The final Tears of the Kingdom trailer set the internet on fire when it revealed the return of Ganondorf in a surprisingly hunky new form. Outside of thirst memes, though, we don’t know a whole lot about the iconic villain's role in Tears of the Kingdom.
A new detail noticed by a Reddit user might give us our first clue though, and if it’s to be believed it seems like Zelda is taking a big page out of Marvel’s book. Nintendo released a new piece of Ganondorf art on Twitter, and shortly after Reddit user JuanK713 pointed out an interesting detail. The villain’s necklace seemingly has six slots for some kind of gems, while the jewelry on his head has another.
This could tie into the titular “Tears of the Kingdom,” which are likely similar to the Tears of Light seen in Twilight Princess. In the most recent trailer, we see both Zelda and Sidon holding some kind of glowing gem, and they seem to be important.
These Tears could work similarly to the Infinity Stones from Marvel, and Ganondorf’s equipment lets him harness their power like the Infinity Gauntlet. While the details seem to point toward that, the idea of Ganondorf pulling a Thanos feels surprisingly boring and derivative for a Zelda game. Hopefully, the long-awaited return of Ganondorf will be more unique and interesting.
Even if the Tears function like Infinity Stones, where things could really get interesting is if another popular Ganondorf theory turns out to be true. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding Tears of the Kingdom’s narrative, and there seem to be hints about the Twilight Realm factoring into events. The latest trailer could also suggest the return of Demise, the Demon King from Skyward Sword that started the whole cycle of resurrection for Ganon. Finally, there’s the fact that Ganondorf was shown as a mummified corpse in the first trailer, but who or what was responsible for mummifying him?
An increasingly popular theory suggests that Ganondorf may not actually be the villain of Tears of the Kingdom, and the game will explore the very concept of Ganondorf as his own being, separated from both the Calamity Ganon entity and the lingering influence of Demise. If that’s true, Ganondorf could actually end up an ally to Link and Zelda, or an entirely separate third party working toward his own goals. This would put a fascinating spin on the character, even if he is collecting the Tears like Infinity Stones.
Of course, at the moment this is all speculation as Nintendo has been ludicrously tight-lipped about the story of Tears of the Kingdom. All the secrecy would seem to suggest the new Zelda has something big in store, which is why, hopefully, it amounts to more than just Ganondorf with Infinity Stones.
Tears of the Kingdom comes to Nintendo Switch on May 12.
