Daily Debate: Did Aliens Make the Crop Circles in the Tears of the Kingdom Trailer?
Posted on February 27 2023 by Alexis S. Anderson
A lot of things jumped out at me from the latest The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer, but what has stuck with me the most are the “crop circles” on the terrain at the 1:25 mark, reminiscent of the Nazca lines, which must be viewed from the air. There is precedent for the appearance of aliens in Zelda games– “Them” in Majora’s Mask, of course, and possibly even the Stone Taluses and Pebblits from Breath of the Wild (according to a theory by BanditGames that they crashed to earth as meteors at Gisa Crater). And an alien invasion was one concept floated during Breath of the Wild’s development that didn’t make it into the game. Could the aliens be back with a vengeance in Tears of the Kingdom?
Clearly we still have very few concrete details about the story and side quests in Tears of the Kingdom. But crazier things have happened in Zelda games: ghost dancers, golden poos, middle-aged balloon-riding mapmaking fairy men, intelligent chicken creatures, severed hands in toilets, friendly bat uncles, and gals who fall in love with Ancient Orbs and Moblins.
So when I saw these mystical-looking patterns etched into a clearing in Hyrule I figured there might be more to them than meets the eye. My mind went to aliens first because culturally Americans associate “crop circle” like designs in fields with extraterrestrials. There are many theories attempting to link crop circles to aliens, like that they’re landing pads for UFOs or messages from aliens (none of which are true, of course, as living humans are the ones who make crop circles). But in Zelda there could be a host of other explanations.
Perhaps a particular community is responsible for the pattern and it is a form of artistic expression or a marker to signal to those in flight where they are (the Rito would be the best candidates for this as far as we know now– but who’s to say there won’t be other beings who have been living in the sky all this time and touch down to figure out why chunks of land have floated into their territory). This explanation is more realistic and in line with the closest real-life approximation of these marking, the Nazca lines.
The Nazca lines were made in Peru between 200 BC and 600 AD, likely by the technologically sophisticated Nazca people, and depict hummingbirds, spiders, fish, and more. It is unclear why these etchings were made, but some theorize the paths were walked during religious ceremonial processions or that they were intended to signal to the gods. Some posit that the Nazca had hot air balloons from which their people could view the drawings, and still others, of course, believe the symbols were ways to communicate with aliens or help them navigate. For a community in Tears of the Kingdom to have one or more similar motives inspire the drawings seen in the trailer is certainly feasible.
The patterns could be the result of any number of magical influences on the land: the dragons, monks, Great Fairies, Zelda herself, and so on. Their purpose then is harder to discern, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they indeed appear all over the map now specifically to guide Link when he is using flying machines as we now know he is able to.
But I like the idea that it’s aliens. I am hoping that Tears of the Kingdom has its fair share of bizarre characters and moments, especially to keep the world-map fresh. Aliens could have come down to the planet at any time, so changes made by them are easy to explain. But I doubt that it’s aliens. This franchise is more fantasy than sci-fi (despite the new emphasis on “tech”), so they would be out of place. Maybe there won’t be any explanation at all for these markings, and we will all have a jolly old time speculating on them the way we have the Zonai all these years.
How would you feel if aliens showed up in Tears of the Kingdom? What do you think these “crop circles” are really related to? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Alexis S. Anderson is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon who joined the writing team in November, 2014. She has a JD from the UCLA School of Law and is pursuing a career in Entertainment and Intellectual Property Law. She grew up in the New Jersey suburbs with her parents, twin brother, and family shih-tzu.
