Daily Debate: What Aspect of the Zelda Series Takes You to Your Happy Place?

Posted on August 09 2022 by Kora Burton

The summer off-season is beginning to come to a close, and yet the blazing summer heat continues. At this annual intersection, I often find myself both excited for the coming academic working year and filled with angst that I haven’t been able to take more time off to relax. It’s times like these when I turn to meditating on the aesthetic or experiential things that make me happy – like Zelda!

Odds are if you’re reading this, you love Zelda for some of the same reasons I do. The games are fun and varied, the characters are often loveable, and the many art styles and aesthetics found throughout the series are breathtaking in their design and interconnectedness. The Zelda series has characterized itself so well, other games try to emulate it! But if there’s one aspect of the Zelda series that makes me feel calm and happy, even when I’m focused on other tasks, it’s the music.

As just one example, the track from Nintendo’s 2017 Breath of the Wild trailer (officially titled “Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017 Trailer BGM”) got me through winter finals during my senior year of college. The cinematic presence, the wistful energy of the piano and strings, and the sense of harrowing adventure that the game’s musical motifs inspire as they crescendo fills me with unrivaled bliss as I block out the emotions of the day-to-day and absorb each moment. Different games’ soundtracks make me feel varying shades of calm and joy, but putting on any original Zelda soundtrack makes me feel more at ease and more connected to myself. This is doubly true when I actually sit down to play a Zelda game, and as such, I definitely can’t play with the volume down. In short, Zelda‘s music is what takes me to my happy place!

What about you? What aspect of the Zelda series take you to your happy place? Is it the environment? The stories? The puzzles? Or something else? Let us know down below!