Nintendo doesn’t always do direct sequels with theZeldaseries, butZelda: Tears of the Kingdomis one of the few in the series, directly following 2017’s Game of the Year winner,Breath of the Wild. With the success of both the games, and the arrival of the Switch 2 soon, Nintendo has the opportunity to do something extraordinarily rare in the franchise and make a Wilds trilogy. These versions of both Link and Zelda are very popular, after all, and seeing more of them could be a great way to capitalize on their recent success.
Tears of the Kingdomends in a similar place toBreath of the Wildtoo, with Princess Zelda back on the throne, presumably as the queen, with Link by her side. The villain is defeated, everything is right with the world and Link even gets his old arm back, so itisn’t as though the end point of the game will prove a giant obstacle for a direct sequel. Still, since both titles have used up a lot of features from theZeldaformula, it will mean that Nintendo will have to get creative with where it takes the next game.
A Separate Timeline Means A BOTW Trilogy Is Possible
Freedom And Experimentation Is The Name Of The Game
Strangely, although this would be the third game in the subseries, with the formula that theZeldaseries has often employed,a sequel would actually have more freedom than a brand-newZeldawith a new version of Hyrule. The Wilds series also benefits from being completely separate from the rest of theZeldatimeline, meaning that the developers don’t have to worry about how the next game will fit it. Truth be told, the timeline doesn’t make much sense anyway, so this isn’t something Nintendo seems to worry about much anyway.
TheZeldatimeline is known to be confusing, with three branching lines depending on the events ofOcarina of Time.
With the Wilds series being completely separate, and the only official,mainlineZeldagames not in the timeline, it could be the perfect series to experiment with a trilogy.There has only been one other trilogy in the series, which includesThe Minish Capand the twoFour Swordtitles. This trilogy wouldn’t be as direct as a Wilds trilogy would be; however, sinceThe Minish Captakes place many years before the firstFour Swordsgame and the Link (or rather Links) featured in the games aren’t the same.
DespiteFour Swords Adventuresbeing a sequel toFour Swords, the two games are quite far from each other on the series' official timeline, with three games and untold years between them.The Minish Capand the twoFour Swordsgames are primarily connected through their main villain, Vaati.
Why A New Villain Seems Likely For A TOTK Sequel
Ganon And Ganondorf Have Already Been Used
One thing that would have to be sorted out for a potentialTOTKsequel would be the villain.Both Ganon (as Calamity Ganon) and Ganondorf have already been used, so a brand-new villain would have to be introduced to the series for this third game. This shouldn’t be too difficult, though, considering that theZeldaseries does have a plethora of villains that aren’t reincarnations of Ganon. Vaati and Majora are both good examples of villains that have nothing or little to do with Ganon.
The One Thing Echoes Of Wisdom Does Better Than Tears Of The Kingdom
Echoes of Wisdom is a much different Zelda game compared to Tears of the Kingdom, but one key feature they share it does better than its predecessor.
This could even be an opportunity to bring the series to a darker place,like withTwilight Princess,andintroduce an entirely new entity to fight, like the shadow creatures of the Twilight Realm. With the era of myth before the start ofBreath of the Wild, there is also a lot of history that the third game could pull from to bring in a new villain. Perhaps some ancient, mechanical evil could arise in the style of the Sheikah Guardians, and it could be a good opportunity to explore more about the Ancient Hero of the era of myth.
Zelda Characters Who Could Return As The Villain
There Is An Impressive Pool To Pull From
Although Ganon is known as the main bad guy of theZeldaseries, like Bowser in theMariofranchise, there are plenty of other villains who could make a return for a third Wilds game. A being of pure evil, similar toEchoes of Wisdom’s NullorPhantom Hourglass' Bellum, could be used, since both of these villains come from games in which Ganon has already been defeated.This would allow Nintendo to do almost whatever they want with these villains, so long as they’re some kind of ancient or primordial evil that has come to conquer the world.
Rare Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Dialogue Proves Padda Is Actually The Best Gerudo
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is filled with secrets, but two characters - including Padda - are key for finding Ganondorf early.
There are also quite a few, reoccurring villains that haven’t been seen in theZeldafranchise for some time who could make a potential return. For instance,Skull Kid could come backin some form, and it would be interesting to see what can be done with the character without Majora.Twinrova (Kotake and Koume) were actually inTOTKin a cutscene, and although it has been potentially tens of thousands of years, the two could make a comeback to attempt to seek revenge in the name of Ganondorf.
Twinrova are usually the surrogate mothers of Ganondorf and are typically sorcerers of ice and fire.
Having said this, it isn’t as though the villain needs to be a villain from another game. Of course, the return of a Dark Link would be interesting, butNintendo could shake things up by having another character become a villain, like a possessed or desperate Midna coming to conquer Hyrule for the Twilight Realm. Perhaps the villain could even be created by one of the heroes, with Purah inventing a powerful automaton that goes rogue with an army of machines at its back. There are plenty of options.
How A Third Game Could Shake Up The Story
Almost All The Zelda Tropes Have Been Used
A potential third game in the Wilds series would need to venture into a lot of uncharted territory, considering that so many staples from the franchise have already been used.Ganon and Ganondorf have already tried to take over the worldand the Divine Beasts have already played their part. A third game would have to do something completely different from a story perspective, especially since the last two games were very different mechanically, with their open world and physics-based systems.
AZelda: Tears of the Kingdomsequel could introduce more political elements, with Zelda actually struggling to rule Hyrule after it spent a hundred years without a monarch. Without a common enemy to gather behind, perhaps the conflict could center around trying to keep peace with the Gerudo, Gorons, Zora, and Rito. The franchise has very rarely delved into the actual ruling part of the lore, so perhaps helping Zelda navigate being queen would be a good way to shake up the story.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the anticipated follow-up to Breath of the Wild, released in 2017. A rare occurrence in Zelda titles, Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel instead of loosely connected. In Tears of the Kingdom, Link will take to the skies and learn about a mysterious kingdom in the clouds.
