The 8th Sage - A Tears of the Kingdom Theory

Hey folks! My apologies to my Patreons and Members. As I was rushing to get this video out, I ran out of time to update the end Credits and do the usual shoutouts. I will make sure to set this straight in the next video. It's been bit of a rough week for me. I hope you all had a great weekend! :_triforce::_sword:

"It's safe to say that the statues are a memorial to Team Richard" is probably one of the best lines you've uttered on this channel.

It is WILD how you just...completely accurately guessed the entire story of Tears of the Kingdom lmaooo good job! Excellent video

The fact that this theory was so close to what actually happened in the game, with only very minor details being off (like the tribe of the 7th sage and who the Zonai of the party was), is frankly astounding. It would not be unfair to say this theory was essentially correct. Very well done!

Can we talk about just how much this man got right without ever touching the game, since this video was made a month before it released? That's incredibly impressive.

I played a quest the other day "The Mysterious Eighth" where the statues are explained, and it is heavily implied that Link is a representation of the eighth statue, but he is a 'voe' and therefore it is forbidden history. "The Seven" couldn't stop the enemy from the dessert, but then 'The Eighth' appeared and helped them beat it.

Thank you for using the name Richard as well!! It's much appreciated that you make new content that is still spoiler-free

The parallel to TOTK at 22:50 is actually kind of crazy. It clearly shows the 4 sages you find first (Sidon, Riju, Tulin and Yunobo). But hidden behind them, harder to see, is the 5th sage (mineru).

"Like Thanos going after the Stones." Oddly enough, it's Link with the Infinity Arm collecting powers and Sages.

WUK you making sense of the amounts of tears on each character's face is a classic Monster Maze moment. You're able to make a convincing, intriguing and holistic point. That's what sets your channel apart. Great work!

I really hope Richard and the mystery lady won't just be characters locked behind cutscenes that depict the ancient past... I hope we, as Link, can interact with at least Richard in the present. He seems like an extremely interesting character.

After getting like 51% of Tears of the Kingdom done already I genuinely cannot wait until theory videos start to come out for Zelda lore channels

The amount of info in this video that he got right is insane

I've always wanted the 8th Heroine to be the entrance to a dungeon

I love this theory!! The one issue that always bugged me about other possibilities for the 8th heroine was if it was someone worthy of memorializing, why place it away from the others and if it was a sage who betrayed the others (like Ganondorf) why not destroy it instead of moving it? But this Zelda theory actually makes perfect sense. They wanted to commemorate her efforts but couldn't place her with the others and there are still technically supposed to be only 7 sages. Brilliant! Unless the game states otherwise I'm going to definitely go with this as canon!

Whoa, why am I just now realizing that the fact that only 4 statues remain standing in Tears of the Kingdom reflect Sonia's death, Rauru's sacrifice, and Mineru's body decaying to the extent that she has to perserve her spirit in the Purah Pad!?! Only the Zora, Rito, Goron, and Gerudo Sages survive the events of the ancient past and the battle with Ganondorf in the traditional sense, hence only four statues remaining standing in the present. I imagine that the fallen fifth statue that is laying amongst the other four, but has fallen over is specifically symbolic of Mineru spliting her soul from her body like how the mirrored Heroine is symbolic of a Sage, specifically Zelda, travelling through time and the two missing statutes represent Rauru and Sonia sacrificing/losing their lives. The amount of effort that goes into the environmental storytelling in the Legend of Zelda series is truly astonishing.

I think Richard's team attempted to defeat Gannon but failed,hence why he told Zelda that Link would be the last line of defense. So, the only option was for Richard to seal Gannon using his body, and we find what remains of his body as the seal used his life-force

I think that it is likely that ‘Richard’s tear is larger so that it can act as a canister for all of the tears. This would mean that he was responsible for distributing the tears, and harnessing all of their powers when sealing Ganondorf away.

13:18 Richard’s white tattoo tear is a Sheikah tear coming from his forehead eye. The only place that this was seen prior to TOTK is on Impa is SS, she has one white tear under her left eye, but her entire costume is very reminiscent of the imagery we are now seeing in totk.

Unfortunately, there are actual records somewhere in the game talking about the actual "Heroine" which was actually a hero. It turns out the heroines were literally talking about a group of Gerudo Women, but the 8th was dishonored simply because he was a man who was not welcome in Gerudo Town. I do like the theory estimating the story of the actual game's main story itself. I like to think that this time was referring to this age's version of Link, who was ousted from Gerudo society, despite being a hero who saved them.