During today’s Nintendo Partner Direct, we got a new trailer for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment. While most of the trailer was straightforward, it ended on a cryptic tease that has Zelda fans running with speculation as to what the scene could mean for the game’s roster.
The end of the trailer shows a chamber deep inside a cavern where what appears to be one of the Constructs from Tears of the Kingdom is being assembled and activated. The Constructs themselves are nothing new – they’re all over the place in Tears of the Kingdom, and we know they were created by Mineru during the events of Age of Imprisonment, so it makes sense we’d see them in the game. What’s interesting about this one is that it appears to be roughly human-shaped and -sized, whereas none of the Constructs we’ve met before (including Mineru’s own Construct) were quite that proportioned.
So, why are fans excited about this? Well, a lot of folks think this means we’re getting some sort of Robo-Link playable in Age of Imprisonment. The game takes place in the far, far distant past, thousands of years before the main events of Tears of the Kingdom, and in the time period that Zelda is transported to at the start of that game. It covers the events of the Imprisoning War as Zelda experienced it during her time in that era.
As such, chronologically, it doesn’t make any sense that Link would be playable in Age of Imprisonment. There was no Link in that era, after all. That said, it also seems baffling that a Legend of Zelda game, even a spin-off, could exist without Link involved. This is why a lot of fans have been speculating that Link will find some way to turn up, whether that’s through alternate timeline shenanigans (see: Age of Calamity) or some other method. And this teaser offers one possibility for this hoped-for Linkening: maybe Link somehow gets to embody one of Mineru’s constructs made in his likeness, so he can fight alongside the others of that era.
nintendo you know i dont play about fi please dont play with me pic.twitter.com/Uj0QOJQ9aj
— ava (@zeldevil) July 31, 2025
That said, there’s one other detail that has fans thinking this is going in a different direction. If you listen back to the ending teaser, there’s a bit of music that plays as the scene transitions to the Construct. If you’re a Skyward Sword fan, you’ll recognize it as Fi’s Theme. The presence of this little chime has some suspecting that this won’t be a Robo Link, but actually a way for Fi to finally reappear in a Zelda game after being (understandably) absent for so long. Some are suggesting this could be possible given that Zelda obtains the broken Master Sword at the start of her time in the ancient era. Given that Fi dwells within the sword, what if they used its fragments to give her a body to fight with? Anything’s possible!
Of course, that means it’s also possible this thing is none of the above and we’re in for some sort of weird twist surprise when the game comes out. Age of Calamity, after all, wasn’t quiiiite what we thought it was by the endgame, so it’s likely Age of Imprisonment also has some tricks up its sleeve.
We unfortunately still don’t have a firm release date for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment but know it’s coming to Nintendo Switch 2 sometime this winter. You can catch up on everything announced at today’s Nintendo Partner Direct right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
