The Depths Have a Matchmaking Problem
By 2026, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been dissected, speedrun, and theorized into a fine powder. Players have built war machines, tortured Koroks, and found every shrine. Yet the game still hides tiny tragedies in its darkest corners. The most heartbreaking one may not involve a cutscene, a memory, or a dramatic boss. It involves two glowing Poes sitting on a heart-shaped island under Lover's Pond. Yes, the Depths are gloomy, but apparently they are also a romantic destination for the dead. 💔
Lover's Pond: Surface-Level Sweetness
On the surface of Hyrule, Lover's Pond is exactly what it sounds like. It is a heart-shaped pond, surrounded by soft grass and gentle light. According to local legend, a person who visits the pond may meet their soulmate. In Breath of the Wild, Link helps Wabbin and Perda find each other there. By Tears of the Kingdom, the couple is still together and has a child. It is one of the few stories in Hyrule that ends with a smile instead of a sword. 🌿💕
So when players dive into the Depths and find the mirror image of Lover's Pond, they might expect another cute Easter egg. Instead, they get a quiet gut punch.
The Depths Version Is Not a Date Spot
Beneath Lover's Pond, the geography flips. Instead of a pond, there is a heart-shaped island surrounded by water. That alone is a nice touch. Then Link notices two Poes floating side by side on the island. Not a swarm. Not a random cluster. Just two. In a game where Poes usually drift in groups, this pair looks deliberate. It looks like a couple. It looks like a story that the game refuses to tell out loud.
| Surface Lover's Pond | Depths Lover's Pond |
|---|---|
| Heart-shaped pond | Heart-shaped island |
| Greenery and sunlight | Gloom and darkness |
| Soulmates meet | Lost souls linger |
| Wabbin and Perda live happily | Two Poes float together forever |
| Hope for the future | A promise after death |
What Poes Actually Are
In older Zelda games, Poes are often enemies. They are spirits twisted by unfinished business, angry attachments, or magical mischief. In Tears of the Kingdom, they are different. They are not hostile. They are collectible wisps found only in the Depths. Link can gather them and trade them to Bargainer Statues, which send the souls onward. The Poes are essentially lost souls stuck below Hyrule, unable to reach the afterlife until someone helps them move on.
That is already sad if you think about it for more than five seconds. The game, however, usually distracts players with gloom, Zonai devices, and the urge to hoard luminous stones. Then it places two Poes together on a heart-shaped island and dares the player to notice. 😢
A Romance With No Dialogue
Environmental storytelling does not need text boxes. The two Poes under Lover's Pond imply a love story with several possible endings. Maybe they met while alive and promised to find each other at Lover's Pond. Maybe one arrived and waited. Maybe neither did. Maybe they never met at all, and only in death did their lost souls finally cross paths. Now they float together in the dark, refusing to be separated even by the afterlife.
It is either the most romantic thing in the Depths or the most tragic. Possibly both. Hyrule's matchmaking service has a perfect record, but the customer satisfaction survey is complicated by everyone being dead. 💀❤️
The Awkward Part: Link Can Collect Them
Here is where the humor gets nervous. Link can absolutely walk up to these two Poes and collect them. He can then trade them to a Bargainer Statue for items. In other words, the hero of Hyrule can pocket a love story and exchange it for a piece of armor. That is not evil, exactly, since the Bargainer Statues send souls onward. But it is a little awkward to interrupt a ghost couple's eternal moment because Link needs more Dark Clumps.
Maybe the kindest move is to leave them alone. Let them have their heart-shaped island. Let them float. The Depths already have enough gloom without Link playing cosmic third wheel.
Why This Detail Matters in 2026
Years after release, Tears of the Kingdom remains a masterclass in environmental storytelling. The two Poes are not part of a quest. They are not marked on the map. They do not give a reward. They simply exist, waiting for a curious player to look twice. That is the kind of detail that makes Hyrule feel alive, even when half of it is dead and floating in the dark.
The next time Link dives into the Depths, he should remember that not every glowing thing is currency. Some glowing things are soulmates. Some are a couple who found each other too late, or just in time, depending on how you look at it. And some are proof that even in a game about apocalypse, floating islands, and building ridiculous machines, love can still be the most devastating secret of all. ✨
So if you see two Poes on a heart-shaped island, do not rush past. Salute them. Maybe shed a tiny tear. Then fly away before you accidentally spend their romance on a stamina upgrade.