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General Zelda Are Girls Supposed to Be Limited?

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
Joined
May 26, 2010
Location
Akkala
Gender
Hylian Champion
Among the talk of innovation is female Link...but rather than Link, I have thought about just females in Zelda.

Time and time again we've seen female characters take on a number of roles in the Zelda series. They have all been unfortunately limited, however! We've seen Tetra wield a dagger in TWW (or so I recall), but I truthfully cannot remember any other time a female character has done some decent amount of fighting within Zelda. We've seen Zelda/Hylia make some important decisions, but the weight of those decisions fell on Link! I've totally been wondering whether Nintendo is limiting the girls' potentials in Zelda, or maybe I'm just looking at them in a wrong light.

What do you think about the status of females in Zelda? Could they use a boost as far as combat and story goes? Have fun~
 
TP Zelda had a good degree of authority, sacrificed herself for Midna, and shot Ganondorf in the face a few times with Light Arrows during the final battle, Midna herself, being female, helped out a great deal as have the other companions no matter how annoying they are, but if we're going for human female only here then i guess the companions don't count.

In OoT Zelda was a ninja, Saria was pretty important and Nabooru at least tried to stand up to Kotake and Koume.

In SS, Impa was a bit useless in battle but she kept Zelda safe for the most part and without her Link wouldnt have gotten very far...

But i see what you mean, we dont really see the women of Zelda in the heat of battle too often, but thats becuase we are supposed to be Link, we are the hero and no one else, everyone else is useless when compared to Link becuase he is the only one really doing anyhting of benefit and worth. We can look at the women of Zelda and converse on their limited roles etc, but outside of Link everyone, every race and every gender seem to have limited roles.

In SS Groose did as much and as little as Impa and Zelda and every other character did next to nothing, Pippit shouted at his mum....
In OoT no one outside of Link and Ganondorf did anyhting of worth, Saria gave you the Ocarina and i can't recall any males at all that helped out, Durania did but only during the fire dungeons, and i guess there is Dampe giving you the hookshot and all... oh and Sheik taught you how to be lazy with all those warping songs.. not a guy though.

I could go on, and while I'd like to see more hardcore women in Zelda i think that gender has little to do with it in relation to them having little roles within the franchise since the males get a slective/limited time of it too.
 
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Xinnamin

Mrs. Austin
Joined
Dec 6, 2009
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clustercereal
Link practically has himself a harem in OoT, and the vast majority of his partners have been female with the only exceptions, as far as I can recall, being KoRL and Ezlo. Female characters already have significant story importance. Other than the villains and Link's sword trainer (who's basically always an old man as just a running gag now), how many other characters in general fight other than Link in the games anyways. Just from each game's sidekick and Zelda incarnation, female characters have an arguably stronger story presence in many games than male characters.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Wait...wait what? Where did Tetra wield a dagger?

Anyway, the 2nd most important character in each game is the partner, if present. After that, it's Zelda save a few games. Nearly all the partners are female.
 

Castle

Ch!ld0fV!si0n
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Well, watching girls fight in video games isn't as fun as fighting along side them (or against them, i don't mind getting my butt kicked by a gal). Zelda has accompanied Link into battle before in WW and TP and was even a constant companion in ST.

Nintendo has been using Zelda in greater capacity in more recent titles. And not just her either. Midna was, as far as I'm concerned, the star of Twilight Princess (her namesake, after all). Romani drove a wagon through a bandit assault (don't think that's easy). Telma was the leader of a (okay, largely inept) resistance force in Twilight Princess.

Among other notable examples.
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
Joined
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Location
Inside the Moon
In recent titles, as above mentioned, the women play just as big a role as the men. The only real gender difference is that the main character is always a boy. If you want a real gender divide look at Mario Bros. or Call of Duty.
 

Random Person

Just Some Random Person
Joined
Feb 6, 2010
Location
Wig-Or-Log
If you're talking about "fighting" yes, there are a limited of females actually fighting... but that's because the only Person allowed to fight is Link. As far as actual fighting goes, females are just as abundant as males if you exclude Link. Zelda weilds a bow, some other Random character wields some other Random weapon, etc. If we're talking about relevance to story, then I just straight up disagree. Females are EVERYWHERE in Zelda. OoT is famous for them.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2008
You have to keep in mind there isn't many important characters in Zelda games anyway outside the big 3, I don't really see a bias of having more male characters in LoZ.
Off the top of my head, in OoT theres Zelda/Sheik, Impa, Ruto, Malon, Saria, and Nabooru. Heck the entire Gerudo. Also Navi if that counts.
TP theres Midna, Zelda, Iilia, and Ashei. I could keep going

As for not fighting, you don't really see anyone fight much outside Link not just females.

I don't really think they're limited, it's just LoZ dosen't use many characters in the first place.
 

Satsy

~~SaturnStorm
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Aug 24, 2010
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Somewhere small
Having just yesterday returned to that point in Wind Waker where Tetra helps Link out (kicking Ganondorf in the face), and a few moments later becomes a feeble looking Princess, I can definitely see why people would think girls get a hard time in this series. And for all someone used ST as an example of a female not carrying a gender role... she freaks out and becomes near-immobile upon seeing mice/rats, playing out the weak stereotype further.

I don't think this gender-treading is intentional, however, just incidental. It's why Nintendo should never handle Metroid so long as there's a story involved; they simply cannot write strong female leads. I suspect it's a cultural thing, and frankly they could be treating it a lot worse.
 
Joined
Nov 25, 2012
Location
Monkey Island
Tetra, Impa (OoT and SS)...those two are the only female characters I can think of, at the moment, who we've seen engaged in combat or look like they could/would. The vast majority of girls in the series, Saria, Malon, SS Zelda, Ilia, are so kind and sweet and supportive, they look like they couldn't hurt a fly. We need more of the former kind.
 
Joined
Nov 29, 2011
Location
New Zealand
There are so many important female characters and I found Impa in Ocarina to be quite an imposing person.

Also these Gerudos were good fighters

Gerudo_Thief.png
 

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