As long-time Legend of Zelda fans will know, the Arbiter’s Grounds is a dungeon that appears in Twilight Princess. It is said to have been a prison for the worst of Hyrule’s criminals, who were either locked away in its sandy depths or banished to the Twilight Realm, like Ganondorf himself. The Arbiter’s Grounds contains the Mirror Chamber, where the Mirror of Twilight is located, and where the Seven Sages preside, convict, and execute criminals. Over time, it became a treacherous tomb for the undead, housing enemies like ReDead Knights, Bubbles, Stalchildren, and the most annoying enemy in the game, Ghoul Rats.
This location is a unique and potent location for the series, elevating even the importance of the Gerudo Desert as the focal point for more than half of Twilight Princess’ story. After more than 10 years, its second appearance in the franchise came with Breath of the Wild, but it is not as profound a place as it was in its previous game. In the 2017 open-air adventure, the Arbiter’s Grounds are reduced to ruined stone structures that barely peak up from the dunes of the Gerudo Desert. However, the Arbiter’s Grounds is a big place, with structures (like the ones we see in Breath of the Wild) surrounding the Grounds themselves, leading to the main coliseum-like building that goes deep underground.
This is where Tears of the Kingdom has the potential to bring the enigmatic fortress of the undead back to its former terrifying glory. In the latest (and final) trailer for the upcoming and much-anticipated installment of the series, a huge structure erupts from under the sands of the desert, very close to the location of Breath of the Wild’s Arbiter’s Grounds. While it doesn’t quite look like a coliseum, we only see it in one close-up shot, and it wouldn’t be too far-fetched for the design to change across games and thousands of years in-universe. The location of this structure seems to be about here on the map:
We see very little of the Grounds’ remains in Breath of the Wild, so for all we know the location in that game is the ruins of the buildings leading up to the Grounds themselves, meaning the massive structure in Tears of the Kingdom could very well be the Arbiter’s Grounds. This is further supported by the extensive underground exploration in the upcoming game, alluding to the fact that this structure will also lead deep underground, possibly infested with new undead enemies.
With the likely appearance of the sages in Tears of the Kingdom, they might also have ties to this location, and with the confirmation of Ganondorf’s rehydration, the Arbiter’s Grounds even has the potential to be the final battle location in this game, as Ganondorf has a more than complicated history with the Mirror Chamber. The location’s reappearance also suggests further ties to Twilight Princess, and possibly even the Twilight Realm. But only when Tears of the Kingdom finally releases in less than four weeks will we have all the answers. Until then, we will keep the theories coming!
