Summary
- Nintendo was once seriously considering naming Tears of the Kingdom "Tears of the Dragon."
- The company opted for the Tears of the Kingdom title fairly late into the game's development.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was almost called Tears of the Dragon. That's according to a senior Nintendo official, who recently went on record to explain why Nintendo ended up opting for the Tears of the Kingdom title instead.
Major story spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom ahead.
Although it is not initially presented as such, the identity of the Light Dragon is one of Tears of the Kingdom's central mysteries. Players who progress far enough through the game's story will eventually discover that this majestic creature is no one other than Zelda herself.
Nintendo Once Considered a More Straightforward Title for Tears of the Kingdom
Once upon a time, Nintendo considered giving the game a more straightforward title inspired by the Light Dragon. That's according to long-time The Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma, who was quoted as saying as much in Tears of the Kingdom Master Works, a recently debuted art book dedicated to the hit 2023 game. The book, which hit the market on August 30, contains a passage in which Aonuma reveals the developer was previously seriously considering Tears of the Dragon as the title of its latest mainline Zelda game, Nintendo Everything reports.
Nintendo Dropped 'Tears of the Dragon' Title for Fear of Spoiling TOTK's Big Surprise
The Tears of the Dragon title made it to the very final round of candidate names that Nintendo was considering, Aonuma said. But the Japanese gaming giant ultimately decided against using it, because "letting it slip that the Light Dragon is Zelda would have been a problem," according to the industry veteran. The fear of spoiling Tears of the Kingdom's story is also what made Nintendo reluctant to include dragon motifs into the game's logo, which is something that it's been considering for a while, Aonuma revealed.
Letting it slip that the Light Dragon is Zelda would have been a problem.
The less revealing Tears of the Kingdom title was hence chosen in part because it allowed the company to design a logo that it had long wanted to do, one adorned by a minimalist depiction of the Light Dragon. Aonuma said that the official name was suggested by one of the staffers at Nintendo's Entertainment Planning and Development (EPD) division in charge of the project.
All of this is understood to have happened fairly late into the game's production, with Aonuma revealing that the Tears of the Kingdom title was proposed while Nintendo was "running out of development time." Based on that tidbit, it's possible that the name was chosen as late as 2022, because the official title of the Breath of the Wild sequel was only revealed in September of that year, 20 months before the game itself hit the store shelves.
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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
- Engine
- Havok
- Cross-Platform Play
- N/A
- Cross Save
- N/A
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.
- Franchise
- The Legend of Zelda
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- n/a
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
- Genre(s)
- Adventure, Action, Open-World
- How Long To Beat
- 59 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- n/a
