The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has filled its open-world map with a variety of NPCs, but that doesn't mean that players will end up liking all of them. There are memorable NPCs from past Zelda games that live in infamy for annoying players, such as Kaepora Gaebora from Ocarina of Time, who makes it too easy to hit an option that repeats a very long piece of dialogue. While a lot of annoying NPCs in Tears of the Kingdom are avoidable, players are bound to come across some of them while working to find information about Princess Zelda.

The open world of Hyrule in Tears of the Kingdom is filled with NPCs who are doing their best to live their lives after the Upheaval caused unusual phenomena. However, that means that some NPCs are annoying in the way they go about trying to accomplish goals or in their attempts to convince Link to help. There are certain NPCs who stand out for this reason.

7 Great Fairies

Unlocking the Great Fairy Fountains in TOTK is useful and opens up the ability to upgrade Link's gear. However, the annoying part is that they have a lot of animations that players have to wait through, and upgrading gear takes a long time if players are planning to upgrade more than one piece. In this case, players select a piece of gear, confirm they want it upgraded, witness an animation, and then have to go through the process again for the next item. The Great Fairies are wonderful, helpful ladies with an interesting design, but their animations and the process for upgrading gear are what make them particularly annoying.

6 Yiga Clan

The lore behind the Yiga Clan in TOTK gives them the potential for an interesting side story, but instead, the Yiga NPCs end up being used for comedic effect. They have a grudge against Link and set up multiple ambushes to try to defeat him. Even the combat with them is annoying, with their habit of vanishing and attacking from a new angle, although the NPCs themselves are easy enough to defeat with a couple of good hits.

5 Juney

Juney returns in Tears of the Kingdom​​​​​​, but this time, her side quest is much more annoying than bringing her Baked Apples. When Link speaks to her, she gets scared, which in turn scares her horse. Frightening the horse means that the wagon it's pulling gets shaken, and all the toys in it are scattered. While NPC Juney wants Link to retrieve the toys, she requires him to give her Rupees first for emotional damage. Additionally, if players don't prepare for this quest beforehand, it's difficult to complete it within the time limit.

4 Addison

Players can find Addison at multiple locations on the map as he's the NPC for the Hudson construction sign puzzles in TOTK. While it's easy enough to avoid him, his side quests can be a good source of Rupees. Unfortunately, Addison's unwillingness to let go of the sign is both a hindrance and annoying when players are trying to help him. If he'd get over his obsession with not letting the sign touch the ground, then it'd be upright and sturdy in no time, leaving players to continue on their way.

3 Hagie

Hagie is the NPC who's sitting by the lift in Tarrey Town and charging everybody Rupees to use the lift. It's obvious that he isn't being ordered to charge people for using the lift, and the NPC on the other side of the device lets people use it for free. Even other Tears of the Kingdom NPCs that players can find around Tarrey Town are annoyed by Hagie, saying that they never had to pay to use the lift before he was in charge of it.

There's even a side quest in TOTK that has players block Hagie's view to let Mattison use the lift without paying. As satisfying as it is to block Hagie's view of the lift to prevent him from lining his pockets with more Rupees, it'd be nice if players could use Ultrahand on him like with backpack Koroks. The other NPCs of Tarrey Town would certainly be happy to have Hagie stuck elsewhere instead of charging them to use what's meant to be free transportation.

2 Calip

Calip in Tears of the Kingdom might be better known as the one who keeps preventing Link from looking at the ring ruins around Kakariko Village. He says that he's not letting anybody near the ruins, per Princess Zelda's orders. Even if he's following orders, Link, as Zelda's personal knight, should be exempt and allowed to inspect the ring ruins to his heart's content. Instead, he yells at players as soon as they get too close to the ruins and resets their location. This means they're no longer near the flags that section off the ruins.

1 Granteson

Granteson can be found near Tarrey Town. Specifically, players will find him near the plot of land that Link can purchase for building his own home. While Granteson is fine as long as he's in his little area, he becomes a problem when players try to design Link's house in Tears of the Kingdom. Somehow, Granteson manages to constantly be in the way as players try to place rooms for their houses. Instead of following Link around the lot, Granteson would be better off waiting by his desk.

Players come across many NPCs as they journey around Hyrule, but some of them are annoying enough that it's preferable to avoid them when possible. However, not every annoying NPC can be avoided, especially if players want to design a house, upgrade their gear, or farm Rupees through side quests. If DLC is announced for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it'd be great if it could also update some of the listed NPCs to make them more bearable, even if the only fix is that Granteson stands off to the side or at his desk while Link builds his house.