Daily Debate: What Does This Symbol Mean to You?
Posted on August 17 2023 by Leslie Jacobson
In the months leading up to the release of Tears of the Kingdom, we saw new artwork and symbols that made us think, “I wonder what that is?” We have the Zonai lettering found on Zonai gadgets and in Shrines. There’s the not-quite-Ouroboros logo for Tears of the Kingdom with the dragons circling each other. The symbol pictured at the top caught my eye right away. It was first revealed when Nintendo announced the Tears of the Kingdom edition of the Nintendo Switch. The reveal trailer prominently showed the symbol at the bottom of the Joy-Cons. When I received my new Switch, I wondered what those symbols were going to represent. I figured that symbol was going to be a significant symbol for the game, given its appearance on the console.
The symbol is not within the world of the game; however, it shows up on every dialogue box. The symbol is split off to each side of the box with one eye and “horn” and the full head-like center on either side. I looked for it during my entire playthrough, and I did not see it anywhere in Hyrule, the Depths, or the Sky. It seems strange to me that this symbol is on the special edition Switch, but given no in-game explanation.
When I tried to enter a search term for the symbol, I typed,”dragon symbol Tears of the Kingdom” and most image searches gave me the logo title. If I tried “Zonai symbol Tears of the Kingdom,” I get the hand symbol Link uses to activate Shrines. One website referred to it as an “unknown Zonai symbol” but so far, there seems to be no consensus as to what this symbol actually represents. I interpreted the symbol to be a symbol of the Light Dragon. It has her horns, eyes, and even a stylistic icon of her hair. Since it appeared on all of the dialogue boxes, I thought it was like the Light Dragon watching and observing all of the little conversations around Hyrule. It was comforting to know she was watching this whole time, given who she is.
I decided to get that symbol as a henna tattoo from an artist at a local festival. I excitedly talked about how it was from my favorite game series and what it represented to me. As the henna dried, I started to think about how my interpretation doesn’t have solid proof to back it up. What if it’s just simply a symbol for the Zonai themselves? After all, the other tribes in Hyrule each have their own symbols-you can see them all on the flags in Lookout Landing when you complete each of the regional phenomena. Even the Yiga have their own symbol, though it’s just a mockery of the Sheikah one.
What do you think this symbol represents? Is a symbol for the dragons, or the Zonai in general? Did Nintendo purposely leave it vague so players could draw their own conclusions? Let us know in the comments!
Leslie is a mom, a cosplayer, an educator, and a fervent fan of The Legend of Zelda series. She lives in an area of the United States that reminds her of the Akkala region in the fall and Hebra the other 11 months of the year. She owns The Legend of Zelda t-shirts older than most of her students.
