With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom now out in the world, everyone has been slowly exploring its massive world and story and, along the way, running into fan-favorite characters making their returns for a second adventure after Breath of the Wild. In trailers alone, we saw Link and Zelda (of course) alongside Prince Sidon, Riju, and Tulin, and even more make appearances in game. But there’s one major Breath of the Wild cast member that’s seemingly MIA, and fans are trying to track them down.
Warning: Spoilers for a potentially missing character in Tears of the Kingdom, as well as their role in Breath of the Wild, follow below the video. Read on at your own risk!
It’s Kass, the Rito bard who played a major role in both a large sidequest in Breath of the Wild, and also starred in its DLC, the Champions Ballad. As a recap, Kass could be found all over Hyrule in Breath of the Wild, and was very distinctive as he was always playing an accordion that could be heard from a distance. Using his songs as clues, players could find hidden Shrines, and finding all of them led to a small, extra scene with Kass and his family back in Rito Village. In Champions Ballad, Kass guided Link around Hyrule with his songs as Link explored the remaining mysteries around his own Divine Beast. For someone with such a huge role in Breath of the Wild, it’s a massive omission to not have him in Tears of the Kingdom.
What makes this all weirder is that Tears of the Kingdom seems to almost entirely ignore Kass’ existence. His wife and kids are still hanging out in Rito Village, but they don’t seem to acknowledge that he’s not around – only one line from the kids references their “dad”, and he’s never mentioned by name. Kass is referred to a second time at the end of a very spoilery sidequest by a fellow Rito, but again not by name – he’s just referred to as a famous bard. And finally, a photo that Kass gives Link at the end of Breath of the Wild’s DLC can be seen in Link’s house if players have a save file with the DLC completed on their Switch. So what’s going on here, then?
Currently, no one knows. Given how huge Tears of the Kingdom is, it’s technically possible that Kass is in the game somewhere and just hasn’t been found yet, though that’d be one heck of a hidden secret. Another possibility that fans have speculated is that Kass is being held back for upcoming DLC, though Nintendo has yet to confirm any such content update for Tears of the Kingdom. In the meantime, though, many Kass lovers are sad that their beloved bard bird friend is MIA in Tears of the Kingdom after so many musical adventures with them. Hopefully we get confirmation of more Kass content here soon.
For help with everything Tears of the Kingdom, take a look at our Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough and Guide about making your way through Hyrule. In fact, you can start here:
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
