Broken Master Sword shown in new Breath of the Wild 2 trailer

A new teaser trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 has shown a broken Master Sword.

Nintendo revealed that the upcoming game has been delayed to next year. While that’s frustrating and disappointing for fans, it’s not particularly surprising given how little of the game has been revealed since it was initially announced in 2019.

The good news is that while it’s been delayed, Legend of Zelda series director Eiji Aonuma did give fans a tease of what’s in the works for the new series. A short teaser trailer including new and old footage was revealed with two key takeaways. The first is that the Master Sword is broken in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. The other is that some Skyward Sword-style flying islands will be in play.

Why is the Master Sword broken in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2?

It is unknown why the Master Sword is broken in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2.

Link is shown holding the sword with its blade broken in half, with what looks to be something of an infection from the purple goo, known as Malice in the original game. What this means from a gameplay perspective is uncertain, but it actually makes sense canonically.

BotW2 is meant to be a direct sequel to BotW. While it was actually possible to beat the game without obtaining the Master Sword, it’s a safe assumption that the “canonical” events of the game see Link find the iconic weapon before defeating Calamity Ganon. Given that Link never starts a new adventure with the Master Sword, it only makes sense that it should be taken out of commission in some way before the start of the game.

It’s also worth remembering that this isn’t the first time that the Master Sword has been broken. The weapon broke in the first Breath of the Wild the same as any other weapon, but regenerated after a short time. It’s possible that this mechanic will remain but will have a more obvious impact from a visual perspective.

Flying islands set to be part of the BotW2 world

Though the most eye-catching image of the shattered sword, that wasn’t the only thing shown in the trailer. Aonuma touched upon the flying islands that were shown in the E3 2021 trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2.

Aonuma stated that the player will be exploring both the surface and these floating islands. This also helps add some context to past clips that show Link melting upwards into rocks and reforming on top of them. It’s likely that this will be how players can move from the surface up to the floating islands.

This is likely just the tip of the iceberg in terms of new content and gameplay mechanics.