AtmaWeapon
09-15-2010, 01:03 AM
I've been thinking a lot about the Zelda series, and I've come to the conclusion that Link is quite possibly the least interesting character that exists in Nintendo's stable.
With their other franchises, Nintendo has made efforts to establish that they have lives outside of the games. As early as SMB 2, we could see that Mario's world exists outside the context of SMB and he has a home, a bed, and goes exploring in caves. Over time, we've seen him travel to beach resorts, far away kingdoms, and play a ton of sports. The cartoons established that since Bowser is never really defeated, Mario is constantly struggling to protect Princess Peach and the games are just the more epic tales we get to play. Donkey Kong had conflicts with Mario before he became Cranky Kong; the new DK has a whole DK crew so there's clearly some ladies he chills with. Based on the size of his banana horde, you get the feeling that when he's not on an epic quest he probably just chills in the jungle and collects bananas. Samus Aran's occupation is bounty hunter; it's clear she does plenty of jobs but the Metroid games are her most famous exploits. So on with Kirby and Fox McCloud; if you've played their games you've seen the detailed worlds in which they live.
Link, on the other hand, doesn't really seem to play well with others. While Hyrule is fleshed out in more and more detail each game, Link's impact on it is limited completely to what happens in the games. Some of this is because the timeline is all kinds of screwed up or the limitation of the games at the time; I think OoT is the best starting point.
OoT leaves me thinking that at best Link has some kind of personality disorder. He's a 10-year-old thrust onto an epic quest and spends 7 years asleep before being dropped off in Hell on Earth, so maybe that explains it. Examine how he interacts with individuals, particularly those he should be attracted or attached to. Saria clearly has feelings for Link, and his response to her concerns is a blank stare as he sprints away. Same with Malon, Zelda and Ruto. Link's a 10-year-old "most eligible bachelor" who has every girl of influence in the kingdom grabbing at his balls and the only thing he's interested in is plot advancement. Grown-up Link is no better: if you aren't a sage you aren't going to get much of his time. If you are a sage, you're going to get "work the seal" and he's off. Killing Ganon was kind of important; I get that maybe he didn't have time for cuddles. But what happens after the game? He gets sent back to his 10-year-old self. Now he has the knowledge that he's embarked upon an epic quest in a future that won't exist because he's sealed the evil that caused it. He didn't retire and hook up with any of the fine ladies that had been following him around. He took off on a trip into the forest to look for his fairy and was never heard from again.
Mostly because he disappeared into Termina and took place in the only game in the series where it feels like you have a lasting impact on the world. You help 4 very important souls rest in peace. You save the world from destruction. You affect townspeople's lives in ways that range from making them happy with their job to reuniting two cursed lovers so they can spend the last hours of the dying world together. Or you can do the bare minimum and just save the world. Yet still, when it's all done Link just rides into the distance with no sign of any sentiment.
Wind Waker doesn't take place in that continuum. The narrative suggests that WW takes place in Hyrule some time after Link went to Termina, and we can assume either Link never found his way out of Termina, died, or couldn't save Hyrule (there's hints that when he left Hyrule he lost "hero of time" status.) This game returns to the notion that Link only exists to awaken some sages, collect some plot coupons, then redeem them for a happy ending. This time the "I peaked at 10" angle is handled a little better. Link's fear of associating with females returns in this game; he's only interested in his sister despite at least two girls that display an almost creepy affinity. Again, Link peaks at 10 and after the quest is over doesn't have any way to achieve more. Much like Frodo was unable to live a normal life after bearing the ring, Link couldn't possibly return to the isolated life on Outset. And much like Mr. Baggins, Link left his closest companions to travel on a boat. Frodo was riding a boat to an eternal paradise and Link was riding the boat to... nowhere. He left behind his beloved grandmother, sister, and all the friends he ignored along his journey. Emptiness.
It led to the events of Phantom Hourglass but I'm not going to dignify that game with a detailed analysis. Link interacts with the minimum number of people needed to find the macguffins and end the dream world. But was it a dream? Man, I haven't seen that ending before. Thus Link gets back on the boat and sails off to find... whatever it is he's after. Likely more adventures.
Twilight Princess is much of the same. Link doesn't choose a path to move through the world; he can't even explore Hyrule for much of the game due to various obstacles that will magically disappear if only he completes the quest he's on. Again, Link has multiple women falling over him. This time one grows very emotionally close to him yet it doesn't seem to bug him too much when they part ways. Again, once the quest is over we're left to ponder whether Link will be content to return to goat herding; what do you do with the rest of your life after that?
I'm beginning to think things about Link I never thought before.
He is an emotionless shell; perhaps this is the burden of the Hero. He can form no emotional attachments to others and even if he assists another he must take only rewards that directly help him with his quest. If he holds anyone dear, they will be destroyed by Ganon. If he rests for a day, he could be overtaken by Ganon's minions. Until evil has been sealed/destroyed, he is nothing more than a puppet of the gods (in this case, the player plays the role of puppeteer.)
Alternatively: he's a developmentally disabled neanderthal or the worlds biggest narcissist. If you use his interactions as a guide, you'll quickly deduce that no person in Hyrule matters to Link more than Link. He takes advantage of the emotional attachment the women of OoT form to further his quest, offering little in return. He saves Ruto to take her jewel. He saves LonLon ranch because he needs a horse. He awakens Saria because he needs her seal. Perhaps his quest to destroy Ganon is not so much a noble quest to right wrongs and save Zelda but instead a desire to establish himself as the most powerful warrior in Hyrule?
Whichever is true, it's clear that after Link completes his quest and Hyrule returns to peace, his services are no longer needed. What does an adventurer do when there's no evil to fight? What does a warrior do when the monsters are tamed? What promise does life hold when you've lived two lifetimes before you hit puberty? Perhaps the timeline is screwed up and pointing at multiple Links because after each game, Link descends into the depression of a man who has already completed his goal. Even more cruel, maybe the gods take his life once his services are rendered? There's not many direct sequels in Zelda lore. One could even entertain the notion that Link could be overtaken by despair and become evil himself, giving rise to forces that restore Ganon and cause a new lad to receive the Hero's curse.
You can argue a LoZ -> LA -> AoL progression that makes a few loose threads fit together. Let's run with that. Link destroys Ganon in LoZ, then departs on a boat (the boy loves boats!) Fate intervenes, and he ends up shipwrecked and LA takes place. He either dies at sea and someone else takes his place or makes it back to Hyrule to find Zelda cursed and the threat of Ganon renewed. Either option explains the sudden appearance of Link in AoL. Could Dark Link be the despairing spirit of the LoZ Link, drowned at sea? Or perhaps that Link survived and Dark Link is the malice inside of him caused by knowing he'll be forgotten once Hyrule is peaceful? That's enough to make turn a hero foul.
There's not really much to go on because we never get much about Link's internal dialog save some emotionless stares. Is he a self-serving egoist looking for glory? Does he lose his free will when becoming the hero? Do his accomplishments leave the rest of his life empty? Does he so often wander in the epilogue because he is doomed to seek a new, more challenging adventure?
You could also argue each Zelda game is intended to be the same story told by a different culture. That explains common elements to the quest, common villains, and even allows for wildly different environments like those in LA and the Oracle series. From this standpoint Link, Ganon, and Zelda don't represent real people as much as they represent a struggle between Power, Wisdom, and Courage within a person's soul. Only when the three desires are balanced can a person be righteous. Perhaps there is no "after the adventure" for Link because in life no one ever achieves true balance; the end of the game is perhaps a metaphor for death, where you rejoin creation and become part of the balance no matter what your actions in life were.
With their other franchises, Nintendo has made efforts to establish that they have lives outside of the games. As early as SMB 2, we could see that Mario's world exists outside the context of SMB and he has a home, a bed, and goes exploring in caves. Over time, we've seen him travel to beach resorts, far away kingdoms, and play a ton of sports. The cartoons established that since Bowser is never really defeated, Mario is constantly struggling to protect Princess Peach and the games are just the more epic tales we get to play. Donkey Kong had conflicts with Mario before he became Cranky Kong; the new DK has a whole DK crew so there's clearly some ladies he chills with. Based on the size of his banana horde, you get the feeling that when he's not on an epic quest he probably just chills in the jungle and collects bananas. Samus Aran's occupation is bounty hunter; it's clear she does plenty of jobs but the Metroid games are her most famous exploits. So on with Kirby and Fox McCloud; if you've played their games you've seen the detailed worlds in which they live.
Link, on the other hand, doesn't really seem to play well with others. While Hyrule is fleshed out in more and more detail each game, Link's impact on it is limited completely to what happens in the games. Some of this is because the timeline is all kinds of screwed up or the limitation of the games at the time; I think OoT is the best starting point.
OoT leaves me thinking that at best Link has some kind of personality disorder. He's a 10-year-old thrust onto an epic quest and spends 7 years asleep before being dropped off in Hell on Earth, so maybe that explains it. Examine how he interacts with individuals, particularly those he should be attracted or attached to. Saria clearly has feelings for Link, and his response to her concerns is a blank stare as he sprints away. Same with Malon, Zelda and Ruto. Link's a 10-year-old "most eligible bachelor" who has every girl of influence in the kingdom grabbing at his balls and the only thing he's interested in is plot advancement. Grown-up Link is no better: if you aren't a sage you aren't going to get much of his time. If you are a sage, you're going to get "work the seal" and he's off. Killing Ganon was kind of important; I get that maybe he didn't have time for cuddles. But what happens after the game? He gets sent back to his 10-year-old self. Now he has the knowledge that he's embarked upon an epic quest in a future that won't exist because he's sealed the evil that caused it. He didn't retire and hook up with any of the fine ladies that had been following him around. He took off on a trip into the forest to look for his fairy and was never heard from again.
Mostly because he disappeared into Termina and took place in the only game in the series where it feels like you have a lasting impact on the world. You help 4 very important souls rest in peace. You save the world from destruction. You affect townspeople's lives in ways that range from making them happy with their job to reuniting two cursed lovers so they can spend the last hours of the dying world together. Or you can do the bare minimum and just save the world. Yet still, when it's all done Link just rides into the distance with no sign of any sentiment.
Wind Waker doesn't take place in that continuum. The narrative suggests that WW takes place in Hyrule some time after Link went to Termina, and we can assume either Link never found his way out of Termina, died, or couldn't save Hyrule (there's hints that when he left Hyrule he lost "hero of time" status.) This game returns to the notion that Link only exists to awaken some sages, collect some plot coupons, then redeem them for a happy ending. This time the "I peaked at 10" angle is handled a little better. Link's fear of associating with females returns in this game; he's only interested in his sister despite at least two girls that display an almost creepy affinity. Again, Link peaks at 10 and after the quest is over doesn't have any way to achieve more. Much like Frodo was unable to live a normal life after bearing the ring, Link couldn't possibly return to the isolated life on Outset. And much like Mr. Baggins, Link left his closest companions to travel on a boat. Frodo was riding a boat to an eternal paradise and Link was riding the boat to... nowhere. He left behind his beloved grandmother, sister, and all the friends he ignored along his journey. Emptiness.
It led to the events of Phantom Hourglass but I'm not going to dignify that game with a detailed analysis. Link interacts with the minimum number of people needed to find the macguffins and end the dream world. But was it a dream? Man, I haven't seen that ending before. Thus Link gets back on the boat and sails off to find... whatever it is he's after. Likely more adventures.
Twilight Princess is much of the same. Link doesn't choose a path to move through the world; he can't even explore Hyrule for much of the game due to various obstacles that will magically disappear if only he completes the quest he's on. Again, Link has multiple women falling over him. This time one grows very emotionally close to him yet it doesn't seem to bug him too much when they part ways. Again, once the quest is over we're left to ponder whether Link will be content to return to goat herding; what do you do with the rest of your life after that?
I'm beginning to think things about Link I never thought before.
He is an emotionless shell; perhaps this is the burden of the Hero. He can form no emotional attachments to others and even if he assists another he must take only rewards that directly help him with his quest. If he holds anyone dear, they will be destroyed by Ganon. If he rests for a day, he could be overtaken by Ganon's minions. Until evil has been sealed/destroyed, he is nothing more than a puppet of the gods (in this case, the player plays the role of puppeteer.)
Alternatively: he's a developmentally disabled neanderthal or the worlds biggest narcissist. If you use his interactions as a guide, you'll quickly deduce that no person in Hyrule matters to Link more than Link. He takes advantage of the emotional attachment the women of OoT form to further his quest, offering little in return. He saves Ruto to take her jewel. He saves LonLon ranch because he needs a horse. He awakens Saria because he needs her seal. Perhaps his quest to destroy Ganon is not so much a noble quest to right wrongs and save Zelda but instead a desire to establish himself as the most powerful warrior in Hyrule?
Whichever is true, it's clear that after Link completes his quest and Hyrule returns to peace, his services are no longer needed. What does an adventurer do when there's no evil to fight? What does a warrior do when the monsters are tamed? What promise does life hold when you've lived two lifetimes before you hit puberty? Perhaps the timeline is screwed up and pointing at multiple Links because after each game, Link descends into the depression of a man who has already completed his goal. Even more cruel, maybe the gods take his life once his services are rendered? There's not many direct sequels in Zelda lore. One could even entertain the notion that Link could be overtaken by despair and become evil himself, giving rise to forces that restore Ganon and cause a new lad to receive the Hero's curse.
You can argue a LoZ -> LA -> AoL progression that makes a few loose threads fit together. Let's run with that. Link destroys Ganon in LoZ, then departs on a boat (the boy loves boats!) Fate intervenes, and he ends up shipwrecked and LA takes place. He either dies at sea and someone else takes his place or makes it back to Hyrule to find Zelda cursed and the threat of Ganon renewed. Either option explains the sudden appearance of Link in AoL. Could Dark Link be the despairing spirit of the LoZ Link, drowned at sea? Or perhaps that Link survived and Dark Link is the malice inside of him caused by knowing he'll be forgotten once Hyrule is peaceful? That's enough to make turn a hero foul.
There's not really much to go on because we never get much about Link's internal dialog save some emotionless stares. Is he a self-serving egoist looking for glory? Does he lose his free will when becoming the hero? Do his accomplishments leave the rest of his life empty? Does he so often wander in the epilogue because he is doomed to seek a new, more challenging adventure?
You could also argue each Zelda game is intended to be the same story told by a different culture. That explains common elements to the quest, common villains, and even allows for wildly different environments like those in LA and the Oracle series. From this standpoint Link, Ganon, and Zelda don't represent real people as much as they represent a struggle between Power, Wisdom, and Courage within a person's soul. Only when the three desires are balanced can a person be righteous. Perhaps there is no "after the adventure" for Link because in life no one ever achieves true balance; the end of the game is perhaps a metaphor for death, where you rejoin creation and become part of the balance no matter what your actions in life were.