Even from the first Legend Of Zelda game, things haven’t always been logical, andTears Of The Kingdomfollows suit. Sure, you’re going to spend the usual amount of disbelief to enjoy the game, but some things are going to stick out.
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When a series has been around as long as this one, it becomes more and more difficult to keep things fresh without stepping on your own toes. Despite all the nonsensical stuff, you’ll likely notice during gameplay, it shouldn’t detract from your enjoyment. The problem is that certain questions and concepts can nag at you for a while.
Updated on Jul 21, 2025, by William Quick:In Tears Of The Kingdom, you’ve got the usual level of Zelda universe weirdness. Some things are expected, others we just have to let slide, but a few are just too hard to ignore. These are some of the most nonsensical parts of this epic game.
12Link Can’t Fight Unarmed
No matter what theory you follow, it has been confirmed that Link is the reincarnation of the Hero Of Time, destined to fight evil whenever he’s reborn. He’s essentially a new person each time around, and in this universe, he’s the most trusted guard to the royal family. He’s strong, he’s skilled, he’s resilient, he’s courageous, and he’s everything you could want in a protector.
That is,as long as he’s armed. It’s implied that Link has undergone training all over Hyrule, and none of it involved training him how to fight without a weapon. What makes things worse is that even the weakest humanoids, the Bokoblins, can throw fists and send Link flying, but he’ll just stand there dopily, looking at his empty hand.
11Where’s The Sheikah Slate?
Nintendo has always been strange about including references to their hardware in their games and took it to a pretty obvious place with the Sheikah Slate. It’s one of the first tools that Link gets in Breath Of The Wild, and it makes everything easier. It holds a world map, allows Link to fast travel, and containsa variety of powersto aid him on his journey, both in exploration and combat.
But now, it’s gone. Instead, we have the Purah Pad, which serves the exact same functions but no longer contains the power to manifest bombs, freeze water, and more. Since Link’s powers now come from his arm, why would he not still have the empowered Sheikah Slate? The Sheikah are still around, so maybe they just decided to take their stuff back.
10Zonai Constructs Register Link As A Hostile
When you begin the game, you start off in the skyon the sprawling Great Island. The first friendly entities you meet are Zonai Stewards. These guys are friendly robots that contain a variety of information and continue to go about their original duties. They’re very helpful towards Link to the point where they warn that other Zonai constructs consider him a hostile entity.
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An explanation is provided for why, but not why it couldn’t be remedied. Zonai robots won’t attack other Zonai robots (intentionally), which means that the Stewards could easily pass the word around that Link is cool or maybe give him some stuff to disguise him as a Zonai Construct. They don’t, and you’re left to destroy ancient robots just to stay alive.
9The Flux Constructs Have No Purpose
Of all the different Zonai Constructs that are still active in the new world,the Flux Constructsare among the most intimidating. These large lumbering robots keep watch over certain areas and can be found patrolling various islands, both connected and disconnected from larger islands.
Though they clearly had a purpose at one point, they don’t seem to have one anymore. Aside from those related to Shrines, the Flux Constructs aren’t protecting anything aside from the valuable resources they need to function which can only be extracted through force.
8Why Is Rauru’s Arm All That Remains?
At the beginning of the game, you see the zombified remains of the Demon King being held in place by a ghostly arm. The story eventually reveals that this arm belongs to Rauru, a powerful Zonai who was keeping the villain imprisoned. After the Demon King awakens and the arm falls to the side, chaos erupts, and runs free.
Luckily, Rauru’s arm reacts at the last second to save Link and replace his corrupted arm with itself. The weird thing is that the lore spends a lot of time explaining how powerful the Zonai were, but literally, the only thing keeping the ultimate evil in check is an arm.
Meanwhile, the Demon King has his full body and consciousness, starting off with a huge advantage against the forces of good, which apparently couldn’t spare a whole body of their own.
7Roundabout Shrine Logic
The Shrines returnin this sequel, but they’re a little different than they were before. They’re still chambers holding mystical rewards, but their job seems to be providing Light Orbs with the explicit purpose of purging the body of evil. However, this is extremely impractical.
Rauru saves Link’s life and gives him his arm to prevent the spread of evil, but that’s still not enough. He has to find all these scattered chambers and go through so many trials just to get a smidgeon of cleansing that doesn’t even do anything significant until you offer it to an unrelated Goddess Statue.
6The Master Sword Fails Its One Job
The Master Swordhas been with the series since the earliest games and is frequently described as “the sword of evil’s bane.” It is literally the only tool that can destroy whatever evil force du jour Link is facing at the time. However, in the first few minutes of encountering the Demon King, theMaster Swordbreaks against the forces of evil.
It gets absolutely decimated by the very thing it was made to stop. Understandably, the story robs Link of his strongest weapon early on, but it could very easily be stolen from him, or he could lose or simply become too weak to wield it (like in the previous). And yet, the sword of evil’s bane is ruined within seconds by evil’s bane.
5How Did The Demon King Revive?
The Demon King is the force of evil you’re fighting this time, and he certainly fits the role in a number of ways. He’s creepy, he’s powerful, and he couldn’t care less about Link or Zelda. That being said, when Rauru’s hand falls off of him, the Demon King quickly revives with full power and is able to defeat a fully powered Link and Zelda with little effort.
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It makes you wonder why the forces that held him in place didn’t try harder to hold him in place. The also wasn’t any sort of outside influence, like a third party breaking in to revive the King for their own means. He just conveniently revives the movement Link and Zelda show up.
4Koroks Backpacking
The Koroks are among the most adorable creatures ever to enter the Zelda universe and there are somany of themhiding all over the world. They’re necessary to expand your inventory, but they’re no longer just playing hide-n-seek… they’re traveling.
Specifically, they’re carrying backpacks four times their size on their various trips to the point where they can’t move. These are mystical magical beings capable of teleportation among other things, and yet they’re trekking analog-style with ridiculous bags that could double as cannonballs.
3Construction Materials Everywhere But No Workers
It’s kind of inconvenient that so soon after starting to rebuild after the previous calamity, a new one comes along to set Hyrule back to square one. However, the people are unwavering in their efforts since the construction companies are still working hard to rebuild.
At least, that’s how it seems in theory. There are piles of construction materials all over Hyrule, but there are almost no actual workers doing anything with them. If things stay this way, it will be up to Link and thedevoted sign-holder Addisonto rebuild the whole kingdom themselves.
