Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Director Reveals More Lore…

Summary

The director of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom reveals the lore behind the shrines found in Hyrule, which were built to keep evil at bay before Ganondorf appeared.
Completing the challenges within each shrine cleanses Link of his darkness and grants him Spirit Orbs, which give him the power to defeat Ganondorf.
The shrines in the game are inspired by real-world locations in Kyoto, and players in the area are encouraged to explore their surroundings to find these locations.

The director of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has detailed the lore surrounding the various shrines that Link finds during his adventures in Hyrule. When Nintendo released its latest Zelda adventure earlier in 2023, Tears of the Kingdom quickly became one of the highest-rated games on Metacritic.

Fans have also embraced the sequel by exploring every inch of Hyrule, looking for all of the hidden mysteries scattered throughout Tears of the Kingdom's vast world. Now, the game’s director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi has spoken in an interview about the game’s lore and that it goes much deeper than players may have first thought.

In an interview with Nintendo Dream, translated by Nintendo Everything, Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujibayashi expanded on the importance of the shrines found within Hyrule. Fujibayashi states "The shrines themselves were built before Rauru founded Hyrule – before the Demon King Ganondorf appeared there were still a lot of evil beings." Each location represents an area that was under the threat of a demon but was destroyed by Rauru, and a shrine was installed to keep evil from returning. This ties into why Link is rewarded a Spirit Orb when players complete the challenges within each of the shrines in Tears of the Kingdom. Each orb is a way to cleanse the darkness from the hero and provide him with the light to take on Ganondorf.

The_Legend_of_Zelda_Tears_of_the_Kingdom_Shrine_Lore(2)

Fujibayashi goes on to explain that rather than being a beacon to ward off enemies in the area, the challenge set within each shrine is to cleanse Link of his internal darkness, giving him the power to take on the Demon King. Eiji Aonuma, the long-time producer of the Zelda franchise, likened each of the shrines to a talisman or statue to ward away enemies.

The shrines themselves were built before Rauru founded Hyrule – before the Demon King Ganondorf appeared there were still a lot of evil beings.

The interview also goes on to detail the inspiration for the shrines and the Lightroot locations found in the depths of Tears of the Kingdom. Each of the shrines Link discovers across Hyrule is a homage to Kyoto, the city that is home to Nintendo’s headquarters. Each one represents a real-world location, with a slightly altered name to prevent players from being taken out of the game’s immersive setting. Fujibayashi concludes by suggesting players in the Kyoto area should explore their surroundings to find all of the locations used in Tears of the Kingdom.

The interview with Hidemaro Fujibayashi goes to show how much thought and detail went into creating the lore for Link’s latest adventure. For now, Tears of the Kingdom won’t be seeing any DLC so it remains to be seen if Nintendo’s development team will conduct future interviews to address any outstanding questions, such as the fate of certain characters missing from Tears of the Kingdom.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image

Display card tags widget

Adventure

Action

Open-World

Display card system widget

Systems

Display card community and brand rating widget Display card open critics widget

OpenCritic Reviews: Top Critic Avg: 95 /100 Critics Rec: 97%

Display card main info widget

Released: May 12, 2023
ESRB: Rated E for Everyone 10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes
Developer(s): Nintendo
Publisher(s): Nintendo
Engine: Havok
Cross-Platform Play: N/A
Cross Save: N/A

Display card main info widget end Display card media widget start Display card media widget end

Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the beloved open-world adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This installment once again sees Link and Zelda battling to protect Hyrule from falling to Ganondorf. This new adventure takes place in the same land of Hyrule as Breath of the Wild but sees something called the Upheaval, which allows link to travel to Sky Islands, as well as deep into the Depths beneath Hyrule. Players can use special abilities to fuse together weapons, and build items to help them progress through the release.