How come Link never gets a girlfriend in any games? I would be fine with it but it's as if in every game there's some girl he's really close to but doesn't have a romantic relationship with. Is this because the target auidience may be to young? What's your opinion on this matter?
Romance in the Legend of Zelda
- Thread starter Kylo Ken
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2011
- Location
- New Jersey
So the theory is.......?
As you maintained, Nintendo doesn't wish to alienate a large portion of its target audience which is composed of children and teenagers. Not everyone possesses the maturity to observe a full blown-out relationship. But hey, at least that offers us Zelda fans something more to speculate about. Which girl should Link go for? 
Sydney
The Good Samaritan
The Legend of Zelda isn't always targeted towards young people. If you haven't noticed, many people on this site love Zelda, and they're in their 20's. (Not calling you guys old, I was just trying to make a point. xD) Anyways, in some Zelda games there is hinted romance. Such as Twilight Princess with Ilia and Link, or some people speculate Midna and Link. Ocarina of Time with Mido and Saria, and Link and Princess Ruto. Not to mention Link and Saria, Link and Zelda, AND Link and Malon! (What a ladies man!) Skyward Sword with Groose and Zelda, but mainly with Link and Zelda. Heck! In Skyward Sword, (if you do the side-quest) you can have a secret relationship with another character! And the list just continues. I always found that Link never had the time for romance. He was always focused on his mission to save Hyrule, and romance would only stop him from doing so. He's always traveling, so stopping down to build a family wasn't optional. The only thing is, what about after he saves Hyrule? :brow:
AnimeHat
Humming Swordsman
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2012
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- Arkansas, US
The only Zelda game that I felt romance existed in (even the slightest) was Skyward Sword. Nowhere else have I thought of Zelda being a love story, but the fans sure chalk it up to one.
There are endless possibilities on how this could be implemented.
There could be a quest where Link has to go to the store to buy tampons for her. Or maybe another where he has to meet her parents and try to impress them. The father of course is an ex-convict who is overly protective of his daughter. There could be some great cutscenes where the two argue over Link being off adventuring to much and never calling. Maybe one quest could have Link getting jealous at her close male friend and he goes of to "take care" of the problem in a blind rage followed by a quest to dispose of the evidence.
Just some ideas.
There could be a quest where Link has to go to the store to buy tampons for her. Or maybe another where he has to meet her parents and try to impress them. The father of course is an ex-convict who is overly protective of his daughter. There could be some great cutscenes where the two argue over Link being off adventuring to much and never calling. Maybe one quest could have Link getting jealous at her close male friend and he goes of to "take care" of the problem in a blind rage followed by a quest to dispose of the evidence.
Just some ideas.
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HyruleLove
Twilight Princess
- Joined
- May 9, 2011
- Location
- Puerto Rico
I feel like there was romance in Skyward Sword. Im sure Nintendo was going for romance, the music that played when they met just gave an impression of romance, and not to mention their body language was a bit awkward around each other. I thought it was beautifully done <3 Beautiful love story.
E
elalco
Guest
cause he's gay
Sydney
The Good Samaritan
Being married to the Princess Zora is being gay? I don't think so. Link is in no way, shape or form; gay.
Dragoncat
Twilit wildcat: Aerofelis
No...just, no. All of those are too weird.
SS did a good enough job with the romance, but I would have loved to see a kiss at the end...then again, it would be next to impossible to pry them off of each other lol.
Go_Skyward
Seek a door that carries a [9]
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2012
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- Nevada Test Site
I believe Nintendo targets people of all ages to play their games. Recently in Zelda games (looking at you Spirit Tracks and Skyward Sword) they appear to have a more romantic aspect. But to be honest, I think Nintendo likes watching the fans make up crazy theories about Link's 'love interests'. Okay, I'm kidding. But as I said, I believe Nintendo pins their games at people of all ages.
Fig
The Altruist
While there isn't a real relationship that Link has with a girl in any game of the series, there are hints from the games that give us fans speculation of possible relationships that we believe could work out. It would be nice to see Link have an official girlfriend, but the feel of not speculating Link's possible romantic partner wouldn't be the same. The only game that truly shows signs of affection and a possible relationship is with Link and Zelda from Skyward Sword, but even then, the signs are very light. There isn't a really big sign that Zelda/Link really likes him/her. With that said, I would like for Nintendo to keep Link single and continue to give us fans signs of possible relationships that could happen in the series. It is actually so much fun to think of the numerous girlfriends that Link could have by his side! 
I would venture a guess that Link has no confirmed romance with any girl in the series to keep Link to be just that: Link. If there was confirmed romance within the series, it might disconnect many players for whatever reason. I doubt it is because the target audience is young, but that could also be a factor.
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2011
I would immediately like to state that something in the OP is wrong. The majority of the games offer no subtle or in-yo-face hints about Link's romantic intentions or feelings. The only games that I've played that do this are Twilight Princess, Skyward Sword, and perhaps Ocarina of Time with Saria - but that was very vague. In the rest he is equally close with everyone it seems.
I believe that there are two possible answers to your question. It's either because Nintendo's target demographic are too imature or young to handle/comprehend a complex, classical relationship in a video game, or, Nintendo doesn't devote enough of their budget to the storytelling in Zelda so a romantic relationship never explicitly developed in any of the games. Both seem reasonable and possible, but are equally unacceptable.
You don't have to be eighteen years or older to enjoy or respect a classic, yet subtle romantic relationship between two people in a video game. Let's take Skyward Sword for example because, so far, that is the best example we have for an explicit romantic relationship in Zelda. Now, the game did an excellent job of dropping subtle hints throughout our journey to imply that our hero had a romantic interest in our beloved Zelda. The hints were placed right, did not interfere with the gameplay or conflict between Link, Demise and Ghirahim. At the end of the game I was so ready for Link and Zelda to just simply kiss. . . but it never happened. WHY NINTENDO WHY???? A simple kiss would have resolved the romantic tension between Link and Zelda, it would have satisfied the player (don't tell me that you didn't think it was going to happen too), and it would have offered so much more emotional connection between the player and the game (like there wasn't enough of that already). A simple kiss at the end could have done so much more for Skyward Sword, but they chose not to add it, probably due to one of the aforementioned reasons I mentioned above.
Typing this also reminds me of an excellent example that Nintendo could adopt for future Zeldas. This example comes from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now the majority of you have probably seen it, so I'm not going to rehash the entire relationship between Aang and Katara. The point is, for those who have seen it, that show did a stupendous job of combining a rather complex, deep romantic relationship between two main protagonists and action/adventure. How was it resolved? A passionate kiss at the end between the two. Nintendo - learn from them.
I believe that there are two possible answers to your question. It's either because Nintendo's target demographic are too imature or young to handle/comprehend a complex, classical relationship in a video game, or, Nintendo doesn't devote enough of their budget to the storytelling in Zelda so a romantic relationship never explicitly developed in any of the games. Both seem reasonable and possible, but are equally unacceptable.
You don't have to be eighteen years or older to enjoy or respect a classic, yet subtle romantic relationship between two people in a video game. Let's take Skyward Sword for example because, so far, that is the best example we have for an explicit romantic relationship in Zelda. Now, the game did an excellent job of dropping subtle hints throughout our journey to imply that our hero had a romantic interest in our beloved Zelda. The hints were placed right, did not interfere with the gameplay or conflict between Link, Demise and Ghirahim. At the end of the game I was so ready for Link and Zelda to just simply kiss. . . but it never happened. WHY NINTENDO WHY???? A simple kiss would have resolved the romantic tension between Link and Zelda, it would have satisfied the player (don't tell me that you didn't think it was going to happen too), and it would have offered so much more emotional connection between the player and the game (like there wasn't enough of that already). A simple kiss at the end could have done so much more for Skyward Sword, but they chose not to add it, probably due to one of the aforementioned reasons I mentioned above.
Typing this also reminds me of an excellent example that Nintendo could adopt for future Zeldas. This example comes from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Now the majority of you have probably seen it, so I'm not going to rehash the entire relationship between Aang and Katara. The point is, for those who have seen it, that show did a stupendous job of combining a rather complex, deep romantic relationship between two main protagonists and action/adventure. How was it resolved? A passionate kiss at the end between the two. Nintendo - learn from them.