Breath of the Wild’s sequel has left us with a ton of questions and very few answers

Eiji Aonuma and Nintendo made many people, including us, very happy during their E3 2021 Nintendo Direct by revealing more on the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Now that we have seen more, we have tons of new questions about the circumstances of Link’s upcoming adventure, and only a few answers to numerous questions we had coming in. Here are some of the most pressing questions we have about the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

What is going on with Link’s arm?

In the trailer’s opening seconds, Link is seen with what looks like some of Calamity Ganon’s tendrils surrounding his right arm. The visual is there for a split second, but we see our hero sporting what looks like a Sheikah technology arm the rest of the time. Did he lose his arm and get it replaced? Was he being corrupted by the Calamity and the Sheikah uncorrupted it later in the trailer? 

If we look back at the announcement trailer for the game, the same greenish lights that surround his arm are holding the zombified Ganon in place before Link puts his right arm into it. There is undoubtedly a connection between the lights, the tendrils, and Link’s new mechanical arm. How those cuts of images fit together likely tells us the story.

Whatever the reason for the new arm, this appears to replace the Sheikah Slate from the first game. When the reverse time stasis power is shown, Link extends his arm out to activate it. We see him make a similar move when he does the water drop move a short time later. Not once do we see the Sheikah Slate in this trailer, so Zelda (who we know was heavily affiliated with the tablet 100 years earlier, thanks to Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity’s narrative) may have reclaimed it for herself.

What happened to Zelda?

Speaking of Princess Zelda, the very little we see of her in the reveal trailer is her falling into a dark abyss. In the first trailer, three quick images show the cliff Zelda is standing on crumble, Link grabbing her as she falls, and then the green arm that was holding Ganon grab Link. Did Link have a chance to save Zelda here but fail because of the interference? Would Eiji Aonuma actually kill Zelda? I find that doubtful, but the fact that we do not see her again in the reveal trailer makes me think she is captured by Ganon or badly hurt enough that she will not be accompanying Link or be a playable character on this adventure as many people had hoped after the first trailer. Sure, maybe Nintendo is hiding her to keep it a surprise, but looking at what we have seen so far, that seems to be wishful thinking more than anything.

Even more than Link’s arm situation, both trailers together tell us that something bad has happened to Zelda on their expedition. At this point, we have no idea why they went underground to begin with, but whatever took them down there ends with Zelda falling. The only thing that needs to be told is what the result of that fall is?

Is that ReDead Ganon?

Now we need to discuss the zombified creature in this underground area. Is this a ReDead version of Ganon? Sure, it doesn’t look anything like Ganon in the first Breath of the Wild, but we also never saw a humanoid version of him in that game. The closest thing was his gigantic spider-like form. If this is another Ganon, how did this body get here? Is it potentially a Ganon defeated in the past by another Link and Zelda, but resurrected?

It’s not just the identity that needs to be answered by Nintendo, though. This green hand appears to be holding Ganon down, and maybe Link interfering with the lights removes the hand and resurrects him? Is Link’s new mechanical arm actually powered by this green one while replacing the one he lost from the tendrils, and that is why he can use Sheikah powers with it? What if it doesn’t grab him out of malice but instead saves him from falling after Zelda? This could place the arm as an ally that we know the Zelda franchise loves having to accompany Link.

How will we get into the sky?

Once we get out of the underground section in the E3 trailer, we see Link skydiving. This portion is more reminiscent of Skyward Sword than Breath of the Wild, but how did Link get so high in the sky, even with the floating islands? It appears that he is at an elevation even higher than those islands. Are Loftwings set to return? Did he ride one and jump from it at the game’s ceiling? Will we get a new Sheikah-style plane in the same vein as the Mastercycle? The only method previously to get in the sky was using Revali’s Gale, but with the sky above Hyrule being “expanded,” as Aonuma puts it, there has to be something new to get Link up to those heights.

What is the name of the game?

Does anyone else think it is weird that we are multiple years and trailers into seeing this game now, and we still don’t know the name of it? It is not called Breath of the Wild 2. Instead, Nintendo says they know its name but are withholding it to avoid spoiling what will happen in the game. The thing is, sooner or later, they will have to tell us. Most likely, there is a big reveal coming in a future trailer, and unfortunately, besides making wild guesses, there is no real hint to what it could be at this time.