Like many Legend of Zelda games before it, Tears of the Kingdom sees Link journey across Hyrule to find Zelda and defeat Ganondorf. Throughout the game, Link believes he is chasing down Zelda as he explores the four anomalies across Hyrule. But in actuality, Zelda’s story is far more complicated than this.
To understand how and if Zelda transforms back into a Hylian after becoming a dragon, it is important to understand how she becomes one in the first place. Whenever Zelda was separated from Link in the initial portion of the game, she was pushed back in time along with the ruined Master Sword.
In an effort to return to her original time, the Zonai Mineru helps Zelda undergo a forbidden, seemingly irreversible process called dragonification. By swallowing a tear stone, Zelda becomes an eternal dragon and returns to her time by simply living long enough.
Related: Does Zelda die in Tears of the Kingdom?
Though there is plenty more that occurs in Tears of the Kingdom, this is everything we know about Zelda becoming a dragon. At the end of the game, Zelda is returned back to her Hylian form. But how exactly does this happen?
Does Zelda stay a dragon in Tears of the Kingdom?
At the epic climax of Tears of the Kingdom, Link faces off against the Demon King. In a last-ditch attempt to defeat the player, the Demon King takes his own stone to become a powerful dragon. Zelda, in dragon form, comes in to help Link end the threat of the Demon King.
After the battle, Link uses the power from the Zonai king and queen, Rauru and Sonia, to restore Zelda back to her Hylian form. Though Zelda is a dragon for much of the game, she does not stay one for very long as she returns to her original form with the help of Link.
