Daily Debate: If You Could Play Zelda’s Side of the Story in a Mainline Zelda Game, Which One Would You Pick?
Posted on December 10 2020 by Michaela El-Ters
Next year marks the 35th anniversary of the Zelda franchise, and 35 years is a lot of time for a video game series to evolve and change. The Zelda series features a robust library of games that transform with each installment from leaps in graphics to more nuanced storytelling. But as much as the series has evolved over the years, some core tenets of the Zelda experience have not. With each main game, you always play as the hero Link, destined to clash against Ganondorf with the aid of Princess Zelda, or in a quest to rescue her. In many cases, we don’t often get to witness Zelda’s contributions to Link’s success. If there’s one game where I would change this, it would be Skyward Sword.
In Skyward Sword, Zelda goes on a journey to the Skyview Spring and the Earth Spring with Impa. We get a taste of this journey in the credits, but I would love for this to have been playable. It doesn’t need to be a full-length game either; unlocking her story after completing the game would be sufficient. Experiencing Zelda’s journey from an ordinary girl to the reincarnated Goddess would have been amazing to see. Did she accept fate right away? Did she wish she could return to Skyloft with Link and her father and go back to her old life? Was she willing to put herself in harm’s way for the greater good? How much did Impa help and support her in accepting her new role? Impa and Zelda form a close friendship that transcends time, but we don’t get to see their interactions with the younger Impa in a meaningful way and I would have loved to see that. Overall, I’m usually content with playing as Link in the Zelda series, but if there’s a game where we could have played as Zelda or seen her side of the story in greater detail, Skyward Sword would have been it.
What about you? If there was a game where you wanted to see Zelda’s side of the story the most, which one would it be? Let us know in the comments!
Feature art by ももよし
Michaela El-Ters is a Senior Editor for Zelda Dungeon. She is also an Senior Writer for Boss Rush Network, and writes blogs and streams games on Objection Network. Her favorite Zelda game changes with the seasons, but the series as a whole is near and dear to her heart.
