The Oddities of Hyrule’s Government

The Legend of Zelda. A realm of magic, monarchy, and evil, power hungry demon kings who wish to conquer the world. Many fans can say that scientifically, there are a lot of things wrong, but this can be proven most of the time with magic. However, there are things that can be proven wrong without the use of science or magic. These are what I’m referring to as the things that are wrong in the government of Hyrule.

For starters, I can instantly think up of all the times Zelda has been a princess, those being just about every game. But, there are some times where the title “princess” can be inappropriate. There are times in which she should rather be Queen Zelda, rather than Princess Zelda. Typically, whenever a king or a queen dies, the successor is usually their son or daughter. There are several games, such as Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: Adventure of Link, Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and Spirit Tracks, in which she would have rather be a queen, considering there is no King of Hyrule (When I’m talking about Ocarina of Time, I’m talking as in the 2nd half of the game, despite the fact she’s missing most of the time).

Another thing I question is in the newest Zelda: Spirit Tracks. The issue I bring up would have to be Chancellor Cole and how he managed to get his position. It is decided that they have a monarch Queen, rather than a chancellor. In Spirit Tracks, he rather watches Zelda’s back in her actions and is treated more like an advisor. By definition, a chancellor is someone who is either head of a government, one who is in charge of foreign affairs, or one who is in charge of a judicial system. Considering the size of the kingdom, I would not see much a reason as to Cole being head of a judicial system. I would instead see Zelda hearing cases and issuing sentences. As for being in charge of foreign affairs, I don’t see Cole as to being much of a people-person. As for being head of government, I somewhat doubt that.

However, if you care to take a step into ancient China, you will learn that Chancellor was the second highest ranking one could get in their system of government, the first being the Emperor of China. Essentially, being chancellor was the equivalent of being prime minister in China, which is what Cole seems more like. If you pay attention as to how Cole acts, he is defiantly nothing more than an advisor who has the ability to control the guards, rather than do things like calm down the other realms in their problems, hear court cases, or be King of Hyrule. He seems to not be a lot like a Prime Minister, considering there is little to no cabinet (Then again, has there ever been one?).

With that said, I bring up another thing. In most of the games, there is no cabinet. It is just the monarch and the Castle Guards. There’s no treasury system, there’s no center of foreign affairs, there’s no league that Hyrule and all of its kingdoms (Zora, Goron, Gerudo, etc.) are a part of. However, then again, we can only assume that there are urgent meetings that ensue when disaster strikes and treaties are to be met. See, the thing I don’t like about Hyrule is that everything revolves around the King or princess. Despite the fact the citizens of Hyrule are happy and all, there has to be a checks and balances.

If there wasn’t a checks and balances, then we wouldn’t have had the problem with Chancellor Cole in the first place. The legislature could’ve determined that there was a problem with the guy and fire him from his job (unless he would have decided to take off his hats (You think a guy with two hats, which seems a bit suspicious ― considering they’re positioned where horns would be ― would get hired.) and destroy everyone in that legislature). Having a legislature would actually be very interesting, indeed. A Congress or Parliament would actually be a nice addition to lift some of the burden off of King of Hyrule or the multitude of Princess Zeldas throughout the ages.

So, there are a lot of things that Hyrule needs. I thought of a few things, and one final thing I can think of is that they need a constitution that can explain all of the laws, rather than just legends that are passed down from word of mouth and texts. However, besides all that, the system is alright. I just wish they didn’t have everyone rely on the Princess or King of Hyrule.