Daily Debate: Why Has the Scene of Zelda Falling in to the Pit in Tears of the Kingdom Changed?

Among the official trailers and announcements for Tears of the Kingdom, we’ve had about 20 minutes of footage of the game.  One scene that seems to come up multiple times is that of Zelda falling into a pit or hole.  As Alasyn Eletha brought up in The Zelda Cast, the scene has changed since the first trailer.

The first time we saw Zelda falling into a hole was the E3 2021 trailer.  In the very beginning of the video, the Malice tendrils reach out seemingly for her.  She sticks out her hand and appears to fall backwards into a black pit.  What’s interesting to note is that it almost seems like it is a still image getting smaller against a black background, like it’s not quite animated yet.  At the very end of the trailer, we hear a snippet of Zelda’s Lullaby with the same instrumentation as the dragons.

The second time we saw Zelda falling into a hole is in the Official trailer #2.  Towards the very end of the trailer, Link’s arm is devoured by the malice tendrils. As he turns around with his damaged arm, he reaches out for Zelda.  There is a cut and the next shot shows Zelda falling first, reaching up toward Link with him stretching out his arm towards her. This shot is from the side rather than the top-down view we had in the E32021 trailer.

The third time we saw Zelda falling into the hole was in the Official trailer #3.  About a third of the way into the latest trailer, we have the side-view of the fall.  Zelda reaches up toward Link and he reaches out to her.  They flex their hands towards each other. Then, we again have the top-down view of Zelda falling into the hole, but this time, her cape flutters, there’s rocks falling with her, and her hip and her hand glow a soft gold color.

There are many explanations for why this part of the trailer may have changed.  One simple explanation is that developers hadn’t finished the story with the E3 trailer and made minor changes to the staging of the story in subsequent trailers.  Another explanation is that perhaps the developers hadn’t completely finished the side-views of the fall.  Yet another explanation could be that Nintendo did not want to release too many details prior to launch.  Finally, a rather fun theory could be that it is part of the story.  Perhaps Link has to re-live this experience many times until he fully saves her.

Why do you think the scene of Zelda falling into the pit has changed? Is it simply because the developers have changed the story? Is there a gameplay/storyline explanation? Let us know in the comments!

Leslie Jacobson

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.