Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - Story Explained (Part 2/3) 

Thanks for watching! I have to apologise, Part 3 will not be ready for another week. So stay tuned for the final episode on the 29th! (Also just pretend I didn't say "Queen Gohma" at 55:35 😂)

It’s pretty cool that both Zelda and link got their own story in this game.

I think Zelda passing on her recall ability is her adding her Sage's power to Link. It shares the same environment as the other sages, and it would make sense that her temple is the one of Time.

When the sages parry Ganondorf’s gloom in the castle, I got so emotional I had to stop playing for a bit. It made me think of how lonely Link really was in Breath of the Wild. Hyrule was so empty, he had no memories of his life before the Calamity, and only a handful of people knew him. He was alone. Now, in Tears of the Kingdom, he has a life with Zelda, and friends, and the world is not as empty. He can count on helping hands.

I love how Zeltik talks about how extremely confused Link is after the Master Sword vanished while the quote used is "...?"

This game is the ultimate love letter to the Zelda franchise. I see inspiration from every past game.

Notice that at the beginning of the game when Link first dives down to the sky islands, Zelda in her dragon form is always right nearby. Looking back at these small details makes me tear up man...a beautiful game, truly.

The fact Yona comes from another Domain outside of Hyrule makes one wonder if those unnatural canyons to the north and west were made by outsiders to cut it off from them. After all, Hyrule has a tendency to get infested by monsters and demons destroying stuff with fair frequency, haha.

They really weren’t fucking around with Ganondorfs power. Man breaks the master sword, screws with the hero for a good majority of the game, and is never scared of him until the end of the game where he’s loosing, and even then, he seems so excited to finally fight someone that’s actually a match for him. Not just the sages hanging up on him, one guy is actually putting up a fight against him. He even says during the battle he had almost forgotten the thrills of battle, the blood rushing through his body. And he’s confused when he loses. Not mad, not angry. Just confused. This hero couldn’t even survive his Gloom, now he’s able to fight him. Game devs really just said: “yeah but what if he was much stronger?”

Zeltik ages like a fine wine, 8 years later and got better overtime

I still like how when you look at how Ganondorf punishes the races of Hyrule it sort of mimics OOT. With the Zora, Rito, and Gerudo he all but starves them. With the brutal sandstorm the Gerudo can't really get supplies, especially with Gibdo lurking. The snowstorm in lower Hebra is intense it threatens the Rito with lack of food or eventually travel since they'd all just freeze to death, and the Zoro have their health threaten directly. They can't swim in the sludge, it poisons them, and their food supply. But the Goron? They're industrucble rock men who are all incredibly powerful and already live in a place there's nearly unhabitable and that very land supplies them with food that can't be poisoned, destroyed, or seperated from them. So what does Ganondorf do? He gives them rocks so tasty they lose the will to do anything.

The Gerudo section was by far the creepiest, most disturbing part of the main story for me.

A small theory. Zeltik's video about "The Terrifying Powers of the Master Sword" mentions about, of course, how the Master Sword can harness different powers and elements. The shrines of TotK often say the line, "This shrine imprisons and purifies ancient evil." In the final battle against the Demon King, the revitalize Master Sword is able to reflect the waves of gloom sent out by Gandondorf, causing them to become blue and home onto Ganondorf, inflicting damage. Its imprisoning and purifying an ancient evil.

Technically, the Lightning Temple is in design not a pyramid, but a ziggurat like the ones from the cities of Ur and Eridu. They are also found in Mesoamerica, mostly built by the Mayans and Aztecs. But ziggurats did not serve as tombs, more like personal temples for the city's patron god/goddess. This Temple seems to be a hybrid style of a pyramid and a ziggurat. The room that houses the secret stone proves the connection further. It is fairly disconnected from the rest of the Lightning Temple, located on the top floor, far more ornate than the any other room. This is very similar to ziggurats, where only priests and others highly respected by society were allowed in the structure on top, said to house the gods. (P.S These are just my interpretations anyway.)

I think that 5th race might've been something we haven't seen since Skyward Sword. the mogma, who were known for digging tunnels underground, and possibly the ones who made those statues. But that's just a theory I'm willing to put on the table.

The Wind Temple was by far the standout part of the game. Tulin's both adorable and useful, the trip up to the ark is fun and impressive, and Colgera is the most fun of all the bosses.

43:40 Colgera's theme slaps so incredibly hard Link is lucky Ganondorf didn't persue a career in music.

One thing I find scary about this game's version of Phantom Ganon is that, even though it is completely loyal to its master as if it were a puppet, it clearly has a will of its own: it talks to people, it acknowledges Link as a potential threat even though Ganondorf is dismissive of him, and it sabotaging the different regions to give Ganondorf an advantage goes against Ganondorf's desire to win through overwhelming might. It clearly has a will of its own, even if that will is simply to carry out Ganondorf's will, and it has all of Ganondorf's cunning with _none_ of his hubris. That is scary.

Count me among the folks who wish they had made the Zora Waterworks the site of the Water Temple, instead of something in the sky. An underground cave system for one of the dungeons would have been amazing.

I love how they gave kohagas music some spunk with a eletric guitar while he hurls at you with a monster truck

17:19 the fact that was Zelda’s sage room, but even though it all, Zelda’s heart reaches out to help Link, even as she sleeps

I love that Zelda gives Link the power of Recall in the same way that the other sages give Link access to their Sage abilities. 16:50

I just wanted to mention something so Zelda is cannonicly in love with link this is confirmed via kass in btow “the princess love for her fallen knight awakens her power” and before this she “only had eyes for her own knight attendant” when she rejected a dude so she is in love with link romantically and especially in totk when she talks about link to raru and Sonya it sounds like she is describing her partner tbh but I digress. When this is put into context her sacrifice is absolutely heartbreaking i cryed my eyes out for at least a good 5 minutes after the cutscene Zelda was not only willing to sacrifice herself for link but also not know if she will ever see her love again. Totk is truly one of the most deeply romantic Zelda games in my opinion. And Zelda’s sacrifice for link is a proof of her faith and love for link and by extension her kingdom

If one person has studied Zelda TotK, it's Zeltik😂

i get why you didnt deep dive into all the regional phenomena stories, because this vid would have to be 5 hrs long and they’re not all super related to the overall story, but sidon’s quest is particularly beautiful. you literally end up helping him resolve childhood trauma from when mipha died that is actively affecting his current relationship with yona. it’s a short quest but there actually is a lot of depth there if you look for it and have some understanding of how trauma works or even just mental health generally

Master Khoga is such a funny antagonist. The whole time I was just waiting for the moment he defeated himself 😂

This man has put every last ounce of lore into theses videos, wow

Could those statues in the Depths possibly be referring to the Mogma from Skyward Sword? While they did have tails, the resemblance is uncanny; and a race slightly changing in its appearance wouldn't be a first. It would also make sense for them to aid the Zonai with the mining

I find it funny that Yunobo became a drug lord for a couple of minutes in Goron City under the influence of marbled rock roast.

It's cool to learn about the founding of this version of Hyrule in this game, but I would've loved to see even more about the Zonai, as the Zonai were already almost gone by the time of Hyrule's founding. I remember finding the glide trial islands and finding it cool that they were originally coming-of-age trials for young Zonai, and I would've loved to see more of the sky islands have history behind them.

A small theory I have about the ancient Sages that fought with Rauru. I’m not sure if this has been mentioned yet (and maybe this was obvious to everyone but me), but I think the Divine Beasts are named after the ancient sages. Their names are never mentioned, and they’re always referred to as a “distant relative” or “ancestor” to the current Sages. On top of that, the masks match the faces of each of the Divine Beasts. So to me, the names of the sages are: Wind Sage- “Medoh” Fire Sage- “Rudania” Water Sage- “Ruta” Lightning Sage- “Naboris” Just a thought. Excellent video as always Zeltik!

A neat little detail I've noticed throughout my playthrough is that whenever a bloodmoon happends, you will hear a super depressed zelda talk about the bloodmoon. And when you defeat the puppet of ganondorf, this whole line is gone whenever a bloodmoon happends. It sends out a eerie chill but its a very nice detail.

Zelda never got the chance to present Link with the new Champion's tunic. She notes that it was worn down over time and weathered from use. The one we see in the beginning of the game is the same one he wore 100 years ago when he fell during the calamity, mended by Impa, and presented to him during his fight against the calamity. Zelda notes in her diary that she was going to present Link with the new tunic after they finished exploring the tunnels beneath Hyrule Castle, so the one in the beginning of the game was the one worn during Breath of the Wild, the Champion's Leathers is the one that Zelda made after being freed from the Calamity.

I just noticed that the Light Dragon is present at Link's first jump. She is in the sky near the Temple of Time. A neat little touch.

I never noticed the Phantom Ganons are like the Sage's avatars. It makes so much sense. Your narration is incredibly fun to listen to, I look forward to the next part!

i can't watch this in full at the moment, but the sheer love and passion zeltik puts into every video is genuinely moving!! like, they're made with such attention to detail, such care, balancing humor and gravitas and earnestness - they're captivating, and heartrendingly authentic. i love them all so much!!

My headcanon for Link getting Recall is that the specter Zelda in the Temple of Time was put there by Zelda herself moments before her transformation. She was confident in her time powers and left a "mini memory" like the dragon tears but less powerful. But the memory Zelda left was her promise to help Link in whatever way he needed. And much like the 5 other cutscenes with the other sages, Zelda brings link to the spiritual plane (foggy zen garden world) and promises herself to Link and the cause. I imagine she didn't say anything because her 'memory' ability wasn't perfected yet.

This tops the story of Breath of The Wild by a landslide, this game's story is so incredibly well thought out. And the fact that Zelda herself effectively causes a bit of a Time Paradox by traveling back to the founding of Hyrule, becoming the Light Dragon with the Master Sword embedded in her head, while at the same time thousands of years later with the events of Breath of the Wild, 2 copies of both Zelda and the Master sword exist at the same time, completely without anyone knowing? It's all mind boggling!

It’s crazy how soon Link sees the light dragon, without knowing anything. Beautiful.

A lot of people have noticed that zonai symbols were on the fused shadow, i think thats because in twilight princess, it says the spirits if light decended from the heavens and banished an evil, or the twili. So its possible that the zonai were the ones who banished the twilight and created the fused shadow. You may be thinking of the actual spirits of light in twilight princess, i think these are the spirtits of the zonai in animal form, which is actually not the first, kaepira gaebora from oot which is raurus spirit in the form of an animal,

Can we agree that the whole wind temple segment was one of the top 3 moments in the entire game?

Such an amazing story from both Link and Zelda’s perspective’s. One of the best game’s I’ve ever played.

"Goron's who consume marbled rock roast are literally stoned" - you got me there! 😂

I absolutely adore how you've recreated each trailer in the intro using in-game shots - just goes to show how much has changed since early development! Excited to see part 3 with (hopefully) the most recent trailer

I always thought the extra statues in the depths resembled Mogmas. It made sense to me cuz their whole thing is to tunnel underground so why not be tied to the depths. Also TOTK seems to have a lot of connections to Skyward Sword.

Zeltik never disappoints with his videos 👍

When I first played through the story of Tears of the Kingdom, one thing that struck me was how I could see parallels to the events that had occurred throughout the time of the pandemic. Rito -- Severe weather causing *shortages of basic necessities* Gorons -- A successful businessman with an ego like a *crypto-bro* propping up an ultimately *damaging drug-like product* Zora -- Sludge raining from the sky and severely harming the populace, almost *like the area was diseased* Gerudo -- Dangers outside, which means the people need to *shelter in place* I think a lot of this nuance will be lost over time, because the game is excellent regardless of the added context, but if the context remains, I think Tears of the Kingdom has the potential to be "timelessly of its time".

this series absolutely SLAPS, ever since TOTK I've been stuck in a rabbit hole of LoZ lore theory and explanation videos so thank you for feeding my hyperfixation

One of my favourite pieces of totk content to come out. The editing is amazing!

I absolutely love how half of the Hateno quest is political drama and the other half is The Legend of Zoolander

Now THESE are the kind of videos I strive to match one day. Documentary style videos are my absolute jam. Incredible stuff!

Very neat that from Link's point of view, the Master Sword goes from hovering above the altar, right to the Light Dragon as it parts the cloud barrier.

Whenever he uploads I just binge watch them until it ends and then I rewatch it

i love how nintendo didn’t hide zelda’s story behind ganon as much because i really loved the separate timelines and the reveal of zelda being the light dragon was so cool and absolutely heartbreaking as well. i love this game series

“I’ve been looking forward to this.” -Count Dooku

I can already tell this is going to be a great video! If you see this, I have a theory based on the timeline placement of these games, which will be below I have a theory that the Zelda timelines converges into some point, which causes the Zonai to eventually reform Hyrule, hundreds of thousands of years later. This would allow for the Rito and Zora to be in the same timeline. I believe that when the timelines converged, Hyrule was basically destroyed in some way, slowly being rebuilt by the different races until the Zonai descended from the Sky, explaining why Ganondorf disliked Rauru’s new rule. The reason the Triforce isn’t mentioned a whole lot is because it’s practically forgotten about after the timelines converge into one point. It is only really referred to as “Sacred Power” which only seems to imply that they know it’s from the Goddess. Another note about the Triforce, it appears on all of the Elemental attack power armour and also the rest of the Zonai clothes seen throughout the game. Another point I would like to make is the Forgotten Temple. In the Forgotten Temple, it is confirmed that the mother statue there is the one from Skyward Sword, because you gain the White Sword of the Sky after restoring the Goddess Statue. This also backs up the theory that the timelines converged and it was just hidden there up until Hyrule’s founding, because that’s where Rauru kept the secret stones. And here comes to the main part of my theory. I believe that the Zelda timeline is a reoccurring set of timelines expanding and converging. We can already see the timeline split in Age of Calamity, which could lead to future branches. The main icon of the game is a dragon eating another dragon, in a loop. Although this was likely referring to Zelda’s time travel shenanigans, I believe it also refers to the constant repetition of timeline expansion and convergence. Just a cycle that repeats over and over again. Overall, this is my main theory on how TOTK’s story fits into the timeline, as it doesn’t affect the other games and doesn’t start a completely new timeline. Another key point is Fi. Fi couldn’t possibly be in the Master Sword if the games lore took place before Skyward Sword. It is important to note that Fi reacts with Sacred Power, as you mentioned, which means it must have already been blessed by Hylia. Thanks for reading, and if you have any other thoughts or points to support or oppose this theory, leave them in the replies, I would love to hear what you have to say!

i would love a retrospective of all the noteworthy theories you and other zeldatubers like nbc did about the zonai throughout the last 6 years and how accurate they were! the zonai being such a huge part of this game was an incredible thing to predict when all we knew in botw was the ruins

I feel that the zonai came in many shapes and sizes like the hylians. The ancient hero was probably a rare type of zonai, and the ones below were probably the same. The miners gear looks like it would be a perfect fit for the ancient hero, especially the pants.

In BotW you can see the Dragons crossing the sky barrier and underground barrier whenever you chip pieces off them. Which is pretty neat now that the barrier is more easily traversable in TotK, we actually know where they were going when they floated away.

I think I'm ready to admit that this is my new favorite Zelda game, and possibly my favorite game of all time.

My theory is that the other Zora Domain is where all the Zora with the ray-heads come from. So like Muzu and Yona. And I hope that, IF we get a third (and final) instalment in this series, we'll get to see that domain.

You did NOT need to go that hard with the E3 2021 trailer recreation at the start. Absolutely goated.

He's delayed it once again to August 2nd due to his sickness we have to wait even longer

I don't think Rauru only dragged Link up to the sky. To be specific, Rauru used the Ascend ability to pull Link to the Sky.

Quick head canon: Ganondorf's whole puppet zelda thing was supposed to really mentally screw with link and make him just give up with despair, but instead it just pissed him off that Ganon would dare sully Zelda's name/image and more him driven to fulfill his duty.

Your musical editing is so good. Great choices in tracks and timing. Thank you!

Fun fact: as long as you have the decayed Master sword you can't actually see it in Zelda's head. It's when the sword goes back in time you can see the glow coming from her head.

Ahhh Colgera has such an amazing theme for the fight- love hearing it

dude props good sir for recreating one of the trailers with actual gameplay and cutscenes well done 👍👏

I’ve watched both videos in their entirety. You do a brilliant job of covering the games events. One thing that I noticed and am hoping for is that there will be a 3rd game. The game insists that there is land beyond Hyrule, like where Siddons wife comes from and also how Master Kogha defeats himself but like in BOTW we didn’t see him die, only vanish. Obviously we just got this master piece of a game and I’m sure we won’t get anything new for years to come, but if there is hope, that will make my days. Also side note, this is easily game of the year for me. 2+ weeks of playing I got my moneys worth of content and then some.

Tears Of The Kingdom was a blessing. This game made me wanting more.

Listening to these videos have made me realize how much information I missed while I played.

Cheers for another incredibly well put video. The production quality on these is insanely unmatched

A reason why I knew early that the Zonai islands were over the sky barrier from SS is the light dragon. After getting the 4 shrines from the Great Sky Island, the light dragon opens a barrier in the clouds. If you compare that opening to the openings found in Skyward sword after placing a tablet, you'll see that they are very similar.

It's interesting to notice how the story arch of their relationship involves holding each other hands. How link failed to grab her hand and she teleported, how she gave him the recall by holding his hand, how he saves her at the end by finally grabbing her hand and protecting her

I love the way you story tell and I love how you put these together. Great job, I appreciate your hard work :)

OMG IT'S HERE I've been literally been looking forward to this for the past week! Super stoked to see it's finally here

Zeltik, top quality as always. I love how you connect so many dots that are understated in the game. Thanks for all you do!

I think the sky islands' appearance is actually directly related to zelda going back in time, not to the castle being raised or the seal being broken; in the scene the moment ganondorf raises the castle, the sky is entirely empty. Then, Zelda falls and goes back in time, and the next immediate shot of the sky shows the sky islands suddenly there and bricks falling. I think Zelda's time travel created weird paradoxes and timey-wimey stuff

"Kohga, a bumbling, yet lovable idiot. Who ends up defeating himself" I love that line xD

Your 3 parter represents the triforce part 1 is wisdom part 2 is courage and part 3 will be power

18:01 I have a theory. When Link wakes up, not all of Zelda's events have happened. As we know, There was a Light Dragon in the previous game, but it was hidden far above the clouds. This is the same one we see when Link jumps. So the Light Dragon we see after sending the sword back is the one Zelda becomes.

Great video as always! I don’t know why but the statues with the frog-like heads from the depths remind me of the Mogma from Skyward Sword, primarily by the shape of the head and torso. Edit: The Mogma were miners in Skyward Sword. The only thing is that they are not mentioned in TotK and we have never seen them actually standing, the were always sitting in their holes in the ground.

Thank you so much for these Videos! Your Storytelling is simply on another level and the fact that you explain every single little detail of the Story is just crazy and must be apprechiated. Thank you so much and keep up the insanely good work. Can‘t wait for part 3 to come out!

I need amnesia so I can play this again. After waiting so much time after BOtW, this was easily the most magical experience I’ve ever had playing a game. I was hypnotized. Can’t wait for the next one. :’)

Gosh watching this feels like I'm playing the game again, your narration is always just an absolute treasure! I anxiously await for par 3 to come out when we get to see minoru and ganondorf be mentioned, I can't wait for this conclusion to unfold, everything you do zeltik is just an absolute thrill! ^^

i really appreciate your choice of music in this! the zelda symphony's rendition of dragon roost island is always a banger

I cannot wait until part three where we get into truly some of the most awesome and beautiful parts of the story- I always love how Zeltik narrates it and I can’t wait to see how he puts it into words!!

It comes to mind that a lot of confusion and heartbreak could've been avoided if Zelda had simply taken some parchment, wrote a message large and clear, and photographed it with the Purah Pad, and sent that into the future.

I just finished tears of the kingdom so now I can watch your videos again.

i just saw pt 1 randomly in my timeline and luckily pt2 just came out like 4 hrs earlier. great work

Fantastic video! The editing is top notch! Thank you so much for you hard work!!

1:00:46 Ganondorf shows the world as it was when he became the demon king during the king of lights rule, not before it, he had destroyed almost everything. It is why the king imparts the secret stones in the forgotten temple (far away from the great plateau) to then lure the demon king into a final fight in the area that would soon become hyrule castle.

you can tell the video is gonna be good when it starts like a movie

Brilliantly narrated as always. So much content - looking forward to the next part.

The only game to make me cry, and the best zelda RU-vidr I’ve ever experienced

I really love that you recreated the sequel to BOTW trailer from e3 2021, but final product addition.

Man, I can’t believe this story is going to be adapted into a THREE PART series! It’s just magical how much content Zeltik is finding in this story.

BRUH. I can’t wait for part 3. Thank you for this beautifully edited video. I didn’t think I’d play this game, but you’re really getting me amped up to finally finish my original Zelda game and pick up this new one. Cheers dude!

Looking forward to part 3, thank you Zeltik!