The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom has proven to be one of the most important games in the entire life cycle of Nintendo Switch. The 2023 blockbuster was a huge success with critics and fans, immediately establishing itself among the best games on its console. But did you know that it was originally supposed to have a different name?
The curiosity was revealed by Eiji Aonuma, producer of The Legend of Zelda series, through his comment included in the Master Works artbook focused on the sequel to Zelda Breath of the Wild: at first the team had decided to title it The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Dragon, in reference to the Ivory Dragon of Light, however they later changed their mind as this name could have given big previews of the game’s story.
“Suggesting that the Ivory Dragon of Light was Zelda would have been a problem, and that had an impact on the final title. One name we initially considered was Tears of the Dragon, but putting the word ‘Dragon’ in the title would have been a terrible idea. We wanted to put all dragon-based symbols in the game’s logo, but we changed our minds as it would have put too much emphasis on the Ivory Dragon. However, nothing else worthwhile came to mind and we were running out of time,” Aonuma says.
Eventually, one developer suggested using the word “Kindgom” in the title so that it would still have a connection to the Ivory Dragon, but Nintendo decided to hold off on officially revealing the game’s official name so as not to give away too many premature spoilers. The rest is history, set to continue soon after The Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom releases for Switch on September 26.
Meanwhile, the official timeline of The Legend of Zelda has been updated to 2024, so as to also give a definitive placement to Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.
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