Tears of the Kingdom Theory Unravels the Mystery of Its Title
What do they mean?
The final trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before the game’s release holds quite a bit of information for fans to speculate on. One of the largest theories to arise is that Tears of the Kingdom could riff on the MCU’s biggest plot point — the infinity stones. Yet if that is the case it is still a mystery what each titular tear of the kingdom represents, power-wise. A new theory seeks to answer that very question.
Throughout the final trailer, there are shots of multiple gemlike objects belonging to important characters. The most prominent is a teardrop-shaped yellow stone held by Zelda herself. Another fan theory points out how Ganondorf wears some snazzy jewelry that seems fit for holding these tears and has slots for seven individual gems.
So far, six of these are visible in the Tears of the Kingdom footage we have seen so far. Zelda holds a yellow one. Ganondorf holds a red one set into his headdress. A mysterious hand holds a white tear. Sidon has another yellow. Riju has a blue tear. Lastly, Tulin has a green tear. While we don’t know for sure what each of these tears is, Breath of the Wild and other hints at the story of Tears of the Kingdom can fill in the gaps.
Riju, Tulin, and Sidon all seem to be taking on the mantle of the original Champions of Breath of the Wild. In their status as heroes, it appears the tears have become their burden to bear. So much of Breath of the Wilds' larger lore revolves around the four elemental forces in the world. Those are wind, water, fire, and lighting. Most prominently these are represented by the four divine beasts. The colors green, yellow, and blue correlate to wind, lightning, and water respectively. But that leaves out the fourth element, fire.
Fire is likely tied to the red tier, in possession of Ganondorf. This could also suggest that something bad has happened to Yunobo, who could be another Champion successor. That solves the question of four of the tears. What about the other two we know about?
The prominence of several “tears” in trailers suggests they hold special power.
Zelda’s tear is most likely related to time. Based on nearly every trailer for Tears of the Kingdom, the game will very likely include some kind of time travel-related story, possibly tied to the idea that the Zelda franchise itself is stuck in a cyclical time loop of repeating stories. Zelda’s possession of the time tear could lead her to be sent back to the Great Calamity and even encounter the Goddess Hylia who may have appeared in trailers.
The white tear held by the mysterious hand is shown during one scene with Zelda, though the holder might be a member of the Zonai, specifically their king. In the grand theme of good vs evil and light vs dark fans have theorized that this white tear represents the power of light. That also gives us a potential answer to the mysterious seventh tear.
If there is a light tear then it is very likely there will be a dark tear. While not pictured in trailers it would likely have or be of interest to Ganondorf, considering his whole shtick throughout the Zelda series is being the literal embodiment of evil and chaos in the world. Of course, if another theory about a potential upheaval of who Ganondorf is is true, then this all gets even more complicated. Whatever the true purpose of these tears is, they are sure to be at the center of Tears of the Kingdom’s plot.
