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Everything we’ve seen about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, including the trailers shared before we knew the game’s name, made it seem like a rather sad, melancholy adventure. Now we know for a fact that there will be a bit of crying in this game, as Nintendo has confirmed the pronunciation of the title.

When Nintendo revealed the subtitle of ‘Tears of the Kingdom’ for The Legend of Zelda’s next journey, some fans were wondering how they were supposed to pronounce tears. Most figured the title was referring to crying, but some thought the ‘tears’ referred to ripping things apart, as in the kingdom itself was literally being torn apart. We now know that second pronunciation to be incorrect.

Nintendo has confirmed that the ‘tears’ in this title indeed refers to crying. In other words, you better get a box of tissues ready for Link’s next outing, as it looks to be quite an emotional one!

Thanks to Sligeach_eire for the heads up!

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Comments (5)

joeshabadoo

1+ y ago

As expected, but glad to have confirmed. Using tears (rips in something) as a noun is more rare and would sound quite awkward in a title. It lacks elegance.

What I really appreciate about this title is the very smart and subtle wordplay on several levels. While the main intention is to imply that a kingdom is lamenting it’s downfall, or even being forced to face the demons of its past, I also think we’re meant to keep the other pronunciation in mind which calls to mind a kingdom being torn apart, deconstructed, or exposed.

FURTHERMORE, the correct ‘tear’ (as in shedding tears) also calls to mind the word ‘tier’ which is too perfect to not be deliberate. This game will have us exploring far more verticality of the game world: the tiers. That part even makes the original title more fascinating because ‘Breath’ calls to mind the word ‘breadth’ and that game was more focusing on the strikingly wide expanse to explore, not the tall expanse.

The more I think about the games subtitle the more I appreciate it. They matched the cadence of the first game (‘bodily function’ of the ‘place’) but effectively convey that this game will likely be far darker in tone while focusing on a particular group’s legacy instead of a naturalistic setting. The two last things I’ll end on is that we shouldn’t necessarily assume the the kingdom in the title is referring to Hyrule or the Hylians, and that the tears in the title won’t just be metaphorical; there will be literal tears that have some significance (similar to the tears in Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess). Thank you for reading all that RMC, can you tell I’m excited?

Edited 3 times

kuribo

1+ y ago

Was there any doubt? Who honestly thought it was tear as in tearing paper for example.


sligeach_eire

1+ y ago

@kuribo

Does it "tear" you up inside?


tattertot

1+ y ago

Now I just need to know how a dream can become a seagull .


totodile

1+ y ago

This photoshop is inspired.