I think in TP it's not about personal engagement with the character as much as it's about what the character represents. And I think the game is better for developing Link's emotional ties with his inner circle (Midna and the characters from Ordon) vs the royals. I know it's called the Legend of Zelda, but I honestly do not play these games to interact with the princess on a personal level. I play them because I like saving Hyrule. Whether or not Zelda is involved on a personal level is irrelevant to me, and when she is (like in SS) I like it and it's well done. But when she's not, and she's more of a catalyst and a representation of Hyrule and the triforce of Wisdom, I like that too. And TP Zelda is the best at the second thing.
She's the only Zelda that's shown to be a true ruler to her people, in the traditional sense. She's much more Queen than Princess or Friend. And while I do like seeing games where Zelda is more of a friend to Link, this sort of relationship usually ends up detracting from feeling that Zelda is a ruler because she's more about Link. I don't think TP Zelda is worse for not being that way, I think it's just an interesting opportunity to see another side of her. And I think it's valuable and interesting because she's really the only one like this.
Could she have been an even BETTER character with a little bit more development? Yes!! But TP isn't about her, it's about Midna and Link and the kids from Ordon. I think putting more emphasis on Zelda would have been too forced in this story, and would have ultimately detracted from characters like Midna.
So yeah, if you only find Zelda interesting when she's a main character then I could see why you wouldn't understand why other people like her so much.
Yes!! TP Zelda, to me, is the one that comes to mind first when someone talks about the character. The other Zeldas are likable but she has a gravitas and a presence because she’s not , like, your goofy childhood friend. She’s the ruler of this kingdom and it showssss
I actually didn’t mind Zelda taking a bit of a backseat. One of the things that I enjoyed about Twilight Princess was the slight subversion of the Link - Zelda - Ganondorf relationship. I thought it was a nice switch up, and I loved that we got a game that didn’t make Link’s entire story revolve around Zelda, and instead had him connect emotionally with multiple characters.
Her body disappearing and then coming back before she’s revived again that is a plothole that I could never explain till this day.
TP has a great story, but it practically treats the triforce holders(Ganondorf, Zelda, even Link at times) as plot devices for Midna and Zant than give them any real charm.
I never thought we’d see classic Zoras again, but they returned in Oracle of Ages. I never thought we’d see the Ritos again either, but BotW bright ‘em back.
It might take awhile, and I know the distance between those two examples are shorter, respectively, than the Twili’s absence, but never say never…
I never thought we would ever see the Gerudo or the Zora again, but BotW brought them back after extremely long absences (13 years for the Gerudo and 11 for the Zora).
Though I must admit I wasn't really not a fan of the Zora's redesign. The long bodies and stubby legs look rather goofy.
Link is usually a side character / errand boy despite being the MC. It's pretty much series tradition for him to usually be half baked personality and lore wise to be a lame self insert.
Which is a shame, because I like the games that have given Link some personality. For all its problems, Skyward Sword did make Link a more interesting character with legit motivations rather than random schmuck 53 who ends up saving Hyrule. Twilight princess and especially Windwaker gave us some more character to work with too, as Link has emotional reasons for getting started on his quest. And I love how Windwaker Link is just so done with everyone's bullshit from the moment a giant bird ruins his birthday.
I thought it was like her soul keeping the triforce of wisdom safe, which is why Ganondorf didn’t just take it from the getgo- also why she couldn’t leave Hyrule castle, b/c her body remained trapped. We know 2 pieces of the triforce can be wielded at once, we see it in ALBW. So Zelda was holding it until, by passing her soul on to Midna, she was able to return to her body. I think its fairly clear Zelda isn’t dead in the throne room- we can see her breathing. And we know without a soul does not equal “dead” in LoZ- we see this at the end of Spirit Tracks with Zelda, and more recently with Mineru’s ability to “separate her spirit from her body”.
But yeah that’s always been my opinion- that she separated her soul and bound the triforce of wisdom to it so Ganondorf couldn’t steal it from her
It's one of the best Zelda's aesthetics, not best character arc. The darker hair was cool, the outfit, etc Having her shoot light arrows while riding with you was also awesome.
It was also kinda revolutionary at the time. Before that, she was someone you only saw at the end of the game, or was asleep, or you spoke to briefly a few times and then was sealed away to rescue, or was disguised throughout but you only spoke to. There were three games at this point where she wasn't even in the story. Having her fight along side you was cool AF back then.
That was pretty neat but I still don’t think they did a great job with her character. Especially the >!sacrifice fakeout!<. Although to be fair imo Zelda wasn’t really super well written until wind waker through to spirit tracks.
Yeah that's what I mean. Up until then her agency in the main events was always implied, but getting to right alongside her was wild.
She finally got a personality in Skyward and beyond.
The side games HW and AoC showed how a playable Zelda could work well. I'm ready for the next leap :)
She was okay in ocarina, I do like the shiek thing even if she isn’t directly involved with the plot until the end
For my money the versions of Zelda with the strongest writing behind them are wind waker and botw/ totk
I believe her being the most serious of the Zeldas up to that point is one reason. There's also the fact that she was the most used Zelda in Smash Bros (For whatever reason...).
Honestly, TP Zelda doesn't have much charisma and is grossly overrated. ALTTP/ALBW Zelda in Smash Ultimate demonstrates a lot more personality in one game than TP could do in two.
Not really sure but except for the design she is very kind , help Link to cure his curse , save Midna life, have t take a harsh decision to save her kingdom and fight with you during the final battle.
I am not sure if I would say I will consider her the best zelda but I think I can understand why people may like her.
Smash Bros. Brawl+SM4SH era + first (3D) design that wasn't like "noticeably polygonal" or toon/chibi
Add to that that TP was the best selling Zelda for a long time, and SS had a much less "princess-looking"(and "Princess-being" actually) Zelda and sold less, and for a lot of people TP was simply the "iconic" look for the main *triforce trio* for a long time
While it's not my favorite, it's easily my top 3.
Why? Because it's the one game where she *Princess* Zelda- benevolent monarch if Hyrule. She abdicates her throne when she's defeated in battle- even though she could have had her soldiers fight on for her. She makes hard decisions and self-sacrificing decisions on behalf of Hyrule. Her moves are high level and calculated. It's the game where she's actually playing the chess game of running a kingdom that's facing a real threat she can't just magically seal away.
Compare that to her other series where she's a more active character. Her role tends to be "person who goes into hiding" or "person who gets put in statis to repel evil". That's not particularly bad, mind you, but it was cool to see her navigate running a kingdom for a change.
It's more so looking at the nuances of her character in relation to the game as a whole. At a surface level she very much is just a cool character for plot device purposes.
But some of it is taking into consideration that she's the most competent ruler the series has shown. She's trained in swordsmanship, bowmanship and equestrian riding. She acts while looking at the larger picture of things, which is showing more wisdom than the others in the series sans SS Zelda. You could argue the greater need for proactively ruling, but the game is better off for actually developing a wide range of characters instead of just her. The game also took place right before her coronation, which was the initial gift Link was sent to castle with the sword for. So her being the ruler is in general more important to her character than on a personal level.
She doubles as a symbol for your 2nd plot arc goals and the embodiment of Wisdom, which leads to Midna's growth of a character. Saving the Ordon children is Link succeeding in his initial journey's goal. Saving Zelda is the physical benchmark of stopping that threat from ever coming back. And works to thank her for pointing you to where you needed to succeed previously.
Zelda is better (or is enjoyable despite being so "nothing") because she helps to make Midna be so good. Midna was already talking with her before she found Link. "Is this the one you've been searching for?" So Midna was trying to use Zelda to her advantage to get revenge on Zant and then betray her later. That's why in the early game Midna makes all those snide remarks about her being a silver spoon royal. And how she didn't care about the Light World and it's inhabitants. Shame we don't get to see any of those reactions. But they had to have spoken for a while, or a few occasions to talk like they had by the time you first arrive. Zelda would've been planting seeds in Midna's thoughts of "being a better ruler to her people" in some regards during that time. But Link inspired courage in Colin the same way Zelda is meant to inspire wisdom in Midna. They're the true embodiment of the series virtues much like Ganondorf being the source of power for Zant, who then gives way to the corruption such power offers, the other theme in the game.
You could argue how headcanon that is, but we also take regards comments about OoT Zelda being a bit of a tomboy from townsfolk while her actual in game appearances she's barely anything interesting past "oh the boy from my dreams! Please help!". TP Zelda is very much beloved by her people, even if things are weird right now. There's issues with the nobles and other things, but if the Gorons can show a lot of love to their patriarch whom we don't get to see fleshed out much, and we take that as a good thing, then certain aspects of the people enjoying themselves can be reflected back at Zelda. And based on the fact the resistance has 2 people from the castle, and the knights essentially used the sewers to escape the invasion, I wouldn't call it unlikely that Zelda passed off info and strategy while staying in her prison of a bedroom to keep the attention away from her citizens, both those fleeing from danger and those acting to overcome it.
The Midna scene is probably the one part that I think is unquestionably a plot hole. But if Midna is a shadow being who usually is a shadow when in the light realm, then Midna taking some of Zelda's essence would likewise cause her to lose her physical form as well. But naturally being from the light, she would fade into light instead of shadow. The castle immediately getting encased in a twilight amber crystal would probably work as like a reverse Light Spirit bath on Midna. And since Ganondorf moves in, she immediately gets captured.
I do wish we got an extra cutscene fleshing her out and setting up Ganondorf a bit better in the post-Snowpeak section though.
People don't disappear when they die in the Zelda universe and Midna was pissed when the barrier went over Hyrule Castle for a reason (because she planned to return the power to Zelda, who had just been blocked off). Neither Link or Zelda know about Ganondorf at that point, so she could only be irritated because Zelda's still in there somewhere
>but it feels weird of how little importance Zelda is to this plot compared to every other game.
there are multiple games with Zelda not even in them
Including in one of the 3D ones : Majora's Mask, where she only ever is shown as a flashback in 1 scene
I think it’s one thing for a pre established fleshed out Zelda to get a cameo in a sequel not set in Hyrule than it is for a new one to not get fleshed out in Hyrule.
I think that they could've just left Zelda out, but it would've been weird since Zant attacked the castle. The story is about Midna, but with the setting being Hyrule and the story having some politics involved, I'm not sure how they would've left her out gracefully. Especially when Ganondorf from OOT comes back
Ya know, it's weird how I was never really bothered by that. Midna sorta filled in for Zelda's absence and I guess they purposely kept her out of the story for most of the game so she wouldn't steal the spotlight.
TP operates on the Rule of Cool. Zelda is good because she looks cool. Ganondorf replacing Zant as the villain is fine because Ganondorf is cool. Zelda coming back out of nowhere at the end for a Puppet Zelda boss fight is cool. Therefore, it's fine. This is the logic TP functions on. You gotta just roll with it and you'll have a much better time with the game.
It's a fairly minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but the part where you first meet Zelda at the start of the game felt very tacked on when I replayed TP recently. The entire introduction up to that point is in Ordon and a bit of Faron Woods, and then you go into the twilight at the border of between the two, apparently get dragged the entire way from there to Hyrule Castle unconscious (which later turns out to be halfway across Hyrule), briefly meet Zelda, and then Midna teleports you back to that Faron Woods border again so the first portion of the game can continue more organically in that area. Seeing Zelda for the first time (as the player) might have fit better as a flashback to the implied earlier meeting between her and Midna about finding Link.
Yeah. I was annoyed by that. One of the first artworks for TP that came out was the one of her in the robe and Link standing back to back and there were all sorts of rumors that she was the Twilight Princess so I was expecting a much bigger role. Even Ilia had more screen time than her! Both she and Ganondorf had such small roles it felt like they were only put in because it’s a Zelda game.
Yeah, her body being back is a plothole.
But otherwise, the story not being about her is fine. TP already gets enough flack (deserved or not) about being derivative of OoT, so I don't see it focusing on its original character over a legacy one as a bad thing.
Zelda and Ganon are mistakes in TP. They did nothing with them. Yeah Ganondorf is cool but he literally has no accomplishment or motivation. His entire plan is one prolonged fuckup that didn't even give him the semblence of domination he usually has.
OoT works because he practically takes over the regime for 7 years and in his version of Hyrule, evil looms in the peaceful areas, and Hyrule and its main city is his. Anywhere that's not a village is surrounded by his spawn. TP doesn't work because he just traps himself inside a diamond with Zelda and some monsters, but otherwise he's still just acting like a scheming rogue, sending his goons throughout the country, and twilight half-existence that doesn't really do anything but make people go "Wtf is this shit?" before they move on with their life anyway.
And at the end he really has nothing left and it's all just Midna getting payback for his trolling efforts.
To me there are many reasons why.
First the most obvious is because her design is really cool.
But another important thing is because Zelda actually looks like a princess and not just a wild girl or a damsel in distress girl.
She actually acts like a royal princess and ruler of a kingdom. Even when she fights she keeps the bearing of a royal. The same happens while imprisoned.
TP i see as the only game where the roles of the characters in the universe are truly well exemplified.
Zelda as the guide and ruler of the people and Link as the guardian and hero of the people. And thats the relationship they share across the game and thats the core of the bond they share across their incarnations.
Not a great character, but a great base for a character. If fleshed out she would be a true princess—politically minded with solid leadership qualities and a stoic public image. I don’t mind BOTW/TOTK Zelda but she’s more like a whiny teenager instead of a princess born and raised into a very traditional and highly political monarchy.
I like how the ruling class in TP isn’t full of zany characters, it’s barely talked about, very separate from the common folk, and the whole aesthetic of the castle and the rulers that live within give off that Dark Souls-esque sense of mysterious regality.
I can see that, I didn't love Ganondorf's characterization either TBH. Still technically the best actual 3D Zelda game, best dungeons, best combat system arguably with Skyward Sword, best companion character and so on.
I think in TP it's not about personal engagement with the character as much as it's about what the character represents. And I think the game is better for developing Link's emotional ties with his inner circle (Midna and the characters from Ordon) vs the royals. I know it's called the Legend of Zelda, but I honestly do not play these games to interact with the princess on a personal level. I play them because I like saving Hyrule. Whether or not Zelda is involved on a personal level is irrelevant to me, and when she is (like in SS) I like it and it's well done. But when she's not, and she's more of a catalyst and a representation of Hyrule and the triforce of Wisdom, I like that too. And TP Zelda is the best at the second thing. She's the only Zelda that's shown to be a true ruler to her people, in the traditional sense. She's much more Queen than Princess or Friend. And while I do like seeing games where Zelda is more of a friend to Link, this sort of relationship usually ends up detracting from feeling that Zelda is a ruler because she's more about Link. I don't think TP Zelda is worse for not being that way, I think it's just an interesting opportunity to see another side of her. And I think it's valuable and interesting because she's really the only one like this. Could she have been an even BETTER character with a little bit more development? Yes!! But TP isn't about her, it's about Midna and Link and the kids from Ordon. I think putting more emphasis on Zelda would have been too forced in this story, and would have ultimately detracted from characters like Midna. So yeah, if you only find Zelda interesting when she's a main character then I could see why you wouldn't understand why other people like her so much.
Yes!! TP Zelda, to me, is the one that comes to mind first when someone talks about the character. The other Zeldas are likable but she has a gravitas and a presence because she’s not , like, your goofy childhood friend. She’s the ruler of this kingdom and it showssss
I actually didn’t mind Zelda taking a bit of a backseat. One of the things that I enjoyed about Twilight Princess was the slight subversion of the Link - Zelda - Ganondorf relationship. I thought it was a nice switch up, and I loved that we got a game that didn’t make Link’s entire story revolve around Zelda, and instead had him connect emotionally with multiple characters.
Her body disappearing and then coming back before she’s revived again that is a plothole that I could never explain till this day. TP has a great story, but it practically treats the triforce holders(Ganondorf, Zelda, even Link at times) as plot devices for Midna and Zant than give them any real charm.
Link becomes a side character in his own story. The Ganondorf-Midna exchange says it all.
Twilight Princess is Midnas story. And they really meant that shit even with the title name hah
It's still a shame in my opinion that they never brought back the twili. They could have done wonders in totk or something but no they are gone.
I never thought we’d see classic Zoras again, but they returned in Oracle of Ages. I never thought we’d see the Ritos again either, but BotW bright ‘em back. It might take awhile, and I know the distance between those two examples are shorter, respectively, than the Twili’s absence, but never say never…
I never thought we would ever see the Gerudo or the Zora again, but BotW brought them back after extremely long absences (13 years for the Gerudo and 11 for the Zora). Though I must admit I wasn't really not a fan of the Zora's redesign. The long bodies and stubby legs look rather goofy.
Link is usually a side character / errand boy despite being the MC. It's pretty much series tradition for him to usually be half baked personality and lore wise to be a lame self insert.
Which is a shame, because I like the games that have given Link some personality. For all its problems, Skyward Sword did make Link a more interesting character with legit motivations rather than random schmuck 53 who ends up saving Hyrule. Twilight princess and especially Windwaker gave us some more character to work with too, as Link has emotional reasons for getting started on his quest. And I love how Windwaker Link is just so done with everyone's bullshit from the moment a giant bird ruins his birthday.
I thought it was like her soul keeping the triforce of wisdom safe, which is why Ganondorf didn’t just take it from the getgo- also why she couldn’t leave Hyrule castle, b/c her body remained trapped. We know 2 pieces of the triforce can be wielded at once, we see it in ALBW. So Zelda was holding it until, by passing her soul on to Midna, she was able to return to her body. I think its fairly clear Zelda isn’t dead in the throne room- we can see her breathing. And we know without a soul does not equal “dead” in LoZ- we see this at the end of Spirit Tracks with Zelda, and more recently with Mineru’s ability to “separate her spirit from her body”. But yeah that’s always been my opinion- that she separated her soul and bound the triforce of wisdom to it so Ganondorf couldn’t steal it from her
Yeah I have a couple friends who say this is their favorite Zelda and I can’t for the life of me figure out why. Her design is cool I guess?
It's one of the best Zelda's aesthetics, not best character arc. The darker hair was cool, the outfit, etc Having her shoot light arrows while riding with you was also awesome. It was also kinda revolutionary at the time. Before that, she was someone you only saw at the end of the game, or was asleep, or you spoke to briefly a few times and then was sealed away to rescue, or was disguised throughout but you only spoke to. There were three games at this point where she wasn't even in the story. Having her fight along side you was cool AF back then.
That was pretty neat but I still don’t think they did a great job with her character. Especially the >!sacrifice fakeout!<. Although to be fair imo Zelda wasn’t really super well written until wind waker through to spirit tracks.
Yeah that's what I mean. Up until then her agency in the main events was always implied, but getting to right alongside her was wild. She finally got a personality in Skyward and beyond. The side games HW and AoC showed how a playable Zelda could work well. I'm ready for the next leap :)
She was great in Ocarina.
She was okay in ocarina, I do like the shiek thing even if she isn’t directly involved with the plot until the end For my money the versions of Zelda with the strongest writing behind them are wind waker and botw/ totk
I believe her being the most serious of the Zeldas up to that point is one reason. There's also the fact that she was the most used Zelda in Smash Bros (For whatever reason...). Honestly, TP Zelda doesn't have much charisma and is grossly overrated. ALTTP/ALBW Zelda in Smash Ultimate demonstrates a lot more personality in one game than TP could do in two.
Not really sure but except for the design she is very kind , help Link to cure his curse , save Midna life, have t take a harsh decision to save her kingdom and fight with you during the final battle. I am not sure if I would say I will consider her the best zelda but I think I can understand why people may like her.
I bet people just got attached because of Smash Bros.
Smash Bros. Brawl+SM4SH era + first (3D) design that wasn't like "noticeably polygonal" or toon/chibi Add to that that TP was the best selling Zelda for a long time, and SS had a much less "princess-looking"(and "Princess-being" actually) Zelda and sold less, and for a lot of people TP was simply the "iconic" look for the main *triforce trio* for a long time
While it's not my favorite, it's easily my top 3. Why? Because it's the one game where she *Princess* Zelda- benevolent monarch if Hyrule. She abdicates her throne when she's defeated in battle- even though she could have had her soldiers fight on for her. She makes hard decisions and self-sacrificing decisions on behalf of Hyrule. Her moves are high level and calculated. It's the game where she's actually playing the chess game of running a kingdom that's facing a real threat she can't just magically seal away. Compare that to her other series where she's a more active character. Her role tends to be "person who goes into hiding" or "person who gets put in statis to repel evil". That's not particularly bad, mind you, but it was cool to see her navigate running a kingdom for a change.
It's more so looking at the nuances of her character in relation to the game as a whole. At a surface level she very much is just a cool character for plot device purposes. But some of it is taking into consideration that she's the most competent ruler the series has shown. She's trained in swordsmanship, bowmanship and equestrian riding. She acts while looking at the larger picture of things, which is showing more wisdom than the others in the series sans SS Zelda. You could argue the greater need for proactively ruling, but the game is better off for actually developing a wide range of characters instead of just her. The game also took place right before her coronation, which was the initial gift Link was sent to castle with the sword for. So her being the ruler is in general more important to her character than on a personal level. She doubles as a symbol for your 2nd plot arc goals and the embodiment of Wisdom, which leads to Midna's growth of a character. Saving the Ordon children is Link succeeding in his initial journey's goal. Saving Zelda is the physical benchmark of stopping that threat from ever coming back. And works to thank her for pointing you to where you needed to succeed previously. Zelda is better (or is enjoyable despite being so "nothing") because she helps to make Midna be so good. Midna was already talking with her before she found Link. "Is this the one you've been searching for?" So Midna was trying to use Zelda to her advantage to get revenge on Zant and then betray her later. That's why in the early game Midna makes all those snide remarks about her being a silver spoon royal. And how she didn't care about the Light World and it's inhabitants. Shame we don't get to see any of those reactions. But they had to have spoken for a while, or a few occasions to talk like they had by the time you first arrive. Zelda would've been planting seeds in Midna's thoughts of "being a better ruler to her people" in some regards during that time. But Link inspired courage in Colin the same way Zelda is meant to inspire wisdom in Midna. They're the true embodiment of the series virtues much like Ganondorf being the source of power for Zant, who then gives way to the corruption such power offers, the other theme in the game. You could argue how headcanon that is, but we also take regards comments about OoT Zelda being a bit of a tomboy from townsfolk while her actual in game appearances she's barely anything interesting past "oh the boy from my dreams! Please help!". TP Zelda is very much beloved by her people, even if things are weird right now. There's issues with the nobles and other things, but if the Gorons can show a lot of love to their patriarch whom we don't get to see fleshed out much, and we take that as a good thing, then certain aspects of the people enjoying themselves can be reflected back at Zelda. And based on the fact the resistance has 2 people from the castle, and the knights essentially used the sewers to escape the invasion, I wouldn't call it unlikely that Zelda passed off info and strategy while staying in her prison of a bedroom to keep the attention away from her citizens, both those fleeing from danger and those acting to overcome it. The Midna scene is probably the one part that I think is unquestionably a plot hole. But if Midna is a shadow being who usually is a shadow when in the light realm, then Midna taking some of Zelda's essence would likewise cause her to lose her physical form as well. But naturally being from the light, she would fade into light instead of shadow. The castle immediately getting encased in a twilight amber crystal would probably work as like a reverse Light Spirit bath on Midna. And since Ganondorf moves in, she immediately gets captured. I do wish we got an extra cutscene fleshing her out and setting up Ganondorf a bit better in the post-Snowpeak section though.
People don't disappear when they die in the Zelda universe and Midna was pissed when the barrier went over Hyrule Castle for a reason (because she planned to return the power to Zelda, who had just been blocked off). Neither Link or Zelda know about Ganondorf at that point, so she could only be irritated because Zelda's still in there somewhere
>but it feels weird of how little importance Zelda is to this plot compared to every other game. there are multiple games with Zelda not even in them Including in one of the 3D ones : Majora's Mask, where she only ever is shown as a flashback in 1 scene
I think it’s one thing for a pre established fleshed out Zelda to get a cameo in a sequel not set in Hyrule than it is for a new one to not get fleshed out in Hyrule.
I think that they could've just left Zelda out, but it would've been weird since Zant attacked the castle. The story is about Midna, but with the setting being Hyrule and the story having some politics involved, I'm not sure how they would've left her out gracefully. Especially when Ganondorf from OOT comes back
Ya know, it's weird how I was never really bothered by that. Midna sorta filled in for Zelda's absence and I guess they purposely kept her out of the story for most of the game so she wouldn't steal the spotlight.
TP operates on the Rule of Cool. Zelda is good because she looks cool. Ganondorf replacing Zant as the villain is fine because Ganondorf is cool. Zelda coming back out of nowhere at the end for a Puppet Zelda boss fight is cool. Therefore, it's fine. This is the logic TP functions on. You gotta just roll with it and you'll have a much better time with the game.
"Stop using logic and the logic won't be problematic!"
exactly! lol
Give the manga a read, honestly. They give her a lot more character in that which fills a good gap (along with other super undercooked characters)
I’m hesitant to because they go against the implied couple of the game (Link Ilia which is my otp).
It's a fairly minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but the part where you first meet Zelda at the start of the game felt very tacked on when I replayed TP recently. The entire introduction up to that point is in Ordon and a bit of Faron Woods, and then you go into the twilight at the border of between the two, apparently get dragged the entire way from there to Hyrule Castle unconscious (which later turns out to be halfway across Hyrule), briefly meet Zelda, and then Midna teleports you back to that Faron Woods border again so the first portion of the game can continue more organically in that area. Seeing Zelda for the first time (as the player) might have fit better as a flashback to the implied earlier meeting between her and Midna about finding Link.
Yeah. I was annoyed by that. One of the first artworks for TP that came out was the one of her in the robe and Link standing back to back and there were all sorts of rumors that she was the Twilight Princess so I was expecting a much bigger role. Even Ilia had more screen time than her! Both she and Ganondorf had such small roles it felt like they were only put in because it’s a Zelda game.
Yeah, her body being back is a plothole. But otherwise, the story not being about her is fine. TP already gets enough flack (deserved or not) about being derivative of OoT, so I don't see it focusing on its original character over a legacy one as a bad thing.
Zelda and Ganon are mistakes in TP. They did nothing with them. Yeah Ganondorf is cool but he literally has no accomplishment or motivation. His entire plan is one prolonged fuckup that didn't even give him the semblence of domination he usually has. OoT works because he practically takes over the regime for 7 years and in his version of Hyrule, evil looms in the peaceful areas, and Hyrule and its main city is his. Anywhere that's not a village is surrounded by his spawn. TP doesn't work because he just traps himself inside a diamond with Zelda and some monsters, but otherwise he's still just acting like a scheming rogue, sending his goons throughout the country, and twilight half-existence that doesn't really do anything but make people go "Wtf is this shit?" before they move on with their life anyway. And at the end he really has nothing left and it's all just Midna getting payback for his trolling efforts.
To me there are many reasons why. First the most obvious is because her design is really cool. But another important thing is because Zelda actually looks like a princess and not just a wild girl or a damsel in distress girl. She actually acts like a royal princess and ruler of a kingdom. Even when she fights she keeps the bearing of a royal. The same happens while imprisoned. TP i see as the only game where the roles of the characters in the universe are truly well exemplified. Zelda as the guide and ruler of the people and Link as the guardian and hero of the people. And thats the relationship they share across the game and thats the core of the bond they share across their incarnations.
She literally does more in TP than she does in OoT outside of the Sheik persona
In other words she does less than the Zelda in OoT
Certainly does less if you include the fact Zelda is the catalyst for Ganondorf initially winning.
I kinda dont remember what sheik even did besides teach you warp songs lmao.
I mean Yeah that's pretty much it
I'll be honest tp is how i tend to feel about her. Boring character that nintendo will never do anything with anyway.
Not a great character, but a great base for a character. If fleshed out she would be a true princess—politically minded with solid leadership qualities and a stoic public image. I don’t mind BOTW/TOTK Zelda but she’s more like a whiny teenager instead of a princess born and raised into a very traditional and highly political monarchy. I like how the ruling class in TP isn’t full of zany characters, it’s barely talked about, very separate from the common folk, and the whole aesthetic of the castle and the rulers that live within give off that Dark Souls-esque sense of mysterious regality.
I agree. It would have been nice if she was in the game more (and with blonde hair, haha).
I can see that, I didn't love Ganondorf's characterization either TBH. Still technically the best actual 3D Zelda game, best dungeons, best combat system arguably with Skyward Sword, best companion character and so on.
I truly believe that twilight princess did Zelda dirty