The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom fans think new art points to a playable Zelda

News
By
published

The copium is, once again, real

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
(Image credit: Nintendo)

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom fans are once again hoping for a playable Princess Zelda.

Yesterday, February 8, the latest Tears of the Kingdom trailer debuted in a flashy Nintendo Direct. Shortly after, the official Zelda Twitter account in Japan tweeted the artwork of Princess Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom, seen just below, in which the Princess is carrying a slightly redesigned Sheikah Slate.

This has led a tonne of fans to hope and pray for a playable Princess Zelda. In the comments section of the Reddit post just below, Zelda fans desperately hope the redesigned Sheikah Slate means the Princess is a protagonist in Tears of the Kingdom, not just a sidekick as usual.

"Playable Zelda just got more likely," writes one commenter. "That was the impression I got when she asked Link to lend her his power," says another Reddit user, referencing a line that was heard right near the end of the new Tears of the Kingdom trailer yesterday.

Hey, some Tears of the Kingdom fans are just taking the redesigned slate to mean Zelda won't be disappearing roughly 15 minutes into the new game. A previous trailer, which saw Zelda falling into a gigantic hole in the ground, worried fans that she'd again be relegated to the damsel in distress role.

"So either they created a whole art just for the first 10 minutes of the game before she falls, or she has a major role in the game," wrote one Reddit user in response to the post above. "Zelda having the Slate gives me a tiny - tiny - glimmer of hope that she might do something other than go missing after the first fifteen minutes and be gone the entire game," chimed in another.

With the new Sheikah Slate and Zelda's new look, fans of the Princess are really pinning their hopes on a playable Zelda after decades of waiting. Will Tears of the Kingdom finally give us a playable Zelda, or will legions of fans once again be left in longing for what could have been?

Check out our upcoming Switch games guide for a deep look into everything Nintendo's console has to offer in the coming months. 

See more Nintendo Switch News
Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.

Read more
Zelda holding up a collected item in Echoes of Wisdom, with the screenshot framed by GamesRadar+'s Year in Review artwork
2024 was the year The Legend of Zelda lived up to its name, and the result was a bit like mixing rock salt and floral nectar
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is at the front line of the debate over the Nintendo Switch 2's computing power, because if the Switch 1 can load three worlds at once, imagine what its sequel can do
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom screenshot of Link riding a horse across a vast field.
The best Zelda games of all time
A screenshot from Super Mario Odyssey showing Mario throwing Cappy in New Donk City.
As Nintendo remains quiet on Switch 2 lineup, retailer lists "New 3D Mario" and "Legend of Zelda Remake/Remaster" under 2025 games
The Knightling standing in a sunlit field
This open-world game imagines a cartoony Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom where the Master Sword is the Master Shield – it's coming to all platforms and I dig its Steam Next Fest demo
A screenshot from the reveal trailer for the Nintendo Switch 2, showing the console playing a Mario Kart game.
Mario Kart 9 appears to take the Switch 2 back in time, swapping out Princess Peach’s sleek racing suit for the outfit she wore when she debuted in the kart racing series
Latest in The Legend of Zelda
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time screenshot showing Link, a young boy with elf-like ears and blond hair, with a surprised expression on his face
"I can't go through [with] this": The weirdest Zelda ad didn't get Nintendo's approval, but it probably happened anyway because the marketing execs were already on-site
Link and Epona
A Zelda movie is finally happening, but Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto used to adamantly oppose the idea even "if Steven Spielberg himself" wanted to do it
A screenshot of the moon in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
Despite Zelda: Majora's Mask basically being a horror game, one of its key devs didn't think its creepiest features were scary at all: "People on the team were like 'whoa!'"
The Witcher 3 next-gen
Zelda and Star Fox legend Takaya Imamura would "love" to make a Star Wars game with The Witcher 3's CD Projekt Red – and now I'm desperate to make it happen
Botw
Legendary Zelda dev "wasn't too pleased" about working on A Link to the Past as it robbed his enjoyment of playing the finished game: "I still really don't want to play that game"
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is at the front line of the debate over the Nintendo Switch 2's computing power, because if the Switch 1 can load three worlds at once, imagine what its sequel can do
Latest in News
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2
More about the legend of zelda
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time screenshot showing Link, a young boy with elf-like ears and blond hair, with a surprised expression on his face

"I can't go through [with] this": The weirdest Zelda ad didn't get Nintendo's approval, but it probably happened anyway because the marketing execs were already on-site
Link and Epona

A Zelda movie is finally happening, but Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto used to adamantly oppose the idea even "if Steven Spielberg himself" wanted to do it
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot

5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
See more latest
Most Popular
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
5 years after starting development, Neil Druckmann says Naughty Dog's new game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "still evolving and changing as we're making it"
Silent Hill f
After 2 years of silence, the next mainline Silent Hill game is getting a dedicated stream this week with "the latest news"
Original Xbox console
Former Microsoft exec says the first Xbox was killed early in favor of 360 because it was "losing money left right and center," but luckily "we could afford to hemorrhage cash"
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
A screenshot of Jordan drinking a soda during the reveal trailer for Intergalactic: The Hertic Prophet.
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is "a game about faith and religion," which Neil Druckmann jokes will surely get less hate than The Last of Us 2
Jordan A. Mun looks at herself in a mirror in just a vest in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet screenshot
The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann says Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will also be about "being lonely," as if his zombie apocalypse wasn’t isolating enough: "I really want you to be lost"
Pedro Pascal as Joel in The Last of Us
The Last of Us is "better" than 28 Days Later, says movie writer Alex Garland: "This is so much more sophisticated and moving"
Atelier Ryza 3 protagonist closeup
JRPG producer says people prefer their anime girls to have thick thighs when the economy's in the tank, and he's not even joking a little bit
Diego Luna as Cassian Andor in Andor season 2
Andor season 2 showrunner talks the much-anticipated Star Wars moment that we haven't seen on screen before: "It's a very significant part of our show"
Skyrim
It took Skyrim players nearly 15 years to discover ingenious loot hack that completely changes the game and, uh, requires you to desecrate a couple corpses