Summary
There are plenty of impressive sights to discover inThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, with even more present than its predecessor,Breath of the Wild. From the sky islands to the Depths, players will find interesting sites like the Zonai ruins and Leviathan skeletons to investigate, almost always with some kind of reward. Link will also have to contend with plenty of monsters, with nothing inTears of the Kingdombetter representing the cross between monsters and points of interest than its stable of dragons.
On top of the three elemental dragons, Dinraal, Farosh, and Naydra,Tears of the Kingdomadds Gleeoks and King Gleeoks to its overworld boss line-up, as well as two story-related dragons tied to light and darkness. Whiledragons have been inThe Legend of Zeldafranchisebefore, no game has focused on them quite as heavily asTears of the Kingdom. Even though only a minority of the game’s new dragons have major story roles, that still means these giant flying lizards stand out as unique inZelda’s wider context.
Tears of the Kingdom Recalls Past Zelda Games’ Friendly Dragons
The main wandering dragons players will deal with inBreath of the WildandTears of the Kingdomare neutral, sometimes even friendly, towards Link. Most of thebestLegend of Zeldadragons are bosses, or enemies implied to be distantly related to dragons, like the Lizalfos and Aerafols.Breath of the Wilddid technically feature a fight with Naydra, but that was only to free it from a Malice infestation. Dinraal, Farosh, and Naydra are always a welcome sight inTears of the Kingdom, supplying Link with helpful items when struck and even serving as mobile transports across Hyrule and its Depths.
While the three dragons are neutral with helpful tendencies, somewhat likeSkyward Sword’s Faron, Eldin, and Lanayru are thanks to the latter’s destructive quirks, the new Light Dragon is more akin toThe Wind Waker’s Sky Spirit Valoo. Across their adventures,Tears of the Kingdomplayers will come to realize that theLight Dragon is actually a transformed Princess Zelda, carrying the regenerated Master Sword for Link to retrieve when he’s ready. Combined with coming to Link’s aid in the final battle, much like Valoo did for his Link’s first confrontation with Ganondorf, the Light Dragon is undoubtedly one of the most powerful allies in theZeldafranchise.
Dragon Boss Fights Are Abundant In Tears of the Kingdom Like Always
Tears of the Kingdommay have the highest concentration of friendly dragons in the series, but it also collects most of their antagonistic portrayals as well. Ganondorf is the Light Dragon’s opponent inTotK’s final battle, but unlike the one rulingWind Waker’s Forsaken Fortress, this Ganondorf has become the Demon Dragon just like Zelda did. Besides the non-canon Dragon Knight Volga fromHyrule Warriors,Oracle of Seasons' villain General Onoxhas been the only otherZeldavillain to turn into a dragon, though in his case the Dark Dragon was his true form rather than an emergency transformation caused by a Secret Stone.
Even before Ganondorf sacrificed his identity for ultimate power, his resurrection had already brought back the draconic Gleeoks from the originalLegend of Zelda. Just like most of their appearances, Gleeoks serve as multi-headed dragon boss fights, and theirfights rank amongTears of the Kingdom’s most magnificent. There have been many other dragon bosses dotting theZeldaseries’ history, including Aquamentus, Barba, Volvagia, Stallord, and Argorok, soTears of the Kingdomshouldn’t be the last time players see the classic monster archetype grace theZeldafranchise.
