game, and with the right preparation, can be game-breaking. It has no offensive boost and cannot be upgraded, but the benefit is, instead of losing Hearts from battle damage, you lose Rupees instead. So if you’ve accumulated several thousand Rupees from constant hunter-gathering activities or used duplication glitches, Link is practically invincible.
    • The Radiant Set is another game-breaking armor set. Advertised as a set that increases Link's stealth and movement speed at night, plus prevents Stal enemies from attacking Link, its true power lies in enhancing the attack power of weapons made of bone. Fuse Gibdo parts to a Lynel bow and a Molduga Jaw to a Gerudo Scimitar, and the damage Link does is ridiculously high. It is far easier to obtain than most high tier armors, purchasable in one armor store, and unlike the Evil Is Cool sets, it can be fully upgraded, up to a stat of 20.
    • The Glide Set. One of the coolest armor sets in the game, it is leather armor with a bird-like theme and mask. It can be obtained very early in the game by completing a relatively simple minigame, and is quite valuable when traveling through the air. Its base effect, in a nutshell, makes Link more maneuverable in mid-air while skydiving. The part that is not so practical is the full-set bonus; it keeps Link from taking any damage at all from falling. While it seems pointless at first since it's very easy to break your fall, it's a godsend for more impatient players who want to hit the ground as fast as possible and just keep going.
    • The Zonaite armor is one of the toughest sets to find, the Shrines where they are located being the hardest to get to and arguably the hardest to solve, although theoretically, you can get the whole set after only completing the Wind and Water Temples. Once you get it, however, the end result makes Link look like an Aztec high priest with Magitech Bling of War. The max defense bonus is 28 (tying with the Soldier set and Ancient Hero set for best defense in the game) and has the added effect of doubling the battery power of Zonaite devices, and given how Ultrahand is the most useful mechanic in this game, it is likely the most practical armor in the game and one of the most awesome.
    • As awesome as it is for Link to wear armor made from Zonaite technology, looking like an actual Zonai is even better, and the Ancient Hero set does just that. This armor is gained by completing every Shrine in the game, and has a special condition, in that in order to use it, all three pieces must be equipped. The starting defense score here is 12, the max being 84, making it the equivalent of armor with 4 to 28 per piece, making it the equal to the Soldier and Zonaite sets, and has the effect of increasing the damage done by the beam of the Master Sword. Not exactly the best effect, but still definitely not the worst.
  • Many Zonai Devices qualify:
    • Zonai Rockets. Fuse one to your shield, and Link can use it to boost himself upward into the sky! Of course, this is a one-use effect, but it’s awesome and very useful when you need to get to a high spot in a hurry, or if it’s raining.
    • Zonai Flame Emitters. In BotW, fire had three attributes: it was powerful, spread very fast, and was very easy to generate if you knew what you were doing. These devices give Link an infinite supply of fire, and they're exactly as overpowered as you'd expect. It’s not the best of the Emitters and tends to set fire to everything in the immediate area when activated, but if you want to sow a little chaos, this does that well.
    • Zonai Big Wheels. They may be slower than the Small Wheels, but they're far more durable, and a device using them able to maneuver well over rough terrain or lava. Or, you can attach Beam Emitters to them, then attach them to a Floatstone, giving you a rotating engine of destruction to cut the enemy down.
    • Yet another Emitter, the Frost Emitter is one of the better versions. Fuse this to a weapon, and you can freeze a bunch of mooks solid in one swing. Because Link’s weapons do triple damage to frozen enemies, you can dish out serious damage, or use Tulin's gust ability to blow them off a cliff or into water - don’t forget, with the exception of Lizalfos, most mooks in this game swim as well as an anchor.
    • The best Zonai Emitter is, by far, the Beam Emitter, the closest Link will ever come to using a Ray Gun. This is almost broken, the range is limited only by sight, the damage it does is considerable, and while it doesn’t have any elemental advantage, it puts out continual damage to any unfortunate mooks who stumble into the path of the beam.
    • Zonai Cannons, however, are better than any Emitter. These things are ridiculously powerful, and turn anything you attach them to into a force of destruction. For Massive Damage, this is the strongest weapon in the game, can be fused to almost anything, and you can often fuse more than one at a time! The Video Game Cruelty Potential here is so intense that using it makes you wonder if the ICC would be coming after Link. Only drawback here is, bombs of any sort have splash damage that could easily kill Link if he is careless with them.
    • The Homing Cart. These are Cute Machines which, if turned on, slowly wheel themselves towards enemies. On its own, this is useful as a distraction, because monsters will attack the cart, but cannot harm it so long as the battery has power, letting Link launch a surprise attack. Attach a weapon to it - like the Cannon or any of the Emitters - and you have a lethal combat drone to send after them! Of, and it wags its “tail” when there are no enemies for it to home in on. The Construct Head is similar, except it is a stationary rotating platform rather than a Cart.
  • The Stal Horses were something of a novelty in the previous game; Link could tame them, but not keep them, as the Stables refused to house undead horses. While the same is true here, they have a useful ability if tamed in the Depths. They are not covered in Gloom the way most enemies in the Depths are and Gloom does not harm them, so Link can ride on them and gallop right over large patches of Gloom without taking any damage.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Actually, Downplayed with Sidon. His coronation (after his father officially retires) is relatively simple, and he isn't exactly much for making speeches. But still qualifies as a Simple Yet Awesome cutscene.
• Ax Crazy: Ganondorf. While he does a good job at hiding it at first, the Dragon's Tear showing his murder of Sonia makes it clear that he's batshit insane. He brutally kills her with a Slasher Smile on his face, and starts laughing his ass off once Zelda begins crying over her dead body. Once he empowers himself with Sonia's Sacred Stone, he loses whatever little sanity he had left and becomes a bloodthirsty, genocidal maniac hellbent on slaughtering everyone in Hyrule for fun. Also, compare his reaction to his draconification to Zelda's. To her, it's an agonizing Painful Transformation that leaves her gasping and screaming before she turns. Judging by his psychotic laughter, Ganondorf is either a complete sadomasochist, or too caught up in the bliss of ataining absolute power to care about the pain.

B

• Back Stab:
  • The Stealthstrike ability returns, enabling Link to kill or badly injure a sleeping or otherwise unaware enemy. The Eightfold Blade is designed with just such a use in mind. Puffrooms even make this easier, their smokescreen letting you do it to multiple enemies before any of them notice.
  • Ganondorf is shown killing Sonia not with a backstab, but a backpunch judging by the sound effect. It speaks volumes of his freakish strength that he can sever someone's spinal cord with a single bare-handed blow.
• Bad Moon Rising: The Blood Moon, the odd phenomenon that causes monsters to respawn and resources to replenish, returns in this game, but it is easier to anticipate. It occurs every seven days, game time (168 minutes real time) at midnight. However, this means the player cannot cause it to happen faster by having Link camp out for a few days, the 168 minutes must pass before a new Blood Moon occurs. When Ganondorf intimidates the heroes after the Phantom Ganon Wolfpack Boss battle in Hyrule Castle, he shows them a vision of the first Blood Moon, which summons a horde of vicious monsters by pelting Hyrule with meteors made of Malice.
• Bad with the Bone: Link was pretty bad in the previous game using the limbs of undead enemies as weapons, but in this game, he’s even badder with it. Bokoblin Arms are fragile and break quickly, but have an Attack power of 20 (pretty much better than anything else available early in the game). Even better, you get two from each slain foe, and Fusing them together gives Link a whopping 40 Attack power.
• Badass Adorable: Tulin. A precocious Rito tween, he’s an Adorably Precocious Child of the sort you can’t help but want to hug, but his archery skills and gust ability make him arguably Link’s most valuable ally.
• Badass Baritone: Ganondorf sounds every bit as powerful and authoritative as you'd expect him to to, thanks to the dulcet tones of Matt Mercer.
• Badass Finger-Snap: Link does this if the player deactivates a Recall effect prematurely.
• Badass Transplant: Link’s prosthetic arm that replaces the one that is nearly destroyed in the opening cutscene. Formerly belonging to King Rauru, it provides new abilities that replace the runes of the Sheikah Slate.
• Bag of Spilling:
  • The game starts with Link armed with the Master Sword and the best armor from the previous game, 30 Heart Containers, and 15 Stamina Vessels, the maximum obtainable. However, after delving into a tomb with Zelda and awakening an ancient evil, Link is horribly wounded, losing an arm, his armor is destroyed (causing him to lose all but 3 Hearts and 5 Stamina Vessels), and the Master Sword is "corrupted", becoming only barely better than a club. While Link's arm is replaced by a prosthetic one (courtesy of a Mysterious Backer) he must start from the beginning.
  • Link also has to reacquire every piece of armor he gained in the previous game, regardless of the likelihood he had canonically kept and stored them all. Justification is given for two specific pieces, the Champion Leathers (which wore out, according to Zelda’s logbook) and the Zora Armor (a gift from Mira which is currently back in Zora hands for repairs, implying he gave it back to them). The only piece of armor he can regain due to Zelda storing it was not even truly an armor piece before - the blue hairband you can use to give him the same ponytail hairstyle on his previous default model.
  • Hetsu has lost all his Korak Seeds from his maracas again, and Link must search for more so Hetsu can again expand his inventory.
• Bait and Switch: Siyamotsus Shrine. This looks like a “free” Shrine, where there’s no puzzle involved, often the case when the challenge is getting to the Shrine itself (this one would definitely qualify, as you need to solve a labyrinth to get to it), but then you then you notice the shrine's name is Unlit Blessing. When Link approaches the reward platform, it pulls away abruptly. Fortunately, the puzzle is easy to complete - simply light the unlit torches on the platform with Fire Fruit (which are provided near the chest, which also has a bow) to get to a launch platform that brings you to the altar.
• Bare Your Midriff: Like in the previous game, literally every Gerudo not named Ganondorf has her belly exposed. There's also Kiana of Lurelin Village and the Great Fairies, who wear a crop top and a Seashell Bra respectively. We also get a male example in Rauru, who wears an odd midriff-baring garment that looks vaguely Meso-American in nature. His sister Mineru, meanwhile, combines this with an Impossibly Low Neckline. Must be a Zonai thing.
• Base on Wheels: A Battle Talus is a giant Stone Talus that Bokoblins have managed to build a base upon, arming it with ranged weapons. Ironically, the Talus will likely survive the battle far longer than the Bokoblins will.
• Bat Out of Hell: The Keese still aren’t very formidable, but swarms of them will often fly out of caves when Link approaches them, giving the player quite a scare.
• The Battle Didn't Count: When Link and Rija unlock the altar that makes the Lightning Temple appear and approach the front gates, they are confronted by Queen Gibdo, the boss of the Temple - seems that unlike most bosses, she isn’t content to sit in her lair and wait for them. However, after reducing her to half her life bar, she decides to retreat back to her lair where, much like the others, you have to face her after solving the Temple’s puzzles.
• Beard of Evil: Ganondorf, of course, and in this case, the more evil he gets, the fuller it becomes.
• The Beastmaster: One of the Dragon Tear scenes shows that Ganondorf had a glorified snake charmer play an important role in his army. But instead of summoning snakes when she played her flute? She summoned Moldugas.
• 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.
• The Bet: Link enters a wager in two side quests:
  • In the Gerudo Desert Link meets an old guy named Rahdo who bets Link 50 rupees that he can withstand the extreme cold of the desert night longer than Link can - the catch, of course, is that you cannot wear any armor and must remain on the same elevated rock, and you have to do so for 7 hours and 30 minutes to win the bet. Do so, and Rahdo then wagers 150 rupees that he can withstand the extreme heat during the day longer than Link can, with the same conditions.
  • The side quest “One Hit Wonder!”; Link finds a woman outside the South Akkala Stable - Parcy - futilely hacking away at an ore Deposit, trying to break it and extract the gems from it. The look he gives her (possibly because she is doing it wrong, trying to do so with a Traveler’s Sword - makes her angry and give him a Let's See You Do Better dare, challenging him to break it in one hit. She doesn’t give him anything if he succeeds, but lets him keep the gems, which may include one or more Diamonds.
• Beyond the Impossible: 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.
• Big Bad: Ganondorf takes center stage as the game's main threat, and unlike his previous appearances? He's a flesh-and-blood Gerudo this time instead of a boar monster or an Eldritch Abomination made of Malice.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Kiana, the Great Fairies, and the middle-aged Gerudo count once again. And as far as new examples go, there's Hateno Village's resident fashionista Cece. Being very visibly overweight doesn't make her any less attractive, and her form-fitting wardrobe does a good job at highlighting her... um, assets.
• Big Brother Worship: Sidon's adoration of Link, a man he views as a cool big brother (and had Mipha not died, could have potentially become his big brother-in-law) is just as pronounced as ever. Not only has he had a statue of himself and Link fighting Vah Ruta erected in Zora's Domain, but Yona mentions that he's constantly singing his praises every single day.
• 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”, 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 Hylian traveler fighting a lone monster, usually a Bokoblin or Lizalfos. 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 trapped by a hungry Molduga.
  • During the endgame, there are two moments where the Sages jump in to save Link's ass when Ganondorf has him on the ropes. The first moment is when Ganondorf tries to kill him after the Phantom Ganon fight in Hyrule Castle, and the second is when Ganondorf sics his entire army on him shortly before the final battle. Both moments are each a certified Crowning Moment of Awesome.
• 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.
• Bittersweet Ending: Downplayed. Ganondorf is dealt a crushing defeat, Zelda is restored to normal, Link's arm is restored, and the Sages swear eternal alliance, suggesting peace in Hyrule has been achieved at last. Sadly, however, Mineru, Rauru, and Sonia leave the mortal world forever - of course, given how long they’ve had to wait to gain their just reward, it seems fitting.
• Blackout Basement: The Depths are pitch-black. Instead of Shrines, they have Lightroots that Link must activate to transverse the eerie darkness.
  • Also true with one of the Proving Grounds Shrines; not only is Link have to improvise without his gear, he has to do so in the dark.
• 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 wind 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: In one of the flashbacks, Ganondorf murders Sonia, attacking 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 can encounter Mooks wearing stone armor. This gives them a second life bar that Link first must destroy using a blunt weapon before actually lowering their health.
• 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. 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.
  • Meta example; the music and odd chanting that plays during the Final Battle is the same as the music played at E3 in 2019 when the game was first announced.
• 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.
• Boring But Practical:
  • Link’s ability to throw items at enemies can make or break some fights. Puffrooms can blind enemies, Electric Chuchu Jellies can stun them (especially if you throw them onto a pile or regular Jellies, and even the elemental fruits are decent in close combat when you can’t afford to use Arrows.
  • Ultrahand. Use this device to move Object-A, then “glue” it to Object-B, repeat until you have a bridge, powerful weapon, or even a vehicle.
  • Plain old wooden clubs like the Boko Bat aren’t all that strong offensively, but their high durability means you’ll get far more use out of Fused items before the weapon breaks, and they’re also easy to find.
• Borrowed Biometric Bypass: Consensual example here. When Link loses his arm after being Curb-stomped by Ganondorf at the beginning of the game, Rauru replaces it with his own Magitech prosthetic arm (which he doesn’t need anymore, being a spirit). This new arm is how Link uses the omnipresent Zonai technology throughout the game.
• Boss Only Level: Downplayed with the Spirit Temple. The Temple itself is one room where you fight the Boss to gain the MacGuffin. The true dungeon in this part of the story is the Construct Factory that you have to go through in order to access the Temple.
• Boss Rush:
  • The Floating Colosseum in the Depths, where Link has to fight five different Lynels - Red, Blue, White, Silver, and Silver with Armor; winning gets him the Majora’s Mask.
  • Before Link confronts Ganondorf, all of the bosses from the Temples show up here, restored to life by his dark magic. However, the only ones you actually have to fight are the ones in any temples that you did not finish - the sages fight them if you did. If you have completed all the Temples, this encounter is a cutscene boss. Tulin even lampshades the concept of the Trope, stating it isn't a problem, as they've already beaten them once.
• Bottomless Magazines: Mobs who use bows have an infinite supply of arrows, and those who carry items that arrows can be fused with (like Fire Fruit or Shock Fruit) never run out of those either. This does have one benefit, though, as these enemies will drop the same amount of arrows and fusibles (usually five but occassionally ten) when killed.
• Bottomless Pits: Much like last time, these are obstacles in many of the Shrines. Falling into one causes Link to wake up at the last part of solid ground he was at with a few less Hearts. Also, the Chasms that lead to the Depths are not actually bottomless, but they sure seem that way from above. This is the case with the pit in Master Kohga’s Boss Arena in the previous game, seeing as he ended up in the Depths, and that same pit is now a way to access the Depths.
• Bragging Rights Reward:
  • Hestu’s Gift is, again, the “reward” for collecting every last Korok seed, which again, is unnecessary. There is also the Dispelling Darkness Medal which you get for activating every Lightroot in the Depths, which also does nothing.
  • Downplayed with the Cere Hat that you get for completing the Mayoral Election questline. Stylish as it is, it provides no benefit, but you can sell it for 600 rupees.
• Brain Uploading: Mineru, the Sage of Spirit has downloaded her soul into the Puriah Pad. To unlock her as a party member, Link has to traverse the Construct Factory to build a Humongous Mecha that she can use as a new body - to beat the ever-living crud out of Ganondorf’s minions.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: All of the adult Goron are this at first, given the addictive nature of the Marbled Rock Roast, but Yunobo has it the worst, having been enspelled by the evil mask that “Zelda” gave him.
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: The previous game had the Giant Horse and White Stallion, which could be acquired from optional quests. This game has them too, plus the Giant White Stallion - maybe a foal of the first two?
• Breakout Character Purah. She's All Grown Up now, and fans have noticed, check out the fanart if you don’t believe it.
• Breather Boss:
  • Yunobo. For an NPC who proved himself a capable warrior in the previous game and proves it again later in this one, the boss fight against him (where Link has to Beat the Curse Out of Him) is remarkably easy. You dodge his charging attack, causing him to crash, which leaves him stunned and vulnerable to attack, then hit him, and then repeat that two more times. Why this Boss Battle even needed a health bar is a mystery.
  • The Sludge Like in the Water Temple chapter. This is supposed to be a tutorial on how to use Sideon’s ability, but said ability is clumsy and unreliable, so you’re really better off using Splash Fruit. And once you do that, this Like-Like variation isn’t much harder than all the other Like-Likes you’ve gone up against in this game.
• Broken Bridge:
  • In the opening chapter in Great Sky Island, Link can only open the door to the inner sanctum of the Great Sky Island if he has 4 Heart Containers, meaning he must visit and complete all four Shrines on the Island. Trying to open it after without that many after the first attempt will kill him.
  • A door on Dragonhead Island is similar - that one needs 10 Heart Containers.
  • Much like in BotW, gaining the Master Sword has a requirement - in this case, Link must hold onto the Dragon of Light’s back long enough as it ascends into the sky. This means Link needs 5 extra Stamina Vessels rather than the 13 Heart Vessels from last time.
• Bucket Helmet: Many NPCs in the Monster Forces missions wear makeshift armor, including this. Reede wears one when Link helps him defend his pumpkin patch from monsters - he’s something of a novice fighter.
• Bullfight Boss: Yunobo; defeating him while he's still under the mask's control is pretty simple, you dodge his charge attack, causing him to crash into a wall, which makes him dizzy and vulnerable; then hit him until he recovers, then repeat two more times.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • The most relevant example is the Big Bad himself, Ganondorf. Yeah, he's been in previous games as Ganon, but this is the first time since Twilight Princess all the way back in 2006 that he's made an appearance in his Gerudo form.
  • While the Blight Ganons were considered Phantom Ganons back in Breath of the Wild (and one could argue that Calamity Ganon played a similar role itself), Phantom Ganon makes a proper appearance as a recurring threat, having not appeared since Four Swords Adventure in 2004.
  • Many of the new enemies are old adverseries returning after a years-long absense. Like-Likes and Gibdos haven't been seen since A Link Between Worlds, and Gleeok's last appearance was in Phantom Hourglass. Poes also haven't been seen since Triforce Heroes, but they've been demoted from enemies to collectibles in this game.
  • Bomb Flowers haven't been seen since Triforce Heroes.
  • Eagle-eyed players will notice that Koume and Kotake have made their first appearance in over twenty years (specifically 2001, when the Oracle duology was released). They're the two green-skinned Gerudo wearing golden masks and red/blue clothes often seen by Ganondorf's side in a few Dragon's Tear memories.
  • The Arbiter’s Grounds did appear in Breath of the Wild, but didn’t seem to have a purpose; here, it leads to an unlockable dungeon, the Gerudo Cemetery, and given the layout, it seems like it was once a prison, as it was in Twilight Princess.
  • Players might remember Calyban from Breath of the Wild, a Gerudo who was binging on Hydromelons and carelessly throwing the rinds into the town’s irrigation canals. Here she’s older and looking for a boyfriend - believing she has found one when she meets Link…
  • Magda the crazy flower lady returns too, and again, she will get upset if Link (or anyone else) steps on her flower bed. She is, however, thankful if Link uses a Zonai Hydrant to water her flowers, but if he tries to do so when it’s raining, she gets upset because he is over-watering them. There's also a picture of her on the wall of Link's house.
• But Thou Must: The game ends with Link and Zelda plummeting from a great height after defeating Ganon, the player having to direct Link to catch her. This seems like a QTE, but it is impossible for Link to fail to catch Zelda, as the descent will pause after a while if he does not, and failing to hit the A-prompt simply resets the prompt.

C

• Call Back:
  • Like the previous game, Link wakes up in an unknown area at the start of the game location after nearly dying in combat.
  • Using a Tunic of Memories and Old Hairband makes Link look like he did in the previous game, the only (unavoidable) difference being his arm.
  • As the flashbacks show, Zelda appears in a strange past version of Hyrule, looking out from the same cliffs as Link was in the opening of Breath of the Wild.
  • When Ganondorf transforms into the Demon Dragon, he becomes a smoky being of darkness, covered with yellow eyes that look more like the Malice from the previous game than the Gloom.
  • 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.
• Came Back Strong: Link is, in effect, Brought Down to Normal at the beginning as a result of nearly being killed, losing all his Heart Containers but 3, all his Stamina Vessels but one, barely surviving the assault. However, if he does all the Shrines, he’ll be entering the Final Battle with both of these surpassing what he gained in Breath of the Wild.
  • The Master Sword too, at least by an in-story standpoint. Ganondorf effortlessly destroys it in the opening scene; Link then sends it 10,000 years into the past where Zelda, after becoming the Dragon of Light, attaches it to her scales and takes The Slow Path to return it to Link. The Sword previously took 100 years to repair itself on its own after the Calamity, and now it has spent ten-thousand years absorbing her power. When Link finally confronts Ganondorf, those Gloom attacks aren’t going to work as well the second time around.
• The Cameo:
  • It's not immediately obvious, but Twinrova (or rather, Koume and Kotake) of all characters is present in the Dragon's Tear memories. Two Gerudo with the exact same skintone as Ganondorf can be seen flanking him in a few scenes, and they wear muted reds and blues that correspond with the elements they wield.
  • In one of the memories that shows Zelda receiving the Master Sword via Recall, she hears a female voice, assuring her that Link is still alive and urging her to find a way to fix the sword. It is heavily implied that this is Fi, the personification of the Master Sword, who appeared in Skyward Sword.
• Cartoon Cheese: A new food ingredient, Hateno Cheese, a typical wedge of cheese with holes. It isn’t exactly the most useful ingredient, but one of the more interesting, as you can use it to make things like pizza and cheesecake.
• Cast From Hit Points: Gloom Weapons, dropped by Phantom Ganon, can be used by Link and are among the strongest in the game for base attack power. However, they not only damage Link, they inflict Gloom Damage, meaning you cannot heal said damage while using the weapon and apply the usual methods to cure Gloom.
• Catch a Falling Star:
  • At the start of the game, Link tries to catch Zelda with his wounded arm, but fails. At the end of the game after defeating Ganondorf, the last playable part has him try again while both are in free-fall. This time, he succeeds.
  • Nearly literal example, you can catch Star Fragments while they are in free-fall when Link is skydiving.
• Catch Phrase: Penn gives us 2: the incredibly memorable "Soar long!" when he flies off, and its spoken counterpart.

"Za-pow!"

• Cave Behind the Falls: Many examples. In fact, you find the Vah Ruta Divine Helm behind a waterfall in a cave that is behind another waterfall!
• Chaos Architecture: Downplayed. Most of Hyrule does look the same as it did in the previous game, but the Upheaval has caused quite a bit of its geography to change due to the falling debris from the Sky Islands. There is also the matter of the complete absence of the Sheikah Shrines and Towers, an issue that is not addressed in the game.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The most vital example, in the beginning of the game, where Link and Zelda delve into the tomb, there is an area of breakable rock, but Link lacks the means to break them. If he goes back there later and does so, it reveals new paintings that detail everything Zelda has been involved in due to her Stable Time Loop, including her failure to slay Ganondorf the first time and turning herself into the Dragon of Light.
  • When you first use the Pura Pad’s Camera function, there are already three saved photos - the ones Zelda took in the opening cutscene.
  • Also, in the opening cutscene, Zelda can be seen dropping her torch when she falls into the abyss. If Link returns to that spot later and para-glides into the Depths, the torch is still there.
• Cherry Blossoms: There is one cherry tree for each region, with an empty bowl at the base. Put any sort of fruit in, and Satori will appear and put large glowing wisps by all of the map region's cave entrances to show where they are.
• Chaos Architecture: Downplayed. Most of Hyrule does look the same as it did in the previous game, but the Upheaval has caused quite a bit of its geography to change due to the falling debris from the Sky Islands. There is also the matter of the complete absence of the Sheikah Shrines and Towers, an issue that is not addressed in the game.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The most vital example, in the beginning of the game, where Link and Zelda delve into the tomb, there is an area of breakable rock, but Link lacks the means to break them. If he goes back there later and does so, it reveals new paintings that detail everything Zelda has been involved in due to her Stable Time Loop, including her failure to slay Ganondorf the first time and turning herself into the Light Dragon.
  • When you first use the Purah Pad’s Camera function, there are already three saved photos - the ones Zelda took in the opening cutscene.
  • Also, in the opening cutscene, Zelda can be seen dropping her torch when she falls into the abyss. If Link returns to that spot later and para-glides into the Depths, the torch is still there.

• Clipped-Wing Angel:
  • Gloom Spawn are terrifying enemies, and the first few times you encounter them, the best strategy is to get the hell out of there before they literally squeeze the life out of Link. But if you are confident enough to stand your ground and skilled enough to defeat one, it spawns a Phantom Ganon. While this is a shock the first time it happens, you gradually start to realize he’s a lot easier to deal with than the Gloom Spawn was. While there are proper boss fights against him, Boss!Phantom Ganon isn't much harder than Miniboss!Phantom Ganon.
  • The Final Boss is this too. While the four-phase fight is (to the opinion of most longtime fans) one of the best Ganondorf battles in the entire franchise, the fourth phase (while a visually thrilling battle that lets Link utilize his skydiving skills in a fun way) is much easier than the previous three. The Demon Dragon has very little in the way of offensive moves, and Link, for the most part, simply has to use the Dragon of Light as a launching platform to leap onto his foe’s back to destroy the patches of Malice, enabling him to deliver the final strike in a QTE. Fridge Brilliance does come into effect once you realize that it's a deliberate move on the developers' part: by recklessly swallowing his Sacred Stone, Ganondorf sacrificed his cunning mind and peerless combat skills for pure power, and suffered heavily for it.
• Collection Sidequest: For starters, the Korok Seeds and Spirit Orb quests return (the latter called Lights of Blessing now, which are pretty much the same) but there is a lot more of both.
  • Bubbul Gems, dropped by Bubbulfrogs, and there is one for every cave. Gather them and give them to Koltin to get unique items. Eventually, he will run out of items to give you, and the only reason to collect them is for completion’s sake. Well, that and so he can fulfill his lifelong dream of turning into a Satori for whatever reason. Naturally, it fails... because he turns into a Blupee instead.
  • Poes. These odd wisps are located in the Depths, and can be given to Bargainer Statues for rare items, making them a sort of alternate currency.
  • The Old Maps found in the Sky Islands. There are 31 of them, and when each is found, the map is marked with the locations of the bandit Misko’s treasure, all of it special and rare armor.
  • Link can also find a total of 12 Schema Stones and 34 Yiga Schematics, all of which aid in the construction of devices using the Autobuild skill. Getting all of them unlocks two more schematics that can be found on the surface.
  • There are 20 Sage’s Wills to find in the Sky Islands, four of which can increase one of the Sage Avatar’s powers.
  • There are 228 unique recipes to find to register in Link’s cookbook.
  • Link can increase the power of Zonai devices by collecting energy cells, to increase his battery gauge from 3 to 24, with each cell costing 100 crystallized charges. He can then double that power by collecting 47 upgrades.
  • There are also similar quests to be done that involve going to several locations. An NPC named Fera wants you to investigate and survey every well in Hyrule (there are 58) and she will pay 10 rupees for each. Also, there are 46 locations where you can help Addison secure his signs; there is a small reward for each, but no reward for getting them all.
• Color-Coded Timestop: Using Recall causes all items not affected by it to become a desaturated beige color.
• Color Motif: In Breath of the Wild, blue was symbolic of heroism, with red a sign of evil. This game, however, uses Green as the benevolent color. The Constructs and Zonai devices are all green, Link’s arm and standard clothing designs have green trim, and all the Champions have some green incorporated into their appearance.
• Combinatorial Explosion: This game takes the concept of Wide Open Sandbox Up to Eleven as the developers seemed to encourage the player to take advantage of loopholes and rewards ingenuity. With the amazingly versatile power of the Ultrahand, Link can create whatever crazy contraption the player desires to explore Hyrule, from magical cars, boats, flying machines, and even a Mini-Mecha.
• Composite Character: The Frox is a boss that seems to combine aspects of the Stone Talus and a Dodongo from the previous games. Like the Dodongo, it is a hulking draconic beast that you hurt by tossing bombs into its mouth. Like the Talus, it has a large ore deposit on its back, which is the only part of it that is vulnerable to damage.
• Confused Question Mark: Either make noise near an idle enemy, or wander into its field of vision without aggroing outright. You'll see one of these pop up, but it'll quickly change into an exclamation point once it properly notices you.
• Console Cameo: The Purah Pad is obviously a Nintendo Switch with Magitek enhancements. Using it to start scanning from a tower even resembles plugging it into a USB-C cable charging port.
• Conspiracy Theorist: The Rito journalist Penn seems to suspect Zelda herself might be the mastermind behind the Upheaval - most of the Potential Princess Sightings quest line consists of Link investigating rumors of her showing up in odd situations (like a siren trying to convince travelers to follow her or a blonde woman riding a monstrous steed) or giving strange orders to the Hyrulian army (like giving them a recipe that makes them sick or telling them to do their jobs in their underwear) and seemingly malicious acts (like spooking the circus performers’ horse and making their wagon crash when they were trying to reach the Great Fairy to convince her to come out of her flower). Fortunately, Penn isn’t the type to publish such rumors without confirming them.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Purah, who in the previous game was a child due to an accident that reversed-aged her, has now grown into a teenager via the Time Skip.
  • Tulin has grown from a child into a teenager, having fully developed his Wind powers that he started to develop in Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
  • If you go back to the Temple of Time on the Great Plateau at the spot in Breath of the Wild where King Rhoam (Zelda’s father) gave you the paraglider, you will find a custom cloth that changes the paraglider to the original design. Also, Rhoam’s headstone is still where it was before, with a Royal Claymore (the weapon he had in Age of Calamity) stuck in the ground marking the site. No clue as to who put it there, but most fans surmise it was Zelda, placing it there to pay her respects.
  • Breath of the Wild a child named Shanae told Link a story about a kingdom in the sky; this was initially meant as a Mythology Gag regarding Skyward Sword, but now that the Sky Islands have been included to this game, Shanae is very happy when Link tells her she was right.
  • Ganondorf's Demon King form looks a lot like Demise, and boasts a similarly fiery mane of long hair, greyish skin with patches of black, a glowing spot on his forehead, and hulking musculature (even moreso than he did as a Gerudo).
• Continuity Snarl: Some weapons in the previous game could only be obtained via the amiibo; they still can in this game, but those same weapons can be found in-game, so whether they can be considered canon to Tears of the Kingdom is debatable. The worst example is the Goddess Sword, which, in Skyward Sword, is the weapon that eventually evolved into the Master Sword, but in this game can be obtained in addition to the Master Sword.
• Contrasting Sequel Character: much like the Guardians from Breath of the Wild, the Constructs are Mecha Mooks built by ancient artificers (in this case, the Zonai) and like them, they have a single large eye and Tron Lines. But that is where the similarity ends. Guardians were huge, massive, hulking, robots with smooth, rounded designs, who fought with Magitech energy weapons and walked on multiple long legs. Constructs, on the other hand, are human-sized (other than those that qualify as bosses) use mostly improvised weapons, and have no legs, hovering rather than walking. Also, while the Guardians were corrupted by Ganon’s dark magic, the Constructs are still following their original orders, which unfortunately, causes them to view Link as a trespasser.
• Conveniently Interrupted Document: In the opening scene of the game, Zelda and Link are exploring a cavern deep beneath Hyrule Castle and find elaborate carved hieroglyphics detailing the origins of the royal line of Hyrule and the rise of the Demon King. However, a big part of it has been covered by a rockslide, meaning they cannot read the second half of the story. When Link eventually returns here he can break the stone and read them, although by then the player has likely already seen the whole tale in much greater detail.
• Cool Airship: The Zonai had an entire fleet of them, resembling Viking longships that surround and circle the Wind Temple. Surrounding them and the cyclone are smaller ships with sails that Link can use like trampolines to bounce into the air and board the larger vessels. The Temple itself is a huge, flying battleship.
• Cool Horse: The unique horses from Breath of the Wild are back, and a few new ones, including Zelda’s Golden Horse (which was Zelda’s mount before she disappeared), and the Giant White Stallion, which is like the Royal White Horse but bigger.
• Cool Sword: Well, the Master Sword, of course, but there are others:
  • The Hero Sword, part of the Hero set (that gives Link his iconic green tunic and cap) is found in a chest in the Depths, and once you gain it, it is available from the evil statue after finishing a quest line, and is purchased for 100 Poe (in case it breaks).
  • The Dusk Claymore is this and a BDS, it has 50 durability, does 32 base damage, and even the scabbard it comes with looks badass. Unfortunately, the questline that you must finish to get it requires completing all four Temples.
• The Corruption: Gloom is like Malice, but is poisonous and corrupting to both living beings and objects. The opening of the story sees it destroying the Master Sword and reducing Link’s Heart Containers from 30 to 3, literally causing his right arm to rot. Rauru later tells Link that had he not grafted the prosthetic limb to Link’s body the Gloom would have spread until it consumed him. As Link obtains Heart Containers and Stamina Wheels in the game, the dark corruption is shown being purged from his body, suggesting he is, in fact, gaining back what he already had.
• Cosmetic Award: Many well-hidden chests contain fabric that can be used to change the pattern on Link’s glider.
• Crate Expectations: Any time you find a box, barrel, or crate, it’s a good idea to break it open, as there tend to be objects inside, often arrows or fruit.
• Critical Status Buff: Weapons with the “Knight” nomenclature grant more attack power when Link has only one Heart Container remaining.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: The opening scene is a Curb-Stomp in Ganondorf’s favor, wrecking the Master Sword and mauling Link. However, it seems Ganondorf did not escape unscathed, as a shard of the Master Sword is embedded in his arm, possibly the reason he could not kill the two heroes right there.
• Cute Monster Girl: Yona, Sidon's fiancee. She looks more visibly bestial than the more conventionally attractive Zora women thanks to her wide manta ray face and tendency to show off her fangs, yet she's still incredibly pretty despite, or perhaps even because of it.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Many implications in the game show that questlines that were optional in the previous game are considered canon:
  • It is possible in Breath of the Wild to fight Calamity Ganon immediately after leaving the Great Plateau - the developers even confirm that it is possible. This game, however, confirm that Link canonically fought all four of the Divine Beasts and freed the Champions’ spirits before doing so.
  • The Koroks have new puzzles and are in different places, implying Link found all of them in the previous game. Just try not to think too hard about Hetsu, and the way he somehow completely forgot about Link's existence.
  • Building a house in Hateno, helping construct Tarrey Town, and helping a couple plan their wedding are all part of an optional questline. The house and Tarrey Town are there, with Hudson and Rhondson still happily married, so the questline has canonically been finished. Again, try not to think too hard about how Bolson could have possibly forgotten about Link.
  • Wabbin and Perdo are now also married with a young child, meaning the sidequest where Link reunited them at Lovers’ Pond was canonically completed. Finley and Sasan are still together, indicating that sidequest was completed too.
  • One odd aversion is the group photo that Link receives if the player completes the "Champion's Ballad" DLC in Breath of the Wild. In this case, it is tied to an Old Save Bonus and is only in his house if the player has completed the DLC.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: Used many times:
  • At the end of the opening act, Link uses the Recall ability to send the Master Sword thousands of years into the past to Zelda. In the actual game, it can reverse localized time by about 30 seconds, maximum. Possibly justified, as he is borrowing power from an outside source. One of the flashback scenes shows Zelda using it on multiple objects at once, something Link cannot do in-game. At the end of the game, Link uses it to restore Zelda to her human form, something Mineru previously said was impossible, although this is again possibly justified as Rauru and Sonia are channeling their (incredibly powerful) magic through Link and the device.
  • Also, in one flashback scene, Zelda uses the Purah Pad to teleport herself, Rauru, and Sonia to escape Ganondorf. In the actual game, Link can only use it to teleport himself.
• Cutting the Knot:
  • There are many examples of ways the player can take shortcuts with some challenges:
  • Whenever you meet Addison trying to hold up one of President Hudson's signs, you are supposed to aid him by fixing it so it stays up right, ostensibly by using the nearby building material to construct something to brace it. However, if you have a Zonai Float Stone on hand, this can race most of the signs much easier.
  • While you cannot use any Zonai device inside a shrine, you can use Octorok balloons. Fusing one of those on Link’s shield can let him get to a high place easily, bypassing many puzzles that require doing so.

D

• Damsel in Distress: This game puts an extra twist on it. Link and Zelda are separated in the beginning, but Link (and the player) are constantly kept guessing as to where she is, whether she is there via her own free will or at the villain’s mercy, what she is doing there, or why the villain wants her (if indeed he does). All Link knows is, he must find her to prevent... something bad from happening. Eventually, subverted - the trouble she is in is of a very different sort than this Trope.
  • Played straight however with three of the fashionable NPCs who have been kidnapped by the Yiga clan and forced to make their uniforms. Rescue all of them to get the Yiga armor set.
• Damage Sponge Boss: The Final Boss is this. Ganondorf is a Sequential Boss, the first stage being a strict one-on-one, though it is easy to tell he is pulling his punches. When he truly lets loose in stage two, his Life Bar seems the same as the other bosses... and then keeps growing until it is literally off the screen, making it double the length of a normal boss' health bar.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Draconification. A Sage who willingly swallows his or her Secret Stone undergoes an instantaneous and painful transformation into an immortal dragon, gaining incredible might and immortality, at the cost of their soul and memory, cursed to wander Hyrule forever as a mindless beast. Despite knowing the cost, Zelda willingly undergoes this process, as it is the only way to give Link a fighting chance.
  • In the final battle, when his defeat seems eminent, Ganondorf decides to do the same thing, swallowing his Stone, and turning himself into the dark demon dragon.
• Dark Is Evil: Ganondorf, who spreads an even deadlier strain of Malice called Gloom around Hyrule, and is so in tune with unholy dark magic that he comes off as a demon in human form.
• Dark Is Not Evil:
  • The Bargainer entities speak through creepy statues that are found in the Depths, but they at least claim that the reason they want Link to collect Poes (which are lost souls) in order to send them to the afterlife to receive their rightful reward (or punishment). Because they can also speak through a Goddess statue, they may be her allies, servants, or even darker aspects of the Goddess. This may, however, be a case of Good Is Not Nice, as the Yiga journals say the statues stole the souls of their comrades, which at very least suggests the Bargainers killed them.
    • The same goes for many of the items they sell, including the Dark and Depths Armor sets.
  • Link himself can gain many sinister-looking armor sets, like the Evil Spirit Armor, Dark Armor (makes him look like Dark Link), Phantom Set, Radiant Set, and Depths Set, but he uses them for good purposes.
  • King Rauru is a tall, intimidating Beast Man with black skin, horns, and bony spurs on his face, who wields incredibly powerful magic. But he is The Good King and a potent ally. Though as the flashbacks show, Good Is Not Soft with him.
  • Also in the Depths are shadowy entities that give Link a weapon if he interacts with them; their basic shape seems to resemble Hyrulian Soldiers from previous games like Ocarina of Time. They don’t like the Yiga either, as the clan members can only see the weapon when they look towards them.
• Dark Reprise: The first time you visit any given area, the background music is gloomy and morose to reflect the crisis at hand. When the crisis is resolved, the music returns to the cheerier upbeat score.
• Dark World: In many ways, the depths are a negative image of the surface of Hyrule. First off, the place is dark, infested with Gloom, and Ganon’s minions are more aggressive and more dangerous. There are also weird trees and other twisted plant life, plus giant fungus. No fruit grows here, but many useful plants like Bomb Flowers, Muddle Buds, and Puff Shrooms are common. Many places in the Depths are often geographically the opposite of the surface directly above. A mountain on the surface might have a chasm under it in the depths (and vice versa) while bodies of water on the surface are impassible floor-to-ceiling cliffs in the depths. Also, certain landmarks also have vertical correlations. Each Shrine has a Lightroot directly under it (making one easier to find if you have registered its counterpart), towns are above abandoned mines, while each Bargainer Statue is underneath a Goddess statue on the surface. Stables on the surface are right over Lionel lairs in the depths, and commemorative monuments on the surface have groups of the dark spirit warriors underneath in the Depths.
• Darker and Edgier: The game's pre-release trailers really made the game's tone out to be this way, what with the creepy reversed music, zombie Ganondorf rising from the dead, and lifting Hyrule Castle into the sky in the crimson light of the Blood Moon. While Ganondorf is an intimidating villain who is a force to be reckoned with, the game's tone isn't that much different from Breath of the Wild (if anything it's a bit lighter, since aside from the issues caused by Ganondorf and the Upheaval, post-restoration Hyrule has a much more optimistic and hopeful vibe than the more overt post-apocalyptic Hyrule from the first game).
• Death Mountain: The iconic Trope Namer is still there, and it plays a more important role in this game than last time. During the fire temple quest, Link and Yunobo have to enter the depths through the mountain's crater, and before they do, they have to fight Moragia, a dragon made of rock, that spews lava from its three mouths, looking like nothing less than Death Mountain come to life! Fortunately, it's not as difficult as it looks.
• Decoy Damsel: Princess Zelda is allegedly sighted by plenty of people all around Hyrule, sometimes doing uncharacteristically cruel things, sometimes doing uncharacteristically bizarre things. Naturally, this isn't Zelda at all, but Phantom Ganon and members of the Yiga Clan disguising themselves as her.
  • The Yiga clan does this many times in order to trap Link:
    • In one of the "Potential Princess Sightings" quests, the Yiga Clan sends a ransom letter to the Gazette, claiming they are holding Zelda hostage; when Link goes to investigate, he finds Zelda in a cage… but freeing her reveals it is a Yiga in disguise.
    • In "The Beckoning Woman" the woman pleads for Link to follow her so he can help her friend, the claim that this friend has blonde hair suggesting it is Zelda. Again, this is a ploy by the Yiga to ambush Link.
    • There is also a disguised Yiga outside the Shrine of Resurrection (where you met King Rhoam in the previous game) crying because she can't remember who she is. Again, talking to her results in an ambush.
• Delicious Distraction: Anyone who has played the previous game might remember how Yiga could be distracted by Mighty Bananas. Believe it or not, in this game they will often try to turn the tables on Link, placing one of their Mighty Bananas in an open area so they can ambush Link when he tries to get it. And let's be honest, most players are going to fall for this, given how in any game they will not hesitate to grab a Power Up item.
• Demoted to Extra: Poor, poor Teba. He was already the least fleshed-out of the new champions in Breath of the Wild. But here, he's the only one to not awaken as a Sage. That honor goes to his son Tulin, while Teba himself stays in Rito Village to keep things running as its new chief.
  • And Teba's not the only major character to take a hit in relevance: the original Champions have firmly been pushed into the background to the point that the only references made to them are Daruk's face among Goron City's Mount Rushmore-looking monument, Urbosa being mentioned exactly once in Riju's diary, and Mipha having her own monument on Ploymus Mountain. While they're very far-removed from the ongoing threat of Ganondorf and the mysteries behind Zelda's disappearance and the Upheaval, one would think that such influential heroes who were important to Link and Zelda would be at least a little more talked about than they are.
  • Likewise, after being the focus of the conflicts in Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity, the ancient Sheikah technology has almost completely vanished off the face of the earth. All the decaying Guardians dotting Hyrule's landscape? The Towers that Link had to climb in order to map out Hyrule? The shrines that helped him recover his strength? The Divine Beasts? The Shrine of Resurrection? They're all gone, and the only traces of their existence are stray pieces of Sheikah Tech in Robbie's current and old labs, as well as the new towers that Purah built (which incorporate Guardian tentacles in their design).
• Determined Defeatist: As the flashbacks show, when Zelda finally realizes that Ganondorf is, in fact, the mummy she and Link encountered at the beginning of the game and the arm that was on its chest was Rauru’s, she puts two-and-two together and realizes that leading the Sages into battle against him would be a pointless endeavor, as they could not slay him and Rauru would be killed in the attempt. When she tells Rauru this, he still decides to fight, as he has to at least try, as even if they fail, they can at very least give Link a chance to succeed.
• Deus Est Machina: It is repeated many times that draconification is irreversible and that doing so would render Zelda a mindless, soulless beast - forever. However, after defeating Ganondorf, she is indeed restored, as Rinyu and Sophia appear, amplifying the Recall power to reverse the process, later claiming this was made possible by channeling their magic through Link, his Undying Loyalty (and possibly love) towards Zelda making this possible. A heartwarming ending to be sure, but that still begs the question of why they never mentioned this before.
• Difficult but Awesome: Put "Ultrahand" into YouTube's search engine and you’ll see plenty of examples of players who built complex vehicles and contraptions via Ultrahand. Doing this takes a lot of trial and error to get right, but once it is mastered, Link will be able to build weapons that can tear through King Gleeok himself in a matter of seconds.
• Dirty Coward: Mucktorok combines this with Cowardly Boss - he's a screeching, spastic little creature who refuses to fight Link and Sidon if he can't hide behind a giant shark construct made from the sludge that he spews. When you destroy the sludge shark, he'll make a break for it and try to put as much distance between Link and the Sages as he can before reconstructing the shark and jumping back into the fight.
• Discard and Draw: Even before he and Zelda first encounter Ganondorf, Link no longer has access to the Sheikah Slate, and thus can no longer use the Cryonic, Stasis, Remote Bombs, or Magnesis runes he used in the previous game. The replacement device - which Zelda is seen using in the opening cutscene - is the newly invented Purah Pad; when Link obtains it, he still lacks access to his old runes, but can upgrade it to use new abilities granted by the Sage of Light - Fuse, Ultrahand, Ascend, and Recall, plus Autobuild after upgrading it later. Robbie also programs it with new features later, the Sensor, Hero’s Path, and Travel Medallion features.
  • Link also no longer has the Champion’s Blessings, replacing them with the Sages Vows, which not only give him new abilities but summons avatars of his allies to fight by his side.
• Divergent Character Evolution:
  • The Sages in this game have roles and powers more specific and individualized than they were before. In previous games, they were generic wizards who only used their magic in cutscenes, such magic limited to rays of magical energy. Here, each Sage has unique powers and have both story and gameplay elements, including abilities used to aid Link as Assist Characters. The four dungeon sages have assist Link in combat and use elemental powers (for instance, Tulin, Sage of Wind, can create horizontal gusts of wind that can propel Link further on his glider without losing altitude); Zelda, as Sage of Time, ends up traveling back to the past and experiencing ten millennia of linear time as the Dragon of Light in order to restore the Master Sword, while Mineru, Sage of Spirit, transfers her soul to the Purah Pad, waiting the same long eons for Link to pick it up so as to fight alongside him.
  • Even the simplest weapons have added functions that cause them to stand out from their equivalents in BotW. For example, a weapon with “Soldier” in its name has faster charged attacks and “Royal” weapons strengthen Flurry Rush. There are also racial weapons that have special bonuses, like the Gerudo weapons, which increase bonuses bestowed by items fused to them.
• Does Not Like Shoes: Everyone is barefoot in King Rauru’s time period; possibly, shoes had not been invented yet.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • A once prosperous city has fallen on hard times thanks to a sinister figure circulating a highly addictive substance that messes with people's minds around the community, turning them into lazy oafs at best and violent thugs at worst. The kids are scared, the elders are disappointed, and many able-bodied young men are, for the most part, high out of their minds. As many fans gleefully proclaim: the crack epidemic has reached Goron City!
  • In the Regional Phenomena quest line, the Zora are plagued by black goo falling from the sky that pains them and impairs their ability to swim, not unlike an oil spill would affect aquatic wildlife.
  • The towers in this game look disturbingly like rocket silos, and indeed, activating them requires using Link as the rocket. Hard to blame him for looking so scared when he first does so.
• Draconic Demon: A literal example that nearly matches this trope word for word: when Ganondorf swallows his Sacred Stone during the final battle, he transforms into a mindless, obscenely powerful, downright Satanic-looking dragon called the Demon Dragon.
  • As far as lesser examples go, there are the Gleeoks: powerful, frightening-looking three-headed dragons who can generate dangerous elemental auras when they initiate combat. They're easily the toughest overworld bosses, and are widely feared by players and in-game characters alike.
• Draconic Divinity: The Spirit Dragons from Breath of the Wild return, this time with a fourth dragon in tow. The mysterious Light Dragon (a transformed, (mostly) mindless Princess Zelda) is eerily beautiful and serene even by their standards, and the way she isolates herself high in the sky truly makes her feel like an unknowable divine being.
• Double Meaning Title : Triple meaning, actually. Tears of the Kingdom could either refer to the tear-shaped motif, or the fact that Hyrule Kingdom has been torn apart by the Upheaval. It also could refer to the three “tiers” of Hyrule itself, the surface, Depths, and Sky Kingdom.
• Double Take:
  • Happens when Hoz first sees Link - it takes him a few moments to realize who it is.
  • Master Kohga does this at least once when Link encounters him attempting to use a piece of Zonai technology. He mistakes Link for a Yiga Footsoldier and tells him to take over - and then it sinks in that it’s his hated enemy watching him.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: It is stated repeatedly how in the past Ganondorf was far too powerful to defeat, and that not even the seven greatest warriors of Hyrule could slay him. It seems, however, that ten millennia of imprisonment in that tomb has reduced him to a withering husk, and he requires some time to regain his full health and power. Riju notes that the reason they survive the encounter in Hyrule Castle’s throne room is because he is still not strong enough to face them all, which means they still have a chance.
• Dramatic Irony: When the Zonai ruins appeared among the clouds and started falling from the sky a massive effort was started to study and research them. However, from the point of view of the player, this research becomes obsolete fast, between Link’s ability to use the Zonai devices and the flashbacks from the geoglyphs. They do help a little due to their translations of the steles (which Link cannot read) but Link barely needs that to uncover the mysteries of the Zonai of his own.
• Dressing as the Enemy: Once Link obtains the full Yiga set, he can pass as a Yiga and enter their hideout unnoticed, plus he can use it to prevent disguised Yiga attacks and ambushes. In fact, switching to the armor after a random ambush starts causes the attackers to cease and despawn.
• Disc One Nuke: It is possible to get the Champions Leathers armor very early in the game, once you finish the quest that activates the tower to Lookout Landing. Simply brew a few Stamina Elixirs (easily done by finding a few Crickets) then use the Tower to launch Link into the air, and then use the Glider to fly to the front gate of Hyrule Castle. There are no enemies or traps there (yet), despite its significance to the end game, it’s perfectly safe now. Enter the throne room and light the braziers, and this opens a secret compartment where you will find the Champions Leathers.
• Dude, Not Funny: Wearing a Yiga Clan uniform and talking to Sheikah NPCs will have them remark how Link's outfit is of incredibly poor taste and strongly recommend that he change into something more respectable. Trying it in Gerudo Town will result in the guards arresting Link, and refusing to let him out of jail until he takes it off.
• Dying Race: The Zonai are quite likely an extinct race judging by Ganondorf's passive-aggressive statements during one of the memories - only Rauru and Mineru are still around, and both are spirits.

E

• Early Game Hell: Just like in Breath of the Wild, even the lower-tier enemies do a ton of damage to you thanks to the meager equipment you have access to. The higher-tier ones, as a consequence, will most definitely one-shot you the second you walk into their line of fire. But once you get your hands on better gear, craft better weapons, and get used to making Zonai constructs, you'll even the odds before you know it.
• Easter Egg:
  • Wearing the Yiga Mask around Kara Kara Bazaar will result with unique dialogue from the Gerudo in the area. Wearing it inside Gerudo Town will result with Link getting arrested.
  • Shooting a Zonai Beam Emitter into a Zonai Stake will create a sound effect whose pitch can be changed by altering the stake's orientation, how deep it's inserted, and attaching/removing another stake. Arrange them right and Link can play a song!
  • The Lightning Helm is a duplicate of the Gerudo Thunder Helm created by the Yiga Clan; after Link wins it in a mini-game, if he enters Riju’s throne room while wearing it, she says, "That helmet..."
• Eat Dirt Cheap: Dondons are very rare animals that eat Luminous Stones. Feed such rocks to them, leave, and come back in ten minutes or so, and they leave behind gemstones or Zonite.
• Eldritch Abomination: The terrifying Malice hands that will seek you out and try to kill you when you visit certain areas. Their true form, Phantom Ganon, is more of a Humanoid Abomination.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Like in Breath of the Wild, enemies with a fire element are weak to a weapon with an ice element and vice-versa. This is pretty much required for fighting Gleeoks, as one hit from an arrow of the opposite element will instantly disable that head.
• Eleventh-Hour Superpower: If Link has not regained the Master Sword by the time of the final battle: don't worry, because Dragon Zelda shows up in the nick of time to let you pull the sword. This time, there is no minimum Stamina required, he is simply given it. Justified, as Zelda has always had it with her and she’s not going to waste time with strength trials in order to give Link the one sword he needs to win.
• Escort Mission: Several sidequests, most notably the quests to unlock the Great Fairies, will have Link having to use a horse to pull a cart with Hylian NPCs in order to get them to their destination. The Stable Trotters sidequests mainly involve their troupe's horse cart (which they seem unable to keep from wrecking), where Link has to fix it, hitch it to horse and/or modify it with Zonai Devices. Unfortunately, the Trotters tend to get motion sick very easily…
  • Some Koroks can be found wearing huge backpacks that make them exhausted and unable to move on their own. Each of them is trying to reach another Korok a fair distance away from where they're found and often in dangerous territory. Seeing as there is no way to kill or otherwise harm the little guys, and you can stick them to your vehicle with Ultrahand to make it much easier to bring them to the other Korak’s camp; doing so earns Link two Korak seeds. (Fuse does not work on them, however, so you cannot simply Fuse them to your shield to carry them that way.) Unfortunately, this imperviousness has also resulted in quite a lot of Video Game Cruelty Potential…
• Eternal English: Zigzagged. While the Zonai clearly had a different language than the one spoken in modern Hyrule (which Link is unable to read), some of the millennia-old steles are inscribed with modern Hyrulean. This is easy to explain, as Zelda probably wrote them in order to leave messages for Link. What is not explained however, is how Zelda was so easily able to communicate with the ancient Zonai herself.
• Ethereal Choir: Much like the previous games in the franchise, the soundtrack in the trailers use this to perform the series original theme
• Every Ten Thousand Points: In the Depths, Link can collect crystallized charges, either via drops, chests, or trading Zonaite to forge constructs; gather 100 of these charges, and you can add a new energy well to the battery he uses to power The zone I devices. The battery can hold a total of 27 energy walls maximum (including the three you start with) but after maxing it out, the crystallized charges can be treated for Zonai devices directly.
• Everything's Deader with Zombies: The Gerudo section of the regional phenomena quest line involves defending Gerudo Town from Gibdos, strange, lumbering, insectoid zombie-like creatures that seem to be made partially from sand.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Or in this case, a horse. One of the "Potential Princess Sightings" side quests has Link tracking down Zelda's Golden Horse. According to the stable hands, Zelda's beloved and usually loyal steed was terrified when she approached it, breaking free of the stall and running out into a blizzard. This is one of many hints that the Zelda who has been seen around Hyrule may not be what she seems. She is, in fact, Phantom Ganon in disguise.
• Evil Makes You Monstrous: While Ganondorf's evil creations were pretty monstrous to begin with, they become far more so this time around. Many of them have sharp, twisted horns on their skulls, which seem to have been put there through self-mutilation. The ones in the depths are far more savage and scary, due to gloom literally growing on their skin like a horrible rash.
  • And of course, Ganondorf becomes monstrous reflection of himself at the end of the game by consuming his secret stone and turning himself into the Demon Dragon, as his pride cannot endure being defeated.
• Evil Redhead: Ganondorf, as usual. The same goes for the mean, edgy-looking Gerudo who served him in the distant past, with a new incarnation of Twinrova being among their ranks.
• Exact Words: A side quest you can take involves a Seward construct on the roof of the Temple of time, challenging Link to light four bonfires in the Sky Kingdom, without eating anything or touching any part of the ground except that roof. The solution is to use the waterfalls and Zora Armor to fly from Island to island, and light the bonfires with arrows. It does not say you can't touch water.
• Expansion Pack World: Hyrule is much bigger this time around, but rather than literally expanding it, new maps are added above and below the surface, with the Depths underneath and the Sky Kingdom above.
• Exploding Barrels: Much like the previous game, these red barrels are often found in enemy encampments, causing damage to Link (or the enemies) if they explode. In addition to throwing them or triggering them with arrows, Link can Fuse them to his shield, giving any of the mobs trying to strike him in melee combat a nasty surprise. There are also cube-shaped explosives that go off after a few seconds after being struck by a weapon.

F

• Face of a Thug: Dondons are Dodongo-like creatures with bulky armored bodies and an imposing pair of horns, and are mistaken for fearsome monsters by civilians who have seen Zelda riding one. However, they're very peaceful, dopey creatures that actually seem to have a bit of a shy streak to them.
• Failed Attempt At Drama: In the epilogue, the Sages try to renew their Vows to assure Mineru, as she leaves for the afterlife, that Hyrule will be safe under their protection. Unfortunately, none of them are very experienced making speeches, and they mess up the lines. Still, she appreciates the gesture.
• Famed in Story Everybody knows who the Hero of the Wild is. Link is even able to get a job at the Lucky Clover Gazette because the editor recognizes him.
• Fantastic Drug: The Gorons are addicted to the new Marble Rock Roast, so much that they have become lazy and unwilling to do anything except eat it or gain more of it, becoming aggressive should anyone suggest they stop doing so. They've even been reduced to trying to con visitors out of their money in order to buy more. It even causes their eyes to glow blood red as a sign of its influence.
• Fantastic Flora: In addition to the fruits and vegetables that Link can harvest and use, there is Sundelions, flowers found in the Sky Kingdom that hold solar power within, and are able to cure the debilitating effect of the Gloom. The Depths are covered with forests of strange twisted trees with fronds resembling peacock feathers, and strange purple grass. They're also gigantic mushrooms and weird fern-like plants.
  • Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: The stat boosting fruit and mushrooms return from the previous game (except Hearty Durans), with a lot of new ones appearing, such as elemental fruit that can be bonded to weapons in order produce bursts of flame, frost, electricity, water, or flashes of light. There are also muddle buds, whose pollen disorients living creatures, puffshrooms, whose spores create obscuring smoke, and the explosive bomb flowers.
• Faux Affably Evil: When Ganondorf swears fealty to Rauru, he speaks politely to the honorable king... but that politeness is insincere and dripping with poorly-hidden contempt for the man, his wife, and his kingdom. Unsurprisingly, Rauru knows that he's full of shit, but plays along so he can keep a closer eye on him.
• Fat Bastard:
  • Hinoxes are as grotesquely fat and brutish as ever, but now we have Boss Bokoblins thrown into the mix. They're the bigger, fatter, meaner King Mooks of the Bokoblins and lead hordes of their lesser brethren into battle. When they're not patrolling the Hylian wilderness, Boss Bokoblins can be seen lazily lounging around and doing nothing.
  • And of course, Master Kohga turns out to be Not Quite Dead and is an active threat once more.
  • While it doesn't last, Yunobo goes from a Cowardly Lion and bonafide Nice Guy to an abrasive, slimy Jerkass who gladly spreads the highly-addictive Marbled Rock Roast throughout Goron City because of Phantom Ganon's brainwashing via cursed mask.
• Feed It a Bomb: Much like Dodongos, you can do some serious damage to Froxes by hurling bombs into their open maws.
• Fight Off the Kryptonite: Villainous example. When Ganondorf first wakes up, he nearly kills Link and destroys the master sword, a weapon that was specifically designed with him in mind. While a shattered piece of it does manage to cut him, the resulting wound heals within seconds. Only through several thousand years of linear time exposed to Zelda's divine light does the sword again become strong enough to harm him.
• Fighting a Shadow: The Phantom Ganons are, as Ganondorf himself claims, a puppet created by magic under his control.
• Fighting Your Friend: At Goron City, Link has to fight Yunobo to free him from the evil mask that has rendered him brainwashed and crazy.
• Fighting Spirit: Each of the Sages’ Vows except Mineru’s enables Link to call forth an avatar of the sage, which fights by his side.
• Final Boss Preview: Phantom Ganon is the boss at the end of the Hyrule Castle part of the mainline quest (and he is also fought if Link defeats a Gloom Spawn) his fighting style and diligent attack patterns giving a brief preview of what Link will encounter against Ganondorf himself. Once Phantom Ganon is defeated, the real Ganondorf shows up briefly, but flees when the four Sages arrive to give Link backup.
• Flat Character: The sages from the era of the Zonai don't really have any distinct personality traits beyond "wise predecessor who is proud of their descendant" and even give the same bits of exposition when you defeat the bosses of their respective temples. Unlike the Champions from the previous game, they're not really meant to be characters so much as they are plot devices.
• Flechette Storm: Done by Zelda, Rauru, and the original Sages in a flashback. Zelda and the Sages hurl their swords at Ganondorf, expecting him to dodge, with Zelda planning to use the Recall ability of the Purah Pad to send them back towards him. It doesn’t work, but they didn’t intend it to - it was meant as a distraction so Rauru could use his spell to seal him.
• Fling a Light Into the Future: A major point of the plot. Ganondorf was far too powerful for the sages to defeat, but they managed to seal him away, which they knew was a temporary solution. Knowing he would eventually break his bonds, they did all they could to leave warnings, instructions, and other aid through their descendants, in hopes Link could succeed where they failed.
• Floating Continent: The Sky Kingdom above Hyrule, an archipelago of floating islands holding ruins of the Zonai civilization
• Floating Water:
  • The Memories are small pools of water within geoglyphs; Link views each memory by finding and interacting with them.
  • On Wellspring Island, there are odd Zonai mechanisms that create spheres of water with their own localized gravity. Link can leap into these spheres to ride them across gaps or float higher, and can use Ultrahand and Recall to manipulate their path.
• Flunky Boss: Queen Gibdo. Like any queen insect worth her salt, she sics hordes of Gibdo drones on Link and Riju during her boss fights.
• Forced Perspective: Two examples:
  • In the quest “Sidon of Zora’s Domain”, Link is told to shoot an arrow fused with a King’s Scale (provided by King Dorphan) through a droplet among rocks surrounding Floating Scales Island. There is nothing on this island that resembles a droplet. However, if the player has Link walk around while moving the camera, a cluster of rocks eventually align in perspective into an outline of a teardrop, through which Link must shoot the arrow.
  • This is also how Link must find one of the Gerudo steles in the underground shelter in a side quest. The stele in question is in two pieces, the main part against the wall of the classroom, and another fixed on a pedestal. By positioning Link in a specific spot and viewing the two parts of the stele by a specific angle, the two can be viewed as one stele and the camera can be used to take a picture of it as such.

• Foreshadowing:
  • The game's logo is an ouroboros symbol composed of two dragons eating each other’s tails. This foreshadows 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 - he knew her personally in the distant past via the Stable Time Loop as 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 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... the hand has five 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. 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. 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, 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" 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 she 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 her, the description text says it exudes an "oddly familiar" power. Also, these parts are used in every step of upgrading the Champion'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. Seeing as the name of the questline is "The Dragon's Tears", it pretty much spells out the source of the memories and the identity of the Light Dragon right from the start.
    • Even the trailer has some hints to this. The second trailer ends with "Zelda’s Lullaby" played on an ehru, the same instrument used for the Spirit Dragons' 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 sword 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 by free-falling through its body! The final battle against Ganondorf's Demon Dragon form also takes place high in the sky and through near-constant free-falling.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: The “Bring Peace” quests have some heroic examples. These quests involve Link aiding the Monster Control Crew, volunteer squads of Hyruleans willing to fight to defend their homes, and the most diehard fans might recognize their leaders. In Breath of the Wild, Toren was a guy at the Tabantha Bridge Stable who was too afraid of heights to climb the mountain to look for the Great Fairy; Hoz was a lone self-made soldier patrolling the East Akada Stable, and Flaxel was a traveler who Link finds cornered by Bokoblins and has to rescue. In this game, all three NPCs have gotten much better skilled, enough to lead the three volunteer squads.
• Fungus Humongous: Towering stalks of fungi grow like trees in the Depths. The caps of this giant fungus can be used as platforms for Link to use with Ascend in order to reach high cliffs.
• Futile Hand Reach: As the Upheaval occurs and the ruins collapse around them, Link dives after Zelda as she falls into a dark abyss. He almost manages to grab her hand, but ultimately fails. Fortunately, a golden aura surrounds Zelda as she falls, and she ends up teleported somewhere else - or rather, somewhen else - safely.

G

• Game Over: Of course, this message is shown when Link is defeated, but the game has a creative addition to it that takes a while to notice. If his hearts are reduced to zero by an elemental attack, the letters in the message are of inappropriate color, red for fire, blue for ice, and yellow for electricity.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • The grave injury Link suffers at the beginning of the game is the reason he cannot use the Master Sword, and his Heart Containers are reduced to three. During the third phase of the final battle, much later, Ganondorf's gloom attacks are more lethal than normal, as they completely destroy Link’s heart containers, rather than render them unusable, meaning this damage cannot be healed at all. Fortunately, those lost Hearts are restored before the 4th phase of the battle.
  • Should the player encounter a fight that is too tough for him to handle, the most reliable way to escape is by using the teleporting feature of the Purah Pad. In one of the memory flashbacks, this is exactly what Zelda does when confronted by Ganondorf utilizing his power of the Demon King for the first time.
  • In BotW, the mechanic where the Master Sword had limited amount of energy and needed time to recharge after losing it was mostly added for the sake of gameplay to keep the player from permanently losing the Sword of Plot Advancement by using it too much on common enemies. Here, it is formally established that the sword can regenerate damage over time, although the most severe of damage can take years, or even centuries to repair.
  • Master Kohga claims that after he and Link fought in the previous game, he was thrown into the Depths. Sure enough, if you go to the spot where that fight took place, the Bottomless Pit that was there the last time is now a chasm that leads to the Depths.
  • After Link defeats the Phantom Ganon that was disguised as Zelda, there is no longer any commentary when the Blood Moon appears.
  • Rubies, topaz, and sapphires were stated to have elemental affinities in Breath of the Wild, and that was supported by elemental Taluses dropping the corresponding stone (Igneo with fiery rubies and Frost with cold sapphires). This game makes their elemental properties even more present in gameplay, since Fusing topaz, rubies, sapphires, or opals onto your weapons adds their stated elemental power to them.
  • The three dragons will periodically head on into the Depths after a certain amount of time. Notably, unlike the others, the Light Dragon will never go into the Depths, always remaining in the overworld. Considering who the Light Dragon is, despite losing her memories and personality, she likely retained enough basic sense from long ago to know just how dangerous the Gloom and the Depths really are.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • The game is set a few years after Breath of the Wild, and while many Hyrulean NPCs recognize Link and remember him fondly for the first game, there are some scenes where returning characters don't seem to remember him. Perhaps most obviously, the only residents of Tarrey Town who treat Link familiarly at the start are Hudson and Rhondson, despite Link's work being responsible for the residency of everyone else there as well. Greyson and Pelison, Kapson, and Fyson in particular were NPCs Link had to personally invite to the town, but they don't seem to recognize him this time.
  • Completing the "Dragon's Tears" sidequest, which slowly tells the story of what happened to Zelda and where she is now, has no bearing on remaining sidequests and the main quest, whose stories continue to hinge on the mystery of Zelda's whereabouts even if Link and the player already know and would logically be able to speak up about it and clarify a few things.
  • Despite the Master Sword having had much, much longer to heal this time around and constantly absorbing holy power that whole time to become much stronger than it was previously, it still has the recharge penalty from Breath of the Wild after extended use, despite logically being in its most powerful incarnation yet. Also, much like in BotW, it is repeatedly stated that the Master Sword is the only weapon capable of defeating Ganondorf, but the player is able to use any weapon against him.
  • The Zonai Research Team - including Impa and Mattison - frequently use Zonai Balloons, which are one of the few devices to have a usage time limit before disappearing, yet Mattison is able to fly one all the way across Hyrule from Tarrey Town to Gerudo Town.
• Gang Plank Galleon: many of Ganondorf's minions have taken to piracy, using Eventide Island as their main base and having taken over Lurelin Village. Liberating the town is a quest line for Link to take. Another pirate ship has docked on the coast of East Akkada, threatening the nearby stable. There is even a ghost pirate ship in Cape cave, with Stalos enemies as the crew. In each case, link has to board the ship to defeat them.
• Gemstone Assault: While the gemstones were either used to upgrade certain pieces of gear or sold to merchants for a ton of money in the previous game, in this one, they can be fused to weapons in order to create makeshift Fire/Water/Lightning/Ice Rods. In fact, these Gem-fused weapons replace the elemental rods wielded by the Wizzrobes outright.
• Genius Bruiser: Mineru; The Smart Gal among the original Sages, she has downloaded her soul into a Mini-Mecha to fight alongside Link, her robotic body making her more than a match for Elite Mooks like the Boss Bokoblins.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar:
  • The first Shrine you will deal with (where you gain the Ultrahand ability) has two iron orbs dangling from chains, with no real purpose other than to practice the ability on. Didn’t take long for many fans to notice that when both are attached together they resemble certain male reproductive organs.
  • If Link tries to enter the Gerudo Shelter before getting permission from Riju (which requires doing part of the mainline quest) the guards will kick him out like they did in BotW, but if the player decides to truly tempt fate and sneak in after taking off all his armor, they’ll actually throw him in jail until her gets dressd. (The snarky jailer saying, “I know the desert is hot, but it’s not that hot!") They aren’t the only female NPCs who will notice if Link is only wearing his skivvies.
  • Also, items you can pick up from bedside tables in both Gerudo inns - Goat Butter and Oil Jars. Draw your own conclusions.
• The Ghost:
  • Bizarrely, Kass of all characters is nowhere to be seen, but is instead alluded to by his daughters and Penn at the end of his sidequest chain.
  • The Bandit Misko (assuming still alive) is never seen. Nothing is known of his (or to be fair, her) past or motivations.
• Ghost Town: This is the state Gerudo Town is in when you first arrive: unrelenting sandstorms and ferocious Gibdo have forced the native Gerudo into an underground shelter, allowing the creepy zombie-bugs to roam freely above ground as they try to think of a way to drive them off for good.
• Giant Spider: Marbled Gohma, who combines this trope with Giant Enemy Crab in true Gohma fashion.
• Glass Cannon: Royal Guard weapons once again, but now Gerudo weapons function in this way.
• Global Currency Exception: There are a couple of vendors that don't use the otherwise universal Rupees:
  • The Bargainer statues trade their goods for Poes, which are lost souls scattered throughout the Depths.
  • The Zonaite Forge Constructs trade Zonaite ore and Large Zonaite ore for charges and power cells. Justified as Link's providing the material to forge new ones.
• Glowing Eyelights of Un-Death: Ganondorf's decomposed form, which Link and Zelda encounter in the prologue, sports orange glowing eyes made of Malice upon becoming aware of their presence and turning to confront them.
• Godzilla Threshold: Over the course of the story via the completion of specific quests, it is revealed that with Ganondorf assassinating Queen Sonia and claiming her Secret Stone for himself to become the Demon King, the Sages failing to defeat him, which forces Rauru to sacrifice himself to seal him away, Mineru sealing her soul within the Purah Pad, and with the Master Sword still destroyed from the beginning of the game, Zelda ultimately decides to swallow her Secret Stone and become the Light Dragon (a process that robs her of her humanity) to restore the Master Sword over countless millennia, until Link is ready to claim it once more.
• Golden Ending: If the player completes all the main quests and views all the memories, there is additional content in the end credits where Link and his allies say their goodbyes to Mineru, with the Sages promising to abide by their alliance and maintain peace in Hyrule.
• Good Bad Bugs: One way to benefit from the Blood Moon is to save all your cooking until it occurs. Anything cooked between 11:30 and midnight on the night of a Blood Moon will be a critical and the results will be maximum efficiency, and it’s possible to see it around 10:30 or so. However, should you need more than 30 minutes to cook everything in your inventory, there’s a useful glitch that can help. When it’s 11:50, teleport to a Shrine and enter the Shrine. This will cancel the actual Blood Moon effect until the next night, giving you an additional 30 minutes to use the cooking effect.
• Gory Discretion Shot: In the flashback cutscene where Ganondorf murders Sonia, the shot is framed in a way that makes it impossible to even see how it happens or what sort of weapon he uses. Despite this, it is still terrifying, adequately expressing that this is the exact point where he crosses the Moral Event Horizon.
• G-Rated Drug: Marbled Rock Roast, a suspicious-looking cut of maroon-colored Rock Roast that messes with the minds of Gorons that eat it. They tend to either become lazy and lethargic, or aggressively try to push it onto other people, but the unifying thread is that they can't stop eating the stuff, and end up with red eyes to coincide with their addiction.
• Gravity Screw: some areas of the Sky Kingdom, most notably the Water Temple and the aria leading up to it, have a low gravity effect, enabling Link to clear much larger distances by a jumping.
• Green Rocks: Zonaite is a literal example, a glowing green mineral that is instrumental to the Zonai's miraculous technology. Link uses it to “glue” items (including Zonai technology) together via his Ultrahand ability, and to power his Autobuild ability, using the zonite to conjure the parts out of thin air. Zonite is also used to both fuel the battery used to power them, and upgrade the battery itself.
• Grievous Harm With A Body: Hoblins and Boss Bokoblins often attack by throwing things at Link, usually rocks or explosive barrels; they also tend to throw the regular Bokoblins at Link if there’s nothing else to throw.
• Ground Pound: Both Frox and Lynels have this as an attack.
  • Link himself can do this by infiltrating the Yiga Clan and learning the Earthquake technique. Having done that, by using the Attack command with no weapon equipped, he can cause the ground to shake under enemies, knocking them down.
• Guest Star Party Member: During the main story, Tulin, Yunobo, Sidon, and Riju will each accompany you to their respective dungeons and help you fight the monsters inside. While they leave your party once they awaken as Sages aside from a few moments later in the story, they leave aspects of their powers with you that play the same role as they did.
• Guide Damn It:
  • If you didn't learn it from the previous game, the game has nothing to tell you how to use the Rock Octorocks to repair weapons. It's certainly does not tell you about the trick you can use repair unique weapons either.
  • A few items are tricky to use because the way they work is not immediately obvious. Hover Blocks for example. They negate up-down momentum (meaning, that if you place one in water, a buoyant object underneath will not push it aside) but not lateral momentum (if pushed from the side by an impact, it will movie in the direction it was pushed and not stop until it reaches an obstacle).
  • All of the Shrines on the surface have a corresponding Lightroot underneath them in the depths, each Lightroot’s name being an inverse of that of the corresponding Shrine. This makes the Shines invaluable for finding well-hidden Lightroots, and vice versa. The only clue you get to figuring out this system is a brief remark in one of the research notes during the quest to unlock the camera feature.
  • Overlapping with You Have Researched Breathing, Link's official signature look for this game pairs the Champion's Leathers armor with the Hylian Hood, with the hood worn down. In order to wear it that way however, you have to go speak to Cece after the election quest while wearing the hood. Do so, and she will adjust it so it is worn down. Nothing about the item’s description even suggests this.
  • Speaking of which, the Champion's Leathers is pretty much a revamped version of the Champion's Tunic from the previous game, but unlike that older set, it does not let you see the exact hit points of opposing monsters. Its new effect, which is not mentioned anywhere in the items description, is to use the beam casting ability of the Master Sword even when Link is not at full health.
  • The questline, "A Call from the Depths". Simply starting the quest is a puzzler. The Goddess Statue tells in the Temple Ruins tells you “I am trapped… under the water… behind the stone gate… of the Great Plateau.” Most players assume this stone gate is on or near a body of water on the Plateau itself, but… where? The Great Plateau has many lakes, rivers, ponds, and one waterfall, but none seem to have any stone gate, and many players have searched the whole area for hours without finding what they are looking for. To find the solution, you actually have to leave the Great Plateau, find a breakable stone wall on the cliffside of it, and then break it, an action that causes the Reservoir to drain, revealing the gate (more of a dam or sorts) and the small Collector Statue. This also grants you an easier way to access the Plateau, by the way.

H

• Handicapped Badass: Link, whose arm had to be cut off and replaced with one of Rauru's due to the threat of Ganondorf's corruption infecting his entire body. While he starts off heavily weakned with his stats knocked firmly back to square one, he ends the game a bigger Badass than he already was in the previous game!
• Happy Ending Override: Breath of the Wild ended on a positive note, with Link finally rescuing Zelda and eliminating the threat that is Calamity Ganon once and for all. Peace seemed to have returned to Hyrule at long last, only for an even deadlier type of Malice to start leaking out from underground...
• He Was Right There All Along: Two important NPCs are missing, but are in fact, there from the start.
  • "Find Zelda" is the first quest Link will take and the last one he will finish, but she is, in fact, in plain site, having turned herself into the Dragon of Light, continually soaring the skies of Hyrule until Link is able to gain back the Master Sword.
  • Each Sage gives Link a ring for his prostetic hand, and there seem to be four Sages... But all five fingers on the hand can accomodate a ring. Who is the fifth Sage? That would be Mineru, the Sage of Spirit, who downloaded her soul into the Purah Pad thousands of years ago, meaning Link has been carrying her since he woke up on the Sky Islands. It is only after realizing that there is a fifth Sage that Link is able to look for a way to communicate with her, which leads him to a quest to provide a better body for her.}}
• Healing Checkpoint: Completing a Shrine fills all of Link’s Heart Containers to maximum; so does gaining another Heart Container from a Goddess Statue. The Lightroots heal all Gloom damage, so you can heal them normally.
• Heavily Armored Mook: Two types of enemies come in armored variants, with the added durability you'd expect with the trope. One is Armored Bokoblins... and the other is Armored LYNELS.
• Helping Would Be Killstealing: Oddly enough, Link is on the opposite side of this Trope in the "Bring Peace" quests. He helps the Monster Control Crew on occassion, but they don't want him to officially join them, as they might become too dependent on him.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • In the backstory, King Raruru did this in order to seal the Demon King. He is still around as a benevolent spirit.
  • Non-lethal example, Zelda accepts a Fate Worse Than Death in the hopes of vanquishing Ganondorf forever. Trapped in the past, she consumes her Dragon Tear (the focus of her power as the Sage of Time), turning herself into the Light Dragon (an act that she had been warned with destroy her humanity) and then implants the destroyed Master Sword in her scales. Over the next several thousand years, the Sword regains its power and then some as she takes The Slow Path back to Link. Sure, there is a way to restore her to normal, after the final boss is defeated, but she didn't know that.
• High Altitude Battle: Thanks to the newfound emphasis on flying, several climactic battles take place high in the sky: Moragia is meant to be fought with a Zonai flying machine, Colgera is fought high above the Wind Temple/Stormwind Ark (which is itself ridiculously high in the sky), and the Demon Dragon is fought in the sky as well.
• History Repeats: First of all, Gandondorf's origin told via the Memory Tears is similar to that of Ocarina of Time, being a megalomanical Gerudo King who acquires a great power, only to be foiled by the Sages and sealed away (though in this case, the "great power" is the one of the Zonai's secret stones rather than the Triforce). In the present day, Ganondorf seems to make the same mistake he made as Calamity Ganon, sacrificing his mind to obtain raw power, leading to his defeat via his own hubris.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • With his Recall power, Link can cause certain enemies and even bosses to be hit by their own attacks. Marbled Gohma is the most notable example, since launching its boulders right back at it is one of the few ways you can hurt it.
  • Likewise, transforming into the Demon Dragon seems to be what ultimately seals Ganondorf's fate. While he's ridiculously powerful due to transforming into a titanic dragon, his mind has regressed into a feral, animalistic state meaning that he's missing a key part of what made him so dangerous in the first place: his intelligence.
  • Once again, this trope ends up being how Kohga is dealt with at the end of his sidequest chain. His sloppy handling of a whole bunch of Zonai Rockets leads to him blasting off again. While it's unlikely that he's dead considering that he survived a far more definitive-looking "death", it's still enough to put him out of commission for the rest of the game.
  • When a Gleeox is reduced to about 25% of its health, it flies way up high where Link can't reach it, and then unleashes a devestating super attack; Flame Gleeox use giant fireballs, Frost Gleeox drop giant iciciles, Lightning Gleeox conjure up a thunderstorn to call lighting down on Link, and King Gleeox can do any of the three. But each time, this potent attack is the key to bringing it down. Both the fireballs and thunderstorm set the ground on fire, enabling Link to use his glider to ride the backdraft upward, while he can use Recall on the icicles to ride them upward,and in each case, let him have it with an arrow rush.

• Holding Out for a Hero: For the first time in the franchise, this Trope is Defied. Link is still the prophesied hero whose goal is to bring peace to Hyrule, but the Hyrulians aren’t just cowering in fear this time. Finishing a temple grants Link an ally that creates a magical clone of the Sage to fight alongside him, and a volunteer squad of civilians (the Monster Control Crew) is scouring the countryside rooting out Ganondorf’s dark minions. Link crosses paths with this Ragtag Group of Misfits many times, and each subsequent time shows more improvement in their skills with their makeshift weapons and armor gradually replaced by real gear, showing that they’re continuing their work offscreen. This is one time Link can be assured He Is Not Alone.
• A Homeowner Is You: Similar to the previous game (where Link bought and fixed up an old house in Hateno Village, which is now Zelda’s house) Link can buy and customize a home. In this case, Hudson Construction has a modular architectural design with far more customization options than before. Link buys individual rooms and then uses Ultrahand to arrange them in whatever shape and style he desires (within a 15-room limit) adding such amenities as a garden, kitchen with stove, display rooms for weapons and shields, a horse stable, and a Goddess shrine.
• Homing Projectile: Attaching monster eyeballs to arrows will turn them into these. In particular, it's a godsend when you're up against a Gleeok.
• Honor Before Reason: Addison never seems to figure out that posting a large sign is a two-person job, and is stuck holding up the signs to prevent them from falling, until Link helps prop them up so he can secure them.
• Hospitality for Heroes: Several examples:
  • Once Link drives the pirates out of Lurelin Village and then helps rebuild it, there are plenty of benefits provided by the grateful town folk. First of all there are some weapons and food that can be picked up everyday. Also, Link can get a free random meal at the restaurant once per day (also good for cataloging recipes, and you can get it to go), get a free room at the inn once per day (but if you want to use the special spa treatment, you must give The innkeeper five rock salts), and use the casino free once per day to get a random monster part that can be fused with weapons. He will let you do it twice if you give him a cooked Porgy. In addition, if you recover the fish monger’s boat, he will have some merchandise to give Link for free every day.
  • Once you complete the "Mattison's Independence" questline (which basically consists of Link acting as babysitter for the 8-year-old Mattison before she has to travel to Gerudo Town) her mother will sell him a plot of land to build a house for the bargain price of 1,500 rupees, which is indeed a bargain, seeing as an acre of land is worth far more than 300 pieces of Hayato Cheese (to give one example), which can be bought for the same.
  • After you rescue Chumin from Malpa Point Cave, he'll open up a shop near the Research Lab. While he can't give Link anything for free, he does sell some things that cannot be bought elsewhere, like Razorclaw Crabs.
  • After you save the Great Deku Tree from the Gloom infestation, the Korak inkeeper will let you use the beds for free. The market also opens, and while you still have to pay there, the merchandise includes rare mushrooms that cannot be purchased at other stores.
• Horned Humanoid: This seems to have been a racial trait for the Zonai, given the presence of horns on Rauru's head. There's also Ganondorf, who grows a little pair of devil horns after becoming the Demon King.
• Hot Scientist: Purah. Thanks to fine-tuning her anti-aging rune, she's physically around the same age as she was in Age of Calamity and looks stunning as a result.
  • While he's more of a Hot Archaeologist, Tauro is a shirtless Hunk and a huge history geek to boot.
• Hot Teacher: Zelda is one, having founded an elementary school during the Time Skip. Sadly, the player never gets to see her teach though it has created a lot of Fanfic Fuel.
• Humanoid Abomination: By stealing and corrupting Sonia's stone, Ganondorf went from a powerful Gerudo warrior to something a whole lot worse. By the present day he's less a man and more of am ancient, nearly unkillable demon wearing a man's skin, and his Demon King form is one giant Call Back to Demise.
• Humongous Mecha: Mineru's soul ends up inside one of these once you tackle her questline, and the boss of the Construct Factory is a Psycho Prototype of her mecha body corrupted by Malice. Likewise, Kohga ends up controlling one of his own during the final battle with him. Compared to his previous boss fights, he's actually somewhat dangerous.
  • If you want to, you can create one of yours by combining a bunch of materials together with Ultrahand. The best part is that due to how flexible the fusing system is, you can create machines as elaborate as Metal Gear Rex, and machines as crude and silly as the ever-popular flamethrower dick robots.
• Hypocrite: While Mayor Reede and Cece's antagonistic relationship comes from each party being too stubborn to accept the other's way of doing things, it turns out that they secretly indulge in the very things that they claim to hate. Reede is trying to create a new breed of pumpkin inspired by Cece's fashionable designs, while Cece herself will sneak off to gorge herself on Hateno's produce because of how much she enjoys it. Confronting the both of them on their hypocritical behavior is what ultimately leads to them growing closer as father and daughter and burying the hatchet.

I

• I Shall Taunt You: Bokoblins often laugh evilly after making an attack on Link (whether they hit him or not), which is often an opening for you to strike them back.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Tragically, the normally wise Rauru ends up holding onto it with a death grip despite trying to avoid doing exactly that. While he justified his decision to welcome Ganondorf into Hyrule as him keeping an eye on him, it backfires on him big time when Ganondorf murders his wife, steals her Sacred Stone, and turns into an unstoppable Humanoid Abomination. Judging by how he acts while visiting Sonia's grave, he must be seriously beating himself up inside for ever thinking that such a stupid plan could have turned out okay.
  • The Hyrulian volunteer army is dedicated, loyal, and brave but as some quests show, not very bright:
    • In the “Gourmets Gone Missing” sidequest, you have to go out to look for missing travelers who are supposedly gourmet cooks; when you find their camp, all of them are sick. Seems Zelda had given them a recipe for Meat and Rice Bowl that seems simple (“Raw meat, Hylian Rice, and Rock Salt”) but for the Raw Meat part they used monster parts - as an NPC puts it, even children know enough never to do that.
    • In “For Our Princess!” a group of soldiers at the Hebra Stable claim they received a letter from Zelda, telling them “So prepare your mind and body and explore in your underpants.” They’re unwilling to question their beloved Princess, but aren’t doing a very good job and not willing to confront a cave full of monsters unarmed and without armor. Once Link shows them that it’s possible (a No Gear Level, of course) Leica comes by, telling them that someone misinterpreted the letter; it actually said, “So prepare your mind and body and explore all other paths.”
• Ignored Epiphany: The Evil Statue that was originally in Hateno Village (whom Link could use to swap his Heart Containers for Stamina Vessels and vice versa) has been further punished by the Goddess, buried in an abandoned shrine in Lookout Landing. It admits to Link that it should have learned its lesson, but refuses to, and still cannot resist making its infernal deals.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: There is a subtle hint that the “Zelda” Link is trailing might not truly be her, as the clothing she is wearing is different than what she was wearing when she disappeared, and is not anything she previously wore. She is, however, wearing it in some of the memories, with Queen Sofia wearing the same style of dress - obviously, Sofia leant it to Zelda, and there is no memory where Ganondorf interacts with or even sees Zelda wearing anything other than that dress, so his version of Zelda is the one Ganondorf is familiar with, which is not familiar to anyone in modern Hyrule. Consequently, this detail is not missed by the Yiga Clan members who disguise as Zelda, as they have not seen Zelda wearing this style.
• In the End You Are on Your Own: Zig-Zagged during the game's finale. If you've awakened all the Sages you'll be horrified to see that they can't follow you into Ganondorf's lair deep beneath Hyrule Castle. However, they manage to get a Big Damn Heroes moment where they come to your aid during the Multi-Mook Melee near the end of the daunting trek to Ganondorf's lair. While they end up staying behind to fight off the resurrected temple bosses, they catch up just in time to take the pressure off you when Ganondorf summons a few Phantom Ganons to help him out in the final battle.
• Infinity-1 Sword:
  • The equipment drops from Silver Bokoblins are the weakest of the silver monsters', but hey: their horns and Royal weapons still pack a tremendous punch.
  • Zonaite weapons with the “Mighty” quality are weather-proof (meaning they do not attract lightning and do not burn up in volcanic areas) and become stronger when Construct parts are fused to it.
  • The Champion weapons from the previous game are available again after finishing the equivalent temples, and while it takes some searching to find the parts to forge them (or reforge them once they break) they are worth the effort, as they have very decent stats for their weapon types. The Lightscale Trident and Scimitar of the Seven are useful in that they retain the properties of the weapons they are forged from, meaning the former grants double attack power in the rain while the latter doubles the power of fused material.
• Infinity+1 Sword: On the other hand, Silver Lynel drops are once again busted beyond belief. Their mace and saber horns give the weapons they're attached to a tremendous damage boost, and the bows they drop are often 5-shot bows, meaning that you can fire five arrows at once while it only counts as you using one.
• Inescapable Ambush: Much like the previous game, talking to an NPC that is actually a Yiga in disguise will result in a battle no matter what Link’s reply is. Once you figure out that these disguised Yiga all have generic names, they become easier to avoid.
• Interface Spoiler:
  • “Find Princess Zelda” is the most important Main Line quest, but once Link learns that Zelda is the Light Dragon, the quest is not resolved nor updated, even after Link gains the Master Sword from her back. Nor is her Character Profile updated. This hints that Link’s task regarding her is not done and that the change might be possible to reverse.
  • Like in the previous game, the Yiga Clan uses disguise to get close to Link in order to ambush, which occurs if you talk to them. This time, however, in place of an NPC name, they are identified via genetic names like “Traveler” or “Researcher’. Once you figure that out, it’s easier to avoid them.
• Intrepid Reporter: Penn, a Rito reporter for the Lucky Clover Gazette (Hyrule’s best - and only - newspaper, who is investigating the “Potential Princess Sightings”, being the Quest Giver for that questline.

J

• Jerkass: Calip, the self-important Insufferable Genius researcher who talks down to you and refuses to let you set foot on Kakariko Village's Ring Ruins until the plot allows you to do so. And while Hunnie from Tarrey Town has Taken a Level In Kindness since the last game, her dad Hagie hasn't become any less of an arrogant old miser.
• Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Cece. While she comes off as little more than a power-hungry, self-centered jerk during Hateno Village's election sidequest, by the end of it she reconciles with her father and concedes the mayoral race to him.
• Joke Item: The Tingle set. This is one of Misko’s treasures, proving that Misko was not without a sense of humor. Ignoring the obvious, the only real benefit this set has is making Link faster at night, seeing as he would obviously not want to be seen wearing it in daylight.
• The Joys of Torturing Mooks: Part of the fun of messing around with the Ultrahand ability is coming up with all sorts of creative ways to kill enemies. Whether it's running them over with massive ATV's, launching giant exploding dicks at them, burning them alive in gas chambers, or siccing an army of killer roombas on them, the sky is truly the limit.
• Jump Scare:
  • There's an infamous one in Hyrule Castle that's bound to catch most players off-guard: through a very narrow doorway is a room full of Horriblins clinging to the ceiling. Because of said narrow doorway you won't know they're there until one of them drops right in front of you without any warning whatsoever.
  • The Evermeans are living trees that look just like any other tree in the game. As such, they can easily jump at you when you least expect it, even in broad daylight.
  • Whenever you approach a cave, there's a good chance that a swarm of Keese will appear out of nowhere to fly in your face; they don’t attack you, thankfully.
  • If you aren't aware of where Gloom Spawns usually appear, then it can be quite a shock when you suddenly see the sky turn blood red and you hear a loud, hellish shriek and not knowing where it is until it's too late. Even if you do know where they spawn, you have to witness a bloody looking pool of Gloom suddenly materialize before your eyes before those monstrous hands pop up. And even if you manage to defeat them, surprise, now there's a Phantom Ganon!
• Justified Tutorial: While he isn't amnesiac like in the previous game, Link's been given a whole new set of abilities by Rauru in order to help him fight against Ganondorf's hordes of monsters. Thus, the justification behind the brand new Great Plateau-style tutorial in this game.

K

• Kansas City Shuffle:
  • Sonia falls victim to this ploy; as shown in one of the flashbacks, Phantom Ganon disguises himself as Zelda in order to get close to Sonia with a knife, but both Sonia and the real Zelda are wise to him and foil the attempt. But that was only a distraction for the real Ganondorf to attack.
  • Some time later, the same technique is used against him. The Sages all hurl their weapons at him, he dodges, and Zelda uses Recall to send them back towards him. But she has used this trick before, so he effortlessly dodges again… and realizes too late this was a distraction for Rauru to strike and use his magic to seal him.
• Katanas Are Just Better:
  • The Gloom Sword resembles the typical katana, and it is incredibly powerful, boasting a base power of 41 without any other item fused to them, when other weapons have a limit of 30 or so (and those are usually two-handed, a Gloom Sword being a one-handed sword). However, it also inflicts Gloom damage over time to the wielder.
  • Link can build one himself by fusing a Blue Lizalfos horn to a one-handed weapon, and such a fuse increases the power by +16. Silver Lionel Horns are among the strongest Fuse materials in the game, creating a Katana blade with a whopping +55 attack power.
• Killed Off for Real: Rauru, Sonia, and Mineru don't survive the events of the game. While there was no way they would thanks to them hailing from Hyrule's distant past, they each had their life cut short by Ganondorf. Ganondorf, likewise, seems to have been definitively killed off... or at least, this version of the character.
• Kill It with Fire: Dragon head-shaped flamethrowers are among the Zonai devices you can create. Early on you're nudged into combining one with a shield in a cave that's home to a Like-Like, and the result is a fire-breathing shield!
• Kill It with Water: The same, likewise, can be accomplished with Hydrants attached to constructs and weapons. The Zora's Domain scenario, in fact, revolves around washing away toxic grime and fighting sludge-spewing monsters. It almost feels like you're playing a Zelda-flavored version of Super Mario Sunshine.
  • Like in Breath of the Wild, most enemies except Lizalfos drown if they enter deep water, making this an easy (and sadistically humorous) way to deal with them. It even works on Gloom Spawn.
• King Mook: There's three among the enemies, overworld bosses, and temple bosses respectively.
  • For the enemies, there are the Boss Bokoblins. Bigger, fatter, stronger, and meaner than your bog-standard Bokoblins, they lead several of their weaker brethren into battle and coordinate group attacks by blowing on special horns.
  • For the overworld bosses, there are the Froxes and Obsidian Froxes in the Depths. They prefer to fight you solo though, so don't expect any of the little baby Froxes to jump in and help their big bros out.
  • And finally, there's the boss of the Gerudo Desert scenario: Queen Gibdo. She's the Hive Queen of the new buglike Gibdos, and she'll unleash hordes of them on you during her boss fight.
• Knight of Cerebus: Ganondorf. While Tears of the Kingdom is generally more lighthearted than Breath of the Wild, Ganondorf is a cruel, bloodthirsty monster who's treated less like a man, and more like a horrific ancient evil. When he shows up, things never fail to take a turn for the worst.
• Knockback: Link can grant this property to a Shield by fusing it with a Zonai Springboard, Zonai Bomb, or explosive barrel. Mushrooms can do the same to weapons.
• Kryptonite-Proof Suit: The Depths set (and Midna's Helmet) gives limited resistance to Gloom damage, as the armor itself has three Hearts. If exposed to Gloom, the armor’s hearts are expended first, so Link is safe so long as there is at least one. Unlike Link, this Gloom damage on the armor goes away after a minute or so.

L

• Lack of Empathy: Ganondorf. Just to show much of a sociopath he is, when he kills Sonia, he laughs like a total jackass... but only after Zelda starts crying as she cradles the dying queen in her arms.
• Lady Land: Gerudo Town once again. However, because they're facing down a potential Gibdo Apocalypse, they have no choice but to welcome Link, a man, into their town so he can help fight back against the hordes of zombie bugs descending upon their home. Once Queen Gibdo has been killed, Riju allows him to come and go as he pleases as the one man allowed into Gerudo Town.
• Lady of War: Riju, who carries herself with queenly grace, dignity, and beauty as she cuts through monsters on the battlefield. Urbosa would be proud.
• Land, Sea, Sky: Three of the four Boss Battles against Master Kohga involve him creating Autobuild vehicles to assault Link using a different motif. The first is a tank with spiked armor, the second is a flying machine which he uses to assault from above, and the third is a motorboat on a river.
• Laser Blade: Many Zonai weapons are blue and glowy, similar to the Ancient and Guardian weapons from the previous game. Link can also make his own by fusing a weapon with Gleeok horns, which creates a beam of the appropriate element when swung.
• Laser Hallway: These are a new hazard for Shrines and some areas of the Sky Islands, usually triggering a trap that causes the floor to give way.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
  • In the final trailer, Ganondorf’s claim, "You witness a king's revival..." could refer to how he is returning to the franchise after being absent for 17 years
  • And of course, the Purah Pad is a Magitek version of the Nintendo Switch
• Legend Fades to Myth: While Calamity Ganon is well known (and feared) in present day Hyrule, the original Imprisoning War happened so long ago that few have ever heard of “Ganondorf”. The lore of Breath of the Wild does hint at a connection between Calamity Ganon and the Gerudo, but when Zelda and Link open the tomb, they have no idea who or what they have found, despite the more potent Malice. Zelda is very concerned about the similarity in names and views him as Obviously Evil, but still does not seem to see a connection and realize that the first villain is a reflection of the newer one.
  • There is also a sidequest where Link provides visual evidence of the Calamity to schoolchildren. Because this happened so long ago, they regard it as myth rather than history, even though Zelda has been teaching the class personally.
• Lethal Joke Weapon: Bouncy Weapons, created by using Fuse with a mushroom, are this. While not very powerful, the mushroom gives Link quite a powerful knockback with his strike, adequate for throwing a Bokoblin or similar small mook into a lake or over a cliff.
• Level in Boss Clothing: This game has some literal examples, with groups of mobs referred to as Monster Forces. All the monsters in one area, often a cave, have a shared life bar and you must defeat them all to win the battle. If Link is killed or falls back and retreats before all of them are slain, you have to start the whole battle over.
  • The Demon King's Army, which Link and his friends have to fight right before the final boss appears, combines this with Sequential Boss, As once the first wave of mobs is defeated a stronger wave appears, and then a third after that. Only after all three are destroyed is the lifebar depleted and the battle ends.
• Leitmotif: Many scores from previous games of the franchise are used in certain situations, like the main theme of the franchise and "Zelda's Lullaby".
• Light and Mirrors Puzzle: The Lightning Temple and a couple of shrines make use of Zonai Mirrors to reflect beams of light onto solar panels for a variety of effects.
• Light Is Good: While it comes with the territory in a Zelda game, there's a lot of emphasis on the divine restorative power of light combating corrupting, infectious darkness.
  • Rauru, the Sage of Light in Hyrule's distant past, is the game's Big Good and saves Link's life by grafting his own arm onto the hero's body in order to stop Ganondorf's Malice/Gloom from slowly killing him from the inside. Link further dispels the corruption by recieving "Lights of Blessing" from the various Zonai shrines showing up around Hyrule.
  • During one Dragon's Tear memory, Rauru protects Hyrule from a horde of rampaging Molduga by nuking them with a massive beam of light further empowered by his wife Sonia, and his descendant Zelda. This is what shows the dark-alligned Ganondorf that he can't simply conquer Hyrule through brute force.
  • The mysterious Light Dragon seen flying high in the sky is the only Spirit Dragon who can't passively hurt Link due to being a transformed, amnesiac Princess Zelda, and she even helps Link fight the hellish Demon Dragon during the game's final battle. With that being said, the other Spirit Dragons are still benevolent themselves and while not as outright light-associated as the newest member of their fold, they still glow with a supernatural light and freely allow Link to farm their body parts in order to create powerful weapons, potent elixirs, and upgrade several pieces of clothing.
  • While Gibdos are weak to every element, you're encouraged to take advantage of the beams of light shining down from the Lightning Temple's ceilings and reflect them onto the horrible beasts with MacGuyver'd Mirror Shields.
  • While Gloom damage can't be healed normally, sunlight and the lightroots in the Depths will dispel it and let him heal normally once again. Also, gloom damage can be mitigated with Sundelions that have been cooked into meals.
• Lighter and Softer: While the game has a horrific beginning, with the awakening of a villain far more vile and terrifying than the one in the previous game, the overall story isn’t quite as dark. Breath of the Wild had an overarching feeling of despair, loss of identity, isolation, and dread, with Hyrule a scarred and broken land with citizens desperately trying to cope with the horrors spawned by the tragedy 100 years previous. Now, however, they aren’t going to let it happen a second time. With hope restored, Hyrule has become brighter and empowering, with recovery underway and the people united against the threat, with quite a few moments of humor due to people able to laugh again. Most importantly, Tears makes it clear that for once, Link does not have to face this crisis alone.
• Lily Pad Platform: You can find these in all sorts of bodies of water, and swimming towards one and standing on top of it is a good way to restore your stamina and avoid drowning.
• Logical Weakness: Evermeans are nasty mooks and are very strong, but seeing as they are trees, two strikes with an axe will take one down quickly.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • Gloom weapons are very powerful but have the drawback of inflicting gloom damage on Link as long as he wields them. However, fusing these weapons onto other weapons will result in a weapon that inherits the Gloom weapon's damage but not its drawback.
  • As fans of BotW know, a good way to fight a Lionel is to sneak up on him with a powerful weapon, leap on his back, and let him have it; for this reason, a Royal Guard Claymore that has been worn down to a Badly Damaged state is the best to use for this purpose. A weapon with the Royal Guard designation has its power doubled in such a state; the big problem is, when a weapon is in this state it will break after two or three blows. But when Link is mounted (which he technically is in this sort of fight) a weapon will not break when he uses it, and a Royal Guard Claymore has base damage of 32, meaning 62 in Badly Damaged state and even more with an item fused.
  • The Labyrinths each consist of three parts, Surface, Sky, and Depths. The Sky section cannot be solved until you solve the Surface, and the Depths must be solved last. However, each Sky section has a Shrine that can be entered and activated without solving the Labyrinth. Doing so not only makes the Sky section easier to return to, but you can skydive from that Shrine to the one in the Surface section if you know where that is, saving a lot of time and avoiding the nasty Gloom Hands that lurk in that section.
  • A holdover from the previous game, if you feed a damaged weapon to a Rock Octorock, it spits the weapon out with the damage repaired, and its enhancement changed. However, this does not seem to work on unique weapons like the Cobble Crusher or legendary weapons like the Fierce Deity Sword - and such weapons are costly to replace. Fortunately, while the Octorocks cannot directly repair them, there is a way to do so, first you have to use Fuse to place the weapon you want fixed on the end of an ordinary weapon, and then feed it to the Octorock. Then you have to take it to Tarry Town where the Goron Pelison can separate them for only 20 rupees, the unique weapon now good as new.
  • One of the complaints about house Link can build outside of Tarry Town is that you are limited to 15 rooms, and stairways count as rooms. But who needs stairs when you can Ascend through the ceiling? Building a multilevel condo with this in mind might take some ingenuity to do and might not be aesthetically pleasing, but it gives you more room for less cost.
• Lovable Coward: Yunobo, though he gradually overlaps with Cowardly Lion over the course of the Fire Temple scenario.
• Loyal to the Position: The Zonai Constructs are still following the commands given to them by the Zonai millennia ago; Maker Constructs are still chopping wood, Culinary Constructs are still cooking (even though they do not eat), Ranger Constructs are hunting for game (supplying to the cooks), Miner Constructs are still excavating the ore, Forge Constructs still smelt it, and all will give Link advice on how to use such skills himself (Just in case the player has not played BotW or is rusty from that game). King Rauru even claims to be impressed by their loyalty. Unfortunately, this is why the Soldier Constructs still attack Link.

M

• MacGyvering: The Ultrahand ability may as well be called "MacGyverhand", since it allows you to combine all sorts of things to create crazy weapons and vehicles.
• Made of Evil:
  • The Gloom is a dark substance that is usually found in the depths, similar to the malice of the previous game. (Biggest visual difference, malice was black and purple, but Gloom is black and red.) Gloom is a poisonous substance that leeches the health from Link he touches it, causing wounds that cannot be healed while in the depths except by special methods.
  • One of the memories shows that the Blood Moon not only resurrects Ganondorf's minions, it created them, being a phenomenon he used to channel his dark magic.
• Making a Splash: Water is now a type of elemental damage, and you can fuse Opals to weapons in order to create Water Rods, while you can also throw Splash Fruits or attach them to arrows in order to create platforms of hardened rock in lava or clean up sludge. Sidon is also the Sage of Water, and his ability envelops you in a protective bubble that can also be used as a weapon against your foes.
• Maniac Monkeys: While the rest of this game's Blins are more piglike, the newly-introduced Horriblins take a lot of cues from primates. They move around by clinging to ceilings with their ridiculously long arms, and make hooting noises similar to those of monkeys and baboons. When you knock one flat on his ass, he'll even clasp his hands over his buttcheeks and cry just like Ook, a monkey miniboss from Twilight Princess.
• May Contain Evil: The higly addictive marbled rock roast that is making the gorons selfish and lethargic eventually turns out to be what the Marbled Gohma is made of, meaning the gorons have been eating the flesh of a giant demon rock spider. Not only does it contain evil, it's... actually kind of gross.
• Mayincatec: Zonai fashion and architecture is inspired by ancient Mesoamerican civilizations, and the Geoglyphs you track down as part of the Tears of the Dragon sidequest are the Hylian equivalent to the Nazca Lines in real-world Peru.
• Mecha Mook: While the Guardians are nowhere to be seen, there are still Magitek robot enemies in the form of the Zonai Constructs. They're a lot less scary than their predecessors, but still dangerous (especially the higher-leveled constructs).
• Minecart Madness: Minecarts are no longer exclusive to the Death Mountain region, and with the addition of Zonai devices and Ultrahand, you can build self-propelled carts for fast travel through any place with tracks. The Fire Temple in particular focuses on minecart puzzles.
• Mundane Made Awesome: Part of the fun in messing with Zonai constructs is taking the elaborate weapons and amazing vehicles that you make, and using them for the most basic menial tasks imaginable. Sure, you could make a car to transport Koroks to their friends... or you could launch them to the distant campsite with a catapult. Likewise, why create basic Rock Hammers with rusted weapons when you can mine with style by fusing a rock to the Master Sword? Or hell, why use a weapon at all when you have Mineru's robot body at your service?
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Tulin has only too arms, but his feet may as well be a second pair of hands. He can grasp his bow with his feet and pull the drawstring with his beak, thus leaving his arms free and not impeding his ability to fly.
• Multi-Mook Melee: Before you take on Ganondorf, you (and potentially the Sages, if you've awakened them) have to cut your way through an army of monsters that he summons once you arrive at his doorstep. It's very similar to the army of Bokoblins you cut down before the final fight with Ghirahim in Skyward Sword, except you've got a much more diverse array of enemies to fight, including the dungeon bosses if you haven't already defeated them beforehand.
• Mythology Gag: Loads of them:
  • The 2021 trailer alone has two of these. The first shot of Link skydiving in the trailer is framed exactly like the skydiving cutscenes in Skyward Sword, complete with the circular clouds creating some sort of tunnel around Link. The trailer also shows Zelda falling in a dark void, much like how in Skyward Sword Zelda fell to the surface after being dragged by a black tornado summoned by Ghirahim.
  • Flux Constructs are block-like Golems, calling to mind the Avalaunch from The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, or Eox from The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.
  • One of the most useful features of the Purah Pad is the Ultra Hand; way back in the 1950s (when Nintendo made toys, rather than video games) they put out a product with that name. It has been featured in other games, including Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 3, and the Wario Ware series.
  • Ganondorf's new design is an Art Shift that combines features of his previous three appearances. He has the rounder ears and the pointier nose from the Era of the Hero of Time, a stouter face like he had in the Era of the Great Sea, and a trimmed beard with gold jewelry like he had in the Era of Twilight. His longer hair is also reminiscent of Demise and his non-canon counterpart from Hyrule Warriors, and he becomes even more like Demise during the Final Boss fight when he transforms into the Demon King.
  • The battle between the original Sages and Ganondorf in the past is referred to as the Imprisoning War, the same name as the war in the backstory of A Link to the Past backstory in which the sages of Hyrule banished Ganon to the Dark World.
  • The fight against the Scourge of Zora's Domain features a Mucktorok, which is a large cephlapod-like creature which mainly attacks by encasing itself in a shark made of sludge and its second phase has it cover most of the arena in sludge to swim around in to get away, which also hinders Link's movements and has to be cleared away with water, echoing a fight against the Inklings or Octolings from Splatoon .
  • If you shoot down a duck mid-air, they will fall to the ground while spinning in the exact same manner as the ducks from Duck Hunt.
  • Possibly a coincidence, but whenever a fan is activated, it sounds like the protagonist of Sonic Adventure doing a spin flip.
  • Most players know that Link tends to hum whenever he cooks; what most do not know is, he’s humming iconic tunes from the franchise. These include the main theme music, "Zelda’s Lullaby" and "Ballad of the Goddess" from Skyward Sword, "Saria’s Song" and "The Hyrule Field Theme" from Ocarina of Time, "Ballad of the Windfish" from Link’s Awakening, "Midna’s Lament from Twilight Princess, and "Champion’s Ballad" from Breath of the Wild.
  • A profile shot of Ganondorf in the "A Show of Fealty" memory, barring his clothing, is almost identical to the first scene where he appears in Ocarina of Time. The same scene has two Gerodu who appear to be younger versions of Koume and Kotake behind Ganondorf, identifiable by their shoulder sashes which spell their names in Hylian and are identical to the witches' headbands in Ocarina of Time.
  • The ominous music in the Fire Temple's music is heavily reminiscent of the original, later-redacted track for Ocarina of Time's Fire Temple, which used sampled Islamic chanting audio for the temple that was preemptively removed on the mass-release version of the game to avoid referencing real-world religion and was replaced with droning midi audio in the same spots that sounded less like vocals.
  • Zelda is stated to be the heir to the royal line started by Rauru and Sonia, the Sages of Light and Time, respectively, but has only inherited Sonia's sagehood of Time. This seems to refer to how the two elements have long been considered mutually inclusive in the franchise. The Sage of Light in Ocarina of Time (not the same character but also named Rauru) was located in the Temple of Time since a Light Temple was cut from the game, while the Temple of Time from Twilight Princess referenced this further by featuring imagery of the Light Medallion, indicating it was the Temple of Light in its original purpose, or served both purposes at the same time.
  • The Regional Phenominon at Gerudo Town, which results in an abandoned town overrun by Gibdos, seems to be a direct reference to the dark introduction to the adult-Link half of Ocarina of Time, where Hyrule Castle Town is similarly dark, abandoned, and overrun by ReDeads. The Gibdos' design also seems heavily based on those monsters with their brownish color and faces of round eyes and a toothy grimace, with added insect-like features.
  • Riju's combat stance with the way she holds her two scimitars is almost identical to the way the Gerudo Thieves use them in both Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, even to the point where she shuffles sideways to flank an opponent the same way they did.
  • The Gloom Spawn seem to be at least partially inspidered by Dead Hand from Ocarina of Time, posibly with the Wallmasters thrown in.
  • Once again, Link is made to go into the Great Deku Tree and expel an evil that was placed there by Ganondorf, just as the Hero of Time had to do at the outset of his adventure. For added Mythology Gag points, Link has to defeat a Gloom Spawn and Phantom Ganon, much like the creepy foes he had to deal with in the Forest Temple on first arriving as an adult.
  • And of course, they certainly could not make a Zelda game without a secret room with an NPC who says the room is "a secret to everybody". In this case, the room is accessed by using Ascend while under the great tree and the NPC is a Korok.
  • Ganondorf is ultimately defeated by being impaled through the skull by the Master Sword, just like he was in Wind Waker.
  • Pretty much every game in the franchise has an armor set and/or weapon in this game that references it. You have the Phantom Set, Dark Set, Evil Spirit Set, Fierce Deity Set (with matching Sword), Zant's Helmet, Midna's Helmet, Hero Set, Hero of Awakening Set, Hero of the Sky Set, Hero of Time Set, and Hero of the Wilds Set. Weapons you can gain include the Sea Breeze Boomerang, Dusk Claymore, Biggoron's Sword (reference to many games), Sword of the Hero, and the White Sword of the Sky. You can even win Majora's Mask itself in one of the arenas!
  • The Colgera seems to be a variation of the Molgera from The Wind Waker, being the boss of the Wind Temple with similar design, with an ice theme rather than a sand theme. Seeing as Molgera was also one of Ganondorf's creations, one might even theorize this is the same monster, restored to life by Ganondorf, but that is simply conjecture.

N

• The Needless: On the surface of Hyrule, it is possible to catch Bokoblins, Hoblins, and other mobs sleeping, but this never happens in the Depths. More than likely, the corrupting power of the Gloom fuels them, letting them function nonstop. Seeing as one flashback shows they were created by Ganondorf’s dark magic, this makes sense.
• Nerf: A few of the many Game Breakers from Breath of the Wild were reigned in a bit here.
  • Hearty meals haven't necessarily been nerfed outright, but it's way harder to track down the ingredients for them that it was before. Hearty Radishes are so rare that you can easily beat the game without finding any, and in the case of Hearty Durians? Maybe they've gone extinct between games, because they're completely gone here. Also, Gloom damage will destroy whatever bonus hearts you've gained through Hearty meals, meaning that they won't do much good in the Depths or against the Gloom Spawns/Phantom Ganon.
  • The Great Horned Rhinoceros is likewise nowhere to be seen, after serving as an easy source of Gourmet Meat in Breath of the Wild. Considering that they're based off of the extinct Woolly Rhinoceros, perhaps they met a similar fate as their inspiration and have gone the way of the mammoth...
  • Related to the above, you make a lot less money selling things like Gourmet Meat Skewers and gemstones. It's a big source of frustration when you're trying to buy clothes or Great Fairy upgrades, especially since the latter are much more expensive than they were in the previous game.
  • Whistle-sprinting doesn't work anymore. In fact, the game actively punishes you for trying it by causing your stamina to drain even faster than normal.
  • In general, the Sage powers are a lot less useful than the Champion powers from the previous game. While Yunobo's cannonball attack is a nice way to give yourself some breathing room against hordes of enemies, it's no substitute for the powerful perfect defenses granted by Daruk's Protection. Likewise, Sidon's bubble ability is really awkward to use and doesn't even come close to being as good as Mipha's Grace. Riju and Tulin's powers are at least similar to Urbosa's Fury and Revali's Gale, but are nowhere near as useful since Tulin's version propels you forward, and Riju's has a lengthy charge time and can't be activated unless you fire an arrow at your target.
  • The Horse God Inverts this Trope. In the previous game, he could only revive a dead horse. Here, he can also enhance them, increasing its stats in exchange for certain cooked foods.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers and pre-release material put a lot of focus on the sky islands that you can explore, making it seem like sky traversal would be a big part of the game. While the tutorial and a few dungeons are in the sky, there's a lot less to do up there than there is in The Depths, which had barely any attention drawn to it outside of a few out-of-context video clips that didn't even hint at the fact that there's an entire second world beneath Hyrule's surface.
• Nice Hat:
  • The Cere Hat, created by and named after the fashion designer in Hateno Village. Link cannot gain it until the Mayoral Election questline is complete. Unfortunately, it gives no benefit, so it’s a Bragging Rights Reward.
  • Lady Paya's hat; clearly a fringe benefit to being Chief of Kakariko Village
• No Endor Holocaust: Miraculously, no one was killed or even injured when the Upheaval and resulting emergence of Zonai ruins changed the landscape of Hyrule. A few unlucky people, however, have had their homes destroyed as a consequence of it.
• No-Gear Level: The Proving Grounds shrines. Remember Eventide Island back in Breath of the Wild? The game’s developers seem to think a majority of players loved that part of the game ( spoiler alert, they didn’t) so instead of being having a one-off challenge, there's an entire series of shrines and one Monster Forces scenario that require you to overcome armies of enemies while naked and armed with whatever you can find laying around.
• Nonstandard Game Over: During the invasion of Gerudo Town, Link not only has to defeat the Gibdo and destroy the hives, he has to prevent too many of them from reaching Riju; should she be defeated, a game over results.
• Not So Harmless Villain: The Zonai Constructs are about as interesting and formidable as any other group of Mecha-Mooks, and fighting them is actually kind of fun. Except that is, in the Proving Grounds Shrines. With no armor and only improvised weapons at Link’s disposal, these laughable mooks suddenly become deadly.
• Not the Intended Use: The Ultra Hand lets you pick up certain (well, most) objects and weld them to other objects. Players can have WAY too much fun with this; YouTube videos exist of dozens of players building tanks, giant artillery, and even Humongous Mechas using Ultra Hand and the Zorai technology.
• Nothing Is Scarier: If you go to Hyrule Castle early in the game - which you can do with the help of the Lookout Landing Tower and some Stamina elixirs - the ruined, deserted castle is creepy, with wisps of Gloom and eerie, ominous music. However, there is nothing dangerous inside the Sanctuary area - yet.

O

• Oh Crap: Many:
  • Link, the first time he has to activate one of the towers and realizes how the process works - a group of metal arms sprout from the floor and grab him to attach the needed tools for the scan, and then a giant pneumonic device launches him into the sky. Fortunately, he gets used to this quickly.
  • When the boss of the Wind Temple appears, Tulin has this reaction, a second before the boss soars out of what is presumably the Temple's cargo hold, the impact propelling Tulin and Link into the stormy sky.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
  • Just before you fight Ganondorf, you and the Sages fight your way through a massive horde of monsters that he summons before he brings back the bosses of all five dungeons. The Sages stay behind to hold them off while Link goes after Ganondorf, and they rejoin him shortly afterwards meaning that they each triumphed over the scourges of their respective temples without his help.
  • Also, when the sludge started falling on the Zora Domain, King Dorephan went to investigate on his own, and was attacked by the "sludge monster" (presumably the Mucktorok) and Phantom Ganon (who at the time was posing as Zelda). According to his retainer Muzo, he managed to fight them off and forced them to retreat, not an easy feat given his age.
• Old Save Bonus: There are two of these, if you've got a previous Breath of the Wild save on your Switch. Horses that you've tamed will transfer over to this game, and if you've beaten the Champion's Ballad DLC, the picture of Link, Zelda, and the Champions will be in Link/Zelda's house.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Ganondorf, whose ultimate goal is to drown the world in a sea of blood as he and his hordes of monsters sweep over the land.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Once again, you can't pull the Master Sword until you've upgraded Link enough. This time however, you don't need extra hearts. You need an extra stamina wheel!

P

• Paper-Thin Disguise: The monster masks return (and with a new Horriblin mask in tow), and despite them still being obvious raggedy-looking disguise, they totally fool the monsters that they mimic. Except the Lynels, who are quick to catch on to your deception.
• Permanently Missable Content: Once you go to Tarrey Town, you can have Kilton make figurines of monsters replicated from any pictures you've taken from them. This actually includes the pictures of the bosses you fight... with the catch that he won't make models based off of pictures you take for the bestiary. You have to have a picture of them in your album. While this isn't a problem for the first four dungeon bosses or Ganondorf since you can refight them whenever you want, it is a problem for bosses that can only be fougth a finite amount of times. If you want models of the Sludge-Like, Moragia, or Kohga, you better have pictures of them saved, or no figurines for you!
• Persona Non Grata: If you try to approach the Ring Ruins near Kakariko Village, you'll be stopped by Calip, who yells at you to stay away from them. He claims Zelda has given an order that no-one is allowed there; she didn't say why. When this "Zelda" is exposed as an imposter, you're free to go there.
• Petting Zoo People: In addition to the Rito (bird people) and Zorua (fish people), this game introduces the precursor race of Zonai, who seem to have included goat people and cat people. Interestingly, Rauru and Mineru seem to be from different animal stock, despite being siblings.
• Planet Heck: While Hyrule itself is larger than before, the Depths below it are just as big. This realm of eternal darkness is where Gloom breeds, home to a high population of monsters, twisted plants and trees, giant mushrooms, and a heart of pure Evil where the Demon King resides. The only inhabitants that are genuinely helpful to Link are the Steward Constructs, though there are plenty of disguised Yiga who try to deceive him.
• Punny Name: The Stable Trotters and their hilariously specific, on the nose names. You've got Mastro the maestro, Violynne the violinist, Pyper the flute player (or in other words, a piper), and Beetz the drummer. It's easy to think that Eustus is a case of My Friends and Zoidberg, but even his name is an obscure reference to a bit of inner-ear anatomy that is shaped like a horn, the instrument that he plays.
• Putting the Band Back Together: The sidequests that unlock the Great Fairy Fountains double as you slowly reuniting the wayward members of the Stable Trotters, who rename themselves the Stable Heroes in honor of the man that bought them back together.

R

• Recurring Boss: Along with the returning Hinoxes, Stalnoxes, Taluses, and Moldugas, we've got the newly introduced Gleeoks, Battle Taluses, Froxes, and Flux Constructs as overworld minibosses. Master Kohga is also fought four times over a lengthy sidequest, while Phantom Ganon is a boss encounter in Hyrule Castle and the Lost Woods as well as a recurring miniboss that pops up every time you kill a Gloom Spawn.
• Recurring Element: Let's see... carrying over from Breath of the Wild alone, you've got towers that you need to activate in order to fill in your map, shrines to complete in order to upgrade your health and stamina, regional phenomena plaguing the homes of the races that the Champions/Sages belong to, an extensive tutorial set in a place that's initially cut off from the rest of the world, Link waking up after a near-death experience that leaves him heavily weakened, an incarnation of Ganondorf that you can kill as soon as you leave the starting area...
• Reluctant Ruler: Paya became Chief of Kakariko Village when Impa retired, and has almost no confidence in her own abilities as such, especially as the crisis has caused the Ring Ruins to appear overhead. Concern that this phenominon could crush the village at any time and Zelda's strict orders to avoid them have gives her nothing but stress. She improves a little when Link is allowed to investigate them, after Zelda is revealed as an imposter.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter:
  • Koraks, of course.
  • They aren’t “critters”, but the Rito children Notts, Genli, and Molli are beyond adorable, especially when they sing for Link.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When Ganondorf murders Sonia, Rauru's ready to pull a Dimitri and fly into a murderous rage. Zelda, however, talks him down out of hope that he can save Sonia.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Idle and complacent, Hyrule's rulers are not. Zelda took an active role in restoring Hyrule to its former glory before the Upheaval happened, and Sidon and Riju respectively are doing what they can to combat the problems plaguing their regions before helping Link take down the monsters that are ultimately responsible. In the distant past Rauru was also willing to take to the battlefield himself in order to stop Ganondorf's horde of rampaging Molduga from flattening Hyrule.
• Ruthless Modern Pirates: Despite the fantasy setting, the pirates who have invaded and occupied Lurelin Village are as chivalrous as any other group of Ganon's minions, as in, not at all. Liberating the town is only the first step for Link; fixing the damage the villains have done is a more long-term quest.

S

• Samus Is a Girl: One particular sidequest gives us a Gender Flipped version: remember the "seven" heroines from the previous game, and how there was an eighth heroine? Well it turns out that the "heroine" was a man whose gender was subject to some serious historical revisionism. Despite leading the seven heroines into battle against a monster that threatened the ancient Gerudo, they turned him away due to their strict laws banning men from Gerudo Town.
• Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Time: Zelda is the current heir of a royal family line that started with Rauru, ten-thousand years ago. This is twice as long as real-life recorded history, and also more than six times as long as the Chola dynasty, the longest ruling family line in human history. Downplayed, as most folks in modern Hyrule have no surviving records of that time at the beginning of the game, though that only makes it even more remarkable.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Turns out Ganondorf was sealed far beneath Hyrule Castle years ago. Who would've thought?
• Sealed Evil in a Duel: To elaborate on the above, the "can" was actually a duel between himself and Rauru that technically ended as a loss for Rauru, but managed to keep Ganondorf trapped in stasis for over ten thousand years in preparation for Link's arrival far into the future.
• Secret Shop: The secret shop in Gerudo Town that sells male clothing returns, but there are two others as well. The Bargainer Statues hidden in The Depths will exchange certain weapons and outfits for Poes, and giving Koltin Bubbul gems will allow you to buy special outfits and monster parts from his own shop.
• Seldom-Seen Species: Dondons are a newly discovered species that look like a cross between bison and armadillos. Only five specimens have been found. Supposedly, these are prehistoric ancestors to common horses. An odd path for evolution to take, but then, in this world, Rito and Zora descended from the same forerunning species.
• Simple Yet Awesome:
  • The various Hero armor sets. There are Awakening, Sky, Twilight, Wild, Time, Winds, and the regular Hero set. Nostalgia fans will love these, as they make Link look like he did in previous games in the franchise. Most of them grant a base armor defense of 3 and can be upgraded up to 20, plus an attack bonus for the whole set, putting them right below the Barbarian set, while the Hero of the Wild stands out a bit, the base defense being 4 and the maximum being 28.
  • The Champion’s Tunic (a gift that Zelda prepared for Link that can be obtained reasonably early) is not part of any full armor set, but it’s decent when combined with some others, as it has a base armor of 5 and can be upgraded all the way to 32. It can also allow Link to use the Master Sword’s ranged attack regardless of how much health he has remaining.
  • The Soldier set makes Link look like a rank-and-file Hyrulian soldier - it’s actually kind of boring. But you can get it easily very early in the game, and given the base defense of 4 and max defense of 28, this is essential for surviving the Early Game Hell.
  • Again, many Zonai Devices qualify:
    • The Zonai Springboard is something of a sleeper hit among fans. Basically, it propels Link into the air when he has to get somewhere up high fast. Not complicated, but useful. The big “BOING!” noise when you use it makes it even more awesome.
    • Zonai Stakes. The gimmick to what is likely the most underrated item in the game is that it can be driven into any surface (the ground, stone, building material, or even metal) without harming that object. Do not underestimate the way this can be applied in some of the most creative builds. In fact, if you’re using Ultrahand to build a vehicle, this makes an excellent jack to hold the frame while you attach the wheels.
    • Zonai Portable Pots. At first glance, this one-use cooking pot doesn’t seem all-that remarkable, because multiple-use cooking pots are at every Stable, which are all just a warp away. However, this can save Link’s life in a crisis, because if the Sages can hold off a hungry Hinox for even ten seconds, a player with a cool head can use this to whip up a healing Elixir or two before rejoining the battle. Also, they produce heat without flames, so they can be used in the rain.
    • Zonai Stabilizers. The purpose of these devices is to keep anything they are attached to standing upright, which is unbelievably useful for a device that is not perfectly balanced, when you can’t worry about the weight of each individual piece (this is a video game, not a high school physics project) and even better, you can use it to build a catapult to launch one of those lost Koroks to its friend’s campsite!
    • Zonai Carts. Just large planks with wheels, it’s actually a reliable way to travel if you don’t want to use a lot of parts. All you need is a fan and a steering Stick and you’ve got a fast-moving go-kart.
    • Zonai Wings are the first device you’ll use in the game, and while it will probably become obsolete fast, it is at very least a decent way to introduce the player to Zonai technology.
    • Few Zonai devices are as universally useful as the Fan. While it’s hardly the only propulsion device in the game, the Fan is the most reliable. Even when not attached to anything, Link can use one to create an updraft, not as powerful as Rivaldi’s Gale, but it does the job.
    • There is little doubt, however, that the most useful Zonai device in the game is the Steering Stick. Whether you want to build a go-cart, flying machine, tank, motorboat, or Humongous Mecha, not being able to control where it goes is a serious liability unless you add one of these. It is literally a game changer.
  • The Hoverbike is one of the simplest and one of the most useful Ultrahand creations. Just take a Steering Stick, attach a fan at a 40 degree angle in the front and another at degrees behind it.
    • On the same note, at least one player has figured out that the best device used to defeat a Gleeox is made from two rectangular slabs and a square one.
  • In the Depths, you often find ghostly soldiers who give Link weapons, which are, unlike the ones on the surface, untouched by the corroded effect of the Gloom. At first glance, this seems only a slight boon, as a new Traveler’s Sword is only slightly better than a corroded one. However, it is definitely worth taking their offerings, even if it is only to throw it away immediately afterwards, because if you take a weapon from one of the ghost soldiers and then break its corroded equivalent, that same ghost soldier might have a better weapon later. For instance, say you are given a weapon from a ghost soldier who gives one-handed swords. Initially, this can be a Traveler’s Sword, Knight’s broadsword, Royal Broadsword, or (rarely) Royal Guard Broadsword, and currently has a Royal Broadsword. If you take it, and then find a corroded Royal Broadsword Sword on the surface and use that one until it breaks, the ghost soldier you got the non-corroded Royal Broadsword from will eventually spawn with a Feathered Edge, a pristine weapon that is much better than the others.
  • Rocks. You can’t get simpler than that. Using the Fuse ability, Link can fuse simple rocks to his weapons. Using a small rock (the ones he can lift) turns a weapon into a sledgehammer that can crush ore veins, a boulder turns it into a deadly bludgeon, and those large blocks falling from the sky are stronger still. But the most awesome way to use this sort of weapon is to Fuse it to a two-handed weapon like a club or claymore, as Link’s two-handed charge attack is a spinning fury with his weapon that a boulder on the business end can turn into a wrecking ball that can batter down a group of Moblins.
  • Tulin. Few online guides will recommend going to any Temple first other than the Wind Temple and with good reason. Of all the sages, Tulin is the most useful for exploration and combat with his simple ability to create a gust of wind with his wings.
  • Dazzle Fruit. While the stun effect only lasts a few seconds and does no damage, it works on practically any enemy other than bosses and makes them drop their weapons, much like Lightning attacks do, and it also destroys undead foes caught in the blast.
  • Gerudo weapons. They don’t seem very strong or durable on their own, but using Fuse on them gives them double the usual bonus. Certain monster parts, like Silver Lionel Horns, make them ludicrously powerful, often giving them over 100 Attack Power. And let's not even get started on how strong they fused to Gibdo bones when Link has with Radiant Armor equipped.
  • Octorok Balloons return, and are even better this time. Using Fuse with them and a shield lets Link float in the air for a short time, and it’s easier on the shield than a rocket. Plus, unlike Zonai devices, Link can use these in Shrines, letting the player cheat a little with certain puzzles.
• Slobs Versus Snobs: A variation, where the rivalry between factions in Hateno Village is a case of fashion versus function. Fashion designer and artist Cere is trying to beautify the town with her flashy mushroom-themed art, while traditionalist mayor Reede is upset, as he believes the gaudy colors are hurting the crops, their argument causing Cere to challenge his position as mayor of the town. The player can have Link vocally side with either of them or remain neutral, though in the end, the two reach a compromise.
• The Sociopath: Ganondorf, as usual. He's violent, sadistic, power-hungry, and a total egomaniac who cares for no one but himself.
• Something Completely Different:
  • In a mechanic new to Zelda games, the dungeon bosses can be refought, but you do not have to return to the dungeon to do so. You can find them in the Depths if you want to fight them again.
  • While One-Winged Angel transformations are hardly new for Ganadorf, this time he does not become a giant pig monster. This time it’s a dragon.
• Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: Yunobo seems to be a victim of this once you arrive in Goron City, and see that he's inexplicably become a rude, sneering drug kingpin dressed like an evil luchador. He's still the same Nice Guy that he always was, just Brainwashed and Crazy thanks to Phantom Ganon's machinations.
• Stable Time Loop: Okay, short version here… Zelda and Link find a tomb holding a desiccated corpse, except it's not a tomb, it's a jail holding Ganondorf, a would be conqueror who was sealed here 10,000 years ago after trying to usurp the throne of Hyrule. He's not a corpse either, he's very much alive and attacks the two heroes, destroying the Master Sword, horribly wounding Link, and throwing Zelda down a dark shaft. Zelda instinctively uses her latent powers of the Sage of Time, traveling back into the past ten-thousand years ago, meeting up with King Rauru and Queen Sofia, the founders of dynasty that she is the heir to. Discovering that returning to her own time the same way is impossible, Zelda witnesses Ganondorf's initial machinations, forms the initial alliance between the five races of Hyrule, starts the tradition of the Sages, starts a campaign against Ganondorf that ends with the villain sealed (in the aforementioned jail/tomb) but realizes that he is the same villain who will threaten Hyrule in her time. Making use of her existing abilities to manipulate time and conventional messages, she guides Link to send her the Master Sword, receives it (assuring her Link was not killed). The Sages leave messages for their descendants to resume their mission through the Sages Vows, Rauru's advisor Minuru (gravely wounded from the battle and near death) downloads her soul into the now-enhanced and upgraded Purah Pad and leaves it with a Steward Construct. Finally, Zelda initiates the draconification process, transforming herself into the Dragon of Light with the Master Sword embedded in her scales, hoping that after 10,000 years of taking The Slow Path , it will be restored. All in all, Zelda's actions are what sets up the event that causes Ganondorf's assault on the two at the beginning (which, as it turns out, was much, much better than the alternative) and sets up a plan that leads to the demon King being defeated once and for all.
• Support Party Member: Aerocudas are this to the other monsters. While they die in one hit and are incredibly weak, you're not in danger of getting killed by these things. They will, however, ruin your stealthy approach by screeching loudly when they see you trying to sneak up on a monster camp. They'll also try to drop explosive barrels on you, which hurt a lot more than their standard charge attacks.
• Supreme Chef:
  • Link has improved his skills in this game. While most of the food and recipes in the previous game can still be crafted, additional ingredients are added that can make him more creative. Link can now use Hylian Tomatoes and Hateno Cheese to make pizza, to name just one.
  • Remember Moza, the Lethal Chef in Breath of the Wild who was obsessed with finding a way to turn machine parts, monster parts, and rocks into decent food? She's still a little spacy, trying to open a restaurant at the bottom of the Rikoka Hills Well (the roast beef she's cooking when Link meets her there obviously burned), but amazingly, she has succeeded! She will convert any Rock Hard Food or Dubious Food that Link brings her into Monster Stew. While Link can make this himself, Moza's is better, and an easy way to dispose of botched meals.
• Swallowed Whole:
  • If Link gets too close to a Like-Like, this will happen to him. This only causes moderate damage before the creature spits him out, but it also causes him to lose a weapon or shield. This can also happen to one of Link’s sidekicks - kind of odd that anything would be able to eat a spirit avatar, but again, all this does is take the sidekick out of commission for a few seconds.
  • Frox can do this too, it's attack able to draw Link into its max like a giant vacuum cleaner. This is in fact, the part of the fight where it is more vulnerable for the Feed It a Bomb manuever.

T

• A Taste of Power: You start the game with maxed-out stats and the full-powered Master Sword. And then along comes Ganondorf and his Malice...
• Tennis Boss: Several, as per franchise tradition:
  • Not present with Phantom Ganon, surprisingly, but Ganondorf's Malice blasts can be launched back at him during the final battle.
  • There are also many bosses and Elite Mooks (such as Boss Bokoblins and Stone Talos) who throw things at Link, and Recall can be used to send them back at them.
  • Recall is also useable this way against Marbled Gohma, as in the second part of the fight, it can trap Link in a ring of explosive boulders - Recall can turn this attack against it.
• Theme Song Reveal: The new version of Zelda's Lullaby heard not just in the title theme, but in trailers several years before the game's release hint at The Reveal that Zelda's been turned into a dragon thanks to it being played with the same instrumentation as the Spirit Dragons' theme.
• Time Skip: A decent amount of time has passed between this and the preceding title, and closer inspection of the land of Hyrule and its inhabitants reveals it to be quite a substantial one. While some elements are more obvious than others (Tulin growing from a toddler to an early adolescent and Riju showing a more mature personality), the big one is in that Hudson and Rhondson, who were newly-married at the end of Breath of the Wild, here are shown to have a daughter, Mattison, who is now grade school age. This puts the time skip anywhere from five to six years, lining fairly closely with the time passed in the real world between games.
• Too Awesome to Use: Big Batteries are, as the name implies, extra-large versions of regular batteries, objectively better than the Battery in every way. Unfortunately, they are very rare. As far as is known, there is no Zonai dispenser that dispenses them, meaning Link can only get them by giving the Construct Smith 30 Crystalized Zonai or from overworld chests, making it very hard to consider using them. But then, he barely needs to, as most of the time, two or three regular Batteries work just as well.
• Took a Level In Badass: Tulin, Yunobo, and Riju were non-combatants in Breath of the Wild (though the latter two did help Link board the Divine Beasts in their regions) and unlike Sidon, didn't have anything hinting at off-screen combat prowess. Here they take to the battlefield and actively help Link fight monsters.
• Took a Level In Kindness: Hunnie, the bratty little rich girl from Tarrey Town in Breath of the Wild has mellowed out a lot between games. It seems like she has her friendship with Mattison to thank for that.
• Trick Arrow: Link can attach almost anything to an Arrow using the Fusion power of the Purah Pad, many of them giving Arrows special powers. Some useful ones:
  • Bomb Flower: Fuse to your Arrow, fire at enemies, and KABOOM!
  • Chu Chu Jelly: Elemental enhancement, depending on the type of Chu Chu.
  • Keese Eyeballs: Turns the Arrow into a guided missile, and in all except the eyes from regular Keese, an elemental enhancement.
  • Keese wings: Same elemental enhancements, but in this case increases range.
  • Dazzle Fruit: Like a flashbang, they blind and confuse enemies.
  • Brightbloom Seeds: No added offensive power, but if used underground, they light up a decent-sized cavern.
  • Gemstones: Expensive and often better sold, but some can create a powerful AoE elemental attack when Fused to an arrow.
  • Muddle Buds: Turns an arrow into a stink bomb that confuses enemies and fools them into attacking each other.
  • Puffshrooms: Creats a smokescreen that Link can use to sneak up on foes.
  • Gibdo Bones: Now this is a good one. Most Monster Parts applied to arrows cause the arrow to deal more damage, and the same is true for these, but of insane proportions when used right. Initially, it gives a 40-point damage bonus, but if Link wears the Radiant Armor (which increases proficiency with weapons made of bone) that 40 becomes 72. Augment that with a Lionel Bow and an Attack 3-Up Elixir, and Link can do around 700 points of damage with one arrow!

U

• Underground Monkey: Like in the previous game, several enemies have elemental variants encountered in certain regions. And if you want to get cheeky about it, the newly introduced Horriblins are literal examples of this trope given that they're monkey-like Blins mostly encountered in caves.
• The Unsolved Mystery: While some mysteries are solved here, the solutions only create more mysteries:
  • The identities of the three roaming dragons. Now that the fans know how draconification works, it is entirely possible - if not probable - that Dinraal, Farosh, and Naydra were mortals who underwent the same process, but Mineru never even mentions them. Who were they and why did they transform themselves? Adding to the mystery, Link can find three Armor sets modeled after the three dragons, with no clues as to how they were made. Did this armor possibly belong to them before they transformed?
  • The identity of the tribe that made the Barbarian Armor set. Both this game and the previous one say (in its description) that it was an “ancient warlike tribe who inhabited the faron region.” When the Zonai were introduced, most fans assumed this was them, however, the flashback scenes debunk this, as the Zonai inhabited Hyrule Field and their culture and technology is nothing like any that might have such armor.
  • What happened to the Triforce? It did not actually appear in Breath of the Wild, though there were some depictions of it here and there, with the insignia on the Master Sword. Even more of these images were seen in this game, with Sonia even having a tattoo of the insignia on her arm, but as yet, there is no sign of the actual Triforce in this continuity.
  • In the quest line "Camera Work in the Depths", Robbie wants Link to photograph a large statue of a man holding his hand upright. Thing is, we are never told exactly who or what the statue is supposed to represent. While many other statues in the depths seem to depict the different races of Hyrule, whoever this is supposed to be remains unanswered.
  • The identity of Rauru and Sonia's child. If Zelda is indeed their descendant and the current member of their royal line, they must have bore an heir but no offspring is ever mentioned in any of the flashbacks.
  • The identity and fate of the Ancient Hero who first sealed Calamity Ganon in the first place. This hero was first mentioned in the previous game, pictured on a tapestry fighting the beast, but little was thought of it at the time; seeing as he bore the Master Sword, everyone assumed it was a past incarnation of Link. In this game however, Link can obtain his armor, the Ancient Hero Aspect, and it makes clear that the Ancient Hero was a Zonai. While one could fathom that this may indeed be past aspect of Link (given how reincarnation tends to work) almost everything else about him, and whatever became of him, remains unknown.
  • Whatever happened to Kass? Those who played Breath of the Wild probably remember this NPC, a helpful Rito musician whose song guides Link to uncovering certain shrines. But while he is mentioned a few times in this game, he is nowhere to be seen, and no clue as to where he has gone.
  • And of course, exactly what happened to Master Khoga after his ill-conceived and hastily constructed weapon launched him into the stratosphere. Much like last time, his body is never found and his fate is left ambiguous, but given his tenacity, it would be naive not to assume he survived.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Link's bizarre and fantastic powers bestowed to him by Rauru don't attract any sort of reaction from people. The most you get are people being startled if you use Ascend to pop out of the ground right next to them, and even then it's only if you're within spitting distance: they wouldn't care otherwise.

V

• Vehicular Assault: During his first boss fight, Master Kohga will try to run you over with a giant truck that he's constructed. Likewise, you can create your own cars and monster trucks to flatten enemies with.
• Victory Fakeout: While most Blessing shrines are a straight shot to the statues of Rauru and Sonia at the end, there's one exception to the rule: the Unlit Blessing shrine. The path to the statues is suddenly cut off until you solve a quick puzzle.
• Video Game Caring Potential:
  • Like in the previous game, you can hang out with monsters when you wear the appropriate masks and give them food instead of killing or otherwise hurting them. There's no real benefit to doing so, but to some, getting to mingle among Ugly Cute monsters and see a friendlier (or at least, less aggressive) side to them is its own reward.
  • Again, you can help out at Ms. Ashai's Voe and You classes and help her students learn how to properly interact with men. However, since Link is allowed to visit Gerudo Town without having to crossdress, he gives them proper hands-on experience with talking to men which is a far bigger help than theoretical lessons can be.
  • Unique to this game is Addison and his signs. All across Hyrule you can see him struggling to keep signs of President Hudson standing up straight, and you can use your Fuse ability to create structures that will help give them the proper support needed to keep them erect. While his rewards are minimal to outright useless, it feels nice to lighten the guy's load all the same.
  • If you aren't a sadistic monster who enjoys tormenting them, acting as a Taxi service to the backpack-wearing Koroks who need to reach their friends can be this.
  • Each stable has a pet dog; while there is, unfortunately, no game mechanic that lets you pet or hug the dog, but you can feed it. Do so enough times (it will eat fruit or meat) it will eventually lead Link to a nearby treasure chest (which does not appear until this occurs). Usually there's not much in it, a few rupees or a weapon, but still a nice touch.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • Related to the above? While it's nice and beneficial to help Koroks trying to reach their friends' campsites, it's even more fun to create elaborate torture devices to torment them with. Crucifying them, spit-roasting them over open flames, drowning them, and wrecklessly swinging them around on deadly carnival rides gives you the same reaction: a pained "Oof!" that really makes the little guys feel like victims of cartoonish slapstick violence.
  • A non-violent example would be wearing the full Yiga outfit around the Sheikah and Gerudo, who have their own reasons to hate them. They always react with disgust or annoyance, and doing so in Gerudo Town will get you thrown in jail until you take it off. Talking to Dorian (whose wife, if you remember from the previous game, was murdered by the Yiga) while wearing it is just plain mean, especially if you wear it entering his house while his children are asleep. Suffice to say, he shows remarkable restraint. .
  • Many players have tried to make games to see how fast they can trap an NPC in an Ultrahand-built cage. Seeing as they tend to scream and run from you when you try it, it only fits the trope more. Be warned, however, this will not work on horses and trying it will make them angry.
    • There is even a way to "coerce" certain NPCs onto a Zonai-built vehicle, and then take said NPC anywhere the vehicle might allow, meaning you can, say, kidnap Purah for a Captive Date, even taking a selfie. Given how the NPCs still protest and cry when Link uses Ultrahand around them, it's pretty mean, and they'll never hold it against you at all.
  • A notable aversion is in the opening cutscene of the game; the player can have Link swing his sword at Zelda, but it doesn’t hurt her and she doesn’t even notice.
  • Once you master the selfie mode of the Purah Pad's camera, it's almost too much of a temptation to take them after delivering the final blow to a boss, giving Link a picture of himself with a "say cheese" grin with a dying Lynel, Gleeox, Talos, or Hinox behind him.
• Video Game Perversity Potential: It took all of a day before people started crafting together perverted constructs, such as a wooden man with a large cannon barrel for a penis that erupts fire before the two testicle bombs dangling underneath completely explode. There's also the unique way you can use Ascend to get to the top of some of the statues in the Depths.
• Villainous Breakdown: Starting the final fight as cavalier and smug as can be, Ganondorf's pride takes a serious blow when Link proves more than capable of not merely going toe-to-toe with him, but outright humiliating him even when he goes all out with his Demon King form. He's so furious and desperate to win that he swallows his Sacred Stone knowing that he'd be destroying his sentience in exchange for absolute power, purely because he refuses to lose to a "mere mortal".