Did a Hyrule Warriors Art Book Reveal a Female Link? - Update

[JimB]

Making Link female accomplishes nothing. Why can't we play as Tetra or Sheikh or Midna or one of the many strong female Zelda characters? Link has been male for over 20 years. He's known as Link, Link the blonde-haired guy in a green cap with a sword and shield. That's Link.

Gender-bending accomplishes nothing. It wouldn't be a true strong or original female character because female Link would always be known as female Link. Do you not see the problem in that? It's a very weak character. "Our female character is exactly the same a our male character but with feminine features."

I'm sorry, I'm really not trying to be a jerk here, but I just don't get it. I'm not sure I buy that making Link female accomplishes nothing, but even if I grant that it did, my first instinct is to ask, "So what? Does making Link male accomplish anything? If so, what? And why does the choice have to accomplish something?"

I also think your second paragraph makes a lot of assumptions. As best I understand you--and please correct me if I'm wrong--you're arguing that the writing of the imaginary game we're talking about will have certain qualities that make Link indistinguishable from a male character, because otherwise your complaint about a male character with feminine features makes no sense to me. Why do you give the writers so little credit? I will grant without hesitation that the only Link I can think of who had any personality is the Hero of Wind, but it has happened once and can therefore happen again. Why can't there be a female Link who meets your standard of femininity in behavior?

And actually, while I'm on the topic, what is your standard of femininity in behavior?

 

[endtherapture]

Link looks fairly androgynous anyway. Giving him/her a feminine outfit and boobs is just going to alienate people.

If something as innocuous as a gender switch alienates someone, then they probably deserve to be alienated. Nintendo would likely be better off without such close-minded individuals in their fanbase.

EDIT: Furthermore, Link is an avatar, not a character. Making him female wouldn't change a thing about his personality, since there's no personality to change (Traits such as "courageous, and kind" hardly count as a personality and are far from gender exclusive). So why not? I say go for it.

The thing about Zelda games is that it's not just self aware people who play it. A large portion of the people buying Zelda games are impressionable kids. Like, 6-12 year old boys. These people aren't close-minded, they're simply children who want to play as a cool little warrior guy.

If Link is a woman they might not want to play that game and pass it up for something else in which they get to play as a guy.

Think of that mate.

 

[endtherapture]

Link looks fairly androgynous anyway. Giving him/her a feminine outfit and boobs is just going to alienate people.

If something as innocuous as a gender switch alienates someone, then they probably deserve to be alienated. Nintendo would likely be better off without such close-minded individuals in their fanbase.

EDIT: Furthermore, Link is an avatar, not a character. Making him female wouldn't change a thing about his personality, since there's no personality to change (Traits such as "courageous, and kind" hardly count as a personality and are far from gender exclusive). So why not? I say go for it.

The thing about Zelda games is that it's not just self aware people who play it. A large portion of the people buying Zelda games are impressionable kids. Like, 6-12 year old boys. These people aren't close-minded, they're simply children who want to play as a cool little warrior guy.

If Link is a woman they might not want to play that game and pass it up for something else in which they get to play as a guy.

Think of that mate.

Their loss? Those boys need to learn, sooner rather than later, that women not only exist, but that they can do just as much as men. Their parents should be teaching them that. Who knows, if they make Link a female, it might even help give them a better perception of women in general.

Sorry but being an 8 year old boy wanting to play as a male hero in a game is not contributing to sexism lol, oh damn these social justice warriors are crazy. Next you will be telling me Link being a male is a construct of the patriarchy meant to promote misogyny.

 

[endtherapture]

Link looks fairly androgynous anyway. Giving him/her a feminine outfit and boobs is just going to alienate people.

If something as innocuous as a gender switch alienates someone, then they probably deserve to be alienated. Nintendo would likely be better off without such close-minded individuals in their fanbase.

EDIT: Furthermore, Link is an avatar, not a character. Making him female wouldn't change a thing about his personality, since there's no personality to change (Traits such as "courageous, and kind" hardly count as a personality and are far from gender exclusive). So why not? I say go for it.

The thing about Zelda games is that it's not just self aware people who play it. A large portion of the people buying Zelda games are impressionable kids. Like, 6-12 year old boys. These people aren't close-minded, they're simply children who want to play as a cool little warrior guy.

If Link is a woman they might not want to play that game and pass it up for something else in which they get to play as a guy.

Think of that mate.

Their loss? Those boys need to learn, sooner rather than later, that women not only exist, but that they can do just as much as men. Their parents should be teaching them that. Who knows, if they make Link a female, it might even help give them a better perception of women in general.

Sorry but being an 8 year old boy wanting to play as a male hero in a game is not contributing to sexism lol, oh damn these social justice warriors are crazy. Next you will be telling me Link being a male is a construct of the patriarchy meant to promote misogyny.

Nope, just that if male heroes are the only thing children are exposed to, then they'll likely conclude only males can be heroes.

But then you're putting words in my mouth and using the stupid person term of choice, "social justice warrior", so those concepts will probably go right over your head. Oh well.

All I have is three words to say to you:

Sheikh, Tetra, Midna.

Young Zelda fans know the strength of female characters and their heroics.

 

[endtherapture]

Link looks fairly androgynous anyway. Giving him/her a feminine outfit and boobs is just going to alienate people.

If something as innocuous as a gender switch alienates someone, then they probably deserve to be alienated. Nintendo would likely be better off without such close-minded individuals in their fanbase.

EDIT: Furthermore, Link is an avatar, not a character. Making him female wouldn't change a thing about his personality, since there's no personality to change (Traits such as "courageous, and kind" hardly count as a personality and are far from gender exclusive). So why not? I say go for it.

The thing about Zelda games is that it's not just self aware people who play it. A large portion of the people buying Zelda games are impressionable kids. Like, 6-12 year old boys. These people aren't close-minded, they're simply children who want to play as a cool little warrior guy.

If Link is a woman they might not want to play that game and pass it up for something else in which they get to play as a guy.

Think of that mate.

Their loss? Those boys need to learn, sooner rather than later, that women not only exist, but that they can do just as much as men. Their parents should be teaching them that. Who knows, if they make Link a female, it might even help give them a better perception of women in general.

Sorry but being an 8 year old boy wanting to play as a male hero in a game is not contributing to sexism lol, oh damn these social justice warriors are crazy. Next you will be telling me Link being a male is a construct of the patriarchy meant to promote misogyny.

Nope, just that if male heroes are the only thing children are exposed to, then they'll likely conclude only males can be heroes.

But then you're putting words in my mouth and using the stupid person term of choice, "social justice warrior", so those concepts will probably go right over your head. Oh well.

All I have is three words to say to you:

Sheikh, Tetra, Midna.

Young Zelda fans know the strength of female characters and their heroics.

Then what's one more going to hurt?

Because then we have no prominent male characters who aren't a villain?

 

[JimB]

Because then we have no prominent male characters who aren't a villain?

As opposed to having no female characters who are protagonists?

 

[Rayce Archer]

She's probably just left over from some kind of player config. You know, so you can pick playing as a man or woman. Otherwise I feel like she would be, I dunno, MORE different than just Link with a figure and a girly walk.

Because Link already has those anyway.

 

[lord.jeff]

The thing about Zelda games is that it's not just self aware people who play it. A large portion of the people buying Zelda games are impressionable kids. Like, 6-12 year old boys. These people aren't close-minded, they're simply children who want to play as a cool little warrior guy.

If Link is a woman they might not want to play that game and pass it up for something else in which they get to play as a guy.

Think of that mate.

Why is it okay to have a male character that may alienate female players but hell be payed if we alienate any male players?

There is nothing saying that Ganondorf or Zelda need to be male or female, either. I don't mind a gender swap if they go all the way with it. Sure, have Link as a girl. But I'd like to see Ganondorf as a female, too, since I hate always seeing the villain as the male, especially when the hero is a girl, and make Zelda a boy.

Though you can't gender swap Ganondorf a few games have had female villains such as Veran. Ganon is still in the game but not as a character more as a summoned minion of destruction.

 

[Palademon]

I'd buy that as DLC.

All cower before the might of Linkle's ABSOLUTE TERRITORY!

 

[Fairly Chaotic]

How about a double-swap? If they do make a FemLink, it'd only make sense to make Prince Zelda.

Maybe, and I know that's meant mainly as a joke, but again, it's just the shifting of genitals when they've already got perfectly good characters with established crotches.

They came up with that bigass timeline and reality bending sheet a few years ago, having one game where Link dies because he hit a cucco followed by tarring,feathering, and unceremoniously being thrown off a cliff forcing her to go find the 8 pieces of the shattered Triforce of Courage to send to the next hero/keep away from Ganon and his similarly named reality twins cannot be that hard to think up.

Adventure Time did it and everyone celebrated it. You know what? I'm all for it. Gender swap everyone. Make Rinkuru as FemLink and a beefy space marine as Sam Aran.

 

[CaitSeith]

I think it would be a good idea to have a female co-protagonist (or the option of a female protagonist) in a Zelda game. Not because of inclusion of female demographics or political correctness, but to expand a little more the gameplay and add a little more variety to the usual Zelda plot.

 

[Something Amyss]

Didn't...didn't we already go over all this when that teaser trailer got everyone all jinned up in the first place? Wasn't Nintendo's official line "Link has always had more effeminate features so no, that's not a FemLink. For that matter, who said that was Link in that teaser in the first place?" Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see the gaming world turn on end at the concept of one of THE most well-known characters in gaming suddenly getting gender-swapped - and I actually think the publicity it'd give Nintendo, considering the progressive mindset of (what seems to be) the majority of the gaming market, would be very good - because if nothing else it shows that Nintendo is up for mixing things up.

But yeah, I won't hold my breath until they officially announce "FEMLINK HAS ARRIVED!" As such, that art-book (in my opinion) either depicts a particularly effeminate Link, a completely different character (perhaps the one seen in that teaser trailer that got everyone talking in the first place), or as someone else already mentioned: perhaps it's an alternate costume for Zelda herself.

Well, we now know that neither case was true for this image, but I think we could have ruled out "effeminate Link" because "Link" has breasts in the upper-right pics. I know Link is "effeminate," but I've never seen him with breasts before.

 

[Something Amyss]

I think it would be a good idea to have a female co-protagonist (or the option of a female protagonist) in a Zelda game. Not because of inclusion of female demographics or political correctness, but to expand a little more the gameplay and add a little more variety to the usual Zelda plot.

I'm not sure how a selectable female protagonist or "co-protagonist" affords any gameplay expansion or variety.

 

[CaitSeith]

I think it would be a good idea to have a female co-protagonist (or the option of a female protagonist) in a Zelda game. Not because of inclusion of female demographics or political correctness, but to expand a little more the gameplay and add a little more variety to the usual Zelda plot.

I'm not sure how a selectable female protagonist or "co-protagonist" affords any gameplay expansion or variety.

Similar to the way Link transformed into a wolf in Twilight Princess. Yes, it was still Link; but still it worked like a switch of characters. The look was different, and so the gameplay. In some parts you were restricted to play as a wolf, and later you gained control of the transformation. A similar aproach can be done (not by transforming Link into a girl, but passing the baton to his sister at some point, and later make her a switchable character).

It may work, but we will never know if they don't try.

 

[Something Amyss]

Similar to the way Link transformed into a wolf in Twilight Princess. Yes, it was still Link; but still it worked like a switch of characters. The look was different, and so the gameplay. In some parts you were restricted to play as a wolf, and later you gained control of the transformation. A similar aproach can be done (not by transforming Link into a girl, but passing the baton to his sister at some point, and later make her a switchable character).

It may work, but we will never know if they don't try.

I'm still lost. Do girls play different? Do they have different mechanics? Is Zelda run on the FATAL engine? Will there be a lot of adventures in the girls' room?

You started from the premise that adding a girl or just a selectable gender protagonist would be mechanically different, but nothing you're saying has anything to do with gender inherently. I mean, hell, since you're complaining about "political correctness," why not add a second dude you can play as? You could give him different mechanics (unless, again, mechanics are gender locked somehow).

 

[The Great JT]

I really hope they are going to do a gender-flipped Link. If only just to change things up a little, but also because it would be really damn cool.

I keep thinking this, Legend of Zelda is really kind of the perfect game series to do gender-flipped characters, race-changed characters or even alternate character alignments. I've always interpreted LoZ as a series of legends with recurring characters that they can make vastly different to each other. Example, how crazy would it be if Man!Zelda used a warhammer instead of the rapier she's been depicted with in previous iterations? What if Fem!Link didn't start out the game in the forest or a ranch or whatever but instead was a cleric to one of the three Goddesses of the Triforce? What if Ganondorf was originally the staunch ally of Zelda's father driven to evil by the king's favoritism toward, say, the Sheikah while the Gerudo are basically reduced to second-class citizens seen as thieves and spies? You can do a lot of cool alternate character interpretation with LoZ and I think Nintendo's starting to see the potential.