Summary
- Tears of the Kingdom introduces the unique Secret Stones, which amplify the innate abilities of their owners and have the potential for exciting gameplay and storytelling possibilities.
- The Secret Stones replace the iconic Triforce in Tears of the Kingdom, showing that future Zelda games can still have compelling stories without relying on the Triforce as a central plot element.
- The inclusion of the Secret Stones allows for more characters to possess great power in the storyline, expanding on the importance of characters and presenting new possibilities for the series.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom introduced the Secret Stones, and provided a new possible direction for future stories. There are a lot of ways that Tears of the Kingdom managed to innovate, both in terms of gameplay and storyline. It did a good job of branching off of Breath of the Wild and continuing the story, leading up to a proper final duel with the Ganondorf from this point in the timeline. Many aspects of the game could be reused in future entries, and the Secret Stones may have more potential than most.
The Secret Stones are among the most unique items in The Legend of Zelda due to their effects and the role that they play. They are a collection of artifacts affiliated with the Zonai, and curiously have no power on their own. However, when in the possession of someone who has an innate ability of their own, the stone will amplify said ability and become active, gaining an element in its own right. A stone can even have its attribute overwritten if it receives a new owner. The way that the Secret Stones work is unusual, but Tears of the Kingdom showed how powerful they can be.
Secret Stones Have Potential Beyond Tears of the Kingdom
Tears of the Kingdom was the first main game not to feature The Legend of Zelda's iconic Triforce, with the Secret Stones instead playing its role as the artifacts the game revolves around. Even with that fact alone, they proved that a Legend of Zelda can have a good story even if the Triforce isn't involved. That means that future games in the series will have a lot more freedom to experiment with plot ideas since the Triforce is no longer strictly a necessity. Of course, it probably won't disappear from the series forever, but the Secret Stones made for a very valid replacement.
Past Legend of Zelda games have featured other artifacts in addition to the Triforce, but Tears of the Kingdom is the first to omit it entirely.
Another perk of the Secret Stones is how they provide a lot more importance to more characters. The Sages of Tears of the Kingdom are Secret Stone holders alongside Zelda and Rauru. In total, the stones and their holders were:
- Fire, held by Yunobo
- Lightning, held by Riju
- Spirit, held by Mineru
- Water, held by Sidon
- Wind, held by Tulin
- Time, held by Sonia, transformed to Darkness by Ganondorf
- Light, held by Rauru, turned to Time by Zelda
Unlike the Triforce, which was only held by Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf, the Secret Stones can give far more characters great power in the storyline, presenting exciting new possibilities.
Since the Secret Stones were just introduced, there is ample opportunity to expand on them in a Breath of the Wild threequel. After all, players have already seen both their amplifying powers as well as the dragon transformation that its wielders can use. Even if the next game doesn't continue along the current storyline, the Secret Stones can still play an active role in future games, especially since there's still more to explore regarding their nature and powers. Not only do they give Link another exciting artifact to search for, but they can lead to more of his allies becoming formidable warriors in their own right.
While they may never be as emblematic to the series as the Triforce, the Secret Stones certainly deserve a return appearance. With Tears of the Kingdom not having DLC, it will be up to future installments to provide more stories involving the Secret Stones. Their next appearance can delve deeper into their origins and powers and liven up the story further. It opens the door to exciting possibilities such as watching new characters awaken their innate abilities with the stones in order to fight evil alongside Link. Even after Tears of the Kingdom, the Secret Stones have plenty of stories to tell.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 95 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- May 12, 2023
- ESRB
- Rated E for Everyone 10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
WHERE TO PLAY
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.
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Action, Open-World
