Aonuma Speaks About the New Female Protagonists in Hyrule Warriors

Eiji Aonuma, the main man behind The Legend of Zelda franchise, was recently in an interview with Kotaku about Hyrule Warriors as a whole. Interestingly enough, one of the topics that came up was a question of Aonuma’s opinion about the female protagonists within the upcoming game.

Schreier: There was a lot of talk about the main character of the trailer—is it Link, is it not Link, is it a boy, is it a girl? One of the big questions that it got people talking about is: Would we ever be able to play as a female hero in a Zelda game? Is that something you’ve ever thought about, or something you’re considering?

Aonuma: The main character isn’t actually Link—it’s the player. Of course we have to have a main character in the story, so Link is that main character. But I don’t want him to be like a superhero. I want him to represent any player, have that possibility. So that’s why I don’t really know if we need or want to define it so clearly.

Schreier: But when you look at Link, you see a certain type of person—you see a male character… There was a case I remember where a father coded Legend of Zelda and made it so you could play as a woman because his daughter wanted to feel like she was really represented in the game. Mr. Aonuma, have you ever thought about that, and whether it’d be more inclusive to female players if they could play as someone of their own gender?

Aonuma: Is it that simple—that creating a female character means bringing more female users into the world?

Schreier: I guess what I mean is, when I’m playing and I see a man—in response to what you said about Link being a representation for the player, and the player being the main character—when a man is playing, he can feel more represented by the player character than a woman playing might.

Aonuma: So there are actually many female characters you can play as in Hyrule Warriors. We’ve introduced Midna, we’ve introduced Princess Zelda, and Impa as well. So if that connection needs to be there—I’m not saying that it does—let’s see what happens with Hyrule Warriors, if as a result of there being more female protagonists, more women pick up the game, I’m all for it, so I’ve decided to see what happens with this title.

Aonuma points out above that he’s a supporter and is also actually interested in the potential outcome with the addition of so many playable female protagonists. But it’s also noteworthy that it seems he is saying that our silent hero should be able to represent all players of the game and not just one side of the player demographics. Plus, the fact that Aonuma mentions that the player should be the focus as the main character is also an intriguing spin on the new Legend of Zelda title.

Schreier: So I know that you can play as Zelda and Midna in Hyrule Warriors. A lot of people have been looking at that and saying, ‘Hey, I would love a game where I could play as Zelda, or Sheik’—have you ever thought about making a game where you get to play as Zelda and Sheik as the main character or hero?

Aonuma: I mentioned this earlier, but there are female characters in Hyrule Warriors, and I’d like to see what the result is of people actually being able to do all these things they want to, and if we get the results that in fact do say if people are given the opportunity to play as a female character, then more people will start playing, my ultimate goal is to have as many people as possible enjoy a game so I’d like to see what happens with Hyrule Warriors.

This part is interesting because it seems that Hyrule Warriors creates a distinct opportunity to grab the attention of potential female fans, and that opportunity is being taken wholeheartedly. Plus, if the game causes more gamers to join The Legend of Zelda series, then will chances like these be taken in future Zelda games?

What do you guys think about the current influences of female protagonists on Hyrule Warriors as a whole? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

Source: Kotaku