post roundup

https://pml1225.tumblr.com/post/177948583807/1-the-legend-of-zelda

https://pml1225.tumblr.com/post/178267077427/2-the-legend-of-the-legend-of-zelda

https://pml1225.tumblr.com/post/178576474687/3-lets-backtrack-and-talk-about-the-timeline

https://pml1225.tumblr.com/post/179559915782/4urbosa-mipha-zelda-revali-daruk

https://pml1225.tumblr.com/post/180512050242/5-intermediary-post-playing-the-game

https://pml1225.tumblr.com/post/180455745267/6-music-pt-1-how-to-use-music-to-set-a-theme

https://pml1225.tumblr.com/post/180456822307/65-music-pt-2-ocarina-of-time-and-how-to-use

https://pml1225.tumblr.com/post/180502095857/7characters-continued-worldbuilding-and-npcs

https://pml1225.tumblr.com/post/180512295307/8-a-legend-of-zelda-fan

I wish I could have covered more.

I wanted to talk about art styles, and how people responded and grew to love cel-shading.

I wanted to talk about gameplay mechanics, and how Nintendo has always been innovating in this aspect.

I wanted to talk about the different races of Hyrulians, and their portrayal across games.

I wanted to talk about Breath of the Wild, a lot lot more.

But in the end, maybe the whole point was that you can watch all of the walkthroughs you want, listen to all of the soundtracks you want, and read/write all the analysis you want, but still, the Legend of Zelda is about the experience of the player. It can be enhanced and supported by all of the other components, but the end goal for Nintendo is for you to enjoy their games and their worlds. So go! Enjoy! Stop reading my shit.

5: intermediary post - playing the game

If you remember from my first post, I never played Wind Waker fully until relatively recently. I knew the entire story, including most of the side quests, from reading a strategy guide that my brother bought. When Twilight Princess came out, i would watch walkthrough videos of people playing the game and listen to the soundtrack. Somehow, I considered myself a fan of the games despite never fully completing any of the “main important games”. (I played Phantom Hourglass on a DS emulator and Minish Cap on a GBA emulator.) In fact, Breath of the Wild was the first time I played a full video game in quite a while. So do I think my status as a fan has changed since playing Breath of the Wild and reintroducing myself to some of the Zelda games? 

In the next few posts, I want to get away from the story of the game and focus on everything else that requires actually playing a game to understand. As such, I’ll focus primarily on Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Breath of the Wild. I’ll start with talking about some of the music. Before, I only liked Zelda music because I liked the way it sounded. I had no personal connection to the music, but especially after playing OoT, I saw how important the music was to contributing to the game. I’ll also talk about how the Zelda games build cohesive worlds around the characters that you meet throughout the games.

Before all of that, I’d like to tell you some anecdotes of my first playthrough of BotW. I hadn’t consumed this game “passively” as I had for some of the other games, because I knew I wanted to buy a Switch for myself and experience it, so I didn’t know what to expect going in. I knew it was open world, that your weapons broke, and you could do all sorts of weird stuff, but that was it.

Once you leave the cave at the start of the game, there is a swell of music as the main theme plays, but after that, there is no soundtrack that plays consistently throughout the game. I spent the first hour or two avoiding the area I was supposed to go to, and instead I just screwed around as much as I could, picking apples, throwing things at enemies, and dying a decent amount. When I finally headed towards the waypoint, this music began playing quietly, growing louder as I got closer to my destination:

That’s when I knew I was in for a great game.

Other stray things I remember doing:

- You can catch and tame stray horses. I spent a lot of time chasing prettier horses on perfectly functional horses.

- The first time I saw a dragon was totally wild, because I didn’t know there were dragons in the game. It was also accompanied by this ethereal music, and I kind of just stared up at it as it flew by. 40 hours later, I would be shooting at the dragons to harvest their scales lmao.

- When you use your bow and arrow, you can adjust your aim by using the accelerometer on the Switch controllers. This is something I never would have known if I didn’t play the game (obviously), but it really was cool. Nintendo has always been trying to implement these cool gameplay mechanics that make you feel more in control (remember the Wii?), and this is something I wouldn’t have appreciated before.

- I traveled to the ocean to watch the sunrise. In a video game.

(not my picture but you get the point)

I’m glad I played this game.

Up next: lets talk about music - in the context of games!

7:characters continued - worldbuilding and NPCs

A few posts ago, I talked about the stories of two characters in Breath of the Wild – Mipha and Zelda, and how their individual story arc played out within the broader story. This time, I want to talk about the characters that aren’t really part of the story – NPCs, or non-player characters.

NPCs in Zelda games have always contributed to the world of the each game. RPGs will always have NPCs, usually populating towns and coming with side quests to give the player, but when done poorly, it really doesn’t add much to the story. A lot of the time, NPCs are either turned into exposition machines or just have a fetch quest for you to complete (like “kill 10 enemies and bring me their remains” LOL). The Legend of Zelda, starting from the 3D era with Ocarina of Time, has really put a lot of detail into folding the NPCs into the environment and themes of the game, and this really contributes to the player’s enjoyment.

Ocarina of Time has some great NPC storytelling, and it fits within the context of the story. As you’ve probably heard dozens of times before, one of the main mechanics of the game is Link travelling time from his time as a kid before Ganon took over to a time 7 years later as an adult when Ganon took over. The game takes great care to show the effects of 7 years of Ganon rule on the world, including the environment and the music (see the last post). To round this all out, the NPCs also change and develop, and it fits the somber events that occurred. Some people move up in the world, some people stay the same, but some people just straight up died. Ocarina of Time really excelled with its consistent storytelling throughout the game, not just the main story, and it set a precedent for future games to come.

(rip graveyard dude)

Breath of the Wild has really taken this to the next logical step, and I think it was done beautifully. Part of this is due to better technology, but mostly, it is just a dedicated attention to detail by the staff. The world feels real and interconnected. Most townspeople still stay within the safety of their homes, but as you travel along the roads, you will encounter people travelling around, and you can follow them to their next destination. Sometimes, you will have to save someone who is being attacked by monsters, and they remember you if have saved them before. There is a clan of evil ninjas, the Yiga clan, that poses as travelers you have spoken to along the road before, only to attack you. There is a traveling reporter who goes around from place to place, spilling gossip about nearby attractions. There is a travelling bird bard, whose goal is to learn songs about the Hyrule of yore that his master was unable to pass onto him before he passed. People move around, but are still wary of exploring too far themselves. As you venture further from roads, you will see fewer and fewer people, which makes the times you do encounter people unexpectedly off the beaten path more interesting. There is a brother-sister duo of treasure hunters that roam around the ruins of old fortresses, hoping to find valuable relics of the society that was destroyed in the past. There is a fishing village that you never have to go to, but has a multitude of people with their own stories for you to delve into. This sort of detail, which would go unnoticed by some people (it took me 60 hours to venture to that corner of the map), is what truly elevates the game. It isn’t just to serve as easter eggs, either; it really paints Hyrule as a civilization struggling to rebuild, but unable to make headway with the threat of Ganon still looming. For example, the people of the fishing village face constant threats to their way of life as monsters set up camp in their fishing areas. You get the sense that they had to stand their ground to maintain their traditions across the years. Even so, the constant threat of the monsters would make anyone feel cornered and helpless. The player doesn’t necessarily need to make the journey to Lurelin village, but it helps contextualize the struggle of Hyrulians throughout the past 100 years.

One of my favorite side quests in the game is one where you literally build a town. Throughout my first playthrough, I met some characters that just stuck out to me. There was a Gerudo woman who just sat in a bazaar, lamenting the fact that she couldn’t find a husband, as her only skill was making clothes. Another Rito boy told me how he didn’t want to work in his mothers shop anymore, and wanted to travel himself. I thought this was weird, because there was nothing for me to do to change their situation. Later in the game, you meet a construction worker who was tasked to build a new town on a small outcropping of uninhabited land. You help him clear out the area, bring building materials, and ultimately, bring these people who you have met before to populate the town. To me, this signified another theme within the game – needing to rebuild. While the people of Lurelin village were trying to maintain their lifestyle against the odds, other people were yearning for something greater. When you beat Ganon, Zelda tells Link of her plans to help the entirety of Hyrule to rebuild and recover its former glory, and you are reminded of the town that you helped build.

(the sidequest ends with a wedding, with all the people you gathered who wanted something else in life. what a great way to tell a human story while also making you chop down 110 bundles of wood to build the damn town.)

This is how games can use NPCs to not only add content to the game and provide a rich world for the player to explore, but to also help tell the story. An immense amount of thought and work went into creating every aspect of Breath of the Wild, and it really incentivizes the player to explore. Many games are working to implement this mode of storytelling through gameplay as a philosophy. Unlike other media like movies or books, the player can choose to get out of the experience what they want, and when a world is well built and populated with characters that feel real within the contexts of the story, it is extremely rewarding to sink hundreds of hours just talking to everyone and seeing everything.

6.5: music pt 2 - Ocarina of Time, and how to use music as storytelling

You know the drill, press play, lets get this bread. I only have 5 songs to tell you about this entire game and soundtrack.

This is a really special soundtrack, because it was really one of the first Zelda games that had a story that wasn’t “adventure! go do this thing! save the princess!” It was also the first 3D Zelda game and the first one that had actual orchestral arrangements (due to ~ advanced ~ technology). As such, Kondo had the full range of instruments and over 2 hours of music to use to help the storytelling. Yes, it still is Koji Kondo composing the entire thing. As opposed to the original Zelda music, or the halo music, Kondo is able to use his music to tie directly into the themes of the game and aid the storytelling rather than just serving as a backdrop.

One of the main themes of Ocarina of Time that I got was growing up and the realities that came with it. You start the game as a child, just waking up, and this title theme kinda feels like that, with its almost jazzy ocarina and piano duet. The main segment itself of the theme is, if you listen carefully, actually a simplified version of the main Zelda theme. They wanted something different, but still staying true to the roots of Zelda. Also, it should probably be noted that music is a pretty big motif in this game - it is, after all called the Ocarina of Time. The wind instrument you hear in the theme is indeed an Ocarina, and it sounds almost like a more ethereal flute (it looks pretty damn goofy tho).

(l o l)

This ocarina is the means by which you can time travel between Child Link and Adult Link, so it sets up the soundtrack to be extremely effective - after all, the game mechanic is literally using music to show the passage of time. When you revisit areas of the same Hyrule as Adult Link, 7 years later, you are often faced with much more serious situations, and overall everything is just a bit more grim. (In the game’s story, Ganon has kinda been ruling for 7 years, so its fair that Hyrule is kind of a sad place to be.) Let’s take a look at one place that you visit twice, Kakariko village.

As a child, a lot of the things that Link does are more like wacky shenanigans than legendary adventures. One of the main things you do in Kakariko village as a kid is chase chickens around for some lady so she can give you a bottle. Seriously. As such, the music is very relaxing, making you feel like you’re in a quaint farming village. Life is good. It’s chill. Someone is playing the guitar, and someone else is playing some weird wind instrument (a harmonica? seriously, is that a harmonica?)

Flash forward 7 years, and things have definitely changed. The guitar is replaced by a cello, and while the tune is still slow, it feels more melancholy rather than relaxed. Kakariko village still tries to be the same quaint village, but Ganon’s rule has definitely taken a toll.

This is just one example of how the music in Ocarina of Time tells the story for you. You have Zelda’s theme, with its quiet serenity that reminds you of her royalty. The music in the Temple of Time is hauntingly ethereal, with a slow chant enforcing the sacred nature of the place where you eventually get the Master Sword. And then there is this:

That shit is straight up satanic. Gone are the arpeggios (?) that encouraged you to explore the temple like the dungeon theme from the first zelda. This theme is unsettling, and makes you dread exploring. I’ll let you take a guess whether you explore this temple as an adult or child. (the answer is adult.) In a way, this shows the responsibility of that Adult Link has. The game isn’t telling you to explore because it’s fun, it is actively warning you that this is a dangerous place, but you know you have to explore it as it is your responsibility as the Hero of Time.

Koji Kondo is a genius.

6: music pt 1 _ how to use music to set a theme - a masterclass in 9 minutes by Koji Kondo

You know what - I tried writing an essay with an actual thesis for this a few times, but nothing solid really came out.

Instead, I’ll just talk in the middle of some tunes. It’s easy - just press play, and then pause when you get to the next one/have heard enough.

Video game music is kind of a unique genre. It has the potential to generate these intensely memorable soundtracks, but only to the people who have played it. Nearly everyone can hum the Mario theme, but a much smaller cohort of people will recognize, say the Halo music that started the mission “Attack on the Cartographer”. In my opinion, however, the Halo music is so much more effective, because even 10 years after playing that mission, I can recall the sense of storming a beach to a thumping orchestral suite. Meanwhile, the Mario music is iconic, but what do you remember about original Mario games? World 1-1? interesting.

This is the main theme to the original Legend of Zelda. Obviously, it sounds old school because that was the tech they had to work with back then (”they”, by the way, refers to Koji Kondo in this case. He composed the entire soundtrack: all 8 minutes and 57 minutes of it.) But immediately, you can get the idea of what Zelda music is - grand. It starts off a slow, suspenseful intro, alluding to the sense of weight (the Legend), but then it quickly transitions to a upbeat theme of adventure. This theme has stuck for over 25 years, and just take a listen to it in its full orchestral form:

If you noticed - there was a 30th anniversary concert for the Legend of Zelda. That’s a pretty special thing to happen, and it only happens because with each game has an amazing soundtrack that ties so well to the experience of playing the game. With each one, even the original, listening to the music can immediately take you back to the feeling of playing the game, often to specific memories. Let’s talk about it. Starting with the original NES Zelda:

The original NES soundtrack, as I’ve mentioned, is only 9 minutes long. It really only consists of three themes: the overworld theme, the dungeon theme, and the final dungeon theme. The overworld theme is one that screams adventure, and really encourages you to gallivant around the map, doing whatever you please (within the constraints of the game). It really is just a sped up version of the main theme, but the plodding bassline behind the main melody really contributes to the feel of adventure.

The dungeon theme is only 20 ish seconds by my count, but immediately captures a feel of eeriness. Even so, the game wants you to explore this dungeon with all of its mystery, and the constantly ascending arpeggios (? maybe? i play the violin but im no music theorist) really give this a sonic meaning that take up the foreground, with the actual melody being in the background as the bass.

With maybe a minute total of actual melody, Kondo was able to instantly set the tone for each section of the game. Of course, this was par for the course at the time, but looking back at it, given that video game soundtracks are hours long now, it is really impressive. That’s what I call efficiency, and it is still his original theme that sticks till this day

4:(urbosa>)mipha>zelda(>revali>daruk)

Link is not really the most interesting character. No RPG protagonist is, because their sole purpose is to serve as an insert for the player. As such, some of the side characters have much more compelling stories and become much more memorable. Let’s take a look at two of them in Breath of the Wild.

Breath of the Wild’s story is a backstory of events that happened in the past, and it focuses on Zelda’s struggles to unlock her power to seal Ganon away. She is fiercely devoted to unlocking her inherited power, but when her training doesn’t pay off, she understandably gets frustrated. In the off-time from her training, she works on deciphering and engineering the Guardians, ancient mechanical spider-bots that she hopes to use in the fight against Ganon’s forces.

“At the current rate, we’ll soon know all we need to know about the Guardians and the Divine Beasts!”

“He always says, ‘Quit wasting your time playing at being a scholar!’ I’ve spent every day of my life dedicated to praying!”

Her father adamantly disapproves of this, insisting that she focuses on her training. This leaves Zelda feeling helpless and not in control, and when she goes to the final holy spring to pray, only to be met by silence once again, Ganon suddenly attacks. Zelda can’t do anything but stand by as she watches Link and the rest of her friends go fight the war she knows she can’t finish. When Calamity Ganon hijacks the Guardians and Divine Beasts with his ~evil essence~, killing the other champions and turning the army that she had worked so hard on against her, the defeat is complete and she breaks down. Throughout this ordeal, Link is by her side, but being the silent protagonist that he is, can only offer a meager lap for her to cry on in the rain. It is only when Link collapses from his injuries and exhaustion and a Guardian is about to lay waste to them both that she jumps in front of him and cries out, and unlocks her power, saving their lives. Power unlocked, but still thoroughly defeated, she arranges for Link and his sword to be safely stowed away for 100 years, and goes off to Hyrule castle to hold off Ganon as best she can until Link reawakens.

well, that was easy.

Zelda’s story throughout the games has always been somewhat of a disappointing one, because the games, despite their titles, center around Link. In past games, Zelda always plays a secondary role in Link’s quest, and her involvement and agency in the story ranges from just being asleep for the entirety of Zelda II to Ocarina of Time, where she semi-orchestrates the entire plot from behind the scenes, setting up things so Link can save the day. When Zelda plays an active role in the stories, it is almost always as an alter ego – either as Sheik in Ocarina of Time or as Tetra the pirate in Wind Waker. The Zelda/Tetra distinction is especially interesting and particularly glaring because Tetra is a badass and a primary mover of the plot for the first half of the story, but is unaware of her heritage as Princess Zelda. When she is informed of her ancestry, she goes full princess mode and is relegated to being asleep in a dungeon and firing arrows at Link for him to reflect at Ganon. In the next game (Phantom Hourglass), she readopts her Tetra personality, but her story is very much that of a damsel in distress, which came as a disappointment to fans yearning for more.

By telling Zelda’s story in the past while letting the player finish Link’s story, Nintendo cleverly maneuvered around the problem of having Zelda, who is technically the title character, always being the secondary character. Her story is quite compelling and relatable, seeing how her attempts to balance the burden of unlocking her power with her knack and interest in research and essentially the Hyrulian version of engineering. The way she, as psychoanalyzed by one of the Champions, views Link’s steadfast dedication to his set path as a constant reminder of her own failure paints a convincingly conflicted character, stuck between a rock and a hard place. However, Nintendo fails to bring her story to a fully satisfying conclusion. In the end, her efforts to tame the Guardians are useless and actually lead to her defeat, and she unlocks her power not through her own dedication to her training, but rather her desire to protect Link. This girl climbed three (3) mountains for that shit! Eventually, when she can’t hold Ganon back any further, she calls out to Link to help, and that’s when the game begins. In the final post-game cutscene, Zelda expresses her desire to explore all of Hyrule and continue learning about their ancestors while helping the people, so she does get to do what she wants, but it is still a happy ending that is given to her by Link and the player. In a game where the primary gameplay philosophy is “you can literally do whatever you want”, Zelda’s story where she can’t escape her destiny and the wishes of her father and ancestors leaves a bitter irony. However, her character that is portrayed still shines through the miserable lot in life she was given, as her scenes show her as a real character with real motivations that players will want to root for. Just not a primary character.

That’s not to say that Nintendo is incapable of telling non-Link stories in the context of the Legend of Zelda. The stories of the characters Link meets throughout his journey are often quite compelling and imbued with feeling, and even through the brief interactions the player has, they really contribute to the overall vibe of the games. Breath of the Wild ups the ante by introducing 4 other secondary characters – the Champions. Of the four, Mipha’s character stood out to me, especially since her reception among the fanbase seemed to be extremely divided. Most of her critics claim that “her only character trait is liking Link”, and while, admittedly, much of her character arc revolves around her love for Link, it is told in a way that provides agency and weight to her decisions. Mipha is a childhood friend of Link’s, and as adults/teenagers, she often tends to his wounds with her healing powers. When their respective duties as Champions require them to travel separately and pair Link with Zelda, she is understandably jealous, but keeps it to herself in order to not jeopardize their group’s mission. Instead of being passive, however, she still expresses her wishes to spend more time with Link when their mission is fulfilled, and vows to stick by his side and protect him with all of her power. She also harbors no ill will towards Zelda, instead offering her advice on how to unlock her power by describing how she thinks of someone she cares about (Link) when healing (which somehow ends up being the key to unlocking Zelda’s power even though she’s not the one with a crush on Link ugh).

“We just don’t seem to know much about what we’ll be up against. But know this: that no matter how difficult this battle may get, if you - if anyone ever tries to do you harm, the I will heal you. No matter when, or how bad the wound, I hope you know that I will always protect you. Once this whole thing is over, maybe things can go back to how they used to be when we were young. You know...perhaps we could spend some time together.”

Though she falls to Ganon along with the remaining champions, the extent of her feelings towards Link is revealed during the game. The Zora, her race of fish-people, initially distrust Link because they believe that he took Mipha away from them and failed to protect her from Ganon. After her father reveals the truth that Mipha loved Link and desired to protect him along with the rest of Hyrule, however, the elders turn to begrudgingly placing their faith in Link based on their trust of Mipha’s judgement. This is symbolized by the armor that Mipha crafted for Link, which in Zora culture is something similar to a proposal. The armor is instrumental to Link’s success, and when he frees Mipha’s soul from Ganon’s grasp, she expresses her gratitude and feelings and passes on her healing powers to Link so she can continue to look over him from the afterlife. In this way, Mipha’s story, though a trite one of impossible childhood love, is more satisfying than Zelda’s. Many of her actions are dependent on her love for Link, sure, but they are logical and are met with logical results. Her happy ending is a direct result of her own actions and character (other than the part where Link still has to free her soul from Ganon, but he has to do that for everyone). The player is reminded of this every time they don the armor she made for Link or get merked by some dumb shit and are revived by her power. The difference between Zelda’s and the Champions’ stories can be seen by how fans responded. When the DLC came out promising more backstory on the Champions, fans were excited and rumors even circulated that you would be able to play as Mipha and the others. Though the DLC eventually fell way short of these expectations, providing little more backstory than “Mipha is kind to everyone”, the prospect that people wanted to play as her indicates that people wanted to experience more of her character beyond her devotion towards Link, something which you can’t exactly say for Zelda. I hope that Nintendo will continue to tell compelling and satisfying stories that aren’t solely based on a male lead, but perhaps the traditional Legend of Zelda story isn’t fit for this. Maybe Metroid?

3: lets backtrack and talk about the timeline.

Here is an attempt to summarize the Wikipedia article on the Zelda timeline. These are in my view, the important games* and what happens. Heavy Spoilers for like Every Game In the Series.

THE VERY BEGINNING

Farore, Din, and Nayru are goddesses who create everything, including the Triforce. The Triforce is the Macguffins of Macguffins – it literally just grants wishes, but it has no like morals or whatever. Hylia is the guardian of the Triforce. She does a few things – protects Hylians (humans), creating the Goddess Sword, and trapping the demon Demise. Then she gives up her powers and becomes reborn into Link (the first one).

Skyward Sword (I didn’t play this game).

Link (the first one), with the help of his friend Zelda (the first one), gets the Goddess Sword and destroys Demise. But Demise vows to reincarnate and forever torment Zelda and Link’s descendants. Apparently all you need to do is vow to do something and boom – a eternal war emerges.

Ocarina of Time (This is a Very Good Game).

Ganondorf is trying to get the Triforce. Ganondorf is a Gerudo King who has the rage of Demise inside of him. Link is a kid, is caught up in some shenanigans around Hyrule to get into the Spirit Realm where the Triforce is, but Ganondorf takes it first and takes over Hyrule. Link stays in a coma for 7 years, wakes up and gathers the seven Sages who have the power to seal Ganondorf away, and gets the Master Sword (this is the same as the Goddess Sword), all while time traveling with a magic ocarina. It turns out that Ganondorf was too unstable for the Triforce, splitting into the Triforce of Courage, Power, and Wisdom, of which he has Power. Adult Link defeats Ganondorf/Ganon (Ganon is a pig-beast that Ganondorf becomes with the Triforce of Power) and becomes the Hero of Time (or does he?), and he gets sent back to his childhood to continue living his days.

THE B I G S P L I T

Nintendo aka the Biggest Bullshitters of All Time posits that there are three outcomes from the Ocarina of Time. In the first, Link fails to actually beat Ganondorf (making OoT technically not canon in this timeline). He dies, as does Zelda. The sages still seal Ganondorf away, and he’s in the Dark Realm. What is the Dark Realm? Who cares.

The second and third outcomes are just continuations of the two timelines that result from OoT. Ganon is dead (sealed somewhere) in the Adult Timeline, but Ganondorf is resurrected. Since Adult Link was sent back to his childhood (Very Important Plot Reason from post 2), there is no Hero of Time to come back and save everyone. In the Child Timeline, Ganon never comes to power, Ganondorf is executed (or is he?), and everything is Gucci™.

TIMELINE 1: The Decline of Hyrule (the boring one because these games are old and story wasn’t important back then)

A Link to the Past

Link (the Hero of Legend) is telepathically called by Zelda who is trapped in a dungeon to defeat some wizard who is trying to unseal Ganon (remember, Hero of Time Link died but Ganondorf was still sealed). He beats the wizard with the Master Sword, but Jokes! It was Ganon the whole time! Link defeats him.

The Legend of Zelda (the very first one)

Link (The Hero of Hyrule) has to find the shards of the Triforce of Wisdom that Zelda hid from Ganon before she was captured and defeat Ganon. It’s kind of unclear how/when Ganon was resurrected this time.

Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (the second game released)

Link finds the Triforce of Courage and awakens Zelda from a deep sleep, somehow. They live happily ever after. This was the 80s. But hey! Now all three parts of the Triforce are accounted for.

TIMELINE 2: The Hero of Time is successful, but disappears (is sent back in time)

Wind Waker (This is my favorite game.)

Ganon comes back imbued with the Triforce of Power, but the Hero of Time isn’t there. The King of Hyrule, Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule (yes, really), out of options, prays to the goddesses to help, and they flood Hyrule, separating it into islands so Ganon’s influence can’t spread (boats aren’t very common, evidently). Link (the Hero of Winds) goes on an adventure to save his sister, who is kidnapped by Ganondorf, with the help of a pirate named Tetra who his sister was mistaken for. Along the way, he is guided by a talking boat named the King of Red Lions. He resurrects the spirits of the sages that sealed Ganon away in OoT, finds the Triforce of Courage which the Hero of Time hid after completing his mission, and gets the Master Sword. He beats Ganon, with Tetra’s help (she happens to actually be Princess Zelda, wearing the Triforce of Wisdom as a necklace). However, Ganondorf manages to unite the three pieces of the Triforce momentarily, but the King of Red Lions (who is actually Daphnes whatever the heck his name is) touches it first and wishes to completely flood Hyrule. Ganon is dead, Hyrule is gone, so Link and Zelda set sail on her pirate ship to find a new place to establish Hyrule.

TIMELINE 3: Link from OoT got sent back to his childhood.

Now that they know Ganondorf is evil, they try to kill him but fail. Instead, they seal him in the twilight realm with a magic mirror.

Twilight Princess

Link (The Hero of Twilight), a descendant of Hero of Time, accidentally becomes a wolf while trying to save some kids. He gets roped into saving Hyrule by Zelda and an imp named Midna from a sorcerer named Vant, who is the King of the Twilight Realm and is trying to consume Hyrule in Twilight. After killing Vant, it turns out that surprise! Ganondorf was behind this the whole time! Again. Link kills Ganon and saves Hyrule.

WAY IN THE FUTURE (Unknown which timeline)

Breath of the Wild

Ganon has given up on reincarnating through Ganondorf, and decides to just be a pure force of energy known as Calamity Ganon. Zelda is trying to unlock her power to seal Ganon away, but can’t. Meanwhile, she is amassing a huge army of mechanical spider things called Guardians and four huge robots called Divine Beasts, which are piloted by a group of Champions. When Calamity Ganon takes over everything and turns all of the machines against them, killing the Champions, Link (the Hero of the Wilds) dies protecting Zelda, but she uncovers her power trying to protect him. She finds a way to put him in a medically induced coma, where he lies for 100 years while she goes to Hyrule Castle to try to contain Calamity Ganon. Link wakes up 100 years later, regains control of the Divine Beasts and frees the Champions’ spirits, and then goes to Hyrule Castle, where Zelda has been holding Calamity Ganon at bay for a century. With her help, they cast Calamity Ganon away, and Hyrule is able to rebuild.

*important is a very subjective word. For my purposes, these are basically the games where Link fights Ganon. The Minish Cap was an extremely fun game and Four Swords Adventures looks super lit, but honestly, with the amount of times that Ganon disguises himself as secondary villains only to take the glory of being the Big Bad™ at the very end of games, I don’t really care about people like Vaati or Bellum.

I can really relate to this mystery that envelops the family histories of many second generation children of immigrants. I know my parents consciously chose to not go into their history to me and my brother, in an attempt to ensure that we would essentially assimilate well, allowing us to focus more on creating our history in America rather than being caught up in China or their lives and struggles as first gen immigrants. (To this day, I don’t even know the full timeline of where my parents moved. I know they have lived in Illinois, Colorado, DC, New Jersey, New York, Atlanta, and Raleigh, all at some point in their lives, but I could not tell you when any of those happened except for the parts where I was alive). I don’t know if I think what they did was wise, as while I definitely feel “100% American” as they hoped, as a Chinese American I always feel that something is missing due to the fact that I never was engaged in Chinese culture and my own history. I’m glad that you are actively seeking out your history, and I hope you find many amazing things about your family that you didn’t know, and maybe understand a bit of who you are in the overall context.

History

Before college, I had absolutely no interest in history. Taking AP US History had left a bad taste in my mouth. The subject matter was so dry that even my teacher would fall asleep during our presentations. Not to mention the class itself was extremely biased and only focused on America’s “victories” and desire to “help” other countries. After that class I promised myself that I would never take another history class if I didn’t have to.

During college my views changed as I learned that there was more to history than William Howard Taft getting stuck in a bathtub. During my sophomore summer I participated in Duke Engage Vietnam. Visiting the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh opened my eyes to a completely different perspective of the Vietnam War. I cried as I walked past pictures illustrating the devastating effects of Agent Orange. I learned far more about the Vietnam War in that museum than I had during APUSH.

As I became more involved in Duke’s AAPI community, I also became more invested in Asian American history. I decided to take a course on Chinatowns and their significance. I learned about the origin of the Model Minority Myth and how it continues to negatively affect Asian Americans as well as other ethnic minorities in the U.S. to this day. I attend events like TAASCON and ECAASU to connect with other Asian Americans. It’s funny how engaging history can be when we move past only discussing old white men. 

A little over a month ago my mom sent my brother and I this picture:

Translation: Mom - Guess which ones are grandpa and grandma? The Chairman Mao portrait behind them was painted by Grandpa. 

yeye = grandpa

Also my grandpa is the man in the bottom right and my grandma is the second woman from the right.

I was shocked. I always knew that my grandpa was handy but I had no idea he was such a great painter. Even after almost 10 years of art lessons, I still struggle when I paint portraits. I also had so many questions. When was this picture taken? When did my grandpa learn how to paint? Why did he paint such a huge portrait of Mao?  

That’s when I realized I knew almost nothing about my grandparents or my parents before they moved to the US. My knowledge of family history was essentially zero, which was something that had never bothered me before, but was beginning to really bother me now.

After bombarding my mom with questions, she told me to just ask my grandpa why he painted the portrait. 

So I did.

This is a nice, succinct summary of the story of ATLA that will definitely help put your future posts in context. I can’t wait to see what you have to contribute to the enormous amount of fan discussion and analysis that already exists (i have never seen that hour long video, but maybe i’ll have to watch it eventually!) For me, both ATLA and TLOK are very dear to my heart - I was actually able to watch TLOK live as it ended during our senior year of high school. There is so much to talk about, much of which you already plan on doing. I would like to see you talk about some of the cultural context that exists both within the show (the benders as being inspired by various cultures) and outside the show in the real world (what anime is, etc). Also, I personally love some of the more minor characters, and while I agree that Zuko’s arc is probably one of the most well told redemption arcs, I sometimes think that Ty Lee and Mei have some of the most intriguing stories, especially the non-canon ones that fans can create (headcanons). Excited!

Synopsis of ATLA

The Avatar universe is quite large, and so these next two posts will be dedicated to exploring the timeline of both series, for those who are unfamiliar with the Avatar franchise. This post will explore the events in and preceding ATLA; the next one will do so for TLOK. I’ve only written these synopses for the TV series; I’ll explore the comics at a later time.

The story of ATLA begins well before the events of the first episode – specifically, more than 100 years prior. Fire Lord Sozin was the Fire Nation’s ruler at that time, and he was planning to wage a war against the rest of the world in an imperialist endeavor to make the Fire Nation more powerful. After the death of Avatar Roku – a native of the Fire Nation – Fire Lord Sozin sets his plans into motion. He carries out a genocide against the Air Nomads, knowing that the next Avatar would be reincarnated as an airbender, and wishing to kill them in order to ensure that the Avatar would not stop Sozin from conquering the world as Roku had. He does this during what would later become known as Sozin’s Comet, which is a comet that grants firebenders great additional power. Shortly prior to this genocide, 12-year-old Avatar Aang fled from his home on Appa, his flying sky bison, not wanting to shoulder the burden of resolving the imminent war, and froze himself in an iceberg, where he will remain for the next 100 years.

As ATLA begins with Book I (Water), the Fire Nation is continuing its war against the other nations, and Katara and Sokka discover Aang trapped in the iceberg. Katara is a 14-year-old waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe, and Sokka is her older brother. The trio journey to the Northern Water Tribe so that Aang and Katara can master waterbending. En route, they happen across the Southern Air Temple where Aang learns of the genocide against the Air Nomads. Meanwhile, Prince Zuko, the exiled son of current Fire Lord Ozai, fervently pursues Aang, as capturing the Avatar is the only way for Zuko to redeem himself from exile. Zuko is accompanied by his uncle Iroh. Admiral Zhao of the Fire Nation lays siege to the Northern Water Tribe, and kills the moon spirit which strips the waterbenders of their abilities. Aang merges with the ocean spirit to fend off the attackers. In order to revive the moon spirit, Princess Yue, daughter of the Northern Water Tribe chief, sacrifices herself.

Book II (Earth) begins with Aang searching for an earthbending teacher. They meet Toph Beifong, a 12-year-old earthbending prodigy who is also blind – but far from disabled. She goes barefoot to have greater contact with the Earth’s surface, which allows her to “see” by sensing the Earth around her. At a spirit library, the foursome learn that an imminent solar eclipse would temporarily strip firebenders of their bending before the next appearance of Sozin’s comet. They journey to Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom capital and the only city not under Fire Nation rule, to inform the Earth King to try and garner his support. They discover that Earth King Kuei is completely clueless about the war, and is actually manipulated by the Dai Li, a secret force that is led by Long Feng. The Dai Li obstruct Aang as he tries to seek the Earth Kingdom’s support against the Fire Nation. Azula, Zuko’s sister, manages to infiltrate Ba Sing Se and take control of the Dai Li to overthrow Long Feng and the king. This culminates in a big battle in the catacombs underneath the city between Aang, Katara, Azula, and Zuko. Zuko has spent a good portion of Book II trying to come to terms with his identity and purpose, and he ultimately sides with Azula. Aang enters the Avatar State, as he and Katara are outnumbered by the Dai Li, but Azula strikes him with lightning and nearly kills him. Team Avatar retreats, with Ba Sing Se falling to the Fire Nation. Katara manages to revitalize Aang with magical spirit water.

Book III (Fire) begins as Aang emerges from his coma to find himself on a ship with his friends who are disguised as Fire Nation soldiers. The team is preparing to invade the Fire Nation on the day of the eclipse. At first they are successful, but fail to find Fire Lord Ozai and so they retreat. When Ozai decides to wipe out the Earth Kingdom at the next passing of Sozin’s comet, Zuko finally decides to abandon the Fire Nation and join Aang in his quest and to teach him firebending. Aang feels conflicted about having to kill Ozai to end the war, as it goes against the beliefs instilled in him by the Air Nomads. When the comet arrives, Ozai is crowned Phoenix King of the whole empire, and Azula is named the new Fire Lord. Zuko and Katara confront Azula to stop her from being crowned Fire Lord. Meanwhile, Iroh and the Order of the White Lotus liberate Ba Sing Se, and Sokka and Toph attack and bring down the Fire Nation’s airships. In the final confrontation between Aang and Ozai, Ozai initially overwhelms Aang until he inadvertently restores Aang’s severed connection to the Avatar State. In the ensuing fight, Aang completely outclasses Ozai, but in the end, he strips Ozai of his firebending instead of killing him. At the end of the series, Zuko is crowned Fire Lord and declares an armistice, bringing an end to the Hundred Year War started by Fire Lord Sozin, and ushering in an era of peace.

2: the legend of the Legend of Zelda

The fictional chronology of the Legend of Zelda is honestly just a hot steaming pile of dog doodoo. Most people agree that a timeline was kind of cobbled together in 2011 to clarify why there was a seemingly identical kid named Link fighting Ganon so many times, tying together the existing releases. It’s not coincidence that this first appearance of the official timeline was linked to the release of Skyward Sword, the prequel to the entire timeline explaining the origin of the legendary conflict between Link, Zelda, and Ganon. Essentially, the overall story of Hyrule, the world of Legend of Zelda, is that Link, Zelda, and Ganon are destined to wage an eternal conflict over the ages, with each Link who seals Ganon away being christened a new Hero. For example, Link from Ocarina of Time becomes The Hero of Time, Link from Twilight Princess becomes the Hero of Twilight, and the link from Spirit Tracks becomes…the Hero of Trains. (Seriously.) However, while the exact history of the Legend of Zelda is convoluted and almost nonsensical at points*, the sense of lore is so strong and contributes to the experience of so many of these games, especially the ones that I (and everyone else) love the most.

Spirit Tracks was lowkey actually kind of fun.

So much of the magic of the Legend of Zelda comes from the role the “legend” itself plays in the world of Zelda. Like legends in the real world, the stories of the Hero Link are passed down through oral and written tradition by the residents of Hyrule. And like real stories, they morph and redefine themselves over time. Most of the “main games” take place so far in the future from the previous Link that his story is an actual legend – a fable that people tell their children, like the epic of Gilgamesh or King Alexander. Thus, the player often occupies a state built on dramatic irony – the non-player characters will tell you the story of Link, the Triforce, and the Master Sword, all while you (a different Link) are creating a new story with the same elements that people far in the future will tell. This creates so many fun, beautiful, and poignant moments that gives the story a sense of grandness.  You are constantly reminded that you are one in a line of Heroes, but also, players who follow the series closely will have actually been all the Heroes at one point in time. It’s a cool feeling, to say the least.

The Hero of Time, as depicted in the opening scroll of Wind Waker.

In the Wind Waker, the Hyrule you enter as a player is one where Ganondorf was defeated, but when he returned, the Hero of Time (Link from the previous game Ocarina of Time) who defeated him was nowhere to be found (there is a Very Important Plot Reason for the Hero of Time to not reappear, but the point is that the populace of Hyrule does not know this). Hyrule is flooded in order to protect the citizens of Hyrule from Ganon’s wrath, splitting the kingdom into separated islands, but his threat is always looming and growing, unbeknownst to the peaceful residents. The Hero of Time’s legend, is therefore, a bit tainted. He succeeded once, but since he seemingly disappeared, people have grown to slowly forget him or not believe in him. This is evident throughout the game. On the island where Link lives, all boys receive the traditional hero’s garb when they become the same age as the Hero of Time and are forced to wear it for a day, hoping to inspire them with courage. However, the meaning of this tradition is long diluted. All Link wants to do is play with his dear sister Aryll. He’s not going to be inspired with courage and set sail for Ganon’s fortress and fight him himself – he’s not the Hero of Time – so why bother with this nonsense?

The face of the future Hero of the Winds, everyone.

Only after some wild coincidences involving Aryll being mistakenly captured in place of a pirate named Tetra does Link begrudgingly set out on his adventure. Even still, he doesn’t set out to kill Ganondorf – he sets out to save his sister. As Link gets essentially roped into defeating Ganondork, the player is constantly reminded through interactions with various residents of Hyrule that the Hero’s story is just a tall tale, and people have stopped believing in a Hero who will come to save them. People are just trying to live their lives as best they can, unaware of the growing threat that Ganondorf presents. The foolish ones who still believe in the Hero are also children like the Rito Medli, and are ushered in as the next generation of sages.

These kids are the future! Fitting with the overall themes of the game of letting the past die to ensure the future, Wind Waker ends with Link and Zelda searching for a new land to call Hyrule after completely flooding this Hyrule (again). It’s kind of like the end of Thor: Ragnarok, except Thanos doesn’t come later (spoiler) (lmao)

When Link finds the flooded Hyrule Castle, where the Master Sword has been hidden, and is confronted with a statue of the Hero of Time, the impact is incredible. You realize that the Hero of Time was real, a young boy clad in green just like you, and you really are the successor, ready to confront Ganon himself.

The moment™, shortly before you get the Master Sword and truly embrace the role of the Hero.

This is the magic that the Legend of Zelda can bring. As Link travels across the flooded remains of Hyrule, the player gets the sense of a people who lost hope. They don’t see Link as the next incarnation of the Hero, but as what he really is: a kid who got thrown into an adventure while he was cosplaying. The fact that Link of Wind Waker can be both is what makes it such a fun game, and gives the player so much satisfaction to create the next chapter of the legend.

1: The Legend of Zelda

At its core, The Legend of Zelda is always a story about a boy, a girl, and a great evil. Ever since Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo launched The Legend of Zelda in 1986, the series has been a mainstay in gaming history. Across 16 games and ~10 ish consoles (depending on whether you count GB, GBA, and GBC as separate), players have followed the same story of a young boy name Link who undergoes various trials to prove himself worthy of the Triforce of Courage and help Zelda, a princess imbued with the Triforce of Wisdom and the power of the Goddess Hylia, vanquish the evil man/beast/force of nature that plagues the kingdom of Hyrule known as Ganon. This repetition has not gone unnoticed by critics of the series, however, Miyamoto and the various teams that work on the games have been able to create a fresh gaming experience with every iteration of the three characters and their world. The games have been consistently high-quality, with many of the main series games winning multiple game of the year awards and being inducted into our collective ideal of “classic” video games. The latest, Breath of the Wild, was universally hailed as an instant classic, with claims of it being the best Legend of Zelda since the Ocarina of Time, if not of all time.

These points taken together provide a pretty convincing reason as to why I’m a fan of the series. However, it doesn’t capture how deep my love of the series goes. My mom has never been a fan of video games, and growing up, they weren’t really a part of my life. The one console my parents bought for me and my brother was the Nintendo Gamecube, as a reward for my brother finishing his SAT. One of the three games we owned, and the only single-player campaign game, was The Wind Waker. But being a console game, it needed a TV to play, and my mother didn’t really let us play at home (I couldn’t hide under the sheets like I did later with the DS that my brother gave me secondhand). As such, I never completed Wind Waker on the GameCube. What I did do, however, was read the strategy guide that my brother bought page by page, many times. That was how I consumed the game – as a book, following Link on his journey, rather than inserting myself into the character. I became a fan of the Legend of Zelda, and many other games, without having ever played them – rather, I was enthralled by everything else that composed the game – the story, the characters, the world, the music. While the Legend of Zelda is known for always pushing the boundary of what you can do in a game, the deep lore of Hyrule and the compelling stories that are told are what solidify it to me as one of the best video game series of all time.

This summer, I decided to buy myself a Nintendo Switch. The first game I bought was Breath of the Wild, and let me tell you, it lives up to the hype. After draining 80+ hours into the game, I downloaded a GameCube emulator (sorry not sorry Nintendo) and finally finished Wind Waker. As I’ve fallen in love with these games all over again, I’ve continued thinking about everything that makes this series so great, and I’ll be exploring those aspects in depth throughout the semester. Stay tuned – next up is the absolute shitshow that is the “official” Legend of Zelda timeline! Just kidding. It’s about the overall lore. But I’ll talk about the timeline.