The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is on the horizon, and it marks Princess Zelda’s first starring role in a mainline The Legend of Zelda game. While this is the first time the character plays the lead, the many princesses who took on the name of Zelda throughout Hyrule’s history deserve their own recognition. Looking at the previous versions of the character can show us just why she deserved to be the heroine. Be warned; there will be spoilers ahead for older Zelda titles.
Skyward Sword’s Zelda Outgrows Her Home
The Princess Zelda in Skyward Sword is debatably not a princess at all. She is the daughter of the headmaster of the Knight Academy, located far above the clouds in the small town of Skyloft. At the beginning of the game, her personality can be described as a bubbly visionary. She flirts with Link frequently and longs to see the surface of the world beneath her home. In an ironic twist of fate, her wish is granted when she is stolen away to the surface by a demonic entity. These events do not transform her into a damsel in distress, however. Instead, she goes on her own adventure while Link desperately tries to catch up with her.
When Link finally does meet up with Zelda again, it is towards the end of the game. Zelda reveals that she is a mortal reincarnation of the goddess Hylia, and has a completely different demeanor than she did back on Skyloft; her tone is serious and somber. She mentions how much Link has changed, apologizes for using him, and reminisces that she once wished they could live on Skyloft together forever. Link and Zelda changed for the same reason: their adventures caused them to grow as people, and their little home in the clouds became too small for them. For Link, this is represented through sidequests on Skyloft (an example of this is when a certain NPC becomes angry at him for doing a job that he wasn’t supposed to do).
Zelda and Link ultimately leave Skyloft together to begin living on the surface. Both characters had to change because fate demanded it. They may not be the same people they were before they awakened to their destinies, but they find happiness because they were able to change. The game does not answer the question as to whether or not they would have been happier living the rest of their lives in Skyloft, but they undoubtedly became more self-actualized people because of their struggles.
Princess Zelda Breaks Conventions in Spirit Tracks
While Echoes of Wisdom is the first mainline game to make Zelda the main protagonist, it is not the first to make her playable. In The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Princess Zelda’s spirit is separated from her body by an evil chancellor who plans to resurrect a demon using her as a vessel. Initially, this iteration of Zelda appears to be completely helpless, as she demands Link’s assistance for nearly everything she does. When confronted with a difficult dungeon, she demands Link solve the entirety of it for her and cites the tradition of the princess waiting for the hero to save her as an excuse for not going with him.
Princess Zelda’s attitude is forced to change incredibly quickly, as it becomes crystal clear that Link cannot complete this quest on his own. When Link is attacked by a creature made of a knight’s armor known as a Phantom, Zelda instinctively tries to stop her friend from being killed. She discovers she can possess the Phantom herself and uses this new power to assist Link throughout his journey. As the game continues, she begins to see the young engineer less as a servant and more as an equal. This culminates in the final battle in which Link and Zelda fight side-by-side to come out on top. This Zelda can be fun and silly, but also has an arc that subverts the expectation that the valiant hero must alone save the princess. This princess is strong enough to help save herself.
Ocarina’s Zelda is Tortured by Time’s Passage
During the ending of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Princess Zelda understands that Link was robbed of his childhood and sends him back in time to give him a chance to experience his youth. The final moments between the two are some of the most powerful in the game, but what often goes overlooked is that Zelda also had her childhood stolen. She was a young girl when Ganondorf launched his attack which caused her to go into hiding. Unlike Link, who suddenly was thrust into an adult body in the future, Zelda had no choice but to toughen up and figuratively become an adult at a young age.
Zelda made a grave mistake in sending Link to open the door to the Sacred Realm, allowing Ganondorf to take over the world. Seeing her kingdom fall to ruin because she treated Link’s adventure like a game to be won, rather than as a strategy to keep power out of the wrong hands, had to have changed her perspective. Zelda’s key trait across the entire series is wisdom, but Ocarina of Time is the game where we see her become wise over time instead of starting that way.
When Link meets Zelda in her disguise as Sheik, she often speaks poetically about the passage of time. She describes it as cruel and speaks of the nostalgia of childhood while exploring how relationships evolve with time’s flow. While these speeches represent Link’s own connection to his past, it isn’t hard to see how Zelda would have come to these solemn observations. Being forced into hiding from an evil overlord changed her perspective. She developed a view of the past that is reverentially nostalgic, but realistic enough to know that she can tragically never return to what once was.
Princess Zelda’s Future
Princess Zelda is receiving her own game, and only time will tell what that game will bring for her. Throughout Hyrule’s history, each princess has faced numerous tragedies. The cycle of good and evil is a common theme across the entire Zelda series, which means that such disasters will always arise. Despite the despair caused by such evil, hope often springs up from Princess Zelda’s desire to see a better world.
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