Profile: Zelda Part 3
Introduction
Since the next game in the series, Link’s Awakening, only contains a passing reference to Zelda, our next entry in the Profile: Zelda series will cover the classic: Ocarina of Time. From this point on I am going to go against what I said before about covering the games in blocks. Rather, I am going to cover each entry one at a time. The reason for this is because at this point in the games history, a rather large technology leap is achieved which allowed for grander stories, as well as more flushed out characters in the games. If I were to group some of these Zeldas together, I would not do them justice. As always, this entry will contain spoilers for the Legend of Zelda series.
Zelda’s Role Evolved
OoT was groundbreaking in many ways. And while there is much we could discuss about this game, the focus of this series is of course Zelda herself. In this entry, Zelda’s character moves on from the passive damsel in distress, to an active damsel in distress whose dialogue and actions help drive the narrative. In the story Link encounters Zelda in Hyrule castle after being directed to find her by the Deku Tree. At this point in the story, Link only knows there’s a bad guy named Ganondorf, and that he must find Zelda to continue his quest. Upon meeting her she describes Link as the one who she saw in her dream and identifies Ganondorf as the bad guy. She gives some lore exposition, points Link in the right direction, and gives him the means to progress.
Even in this first encounter at the start of the game, we can see some character traits start to emerge and overlap with previous entries. Zelda is a royal, and she is connected to Link in a way that one might say is divinely providential. In addition this entry adds some other features to her character. She knows the history/lore of the land, she possesses the Ocarina of Time and is therefore connected to time in some way, and she guides Link’s actions to help him succeed in his quest. I believe this final characteristic is a direct connection to the aspect of the Tri-Force that Zelda frequently possesses: Wisdom. We don’t learn this until later on in the story, but after Ganondorf touches the Tri-Force, the goddesses choose Zelda as the bearer of the Tri-Force of Wisdom. This story point is important so I’ll take a moment to discuss it in this post.
I’ll discuss the Tri-Force more in a future post, but to put it simply, if an unworthy person touches the Tri-Force it splits. The person who touched the Tri-Force attains the piece that best represents this person. The other two pieces are given to two other individuals determined by the goddesses. While it does not explicitly say this anywhere, it is safe to assume that the other two individuals both receive their Tri-Force piece because they too are best represented by their specific piece of the Tri-Force. Individually the Tri-Force pieces do not grant wishes, but rather seem to amplify the attribute they represent in the bearer. The result is a sort of feedback loop that results in a sort of deterministic telos for the character who possesses it. Zelda is wise, and thus receives the Tri-Force of wisdom. Because she has the Tri-Force of Wisdom, she cannot help but act wisely. She now has her role to play in the story, and a means to achieve her ends. Wisdom is her “weapon” and it is now her duty to use that weapon to achieve victory. Were Zelda to rely more on courage or power (attributes she certainly does have), she would be outmatched by the likes of Ganondorf because she is not playing to her strength. Even though she does have courage and does act courageously, it is not her telos to do so. That is Link’s telos. I go on this side rant because I believe this to be a very important part of Zelda’s meta character. Zelda is not Link. Zelda is not Ganon. There are many fans online who every now and then express a desire for a canonical game where you play as Zelda. A magic wielding warrior that saves the day. This adaptation of Zelda would not actually be Zelda because you are essentially swapping Link’s gender and giving him the name Zelda. Zelda does fight from time to time in the series, but physical prowess is not her primary means of achieving her goals, wisdom is. A game with Zelda as the main character could be done, but it would need to be a very different type of game. One that is narrative heavy, relies on decisions you make, and one where you are more physically vulnerable than Link is in the rest of the games. Otherwise Zelda becomes a derivative of Link, which does her character a disservice and strips her of any of her unique strengths. Now that we got that cleared up we can move on with the story.
Seven years after Link meets Zelda for the first time Zelda has wisely hidden her identity as Sheik and does display some physical prowess, a trait not usually displayed in other iterations of Zelda. She provides Link with more Wisdom and guidance through the game and is eventually captured by Ganondorf. But before she is captured she grants Link the Light Arrow. This is the first instance in the series where Zelda is shown to have a connection to the power of Light. Later on in the climactic battle against Ganon, Zelda uses this ability to stun Ganon which gives Link the opportunity to deliver the final blow.
Conclusion
Reviewing what we have determined thus far we see that Zelda has a royal lineage, is providentially connected to Link in some way, is connected to the natural aspects of both Time and Light, and most importantly, is wise. Wisdom is a core aspect to the character of Zelda. An iteration of Zelda that does not display or use wisdom to achieve victory, is arguably not a canonical version of Zelda. In addition we see that she is also a trained shekah warrior in this game. However we’ll see that this final characteristic is one of those one off characteristics that make each Zelda distinct to her place in the timeline.
What I absolutely love about this iteration of Zelda is that it solidifies the complementary aspects of the characters of Link and Zelda when it comes to defeating Ganon. For all her wisdom, Zelda cannot succeed without Link. Likewise for all his courage Link cannot succeed without Zelda. Despite this aspect being absent in the first three entries to the series (and a couple others), it holds true for all the other games and is one of the core characteristics of Zelda’s meta profile.
