Princess Zelda: What She Is, Ain’t, and Ought To Be
Posted on April 12 2010 by Mases Hagopian
The folks over at Legend of Zelda.com have continued their Is, Ain’t and Ought series, this time looking at Princess Zelda. The author takes a look at three things that Princess Zelda is, what she ain’t, and what she ought to be. The article delves into quite a bit of detail, but the part I found most interesting is when the author went through the chronology of how involving Princess Zelda has been. Princess Zelda started off resembling that of Princess Peach in the early games, a helpless Princess who is always being captured and Link is always needed to help free her and save Hyrule. As the games went on, Princess Zelda became increasingly more involved in the story, starting with Ocarina of Time, then Tetra in the Wind Waker, and finally became a full blown sidekick in Spirit Tracks.
Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker are perfect examples in that the princesses’ alter-egos add a dimension to what would otherwise be relatively flat characters. That extra dimension, by the way, also has the added benefit of making them unique. To sum up: more personality is not, and cannot, be a bad thing so long as the character is handled well and not presented in excess. There’s a reason, after all, why Zelda is taken more seriously than her Mario counterpart.
So what Princess Zelda would you like to see more of? The helpless princess who is always getting captured like Princess Peach? A more involving and unique character like that of Tetra or Sheik? A full blown sidekick like that of Princess Zelda in Spirit Tracks? How about if Princess Zelda played a remarkably unimportant role, like that of Majora’s Mask? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Click Here to read the full article over at LegendOfZelda.com.
