Breath of the Wild Link in Zelda U to Be "young, Black Lady"?

[Shankapotomus]

If you haven't heard the news, Zelda Dungeon actually did an article on it which you can find here: http://www.zeldadungeon.net/2014/07/petition-for-multi-cultural-link-picks-up-speed/ I know there is a comment section for the article as well, but I feel the ZD forums are much more suitable for discussion.

So anyways, someone made a petition on Change.org for Link to be playable as a "young, black lady" in Zelda U. The description of the petition says "For too many years have the black community been underrepresented in the video game industry. Nintendo went too far this time when they chose to make the new Link white and white only. We need to end this injustice, equality has sadly still not been truly achieved."

Now, the sentence that caught my eye is "we need to end this injustice, equality has sadly not been truly achieved." To which I replied: "If all people are to be equal, like this guy wants, then why does it matter what color Link is?" Things like this are what make people question if others believe in equality, and making Link black in Zelda U would only stir up more negative controversy.

Also, I'm sure it goes without saying that you can't change someone like Link, someone who, over the course of 25 plus years, has become an established character. Sure, Link is supposed to be the "link" between you and Hyrule, and that he's kind of like your avatar, but he's still an established character.

These kinds of things really just go to show that no matter what someone does, someone else will always have a complaint about it. Nintendo could be giving us one of the best Zelda experiences to date, but it has the potential to be dampened because someone decided to make his complaints public, after 25+ years of Link being Caucasian.

But what do you guys think? I still think this is an interesting topic to discuss, so leave your thoughts below.

 

[Mangachick14]

Link isn't Caucasian, he's Hylian.

 

[Shankapotomus]

Link isn't Caucasian, he's Hylian.

I know. I just felt like saying Caucasian over white as a way to describe his physical skin color.

 

[Mangachick14]

I know. I just felt like saying Caucasian over white as a way to describe his physical skin color.

He's not 'white' either, although he's light-skinned. (Please note that I view the word 'white' as a less PC variant of Caucasian) My point is, Nintendo has created their own races for the Zelda universe that reflect their geographical living conditions. The Gorons live in a Volcanic area, so they have a rock-like appearance. The Zoras live in Water, and therefore take on fish-like appearances. Hylians/Hyrulians live in a temperate forest-type location, and take on lighter-skinned, elven appearances. The Gerudo live in a desert, and are dark-skinned and dressed for their harsh climate.

If it were a situation where Link had been a customizable character and no darker skin-tones were given as an option, then I could totally understand people getting upset. But that is not the case. Link is... well, he's himself. A young, light-haired, orphaned Hylian boy who is the chosen hero of Hyrule. I don't understand how continuing to have Link look the same as he usually does is "going too far".

 

[(◕‿◕✿)]

Well if this turns out to be true, I'm sure ZD will ban discussion of Zelda U.

 

[Mercedes]

Not used to seeing stuff like this and it not be directed to a Bioware game...

 

[Évariste]

Also, I'm sure it goes without saying that you can't change someone like Link, someone who, over the course of 25 plus years, has become an established character. Sure, Link is supposed to be the "link" between you and Hyrule, and that he's kind of like your avatar, but he's still an established character.

These kinds of things really just go to show that no matter what someone does, someone else will always have a complaint about it. Nintendo could be giving us one of the best Zelda experiences to date, but it has the potential to be dampened because someone decided to make his complaints public, after 25+ years of Link being Caucasian.

But what do you guys think? I still think this is an interesting topic to discuss, so leave your thoughts below.

First, from my reading of the petition...from the word "playable" it seems like they are asking for the option to play as a young, black female...not the character to be young, black female only.

I don't agree that Link is as established of a character as you say he is. His personality is not completely drawn out...and if I were playing Ocarina of Time, the hero's name would be Josh, not Link. And I disagree with characterizing Link as Caucasian (i.e. white...is Hylian a race or a nationality? This question is not that important, but I'm okay with identifying Caucasian as a description of race strictly). We don't know what race the Hylians most resemble. As such, I don't see any problem with allowing the protagonist to be black or any particular race. I also don't see a problem with allowing the hero to be female, since the deviation would not materially affect the game or the story.

Should this Change.org petition exist? Yeah, I think it's a worthy cause. While it is okay for games having only one protagonist with no customization possibility, too many games have established male protagonists. Race is a bit more complicated, but I can't think of many games with established black protagonists. As such, I think it is reasonable to ask for more diversity in Zelda and in all games. Given what I said in the first part of this post, I think Zelda is a great game to allow for character customization like what's asked for in the petition.

 

[RegalBryant]

Will she need a man?

 

[Shankapotomus]

Just to clarify: when I say "Caucasian", I meant white, as in his physical skin color. I wasn't referring to his race, which we all know is Hylian/hyrulean.

 

[Deleted member 14134]

Am I the only one not taking this seriously?

 

[Dio]

Why a young black lady? He should be an elderly ginger black disabled bisexual transsexual jew.

Honestly these petition people can just f**K off.

 

[Salem]

This is funny, I actually laughed.

 

[Iridescence]

Link isn't Caucasian, he's Hylian.

Hylians JUST SO HAPPEN (by random chance) to have blonde-ish hair, big blue eyes, beige-white skin tone, small lips and noses, and an overall human physique outside of their pointy ears.

Get real.

I'm not saying that Link needs to be black. But Nintendo could definitely make more diverse characters. Overall they just have a dearth of non-white human characters. (Except for Mario. He's not white; he's Mushroomian.)

 

[Mr Reaper]

The description of the petition says "For too many years have the black community been underrepresented in the video game industry. Nintendo went too far this time when they chose to make the new Link white and white only. We need to end this injustice, equality has sadly still not been truly achieved."

 

[Ganondork]

Hylians JUST SO HAPPEN (by random chance) to have blonde-ish hair, big blue eyes, beige-white skin tone, small lips and noses, and an overall human physique outside of their pointy ears.

Get real.

I'm not saying that Link needs to be black. But Nintendo could definitely make more diverse characters. Overall they just have a dearth of non-white human characters. (Except for Mario. He's not white; he's Mushroomian.)

I'm sorry but the influence of Link is clearly of Germanic origin. In the original game, he had a cross on his shield, which was common for the Knights Templar to also have during the Crusades.

Here is the original Link.

And here is a Knights Templar.

Everything, down to his sword choices scream Germanic. And I don't see what's wrong with that in the least bit. I see more of a Nordic influence in other video games (Skyrim, to name one), and a strict Germanic influence is seldom there.

And the Hylians aren't the only ones influenced by real life cultures. The Gerudos are based on Arabs, as evidenced by both their skin tone and their swords.

The scimitar was wielded by Arabs.

So I am not entirely sure I understand your last statement. That is diversity at its best. You have Germanic Christian-based groups, and Arab Muslim-based ones within the game's lore. Why does it have to be black?