After watching the first few trailers, some Legend of Zelda fans speculated that Zelda was going to die in Tears of the Kingdom. The video footage showed both her and Link exploring what looked like the underground of the castle. They see malice forming and what looks like Zonai imagery swirling around the area. Very quickly the ground crumbles and we see Link trying to grab Zelda in time, but he isn’t able to catch her. We watched in horror as the trailer then showed an evil face, presumably Ganondorf, awakening. Zelda wasn’t shown in the trailer after that fall. Eventually the title of the game was revealed to be Tears of the Kingdom causing even more speculation that our princess had met her end. Surely all of Hyrule would be in literal tears if she died.
After watching the final trailer recently shown off, it would appear that Zelda doesn’t die from the fall. We still see Link barely missing her hand as she falls, but we do see her again later in the trailer. What she says can give us some possible clues. “I know why I am here…it’s something only I can do.”
Hearing this line instantly made me think that when Zelda falls she goes somewhere else instead of dying. Maybe to the past, future, or even an alternate timeline. As the events from Age of Calamity have shown, there are some multi-verse shenanigans at play possibly. Zelda will have her own quest to complete in the game which will presumably affect the world of Hyrule and what Link is trying to do. I am not suggesting that Zelda will be a playable character in the game, but perhaps through cutscenes we will learn more about where she is and what she needs to do.
Near the end of the trailer, amongst a lot of chaos and action of Link trying to save Hyrule, Zelda is shown wearing a beautiful white gown, a new haircut, and possible Zonai accessories in her hair. More importantly though, she is holding the Master Sword! You hear her say, “Link! You are our final hope.” It’s then that the trailer cuts to the logo of the game. We have seen evidence of Link wielding the Master Sword but it is covered in malice and looks to have been changed considerably. The sword that Zelda has in her possession has not been altered at all. Could she be able to somehow give Link the unaltered sword so he can defeat the resurrected Ganondorf?
The final line of the trailer really shook me. We see Zelda all alone on top of some structure looking up to the sky and crying out, “Link! You must find me!” That almost certainly confirms my suspicion that after falling Zelda does travel somewhere instead of falling to her demise. With her looking up to the sky she is quite possibly aware that Link is battling up there and trying to find his way back to her. All throughout the trailer there is ample evidence that Hyrule has changed significantly, apart from the Sky Islands that are forming above Hyrule. Perhaps Link is also in the same part of time or universe that Zelda is in, and he just simply needs to be able to find her. The Master Sword that she is holding could quite possibly be the reason that she needs to be there for.
Fans of the Legend of the Zelda franchise love to speculate and theorize, and I am one of those fans. From what I have seen in the trailer, I no longer think that Zelda dies in the game. Her fate has shifted to traveling to where she needs to be in order to help Link defeat Ganondorf. Whether in the past, present, future, or alternate universe she is very much alive and will play a key role in the story of Tears of the Kingdom.
