Earlier this year, I read a wonderful Japanese murder mystery novel called The Village of Eight Graves, by Seishi Yokomizo. It is one of many books featuring scruffy detective Kosuke Kindaichi.
Amongst the very large cast of characters are a set of mysterious twin sisters named Koume and Kotake. Being the Nintendo illiterate boy that I am, I didn’t think anything of that until I found those character names popped up on a Zelda wiki a few months later.
How fascinating! It was too similar to be a coincidence: twins in the Zelda games, twins in this novel. The book wasn’t translated into English till just a few years ago, but it was first published in Japan in 1950. It’s also not uncharacteristic for Nintendo creatives to put literary references in their games.
If you like mysteries, definitely check out the Kindaichi novels. English translations are slowly trickling in over the years, and there are certainly enough volumes to keep you entertained over your holiday vacations. Best one I’ve read so far is probably The Ingumani Curse.
There are many, many other parallels between the mystery at the heart of Tears of the Kingdom and Village of Eight Graves. If you’re curious (and don’t mind a few light spoilers), you can watch this video: