The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy

Way back in 2000, the Open Court Publishing Company began writing a series of books dealing with popular culture and philosophy. Having already created over 30 volumes, the company moved on to a little gaming series we’re all incredibly familiar with: The Legend of Zelda.

Open Court had the following to say:

This is the first book in existence devoted to philosophy and a specific video game. It is also the first book that deals with the more general topic of philosophy and video games. The book asks such questions as: What is the nature of the gamer’s connection to Link? Does Link have a will, or do we project ours onto him? How does the gamer experience the game? Do the rules of logic apply in the gameworld? How is space created and distributed in Hyrule (the fictional land in which the game takes place)? How does time function? Is Zelda art? Can Hyrule be seen as an ideal society? What about the Triforce (one of the goals of the game is to reunite pieces of a relic called “The Triforce”)? Is there anything symbolic about courage, wisdom, and power? Why do we want to win and defeat Ganon (the evil tyrant in command of Hyrule in many of the games of the franchise)? Can the game be enjoyable without winning? Why do fans create timeline theories in such detail? Can these theories adhere to scientific standards? How is death treated in Hyrule? How do repetitive tasks done in the game differ from repetitive tasks done in everyday life?

Now those are surely some interesting questions! While the book isn’t scheduled to come out until the fall of this year, you can pre-order yourself a copy over at Open Court’s official site.

Other editions in the series can be found here. After you’ve pre-ordered the Zelda edition, make sure to throw “Seinfeld and Philosophy” into your cart—you know you want it.