I feel like Zelda does not recognize that her actions have consequences, which is. A very bad attitude for a leader to have, and seems to extend VERY far back in the Hyrulian royal family. You're also very right about them seeming to think that Ganondorf was too far beneath them to do any real harm. They thought they were being clever, but they failed to recognize that he can be very dangerous if he wants to be. This is entirely in a "good for her" way towards Ganondorf btw. So basically I am shaking Zelda by the shoulders and screaming "WHEN WILL YOU LEARN!!! WHEN WILL YOU LEARN THAT YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!!!!"

Oh my god, right??? I mean, I'm not surprised, that kind of shit is just par for the course with royalty. They're literally born into a position of absolute power and authority, and told that they deserve it because they are fundamentally better people than literally everyone else, and all these lesser people exist only to serve them. That is the philosophical bedrock that a monarchy is built on. And in the LoZ universe it's a thousand times worse, because now we're also talking the divine right of kings (divine right of princesses in this case i guess), except it is canonically true. The literal canon says that the Hylian royal family has actually descended from a goddess, and that means they get to rule the world forever, and anyone who disagrees with them is pure evil to be crushed.

I mean, don't get me wrong aesthetically I love a good fantasy monarchy, that's just an inherent guilty pleasure of the genre. But I like them being done well. I don't want my fantasy royalty to just be the beautiful well mannered people that wear fancy clothes and sit on thrones. I like them being written as a person in a mandatory lifelong political position, and taking their duty as head of state really fucking seriously. Yeah, they're rich and powerful and live in a cool castle, but the trade off is that literally their entire life is dedicated to the betterment of the kingdom, regardless of what they actually want to do. That's the deal. You get anything you want, but you don't get to be your own person. If you don't want to do the job, then you don't get to have the privilege that comes with it. Honestly, one of the best examples I can think of off the top of my head is Riju; she's the unelected leader of the Gerudo and took the throne as a child... and took her responsibility really fucking seriously. She's been an exemplary leader in all her apperances, and she's clearly dedicated to the idea that being the head of state means serving your people above all else. She's dedicated her life to the wellbeing of the Gerudo, and that makes her an incredibly good person; she's more than earned her position and the benefits that come with it.

...And then we have Zelda, who isn't so good at this. Honestly, I'd say her main problem is just straight up entitlement; not really surprising given her environment. I mean for fucks sake, just look at how the civillians in TOTK treat her; I'm still absolutely horrified by that one sidequest where a research team misheard her instructions, thought she told them to go exploring in their underpants, and instead of refusing or even questioning the situation, they actually fucking did it. Every single one of them stripped naked, and set off to do their job in the manner the Princess had asked them to. A job that included going into monster dens. Now of course this is all silly, because naked people are funny, but if you actually think about it for five seconds, it's actually not funny at all. A group of civilians believed that their ruler ordered them to throw away their weapons, remove all their armour, strip naked, and walk into a monster den. This is outright said to be suicide. And they were actually going to fucking do it, without a single complaint or word of question. And the game's actual response to this is just "wow, it's so great to see how everyone's so devoted to our princess! this is a really heartwarming story". No game, I do not consider it heartwarming that a group of civillians were immediately willing to throw themselves to a pointless, agonizing death for no benefit other than Zelda's amusement. Not that she actually told them to do it, but the misunderstanding spiralling that far says so much about the state of Hyrule, and how much accountability Zelda is being held to. Which is to say, literally none whatsoever. Even when the fake Zelda is raising hell across the country and actively ruining lives, the only response from her apparent victims is to get worried that they haven't been showing Zelda enough devotion which is why they must have deserved this torment, so the only response is to dedicate even more of their lives to her service! Nobody questions her, nobody even gets angry or scared that she's seemingly hurt them. They just grovel at her feet.

The point I'm making here is that Zelda has spent years in an environment where literally everyone tells her that she is the most important person in the world, she deserves all the power, respect and riches, and she could never do anything wrong. That would go to anyone's head, and let's be real here... the game never even suggests that Zelda's tried to get people to take it down a few notches. She isn't worried about the mindless worship, she's perfectly okay with her country being a goddamn suicide cult. And you can see the entitlement coming across in her actions during the game - she has the four sages swear that their entire races will dedicate themselves to serving the Hylian royal family, and specifically their still-unborn descendants will take up the role to do her dirty work. She thinks it's perfectly reasonable to ask people to sell their unborn children into her service, and there's nothing ethically dubious about making demands of people who haven't been born yet, with two of them still being children when they're ordered to take up arms. And I realize it's a serious situation, but the game doesn't acknowledge this as being a morally grey action; the new sages are swearing to dedicate their lives to the glory of their god-ruler, how could anyone find that alarming?

And her treatment of LInk is particularly infuriating, because let's remember her, the last time she sees Link is immediately after he's been gloom-fucked by Ganon. His entire left arm is dead, and his beloved weapon is destroyed. She saw it happen. He absolutely could have just died right after she was yeeted back in time, because again, he was mortally wounded and in an extreme amount of danger. And even if he did live, he's just had his entire arm ripped off; after everything he's gone through, it would make perfect sense for him to finally hit a breaking point and decide he can't stand to fight anymore. My man's literally died before, and now he's lost his dominant limb, how could anyone be expected to keep going after that? But Zelda never even considers that Link might not be able or willing to fight for her. She treats it as a given that he's perfectly fine, and will do exactly what she wants even if she isn't there to order him around. It's not like he can think for himself, that would be ridiculous. Link is denied any and all agency; he can't even form his own opinions about the main plot or influence it in any way; everything was decided several thousand years ago. He's just here to do as he's told.

It just... all makes me think of that one memory in BOTW where Zelda runs away from Link, and when he catches up to do his fucking job, she greets him by angrily declaring that obviously she's the only one with a mind of her own. That was supposed to be her being way the fuck out of line, and abusing Link to deal with her own frustrations. But apparently TOTK... decided that she was right. Zelda is the only one with a mind of her own. Link's just here to follow her around and swing the sword when she tells him to.

It's just so fucking bleak, I hate this story so much. I love the gameplay, but I'm having a miserable time with the plot, every new development just makes me more frustrated and upset. I'm working on the fifth sage thing right now, and gotta say, absolutely fucking hate how Mineru refers to Link as just Zelda's Human Weapon. Like thank you furry goat lady, I realize that Zelda chose me to be her personal bootlicker, but I sure as hell didn't consent to any of this, and nobody has asked me if I'm actually willing to put my life on the line for this woman yet again.

At least BOTW fucking asked me if I was willing to risk my life to stop the Calamity.