Tears of the Kingdom has an incredibly emotional ending, but one story change could have made it better, if not much more heartbreaking.
The main story in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is nothing short of grandiose, but its ending took a turn that missed an opportunity for more poignancy. As a direct sequel to Breath of the Wild, at the end of which Calamity Ganon was seemingly destroyed, TOTK gets rather inventive with its narrative, choosing to tell two parallel arcs spanning untold millennia. Its conclusion is satisfying and emotional, but one change could have been for the better, though such an ending seems incredibly unlikely with the history of Nintendo's flagship fantasy series.
Mimicking the narrative design of its predecessor, Tears of the Kingdom focuses on two stories separated by a number of years, one told through a series of memories found in Dragon Tears across Hyrule. These Dragon Tears fall from the Light Dragon, who is actually Zelda in TOTK, transformed after swallowing a secret stone in Hyrule's distant past. She willingly undergoes such a dire transformation in order to personally protect the Master Sword during the thousands of years it will take for the Blade of Evil's Bane to repair itself after being damaged by Ganondorf's Gloom in TOTK's opening sequence.
TOTK's Ending Has Zelda Transform Back Into A Hylian
Zelda's shocking transformation is revealed in Tears of the Kingdom's final memory, found at the center of the spiraled Rist Peninsula after exploring every Geoglyph. She then wanders the skies of Hyrule as the Light Dragon for what is presumed to be tens of thousands of years, giving the Master Sword time to regenerate in hopes that Link will one day learn of its location from the memories stored in her tears. It's an incredibly tragic arc for Princess Zelda, perhaps her most harrowing in the series, and it comes full circle when she helps Link in the final boss fight against Ganondorf's Demon Dragon form. Following Ganondorf's defeat, Zelda is returned to her Hylian form by the combined power of Sonia and Rauru, channeled through Link.
Zelda Should Have Remained The Light Dragon In Tears Of The Kingdom
Zelda's transformation back into a Hylian is an emotional conclusion to Tears of the Kingdom, but it undermines the sacrifice she made in becoming the Light Dragon. In the distant past, when Zelda is first looking for ways to return to her time, Mineru mentions stories which tell of a forbidden act known as draconification: "To swallow a secret stone is to become an immortal dragon... one blessed with eternal life." There are, however, consequences for swallowing a secret stone; according to Mineru, "To become an immortal dragon is to lose oneself" in both body and mind. Mineru's knowledge of draconification is clearly not exhaustive, and a fallacy in the latter warning is evident in TOTK's Dragon Tears – Zelda has not entirely lost her mind as the Light Dragon, bequeathing her final memory only after Link has found the others.
This gap in Mineru's understanding suggests that perhaps draconification isn't quite as permanent at she believes either, but Rauru and Sonia's appearance at the eleventh hour still feels like deus ex machina. This is exacerbated by Sonia's appearance as a spirit alongside Rauru, her first and only appearance in such a form in the entire game. Sonia's time power is, however, the only believable remedy to Zelda's draconification, as Rauru's stated ability to repel or destroy evil with his power of light doesn't seem particularly apt for the scenario. Regardless, Zelda choosing her fate to become the Light Dragon is framed as the ultimate sacrifice, and reversing her decision in the story's final moments severely undercuts the gravity of that choice.
Zelda remaining the Light Dragon at Tears of the Kingdom's end would be heartbreaking compared to the actual conclusion, but it would be far more poignant, and leave Zelda as the definitive hero of the story. For the series' entirety, the eponymous character has effectively played second fiddle to Link. Many games have given Zelda significant agency – Ocarina of Time's Sheik and The Wind Waker's Tetra, for instance – but when she makes perhaps the most consequential sacrifice in the series, Tears of the Kingdom undoes it for the sake of a happy ending. A knowing look between Link and Zelda as the Light Dragon before the credits roll would have possibly been the conclusion most deserving of a title like "The Legend of Zelda," truly writing this iteration of the princess into the annals of Hyrule's history.
Bittersweet Endings Aren't The Legend Of Zelda's Style
The Legend of Zelda is, in essence, about the triumph of good over evil. The series flirts with existentially powerful topics, like Ganondorf getting sealed inside the Sacred Realm for all eternity as punishment for his crimes in Ocarina of Time, or Zelda coming to terms with her godhood throughout Skyward Sword, but Nintendo has the tendency to gloss over such subjects in the interest of making sure Link wins, Hyrule is saved, and Ganon is defeated. Ocarina of Time's ending is perhaps the series' most sad (saying goodbye to Midna in Twilight Princess is a close second), with Zelda sending Link back to his own time in order to avoid Ganondorf's rise to power altogether, ensuring no one will know the hardships the two of them faced and erasing their friendship. Even then, the credits show people joyously celebrating across Hyrule in the future timeline.
Tears of the Kingdom's ending is unsurprising, not only because of Nintendo's proclivity to wrap Zelda games in a nice bow, but also because of the myriad hints throughout the game pointing at Link and Zelda's relationship. Breath of the Wild already set up a significant connection between the two, and them seemingly living together in Link's house in Hateno Village prior to the Upheaval (among many other details) made it feel almost like an inevitability that a solution to Zelda's draconification would be found. Ultimately, the ending to Tears of the Kingdom could have been more raw emotionally, but the conclusion is nevertheless satisfying, and it's held up strongly by the final boss fight against the Demon Dragon, which is an unprecedentedly dramatic set piece for the series.
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