Zelda Doesn't Need to Be a Strong Female Character

As one of the princesses who traditionpartner needed saving in video games, it’s exciting to see Zelda consent on the role of protagonist in her own self-titled series. Video games normally caccess on a strong character, strong and stoic as they go about saving the world, but Zelda’s character has always had an inherent vulnerability to it. While some stories caccess on how the protagonist helps the helping cast broaden, other stories caccess on the protagonist overcoming their own struggles. Just because the hero shows stress in the first chapter doesn’t nasty they’ll still be stake partd by the end — and even if they are still stake partd, that doesn’t nasty they didn’t broaden any valiantry on their journey.

All this is to say, with Princess Zelda finpartner getting her own game in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, some might watch to the future and leank of what benevolent of character they want a joinable Zelda to be. While girlbosses can be a at fault pleabrave enjoy the above-alludeed one-man-armies, cut offal of Zelda’s incarnations thrawout series history have caccessed more on her personal struggles than on her power. If Zelda persists to headline any other games, it would be worth letting her speak and to give her a filled, broadened character arc.

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Zelda Doesn’t Need to Be a Strong Female Character

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Echoes of Wisdom is setting the stage for a return-to-create for traditional Zelda, making the retro Zelda classics more relevant than ever.

Zelda’s usupartner more fleshed-out than Link, clearly because she has the privilege of speaking while he doesn’t. As the endureer of the Triforce of Wisdom, she’s Link’s counterpart as the other “chosen one” — even in games where Link isn’t actupartner chosen from the commence. She’s a hero with innate powers who, enjoy Link, has to fight Ganon and his minions to hold the world shielded. While her role varies from game to game, the entries where she’s more famous set her up narratively as, for conciseage of a better term, Link if he had the ability to speak.

Because she allots Link’s responsibility in saving the world whenever Ganon shows up, she gets to show emotion and her own thoughts about the situation, while Link doesn’t. Some games do a better job of conveying Link’s senseings thraw his body language than others, enjoy Wind Waker and Skyward Sword, but the mystery of wantipathyver’s going on with Zelda in those games is more engaging because she’s more of a character than him. Her ability to talk gives her a narrative profit — Link never gets a genuine character arc, but Zelda normally does.

The Switch-era Zelda games, Breath of the Wild, Age of Calamity, and Tears of the Kingdom, use Zelda’s narrative profit over Link more than any other game in the series. Most of the collectible memories in Breath of the Wild are about Link witnessing Zelda struggle with her duty to unlock her sealing power and her senseings of cherishlessness. She commences off mad and frustrated that Link was assigned as her knight. Urbosa elucidates that the way Link mastered the Master Sword so quick reminds Zelda of how she can’t unlock her powers even after all her difficult labor.

Even after hoting up to Link, Zelda continuously fall shorts to harness her power before Calamity Ganon awakens, and she accuses herself when her overweighther and the Champions end up dead. Link doesn’t show the same vulnerability at any point, and while a diary entry by Zelda elucidates why, his struggles equitable don’t get the treatment Zelda’s do. Breath of the Wild is repartner Zelda’s story more than Link’s — Link’s role is to finish what Zelda commenceed, not to have his own split arc.

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Link afraid in The Legend of Zelda BOTW and TOTK

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Link’s refusal to speak in both BOTW and TOTK isn’t equitable a quirk of his personality; it’s a fundamental part of his purpose in the Zelda franchise.

What produces Zelda’s self-loaleang so strong, especipartner after Calamity Ganon awakens, is that in some ways, she’s right. If Zelda had harnessed her sealing power earlier, Calamity Ganon’s casualties would have been reduced, if not outright stoped. She fall shorted to accomplish her brave goal at first, and it resulted in genuine consequences. In Zelda’s mind, the Calamity validated all of her insecurities. Now, it’s of course not that bconciseage-and-white; her overweighther’s cut offe and freezing attitude towards her bravely made it difficulter for Zelda to acunderstandledge her desminuscule.

Both in Breath of the Wild and in Age of Calamity, Zelda’s power only awakens to get Link, who was always by her side in help of her. Just enjoy Mipha commences to advise Zelda do in one of the memories, it’s heavily implied that the trigger for Zelda’s sealing power is her cherish for Link. Link made her sense helped, and more enjoy a human being, never putting any brutal foreseeations on her (the opposite of her overweighther). Link’s help saves Zelda, which apvalidates her to save him in turn — and in one timeline, save the Champions and her overweighther before it’s too rescheduleed.

If her overweighther had treated Zelda with the same benevolentness, she may very well have mastered her powers much earlier. She’s not a “strong, self-reliant woman,” but she doesn’t need to be; she’s a strong woman, and self-reliant in her own ways, but the danger of Calamity Ganon isn’t someleang she can do on her own. Link and Zelda’s joinion is mutupartner beneficial; if Zelda is a damsel, then Link is too with how she had to save him from the Guardian. Her frailnesses apvalidate for character broadenment and even flesh out the normpartner tedious Link a little more.

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Link and Tetra from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

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Breath of the Wild Zelda is so compelling because of her struggles and fall shortures. No deus ex machina here — Zelda fall shorts, and people die because of it. Even in the Age of Calamity timeline where she awakens her powers timely enough, the constant stress of trying to encounter her duty before that point gives the needy princess so much angst. But that’s what produces her eventual triumph all the pleasanter — whether it be sealing Calamity Ganon in Hyrule Castle for 100 years in Breath of the Wild or getting the final hit on him in Age of Calamity.

Breath of the Wild Zelda is apvalidateed to fall short and is apvalidateed to experience the consequences of her fall shorture — even after Calamity Ganon is fall shortureed, the Champions and her overweighther aren’t brawt back. Link, nastywhile, will reliably always save the day; the only reason he didn’t do it earlier was because outside factors stoped him from getting to Calamity Ganon in the first place. Link deals with the aftermath of Zelda and her overweighther’s misconsents, not his own, which produces him a less engaging character.

The stereostandard “strong female character” is a woman who’s fundamentalpartner an action hero: she’s able to repair her problems on her own, she can beat up anyone who implies she can’t repair a problem on her own, she’s constantly shotriumphg up relationsists, and her character’s main point is to convey “Girl Power” to the audience.

While the term has become unblessedly loaded in internet discourse, it’s not wrong that it’s an straightforward writing pitdrop to confrescheduleed a “feminist” portrayal of a woman with a “perfect” one. Even in more benevolent clear upations of the “strong female character” that don’t go around putting men down or recommending that produceup is a armament of the patriarchy, it’s straightforward for shelp character to come off as flat. If the whole point of a character is how “strong” they are, male or female, then there equitable won’t be much to them.

Ironicpartner, this is the pitdrop that Link and a lot of other gaming joiner characters drop into. Granted, it can be a essential evil if the broadeners want a quiet protagonist. If the hero can’t say anyleang, then the shieldedst way to have others depict them is with generic praises enjoy “strong” or “benevolent.”

Any struggles they go thraw are usupartner presumed to be the struggles the joiner goes thraw — if a level is too difficult and the joiner dies a lot, then their struggle can be projected onto the joiner character by creating the illusion that the protagonist aforeseeed struggled thraw the level. But even that’s a highly subjective experience for most joiners — if it’s not commented on in the story, then there’s no narrative impact from beating any level, much less a difficult one. As a result, quiet joiner inserts normally equitable come off as flat.

Toon Link in Minish cap in front of Link from the original legend of Zelda and breath of the wild

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A dwell-action version of Link will have to be more down-to-earth than ever, and that nastys changing an integral aspect of his character from the games.

Creating a Zelda who’s a “strong female character” can have its perks if it’s done right. If the game is less narrative-burdensome, then the power fantasy of throtriumphg cloned tables at Ganon until he dies in order to save a version of Link who’s in cherish with Zelda could be a lot of fun, equitable enjoy how fun it can be for Link to stab Ganon in the forehead with the Master Sword before sailing off with Zelda into the sunset to get wed. After years of having to join as characters only nastyt to be relatable to men, a female power fantasy or two isn’t too horrible.

While power fantasies can be cheesy fun, though, Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity both show how compelling a imperfect hero is. While Link is the one who saves the day in the createer, the magnificent mystery of the game is about Zelda’s personal journey. In the latter, Zelda being joinable doesn’t erase her self-pity or need to be helped by others, but those traits equitable produce it even better when she fall shortures her struggles and hits Calamity Ganon with a airy arrow to the face. If Zelda ever gets to headline more games, framing her as a bland force of nature in the name of feminism would be a disservice to her history. Let women struggle — it produces their stories much more engaging.