Tears of the Kingdom.
After years of waiting, Legend of Zelda fans now know the title and release date for the
sequel to Breath of the Wild.
The name itself is innocuous, although, according to a Nintendo representative, it may contain
a hidden spoiler for the gameplay or story.
The problem is the way that Nintendo released the name – not because the company did anything
offensive, but because of the adorably awkward way that Nintendo tried to avoid causing offence.
Last week, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, rumours began to circulate that a Nintendo
Direct had been postponed in an effort to show respect to the monarch’s passing.
The following week, a Direct was announced, but with a caveat.
According to the Nintendo UK Twitter account: “As a mark of respect during this period
of national mourning, we will not livestream tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct.
It will be published as a video-on-demand on our YouTube channel at 16:00 (UK time)
tomorrow.”
This seemed at the time downright perplexing – how would publishing a video at 4pm be
any more respectful than livestreaming the same video at 3pm?
Especially given that most British Nintendo fans simply watched the Nintendo US YouTube
stream instead?
Not long after the end of the reveal – coming, as it did, with the announcement that Breath
of the Wild 2 was to be called Tears of the Kingdom – commenters online began to put
two and two together.
Did Nintendo delay the Nintendo Direct, and refuse to livestream it in Britain, for fear
that the game’s title was problematic?
Was anyone at Nintendo genuinely afraid that people might think the Kingdom in question
was the United Kingdom?
The title, as mentioned, is supposedly related to the content of the game in a meaningful
way.
According to Nintendo Treehouse spokesperson, Bill Trinnen:
“As for why we’re holding back on the name, you’ll just have to stay tuned because,
obviously, Zelda names are kind of important.
Those subtitles… they start to give little bits of hints about maybe what’s going to
happen.”
What this means in practice is up for debate, and given that this interview was given in
2021, there’s every chance that the game’s title hadn’t been chosen or translated into
English at that point, and Trinen was speaking generally about the series as a whole.
It’s easy to imagine the concern, though, as Nintendo finally began preparing to reveal
Tears of the Kingdom’s real name – only for several important higher ups to find themselves
discussing whether now really was the best time to reveal it.
The unfortunate irony of the situation is that nobody in the United Kingdom would have
thought anything of this title with regards to the ongoing national mourning, had Nintendo
not drawn attention to it.
Now, if you are wondering whether the title Tears of the Kingdom will actually offend
anyone in the UK, let’s put it this way: A spokesperson for Royal Parks has asked that
mourners not leave the Queen marmalade sandwiches in lieu of flowers.
This is because, in a sketch where Queen Elizabeth met Paddington Bear during her Platinum Jubilee
this summer, she joked that she always keeps a marmalade sandwich in her handbag.
According to the spokesperson, in the most British way possible:
“We would prefer people didn’t bring marmalade sandwiches due to the wildlife.”
Thus, even the people within Britain who are upset enough to leave flowers for the Queen
are finding a lighthearted way to mourn.
It is extremely unlikely that any British person is going to take serious offence to
the name of a new Zelda game.
There are some words that have appeared in Nintendo games that have caused offense in
Britain, but we’ll let our friend Thomas Game Docs tell you all about that – there’s
a link in the description.
Nevertheless, it is very sweet that Nintendo has done their best not to upset anyone in
the UK with an ill-thought-out Nintendo Direct announcement.
Even if the delay has ultimately created the exact scenario that they’d been afraid of.
The moral of the story: one often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it.