It has been two years since the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was revealed at E3 2019. Nintendo has barely spoken a word about the game until now. In the Nintendo Direct of E3 2021, Nintendo presented a new trailer for the game that is almost as vague as its initial reveal. It certainly has people asking more questions than it answers. That is half of the fun with trailers of this nature, so let us dive in and analyze every moment of it.
The trailer opens with strands of what is known as “malice”, which is essentially a manifestation of Ganon’s evil energy. It quickly cuts to three different scenes. The first is Link, whose arm is being overtaken by malice.
Note that as the malice covers Link’s arm, he is still holding the Master Sword. This incident will likely loosen his grip on the hilt and separate him from his blade.
The second is a reawakening mummy, which many believe to be Ganondorf.
The Ganondorf mummy has some holes in his chest that may be wounds from a past battle. There is also a visible wound on the palm of one of his hands.
The third is Princess Zelda falling into a chasm.
Hopefully, Princess Zelda will not once again be sidelined for the entirety of the game. She is capable of telepathy, so perhaps, she will be able to speak to Link at a distance.
These characters, of course, all make up the trinity that represents the three pieces of the Triforce: Power, Wisdom, and Courage. It is significant to have them all in one place.
While what has been seen so far is more or less a continuation of the first reveal trailer, this new look at the game tells us that it is now time for something completely different. Based on the E3 2019 presentation, many fans believed that there would be an emphasis on underground exploration this time around; something that was lacking in Breath of the Wild apart from very few caves and the Sheikah Shrines. However, after a flash of bright light, Link is suddenly diving downward to islands in the sky.
It is great to see Link in that familiar green color. It helps him stand out a little against the backdrop of the sky.
It feels like whiplash to go from dark caverns to this. There is a lot to take in, from the view of the world below to Link’s change of clothes… and arm. Skydiving has been seen in the Zelda series before, specifically in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (which incidentally is being remastered and releasing on the Nintendo Switch on July 16).
Link skydiving in the sequel to Breath of the Wild (left) is reminiscent of a similar scene from the end of the reveal trailer for Skyward Sword (right).
The question is why return to the sky? From a gameplay perspective, it is one of those only places unexplored on the Hyrule map, which is probably largely similar to the overworld from Breath of the Wild. The sky also makes a good spot to survey the area in place of the Sheikah Towers that were used to plot out the map in the previous game. Skyward Sword‘s sky was criticized for being on the empty side, so this s also the Zelda series chance to deliver on making a sky packed with activity.
As far as the plot is concerned, it is hard to say how spelunking would eventually lead to skydiving in the context of the story. Throughout the Zelda series, there are actually a few times that the hero has ventured through the skies above Hyrule. As mentioned, Skyward Sword featured this prominently, as the Goddess Hylia raised several pieces of earth to the heavens to create a place for her people to live safely. The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap featured the Wind Tribe, who chose to leave the ground to live above the cloud. In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, the race of Ooca built an entire city in the sky. There is nothing in the trailer that indicates a connection to the series history of floating islands, and they may be something entirely new. Have these islands appeared out of nowhere, or have they somehow always been there, hidden away?
Link’s hair is down, he is sporting a green shawl, and wearing socks with sandals. Wild man. Sidenote: the eye motif on his shield is similar to Vaati’s eye from Four Swords. Doubtful if it is related, but I found it interesting.
It is easy to speculate about why there are floating islands above Hyrule, but there is little information to go off of just yeah. Moving a bit further into the trailer, Link is seen with his paraglider, an item returning from Breath of the Wild. It looks slightly different but functionally the same. Further still, Link is seen with all the equipment that he is known for: sword, shield, and bow. Next, we see a golem with a very intricate design. It would be surprising if this was not some kind of enemy for Link to fight. In the Zelda series, most stone statue enemies are referred to as “Armos”, so that might be what it is. The symbol around its base may have some importance.
The strange bud-like ornaments on the golem’s shoulders are similar to those seen on posts decorating the sky islands. This seems to imply that the ones who built the structures across the sky also built this golem.
Cutting back to the ground level, Link walks past a small Bokoblin encampment which turns out to be built on a Stone Talus that rises from the ground. It is novel to see enemies forming a symbiotic relationship, and I hope it is one of many examples in this game. The design of the Bokoblins is also different as they are now flaunting much longer horns on their foreheads.
In Breath of the Wild, a Stone Talus would simply disguise itself as a normal boulder in the ground, but now it seems they are being utilized by Bokoblins as mobile fortresses.
Next, we get a close-up look at Link’s arm. It easy to see that his arm matches the glowing hand from the first trailers. It can be assumed that whatever power this arm had has now been transferred to Link. It is not yet known Link’s arm simply absorbed the energy of the green arm or if it is replacing one that he lost. After all, it was covered in Ganon’s malice at the very start of this trailer, and fans of the game already know that cannot be a good thing.
The green, glowing lines have similar aesthetics to Twili magic and architecture from Twilight Princess. Again, there is probably no connection, and this could be something new.
The following scene shows a giant, spiked ball rolling down a hill toward Link, but with a wave of his hand, he casts a sort of magic that a glance looks like Stasis, a Sheikah Rune power in Breath of the Wild. However, time on this metal ball seems to have been reversed, sending it back up a hill and crashing it into enemies. Perhaps this is one of the functions of Link’s new arm.
Link’s hand brightly flashes as he casts magic to reverse time on the trap, turning it back against his enemies. It is exciting to imagine how ways this ability will be used in the finished game.
Most of the gameplay footage took place in the overworld and sky islands, but we do get a quick look at what might be a cave area. In it, there is a large, plant-like monster suspended from the ceiling, and Link is attacking it with a flame-throwing shield.
Link appears to be underground. There is a new enemy. A shield is being used offensively. The figure on the shield resembles a dragon’s head. There is plenty to take in.
The sequence in which the scenes are presented in this trailer seems to suggest a relationship between most shots, and the most subtle is perhaps this splash of liquid, which seems to reverse time. The splashing effect is backward, and it goes from being a puddle to becoming a lone droplet, rising to the sky and leaving behind dry earth.
Once again, I am not drawing any conclusions from all my comparisons, but this droplet effect does remind me of how the Light Spirits in Twilight Princess emerge from their springs, which also has a reversed splash animation.
Immediately after, we see Link rising toward the sky and suddenly fazing through a platform, with a ripple of green liquid around him as he breaches. One would guess that whatever happens to cause the liquid to rise from the ground also allowed Link to do the same.
Could Link fazing through the platform be tied to the power of his arm?
Finally, the new E3 2021 trailer ends with what is basically another continuation of the original trailer, which ended with Hyrule Castle rising from the ground. Now we see why, as the castle is being propelled by geysers of malice. Piece of the surrounding architecture break off from it, but its base stays intact.
What reason could Ganondorf want to raise Hyrule Castle into the sky?
The castle eventually stops rising, floating in the air, not much different from the island in the skies above Hyrule, but still surrounded by the red glow of malice. The last moment of the trailer is seen from the perspective south of Crenel Hills on the map in Breath of the Wild. Aside from the ominously hovering castle, the landscape appears mostly unchanged from how it was in the previous Zelda game.
The most noticeable difference in this landscape from Breath of the Wild (right) to its sequel (left) is that the Sheikah pillars around Hyrule Castle have disappeared.
The trailer ends with confirmation for a 2022 release year.
As far as trailers go, this one was vague but also intriguing. Anyone could theorize about the meaning of everything it had to show all day, but there is little to go off of, and at the risk of connecting dots that are not even there, I will refrain. On the other hand, I will ask the questions that I would like to have answered.
Who did the glowing arm belong to? What happened to the Master Sword? When does the sequel take place after Breath of the Wild? Where has Princess Zelda fallen? Why is Link traveling to islands in the sky? And how are all of our favorite Breath of the Wild characters doing during this crisis? I do not want the surprise to be completely spoiled, but hopefully, Nintendo will at least give us some answers before the game releases in 2022. We will just have to wait and see.
