Summary
AZelda: Tears of the Kingdomplayer has discovered that Riju has a full name in the game. While never spoken aloud,Tears of the KingdomandBreath of the Wildboth designate a surname for the Gerudo leader, but it seems few knew about it.
InTears of the Kingdom, Riju returns with a more prominent role to fulfill. After Link helpsbreak Gerudo Town free of the Gibdo invasionthat was plaguing it, Riju comes to discover that she’s the inheritor of the Secret Stone of her forebearer, and becomes the Sage of Lightning. From there on, she can help Link in literal spirit, and makes a physical appearance later in the game during an important battle. However, despite fighting alongside her, it seems one particular element of the character went unnoticed by some.
Over on Reddit, user leeekin shared their discovery that Riju has a full name. While reading a book about theLighting Helm in the Yiga hideout, an entry refers to Riju by her full name: Makeela Riju. Leeekin wondered if the topic came up at all in the game’s predecessor,Breath of the Wild. Riju is referred to by her full name at least once in that game, when Link reads her journal in Gerudo Town. However, as these two books can be easily skipped or entirely overlooked, it would seem many players didn’t know that Riju had more than one name.
Is Riju The First or Last Name of the Gerudo Leader?
There was some confusion in the post and comments regarding Riju’s name, as the writing of it would indicate that Riju is her last name, not her first. However, it’s more likely that Riju is her first name and Makeela is her last name. This aberration is due to the way that names are written in Japan, where the family name is always put first, and the given name second. Another player pointed out that real-world Middle Eastern cultures also tend to write names that way, and since those areas inspired some of theGerudo culture, it makes sense that Riju would be her given name, and the translators would have kept the order the way it was originally written.
WhileTears of the KingdomandBreath of the Wildare both excellent games with an incredible story to tell, there are still a lot of gaps in the fine details regarding the residents of Hyrule. With no known plans for athird entry followingTears of the Kingdom, there may not be many more opportunities to drop lore and details regarding the characters of its world. While many gamers pass up optional blocks of text like the Yiga Clan book, it’s a good idea to take a glance and see if they have any interesting insight to share.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
WHERE TO PLAY
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the sequel to the beloved open-world adventure, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. This installment once again sees Link and Zelda battling to protect Hyrule from falling to Ganondorf. This new adventure takes place in the same land of Hyrule as Breath of the Wild but sees something called the Upheaval, which allows link to travel to Sky Islands, as well as deep into the Depths beneath Hyrule. Players can use special abilities to fuse together weapons, and build items to help them progress through the release.
