Would You Rather: Edition XI

After a brief respite I have returned to provide you with fun and impossible choices! Our last edition gave you a choice for pets in the real world that came straight out of classic and new Zelda tiles. From what I saw, you are all totally crazy and would love to have a murderous chicken from another dimension do your dirty work! But that’s okay, as we all know that Cuccos are awesome and need to be respected. Like pit bulls, people would walk to the other side of the street rather than pass you as you take your deceptively docile pet out for a stroll. This week has another match up for you and I’m excited for you to see it! Hit the jump to join the conversation!

Companions in the Zelda games have been reasonably varied and subject to numerous complaints, origin stories, praise, theories and more. In particular, the most commonly discussed companions are fairies and spirit, or incomplete, personalities, such as Midna and Zelda’s spirit. I put these two together for the simple reason that both have been transformed in some way that makes their original bodies and abilities unavailable; Midna is now an imp with a tiny fraction of her former power (hence why she agrees to help Link) and Zelda no longer has a body, rendering her unable to interact with the physical world, let alone loose her iconic light arrows to help save the day.

When it comes to our fairy companions, there are also a few that we get to experience, chiefly Navi and Tatl. The existence of Tatl and her naive brother Tael inform us that not all fairies originate from/live in the Kokiri forest and that there are fairies unattached to the Kokori. Of course, for the purposes of this comparison we are not adopting the theory that Link is dead in Majora’s Mask, which would imply that both Tatl and Tael are actually not real, and in some ways we are taking for granted the idea that Link can, in fact, get lost in the Lost Woods and come out in a foreign land. But we can argue the theories of the relationship between Termina and Hyrule another time. To make this more fun, lets just focus on the implication that you do not have to be a Kokiri to have a fairy. Which leads me to the now evident comparison for this week! Would you rather have a companion (for life!) that is a fairy or a spirit?

Fairy

• Is totally adorable and you can actually say that you know/live with/talk to a real fairy.
• Helps you talk with people who are far away.
• Your fairy is a representation of class or rank, meaning you will be eligible for special treatment and entrance into exclusive groups of people who have fairies.
• Fairies come in different colors, so you could rock a fairy that fits in with your personality. Who knows, maybe they could change colors and be like a “mood fairy,” effectively warning the world when you just want to be left alone, or if you would say “yes” if only the other person would ask you out already!

Spirit

• 50/50 chance of having a semi-helpless companion or one with pent up magical powers that they can and will use for their own gain (i.e. manipulate you) or just to help you out because you are totally pathetic in their eyes.
• Can help you commune with other supernatural beings, if any happen to be around where you are.
• If you find yourself in battle with enormous, mutated creatures, these would probably come in more handy than a fairy, as the fairies tend to disappear somewhere in your clothes whenever things get a little rough.
• There is a potential for a Prince and the Frog type scenario, where you help your spirit companion out of a bind and they turn into a beautiful princess/prince that the general community thinks is really into you, so you would feel confident enough to make a move.

What kind of companion would you prefer to have for the long haul? Let us know which and why in the comments below!