Summary
For the past several months,Zeldafans have been wondering ifThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomwill be getting any DLC. Its predecessorBreath of the Wildhad a two-part expansion pass, and the content it added, while not to everyone’s tastes, did add a lot of play time and several impressive new features. If nothing else, many were hoping thatTears of the Kingdomwould get an equivalent to The Champions’ Ballad story expansion, adding more dungeons and potentially a new element to the story. Unfortunately, this will not be the case.
Speaking in a recent Famitsu interview, series producer Eiji Aonuma and director Hidemaro Fujibayashi declared that there were no plans to bring DLC toTears of the Kingdom, as the game had explored everything Nintendo wanted to do with this iteration of Hyrule. Considering thatTotKwas initially conceived as an expansion toBreath of the Wildthat grew too large, this does make some sense. However, it’s still unfortunate thatfeatures like Master Modeand The Master Trials will have no equivalents inTotK. The worst loss of all may be more story content, as there are many details that could use a little more explanation.
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Is Tears of the Kingdom Attached to Zelda’s Timeline?
Tears of the Kingdom’s story strikes an odd cadence, as it is simultaneously self-contained and the farthest-reaching plot in theZeldafranchise. When Princess Zelda falls to the past, she travels all the way back to the founding of her Hyrule, which is ambiguously thefirst or latest iteration ofZelda’s iconic kingdom. Fans were split on this issue, with many wishing that Nintendo would commit to a specific era thatBotWandTotKtake place in instead of folding all three previousZeldatimelines into a nebulous Era of Myth that may not even be real.
No DLC means no elaboration onTears of the Kingdom’s history, and that doesn’t just mean its timeline placement. Plenty of other questions like the Leviathan skeletons, their dark counterparts in the Depths, or the whereabouts of the Triforce are all now lost outside another potential “Creating a Champion” book forTotK. The missing Zonai andBotW’s dragons, which may have an altered context, will also go unexplained. Implications that the Barbarian armor or certain ruins in the Depths may involve other ancient tribes are just the bows on top of this box full of mysteries.
Tears of the Kingdom Hasn’t Addressed Several Points From Breath of the Wild
There are more things thatTears of the Kingdom’s DLC could have explained in relation toBreath of the Wild, as well. Most pressing is thestatus of the prominent Sheikah technology inBotW, including the titanic Divine Beasts and a subterranean Shrine of Resurrection, all of which have disappeared without a trace inTears of the Kingdom. Besides a single ruined Guardian used for decoration atop the Hateno Lab, all of it has either gone into the Skyview Towers or just vanished into thin air.
They aren’t the only disappearance, either. Kass, a prominent Rito musician fromBreath of the Wild, is only indirectly referenced by his family back in Rito Village. Much like the Sheikah technology, even a single line ofdialogue explaining where Kass went inTotKwould have been appreciated, but it never comes. Kass was integral to the secondBreath of the WildDLC, so many fans assumed he’d show up inTears of the Kingdom’s DLC as well, but now it seems he’s gone for good. Fans' bewilderment over this decision, among several others, will remain attached toTears of the Kingdomin the future, dragging down an otherwise complete experience.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomis currently available on the Nintendo Switch.
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