Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Director Explains Missing Breath of the Wild Element

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Link used Sheikah technology to defeat Calamity Ganon and save Hyrule. However, in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, that technology is completely missing, with no explanation provided regarding its whereabouts. That mystery has plagued Zelda fans over the last few months, but Tears of the Kingdom director Hidemaro Fujibayashi has now provided an explanation. Speaking to The Telegraph, Fujibayashi revealed that once Calamity Ganon was defeated, the technology simply disappeared from Hyrule, and none of the citizens know exactly what caused this to transpire. 

“[The Sheikah tech] disappeared after the Calamity was defeated (sealed). All of the people of Hyrule also witnessed this, but there is no one who knows the mechanism or reason why they disappeared, and it is considered a mystery. It is believed that since the Calamity disappeared, they also disappeared as their role had been fulfilled,” said Fujibayashi. 

The Mysteries of Hyrule

While the disappearance might seem strange to fans of the Zelda series, Fujibayashi notes that strange occurrences aren’t all that uncommon in Hyrule. Basically, the people just kind of watched it happen and collectively shrugged. While that’s not surprising for the average citizen, it is somewhat surprising that Purah and Robbie didn’t do a little more digging. 

“It is, anyway, commonplace for mysterious events and strange phenomena to occur in Hyrule. Thus, people have simply assumed the reason behind the disappearance to likely be related to ancient Sheikah technology and it seems there is no one who has tried to explore the matter further. The main civilizations in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are completely different, so we thought about the game based on concepts that match each of these civilizations,” said Fujibayashi. 

The Future of Zelda

It’s possible the disappearance of Sheikah tech could be explored in a future game in the Zelda series. At this time, it’s unclear what the future holds for the series, though we do know that Tears of the Kingdom won’t be getting any DLC. Instead, Nintendo is moving on to the next game in the series. It remains to be seen whether the next Zelda game will be a direct sequel to Tears of the Kingdom, or if we’ll get something completely different. It’s pretty rare for Zelda games to get direct sequels; typically, Nintendo jumps around the Zelda timeline instead. Tears of the Kingdom was a rare exception, but it made sense to do a sequel after the success of Breath of the Wild. Whatever happens next, it’s a safe bet we won’t see another new Zelda game until Nintendo’s next console. That system will apparently release in 2024, though nothing official has been announced just yet. 

Are you surprised that there wasn’t an answer to the Sheikah mystery in Tears of the Kingdom? What do you think we’ll see in the next Zelda game? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!

[H/T: Nintendo Life]