Consider yourself warned: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom just released on Friday, and players are already devising evil and cruel ways to intimidate forest spirits known as Koroks and posting videos of their exploits online. Platforms like TikTok have viral videos showing the unique ways the game’s building blocks can be used to punish poor unfortunate creatures.
The Koroks – and their seeds – are back tears of the kingdom. There are literally hundreds of them scattered across Hyrule. And while many of them remain hidden, you can now discover a few out in the open. When you meet them, they have these ridiculously large adventure packs that are many times the size of their little bodies. The Koroks are tied in the bag, so when Link finds them knocked down, they are helpless and unable to get up. They look like insects turned on their backs. So, in other words, they’re already an easy target.
Link has a new power called Ultrahand which basically allows him to stick things together and build larger structures or build machines. He cannot use these powers on living creatures, but he can use them on inanimate objects. Link can use the ability to make the Koroks’ bags, and thus the Koroks themselves, adhere to a larger structure.
However, it is a sandbox game, and fans are now exploiting the freedom to bully the Koroks. One person used an extra long stick with open fires to create a Korok rotisserie.
Another player collected 10 rockets with the sole purpose of strapping them all together and firing the Korok towards the kingdom.
Some of the videos seem to take revenge on the sheer number and tedious nature of the Korok puzzles needed to collect all the seeds, and the results are devastating. This video shows a person burning a Korok at the stake.
I don’t know what to think of all this. It seems a bit cruel. Sure, collecting so many seeds is tedious, but that’s not the Korogu’s fault. All of this makes me think Link might be the real villain after all.