Nintendo shares new insight into Zelda: TotK lore

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom “Master Works” launched in Japan at the end of August. This amazing compendium includes features on Artwork, Making, and History, and each is full to the brim with concept art, developer insights, design docs, and even brand-new illustrations. There’s an absolutely insane amount of content here, which fills up the whopping 464 pages you’ll find inside.

Not surprisingly, there’s some new details in this book that you won’t find by playing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. That includes a deep dive into lore that gives us fresh insight, along with confirmation on some speculation by fans. If you’re eager to see those juicy tidbits and finger points, you can see a round-up of the more interesting details below.

• The Zonai ruins on the surface (aka the Breath of the Wild era ones) theorized to have been made by some other group in honor/worship of the Zonai
• Thundra plateau thought to have been used for Zonai rain making rituals
• Zonai used natural lightning as an infinite source of energy
• Although the lightning stopped after Link completed the Sheikah trial, the strange weather of Thundra plateau is thought to predate the Sheikah
• Thyphlo ruins purpose was to enhance the sages’ power
• The Hylian writing was left later by people preserving the site
• The Sheikah thought to have put up the darkness shield as part of the hero trial, but may have had the secondary goal of concealing the stone slabs with sage enhancement instructions
• The Zonai towers around Hyrule may have been used as part of getting bits of the surface into the sky
• There dragon statues guard the Spring of Courage, the owl statues guard the boarders of Lake Faron, and the boar statues guard the road (though the role of the boars may have been eradicated across other regions of Hyrule).
• The power balance goes dragons > owls > boars. They represent their respective Tri Force elements still.
• The owl statues are unique as people would worship them directly and leave offerings.