The final trailer for Tears of the Kingdom gave players the glimpse into the upcoming new Zelda title we all wanted to see. A look at story, potential dungeons and of course brand new snippits of gameplay. Perhaps one of the most intriguing elements was the dialogue and cutscenes they chose to present, and it got my mind racing on an unseen potential that players have wanted for years. Although this is entirely speculation, there may be reason to believe that Zelda may in some shape or form be playable in this upcoming new title and I believe as such due to the rather fantastic narrative storytelling that Zelda titles have had since the beginning. It’s worth noting before I begin, however, that I’m in no way suggesting this is definitive fact or guaranteed, but is just a fun look into how storytelling can paint a bigger picture, which is exactly what the beloved Zelda franchise loves to do.
Let’s start at the most basic understanding of every single Zelda title to date with the fact that our hero of courage, Link, has always been the protagonist through and through. Although Zelda has helped on occasion such as in Spirit Tracks or been playable in spin-offs like Hyrule Warriors, the brave princess has never had a leading role. This is completely fine, of course, but it’s something that fans have been wanting for some time. The recent trailer presented players with an interesting line from the princess in which she states “I know why I am here … It’s something only I can do.” It’s hard to say if these lines actually go together, but Zelda specifying that there’s something only she can do immediately makes someone wonder what that is and if we’ll see it. One might think that we’ll just get to watch what she does, but that’s not how this series handles story. Across the long-running series the story we capture is almost entirely through the eyes of our young hero.
One of the greatest elements of every Zelda title is that everything Link knows, the player also knows. We rarely know more than he does outside of introductions to the story or brief interludes between scenes. Take Twilight Princess for example wherein Link first becomes a wolf and we see Midna high atop a cliff watching over. This isn’t something Link sees, but it’s almost immediately addressed in the next scene where we’re introduced to her while locked away in prison. There’s no time left pondering who this character is for future scenes, our questions are answered as Link learns them immediately. This is true of near every instance of storytelling throughout the entire series as Link’s knowledge is what he sees or is told, and is in turn everything we know as well. An even clearer example is Breath of the Wild itself in which Link awakens with some amnesia, unaware of his past, and it’s only through memories throughout his adventure do we learn more about him. We don’t see flashbacks without Link, we don’t know more than he does at any point and it’s part of what makes every story beat have more impact and surprise both for Link and player alike. We are Link through and through and the journey to the end is us learning about this world and characters through him and him alone.
So how does this play into Zelda potentially being playable? It has a lot to do with the setting of the cutscenes shown in the last trailer. In every memory featured in Breath of the Wild, Link is involved with them. These are memories he had at one point and was there to witness the events or told by another person the events that took place. So then if we examine the cutscenes from the new trailer we can guess that Zelda’s events are running concurrently along side Link’s adventure as she’s waiting to be found by him, so it’s unlikely we’re being told of her trapped in some unknown location nor is this narrative the type to randomly break away from the action to other events happening that Link himself is not involved with unless we’re experiencing it as someone else. I personally lean into interpreting this as a potential segment in which we experience things as Princess Zelda simply due to any instance of Link somehow gleaming this knowledge of her not making any sense otherwise.
This idea fits the long-running narrative structure that things we experience as the player are things that the character we are playing goes through and not simply cutting away to things happening far away that the player then has knowledge of alone. In my mind it would make slews more sense to play as Zelda and see these cutscenes play out in this place where she is trapped, rather than Link somehow being able to see and hear her somehow yet not know exactly where she is if he’s meant to be looking for her. It could be the push and pull of playing as Zelda while still not knowing where she is and then playing as Link in the continued long journey to figure out what else we need to complete to finally find her. I do believe a key takeaway to these moments is that given the free and open nature of Breath of the Wild before it, these times where we could play as Zelda may be optional for players to partake in much like Link’s memories originally were not required to find. I also imagine they would be shorter, self-contained story segments and not Zelda able to explore an open world but perhaps focusing on puzzle solving and being involved with the mysterious new characters around her. These could even take place after major story beats for Link such as completing any dungeon-like segments or finishing key quests.
Given how large Tears of the Kingdom seems to be, both as the largest first party Switch title and Nintendo’s first title to be $70 at launch, it feels like this is being pushed as a big step forward for the franchise in some ways. This is an entry that has added entirely new mechanics to a working world, brand new grand areas to explore and even teased large caves with brand new challenges for Link to overcome. It’s in this grandiose line of thinking that makes it easy to believe that Zelda, within all of this, could be playable as well to expand even further on the adventure. We know she’s fully capable to take on any trial set before her be it in Skyward Sword where she journeyed alone and with Impa or Breath of the Wild wherein she stood and fought Calamity Ganon for 100 years by herself.
Everything here still remains no more than speculation and fun analysis, but in less than a month we’ll see for ourselves if this pipe dream is perhaps what Nintendo themselves may have been cooking up in this six-year long endeavor to completion. Even if it doesn’t come true, it’s a fun idea and it’ll be interesting to see how the narrative is twisted to fit the story given how their storytelling has been throughout the franchise for many years of wonderful games. Zelda’s narrative remains so strong because of its emphasis on Link and our journey through his eyes. Maybe it’s time we let Link get that much-needed rest for a bit and hand off the gauntlet to Zelda who is just as capable and willing to take on her Triforce of Wisdom and put it to good use in order to help put a stop to Ganondorf and help save Hyrule one more time.
