How Do You Pronounce “Tears of the Kingdom” ?

After more than three years of speculation, the full title for the sequel to Breath of the Wild was revealed today in a Nintendo Direct. The only problem is that we still don’t know what the title is. It’s called “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” but how do you say “tear”? Let’s look at the two main possibilities.

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How Do You Pronounce “Tears of the Kingdom” ?

I initially believed that the word “tear” was pronounced “tier,” just like when someone cries. Although the tone of the game seems much darker than that of its predecessor, none of the current trailers feature any sobs or crying. Although there isn’t much concrete evidence to support this pronounation at the moment, that doesn’t mean there won’t ever be tears shed in this game.

Then, I realized that “Tears of the Kingdom” could be pronounced similarly to the verb “tare,” which means to rip apart. Because of the numerous examples of “tearing” in the trailers, I find that this pronunciation immediately makes a lot more sense. The Hyrule Castle is torn off the ground and floats upward, Link and Zelda are split apart when Zelda plunges into a pitch-black abyss, and Link gains a new, fancy arm, symbolically severing (or tearing) himself into two opposing halves.

Now, based on what we’ve seen so far, I believe “tier” is the more likely pronunciation, despite the fact that “tare” seems to make more sense. Tears frequently show up as symbols for various magical essences in the Zelda series as a whole, including spirit tears, moon tears, tears of light, etc. In Tears of the Kingdom, when Hyrule splits, you might need to gather seven magical spirit tears in order to gain the strength necessary to drive out whatever evil force has corrupted the land.  It’s not a sure thing, but there are certainly less plausible theories out there.

The second reason “tear” sounds like “tier” in my opinion is because Nintendo wanted to avoid any potential misunderstandings. It seemed very odd that Nintendo UK decided not to stream the direct out of respect for the queen. Up until we saw this title, that is. Nintendo UK probably didn’t want to get involved in a PR controversy because the word “tear” in “Tears of the Kingdom” could be interpreted as an unintentional reference to Queen Elizabeth’s recent death if it is pronounced like “tier.” It’s all just conjecture, of course, but I have more faith in Nintendo’s desire to protect their reputation than I do in a few of my fan theories.