I dont want romance in Zelda U mainly because the Zelda team suck at writing it. Link is an avatar... an avatar with a name and games named after him, who uses his emotions despite how the player is actually feeling about the situation. If romance is going to be put into Zelda U then they need to push Link into the 'character' status from the 'avatar' status and make a better story of it than the half-bothered job they usually do.
Until they make Link a female tech support worker in a call center, Link will never be an avatar to me. (And I seriously hope that never happens.) Frankly, I identify more with Agitha than Link...
Link is not an avatar. Rather, he's a character enforced onto the player. The player is like an actor doing improv, or a person playing a tabletop RPG, in which the DM has set a pre-made character. You take on the role of Link, but he is not you. The only way they'd ever change this is to get rid of Link entirely, and replace him with a character creator, and really, I don't play LoZ to play Skyrim. Exploring the character of Link (and who he is in a given game) is almost as much fun as exploring the land. If I want to play myself in a video game, I have many MANY options to do that, some of which are made by Nintendo.
The Zelda games constantly leave reminders about how you're supposed to feel about situations, who your friends and enemies are, and why. Link is given a background story, he has personal effects in his house that tell stories of their own, and I argue that in TP he had a steady girlfriend the whole way through. You take the events of the story to discover what kind of guy Link is.
I think Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword were the best examples of how Romance can and should be in Legend of Zelda. In response to another post here though, I do *not* however, ship Link and Midna. Warning, this is going to be long.
I see TP as being one of those "friendship trumps romance" things. My analogy is this: I see Midna as Hermione and Ilia as Ginny. Midna is a platonic friend, in all the best ways. The actual object of romance is not in the foreground of the story, and doesn't have to be. Otherwise she'd be a distraction rather than a boon.
Yes, scenes between Link and Midna are emotional, but most of the emotion is coming from Midna, and usually she's worrying about her country or people. The only exceptions are when Midna turns out to be not-dead, and later, when she leaves forever. I don't see that as romantic. I see it as a person being shocked that a friend would up and leave with barely a word. Midna = Navi = Fi.
Midna is the person who gives advice to the hero and keeps him in line. She has her own motives for being out on the hero's adventure, but those motives make her very reliable. And none of those motives involve snagging a lover. This makes me absolutely adore her character. It's nice to have a princess who isn't this courtly-love object on a pedestal. (Even if she's 2 feet tall for most of the story...)
On the other hand, scenes between Link and Ilia get big reactions out of Link every time. He's whipped and loving every moment of it. He flips out when he realizes she's been captured, to the point of panicking and running headfirst into the twilight unarmed. He looks utterly heartbroken when Ilia doesn't recognize him (and he helps her with saving the Zora kid anyway). On top of that, Ilia had her own big off-screen adventure, helping others depite her own personal issues. This shows an independent streak, and it shows she's a good match for the Hero.
The only other game to play out romance like this is Skyward Sword. And keep in mind, Link and Zelda are separated for the vast majority of the game. They do not adventure together, but when they do meet up, the scenes are very obvious about what the two mean to each other. But it doesn't end there for TP.
You get to the part where Ilia's memory is restored, and everybody moves to give them "privacy", kids are pulling each other off camera while Talo peeks in, grinning about whatever he is witnessing. When you get the camera back on Link and Ilia, they are closer together. When this type of scene happens in movies and TV, this is a heavily implied kiss. The kids are not dragging each other off screen so the two can play pattycake. (Unless we're talking Roger Rabbit standards here...)
I'm sorry, but that's as obvious as it gets. The shared-memory of the fountain only seals it. (I remember Hitchcock liking the shared-memory thing for romantic scenes.) In fact, TP Link/Ilia is probably the strongest ever Link romance. Skyward Sword is a close second. The object of romance doesn't have to be a damsel in a tower. She can be her own woman, off on her own adventures, doing her own thing. And honestly, that's probably the kind of woman the Hero needs, in order to give him an anchor of sorts while he's off saving the world. Somebody who understands who he is and what he needs, but will still wait for him,
when he is ready.
