The weird, melted Master Sword from Tears of the Kingdom has been patented by Nintendo

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It's not clear what the design will be used for yet

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2
(Image credit: Nintendo)

Nintendo has filed a patent for what looks like some artwork for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but hasn't revealed what it will be used for yet.

As shared on the Tears of the Kingdom subreddit, Nintendo recently patented a piece of artwork featuring what looks like a broken Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Master Sword. The patent can be found here, though, at the time of writing, the site is down for maintenance, making it difficult to see the patent yourself. 

Our brief look reveals that it may have been patented for some merchandise purposes, as the text beside the patent lists every kind of product you could slap a Legend of Zelda logo onto. This should still be taken with a grain of salt, though, as it hasn't been confirmed what this design will be used for.

This design of the Master Sword was trademarked by Nintendo today. from r/tearsofthekingdom

There are a few theories as to what this detailed artwork could represent, though. In the comments of the subreddit, fans have been discussing the significance of the script in the design and think that the fact it's made up of seven pieces could mean something. One theory is that players will need to "rebuild the seven islands, find the seven tears from the seven sages on the island" to rebuild the Master Sword in the game, which does sound plausible.

There's always a chance this design could also be used on a Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo Switch console. Nintendo hasn't confirmed that one even exists yet, but considering we got a special edition console for both Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and Splatoon 3 last year, it would be a pretty big oversight for Nintendo not to produce one for its most anticipated game of the year. 

Twitter account Nintendeal did leak what appears to be a Tears of the Kingdom Switch OLED console last month, and it does feature similar designs on it, but we still shouldn't assume that we're getting one, or that the recently patented logo is anything to do with it. We could be getting that design on a set of officially licensed Tears of the Kingdom beach towels for all we know. 

All will become clear when The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releases for Nintendo Switch on May 12, 2023.

Take a look at our The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom pre-order guide to find the best place to buy your copy from.

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.