Tears of the Kingdom Trailer #3 - Thoughts and Observations!

That trailer was something…!

First, the opening shot with Link diving down from the heavens was really awesome.

And the music in the trailer is absolutely incredible - perhaps we’ll do a deep dive in a later post. It was so skillfully sequenced and littered with nostalgic callbacks. The heavy use of a sax (in Zelda!) has me think Koji Kondo might have had something to do with it.

Whomever at Nintendo was responsible for cutting this trailer knew what they were doing.

Following are just random thoughts I’ve had after watching (and innumerously re-watching) the trailer.

Demise!??

The flowing hair looks like Demise but I don’t know how Demise could return (or how he and Ganondorf can occupy the same timeline). The hair is crazy though - and Ganondorf doesn’t look to have flowing locks like this anywhere else we’ve seen him in official TotK footage and art. This scene looks wild, with Ganondorf (or non-Ganondorf) standing in front of a blood moon.

Can Ganondorf destroy the Master Sword!?

This is clearly how Link’s arm was injured but it may also be how the Master Sword was destroyed. If Ganondorf was able to destroy the Master Sword, it says a lot about the power he has - as that is really the only weapon that can harm him. Heavy lore implications here with this!

Link’s Varia Suit

Flamebreaker armor is back and it looks like we’re really going to need it for this underground section. He wore it during the mine cart ride while battling a construct as well (perhaps in the same underground section?).

WHO THE HELL IS THIS!?

Who is this?

Is she a Zonai?

The Sanctum!?

How is Link back in the Sanctum, which looks to be intact, when the castle is floating in the air? Is this a flashback? What’s happening here?

WHO IS HE!?

Who is this guy? King Zonai!? Why does his crest look to be similar to the Gerudo crest? His gauntlets look like Zonai design. So many questions!!

WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS THING!?

This thing looks like a giant, demonic beetle. What is happening in this scene!?

The war is real this time around…

Hyrule has always had wars between the races and against Ganondorf’s forces but you never actually got to witness them. BoTW had NPCs who were out in the field and directly impacted by the events that happened 100 years ago. Now it looks as if NPCs will not only be directly affected by in-game events organically, they may also have some gameplay significance. This is all speculation but here’s more ammo for this take:

Escort missions!?

This cart was clearly built using Ultrahand (as evidenced by the green goo glue holding everything together). I’m wondering if there will be some resource management or tower defense type of component to the game where you’ll need to manage resources for strongholds or something. Not very Zelda-like but I’m here for it so long as it is a smaller add on and implemented well.

Mecha battles?

So we can make a stone, refrigerator bots to take on a Stone Talus’s with Bokoblins and Bokoblin scaffolding built atop them. I’m down.

I don’t anticipate building alot in this game myself but I’m happy to have it as an option.

Rockets?

This part of the trailer looked to platformer-like for me. The next scene showed some cool anti-gravity jumping. And where is this rocket coming from? Is it just laying around Hyrule? Can’t wait to get concrete answers on all this tech! The Zonai seem to be ahead of their time tech-wise just like the Shiekah.

WHO IS THIS!?

Three Lynels

The lynels with antlers look intimidating as all hell. I don’t want anything to do with those things!

Ganondorf!

Ganondorf always has some of the best designs but I think this one is one of the best. I like how it takes inspiration from Wind Waker Ganondorf with the half robe. And I love the jewelry he’s wearing - his drip is fire, for sure! Zelda games that feature Ganondorf as the main villain are the most epic ones IMHO! His VO has grown on me too since we’ve first heard it the previous trailer.

Party time?

Will Link have party members? Can we equip and outfit them? How is this implemented? Where is the new Goron champion? Is Yunobo okay? Why isn’t Teba the Rito champion? Again, so many questions…!

May 12th cannot come soon enough. With so many leaks and fakes out there, we are going dark on Tears of the Kingdom here at Kentendo Chronicles until release day.

Until then!