• Welcome to ZD Forums! You must create an account and log in to see and participate in the Shoutbox chat on this main index page.

Is BotW Zelda a Zelda of Power?

Joined
Feb 19, 2019
Gender
Feel free to use what pronouns you want. I use both sexed pronoun sets interchangeably.
Something that occurred to me as I took a look at Zelda's characteristics in BotW: She's not very wise or courageous. Throughout, she mostly tries, and fails, to fulfill the expectations of her. And when those expectations fail, she lashes out against allies who she mistakenly believes hate her. She's quite knowledgeable, yes, but ultimately it isn't an act of Wisdom or Courage that awakens her abilities; it's her emotional reaction to someone she knows being hurt.

Who else do we know that seems to have their powers activated by emotional reactions in the series? Ganon.

You see, throughout the series the characters have been shown to have certain personality traits:

Zelda, aligned with Wisdom, tends to be knowledgeable, kind, and quite capable of making rational decisions. She is at her strongest when acting in a rational manner.
Link, aligned with Courage, is steadfast and willful. He just does not give up. He is at his strongest when being a steadfast wall of determination.
Ganon, aligned with Power, is ruled by emotions. He is strongest when he's raging.

So, while this isn't any solid theory, based on that alone I am growing to be of the opinion that the reason Zelda failed so hard to activate her abilities in BotW is because she was aligned with Power, not Wisdom or Courage, and she was trying to use acts of Wisdom and Courage to activate her powers. But it was the emotional turmoil from Link's near demise that activated her powers; her emotional reaction. From hints in-game, I get the feeling this is unlike her grandmother, who was probably a traditional Wisdom.

I think Zelda from BotW is what happens when the Triforce of Power is empowering someone who is benevolent and shows what happens when that Triforce is used in the right way.

I also think this means that Zelda, and Zelda alone, has access to all three pieces of the Triforce. Just that, for some odd reason, she can't use all three pieces at once.
 

TheGreatCthulhu

Composer of the Night.
Joined
Jan 22, 2016
Location
United States of America
Gender
Very much a dude.
I agree. Zelda this time around seems to be the wielder of the Triforce of Power, and shows the benevolent side of power.

Power is good, but a lust of power corrupts you, like it did with Ganon.
 
Joined
Nov 7, 2011
I would argue that her actions to save Link were more an act of courage than power. She actively tried to shield Link from harm and was ready to take the blow despite not knowing if her powers would even work. She actually pushes Link back, but when the laser remains trained on him that's when her triforce power kicks in.



In a similar sense, Mipha mentions that her healing powers work best when she's thinking about those she cares about. I don't think this was a throwaway line, I think this was to signify that selfish acts yield no fruit, and the battle in which Link fell was the first time Zelda initiated a truly selfless act. She spent all her time in the memories prior on her own projects, even only going through the cleansing rituals half-heartedly because her father ordered her too. That's why I think it's the motivations of the battle scene, rather than the circumstances, that are supposed to be the focus.

We aren't given much at all to work with regarding the triforce in Breath of the Wild, so I'm hesitant to believe this theory. I always pegged her struggles with activating her powers as being more down to the fact that her mother died young and so couldn't pass on the knowledge, so she had to blindly follow old legends and myths rather than actual first hand knowledge.
 
I agree with Blue :eek:

It takes a lot of courage to stand up to a Guardian, especially when you have no weapons, in a selfless act to save someone.

As Blue pointed out, I don't think Mipha's line is throwaway either, and by the point in the story where Zelda protects Link the two have become close.

Zelda's mothet died before she could pass on the wisdom of how to unlock her powers, but even though Zelda didn't show wisdom in a spiritual sense, her character is still compelled by curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. She wants to understand the Guardians, she is clued on on wild life such as the hot footed frog and plants such as the Silent Princess.

So i still think she is knowledgable, just probably not in the spiritual/emotional sense which is probably why the fountains she prayed at did nothing for her.

If previous Zeldas were wise because they had faith or were spiritually focussed, they perhaps Zelda in BotW struggled because she gave more attention to the physical world.

I still think she is alligned wisdom in BotW.
 

GrooseIsLoose

Slickest pompadour in town
ZD Legend
Joined
Aug 16, 2019
Location
Skyloft
Yup . I too felt that . She is probably gonna be a playable character in BotW 2 . Congratulations Zelda! :pikalove::pikalove:You got yourself a promotion!
I have dealt with that possibility in the below thread:
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom