Breath of the Wild There will be NO female Link

[Polychrome]

Honestly, I've often wondered what the series would be like to have one of the other characters as the "main" on their own adventure. At least... a character other than Tingle. That was...odd.

Zelda as Sheik would be perfect for something like that. I mean, you got 7 years to work with.

 

[Maikeru]

I am kind of on the fence about a female Link. For that reason, I am fine with having the option to be female. And I'd probably allow you to be female if I was the man in charge. Simply for that added freedom in creation and for the fact that it's been asked for by the fans.

That said, I also feel like it depends on how the story is told. I think if we're looking at one of the Zelda games that has a more romantic tale it might be safer to stick to just the male Link. Granted, times are changing and this is being accepted more and more as time goes on. So not that I have anything against lesbianism but it is still a Zelda game.

And truthfully, that whole argument should be irrelevant. Because if that bothers Nintendo they can write it the way they've wrote several other games where Link is the best friend of Zelda. Such as in the Minish Cap for instance.

And I think we can all agree that having two female friends is definitely not out of line. Granted, it doesn't mean we would all agree what gender Link could be, but I feel like Link, while an established character with an accepted gender, is ambiguous enough to be allowed to be a female as well.

And as for the people who don't want the option, they can just choose to be a male Link. Seems simple enough to me.

 

[seles]

I'm just going to leave this here.

1. All this stuff about Link’s “personality” and the "balance of the Triforce" being ruined - that's just what people think could happen, and those sentiments are based entirely off of speculation. Do you honestly think that female Link’s personality couldn’t be identical to her male counterpart - heroic and courageous? Exactly Which One of Link’s subtle character quirks would be magically deconstructed if someone were to play him as girl? It just feels like an irrational fear of change to me.

2. I don't see how his background, family, and friends have anything to do with why a M/F option cannot exist. The Pokemon Trainers you play as have all this and more. Commander Shepard from Mass Effect has this as well, and yet an M/F option for them still exists and works smoothly. Yet, Shepard is also fully realized - you act through them, and "play a role" the same way you act through Link. People say avatar as if its a downgrade from the "character" Link already is. These kinds of arguments are also only unnecessary complications and excuses.

3. If you really think about it, the only legitimate consequence of fem Link would be positive, right? Imagine this concept: everyone can finally have the same luxury that all the guys on this thread seem to forget they have – the ability to play LoZ as their own gender! It's a small addition that goes a long way.

4. Think Rationally about substantial, concrete reasons to justify no optional fem Link, as in consequences to the series or to Nintendo that are not just "Link is supposed to be a MAN!", "The romances will be weird!", or "The magic of Zelda will be ruined if Link can be a girl!"
Those are not valid arguments. They are 100% subjective opinions that are rather close minded.
Statements like “We can't put this option on Link because he is a character!" are also invalid because it should be obvious by now that Link’s status as a character (like Mario, Samus, etc.) is dubious at best.
If it wasn't so Completely Debatable, then no one would be asking for an M/F option in the first place. In other words:
No matter how you look at it, nothing would be stopping you from just picking male Link other than yourself.

Note: I am not talking about Link’s status as a character in BotW. I’m talking about the ability to have an M/F option in future LoZ titles and its absence in past ones.

 

[ZeldafreakCJM]

Considering how many people want it to not happen, I'd argue the potential of a backlash is a consequence that could happen, and since there's no reason to add a M/F option, I don't know why they would do this.

Plus, according to Aonuma he'd rather have players play as Zelda, implying Link is on the same level as Zelda, should we have a F/M option for Zelda if she's playable? No. The same goes for Link, I can't believe this argument is still going even after Aonuma basically said "no."

 

[Dio]

Link is a character. In WW we see his statue in Hyrule Castle. HIS! Because the Hero, not Heroine of Time was a male.

If we had two choices, male and female then one choice would be the lesser choice invalidated by any future depictions of that character through statues or when spoken of in the official timeline.

 

[Zorth]

Link is a character. In WW we see his statue in Hyrule Castle. HIS! Because the Hero, not Heroine of Time was a male.

If we had two choices, male and female then one choice would be the lesser choice invalidated by any future depictions of that character through statues or when spoken of in the official timeline.

You could do it your way, having one gender be the canonical one, which I wouldn't really mind. Or play it 100% safe and just make gender irrelevant when speaking of the hero of time, any potential future depictions can be programmed to mimic the gender that each individual chooses. And when wrote or talked about in official canon story then gender just wouldn't be mentioned, it would simply be HoT or Link, which I guess could be made a unisex name.

there is always a way

I don't remember how it is in Pokemon, but that game has 2 genders. Does the official story pick one canon gender or they just not mention it at all?

 

[ZeldafreakCJM]

You could do it your way, having one gender be the canonical one, which I wouldn't really mind. Or play it 100% safe and just make gender irrelevant when speaking of the hero of time, any potential future depictions can be programmed to mimic the gender that each individual chooses. And when wrote or talked about in official canon story then gender just wouldn't be mentioned, it would simply be HoT or Link, which I guess could be made a unisex name.

there is always a way

I don't remember how it is in Pokemon, but that game has 2 genders. Does the official story pick one canon gender or they just not mention it at all?

Brah, Pokemon has two Characters to pick from, sorta similar to what might be the case if, ya know, Zelda was playable alongside Link.

 

[Dio]

You could do it your way, having one gender be the canonical one, which I wouldn't really mind. Or play it 100% safe and just make gender irrelevant when speaking of the hero of time, any potential future depictions can be programmed to mimic the gender that each individual chooses. And when wrote or talked about in official canon story then gender just wouldn't be mentioned, it would simply be HoT or Link, which I guess could be made a unisex name.

there is always a way

I don't remember how it is in Pokemon, but that game has 2 genders. Does the official story pick one canon gender or they just not mention it at all?

I mentioned in the shoutbox that the only thing I would accept is a proper female main character seperate from Link. Actually made part of the story, so you might play her sections and Links sections and you experience both characters sides.

Brah, Pokemon has two Characters to pick from, sorta similar to what might be the case if, ya know, Zelda was playable alongside Link.

I don't mind two characters so long as they are both part of the story. Perhaps you could even do part of the game as link and part as Zelda to experience both sides of the story.

 

[hwrdjacob]

For the guy who asked, the only time they've ever in the canon confirmed one choice was canon in Pokemon was with the FRLG protagonist, and the canon choice is male. All the other games don't have anything to back up male or female. They do, however, all have canon NAMES.

On topic- they've made Link a Goron, Zora, Deku, Dog, time traveler, split him into 4 with a sword, split him into 3 for literally no reason at all given, and now he starts BotW naked. Making one particular Link female would take nothing away from the canon since unless the game is a direct sequel (only the Hero of Time and Hero of the Triforce have gotten these such mentions as far as I recall, in WW/TP and ALBW respectively) or they really need a cameo or shoehorned in connection (BotW's Wolf Link amiibo) they mention **** all about the previous Link. FE has the same approach which is why you can't say the avatars in the games they appear in have a canon gender or even canon NAME since so little is mentioned about them.

Miyamoto has said he considers Link a player avatar- which he why he chose the name for him in the first place, he is a "Link" for the player. Avatars can be incarnations of the player and still have fleshed out motivations, backstories, families, and even dialogue. Commander Shepard is one such example, as are the Hero of Shadow, Chrom's Tactician, and the Hero of Fates from the Fire Emblem series. Link isn't a singular character, Link is multiple characters scattered through time cursed by Demise to perpetually reincarnate forever and ever and ever.

I personally think having the option to customize Link completely would be nice (they already have a LOT of character customization in the game with Link getting to choose his clothes to wear over his birthday suit in the starting dungeon, and choosing if he specializes in swords, axes, lances, bows, or all of the above!!!) even down to gender and hairstyle. Im not gonna boycott the game if they do, and Im not gonna boycott the game if they don't. I'm of the same opinion as Miyamoto that Link is a player avatar.

 

[ZeldafreakCJM]

For the guy who asked, the only time they've ever in the canon confirmed one choice was canon in Pokemon was with the FRLG protagonist, and the canon choice is male. All the other games don't have anything to back up male or female. They do, however, all have canon NAMES.

On topic- they've made Link a Goron, Zora, Deku, Dog, time traveler, split him into 4 with a sword, split him into 3 for literally no reason at all given, and now he starts BotW naked. Making one particular Link female would take nothing away from the canon since unless the game is a direct sequel (only the Hero of Time and Hero of the Triforce have gotten these such mentions as far as I recall, in WW/TP and ALBW respectively) or they really need a cameo or shoehorned in connection (BotW's Wolf Link amiibo) they mention **** all about the previous Link. FE has the same approach which is why you can't say the avatars in the games they appear in have a canon gender or even canon NAME since so little is mentioned about them.

Miyamoto has said he considers Link a player avatar- which he why he chose the name for him in the first place, he is a "Link" for the player. Avatars can be incarnations of the player and still have fleshed out motivations, backstories, families, and even dialogue. Commander Shepard is one such example, as are the Hero of Shadow, Chrom's Tactician, and the Hero of Fates from the Fire Emblem series. Link isn't a singular character, Link is multiple characters scattered through time cursed by Demise to perpetually reincarnate forever and ever and ever.

I personally think having the option to customize Link completely would be nice (they already have a LOT of character customization in the game with Link getting to choose his clothes to wear over his birthday suit in the starting dungeon, and choosing if he specializes in swords, axes, lances, bows, or all of the above!!!) even down to gender and hairstyle. Im not gonna boycott the game if they do, and Im not gonna boycott the game if they don't. I'm of the same opinion as Miyamoto that Link is a player avatar.

I'm sorry but when has Link been a dog? Also, all of those are still the same thing. Link is still a blond hylian boy, those things you mentioned were transformations, Mario transforms as well, this doesn't mean that Mario should be changed, so Link shouldn't be changed. Likewise, Mario isn't a singular character either, considering that Mario and Paper Mario both coexist, no reason for a fem Mario though.

Likewise Miyamoto also said that he considers Link male and that that is important to the series. http://gamerant.com/zelda-female-link-miyamoto/
It's probably not happening now or likely ever, why is this still a topic?

 

[hwrdjacob]

I'm sorry but when has Link been a dog?

Twilight Princess and this game with amiibo. He never explicitly said he considered Link male only that "The main series Link has always been the protagonist". It's a very sly non answer he gave.

 

[RegalBryant]

>trying to list things about Link that never change
>hair color

not the best example, m8

 

[ZeldafreakCJM]

Twilight Princess and this game with amiibo.

So regular Link transformed into a wolf, is evidence of him changing? No offense, but that's nothing but a really long reach.

>trying to list things about Link that never change
>hair color

not the best example, m8

I'm sorry but going from blondish brunette through the other shades of blond, is not a huge change to me. Even if it we wanted to say it was though, I'd argue that it'd be no different from Samus being both 6'3" and under six feet tall or Mario's mustache and hair color constantly fluctuating.

 

[Mipha]

Twilight Princess and this game with amiibo. He never explicitly said he considered Link male only that "The main series Link has always been the protagonist". It's a very sly non answer he gave.

It's a wolf

 

[Triforce King]

So regular Link transformed into a wolf, is evidence of him changing? No offense, but that's nothing but a really long reach.

I'm sorry but going from blondish brunette through the other shades of blond, is not a huge change to me. Even if it we wanted to say it was though, I'd argue that it'd be no different from Samus being both 6'3" and under six feet tall or Mario's mustache and hair color constantly fluctuating.

ZeldafreakCJM can I ask you a question?