Koroks are being bullied in Tears of the Kingdom, facing dreadful fates 

There has been some Korok abuse going on in the The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom community. Players have picked up on hilarious things that can happen when they try to help out Koroks out of the goodness of their hearts. 

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is an action-adventure game currently available for Nintendo Switch. It is the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In the new game, the land of Hyrule is suddenly struck by unusual natural disasters – castles rise into the air and mysterious ruins rain down from the sky. In a world with an expanded earth and sky, Link, possessing new powers in his right hand, confronts the catastrophes in Hyrule. 

The Koroks from the previous game also appear in the new title. Koroks can be found in various places in the field, and by helping them, one can obtain Korok Seeds. This title also introduces a new type of Korok quest  in which the player rescues lost Koroks by taking them back to their fellow Koroks. Basically, all you have to do is to transport them “by any means necessary.” Hence, players have been devising unconventional methods of transport. 

The most popular is the “drag-around.” A Korok is attached to a tool and pulled by a horse. This can look either as if the Korok is riding in a carriage or as if it’s being dragged off by the horse. There were also cases of Koroks being crucified and dragged in that state.

Koroks can basically be glued to objects, which means you can do pretty much anything you want with them. Dragging them is actually the less tormenting option, since many attempts to carry Koroks have been less than successful. 

For example, there were cases in which Koroks were placed on a hooking device and ended up falling down altogether. Also, cases in which Koroks are placed on a flying device and then crash or get struck down by lightning. At any rate, it seems that Koroks are being flung around everywhere and meeting terrible fates. 

Of course, for many, it was an unfortunate accident. However, as a result, the word コロ虐 (Korok-bullying) was coined on the Japanese side of Twitter to playfully describe the cruelty towards the poor Koroks. After all, Koroks themselves are not simply pure and innocent beings – they are also a wall that tends to stand in the way of the player as a vast collection element, a strange entity that does not show its face. In this sense, some players seem to harbor a long-standing grudge against Koroks. 

However, many cases of Korok-bullying are accidents. Most of the time it is a case of the player loving them as characters and simply trying to help, but accidentally ending up torturing them. At least, that’s what we would like to believe. In reality, Nintendo must have factored in the fact that Koroks can meet such terrible fates by the design of the quests. It should be emphasized that Koroks can be revived by loading the game and that there is no actual cruelty in the game. 

Korok-bullying has been a big hit on Twitter, but it also seems to be popular on platforms like TikTok. In any case, the variety of ways in which Koroks can be transported reminds us of the high degree of freedom this game offers. Surely new ways of transporting them will continue to be invented, and the game will continue to evolve with the players’ inventions.  

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is now available for Nintendo Switch. 

Written by. Amber V based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-05-15 10:41 JST)