44 Fun Facts About Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Link frees which Korok Forest guardian from a curse before reclaiming the Master Sword?

The Great Deku Tree's rescue unlocks the quest that shows Link where the repaired Master Sword is being kept.

In what state do Link and Zelda find Ganondorf beneath Hyrule Castle?

Mummified and pinned by a disembodied arm, Ganondorf awoke, shattered the Master Sword and wounded Link's arm.

Tears of the Kingdom is the direct sequel to which 2017 game?

Breath of the Wild got a full sequel because the team had too many ideas for DLC, which could only add to the same world.

Who directed Tears of the Kingdom?

Hidemaro Fujibayashi first worked on Zelda at Capcom, on two Game Boy Color games, before Nintendo brought him in-house.

Who produced Tears of the Kingdom?

Eiji Aonuma's first Zelda job was designing dungeons for Ocarina of Time, and he rose to produce the whole series.

What is the vast underground area beneath Hyrule called?

The Depths are about as big as the surface but pitch dark, so Link throws Brightbloom Seeds and wakes Lightroots to light his way.

What is the harmful substance that temporarily reduces Link's maximum hearts?

Gloom was already seeping out from beneath Hyrule Castle and making townspeople ill before Link and Zelda went down to investigate.

Which ability lets Link pick up, move and attach objects together?

Ultrahand is how players build rafts, go-karts and planes from whatever is lying around, then power them with rockets, springs and fans.

Which ability combines materials and objects onto a weapon or shield?

Fuse lets Link stick a rocket to his shield and blast straight up into the air.

Which ability lets Link swim upward through solid ceilings?

Ascend turns ceilings into shortcuts: Link can walk into a cave, swim up through the rock and pop out somewhere new.

Which ability sends an object back along its path, so a fallen rock rises again?

Recall can turn back a rock that fell from above while Link clings to it, carrying him all the way back up.

Which ability recreates one of Link's saved contraptions in an instant?

Autobuild grabs nearby parts for a saved design and conjures any that are missing, at a cost.

Which returning item carries Link safely down after he launches himself high into the air?

The Paraglider turns launch points into routes: from a tower top Link can spot a shrine far below and glide straight to it.

What does Link trade four Lights of Blessing for?

More hearts or stamina cost four Lights of Blessing, and Link earns one by finishing each shrine.

What do Korok seeds buy Link?

Inventory capacity grows when Link hands Korok seeds to Hestu, who adds a weapon, shield or bow slot.

Whose spirit provides the arm that replaces Link's wounded one?

Rauru was Hyrule's first king and gave his life sealing Ganondorf away, ages before his arm saved Link.

Where does Link awaken after the cavern disaster?

The Great Sky Island is where Link gains his first new powers before he drops to the surface far below.

What name is given to the cataclysm that lifts Hyrule Castle into the sky?

The Upheaval tore open caves and red chasms all over Hyrule and roused new kinds of monsters.

What is the ancient race whose devices and ruins fill the skies above Hyrule?

Zonai ruins fill the skies, yet the Zonai themselves had almost died out, and Link meets them only as spirits.

What was the ancient conflict against the Demon King called?

The Imprisoning War ended only when Hyrule's first king gave up his own life to seal the Demon King away.

Sidon, Link's ally, is prince and later king of which people?

The Zora's Prince Sidon inherits an ancient sage's secret stone and awakens as the new Sage of Water.

Tulin, the young archer, belongs to which people?

The Rito's young archer Tulin inherits a secret stone after the Wind Temple battle and becomes the new Sage of Wind.

Tulin is the son of which ally from the previous game?

Teba was a past ally of Link's, and now it is his son who steps up to become one of the new sages.

Riju is the young chief of which people?

The Gerudo's young chief Riju accepts her ancestor's secret stone and awakens as the new Sage of Lightning.

The Zelda Link finds at Hyrule Castle turns out to be an illusion created by whom?

Phantom Ganon, a servant of the Demon King, had to be beaten in battle at the castle before Link's quest could go on.

Which last ancient sage survives as a spirit and needs a mechanical body?

Mineru, older sister of Hyrule's first king, rides her rebuilt construct as the Sage of Spirit and fights beside Link.

Who was Hyrule's first queen, killed by Ganondorf for her secret stone?

Sonia's death handed Ganondorf her secret stone, and using its power, he became the Demon King.

What does Zelda become after swallowing her secret stone?

The Light Dragon carried the broken Master Sword for thousands of years so it could heal, no longer remembering she was Zelda.

Where does the secret stone Zelda finds beneath Hyrule Castle send her?

Hyrule's founding era is where Zelda meets her ancestors, the first king and queen, and joins their fight as one of the sages.

Which huge one-eyed underground beast gobbles up the glowing seeds Link throws to light his way?

Frox has one big eye, and a shot there stuns it, while its gaping mouth can suck Link straight in.

Which new horned monsters hang from cave ceilings, waiting for prey to pass below?

Horriblins come crashing down when Link shoots them off the ceiling with an arrow, ready for a close-up fight.

At which gaming event did Nintendo first tease Tears of the Kingdom?

E3 hosted both the 2019 teaser and the full 2021 reveal, which promised a 2022 launch the game went on to miss.

Why did Nintendo delay the nearly finished Tears of the Kingdom?

To polish it, even though Nintendo had already shown the game with a 2022 launch window.

How did Tears of the Kingdom leak before launch?

Copies reached buyers two weeks before release, and the game spread to piracy sites while Nintendo pulled down streams.

Tears of the Kingdom sold how many in three days?

10 million went in three days, even though the game had leaked online two weeks before launch.

By June 2026, how many units had Tears of the Kingdom sold?

Nearly 23 million put it eighth among Switch games, despite arriving six years into the console's life.

Besides visuals, what did upgraded Tears of the Kingdom add?

Phone app features guide players to places with voiced directions and play voiced memories once they find the spot.

Which company developed the 2025 Hyrule Warriors spin-off?

Koei Tecmo pitched the game itself: its producer asked Nintendo's Zelda team for permission to tell the story of the ancient war.

Which Wii game did technical director Takuhiro Dohta cite as an inspiration for new mechanics?

Wii Sports Resort set many activities on one island, and Dohta brought that idea over by building the sequel on a Hyrule players already knew.

Developers originally used the ceiling-swimming ability for what purpose?

As a debug tool it let the developers pop straight out of caves, and they kept it because, as the director put it, cheating can be fun.

Which technical issue did IGN, Polygon and Nintendo Life all flag in their reviews?

The frame rate topped out at 30fps and dipped in busy scenes, and the later Switch 2 Edition raised it.

Who voices Ganondorf in the English version?

Matthew Mercer had already played Ganondorf years earlier in There Will Be Brawl, a Smash Bros. fan web series he also directed.

Which earlier Zelda let Link descend to the surface only at a few set points, a limit its developers blamed on hardware?

Skyward Sword made players choose a landing spot from the map, while this game lets Link dive straight from the sky to the ground.

Reports suggested Tears of the Kingdom's launch helped lift consumer spending in which country?

Japan's Cabinet Office tied a jump in spending on goods such as clothes and games to new game releases, as Zelda was selling fast.