Why are so many Zelda Tears of the Kingdom players torturing the Koroks?!

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

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom may have only released a few days ago, but that's plenty of time for players to devise cruel and creative ways to torture the Koroks.

If you've been online over the last few days, you're sure to have seen some if not several videos of players finding innovative but brutal ways to reunite Koroks with their friends. This Twitter thread in particular, titled 'horrible things people are doing to Koroks', should give you an idea of the kind of thing these little guys are going through. 

In Tears of the Kingdom, Link comes across several Koroks on his journey, many of which need help reuniting with their friends after being weighed down by their large backpacks. We've seen this noble task carried out in many ways, but below you'll find some of the most heartbreaking and hilarious ones.

One of my personal favorites comes from Twitter user @SMlTTENMITTENS - simply because it's one of the more harmless out of the ones we've seen so far - who attempts to attach a Korok to the large hook tool and slide it across the two floating islands. This doesn't quite go to plan though as, after reaching the halfway mark, the hook gets blown off of the rail sending the Korok falling into the water below. It's still cruel but at least this player tried to do the right thing. 

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Another Korok clip that's getting a lot of attention online is the 'Korok Rotisserie machine' - which I'm sure you can visualise without the video below. Just in case it needs explaining, the Korok Rotisserie machine sees one player fusing five Koroks onto a makeshift rotisserie spit and lighting a fire underneath them while they all panic above the flames. There's just no need for such torture, honestly. 

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Beyond this, numerous players are attempting to hurl their Koroks onto the other side of the map with various forms of flying and launching machines. As you can probably guess, many of the homemade apparatus isn't quite up to the task and often result in the poor little guy being thrown off a cliff, into the sea, or even further away from their friend than they were before. 

My Korok Space Program Needs more testing from r/tearsofthekingdom
@yautrek

♬ Dragula - Rob Zombie

Honestly, I don't think the Koroks deserve such savage treatment. I have to admit, though, seeing Tears of the Kingdom players come up with these creative contraptions has been a highlight of the game's launch weekend, and I can't wait to see what else they come up with as more and more people get their hands on the Zelda title. 

Just getting started with the Breath of the Wild sequel? Take a look at our Zelda Tears of the Kingdom tips.

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.