Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom - Korok Seeds Return (And We're Worried About Poop Again)

It appears that Korok seeds will be coming back in "Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom." Hints that these collectibles would be returning from "Breath of the Wild" were first spotted by fans in one of the trailers for the game where they saw one of the distinctive stone circles left by the Koroks on one of the beaches showcased in the preview. This has since been confirmed by advanced reviewers who've already spent some time exploring the newly re-imagined kingdom of Hyrule and uncovering a few of its secrets — including those surrounding the mysterious Koroks.

Those who played "Breath of the Wild" will remember Korok seeds as the golden collectibles given to Link by small root-like creatures wearing leaf masks. These creatures, called Koroks, are scattered throughout the game's open world and will reward Link with one of their seeds when he manages to find them. Most require the player to solve a puzzle or else explore some of the game's hidden nooks. There are a staggering 900 of them in total, so finding and collecting them all is an understandably daunting task for most players. Those who paid close attention to the item's description might have noticed that the game hints that the seeds aren't actually seeds at all, but are instead a rather unpleasant form of the Korok's waste.

There was an unsubstantiated fan theory for a long time after the initial release of "Breath of the Wild" that the pretty gold seeds that the Koroks rewarded players with were actually their own excrement. This was supported by the item descriptions in the game. An individual seed would have a dew drop-like shape, and its description would state that it had a "distinct smell." This is fairly innocuous on its own, but those who managed to collect all 900 of them would be able to trade the seeds for another useless item called Hestu's Gift. This was still gold, but it had the kind of tightly coiled shape you might find the neighbor's dog leaving on your front lawn. Moreover, its description states that it's, "A gift of friendship given to you by Hestu. It smells pretty bad." Many saw this as Nintendo trolling its own fans who went through the effort of collecting all the, erm, seeds.

This theory was later confirmed by the game's director, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, who spoke about this less-than-gracious reward in an interview with IGN. "We just kind of thought it would be funny to make that a big joke," Fujibayashi said. "It's just the backstory, the kind of hidden kind of thing in the game the whole way is that the Korok seeds are actually Korok poop."

Now it appears the collectibles are returning.

Some of the early hands-on previews for "Tears of the Kingdom" have stated that the Koroks' various puzzles and challenges are going to be a little bit different this time around. Players will still find them while exploring the open world, and they will often still need to complete tasks in order to earn the shiny yet smelly rewards, but some have stated that there will also be a handful of more complicated puzzles in the game. These will be harder to solve than the standard Korok challenges but will yield better rewards.

IGN's Rebekah Valentine claimed that their players found a few puzzles like this, including one where the player needed to reunite two Koroks who had been separated and were given two seeds for their trouble. Valentine also reported that Hestu is now missing and that the other Koroks want Link's help to find him. This may lead to even more unique challenges and rewards.

It remains to be seen how many seeds will be in "Tears of the Kingdom," and whether or not there will be a worthwhile prize for collecting them all this time around. Hestu's Reward in "Breath of the Wild" was certainly less than inspiring, but there are sure to be numerous gamers out there who will be quick to discover if there is a worthwhile prize waiting in the wings this time around.