It took years and years of speculation, but last week, Nintendo finally revealed the subtitle for the next Zelda game, Tears of the Kingdom, thereby making it illegal for anybody to call it “BOTW2” or “the Breath of the Wild Sequel” from now on. (Just try it and watch a Nintendo lawyer materialize before your eyes and suplex you.) But the subtitle did bring its own batch of confusion — namely, in how to pronounce the word “tears.” Was it “teers” as in crying? “Tehrs” as in stuff ripping apart? Some other third option?
Well, Nintendo has confirmed with Eurogamer that it is the former, meaning the game’s title is pronounced with a long e sound and referring to the saline liquid that pours from our eyes. The Zelda series is no stranger to tear motifs — the Sheikah symbol has a teardrop in it (particularly notable in Breath of the Wild where tears would drip onto your Sheikah Slate to update it), Twilight Princess had Tears of Light, Skyward Sword had Sacred Tears… In fact, astute observers noticed what appeared to be a vessel for collecting such tears on Link’s waist, and some of the mural art at the beginning shows items of a similar shape. Is that going to be one of the big gameplay additions this time?
It’s also worth noting/admitting that the double entendre of “tears” in the title is probably intentional, given that it seems Hyrule is being torn apart. While many mysteries yet remain about Tears of the Kingdom, this is a minor one we can put to rest as we wait for more salient info ahead of the May 5th, 2023 release.
As of the time of this writing pre-orders for the game are open at Best Buy, GameStop, and Amazon.
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Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
