What are Tears of the Kingdom's Sky Islands? Complete Analysis
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- Опубликовано: 25 фев 2022
- What are the strange islands in the sky in Breath of the Wild's sequel? A look at the inspirations and story possibilities for the game's new setting!
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Sources used:
@Rinkuto Link's Spiritual Fate: • Le Destin Spirituel de...
@LadyCucco Sacred Salvation: • Predicting Link's Ques...
@MonsterMaze The significance of the lotus: • The significance of th...
Videos covering Shinto shrines:
Japan: Where Gods aren’t Gods and worshippers aren’t religious: • Japan: Where Gods Aren...
Shinto shrine in Japan Japanology: • Video
Footage used, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution
“紅葉の季節 秋の葛飾八幡宮 Season of Autumn brown leaves Katsushika Hachiman shrine” • 紅葉の季節 秋の葛飾八幡宮 Season o...
“Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera : Nedu Jinja Shrine” • Blackmagic Pocket Cine...
“独協医大前の銀杏が散り急ぐ Ginkgo tree leaves scattered” • 独協医大前の銀杏が散り急ぐ Ginkgo t...
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► Outro music by Clangon: • Zeltik Outro Theme (Wi...
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I think I might actually lose my mind when I get my hands on this game. The anticipation is at levels I've never known. I really hope they stick to this year for its release.
I've kinda just let myself forget about it. Same with prime 4. I can't handle the constant anticipation and suspense. It's exhausting.
But yes, I might just lose my mind when I finally get it too
i don't know myamoto said once a delayed game is good but a rushed game is bad forever
@@bathilra5364 Yep, but I think we're all hoping that development goes smoothly and we get it on schedule.
I hope so too brotha!
I think it's very interesting how they're depicting Hyrule here:
- The sky: green energy, the heavens, spirits, enlightenment, purity
- The land: blue energy, sheikah technology, the living, neutral ground
- The underground: red malice, Ganondorf, unknown, danger, corruption, Zelda falling
The symbolism is beautifully represented! Exploring hyrule in botw2 is gonna be quite the adventure
Note that the Divine Beasts (mostly) stay low while possessed, showing red lights. They later turn blue and go to the highest points in the kingdom. In Age of Calamity, their lights turn yellow, a neutral colour. While three of the beasts are seemingly incapable of flight, I find it highly likely that Medoh will play a role here, like syncing functions with a dungeon or serving as a mobile platform or base.
@@samboi123 It's unlikely, we know that the Divine Beasts have stopped working, it is mentioned by Zelda herself in the final cutscene of BotW, I suppose Vah Medoh's name wasn't mentioned and that could let it be used here, but I doubt it.
@@Mangaka-ml6xo the only name that *was* mentioned was Ruta. The only way the Beasts could deactivate is if they were attacked again or if the Sheikah shut them down again.
@@samboi123 I wonder if they could be piloted again if someone was shoved in there. I wonder if they power up when an upcoming attack from Ganondorf is detected or if it got more to do with a sort of timer.
I started to think that Ganondorf did a power move with the Calamity, move that almost perfectly worked. My thinking being: if he managed to sense the discovery from Zelda regarding the Sheika technology. He could have worked from where he is to manipulate the robots to help the princess find them, and right as everyone is getting ready, but not yet/properly, he activate his plan. He takes control of everything, prepare a trap for the Divine Beasts Pilots and take almost everything at once.
If things went prefectly, he might have managed to simply seal Zelda in a similar manner as how he currently is sealed underground. Only Link remained, stuck in a coma at the shrine. At that point, maybe Ganondorf couldn't locate the shrine for whatever reasons, or he couldn't put more of his power into looking him up since he was busy with Zelda. Whatever was the reason, he almost managed to do more damages than he could in the past, he could have trapped away both of his only enemies, trapped and incapable of being reborn again, fully sealed away.
On another note, I keep wondering if Nintendo are trying to do a soft reboot of the franchise, Skyward Sword was perfect to do so, it allows them to tidy up the lore and make a vague line for the story and games to come. If that's the case, I hope they would make it clear and official, but I doubt it.
Is there a possibility that there could be some kind of sky barrier that doesn't allow you to see the islands in the sky from below? If that's the case that would explain why you can see them from above and not below. Cause if the people of hyrule could see them from below that would have been an interesting thing to deal with in the first game. Plus it would call back to skyward sword and there being a cloud barrier that kept the people of the sky from knowing there was a land down below just in.....reverse I guess
This. Also the dragons in BotW go through some kind of cloud portal in the sky when they leave, so that might be another hint at the existence of some barrier.
Yea I think so to maybe we will see the dragons as characters that we can talk to, maybe they will a quest to give to link.
That's what I was thinking as well.
If that's the case, though, how will Link be able to get up there, or be able to even sense that he can(provided, he uses the jumping-though-the-floor method Zeltic proposed)?
@@kage2395 That's a good point too.
I had considered that earlier, but how would Link get up there? Of course, it could still be possible, using a hitherto-unseen method, but it also seems a tad unlikely.
no it just means the first part is before the sky islands comes
An idea I just can't get out of my head is that we might be able to hitch a ride on one of the three dragons in the original game of Botw, I just feel that they are not talked about as much despite their path going up past the clouds.
Yeah. All I keep thinking about is the design on the left shoulder of Links new outfit. No one seems to mention it really but it sure looks like the tail end of a dragon. Just saying...
@@JordenBarry Gotta appreciate the hard work on all the artists and all the details the put into the games
That sounds like great fun, but I’m not sure if the dragons are going to directly help Link. They essentially represent the Golden Goddesses, who themselves are neutral. If we’re going into the sky it’ll likely be with the new glider or Medoh.
I'll be super disappointed if the dragons aren't part of BOTW2
Something I noticed about the trailers is that they resemble the two levels of the Ancient Cistern from Skyward Sword: the lower levels are dark, unnerving and crawling with malice; and the top levels are bright and golden. Both are inspired by Buddhism.
EDIT: I'm sure many other have noticed this, but the music for the lower levels of the Ancient Cistern is the music of the Sky Keep but basically slowed+reverb. And now that I think about it, the caves and the floating island remind me of that little detail.
Especially with ReDead Gannon, or ReGanon in the depths of the earth. With the luminous stones, which contains the dead.
What it reminded me of is the Mitsu-Tomoe (三つ巴) in shintoism. It represents the world being divided between the sky, the earth and humans, OR between the sky, the earth and the underworld. It could explain the three "worlds" shown in both the trailers. The sky one is easy to guess, but depending on the direction Nintendo chose (between mankind and underworld for the third part), the other two aren't as explicit.
Fun fact too : the sky is the Land of the Sun Goddess, the earth is the plain of the storm/sea god, and the underworld is the Land of the Night, ruled by the Moon God, but also where the first woman is trapped. This last point reminds me of Zelda's supposed situation in the first trailer. @Zeltik
my 3 theories in regards to not seeing the islands are
1) the cloud barrier has reformed from the resurgence of ganondorf
2) the islands are only visible to those who have achieved some sort of enlightenment. This could be in the form of an item, and would fit well with the theme of achieving purity
3) switch bad, can't load hyrule and islands at the same time
I was thinking the same as point 2! Perhaps it's tied to the dragons in the first game, where only those pure of heart can see them. Maybe the sky islands are located above a cloud barrier where the dragons fly up, and that you need to be even more pure and enlightened to see/get up there. Maybe the Link in the Talus shot isn't pure enough to see up there yet.
My personal theory for why we can’t see the sky islands from the ground is because the islands, being sacred, means they’re on a higher plane on existence than the regular world. So while on the islands, Link is essentially ‘attuned’ to the same plane as the islands, while on the ground, he’s attuned to the same plane as Hyrule, and anything on a higher plane can see stuff on lower planes, but not vice versa
Plot twist: the glowing hand is Link’s ally because his ancestor delivered a love letter to the hand back in Skyward Sword. That love has allowed it to grow powerful over the millennia.
I still think it’s a glorified wallmaster. Or ghirahim. Hands are NOT positive symbols in the franchise. Their most “benign” are the ghostly toilet hand yokai
I'm guessing you don't see the skylands from the surface because the footage is from early game before they rise out of the ground.
How would the chunks from the islands be on the surface if they hadnt risen tho? Or seen any of the shrines, trees and lotus lord enemy guy that are on them?
@@HumbledSir I don't know what you're trying to ask
@@CZsWorld you said you think you cant see the sky islands from the surface because to footage is from before they rise. But in that footage you can see chunks of the islands that wernt in BOTW. So im guessing they are up there but we cant see them through the "barrier".
@CZsWorld it's crazy to see a comment from you here! I love your content, sir! I also agree with your point of view here. The game hasn't "opened up" yet. I believe Nintendo did the original game similarly, with VERY little of the game being shown past the opening portion on the Great Plateau.
Don't think so, Link already has the new arm in the clips that take place on the surface
Ill tell you what: I never understood how, in Ocarina of Time, Link was able to buy the sacred, powerful hylia shield in a shop for a bargain
I’m pretty sure that in ocarina of time the hylian shield was for soldiers and whoever could afford it
Was it sacred? I'm pretty sure its the shield hylian guards would use.
Hylian knights. I just looked it it.
@@tsemiu I dont really remember, but it was the way I think about it, since breath of the wilds description of the shield mentions, that it once belonged to a legendary hero and has been passed down by the royal family. But yeah on a second thought I realise that this doesn't quite make it sacred.
You can get a free one under the graveyard
Hyrule Castle seemed to emerge from the ground in the first trailer. Perhaps that was the moment when all the sky islands emerged from under the ground and raised up as well? They could also be hidden from ground sight by the same barrier that hid Skyloft in SS
Yeah I'm thinking that at some point there will be a major event that changes the way you see the islands. I suspect that this event will be Ganon launching the castle into the sky. IE, Ganon is trying to breach the Sacred Realm, and throws Hyrule castle at it.
At first, I'd considered something similar too, although that wouldn't appear to explain the existence of trees of the floating islands, nor why the "fallen"-looking bits are positioned so strangely. They don't look like they're part of an island partially buried, but there could always be a hidden gimmick that only makes it appear that way. The whole ordeal could be triggered by a similar event to when in BoTW I, Calamity Ganon only shows up after Link clears the plateau; however this seems somewhat unlikely upon second glance.
Furthermore, if not on a slightly different note, why were there no traces of these "fallen" bits before, in the the previous game? Maybe instead, the event includes a cut-scene of parts of the floating islands crumbling and plummeting towards Hyrule, similar to Ganon rearing right in front of Link in the instant game.
All just thoughts and speculation on my part, though.
@@jaydedepato6995 well I think the islands in the sky were "always there", and the fallen bit fall around the time Ganon launches the castle.
Would explain where the Deku Tree went in the latest trailer. He floatin now ☝️
I have a feeling that you can't see the islands from the ground because they're in another realm, but still has influence over Hyrule below as seen by the fallen debris. It would make sense if it was the sacred realm, because that could lead into both the Triforce's location all this time, and possibly the three golden goddesses who finally might make an in game appearance?
Though on the other hand, it might be a situation where the debris of the sky temples found underground is actually the "present", and the floating islands were up there in the "past". So for some reason or another those sacred holy temples in the sky were grounded and buried underground as time passed, which could then lead to traversing underground for the ruins that'll transport you to the past temples in the sky with that green arm magic?
...ugh. Theorizing for years on end is getting so tiring...please Nintendo give us SOMETHING new to work with I beg
My guess it's that the game have a "time skip". Exemple, in botw 1 "The Great Plateau" was the tutorial. You can pass a lot of time just only on The Great Plateau. Maybe we don't see the islands, because the shot was during the tutorial of botw2.
I also had the theory about the floating islands being in the past. But when Zeltik pointed out in this video that you can see the ground from the islands, you can actually see those windmills on the ground. Assuming those windmills aren't ancient, this means the island are indeed there in the present and we are not doing time travel.
I also don't think there is a "sky barrier" that prevents you from seeing the islands. I rather think that the islands will only appear one after another, depending on your actions on the ground.
In other words: You have to actually trigger the islands to appear in the sky, for example by activating a mechanism that makes them rise from the underground or they will be transferred from a different realm to "our world".
I mentioned in my comment. But the islands have a yellow gold hue to them... trees have yellow leaves, but the ruins seem to have a yellowish tint to them... The Sacred Realm has been referred to the Golden Land before.
If this is true... it would also explain why Nintendo is hesitant on revealing the subtitle. It would be a a figurative bombshell to drop if it was something that invoked the Sacred Realm itself.
@@verdantmistral442 exactly, the name of the game seem to be quite "spoiler".
I would absolutely love traditional dungeons and bosses to come back. Keep the open world exploration and traversal, but if we get dungeons and bosses akin to Twilight Princess would be absolutely fantastic
They kind of already do with the different regions. Akkala=fall Hebra=winter Spring and summer everywhere else
I noticed the Princess Mononke influence/parallels as well! One of my all time favorite movies! Great in depth analysis. amazing what you can still find without any new news. I hope for new, news soon! Fun stuff, thanks!
I love your choice of music for this one. The music from the Occo city in Twilight Princess, as it transitions to the music your hear while aboard Vah Medoh in BOTW. The sky themes really fit
Dude I can TOTALLY see the sky islands having the same function as shrines. Imagine Link starts out with a full set of hearts, but the corruption by malice brings his heart count down to three. So the more sky islands Link completes, the more purified he is from malice and gains hearts back.
dawg this sounds real
I've noticed a common theme of reversing time in these trailers... the water drop reversing itself, link "reversing gravity" to fall upwards through the islands, and link reversing time on the steel ball, all while using the green hand. Somehow, I believe the green hand is able to reverse time. Given this, it's possible that the green hand was somehow reversing time on Ganondorf for whatever reason, and that Link is now using it in order to reverse something in Hyrule in order to save it.
I’m sad we don’t call them “skylands.”
Just call it Skyrule.
Same! It's a prime opportunity. I've been calling them Skylands from day one
please do more of your series where you explain each games story/plot from start to finish, really enjoyed your skyward/ links awakening and calamity videos
I'm still curious about how all the powers we've seen so far seem tied to some kind of return in time : the new time reversal rune and the way the droplet rises back in the air. I really wonder if there'll be some kind of time travel.
And we all know how much Nintendo loves time travel in their Zelda games
A music teacher breaks down his findings (On Time Travel) within the trailer songs:
ruclips.net/video/jm67ykewdsY/видео.html
I think it's not time travel but that this new game is somehow looping back to skyward sword.
well it seems individual targets can become reversed... from a spiked ball to a puddle of water...
and with the spiked ball link is facing it and using his arm to trigger the ability, as you can see his arm glowing...
so maybe we can reverse hundreds of different things outside of just a rolling spiked ball and a rain drop/ water...
this could open so many possibilities in puzzle solving/ exploration...
Yeah, it seems like there are a lot of interesting possibilities that have to do with the apparent time-reversal mechanic.
I hope there’s more to the sky islands than just same-looking architecture and foliage throughout the whole world. One of my biggest gripes with BotW’s shrines was that they all look exactly the same. I guess the same goes for the underground areas. Although I guess if there’s enough new areas, those will just each be one new unique area.
The debris from the islands I feel pretty much debunks the idea that the Link that is in the sky part is a hero from the distant past, since these islands are dropping debris onto present Hyrule, so they must be overhead of the present day Hyrule as well.
Awesome breakdown! I was wondering how you would be able to talk much about the sky shrines based on the little we've seen so far, but this was such an amazing analysis! I love all the details linked to real-life Japanese shrines. And I really like the idea of Link having to go on a journey to purify himself. It would also solve the Master Sword problem. We can't start the game with it, so this would be an interesting way for him to work for it again. After his arm is corrupted, he can't wield it anymore, so he has to purify himself to be worthy again so he can use it against Ganondorf.
I was coming here to write pretty much the exact same comment 😂
I was also going to suggest, perhaps the arm mechanics are almost like a progression of the champion abilities? I'm assuming we won't have the gale, protection, grace and fury; and it's been suggested elsewhere that there's a distinct lack of Sheikah tech everywhere. Perhaps the 'upwards phasing' is a new version of Revali's gale, the 'projectile reversal' could be thought of as an advance on Daruk's Protection. I'm yet to come up with an alternative to Urbosa's fury (perhaps some kind of controlled explosion since if there's no tech an in game bomb would be required?), and the upgrade on Mipha's grace could likely be to steal health from enemies to revive oneself
Or he discovers that Ganondorf originally wanted to only improve the Gerudo’s Lot after getting banished to a desert ghetto to die (and villainized for daring to survive by any means necessary).
And we know nothing about THIS Ganondorf-only that this Hand is a damn parasite that killed Ganondorf and prolonged his agony in an undeath all while Blissfully ignoring the malice it ripped from his chest like a gaping wound that later solidified into the Calamity and Blight and infected Guardians and formed Ground Zero pools of the stuff. All while taking on the same 3D Downward Spiral Seal from SS-but it’s “sealing” Ganondorf into an undeath, not the Malice.
And now this thing is infecting Link. And Link is seen in places alluding to shinto shrines while also being unable to use his signature weapon. This would not be the first time Link has used a Curse to his advantage, but it would be the first time it prevented him from having contact with the Master Sword (and is probably slowly consuming him)-in TP the sword’s sought out to drive a malice crystal cursing him into a wolf form, with Midna and Link then manipulating both the crystal and the sword to Swap Forms
The Sky is the past dimensions. The game is going to be based on sheikah timestones on the surface which transport us up to the past, whatever goes on up there, whether it be shrines specific puzzle scenarios to solve, on completion will “reverse” time in specific regions down below, which purifies some of the lands from Ganon’s ultimate reign and added corruption. I’m afraid the ground is going to be absolutely horrifying after the earthquake event, filled with corrupt enemies and other weird things (similar to adult link in OoT) and the sky is going to be the peaceful part of the game.
There is a similar mechanic in Skyward Sword eg, the lanayru Desert where time shifts from past to present when Link hits the timestones with his sword.
I think if you look at Skyward Sword you will find a tonne of clues with what they’re trying to do here. There is a reason they released that game to play “while we’re all waiting” for BOTW2.
but if the sky is past dimensions, then how can we see things on the ground that appear in botw that wouldn't have been there otherwise like the windmills?
@@littleman311 perhaps we can see a vision of what Hyrule used to be like (so we can also see a beautiful past version of Hyrule down below). When we free fall back, that ancient robot type thing takes us back in time to the corrupted present
@@PheTEC that's a very intersting take on it, but what we see down below is present hyrule, at least from what we can see. Maybe there's just a cloud barrier like in Skyward Sword that makes it so that no one can see the islands from below
Seems interesting. :0
Entirely speculative statements made with unwavering certainty, now this is what I expect from a Zelda comment section lol
I think there's a few things you missed here.
First, you keep talking about the golem's "shoulders" but from all the animations we've seen, I think that is entirely the golem's head, with the shieka-like eye symbols hanging down as earings. That makes the thin bit connecting that section to the rest of the body the neck. This makes sense because when the golem stretched it's "neck" the entire head section moved upward, but the hands stay stationary, because they're attached to its body, not its head. This is visible around 11:15 in your video.
Second, the body area where that rope pulling symbol is located is surounded by sharp interlocking teeth that are very like the dragon heads found in the ruins of southern hyrule, and on the fire weapon on link's shield in the shot with the ceiling monster. I think this means that culture has a strong connection to the sky islands.
Part of your second point was covered in his previous video on the topic. He talked about how the "fire weapon" seemed to resemble the Zonai ruins and had a theory where the Zonai would be a bigger part of BOTW2. Interesting to note that the teeth may be related too though.
@@marcbromaghim-oropeza3199 yeah, that's why I brought it up
I like the idea of jumping from mainland Hyrule up to the islands but from the puddle but if you slow down this video between 1:38 and 1:39 to 0.25x speed (different time in the trailer) you can see there is a flat surface with a hard edge below link at the start of his jump. It's only for 1 frame but if you catch it, it's definitely in front of the cloud due to lighting and the hard edge and is likely close enough to be part of the ground / island under Link. It can easily be missed or mistaken for part of Hyrule below suggesting this is all just a fairly clever edit from Nintendo as usual and this is an example of the normal short distance upward traversal.
Interesting thing about the fallen island pieces: I'm playing Elden Ring rn and the landscape is dotted with fallen chunks of a giant floating structure. I was thinking the whole time how cool it would be if we could see it and explore it.
Just wanna tell u is that ur gonna blow ur mind at how big the map is for this game
This is one of the best videos about these sky islands I've seen yet! So many details I missed before - like the teal markings on the walls and the sand gardens! And how the marking on the golem looks like a rope - instead of a broom, like a lot of people say.
I will say, you and a few other people keep calling those things the golem's 'shoulders,' but why would they not just be a part of the head? The dangly bits kind of look like earrings and when the golem lifts its head, the 'shoulders' go with it. Not a big deal, I've just heard a LOT of theorists call them that. Seems odd to me.
If we give it a "classic perspective", I guess Link will have to travel between the sky islands to obtain the 8 fragments of something that will help him defeat Ganon
These Islands are gonna be one of the most epic adventures in Zelda history! I cannot wait to explore them, find all the secrets it has hidden and learn everything we can. Hopefully we'll see more on them soon 🤞
I’m so excited to hopefully see a combination of the shrine system with the main dungeons of previous games to create breathtaking aesthetics and fun puzzles!
Hopefully 🙏
get rid of the damn shrines and go back to the original story driven formula
@@mr.hawklingiii8739 Yeah, fuck those shrines. Got tired of them after the fifth one or so. I REALLY hope BOTW 2 fixes all of the flaws the first BOTW had (e.g. huge empty world, breaking weapons, damn stamina circle which reminded me of those cheap ass mobile games, boring "boss dungeons" which were basically just bigger shrines...) I'm not having high hopes, though. I just want another traditional Zelda game, not another damn Skyrim clone.
@@isabellegoegebuer2777. In other words, you want to scrap all deviations from the formula. Sounds like stagnation to me.
@@dragonbornexpress5650 That's not at all what I'm saying. BOTW just lacked the typical Zelda spirit and atmosphere for me. Nintendo could have done so much more with this huge open world. But what I saw was basically clones upon clones from enemies to items and locations. It gets really boring after a while. I certainly also didn't expect having to grind items to be able to craft armour sets, a mechanic you usually find in typical modern (J)MMORPGS. The legendary Sword of Time "breaking" (having to recharge) felt so absurd to me. What makes it even legendary anymore when it has to recharge energy? Almost like waiting to have your energy meter to fill up in a mobile game. And they truly could have thought of more creative ways to collect Heart Pieces than having to complete a bazillion shrines with a similar design. In Ocarina of Time you could get Heart Pieces by completing side quests, talking to NPC's discovering secrets, find passageways, as prizes from mini games... literally so much more diverse. The enemies were also way more varied - instead I stopped caring about the so maniest Bokoblin pretty quickly because it would only make me sacrifice some of my precious weapons. The world just felt empty. They could have made a large scale Ocarina of Time like game instead. I even lost interest in fighting the Blight Ganons after having seen how ridiculously easy it was to beat the final boss. Haven't touched the game in ages.
Bro Zeltik this is my first RUclips comment, just wanted to say you have all my respect, your personal insight and narration skills are outstanding. This is just insane quality.
I love how studio ghibli influenced both breath of the wild and elden ring. The mount and the arm, also sky islands. I hope we can find a Totoro somewhere hidden.
Closest is the korok main dude
Hi Zeltik, you say in the video that there are "countless sky islands". Back when trailer 2 first dropped, I did an analysis on the layout of the sky islands (I can't post direct website links in the comments, but google "I figured out the placement of all the sky islands from the trailer" and the first reddit post should have the link to the image). It turns out that the trailer shows 2 different sections of the sky islands, each containing about 6 islands. This means that we only know of about 12 islands so far, which leads to a lot of possibilities:
1. The sky islands are only a small portion of the game. You know how traditional Zelda games are broken up into regions, each with their own dungeon? Perhaps the sky islands are 1 region, with the giant building being the dungeon.
2. The sky islands are the tutorial section, much like the Great Plateau.
3. There are multiple different biomes in the sky, and this is the only one they have shown so far. This makes the most sense because we have special new mechanics like skydiving and phasing through floors, and it would be a waste to only use them for one area.
Anyway, the video is fantastic, and I hope this information helps you think of new possibilities for the role of the sky islands.
I’m so excited and anxious for this game. I love watching your videos as it helps keep the hype up while I wait. I also love your voice. You have the perfect voice for this medium. Calm, articulate and engaging. Thanks for the wonderful content, it helps my work day go by faster if I have something more interesting to listen to while I slave away.
Okay , I'm calling it!
The exercised blight from his arm is going to become Shadow Link.
After you defeat Ancient Ganon , it will be his final form to generate a physical host.
Might even be Ghirahim's last stand , you never know.
Im totally down for malice link.
This is by beyond a doubt my favorite commentary and analysis so far. I think you nailed it.
One of the few recent Zelda vidz from which I felt I learnt something ! Keep up the good work
I really like this style of video. It takes all the work that the community has done on this topic so far, after enough time has passed, and puts it together into a comprehensive explainer.
Your videos are so well-researched and always a joy to watch
Wooo a zeltik video
This appeared in my home and I was like "oh wow another new vid?" and then I saw the date and I got Incredibly confused for a minute
Absolutely love that you took the time to change the title!!
The vid is soo well researched and I appreciate how much work you put into it :)
here's my take
I mean, in skyward sword we're unable to see the sky islands from the surface and considering that this game is returning to the sky, it could be the reason why we don't see the sky islands on the ground. That or it's early gameplay, in the tutorial: link and zelda notice that large structures fell out of the sky without explanation around hyrule castle. They explore the castle to trace the irregularity and find the corpse of ganondorf. We know what happens next: link's arm is corrupted, master sword is presumably lost, zelda is taken, ganandorf awakens, the castle rises, Link escapes, tutorial is over.
As you have mentioned about the shintoism and bhuddism, the sky islands could represent the other side and if we think about it, it could lead to the sacred realm. Considering the triforce was hidden in the sky keep, Ganondorf may be looking for the triforce or a powerful artefact similar to it which leads him to try to conquer the sky. Zelda uses her power to keep him locked in the castle so ganon sends his forces. Link journeys above to protect the purity of the sky as well as purify himself (maybe his arm or the master sword as they are the only instruments essential to sealing ganon). He comes across either an ancient civilization or the spiritual deities as mentioned which help him gain enlightenment or purify him etc. when link is strong enough, he goes back to the castle and faces ganon.
from a developer's perspective, Link will need to use the surface as a medium to get to different sky islands or have some sort of objective to complete on the surface in order to access specific islands for story purposes. There's also the possibility that like the last game, players will be able to confront the final boss right out of the tutorial which will be interesting to see considering hyrule castle is airborne. which begs the question, will we be able to move at a quicker speed in the sky, travelling on foot in hyrule can take a while but your progress is somewhat expedited through means of a mount, if the same applies to the sky, will we see the return of loftwings?
OMG I LOVE THIS!!! How you broke it down and did comparisons makes me even more super excited!! (Side note, I love your videos! Keep it up!!). I hope the game turns out like you were describing and then some! 👍🏻👍🏻
pretty sure he stole arguments from rinkuto
Great as always, Zeltik.
One of the best analysis available out on the web. Got my subscribe!
Great stuff as always. And thank you for adding the underutilized Vah Medoh dungeon theme 👍🏼👍🏼
I just want so badly for there to be loftwings to travel on. Loftwings in the sky, horses on land. It would really make this game something special. As well as dungeons, major story and character development, underwater/cave travel, Picori, maybe even a companion and an instrument for Link to play.. God I want it all. So excited to see what they come up with.
Yeah, that would all be cool to explore/do...
We can dream Tristan. No one can stop us from dreaming 🥺🥲
So you just want everything that ever was in a Zelda game to be in this one? Feels like if you take the loftwings it will make SS feel too irrelevant. They rarely reuse key mechanics from previous games.
@@vince4113 hey that's fair, I'm pretty guilty of wanting them to mix in a lot of the old stuff. I fully understand the perspective of wanting something fresh/new/innovative. I think for me it's because I grew up with these games, and to see all of those stories/game elements implemented with the level of design and care that was given to BOTW would be amazing, and it might be the last chance to see that before they continue to take the franchise in different directions. If they don't provide the things I've listed but continue to give the love and care to this game like they did BOTW, I'll ultimately be very happy. Except for unique dungeons. I really, really want that.
I think it's amazing Eiji Aonuma hid this race called the Zonai from us for 35 years yet the Zelda team hid references in previous games like Twilight princess, Wind Waker, Skywards sword and Majora's Mask. We have a official timeline created by Nintendo yet the timeline on where the Zonai first came to existents is not clear at all, I really am starting to believe Link always was a Decedent of the Zonai which would explain why Link could see souls in some previous Zelda titles.
Honestly the Zonai remind me of the Maasai.
I think the islands are the ruined Zonai structures we see scattered in BOTW
11:13 ...the green energy also powers that dragon flamethrower item on link's shield...
maybe the magic meter will make a return.. that is my guess...
9:42 because the trailer shows the castle rising from the ground, maybe the islands will rise at some point too and that’s why there’s pieces of the islands building on the ground?
The Princess Mononoke arm thing just blew my mind. Especially since the art style and music seems to get so much inspiration from ghibli movies
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Brilliant video Zeltik :)
Great video and observations!
I’m so happy for the game to get you coming out and I hope it comes out this year I’m hyped
Very thorough analysis
Hats off to this guy who changed the name of every video about Tears of the Kingdom to the title the day the title dropped
Dude the wait for any scrap of BoTW2 is EXCRUTIATING.
Just try to forget a out it for a while. Once we do get news it'll be a happy little surprise instead of like, "FINALLY"
I agree. Also, do you read the comments when a video comes out?
I wonder if the octorok balloons are going to be nerfed or buffed for this
Maybe or maybe not?
I'm hoping they get rid of some items and give us some new items with interesting properties.
Ooh! Yeah, that would be cool, if it does come to fruition.
Like potatoes. ;)
I really love the idea that Link will go on a quest to break his curse. Probably because I love Princess Mononoke lol
This is why Zeltik is my favorite and the best RUclipsr in my opinion
Your attention to detail in the trailers is remarkable
That's was my impresion of the sky islands too great anlysis!
I put it out of my mind after the direct but dammit Zeltik you’ve gone and made me all excited and hopeful again! …thanks for that
Everything about the aesthetic and tone of this sequel is exactly what I wanted. Can't wait for more official information!
Your videos are always insanely good. As a very casual player, my brain looked at those stone temple golem things and thought they had dragon eggs on their shoulders. Of course the more refined guess would be lotus buds 😭😭😭 Always a pleasure Zeltik!!
The yellow-green power that Link absorbs into his hand is shown the tapestry in Impa’s house from the first game. Which is why I don’t think that tapestry is telling a legend of a previous battle, but instead is a prophecy.
I love the idea that Link is purifying himself throughout the course of the game. We have to get set back to three hearts and one stamina wheel at the start of the game, and I think Link becoming infected with malice, reducing his vitality, is a great way to do it. This way, our quest through Hyrule to power up Link isn't going through shrines to gain hearts or stamina retreading content from BOTW, rather it is to heal and restore our full power to what it was. Perhaps the bracelets worn by the glowing arm are seals that keep the malice from spreading. We know the bracelets have been used in a sealing capacity in the past to hold down the malice-ridden Ganon, so I think it's reasonable to believe they could help with sealing a malice infection. Maybe powering up the bracelets with this game's equivalent or spirit orbs is what heals Link.
The possibility of it being a malice infection from what we see in the trailers intrigues me regarding what we learned about dragons in the first game, and from what I've heard of the sacred realm. In the first game we learn that only those pure of heart like children and Link can see the dragons, and I believe that this is an aspect of the sacred realm too, that only those pure of heart can access it. Perhaps Link's malice infection renders him impure of heart, preventing him from seeing the dragons. Maybe the higher up the sky islands go, the purer your heart must be, and we have to purify Link more and more to access the higher portions. This could allow for a more linear form of storytelling, as it would limit where you could go at a given time based on your purity and give more of an order to the game's progression.
Another addition, Hyrule Castle rising into the sky could be a way for Ganondorf to bypass the purity requirement needed to access the highest level of the sacred realm. I'm not sure why else Ganondorf would go through all the effort to levitate the castle. In my opinion, keeping the castle at the height we see at the end of the second trailer wouldn't really prevent someone like Link from getting into the castle, so I have to believe that raising the castle is in pursuit of a goal, not just for defensive reasons. If Ganondorf is in pursuit of something in the sky, he's probably after something on one of the sky islands. If he's going to all of the effort of raising the castle, he probably doesn't have another way to get up there. Why couldn't Ganon move up the sky islands the same way Link does, going from island to island? Perhaps he doesn't have a glider, which seems like a lame reason, perhaps Link's ceiling phasing ability is required for navigation, but perhaps it's because he doesn't meet the purity requirement to move around up there.
god I love the skyloft theme, its so unique, so windy and beautiful, ancient, calming and weird with its seemingly random sounds inbetween. Anyway, great video as always.
I theorize that this whole concept of time-reversal may wind up being really important to the story. The droplet of water, the reverse-stasis mechanic, the music being played backwards in the trailer. Historically when different forms of time-travel have been featured in a Zelda game the mechanic has had major connections with that game thematically. The fact that they focus on it so much in the trailer must mean something.
I like this video's thuumbnail. It looks pretty cool.
I think link is seeking to purify himself to expell the malice in his arm so he could wield the master sword
I'm so hyped for this game
Hey, Zeltik! Could you please do a video on what role the future Champions (Sidon, Teba, Riju and Yunobo) might have to play in the sequel? Just like some theories or speculation?
This is keeping me hyped, i just realised now that it seems we will get a lot of new enemies
I can't wait until them bring more info about this game! I'm so excited!!!!! While I wait I love to see more theories! Keep up the amazing work Zeltik!!!!
I wonder if it will have some call-backs to Skyloft, the City in the Sky or to the Tribe of Winds.
Link is just going to play the most badass game of Snakes and Ladders ever.
An amazing analysis! I was thinking of PrincessMonoke just as you brought it up, there’s no way there aren’t any connections
I honestly expected there wouldn't be anything new in here, but I was wrong! You've done some incredible analytical work on this one.
Couple of quick thoughts: I think we can't the Sky-lands from the ground because of the "cloud barrier." In Skyward Sword, it's why you couldn't see Skyloft when looking up. It also relates, I think, to the Wind Tribe from Minish Cap and the Sky City from Twilight Princess, but I'm a bit fuzzy on that.
With the stuff you presented about the islands being 'gateways to the sacred,' it reminded me of Skyloft. We know that Skyloft once held the Triforce, but in the Spirit Realm version. The Spirit Realm of Skyloft could easily equate to The Sacred Realm in general, complete with floating islands motifs. Perhaps these islands could be a gateway to the Spirit Realm version of Hyrule.
the hand was never pushing him down, it was lifting him up, preserving him...
The references to Skyward Sword and the beginning of the Zelda timeline are so obvious and yet so interesting and exciting.
I mean, they even remastered the game so more people would know about it, Skyward Sword's story HAS to be important in the sequel!
I'm excited for anything that reexamines the Sacred Realm. For as massive a role as it has in the series, it's often in the background. Referenced at times, but not included. A part of me will always want to visit the Temple of Light from Ocarina, get there before Ganondorf does somehow, and find the Triforce. I would imagine an entire world outside the unseen structure, bathed in golden light. While the Sacred Realm was narratively introduced in Link to the Past, and even explored indirectly, as Ganon's corruption of the Golden Land, that's as close as we've ever come. Often the Triforce has been in a constant swap outside the Realm, living in others. And too often, ANOTHER world is introduced for Link to explore, like the Twilight Reaalm, Termina, or Lorule. Perhaps the Sacred Realm is pulling a Constantine, where heaven and hell are both right here, behind every door, the world behind the world. This would keep in line with its introduction, as a sort of mirror of Hyrule itself, the land of the gods. As the legend goes, the old gods created the physical world, and then departed. The spot where they left birthed both the Triforce and the Sacred Realm. To us, it looks as if Link is above plain old Hyrule, but is he perhaps in some alternate plane of it? Might be a stretch, but, isn't it odd how the Sacred Realm always looked so bizarre and otherworldly in its artwork, but little by little it starts to manifest in Link's adventures - the Triforce beaming among floating islands, temples and shrines. Skyward Sword, Link Between Worlds and this all slowly make it a reality.
In a realm beyond sight
the sky shines gold, not blue.
There the Triforce's might
Makes mortal dreams come true.
Video teached me so much thank you o///o
My personal theory on how Link will traverse between islands is this: In the shot where Link is running on the sky island at dusk or dawn, he is running towards an arch. Another island is visible in the background with an arch exactly like it. AND both arches are on the edge of each island so I am thinking that you walk through one and before you can blink you are on the island that that arch was facing.
Replace arch with Tori…
Kids: When am I ever gonna use what I learn in social studies?
Zeltik:
still can't get over how the big tower looking structure at 3:44 looks like the tower you fight Ganon on in Wind Waker
I love how detail and time you spend to investigate possible real origin of buildings or things. Thanks for that. 😃
The story is a mystery and I just thing started to imagine something:
It's supposed that 10000 years ago the hero and the princess sealed to Calamity Ganon. Now, Zelda and Link are looking for destroy the origin of malice. During their travel, they found Ganon's corpse in the exactly time the seal is broken, causing damage to Link with malice and Zelda disappears in the avise.
Trying to save to Link, the original sealer takes control of his right hand, providing to Link the original power in which Sheikah slade is based. Somehow now, the old hero can communicate to Link how to defeat to Ganon or how to seal him again.
The clue is in the past, something that the old hero did and Link must to discover it through some portals set in specific places from Hyrule, maybe the open is the cave we see in the trailer, some ruins appears from the earth and allows to Link travel to the past. It will be like SSW's travel, that could be the reason why we see to Link with different clothes and equipment.
Well, something like that 🙃
Absolutely fascinating theory. I think no matter how it turns out, it will be a great game. Can't wait 😩
What if the green energy seen coming from Ganon is actually a magical energy used to keep the sky islands high in the sky, so high you can’t see them in botw1. But after links hand is possessed by the energy, the energy is no longer being supplied to the sky islands which would mean the sky islands are slowly falling to the ground. (In the story not in actual mechanics). Perhaps the reason the islands haven’t completely fallen yet is because they have some magic in reserve, but not enough to keep all rocks and all islands in the sky. It would explain why some of the rocks have fallen from the sky and why whole islands are still staying afloat. The reason ganon was sealed and not killed was because a ritual was performed on him to harness energy over all the years.🤔
If this is the case I could see the story going on a way where links goal is to somehow stop the islands from falling and save hyrule.
An idea that would work well with:
- the changing tunic
- the invisible islands from the bottom
- the pieces of island fallen
- the reverse time cinetis
Is the hypothesis of some kind of time travel, going in a past when some islands were floating and in the future when they are all fallen unto pieces.
I always thought the lotus figures looked more egg-shaped (though I can see the lotus resemblance too) and assumed that maybe the Oocca were involved due to their association with the sky. Especially with the golem which, imo looks very robotic and the Oocca were supposed to be technologically advanced.
Link's Dragon flame thrower looks like it has a similar design to the golem like being in the sky. They are both green and the belly of the golem seems to have teeth like that on the Arm Dragon.
Reminds me of Min Min too
@@tylerv.g.6268 It does
i think that you'll have points on the ground that directly link to exact floating islands and from there you have to island hop
Thank you for the video.
It could be that, much like the shrines in the first game, Link has to “activate” the sky islands before he can enter them. So perhaps there are devices on the surface that, once are interacted with, send up a chunk of rock into the sky for Link to explore. Maybe that is why there aren’t any islands visible in some footage?
My guess as to where the sky islands come from is that they rise up from the ground (kind of like how we see Hyrule Castle doing in the original trailer) _or_ the sky islands are from an age past, and there will be more playing with time in this game.
My theory is that the new sky place is the same place as where the dragons go, with some sort of magic keeping it hidden from view like a kind of one way glass