So, recently a piece of artwork relating to the next Zelda game was revealed at E3, and soon after the image hit the wires. 

It shows us a picture of Link with a mysterious female character posing in front of him. Absent from the picture is Link's master sword, a detail that Miyamoto took the time to point out in a recent IGN interview- A detail that is emphasized by the fact that Link is still holding his classic shield. 

So here's what I'm betting on. 

In an attempt to make the zelda series a tad more accessible to Nintendo's new audience, Nintendo will take a new streamlined approach to the weapon system. I'm betting that the mysterious character appearing in the picture will have the ability to transform into whatever weapon is needed at any given point, on the fly. 

Say you were fighting an enemy that was right in front of link. Simply placing the cursor on the enemy will allow this new character to transform into Link's sword. Point at an enemy further in the distance, she'll become his bow. Point at a target, she becomes his famed hookshot. A simple mechanic like this will render combat much more fluid, and in the heat of action can allow link to dispose of enemies near and far without having to do anything more than simply direct the on-screen reticule. 

For the core gamers who would want more variety in the combat. I'll leave that to the actual designers  
Perhaps a simple tap of the Dpad can allow you to change weapon, or perhaps enemies can be designed with the most effective weapon coming up as you target specific parts. The finer details.. 

It would fit into the classic Zelda model as well. Instead of opening up a chest and discovering the boomerang,maybe she'll inherit special abilities or traits from fallen enemies in dungeons - effectively making her a constant upgradable, transformable weapon. 

It fits. 

It streamlines the gameplay, avoids some menu navigating, allows for much quicker and effective battles, pleases the veterans, is more accessible for the new audience, and can fit into the story in numerous ways. 

The picture says it all. Shield in one hand, sword mysteriously missing.... a new intriguing character in focus in the foreground. 

Bet on it!

http://blogs.ign.com/nerazzuro/

Interesting theory.

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/8159/40426837.png - Has anyone posted this yet?

i ve heard this theory before and the more i hear it the more i like it

might be..actually..though I'm not keen on auto switching to the right weapon...that would..kinda make the game less fun to me

Wow that sounds awesome. I like the idea a lot.

I approve of this

Maybe. Not in the ultra-streamlined way proposed though. There are just way too many flaws. Maybe she will have several functions, but I really doubt she'll function as EVERY item. I mean, come on: Bombs, multiple bottles, several long ranged weapons, several short-ranged, weapons....it gets to the point where it would only make sense if you manually transformed her. And if this was the case, why bother replacing classic items, as selecting the specific form would be just as laborious as selecting the desired item?

Nice theory, worded convincingly, but doesn't hold up under closer inspection.

I say she can turn into a Bow and arrow and his GREAT SWORD.....as for bombs thats a seperate object being that it isnt to "spiritual"

I thought the menus were easy to navigate and simple in Twilight Princess... why can't they keep that? Miyamoto said countless amounts of time that the menus were made not complicated in TP for the casual audience, so there's no need to change that.

Also, the gameplay would be too simple with automatic weapon changing. I don't know, I don't like it that much.

The menu was easy to navigate in TP but I always hit the start button in the GameCube version >.>

She probably isn't every single weapon. That kills the purpose of going to dungeons to get new items.