Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - A Title That Nearly Spoiled Its Adventure

A Surprising Revelation About Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Thanks to a new art book, we’ve learned some behind-the-scenes information about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s name. Nintendo recently released the “Master Works” art book in Japan, giving us a glimpse into the making of Breath of the Wild’s stunning open-world sequel.

A Near Spoiler in the Title

In an interview featured in the book, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s producer, Eiji Aonuma, revealed that the game was almost called Tears of the Dragon. A slight spoiler warning now for those who haven’t played the game - read ahead with caution!

Important Decisions in Development

• Aonuma indicated that letting it slip that the Light Dragon is Zelda would have been a problem.
• This realization affected the title of the game significantly.
• The team faced a ticking clock as they were running out of development time.

It was actually another colleague who suggested Kingdom instead of Dragon, leading to the game name and logo design that we have today. We can’t help but wonder if Tears of the Kingdom would have become one of the best Zelda games to date with a different title, especially one that gives so much of the plot away at first glance.

We’re also anxious to see what other interesting tidbits come out of the Master Works art book. If you’re after more merch from one of the best fantasy games on the Switch, check out our Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom amiibo guide next.