Today, we got a new look at the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in a brief but beautiful trailer that offered a tantalizing glimpse at the game’s story. And true to Zelda form, there might be at least one secret hidden within.
First, let’s just watch that trailer again, as normal:
Something that immediately stands out toward the end of that trailer is a curious couple of moments where time seems to move in reverse. First, Link uses what seems to be the Stasis rune from the previous game to reverse the course of a spiky ball rolling toward him.
Then, a few cuts later, we see a drop of water reverse its fall, and Link seems to shift through a platform he’s fallen through while some kind of music plays that sounds a lot like reversed audio.
It’s all a bit weird, and admittedly the reversed audio in that one section where Link is rising through a platform doesn’t seem to explicitly say something when played the other way around. But what about reversing the entire trailer?
Update: A Twitter thread with a clip containing the reversed audio has since been deleted after musicians pointed out that it isn’t exactly clearly what was originally thought: the theme from the first Breath of the Wild. Still, plenty of people in the original thread heard it (and we did too!) so it’s possible there’s still merit to this reversal. And it wouldn’t be without precedent, either.
Okay, real talk, I know this isnt 100%, (never thought it was), but you hear the BotW main theme when it shows links robo arm after the spike ball, right? https://t.co/uBj5XifO1k
TAHK0 (@TAHK0) June 15, 2021
This would not be the first time that Nintendo or even the Zelda series had used music reversal as an easter egg or hint toward something else. There’s at least one instance of this in the first Breath of the Wild, and they did the same thing with the main theme of Skyward Sword as well. The latter is especially interesting given the upcoming HD release and the amount of literal air time Link had in this new Breath of the Wild 2 trailer.
It also all seems to play into hints of time travel or time-reversal playing a role in Breath of the Wild 2. And if you finished Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity there’s even more room for speculation about how timelines in Breath of the Wild and Zelda in general actually work. Basically, if you’re someone who cares a lot about the canon Zelda timeline, Breath of the Wild 2 might end up proving to be a fun, weird ride.
Breath of the Wild 2 is set for a 2022 release. Stay tuned for more E3 2021 news as the Summer of Gaming continues.
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Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter with IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
