Saturday, February 11, 2023

Tears of the Kingdom – Epona!

Link riding on Epona over Hyrule Field

One thing that immediately caught my attention in the new trailer is that Link is riding on Epona... "Why is that so special?" you might ask. Well, in Breath of the Wild Epona wasn't really a thing, at least not officially. You could only get her via amiibo. The game would recognize her as the "horse of legend", but there is no real story to her. It's just an extra to please the fans, much like the Fierce Deity armor set.

Of course this could still be the case, but then it would be weird that Nintendo chose to use her in the official trailer. This clearly shows that you're going to ride on Epona and it would be a bit of false advertising if you needed amiibo for that. So, maybe this time she will be part of the actual game.

After all, Tears of the Kingdom is bringing back entities like Ganondorf or the ReDeads, where both also have originated in Ocarina of Time. And it's possible that Epona will this time be a more integral part of the game, just like in some of the classic Zelda titles. I don't think we even have seen any wild horses yet, where it could be that they simply got scared off by all the new monsters and the threat of the Blood Moon. The stables still do exist, however... But maybe horses are harder to come by this time around, but you will be able to get Epona as your trusty steed.

Well, they also need to make sure that Epona, and horses in general, will still have value. In Breath of the Wild they became fully obsolete with the Master Cycle Zero and this game will introduce entirely new vehicles, while you also could just dive down from the skies to most places... So, there needs to be a good reason why you'd want to ride around on a horse, but it still might be more practical than assembling your own car somewhere.

1 comment:

Raul said...

Honestly in BotW I thought the sidequest involving Zelda's white horse would've been perfect for Epona. Link could've had Epona as his steed in the past and find her descendant in the present.

Wouldn't mind another horseback fight against Ganondorf like in TP near the end. If it happens would be neat if he uses the giant horse from BotW.