It would be nice to see a change but it seems like Nintendo is really in love with the old style fairy tale storytelling with the gallant knight rescuing the fair damsel in distress from the evil monster. They are not huge fans of change or shaking up the main narrative as it might take away from the game experience, and they have a similar policy of story not being nearly as important. So they keep on going with the overly simplistic storytelling in games since that's a "good enough" type of thing to them. Link is still an avatar, Zelda is still an end game goal, Ganondorf a boss monster.
If we were talking Mario I'd agree with you. Legend of Zelda isn't fairytale romance. It's courtly love.
Yes, there's a difference.
Don't think Cinderella in reverse, think Lancelot and Guinevere. In a nutshell, the story goes on with the understanding that any permanent relationship is impossible. There's no fairytale wedding or happily ever after. (At most, you end up with a lot of cheating and drama, and I simply can't see Nintendo going that route.)
Remember that comic of Link to the Past that was just re-released? Notice how it ends an awful lot like Ocarina of Time? The Hero and the Princess must say goodbye at the end of the adventure. Why did that guy go adventuring for years on end and literally fall in love with a dream? Notice "gramps" in Link Between Worlds? Doesn't exactly look like he's living any sort of noble life.
Notice how the Hero of Time's descendent grew up ranching rather than partying around with nobles?
Notice how most of the time, Zelda is almost portrayed as being above the hero? She's high, on a pedestal, out of reach.
Even Midna's goodbye scene...what's odd is I found anything between Link and Midna to be heavily buddy-buddy platonic, and yet, once again, the princess must say goodbye. The adventure is over. Go back to the rest of your life.
The one example where there seems to be something more, something attainable, would be Skyward Sword. In that story, Link and Zelda are portrayed as equals, both on a grand adventure of their own. The courtly love is non-existent. Instead, you have two relatively normal teens with a big destiny ahead of them. Even after the big reveal that Zelda and her descendents are demi-gods, she and Link still seem to be on the same level as each other. None is "above" the other. It speaks volumes.
Wind Waker once made me feel the same way, though some oddities about Spirit Tracks have me questioning that one now.
I think this is why Nintendo is able to be so experimental with Zelda's role in each game. They *can* shake it up, they *can* experiment, because they go in knowing that we have a different pair of people every time. Thus, they don't have to play up the fairy tale and end it with Disneyesque wedding bells. They don't even have to give them much of a relationship. Zelda can be the damsel in the tower or an adventurer in her own right. Her character is not boxed in.
Yeah, I'm a Zelink-skeptic. So sue me.
