Time for another brain-purge post: I've had these thoughts taking up space in my brain with nobody but my partner to express them to, so maybe if I barf them out onto the internet I can free up some brain space. The thought in question is how Tears of the Kingdom took an existing story and made it bad.
Now, hang on, let me say a couple of things: first, I like TotK. It's a really good game! And some of the story is good (Zelda's long con is awesome, for example). But the core plot is a modified, and worsened, version of an existing plot. And when I say it's a worse version of an existing plot, I don't mean in the extremely vague sense where some folks say that every Zelda game is just a retelling of the same events by different people. Some of the games have a much more specific relationship than that, and this is one of those cases.
So let's talk about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. And to do that, let's first talk about The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Why? Because TotK is a remake of LttP.
A Familiar Story
Link to the Past is the SNES Zelda game from 1992 (or 1991 in Japan), and is arguably the quintessential Zelda game of the 2D era. The plot wasn't anything super deep (remember when games were for playing?) and as I'm sure you can guess it was about Link recuing Zelda from Ganon. But it did get a little more specific than that, and that's what I want to look at. Between the game's brief prologue and the dialogue of several NPCs, the story goes like this:
Long ago, a thief from the desert named Ganondorf managed to get into the Sacred Realm to steal a sacred relic. This gave him immense power, and those he fought couldn't defeat him, so the seven sages "wise men" sealed him away. But now his power is growing, and his triumphant return is imminent. This returning threat is the impetus for Link's quest to get the Master Sword and save the day. This adventure will not only take Link all over Hyrule, but also into The Dark World, which exists as a dark reflection of Hyrule's landscape, and is where Link will face Ganon in his lair.
So, uh, does that seem maybe just a little bit familiar? It should, because it's the same plot as Tears of the Kingdom. (Astute readers will also note that the backstory of both games—what TotK dubbed "the imprisoning war"—is also the plot of Ocarina of Time, making OoT a prequel of the other two. But that's not what we're talking about today.)
Tears of the Kingdom takes that story from LttP and makes a small number of changes, and two key changes in particular are why that perfectly serviceable story became Kinda Bad, Actually.
Problem #1: Powerful Artifact(s)
The first change is the nature of the powerful artifact that Ganondorf stole. In Link to the Past, the power-granting MacGuffin is unique. It's the iconic Triforce (more commonly called "the Power of Gold" within the game), and it's the reason Ganon was too powerful to defeat. Nobody else had that kind of power. It's a mysterious, sacred power that can grant the wishes of your heart. Of course somebody who snagged it could beat a troop of normal people, even if they're the best of the best. It tips the scales and makes him a dangerous villain.
But in Tears of the Kingdom, the artifact is a Secret Stone—not "the" Secret Stone, but "a" Secret Stone. It's a power-up rock, but it's one of several. The entire team of sages each had the exact same power-up rock, so why the fuck couldn't they beat him? You're telling me this guy solos a squad of the world's best fighters who all have the same power boost he does? It makes the battle feel nonsensical.
Problem #2: Unfinished Business
There's an aspect of Hyrule worldbuilding that changes sometime between LttP and TotK, which has a huge effect on the story. In the old-school version of Hyrule, the Triforce resided in a place called the Sacred Realm, which was transformed into the Dark World when Ganondorf got hold of the Triforce's power. Importantly, this realm was something like an alternate dimension, not a geographical location. You couldn't just go there, you had to find a magical portal. The impending doom was that Ganon was nearing the point where he could breach the veil between worlds. By contrast, current Hyrule worldbuilding says the Sacred Realm is just land in the sky, and the dark place is just a very deep cave called The Depths. It's all one world.
This difference absolutely breaks the story—a story that was written under one model and then ported over to the other, apparently without thought for the consequences of that change. See, originally, "We sealed Ganon away" meant "We were fighting in Hyrule, then we teleported him into a different dimension where he can't get to us but also we can't get to him." But in TotK, "We sealed Ganon away" means "We were fighting and then we paralyzed him so he's helpless right in front of us and then we just??? Walked away???"
Ganon's ancient sealing and gradual return to power makes sense when he's been pushed to another dimension that's nearly impossible to reach. It makes a lot less sense when he's just standing there, helpless, right in front of you, forever. You're telling me that a room full of the greatest warriors, who 30 seconds ago were trying with all their might to kill him, saw their enemy rendered helpless at their feet, and NONE OF THEM had the idea to maybe just decapitate him right then? And for the next untold millennia, with enough time and safety to build a fucking castle on top of him, not one other person thought of that either? What the fuck?
So Anyway
I guess the lesson here is that if you do a remake of an existing story, maybe have literally anyone look at it to see if your changes completely fucked up the core plot points.
Thanks for reading. Hopefully there will be more space in my brain now.
