Last summer Miyamoto hinted at the possibility of a spinoff starring Sheik as the titular protagonist, and I think something more along the lines of having other canon characters be the protagonist instead of picking your gender for the hero would be a much better way to go about diversity.
If we consider Link a defined character I'd argue he is very poorly written. It is very hard to tell if he shows any emotion towards anything, how much he cares about his quest, what his passions are, or how he reasons/thinks. Mostly because he never talks. Describing him without using the words "green garb" or "master sword" will boil down to "warrior who helps people, and saves the world" which is very vague.
I think the actual dilemma is that Link is very iconic, not that he is a fleshed out character like Nathan Drake for example. It has always been a guy in a green outfit with a sword that is the main hero. Changing gender, color of the outfit, or main weapon, should all be equally "problematic" but since the gender question is pretty controversial it obviously has the most heated debates.
You could maybe make the case though that Link is never exactly the same guy. We have so many variations. We have OoT child Link without parents who grew up in a forest, TWW Link who all of the sudden has a sister & grandma and is from an island, then look at ALttP where Link has a swordsman uncle. Surely there must be a parallell universe where Link could be a female reincarnate? I don't know, seems like too much controversy clouding this.
Only if the playable female was part of the story and not one that replaces Link. Someone who would be there regardless of whether you picked to play as them or not.
I do not want a gender option for Link who is a male character.
So like, being able to pick between Link and this female protag, but whichever one you don't pick is also involved in the story? That'd be cool. Pokemon does that kind of thing with rivals, so it could work in Zelda (not exactly as a rival, but you get the idea). I'd be down with that.
Wouldn't bother me any if they made it a choice to choose between Link or a female version. The story, game play, or outcome of the game wouldn't be affected at all by that.
If we consider Link a defined character I'd argue he is very poorly written. It is very hard to tell if he shows any emotion towards anything, how much he cares about his quest, what his passions are, or how he reasons/thinks. Mostly because he never talks. Describing him without using the words "green garb" or "master sword" will boil down to "warrior who helps people, and saves the world" which is very vague.
I think the actual dilemma is that Link is very iconic, not that he is a fleshed out character like Nathan Drake for example. It has always been a guy in a green outfit with a sword that is the main hero. Changing gender, color of the outfit, or main weapon, should all be equally "problematic" but since the gender question is pretty controversial it obviously has the most heated debates.
You could maybe make the case though that Link is never exactly the same guy. We have so many variations. We have OoT child Link without parents who grew up in a forest, TWW Link who all of the sudden has a sister & grandma and is from an island, then look at ALttP where Link has a swordsman uncle. Surely there must be a parallell universe where Link could be a female reincarnate? I don't know, seems like too much controversy clouding this.
If so, then could you buy the reasoning that since he is poorly written and even has multiple incarnations (hence the inconsistencies with family, origin, home town) then one of these incarnations could be a girl, and shouldn't matter more than say Link having a sister in one game but not in the previous one?
If so, then could you buy the reasoning that since he is poorly written and even has multiple incarnations (hence the inconsistencies with family, origin, home town) then one of these incarnations could be a girl, and shouldn't matter more than say Link having a sister in one game but not in the previous one?
I would love to play as Zelda. I think it would be very cool to have something like early Resident Evil games, where you had to play through both Jill's and Chris's stories to get the full story. I think it would be awesome to have a game where you play as Link and then play as Zelda to get a lot more of the plot and story.
Hell, I would even love Zelda to get her own game. A full entry in the Zelda series where The Legend of Zelda actually lives up to the name. Maybe something where she has her story, and you run into Link from time to time, but you never control him. You know he is doing his own thing alongside you, because you can see how the world changes based on his actions, but you never actually witness them. Or maybe you run into a dungeon in one part of the game and see that he is struggling against a boss, and you assist him in defeating the boss
(kind of like Zelda did in WW, with the magic off the shield mechanic in the Ganondorf fight)
But I would stop playing the series if they turned Link into a female. Sure, it's petty, but I'll have none of that diversity for the sake of diversity b.s.. If that's the argument (equality or some such nonsense), then make Zelda a prince instead of a princess. Naturally, that has never been even considered. Everyone is okay with Zelda being a female, always a female, and that's that. No one ever argues for Zelda, who also has inconsistencies in her background, to have her spirit inhabit a male. Mostly because it doesn't need to happen, because it's stupid, and because, honestly, it wouldn't follow the lore of the series.
It's exactly the same for Link. Link has always been male. Always. If they were going to have the Spirit of the Hero inhabit either male or female, they would have had the option to pick your sex at the beginning of the game waaaaaay back when, early in the series. They could have done something like Bethesda did with the Elder Scrolls: it doesn't matter who the Nerevarine is, or who the Dragonborn is, the plot is the same. But they didn't. They had him be the incarnation of Courage, and they had Zelda be the incarnation of Wisdom, and Ganondorf the incarnation of Power.
These are established elements, so why destroy them just because?
If so, then could you buy the reasoning that since he is poorly written and even has multiple incarnations (hence the inconsistencies with family, origin, home town) then one of these incarnations could be a girl, and shouldn't matter more than say Link having a sister in one game but not in the previous one?
Why would he reincarnate as a girl? No other character gender swaps upon reincarnation. It wouldn't seem right. Just like Prince Zeldo and Demon Queen Ganondorfa wouldn't be right.
Aonuma says a lot of things. Most of it seems like it's whatever he feels like saying at the time.
Perhaps I haven't been paying much attention (which I haven't) but remember BotW's initial reveal (before it even had a working title) they made a big deal about multiplayer? Has any mention of multiplayer been made since? Maybe it has. I dunno, could be a bad example. But it's just one out of the vast majority of vague statements Aonuma's made that nothing ever comes of.
But, Hey! At least we know where he stands on the issue.... today anyway.... presumably.