Daily Debate: Will Miyamoto Steer the Zelda Movie Toward More Traditional Series Lore?
Posted on February 21 2024 by Leslie Jacobson
Ever since we were blessed with the words, “This is Miyamoto. I have been working on the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda for many years now with Avi Arad-san, who has produced many mega hit films,” Zelda fans have speculated about who the villain will be, what Zelda’s role will be, and what game or story the main inspiration will be for the film. The Zelda series has over 20 games and main stories from which to pick and choose material for a script. It’s also quite the daunting task to write a script that will please not only long-time fans but bring in new fans as well.
It’s interesting to note that Miyamoto announced his involvement with the project, rather than Eiji Aonuma. Shigeru Miyamoto created The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Famicom in 1986. From there, he was credited as a producer on all new Zelda titles (not remakes) up until the mid 2000s; he has producer credits for The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, and general producer credits on the Oracle games and The Minish Cap. Starting with Phantom Hourglass, new Zelda titles have Miyamoto credited as a general producer. Eiji Aonuma meanwhile has director credits for Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess, and he has been primarily credited as producer for Zelda series releases after 2003. Since then, he has worked almost exclusively on the Zelda series as a producer and has supervised games that use Zelda characters, such as Smash Bros. and Hyrule Warriors games.
Both Miyamoto and Aonuma have been enormously influential to the series; there is no doubt about that. They have also had many wonderful writers and directors who have lent their respective talents to the team. The thing is, for both Aonuma and Miyamoto, gameplay is the number one priority when creating a game. The story is there to act as glue between different gameplay aspects. Even still, there are noticeable patterns in the stories/games that are mostly Miyamoto influenced and those that are Aonuma influenced. Miyamoto-influenced games tend to involve the classic trio of Ganon, Zelda, and Link, their battles over controlling the Triforce, and Hyrule itself. Eiji Aonuma’s influence has meanwhile been the introduction of newer villains, such as Ghirahim, Demise, and Yuga. Other ways Aonuma has influenced the series is the gradual diminishing of the role of the Triforce to the series’ lore. The two latest mainline games, Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, never mention the Triforce at all, and Tears of the Kingdom was the first game to feature Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf in the same game in 17 years!
Since Miyamoto is producing the movie, I think it will have more of a “classic Zelda” aesthetic and story. To me, this means Link will be wearing green and will be wondering where the next piece of the Triforce is hidden. Most Miyamoto-influenced games also feature a dual-world aspect, such as the underworld of dungeons in the very first game, or the light/dark and child/adult worlds in A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time, respectively. I do not believe the movie will be based on any one game in particular. Instead, given Miyamoto’s influence, I think we will see a Triforce-based story that has hints of or visual cues to later Zelda games.
What do you think? Will the movie be based more on traditional Zelda lore with the classic trio, the Triforce, and a dual world, or will it lean more toward newer stories and villains to bring in new fans? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Leslie is a mom, a cosplayer, an educator, and a fervent fan of The Legend of Zelda series. She lives in an area of the United States that reminds her of the Akkala region in the fall and Hebra the other 11 months of the year. She owns The Legend of Zelda t-shirts older than most of her students.
