Do you ever think about the political situations in Hyrule while playing a Zelda game?

[Ashley the Witch]

Simple question. For my answer, I tend to always think about how the countries leaders and its people are faring, and how their handling the situations that unfold in each game of the series. Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Twilight Princess gives you a pretty good idea of how everyone is handling the situation of those games at the time. Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess have similar situations with the kingdom in turmoil and the leaders pretty much gone in hiding or held hostage respectively. Termina's politics is pretty much spelled out for you, because you're literally heavily involved in resolving this political situation in every region of the game. What's your take on this subject?

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

The only thing I tend to keep in mind is how consistently incompetent the monarchy is. They're typically portrayed as idiots with no foresight, no record-keeping, and whose military forces crumble at the drop of a hat.

 

[Ashley the Witch]

The only thing I tend to keep in mind is how consistently incompetent the monarchy is. They're typically portrayed as idiots with no foresight, no record-keeping, and whose military forces crumble at the drop of a hat.

So true. Even Princess Zelda is guilty of being an idiot at times. From her telling Link to do the exact things to have Ganondorf get his way for 7 years, revealing herself to give the light arrows, just so Ganondorf can kidnap her, to giving Link his life back dooming the adult timeline, and creating the child timeline. Not to mention, the guards look like ****ing idiots during the flashback scene towards the beginning of Twilight Princess. And losing contact with several races that ends up dooming their country. And always having to rely on a man with a Peter Pan costume.

 

[twilitfalchion]

To be honest, the biggest takeaway from Zelda as a series is that Ganondorf would ultimately be a far more competent and effective ruler than the Kingdom of Hyrule has ever been, ethics aside.

 

[Ashley the Witch]

To be honest, the biggest takeaway from Zelda as a series is that Ganondorf would ultimately be a far more competent and effective ruler than the Kingdom of Hyrule has ever been, ethics aside.

The problem with that is the ethics. Every time he helps a civilization, it's always for his personal gain, and when they're not needed anymore. He will dispose of them. He did that with Zant, and he's obviously willing to do it again.

 

[Malon]

Yeah, always. Why does Ganon want more than an entire race of scantily clad desert women???

 

[twilitfalchion]

I think it could be argued the Kingdom of Hyrule has never really made a notable effort to act in its people's best interests either, to be fair.

The Divine Beasts exist because of the Sheikah, the Master Sword exists because of Hylia, etc. Most means of countering the evil in each game exists because of forces beyond the Kingdom's power or influence.

Zelda herself is certainly the outlier as someone who has acted for Hyrule's benefit, but the monarchy as a body has never proven itself to be particularly selfless or moral, I wouldn't say. The existence of locations like the Shadow Temple also point to the monarchy's ambiguous morality.

At best, they're neutral to the chaos. At worst, they're neglectful and ignorant.

 

[Ashley the Witch]

I think it could be argued the Kingdom of Hyrule has never really made a notable effort to act in its people's best interests either, to be fair.

The Divine Beasts exist because of the Sheikah, the Master Sword exists because of Hylia, etc. Most means of countering the evil in each game exists because of forces beyond the Kingdom's power or influence.

Zelda herself is certainly the outlier as someone who has acted for Hyrule's benefit, but the monarchy as a body has never proven itself to be particularly selfless or moral, I wouldn't say. The existence of locations like the Shadow Temple also point to the monarchy's ambiguous morality.

At best, they're neutral to the chaos. At worst, they're neglectful and ignorant.

There's also the matter that as soon as Ganondorf's plan was found out, the King ordered a mass genocide of the Gerudo by the looks of it. Not to mention, they threaten the Shiekah to abandon their technology because of fear. That fear is what led to the absolute horror that was the French revolution. Which could explain the Shadow Temple's existence. But that's a theory for another thread.

 

[Yoshrek]

I do, but mostly during the Downfall Timeline, because so much of it is shrouded in mystery.

 

[Ashley the Witch]

I do, but mostly during the Downfall Timeline, because so much of it is shrouded in mystery.

Yeah, it's always hard to pinpoint what the political situation is in that timeline.

 

[Malon]

If you think about it, if Ganon was king (all ethics aside...) he'd have a pretty beast army. WAA-AAY better than the Hyrule guard. They somehow didn't spot a noisy child screaming "HAAH!" whenever he rolled to get away quickly. Again, ethics ethics, but still.

 

[Vanessa28]

Time and time again the royals have proven themselves to be incapable to protect Hyrule properly. They obviously didn't care that much about the past. The soldier always seem to be a bunch of idiots. In OoT you have to make sure you won't be seen. Even when they'll face you they let you walk freely.