Tears of the Kingdom Developers Agreed on the Light Dragon’s Identity Early Into Production
Posted on December 15 2023 by Kristen G. Rosario
Spoiler Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom. Reader’s discretion is advised.
Ever since the release of Tears of the Kingdom, fans have been wanting to learn everything they can from the game’s developers in regards to the production process of the title. IGN continues this trend as they got a chance to sit down with Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma and game director Hidemaro Fujibayashi to not only discuss development hurdles on the game, but how they respond to veteran fans.
During the interview, they were asked about the decision in making the Light Dragon be none other than Princess Zelda with the Master Sword sticking out of her head. That choice, according to Aonuma, was made “very early” into production on Tears of the Kingdom:
IGN: Having finished Tears of the Kingdom recently, I’d love to talk a little bit about the ending. When did you decide that Zelda should become a dragon carrying the Master Sword?
Aonuma: I was just trying to recall when that was, but the fact that Zelda was going to turn into a dragon was something that we had decided very early on in the planning stage. And then the idea of having the Master Sword on the dragon probably immediately after that. So if you were to consider the whole development process, from one to 10, I’d say the dragon decision was probably somewhere between one and two. And the decision to have the Master Sword on the dragon’s head was three to four, although we did know that the Master Sword should probably be on the dragon somewhere.
Fujibayashi: So this story has this great time paradox as a theme that goes through it. And so we were thinking, ‘Okay, well how can we use the Master Sword with that theme as the background and get the Master Sword into Link’s hands once he no longer has it?’ And I remember that we, at some point, stumbled onto the dragon being a way that we can deliver the Master Sword to Link in a kind of grand fashion.
Considering how many options there are for Link getting back the Master Sword from the Light Dragon at nearly any point in Tears of the Kingdom‘s story, IGN asked if this gameplay aspect was aggravating during development. According to Fujibayashi, it wasn’t all that much of a stressful situation in the long run considering the freedom they already provide the player:
IGN: Was it stressful thinking that players could discover the Master Sword in a lot of different ways? For example, just going to the dragon, or seeing the memory first. I used a guide to get there, but the design aspects and the storytelling seems very complicated to me.
Fujibayashi: We built the game so that it’s an enjoyable experience for the player. And we certainly spent a long time discussing this with some of the main contributors to the game, and really thinking about how we would build the game such that if someone were to, say, discover the dragon without having seen anything else, that we could maybe perhaps conceal it a little bit, make it a little bit mysterious.
There’s a lot of hard work in figuring out how to accomplish all of this. But this is all tied to this idea that there’s this certain sense of accomplishment and joy when you’re working hard towards something and you unravel this deep mystery. We want the player to be able to enjoy that and for us to be able to enjoy that as well. So in that sense, I would say it’s certainly a lot of work. It’s certainly a lot of hard work, but it wasn’t stressful…[I]n creating this game, we didn’t want to create a game where players can’t do something because we don’t want them to see it. We wanted to create a game where people can discover in their own way, and that was a point that we made sure that we didn’t do.
Aonuma: So I am in complete agreement with what Mr. Fujibayashi said in that games where you need to follow a specific set of steps or complete tasks in a very set order are kind of the games of the past. Whereas currently the games of today are ones in which that can accept a player’s own decisions and give them the freedom to flexibly proceed through the game, and the game will allow for that. So I’m in complete agreement with that as our design philosophy, but as the producer, I do have to admit making games that way always carries with it additional development costs. And that is something I have to think about.
I can agree with Fujibayashi and Aonuma’s points, especially when it comes to obtaining the Master Sword at the player’s own discretion, all while keeping the freedom that players are already used to. Personally, I found the Light Dragon and Master Sword way before completing the Dragon Tears quest, in which that mission revealed it was Princess Zelda the whole time. When I finally went to meet Impa for the first time afterwards, I got to blow her mind about what I’d discovered already. It’s moments in sandbox games like this which make me appreciate when developers go out of their way to let players decide the next point of their adventure.
What do you think of the developers’ early decision to make Princess Zelda the Light Dragon? Were you generally surprised by the identity of the Light Dragon in Tears of the Kingdom? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: IGN
Kristen G. Rosario is an Editor who joined Zelda Dungeon back in September of 2015. His current goal is to become a full-time video game journalist, hoping to eventually gain a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. While he pursues that dream, he not only takes care of his adorable dachshund Angel, but also helps run a YouTube channel with his brother. The Zelda series is a quest he hasn’t fully completed yet, but hopes to get there one day.
