#botw2 theory

[eleanor-v02]

Another crazy Tears of the Kingdom theory:

I just properly realised today watching NintendoBlackCrisis’ video that the only use of the word “Zonai” that we have seen so far is the name of the Zonai Ruins and the recently revealed Zonai Charge. This got me thinking that maybe “Zonai” isn’t actually the name of the tribe that the word is associated with. It could possibly be something like the name for the green energy we see, or some other thing that connects to the tribe but isn’t the tribe’s name.

Or I could be completely wrong. I did just think of this after all. It’s also highly likely that someone has thought of this before me.

[weareswords]

Zelda fans losing our minds over Ganondorf returning, Zelda becoming Hylia, the Zonai tribe origins, and the potential infinite time loop

Polygon: HUMMUS

[ganondoodle]

i cant lie, im also beating myself up about not being able to get excited for the new game, or anything anymore it seems, while it can be fun to criticise things, some things you just dont like so badly that the frustration knowing it could be so much better but isnt and you not able to change it outweighs any fun- i dont like being a 'hater', i hate totk, but not bc i hate zelda but bc i LOVE it and want it to be better (though im starting to doubt my ability to do anything good with it too..)

and with the new game trailer (like, i still hope its better than im fearing rn) i feel similarly as when the next totk trailers dropped after the first one (which DID excite me), all of them gave me a sense of dread bc it seemed to go into a direction i wouldnt like, i tried to tone that voice down to enjoy the game, but then .. i was right

i dont want to be an annoying complainer about everything new, but maybe i am and i dont like that thought, i dont want to spoil anyones fun, i want to partake in it :(

[uraniumm00n]

Just wanted to put this out here. In the Gameplay trailer Link only has one green vile/light

This is from the other Trailers ⬇️

He usually has 4! And I thought they could possibly be the new ability we will get like, Fuse, Ascend and UltraHand and that we had to collect them but even if they showcase all Links new ability he still has only one light. So it couldn't possibly be that

What do you think it could be?

ARRRRRHHHGGGG!!! IM SO EXCITED!

and a little overwhelmed but thas oki

[echoesofwisdomcountup]

179 Days since Tears of the Kingdom Released. So I’ve recovered a bit from the movie announcement yesterday. Today I’ll share my belief about where Totk is placed on the timeline. I’ve been turning it around in my head but the Demon King Ganondorf, while appearing similar to Demise, is not Demise. The imprisoning war that’s talked about in Skyward Sword is not at all the same as the imprisoning war in Totk. So my belief is that Sonia and her husband are not the first Queen and King of Hyrule. At least they aren’t the first king and queen of the first Hyrule. I think that Skyward Sword happens and that Link and Zelda begin the creation of the Kingdom of Hyrule. After Twilight Princess, Spirit Tracks, and pretty much every other Zelda game besides Botw/Totk happens, the timeline converges and the old Hyrule is destroyed (or Hyrule is destroyed before the timelines merge, your pick.) There’s a period of time with no Hyrule and then the Zonai descend and Sonia and Rauru found Hyrule again . This new Hyrule Kingdom is the same that continues until Botw Zelda’s time. Hence this Ganondorf is imprisoned beneath the castle for so long except for the two Calamity events. That’s my theory (cough a game theory.)

[thunderstruccc]

Okay I got a theory!

We got this beautiful picture of zelda..BUT.. she isn't holding a Sheikah slate!!

I have a theory that it will function like a Lens of Truth!

The Spikes!!! The EYE!!! It just makes sense!!

[legendofzoodles]

Has anyone seen these theories?

[yikes077]

Someone needs to figure out what they put in the shampoo in Hyrule bc all of them have such fantastic hair

[theimpalatales]

this is just a little fun I had because I'm a little obsessed with the mystery of the 8th heroine statue in BOTW and I love the idea of this linking to TOTK somehow. also I've only ever played BOTW so I don't really know much of the lore, this is just for fun

Many years ago, the royal family of Hyrule made a decision to end the cycle of hatred by defeating Ganon: not by killing him, but by containing him. To break the cycle they decided that, rather than Link killing Ganon, resulting in his eventual, inevitable rebirth, the demon king would have to be trapped.

In order to do this, the people of Hyrule enlisted an unlikely ally: the Twilight Princess.

Accessing the Twili realm through a little-known portal kept hidden in the Gerudo Highlands, the races of Hyrule came together with the shadow realm to defeat Ganon. Midna agreed to help their cause, having previously seen how important Link and Zelda's tasks were.

So it was that Midna sacrificed herself to spend all eternity using her power and spirit to contain the powerful demon king.

Thus, the cycle was stopped: no more Gerudo men were born, and Hyrulians could try to rebuild after the terrible damage to their land. A statue was erected in honour of Midna's sacrifice and used to hide and seal the entrance to the Twili realm.

Seven other statues were created to commemorate the actions taken that day. Plans were made to situate all eight statues together but were eventually scrapped due to fears that this would lead others to seek the power of the shadow realm for themselves. Work ceased immediately on all the statues, even though Midna's sword had not yet been finished, and the Gerudo were encouraged to remember only the seven heroines as their saviours. They weren't even taught what the seven heroines had done to save them. And so the identity of the eighth heroine was purposefully forgotten, Midna's statue left to stand alone.

The dragons still fly by Midna's statue in honour of the Twilight Princess' noble deed; at least, Naydra did before being corrupted by malice. And a tapestry still exists showing Ganon being defeated by a blonde-haired Zelda and a hero with turquoise skin and orange hair.

Sadly, this sacrifice was not to last. As time went on, Ganon's hatred grew, fuelling his power until it became too powerful for Midna's spirit to hold back. As Link and Zelda travel to unearth the truth of what happened 10,000 years ago, the evil they seek to defeat once and for all is awoken.

And so, the cycle begins anew.

[confusioncorvid]

In tears of the kingdom, I think it would be really cool if they included a species descended from the loftwing.

Maybe something less feathers? More reptilian/amphibious in appearance?

(like a twist on the bird from dinosaurs thing)

This way we could get a new take on loftwings {with personality and liveliness (not a machine, or stone)}, while keeping the integrity of the skyward sword loftwing.

New and different, but still paying homage to original

Maybe they could be called glidewings.

[eleanor-v02]

I’m just going to say this now:

I’ve thought for a while that the Zonai are descendants of the Twili that came to Hyrule at some point. They lived in the Thyplo ruins at first and used their magic to make it safe for them to live in (considering they can’t physically exist in the light world) while they acclimatised. After that they gained the ability to live in the light world again and spread out to other places.

It could be that this is completely disproved when the game comes out but I still wanted to put this out there just in case, by some miracle, I end up being right lol.

[weareswords]

You got an Amber Relic! These amber-colored chunks of precious stone are found everywhere. No one knows where their strange shape comes from.

[ganondoodle]

(idk if anyone wants to keep hearing my opinions on totk book stuff but-)

apparently it says that rauru DID have kids, multiple even, which yeah... is kinda necessary for zelda to even be connected to them so much so that sonia can SENSE a blood connection (which, even with all the excuses with magic, is just a little too far for me to suspend my disbelief bc its over, OVER, ten thousand years worth of generations that seperate her from them that one lil touch of the hand can sense that (feels more like an attempt to make you care about them or .. see them as zeldas "better" parents just bc they exchange a few nice words, i never got the feeling they were 'better' parents and its also kinda disrespectful to her actual parents, like sure rhoam wasnt the best but i wouldnt call rauru better just bc he was polite)- i could see maybe the light power of hylia or sth but since its the coolest dude that ever lived rauru now that had it which still doesnt make sense and makes me unreasonably annoyed and she can sense BOTH of their powers in her? nah) the fact theres NOTHING about them in the game itself is just so ... no way they planned any of this

i dont think theres anything they can do or say that wont make be believe they either

are making it up alla 'fix it in post' mentality trying to hastily explain stuff the game never bothers to do to try and appease fans or let it appear as if they thought about it at all

something went really REALLY wrong during development, which kinda seems likely given how the game turned out (im sorry i cannot let go, its not just the writing, the game design too and how little was changed in the map while being so damn expensive, i dont know how people dont feel scammed q_q)

given that they (allegedly) spent the last entire year of development on polish (where??? where????? huh??? like it would make it more understandable (EXCEPT for the price) if there was alot of trouble, which was also bc it got delayed and ... turned out like this, but they dont want to say it, especially given their reputation, with that quote i have heard way too many times 'a delayed game blah blah') i just??

are they just gonna go and do it like they did with kashiwa (kass)? "they uuuh where flying around the whole time ony cool sonau tech maschines, you just dont see or hear from them ooooorrr they were uuuuh out of the country at the time" (sending invitations to other continents to join their glorious kingdom ;) )

(bet they are also gonna say they did all the stuff like ... moving the shrines around (lol?) and lifting the islands up into the sky- which is still weird bc ... didnt they also say they were living in the sky before coming to the surface?? so where?? did they park all their islands on the surface and the mystery kids had the keys so they had to repark them back into the sky after they returned off camera?? xD also why are the islands so different as an environment if they where from the surface? like even the STONE up there is different- and if they were first in the sky then on the surface and the nback in the sky .. why is there not a single yellow tree or grass in the past- you cant really argue that it changed bc they were up there so long bc .. nothing else changed, the suddendly and totally always there sonau buildings are largely in prime condition, only some slightly moldy, and what we see of the glorious past looks barely any different from the present, aside from like ... some standard trees shuffled, no castle yet and that glowy uwu filter DESPITE that stupidly long time frame between it)

[fioreofthemarch]

Aonuma: are you happy now? You freaks? You cretins? Was the leaked art book not enough to sate you? I put my blood and my soul into this game. I haven’t seen my family in months. My own son asks if Daddy loves Link more than him. It’s BOTW2 alright, what more do you need? I’m only doing this goddamn Nintendo Direct because I got sick of seeing your dogshit theories - no Zelda isn’t dead you bozos, she’s literally the title character for fuck’s sake. Have ten minutes of gameplay and lose my number

[aufi-creative-mind]

Slightly eldritch Link and Zelda post-totk? Like what effects does draconification have on Zelda when she returns and what effects does link have from the zonai arm?

Could be physical, could be mental, maybe both?

And if you are into linked universe, what does the chain think of this?

..... C:<

Slightly eldritch, you say? WELL...

I don't have a lot for a Post-TotK Zelda... Maybe some leftover scales on parts of her body but that's as far as I can think of.

But for Link, I have PLENTY.

Especially for a Post-TotK LU Wild.

This is gonna be a very long post so please bear with me on this one.

--

Many of the Post-TotK Wild headcanons I had were made from 2019 onwards, after the BotW2 announcement trailer. And then started to evolve and become more eldritch during the 4 year long waiting and from the breadcrumbs of info the Zelda dev team dropped prior to 2023 release.

(Most of these Post-TotK Wild headcanon have now since been debunked with the official TotK game lore. But I like to come back to them and they are being repurposed in some way with the new official TotK context).

Many of these headcanons were about Wild's creepy glowing green hand. Especially as prior to the game's release, it was never revealed who was the hand's original owner. So I had a dark theory that the Glowing Green Hand was originally the Ancient Hero's and their Hero's Spirit was used as the "Seal" on Ganondorf's corpse. Thus halting the Reincarnation Cycle and why there's a massive 10K year gap between the Ancient Hero of 10K and the Hero of the Wild's incarnations. (This is no longer the case, of course but I sometimes think about it).

--

So anyway, as for what effects the Zonai Arm may had left behind on Link.

Officially, I had an idea that the Recall ability had enhanced Link's Flurry Rush ability. Particularly the "freeze" game mechanic when Recall is activated, which allowed Link to quickly observe what's in front of him in a split second in real time. And also makes it easier for him to trigger his Flurry Rush when on the ground.

So...basically his time perspective and trigger instincts for his Flurry Rush ability have improved. Especially as I have a headcanon that Link's Flurry Rush is his Champion Ability in BotW.

--

As for Pre-Totk release / "if Link kept the Zonai Arm abilities" headcanons, I have a couple of ideas that I did experimented with. Especially with the LU Boys.

At the time, I had Post-TotK Wild to not only being older but is also rather cryptic about his TotK adventure with the reasoning that its still too raw for him to tell the rest about what happened (Especially as there was so little info about what happened at the time, other than "a sequel is in development" and "Link gets a glowing arm").

Of course, this has now changed and I am still thinking about what new experiences and abilities from TotK would Wild bring to the LU Family. Though the one definite change from the original Post-TotK headcanon is that... Wild is now 7 years older than he was in BotW. So he's now 125 years old.

Before the Zonai Arm's Abilities were revealed, I had an idea that the Glowing Arm had three abilities - dubbed "Farore's Blessings" - Wrath (rage/survival power up), Breath (ability to see spirits/soul leaking) and Spirits (animal spirits and where the Farore's Spirits originated from).

Some of these ideas may be repurposed with the official TotK ideas.

I have also done a handful of stories that explores the Farore's Blessing abilities with the LU family in the past. Including Puppet Twilight AND Fierce Deity. Especially the Fierce Deity one which was originally an early live writing story that I spotenously created in the LU main server back in 2019.

Here's the sketches I made based on that.

(Original posts: Original 2019 sketch [left], 2020 Redrawing [right])

(Original post: Dialogue Exchange comic)

I have plenty more in store! Many old Pre-TotK-release headcanons and new TotK ones that are slowly brewing in the back of my mind. But this is how much I can post for now.

Enjoy! :D