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Would You Like a Gay The Legend of Zelda Character?

Djinn

and Tonic
Joined
Nov 29, 2010
Location
The Flying Mobile Opression fortress
I do not understand just why gay has to be the overall defining feature of a character added to a game. And then go as far as add them just to have a gay character in a game. Generally when you do something like that for any mindset, minority, or lifestyle all you get is a stereotype and then it only bothers everyone that Nintendo had the audacity to add a hollow stereotype for no other reason than to add a stereotype in the game. The entire idea would be mostly pointless.

Plus there have been probably a few gay characters to appear in the series already. They were just characters that had many other qualities to their personality that simply being gay was just not nearly important enough to bother making anything out of it in the storyline.
 

Links Brother

I am Links older Brother!
Joined
Jul 12, 2011
Location
Canada
In my opinion Homosexulaty is not a good thing since it is human nature for a Man and Wife to marry. And many kids play Zelda and they might get a bad idea from the game. It would also lose the relationship with Zelda a little and would make the game less kid friendly losing some the audience.
 

Nicole

luke is my wife
Joined
Apr 9, 2010
Location
NJ
I do not understand just why gay has to be the overall defining feature of a character added to a game. And then go as far as add them just to have a gay character in a game. Generally when you do something like that for any mindset, minority, or lifestyle all you get is a stereotype and then it only bothers everyone that Nintendo had the audacity to add a hollow stereotype for no other reason than to add a stereotype in the game. The entire idea would be mostly pointless.

Plus there have been probably a few gay characters to appear in the series already. They were just characters that had many other qualities to their personality that simply being gay was just not nearly important enough to bother making anything out of it in the storyline.

This is true. Many of us target Ghirahim, Tingle, and some other characters as gay. Should Nintendo officially label characters like them as gay, you would get a huge outcry of stereotyping. Many homosexuals are simply not flamboyant. That means any random character in The Legend of Zelda could be gay, or they could be straight, or they could be asexual. That's the thing, though, is that Zelda does not really focus on relationships. There are characters that are labeled as husband and wife, and there is one instance of a couple playing a major role in the storyline when we look at Anju and Kafei. Other than that, there really is very little mention of relationships, and I think if Nintendo made a big deal out of a homosexual couple, it just wouldn't feel like normal Zelda (not because they're homosexual; because Nintendo generally does not make a big deal out of romance).

Realistically, we don't know if there are any gay characters in The Legend of Zelda. We assume some are (Ghirahim, Tingle) but there are also plenty of homosexuals that you'd never guess they're not straight. Any number of the denizens in Castle Town could be gay, but their sexuality does not play into the storyline so it doesn't matter.

Would I like to see Nintendo do something with a gay couple that they did with Anju and Kafei? No. For one thing, they'd have to choose a "gay" couple or a "lesbian" couple, and if they do one, they have to do both or they'll get called out for gender discrimination. In the end, I feel it would be more trouble than it's worth for all parties. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge supporter for gay rights and equality, but this just would be an unwise direction for Nintendo.

In my opinion Homosexulaty is not a good thing since it is human nature for a Man and Wife to marry. And many kids play Zelda and they might get a bad idea from the game. It would also lose the relationship with Zelda a little and would make the game less kid friendly losing some the audience.

There's nothing wrong with homosexuality, as it is as natural as heterosexuality. One thing I wanted to address here is that you think they'd get bad idea from the game, and make it less kid friendly, therefore making in unlike Zelda. Would you say the same thing for the introduction of other very un-Zelda-like elements?
 

Shadsie

Sage of Tales
I thought Fledge in SS already had a crush on Link, heh, heh! Okay, so it's interpretable, anything from hero-worship/looking up to an upperclassman to possible crush, depending upon interpretation...

My feelings are mixed. So far, Nintendo has given us a lot of "camp" characters (the Carpenters, Ghirahim, Fyer and Falbi who, while canonically business-parnters somehow became partner-partners in my mind), but these flamboyant "camp" types carry some unfortunate implications. I.E. If they made a canonicially for-sure gay character, would they do it in a way that's realistic and sensitive to a minority? From what I read, Japan, much like America, Britain, etc. is a very heteronormative county and people don't always do well if they're asked to write what they don't know.*

On the other hand, having a gay character for Link to interact with as a friend with possible player-interpreted romance/non might be a very inclusive thing, seeing as LoZ is played by many different kinds of people, some of them gay, and some of them not-gay but of minds that enjoy possibilities and different directions for characters. Slash and yaoi fans don't need *jack squat* in the ways of canon to go ahead and interpret things the way they want to, anyway.** But having such characters may give a more inclusive feel and add to the diversity of Hyrule.

If it's done right. There's so much potential to unfortunate-it-up, though.

I also don't want it to ever become canon for Link, because despite some of the romancy-hints between him and various characters in the games, I like the idea of Link being "The Link" as in- "He is ultimately whatever the players want him to be" this means Zelda or Peatrice or Malon or Saria? Or Colin or Fledge or Shad or Shiek? Have fun, player, since none of it is strictly canon.


*Collary: This is much of the reason why I don't tackle the "issue" much with my own fiction writing. I'm more or less an asexual who doesn't understand sexuality much anyway, and "normal" het-side more than anything else. I also come from a homophobic background, as in I used to have a conservative religious attitude toward it (which is why I don't utterly demonize conservative religious people over it, I understand because I've been there). I do not have this attitude anymore, mostly because I have gotten to know what some might call an "alternate theology" for my general religion and have met gay-Christians online and stuff - the point is, my attitude has shifted and having had interactions with and getting to know actual gay people (even if only in an online setting), I'm so afraid that I'll "botch up" writing characterizations for fictional gay characters and do a disservice to the gay community that I kind of avoid the issue altogether or just have a mention of it without really exploring it. This may change if I feel confident to tackle "important issues" and get enough encouragement, but I think "writing what I know" (which means keeping it "gen") is the safe route.

**As a general not-often-broken rule, I dislike slash and yaoi in fandom precisely because of it "not being done right." Not only are the slash-fans apt to make *everyone* in their fics gay (including people who are happily heterosexual or are entities without sex organs in canon), the stuff most of them write (that I've seen) plays out like the *worst* of melodramatic/angsty/stupid het fics. Most of it is written by heterosexual young females, as well. I used to be a part of an Anti-Yaoi livejournal and some of the most prominent complainers were actual gay young men who disliked being asked embarassing questions about their personal lives by yaoi-fangirls. They also tended to laugh at the lack of realism in most of these kinds of fics. The point here is, this is such a sensitive thing and easy to do wrong that even people who are *enthusiatic* about it often do it dead wrong.
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2012
Location
Grooseland
Ummmm, no. Imagine how much criticism Nintendo would get for putting gays in such a huge franchise. It would be a dumb move just to satisfy a handful of gay gamers.
 
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
I would say thats a bad idea,even thought I have no problem with homosexuality I think its not right.Also i don't think parents would want their kid (Zelda is a children's series) to see a gay character and think its ok.
 

LinkandZelda<3

Knight Academy Student(:
Joined
Jan 31, 2012
Location
Skyloft<3
yesyesyes. ghirahim please? i love link and zelda togethr, but i think a little flirty side conflict would be the bomb!
 
Joined
Dec 21, 2011
There's nothing wrong with homosexuality, as it is as natural as heterosexuality. One thing I wanted to address here is that you think they'd get bad idea from the game, and make it less kid friendly, therefore making in unlike Zelda. Would you say the same thing for the introduction of other very un-Zelda-like elements?

Technically homosexuality isn't natural. Men and women are supposed to be together, sexually, to reproduce and that's why a heterosexual relationship is coined natural. In a homosexual relationship you can't reproduce and that's why the whole intimiate part of the relationship is coined unnatural.

Just so this post isn't only about commenting on Nicole's statement, I'll answer the OP as well.

There have been hints of homosexuality in characters all throughout Zelda's history. Characters such as Tingle, the Happy Mask Salesman, and more recently Girahim, have all shown what society has called "characteristics of homosexuality" atleast once throughout their course of the game (although I'd argue the Happy Mask Salesman is more of a peodophilie then a gay). This I do not have a problem of because it cannot cause controversy because Nintendo never fully stated that they were/supposed to be homosexuals. If Nintendo were to full out say in a text dialougue box thing that they were homosexual, or explicitly showed a homosexual relationship in the game, then that's where I disagree with this idea.

No matter what anybody believes/thinks, society claims homosexuality to be unnatural and the majority of parents wouldn't want their kids exposed to homosexuality at such an early age. If they were to explicitly show homosexuality in a Zelda game, or for any game that matter, they would suffer from law-suits up the wadzuu, lose a large amount of sales due to people not buying the game, it would cause wide spread controversy all over the interent, and it plain and simply wouldn't be good for Nintendo.

Me personally, I wouldn't care if there was homosexuality in a Zelda game. I only say the things I've said because I'm looking out for Nintendo and their benefits while also thinking rationally about this idea. I just don't think it would be good at all.
 
Z

Zelda Fangirl

Guest
I don't think it should, it would affect the franchise, because many parents will find it offensive, I think Nintendo should maintain a Neutral view in that aspect, specially because is a family orientated enterprise. And personally I really wouldn't like a gay character in the games.
 

Shadsie

Sage of Tales
I wanted to delete a redundant post, and the system killed both of my posts. Urgh.

My further thoughts: While I think that one day, characters dating and having cute crushes on the same sex in media will be seen as normal, run of the mill and not "adults only" in our society (whether you see this as good or bad depends on how you think), I'm not sure that we should expect Nintendo to be an "equality trailblazer." When you shoehorn things into media, it usually turns out bad and I'm not sure we can trust the creators of characters like Ghirahim to be particularly sensitive. There's another thing: Who's to say that there haven't been gay characters in the games already? I mean, it's not like the "straight" or assumed to be straight unattatched characters go, "By the way, Link, I'm totally straight, how are you today." I'm assuming that gay characters shouldn't have to do the same. A lot of things in these games are left to fan interpretation and it seems kind of dumb to expect gay people to have to say "I'm gay" all the time just to remind us - particulary in a society (such as Hyrule) where it might well be seen as a run of the mill, no big deal thing, unlike in ours.

Meanwhile, let the debates about Sheik's (possible) transexuality continue as they have for eons.
 

Dio

~ It's me, Dio!~
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Location
England
Gender
Absolute unit
There is possibly... Ghirahim. I think it is possible he finds link sexually attractive and has some kind of crush on him, he seems to find himself sexually attractive,and being a man it is possible that this means he has homosexual tendencies.
 

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