"Threads of Time" Tapestry in Hyrule Castle Courtyard: By Removing Mario, Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 Spoils the Entire Story in the First Hour
After sneaking past the patrolling guards of Hyrule Castle roughly an hour into the The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake on Nintendo Switch 2, players step into the quiet inner garden where young Princess Zelda awaits. For twenty-eight years, the Hyrule Castle Courtyard has housed one of gaming's most famous secrets: the twin stone windows flanking the royal walls.
In the 1998 Nintendo 64 original, peering through the right-hand window revealed framed portraits of Mario, Princess Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, and Luigi, which were swapped in 2011 on Nintendo 3DS for a 3D New Super Mario Bros. backdrop and a Skyward Sword poster. As series producer Eiji Aonuma and co-producer Hidemaro Fujibayashi explained at launch, the Mario and Yoshi portraits were removed from Hyrule Castle Courtyard on Switch 2 to protect the remake's sense of immersion (leaving only Talon and Malon's Bowser brooch intact). Yet the replacement artwork hung behind that exact same window by Nintendo EPD has created an unexpected twist: it visually spoils the entire adventure during the first hour of play.
A 100% Completed "Threads of Time" Tapestry Hanging Behind the Right Window
To prevent modern players from breaking their immersion by looking through the courtyard glass and wondering "Why is Yoshi there?" (as Eiji Aonuma put it in Nintendo's official Ask the Developer Vol. 24 interview), the remake's environment artists chose to hang an in-universe centerpiece inside the royal chamber: the "Threads of Time" tapestry.
Introduced on Nintendo Switch 2 as a replacement for the 3DS version's Sheikah Hint Stones, Threads of Time serves as an illustrated quest log and cutscene recap menu. When opened from the pause screen, the medieval tapestry starts completely blank and gradually weaves in new scenes and colors as Link clears dungeons, defeats bosses, and awakens the Sages.
However, as eagle-eyed players on Reddit quickly noticed, the 3D wall texture placed behind the right courtyard window is not dynamically linked to the player's active save file. Instead, it permanently displays the fully completed 100% tapestry from the very start of the game.
In practice, while Link is still a child who has only just left Kokiri Forest and the Great Deku Tree, switching to first-person view or aiming at the right window with the Fairy Slingshot (which still rewards a 20-Rupee Red Rupee when shot) exposes every major twist ahead: drawing the Master Sword and jumping seven years into adulthood at the center, the glowing Triforce, the appearance of Sheik, the awakening of all six Sages, every temple boss, and the climactic showdown against Ganondorf and dark beast Ganon woven along the bottom edge.
Left Window: The Bomb Guard Spares Princess Zelda and Impa Reacts to Link's Slingshot
While the right window blurs the line between royal prophecy and early-game spoilers, the left window of Hyrule Castle Courtyard has also been upgraded with brand-new contextual animations by Nintendo EPD.
True to the 1998 classic, firing a Deku Seed from the Fairy Slingshot into the left window still causes an angry Hyrule Castle guard to poke his head out, scold Link for causing trouble, and hurl a live bomb into the garden. On Nintendo Switch 2, however, the scene now features two clever positional reactions:
- The guard refuses to bomb Princess Zelda: If Link shoots the left window and immediately runs over to stand right next to young Princess Zelda, the guard pops up at the window frame but holds back his bomb, refusing to throw an explosive at the feet of Hyrule's royal heir.
- Dynamic reactions from Impa: Standing nearby before teaching Link Zelda's Lullaby, Sheikah bodyguard Impa now watches Link's slingshot antics and reacts differently depending on where the young hero positions himself in the courtyard.
Those subtle touches highlight how closely the development team revisited every corner of Hyrule, arriving just days after the producers detailed why Nintendo toned down the terrifying ReDeads in Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2.
My Perspective
There is a hilarious irony to how this courtyard makeover played out. Eiji Aonuma went out of his way to explain that Mario and Yoshi had to go so players in 2026 wouldn't have their immersion broken when peeking through Princess Zelda's windows. Yet by replacing the green dinosaur with a 100% completed Threads of Time tapestry, Nintendo EPD accidentally hung a full visual roadmap of the entire story, from pulling the Master Sword to fighting Ganon, right next to Zelda's candlelit study! You can playfully headcanon it as proof of the young princess's prophetic dreams, though a quick patch syncing the wall texture to your actual save file would certainly spare first-time players the spoilers. On the flip side, I adore what they did with the left window: watching the castle guard panic and hold back his bomb when you use Princess Zelda as a human shield is the exact kind of mischievous Nintendo polish that makes this remake a joy to explore.
Zelda Ocarina of Time
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Based on the outskirts of New York City, Chaya 'Chayane' spent five years studying software engineering in Montreal before returning to her home state. A Full-Stack developer and Deep Learning AI architecture researcher, she explores neural networks and algorithmic optimization while engineering data pipelines for Retrocharting and Gamescharting alongside Grimtag. A gamer for over 20 years and an avid collector of Nintendo history and The Legend of Zelda, she explored World of Warcraft's Azeroth before bringing her deep technical background to video game analysis.
