ZD Top 5 – Stories You’d Like To See In Zelda
Posted on August 04 2016 by Jon Lett
Breath of the Wild is proving to be a juggernaut of a Zelda title, with a grand world for us all to explore in our own way. But as of yet, we do not know the details of why we are exploring. The story is still quite a mystery. What is clear, though, is that since this is likely to become a new basis for the style of future Zelda games, a whole new world of stories and plot lines could open up. This week, the ZD staff take a look at what kind of stories they want Nintendo to implement into Breath of the Wild, and any games following it.
Hit the jump for their thoughts, and make sure to hit the comments with your own wishes for the future stories that take place in Hyrule!
Thomas Jacobs – View Profile
5. Building the First Hyrule
4. Discovering New Hyrule
3. Clash of the Gerudo
2. Princess on the run
1. The Queenmaker
The Legend of Zelda has already told many kinds of stories, but there are so many more to be told. One that I would like to see is how the first Hyrule came to be. Sure, after Skyward Sword Link and Zelda have moved to the surface world… but there’s nothing there but some ruins. They’ll have to build up a civilization somehow. Gathering supplies, striking alliances by solving problems through clearing dungeons and discovering a way to recover from the population bottleneck by finding more people. Another would be the discovery of New Hyrule, taking place between Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Going by the stained glass window in New Hyrule’s castle it was not too soon after Phantom Hourglass, but I’m curious as to the events surrounding it. Finding the land, taming it and building a new Hyrule above the waves to succeed the old one below them. The Gerudo clash poses an issue regarding Ganondorf: if the Gerudo have to support their king no matter what, Ganondorf is revived and clashes with the current, younger and benevolent king… who will they follow? Will he ask help from Hyrule to support his claim? Having the princess on the run would be like the events from Ocarina of Time told from Zelda’s perspective. What does she do to try and reclaim her country? How will Link help her? Is he even in the game? Or is perhaps Zelda the protagonist and is helping Link out here and there something you do in the game? Sure, this would be a lot like Ocarina of Time with a perspective flip, but with a good story this can be a lot of fun, if just a spinoff. But the story I’d like to see the most is the one of how Zelda’s family became royalty. Going by the events of the timeline this is in the aftermath of a great war for the Triforce, cumulating in it being sealed away and her family becoming the royal family. What kind of battles were fought here? What kind of evil (aside from possibly the Dark Interlopers) was defeated? And how did they eventually obtain the crown? Did they claim it or were they appointed it due to popular demand? There is a great story in there that I would absolutely love to see.
Jon Lett – View Profile
5. A Better Look at the Medieval (i.e. VIOLENT) Politics of Hyrule
4. Link and Zelda Helping Older Link and Zelda from a Previous Game to Save Hyrule
3. The Return of Vaati and the Four Sword
2. Spin-Off Game About Lorule
1. Link Rebelling Against Corrupt/Immoral Goddesses
I’ve talked about this before, and really, I don’t think it is something that Nintendo would do for a number of reasons, but the idea of Link rebelling against the Goddesses for moral reasons is fascinating. We have seldom had instances in the Zelda series where we had to make serious moral choices, or simply had to go down a path that was against what we thought was right. That sort of moral questioning and decision making could suit the series well, I think, and this would be an instance where it would make sense. After all, the Golden Goddesses may seem all mighty and righteous now, but if you look back at all the ways they acted OVERLY righteous or uncaring of the world (“Let’s just leave these golden triangles here where anyone can have them.”), you may start to see that Link might do well to stop acting as the tool of three Goddesses whose problem solving skills involve flooding an entire kingdom of innocent people.
Alexis Anderson – View Profile
5. The Ancient Battle
4. Hyrule Kingdom Before the Great Flood
3. The Casting Out of the Dark Interlopers
2. The Hyrulean Civil War
1. The Creation of Majora’s Mask
There are a great many canon historical events in the Zelda series that we really only hear snip-its about from various characters. These are a couple of those events that I think would make for interesting Zelda games. I lacked creativity in that none of these are original ideas, they would all fall in obvious places on the timeline, but that can be a good thing. I think these games would have a lot of nostalgic value, as they’d directly reference other games in the series and fill in some of the gaps us Zelda fanatics constantly try to plug with theory after theory. Possibly bridging the gaps between certain games, or seeing the narratives that lead up to them, would make the series feel like more of an interconnected continuum and strengthen the sometimes thinly justified linkings of rather unrelated games. I think of the ones on this list, the casting out of the Dark Interlopers would be my favorite storyline, but the creation of Majora’s mask would be the best to analyze thematically.
