The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom starts off with a heavy emphasis on story and builds up just how the sequel expands on where Breath of the Wild left off. This includes an opening sequence that might confuse some fans, since Princess Zelda appears to die less than an hour into the game.
Early on, fans were hoping that Zelda would be a key element in the story, or even a playable character, and wouldn’t simply vanish or be relegated to a touchstone objective again. This hope was dashed before players even gain full control of Link, and it has left several questions up in the air for those who don’t have any context for TotK’s story.
This section of the guide will contain mild story spoilers based on context given in the first several hours of gameplay. I would recommend completing all of the content featured on the Great Sky Island before reading further if you want to experience everything before seeing an explanation.
Is Zelda dead in Tears of the Kingdom?
With that previous spoiler warning in mind, Zelda does appear to die in the final cutscene you see while exploring the catacombs underneath Hyrule Castle. However, if the light that swallows her up when she falls isn’t obvious enough, she does not actually perish.
Once you finish the initial three Shrines on the Great Sky Island, you will enter TotK’s version of the Temple of Time. Inside, you will encounter Zelda in a dream-like sequence where she gifts you the power of Recall—the ability Link uses to rewind the motion of objects.
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This, paired with the final cutscene shown before you leap from the Sky Island down to Hyrule below, points to what happened to Zelda. A mote of light surrounds the shattered Master Sword and transports it from the table in front of Link to one in front of Zelda, showing that she was transported to the past through a similar ability to Recall.
There are more story implications for how it happened, why this is important, and the impacts it has on Link’s journey through things like the Master Sword. But in short, reports of Zelda’s death were greatly exaggerated and someone should probably tell Purah.
