With the announcement of the Breath of the Wild sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, fan theories of what to expect in the upcoming title have been popping up all day. One of the larger theories fans are speculating is that Link will be returning to the Silent or Twilight Realm, two locations that occurred in previous games, Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess.
The evidence comes from the official art box for the game. The official piece shows Link standing on the edge of a ruined landmark, with an open sky underneath him, the sky littered with ruins all over, with large patches of darkness covering the land beneath the clouds.
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However, eagle-eyed fans took a closer look at what Link was wearing, and the left side of his belt noticed a particular item. Many believe it to be the Vessel of Light, an item Link used to collect Tears of Light that were taken from provinces of Hyrule, pulled into the Twilight, and stolen by Shadow Insects. It was used to restore the light to these locations, which given the destruction below in the box art, seems oddly similar, considering the massive areas covered in darkness.
We only have a small closeup of the item on Link’s belt. Therefore, we do not have an official confirmation if this is the item or how it will work. However, this box art coincided with the official reveal of the sequel’s name, Tears of the Kingdom.
With “tears” directly in the title, it’s hard not to speculate that the Zelda team might bring these elements to the open-world RPG, giving players the chance to participate in trials featuring the Silent Realm. If these features are coming to Tears of the Kingdom, there will likely be multiple changes to how they work in this game from previous ones, and they may not feature the same names.
The sequel to Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, will release on the Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023.
