10 MORE Secrets in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

10 More Secrets in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

Welcome to MojoPlays, and we are back with some more secrets in “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!” We’ll be looking at 10 more Easter Eggs and hidden details we didn’t cover in our original 100.

Lava-Proof Bokoblins

Since Link gets all kinds of neat armor, some of his enemies decided to copy him. In “Tears of the Kingdom,” you might come across a Lynel or Bokoblin wrapped in stone, making fights just a bit tougher. But there are a few hidden things about this armor you may not have noticed. For example, although it seems to be mere rock, the armor is lava-proof. You can tell by knocking a Bokolin into lava using a weapon with a bouncy material fused to it. That’s pretty OP; not even Link’s FlameBreaker set can stop him from taking damage should he wander into a lava pool.

Powerful Hooves

Speaking of rock armor, there are multiple ways to destroy it so you can deal damage to the enemy underneath. Your first instinct might be to use a weapon with a material good for smashing, like horns. Or maybe you’ll just let loose a few bomb arrows. However, the best materials to use that some might be unaware of are Lynel hooves. Fusing these to an arrow can decimate the outer shell of an armored Lynel, even better if it’s with a tri- or five-shot bow, and you’ve boosted Link’s attack with armor, potion, or a meal. These can also make short work of the Frox and Talus mini-bosses, destroying the gem nodes on its back in mere seconds.

Eye for an Eye

The opening in “Tears of the Kingdom” certainly leaves an impression, as Zelda and Link discover a mummified-looking Ganondorf. Whenever you see this version of the villain, or the Gloom Spawn that plague Hyrule, the piercing yellow eyes are sure to burrow into your soul. Some players thought these eyes looked familiar. And wouldn’t you know it? We’ve seen them before, in “Breath of the Wild.” Eyeballs sticking out of Malice pools, which Link must destroy to clear them, look identical. It’s a nice way to visually connect the dots and suggests that Ganondorf was always watching during the previous adventure.

Hidden Notes of Fi

When we first covered the game, we mentioned the audio Easter Eggs that referenced Fi from “Skyward Sword.” We hear her chime, as well as part of her theme, when Link sends the Master Sword back in time to Zelda. However, there’s another, much more well-hidden nod to the companion that comes even earlier. When Link and Zelda are exploring the caves beneath Hyrule Castle, there’s a moment where the Master Sword begins to glow. When Zelda comments on it, the first note of Fi’s theme plays. It’s incredibly hard to hear, since it’s quiet and gets drowned out by other sounds. It isn’t part of the main musical track, making it a cleverly hidden Easter Egg.

Hunting Ducks

This one calls back to one of Nintendo’s earliest games. You’ll likely spend plenty of time hunting animals to get more meat in “Tears of the Kingdom.” When you shoot a duck, or any bird able to fly, out of the air, it performs a very distinct animation where it spins in a nosedive towards the ground. Old school players might recognize this as the same animation from “Duck Hunt” on the NES. In that game, hitting your mark causes the ducks to fall in a very similar manner.

Mastro’s Musical Flare

We talked a lot about members of the musical group, the Stable Trotters, in previous videos. But one member we didn’t touch on was Mastro, the group’s conductor. The whole character is one giant walking Easter Egg, and we don’t just mean his resemblance to Mario and tendency to yell “Wahoo!” Looking at his face, you can see his mustache is really two eighth notes, his sideburns are shaped like quarter note rests, and his eyes and eyelashes resemble bass clefs. Even the shape of his body is reminiscent of a treble clef. Well, he is very passionate about music…

High-Flying News

Throughout the “Zelda” series, there are all manner of Easter Eggs hidden in Hylian, the language of Hyrule's people that can, in fact, be deciphered. At a certain point in “Tears of the Kingdom,” Link can become a part-time reporter for the Lucky Clover Gazette, helping Penn the Rito in tracking down stories. You get a reward for each side quest, and after two, you get a special fabric for your paraglider. It looks like it’s been made of old newspaper clippings, which isn’t far off. The central part that is decipherable reads, "At the same time that Hyrule Castle floated, something happened on the ground,” referencing the opening of the game.

Zora Nomenclature

“Breath of the Wild” introduced new Zora characters: the deceased Champion, Mipha, the prince and Link’s best friend, Sidon, and their father, King Dorephan. You may have heard that the names of these characters come from the famous major musical scale: Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do. The first four letters in Dorephan’s name cover Do-Re, Mipha is obviously Mi-Fa, and Sidon covers Ti-Do, since Si and Ti are both the B note. Well, when it was time to introduce a new Zora character in “Tears of the Kingdom,” Nintendo named her in a similar fashion. Yona’s name comes from yona-nuki, a Japanese pentatonic scale. The Zelda team sure does love their name puns.

The Wise Ancestor

Here we have another name pun, and one that’s even more blatant than the Zoras, we’re surprised it took us so long to notice. The dragon tear memories show Zelda far in Hyrule’s past where she meets its first King and Queen, Rauru and Sonia. While Rauru shares a name with the Sage of Light from “Ocarina of Time,” Sonia is a Slavic name derived from the Greek name, Sophia. And Sophia literally means “wisdom.” Giving Zelda an ancestor with such a name when she’s known for being wise, and is even the primary wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom, is really on-the-nose. But we respect Nintendo’s commitment to the bit.

Tears of the Bokoblins

We got a few new enemies introduced in “Tears of the Kingdom” that have never been in the series before. One of them is the Boss Bokoblin, a big brute who is always seen traveling with a pack of smaller ones, which he can call to his side with the blast of his horn. However, this group of Bokoblins have a unique reaction that is unlikely to be seen by most players. If you kill their Boss without them noticing you, which requires a one-shot ancient arrow to do, they will genuinely weep for their fallen leader. We might feel a little bad if they weren’t trying to murder us at every turn.

What’s something you recently discovered in “Tears of the Kingdom?” Let us know about it in the comments!