It seems so long ago...
It the 5th grade, and I was that one odd-ball that didn't fit in. I believe they call it being a "nerd". At most, they respected me as "that genius kid over there". I went to the middle school for a program called "Enrichment", where I was taken out every week to do "advanced" work. I had a friend there named Ben. He would keep saying that I was perfect for playing "The Legend of Zelda", and that my vast intellect would be of genuine use there. I remember my response to this day:
"Nah, that game's full of fairies and princesses and stuff."
And, technically I was right. But I had no idea how wrong I was about it being a bad series. Eventually, I decided to buy a copy of Phantom Hourglass when I saw it while shopping with my mother in a local "Costco". I had heard that it had received numerous awards, and wanted to be able to say that "it was a bad series after all" to Ben.
I hope that one day, God will forgive me for my malice toward the video games he had obviously blessed. I was impressed from the first second in the game play style. But, I was still unconvinced by this need for "vast intellect". Until I got stuck.
It was in the Fire Temple, and I was at the puzzle where you had to throw the boomerang to catch fire to the 3 torches. I couldn't figure it out. I asked Ben what was wrong, and but I don't remember his exact response. It was along the lines of "Zelda defies logical thought." I took another go at it, and finally I figured out that the boomerang caught fire when it hit a torch. It was as if a single, golden thread had broken in my head. A weight of power and confusion overpowered me, and I, for the first time ever, learned that logic was questionable. That box that we sometimes think inside of fell apart.
Since then, I have played every game, with the exception of Four Swords.