Is Tears of the Kingdom canon?

Wondering ‘is Tears of the Kingdom canon?’ is understandable. After all, if you aren’t familiar with Zelda, there’s a couple dozen games spanning over three decades with multiple timelines. It’s complicated. So wondering whether TotK is a canon part of the series makes sense.

Before you jump into exploring the new Tears of the Kingdom map and getting to know some of Hyrule’s new Tears of the Kingdom enemies, we’ve got the lowdown on the Tears of the Kingdom canon question, and what you need to know.

Is Tears of the Kingdom canonical in the Zelda universe?

Tears of the Kingdom is part of the canon of the Zelda universe. It is the latest game in the mainline series of Zelda games, taking place after the events of the previous title, Breath of the Wild.

Following on from the story of BotW, Tears of the Kingdom begins with Link and Zelda exploring a cave underneath Hyrule Castle. While in the cave, Ganondorf is resurrected, causing tremors which separate Link and Zelda. The story of TotK focuses on Link and his journey to defeat Ganondorf and reunite with Zelda.

This is the first appearance of Ganondorf in a canon Zelda game since Twilight Princess back in 2006, so fans are excited to see the Demon King make his return. Aside from Ganondorf, TotK will feature the return of many characters from BotW, with some set to play a larger role in the story this time around.

Now you know all about the Tears of the Kingdom canon, check out our Tears of the Kingdom characters list to see some familiar faces that are making a return. And if you want to know where in the Zelda chronology the Tears of the Kingdom timeline fits, we’ve got you covered with all the details.