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Tears of the Kingdom trailer is hiding a monster from the original Zelda

Gleeoks have been around since the first Zelda

An image of monsters in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. They are glowing red and look like they are about to attack. Image: Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom got a new trailer last week, and it’s got a little hidden secret. The trailer sneakily reintroduced a new enemy. It’s a multi-headed dragon called a Gleeok and it’s been around since the first Zelda game.

The shot is pretty foggy, but you can see the monster 31 seconds into the trailer. The video shows a giant stone bridge spanning a large body of water. If you look closely, you can make out a large creature on the right side of the bridge. It appears to have three heads, each of which glows with fire. Here is a screencap of the moment.

An image from a trailer in The Legend of Zelda. It shows a giant stone bridge spanning the water. It’s really, really dark out and there is a volcano in the distance. On the right of the bridge you can see a monster walking across. It has three heads and fire coming out from its head. Image: Nintendo/YouTube

The monster’s design strongly suggest the return of the Gleeok. The monsters first appeared in the original Zelda game. In that game, it appeared as a green multi-headed dragon that shoots fire. The monsters first appeared in the original Legend of Zelda as a mini boss. If Link attacks it enough, the heads detach and continue to attack him.

Gleeoks in Tears of the Kingdom mark a return for a relatively obscure enemy. The monsters have only appeared in a handful of games since like Oracle of the Seasons and Minish Cap. Outside of the games, a Gleeok also appeared in the The Legend of Zelda cartoon.

We still don’t have a whole lot of information about Tears of the Kingdom. We’ve seen some of Link’s new powers and also his new ride, but details like this help us understand more about Hyrule and help fans develop theories for the game.

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