It appears that Princess Zelda of Hyrule isn’t the only character in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to have impressive divine power. Of course, as a descendant of Hylia, the princess’ own magical powers are far from unexpected; a fact which had a significant bearing on Breath of the Wild’s plot. However, TOTK actually features another character alongside Zelda who has a much more surprising connection to the divine.
Magic is not an unusual sight in Hyrule, with of all of Hyrule’s races being shown to be capable of wielding it in various forms. In TOTK alone, players see multiple Zora using water magic, as well as other examples such as Riju’s use of magical lightning. In previous titles, Link himself has wielded various forms of magic, allowing him to transform into animals, travel between worlds, and occasionally even manipulate larger concepts, like Time and Seasons in The Legend of Zelda’s two Oracle games.
Zelda: TOTK’s Patricia Is A Surprising Source Of Guidance For Link
As strange as it may seem, Patricia the Sand Seal has the power to receive and relate divine messages. In Breath of the Wild, Riju’s faithful companion gave the player hints about important locations if they fed her the right fruit (Wildberries), her words translated by the Gerudo Padda. Now, in TOTK, Patricia instead gives some very useful coordinates whenever she is fed a Splash Fruit. At first, these coordinates lead to local quest objectives, like the spheres needed for the “The Mysterious Eighth” side quest. However, after these are completed, Patricia actually gives Link the location of Ganondorf, as if she is urging him onward to save Hyrule.
What Patricia The Sand Seal's Numbers Mean In Zelda: TOTK
In BOTW, because of the need for translation, Patricia’s wisdom could almost be brushed off as Padda doing some casual fortune-telling and merely attributing it to the Sand Seal (her apparent dislike for Patricia’s seal puns aside). However, Padda says she has no idea what the numbers Patricia gives her in TOTK are, which is understandable considering a Purah Pad’s map is needed to comprehend the reference, but this also reinforces the idea that Patricia really is speaking on behalf of the Goddesses (or even the Gerudo Heroines, perhaps). Moreover, there is no explanation for how anybody could get precise coordinates for the Demon King other than actual divine intervention.
Patricia’s ‘words’ of wisdom make it impossible to miss a side quest in TOTK as long as it takes place within Gerudo territory. It is clear that she truly is a messenger for divinity, especially once she points Link toward their disgraced former king. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom features many individuals with magical power, like the Sages whose include the similarly divine Zelda. But even so, Patricia is certainly a surprisingly helpful guide for Link on his journey, and her ability is treated surprisingly casually in the game; perhaps the seemingly incomprehensible coordinates have led to many unduly dismissing her valuable guidance.
