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General Zelda Link As an Anti-Hero?

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Gender
Shewhale
So we all know our hero Link as the shy and modest kid who defies the odds and saves Hyrule but is his personality and motive becoming a bit too familiar?

What I am proposing is the idea of Link being an Anti-Hero, where in fact he is not totally good hearted but his purpose is to ultimately save Hyrule and Zelda but he goes about it in a different manor. We have seen this in a few games and recently with the likes of Prototype, Dishonored, Darksiders 2 Etc. I really like the idea of an Anti-Hero and I think it would certainly give Links altitude an edge as it did with the likes of Midna and her ultimate intentions.

So how do you feel about this, would you like to see this side of Link? If so in what way?
 
I'd like this to happen but the way I'd want it is for link to be older (mid 30s) battle hardened and desperate, he needs to save Hyrule and he'll stop at nothing to do it, he long since lost his young boy innocence and know what the evil of men can achieve. This Link would have no time to play hide and seek with un-evolved Bulbasaurs, he'd be focused, angrier, more deliberate in combat. I'd love him to be like that since at the moment he seems to be a spineless and submissive whelp that does what he is told regardless of what, if anything, he thinks.
 
Joined
Dec 9, 2012
No. This would make Zelda too similar to other franchises, which I don't want. If you had this with Sheik however, that's a different story.
 
Yes, I'd like to see a darker side to Link. In another thread several months ago, I argued Link wasn't a relatable character because he's the "perfect" hero: slaying baddies, rescuing the princess, bringing peace to the land. No one is flawless.

Nintendo would have to carefully go about about forming blemishes in Link's character. After Metroid: Other M, Nintendo fans are undoubtedly pessimistic about personality changes to established icons. A darker setting like Twilight Princess's would be the perfect opportunity. Maybe Link is framed by Dark Link appearing and wreaking havoc or fails to stop an attack by enemies prompting backlash from the town's folk and riling his anger.
 

sailormars109

Finding Love by the Moon
Joined
May 28, 2012
Location
Macy, Indiana
Isn't Link's anti-hero form Shadow Link in Four Swords? I thought it was.

Although, a Zelda game with Link as an Anti-Hero would be interesting. A game like that might create too much of a nostalgic erruption from the fans. After all, in all of the Zelda games, Link is the hero.
 

ThePurpleKnight

ThePurpleKnightmare
Joined
Dec 11, 2012
Location
Canada
If he's gonna change to a darker personality he should no longer be the player character, it might be cool to have him be an anti hero to follow the adult story line of OoT and have the player character be a girl who dresses like link and is interested in him so she always follows him around but getting into so much trouble in the process by entering dungeons she shouldn't be in being attacked by bosses and then after about 3 or 4 of them she can obtain the master sword from link and the story could change to actually have a story like most zelda games, random nonsense > obtain master sword > do a real quest.

Ahahaha now that I think of it, nintendo could go with a split story here to help their timeline issue.

Something like, Ganon attacks Link and he loses the sword, but the player character picks it up and attempts to save link is a pretty difficult boss battle, if she wins story A happens, if she loses story B happens, they could follow the same relitive story and dungeons but the end could be effected by it, with Link being the last boss in story B but being a partner to fight the last boss in story A.
 
Joined
Apr 16, 2010
I wouldn't want to see Link as an anti-hero, but I would like to see an anti-hero in the game as a recurring character who Link has to decide whether or not to trust and team up with. I think Link being an anti-hero would ruin the character, although I wouldn't mind seeing him have some struggle with himself.
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
I wouldn't want to see Link as an anti-hero, but I would like to see an anti-hero in the game as a recurring character who Link has to decide whether or not to trust and team up with. I think Link being an anti-hero would ruin the character, although I wouldn't mind seeing him have some struggle with himself.

That's a great idea. The struggling with himself bit is what the classic anti-hero is more like. An example being Spider-Man.
(PS Love the gifs in your signature, especially the one in the spoiler.)
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Location
Inside the Moon
Not unless he were corrupted like I proposed in some fanfics. Link is the spirit of the hero incarnated over and over. A distinct change in personality would seem to contradict what has been said and send the series in an odd direction. I don't want a thirty year old in ridiculous tights trying to act tough in front of an E audience. I've got a vision of that and it ain't pretty. Link is our hero and we all love him, as does the nintendo market (millions of copies for each game).

What might be interesting is if we don't see anti-Link in the world of Hyrule, but regular Link in a totally anti-Hyrule world. It would be like combining Termina with more gritty violence, darkness, and some advanced facial expressions. Link wouldn't be the same, because he would have to change to survive in the new world. This new world could open up darker storylines and better character development (MM if I'm being too subtle). That is all I can imagine without making Link some annoying, arrogant, and simply insulting character from a mainstream game.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2008
No..why? I don't really get some of these ideas, and I can't really see it make sense to shoehorn into the Zelda series.
Im not a fan of these fanfiction stories some people want.. I like LoZ for what it is, some games may have different tones, but not so it feels like it's a different series like what happened to Sonic with Adventure 2 and Sonic 2006..
 

snakeoiltanker

Wake Up!
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Location
Ohio
Maybe Link is framed by Dark Link appearing and wreaking havoc or fails to stop an attack by enemies prompting backlash from the town's folk and riling his anger.

i had mentioned a story along the lines of this idea in another thread not to far back. i think its a great idea, and a good way to turn Dark Link into a full character, the anti-hero setting would also work in another story mentioned where link was an outcast/orphan and is called upon to save hyrule, and i mentioned that the way he would go about things could be on the more questionable side of ethics. But in the end, his end game would be heroic, and would save everyone!

I also like Spirits idea of haveing him being much older and knowing the evil men can do, so he wouldnt be as clean cut with all the baddies!
 

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