Zelda: A Critical Examination

One of the most famous video game series of all time, The Legend of Zelda, features perhaps one of the most famous female video game characters of all time. If you couldn’t get guess by the title, her name is Zelda. I’ll be attempting to deconstruct her character throughout the anthology, examining the evolution and growth she’s undergone. However, this is a series that spans over 15 games and thirty years, so needless to say I can’t be completely exhaustive. This will also contain spoiler for nearly every Zelda game.  

Despite having an entire series named after her, Zelda is barely seen in the original The Legend of Zelda (1986). Back then, character development, or even a plot that wasn’t extremely simplistic was not common. There were no cut scenes, no voice acting, nothing that we would deem visually impressive today. I think it’s fair to say we can’t really expect much from the original Zelda. 

Zelda can only be seen at the very end of the game, after defeating the series’ main villain, Ganon. She pops up to congratulate and thank the player for not only saving her life, but for saving the mythical kingdom of Hyrule.  

Zelda is a damsel in distress in this first game, and also nearly every other entry. However, it’s particularly true for the first two entries in the series. Zelda waits for her knight in shining armour (or in this case a tunic) to save her from the evil monster. It’s a pretty tired and lazy writing device, even back in the 1980s.  

If you thought that was bad, get ready for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (1987). Nintendo decided that Zelda had too much autonomy in the last game and brainstormed ideas on how to make her even more of a damsel. What did they come up with? Let’s put her to sleep! For the entire game Zelda (not the Zelda from the last game, but her ancient ancestor, whatever, it’s weird) slumbers while Link (the player character) saves the kingdom yet again. The final scene shows her awakening and meeting Link. It ends with curtains falling as we see their feet move towards each other, implying a kiss.  

In terms of Zeldas, this really is bottom of the barrel. We never even get to meet her before she goes full Sleeping Beauty. She somehow has less dialogue than the original. The original had one line! I almost feel bad for calling the original’s plot lazy, because the sequel pales in comparison. 

Thankfully, as technology improved and video games become more cinematic, storytelling could also improve. While The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991) does have a Zelda with more personality than the first two, there’s still not much to her. She’s quickly reduced to another damsel after the first act and you must save her, yet again. It’s painfully clear that Nintendo had no intention on fleshing out their story or their characters and were far more interested in improving gameplay. 

People may ask what’s wrong with the damsel in distress trope. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but like most things, it’s far better in moderation. The overuse of this trope creates a narrative where women are viewed as weak, and that they require saving. It strips them of control and presents them more as objects to be acted upon, rather than people in their own right. 

The next entry in the series, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (1993), doesn’t even feature Zelda. At this point you have to wonder why she’s even the titular character. Despite this, it does feature perhaps the most complicated character in Zelda at the time: Marin. Marin is an adventurous girl who dreams of leaving the boring island she’s stuck in.  

Unlike the previous Zeldas, Marin has depth. She has motivations and ideas independent of the player’s actions. While Marin’s ultimate fate is up to interpretation, she displayed a complexity that hadn’t appeared in any other character yet. Marin is important for signifying a change in how the female lead is presented. 

Perhaps the most famous entry in the series, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998), brought the classic into the third dimension. Moreover, effort was put into the story! Zelda plays a major role in the game. She conspires with Link to take down Ganon, only for her plan to backfire and lead to him gaining control. She’s then taken into safety to avoid falling into the hands of Ganon. 

A central mechanic of the game is time travel, as Link can travel seven years into the future. Upon entering this dystopian future, Link will meet the mysterious man Sheik, a mage who offers sagely advice, Sheik appears several times throughout the game, aiding Link throughout the journey. 

The third act begins with a major reveal: the kick-ass magic ninja Sheik is actually Princess Zelda. She had training as a ninja while she was hiding. Never before had Zelda had such a proactive role in the story. She also experiences actual character development, as she recognises the mistakes she made as a child and attempts to rectify them.  

Then The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (2000) came out and decided Zelda didn’t need to appear. Thankfully the game has a plethora of complex characters of all genders, but for the purpose of this analysis, we’ll ignore them.  

Twin games: The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages (2001) also don’t feature Zelda. However, they do replace her with similarly magical women who become damsels in distress. So much for progress… 

Thankfully, progress was made with The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (2002). Its story somewhat mirrors Ocarina: you meet a cool snarky pirate named Tetra, who is later revealed to be Zelda. I have some issues with this title though. The main one being that once Tetra becomes Zelda her character completely changes. She lost her edge and humour and became shy and demure. It’s odd and seemingly makes no sense. Her skin colour also lightens, but I’m not even going to go into that.  

One of the best entries in the series in terms of female characters has to be The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006). The game feature three central female characters: Zelda (naturally), Ilia and Midna. Zelda is a very conflicted character in this game. She abdicated her rule over to the evil Zant to spare her people and her kingdom devastation. Throughout the game she struggles with this decision, and she ultimately participates in the final battle.  

Ilia is Link’s childhood friend, who he cares deeply for. She’s not particularly interesting and she seems to be more of a plot device than a character. Never the less, she exists and plays a semi-important role in the story. 

However, both of their roles are nothing compared to Midna. Midna is a mischievous imp who accompanies Link in his adventure. She’s snarky and loveable and doesn’t seem to mind giving Link a hard time. Link and Midna grow to be great friends as the game progress, climaxing with the reveal that Midna is actually the titular Twilight Princess. When order is restored, she must return to her world, leaving Link behind. Their goodbye has more weight and emotion than any previous scene between Link and Zelda. Despite being an amazing character in her own right, you really have to question why Nintendo decide to call it The Legend of Zelda. 

Twilight Princess was followed by two sequels of Wind Waker. The first, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007), is a pretty big setback. Tetra (i.e. Zelda) is turned to stone at the start of the game and it’s your job to rescue her. I don’t feel like it’s necessary to point out what trope this plays into. 

It’s follow-up title however, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2009), is vastly better. I would argue it’s the best iteration of Zelda to this date. The game takes place one hundred years after Phantom Hourglass, where we meet Tetra’s descendant, Zelda (original name, I know). The first act is standard series fair, the villain is revealed and the realm is put in danger. This time however, Zelda’s body is taken. 

Now I know what you’re thinking, oh another damsel in distress story. Actually, no. Zelda’s body is gone, but her spirit remains. She decides to venture with Link, and it’s later revealed she can enter the body of ghost knights known as phantoms. After almost twenty years, you could actually play as Zelda. While you can only take control of her during brief periods, it’s a huge change when compared with the rest of the series. 

This Zelda is also filled to the brim with personality. When she realises she’s a ghost, she naturally freaks out. She can be a bit crazy, but she’s also a nice person. She learns to take advantage of the situation, which is fun to watch. Plus, the whole game centres around a woman trying to take control over her body so… I think the metaphor speaks for itself. 

This was followed by The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011), easily the most cinematic in the series. In this game, Zelda is much more of a love interest than a friend. It creates a much different dynamic between her and the player character. The attention put into the plot also makes her actions and reactions much more believable. While the central aim of the game does become finding a lost Zelda, we later learn she went out on her own journey while the player was on theirs. We don’t get to see that journey until the end credits, but eh, I’ll take it. She’s quirky and charming, and honestly a bit cliché, but for Nintendo, it’s pretty good. 

We’ll conclude with the newest edition to the series, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2016). The plot centres around a destroyed kingdom, one where Zelda failed to stop Ganon. Link receives flashbacks which give the player information on what occurred to cause this. These flashbacks give us great insight into the character of Zelda. We learn that she’s unable to use the magic that she supposedly has. This causes her great conflict. She seeks other methods to save kingdom, fearing that she’ll never learn how to control her powers. Of course, she eventually does, but the emotional impact of this isn’t as strong as it could be. Since it all occurs in the past, we already know she did something. Either way, it’s nice to see some inner conflict. 

As you can see, Zelda is a complicated character… sometimes. Nintendo isn’t particularly consistent with portraying her as more than a damsel. For the most part, she’s okay. There does seem to be a trend of her character becoming complex as the series progresses, but Nintendo always takes a step back every game or two. That said, it’s clear Nintendo is listening to complaints and attempting to address them. This is something we need to encourage if we want to see more proactive female characters. 

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