Poll: Would we all be cool with a female Link?

[Savagezion]

I'll poke. Why must the gender swap have bearing on the "female protagonist hoopla"?

Because that's what started this whole nonsense. For 30 years Link was a guy and no one questioned its relevance because "Why would they?" that is the story. Then came the hoopla about women in gaming and suddenly everyone aims at changing the the gender of one a characters that fights for the #1 spot of "most famous characters in gaming" lists against Mario. I am sorry, but I don't see that as a coincidence. This is being pushed so hard to shove female protagonists into the spotlight.

Now I am more than fine with female protagonists having a spot in the gaming industry but hijacking a character to do it is just bad taste. I'll even concede that being able to choose a boy or a girl in the next Zelda game isn't terrible. I personally don't see why it is so appealing that the girl be Link specifically and not some other new character when this offers a chance to expand the cast a bit. But whatever. If someone wants to waste the opportunity to bring in new characters to give a Link a mangina, far be it from me to stop them. However, far be it from them to stop me and others from having the Link we have always known and loved for 30 years just because they got bored and want to pick at it.

I definitely think the reason this keeps getting brought up and will again many times over is due to the female protagonist stuff. All the games with female protagonists keep failing because feminists are making devs walk on eggshells with their portrayal of women. Bioshock Infinite was attacked because a Victorian style dress showed cleavage. Tomb Raider was bashed because of a lot of things. The Last of Us was bashed due to something about Tess being sexualized to humanize Joel or something in the early game. I dunno I thought it sounded pathetic. Remember Me I havent seen anything go up against it yet but then again that game really slipped to the sidelines upon release like Wet and Mirror's Edge did. It wouldn't surprise me if female Link got attacked to appear sexist the minute it released. Ironically, it is pro female groups actively working against female protagonists every bit as much as publishers IMO. However, that is a whole other discussion for real.

Right now every female lead that gets a spotlight in the gaming culture has weight and gender bending Link would draw focus. Not because it is a big deal but because people would make it a big deal. If Link gender bends, I personally am done as artistic integrity has officially taken a backseat in the franchise. That isn't to say I think that LoZ is some fantastic writing, but clearly Nintendo has a story they are trying to stay true to despite using multiple incarnations to tell it over and over again. I would much rather see them expand it further to add a little depth without altering what they have worked so long to keep iconic. If they start pissing away the anchors of the very specific story they tell it will taint its iconic charm and get lost in the sea of everything else out there and a decade or two from now just become some generic tale that was popular once upon a time. It won't even have any iconic characters anymore because they too will have become the definition of generic. Maybe one day Link is reincarnated into a bird or whatever - not like it matters cause "reincarnation"! Talk about generic.

 

[Dovah Kiin]

It would be incredibly dumb, but it really wouldn't change anything realistically.

Changing link to a girl to appease squealing feminazis/ for no reason would not be in very good taste.
Why don't we have a co-op game where you save the kingdom as Link AND zelda? A sort of trine type deal.

Id buy a wii-u for THAT.

 

[the December King]

No thanks- a female protagonist in her own title in the Hyrule world, though, would be interesting.

 

[BrainWalker]

Does Link's traditionally male gender ADD to the story in a MEANINGFUL way? Not really

Link's gender does not add anything to the story superficially, there are many and varied lore reasons why he is male, which I can explain in some depth and at considerable length, but we will leave that for some masochist who asks for it.

What a male link has versus a female link is tradition. Tradition creates a negative pressure on change. That is how the world works, it is why things evolve slowly in our society and it has implications far beyond LoZ. Another change could easily be, why humanoid? Link could just as easily be a squid. Oddly enough, the canon might support this case more so than a female link, but it's rather ridiculous.

I'm not sure I buy that whole "minutia says Link couldn't be a girl" thing, but I really don't want to get into the minutiae. About the only reason that really makes sense is perhaps the relationship between Link and Zelda and the implication that on occasion they contribute to the hero's lineage, but even that could be dealt with if Link was a lady and Zelda was a dude.

I'm actually pretty surprised anyone would suggest, jokingly or not, that it might be more probable for Link to be a squid than a lady. That's f'ed up, no matter how you look at it.

I'm not blind to the business reasons why Link will never ever be a woman. But, I figured, if it's never going to happen, why not treat it as an academic argument instead of a realistic one? I don't care much for tradition, either. Tradition says women belong in the home and dark-skinned people aren't as good as light-skinned people and a son should follow in his father's foosteps and that homosexuality is wrong. Link was a dog once, for a little while, and that was pretty cool. Hell, someone once made a Zelda game where the hero was a dog the entire game, and we called it Okami, and it was glorious.

 

[pha kin su pah]

I might play a Zelda game with a female link if there's some reason for it but I don't see how it could be done without seeming forced. Though maybe the option to change gender would be cool. You can already name Link "Scrotumus" if you really want to so he's technically not any set person.

Honestly the prospect of playing as girl link doesn't bother me on its own. It depends whether or not that implies that it will also entail a foppish prince Zelda. While link could probably survive a gender swap largely unscathed Zelda wouldn't without major character overhauls so he wouldn't seem like a condescending pansy. If the character you're doing the whole quest for isn't likable a lot of the investment in it would kinda fall apart.

i don't mind the idea, but it has me thinking what would Zelda be?

 

[jpoon]

Wouldn't matter to me but is there a reason to do it?

 

[Korolev]

Well, sure, I'd be cool with it. But it would be better if they could do something a little bit more than taking a male character and giving them a different gender, ya know? It just seems like the simplest thing, creatively bankrupt. Not very interesting. Why not design and new character to fight in the Legend of Zelda universe? It would still have Zelda, but instead of link, it would be.... I can't come up with a name, but a female elf with a different name and a different look and different items (instead of the Master Sword, what about the "Everlasting Sword" or the "Light Sword")

I have no problems with more female protagonists. That's cool. But come on, be a little bit more creative than taking a male character and slightly altering the design so that the chest is slightly protruding. Creatively, that's not very interesting and requires the most minimal effort. I'm not exactly going to be called a creative genius if my design process involves taking every male character and writing "Female" before it. "Female Mario" "Female Sonic" "Female Nathan Drake" "Female Kratos". See how easy it is?

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Why? Link doesn't even talk and we've seen that the world he lives in doesn't seem to have any problem with women being fighters (They just aren't common) so it would just be the same thing. I wouldn't mind... I honestly wouldn't, I just don't see the point.

 

[TheSapphireKnight]

From an outsiders perspective it seems like there is no reason there couldn't be a female Link. At the same time that change seems like it would mostly be a story aspect(I would guess a minor one at that). Which is fine, but it seems like having a title starring Zelda with a 'magic' angle has greater potential for new story and gameplay elements.

Less a "Female Link" and more a Female lead in the same world.

 

[Coakle]

Special women have very direct connections to divinity.


There are many more arguments to be made from the lore.

It would be fun to hear more lore-based arguments for or against a Female Link. I could only think of the "Female Connection to Divinity" angle.

 

[nyankaty]

I would be cool with it! Since the Hero of Time is often reborn, it would be entirely possible that he was eventually born as a she. I normally am not a fan of forced "genderbent" universes, but this seems more organic and not forced because of the whole Hero of Time thing coming back again and again in different forms.

 

[Yoshi4102]

I think most people are answering yes because it's the "politically correct" thing to do at the moment. Ask yourselves: "would The Legend of Zelda benefit from a female link, or is this just changing the formula for the sake of changing the formula?"

Before I'm bashed for not wanting female protagonists or something, I actually prefer an awesome strong protagonist to a male protagonist. Not because sexuality or anything, I just like the way they tend to handle themselves rather than "BRODUDE MACHO MAN ALL THE WAY"

To me, male Link is just part of what makes the Zelda series what it is. Would you want a male Samus? Oh god please no! A new series with a female protagonist would be fun though.

I vote new franchise... can I do a write-in for the ballot?

Edit: Now that I think about it, new hero, new storyline to the universe would work nicely. Can't be the Hero of Time. Link is the Hero of Time, female protagonist is the Hero of [insert something heroic here]. Eh? I think that'd be really cool actually. I have myself hyped for something that most likely won't ever exist.

 

[IceForce]

Not really, no.

Change just for the sake of change is not usually a good idea.

 

[The_Echo]

Link is little more than his design.

He has no real personality, no voice of his own (Toon Link is probably his most emotive version, and even then it leaves much to be desired). All he has is his fated course to fight Ganon and protect Zelda. Really, all three of them are one-dimensional enough that genderbending them would change very little, if anything at all.

Personally, I'd prefer to have Link be a real character before I have him as a girl. Because slapping a pair of tits on him as he is really doesn't accomplish anything.

 

[Yopaz]

Big fat no to that.

Why? Because there's no point in making Link a female. Making Link a female would simply be a texture change and he doesn't have that macho look so it wouldn't even be a large change. Strap some boobs on and he's pretty much a female Link. It would be utterly pointless and personally it just reeks of pleasing feminists, but it's just a cheap trick to do so.

What I would want to see in an upcoming Zelda game is Zelda being the main character. Link is an established character and the hero of time is the connection between the games. Changing that would only lead to pissing off fans. Also your point is that it wouldn't change anything... why encourage developers to make a new game where the changes are skin deep? You can play Banjo Kazooie and you can play Banjo Kazooie with big head mode enabled or maybe even as a dishwasher. You look different, but it's still the same game.

Now imagine if they made Ocarine of Time except that you're playing as Zelda. You got access to magic other than what Link can use and you can transform into Sheik which would drastically change the gameplay.

Basically you are wishing for a game where they just scream "Look, we're different, we made the main character female!" however that's just as lazy as making a character gay or bisexual without having any situation where his sexuality matters. Let's say Valve made an announcement that Freeman was gay... well, why would I care? He and Link are both silent protagonists. I don't care what sex they are or who they want to bump uglies with because it won't affect the game in any way at all.

 

[hazydawn]

No, I also don't want a male Samus Aran. And I know that Link is far more interchangeable than Samus because he's not likely always the same person in every game

 

[Psycomantis777]

"Them conniving woman-y types are muscling in on my male spaces!"

I don't know many men that would complain about having woman-y types near their male spaces... hurrhurr.

Sorry...

Otherwise no, I wouldn't have any real problem with it, so long as it didn't feel "just for the sake of it" or shoe-horned in.

 

[FallenMessiah88]

As long as it can provide an interesting take on the Zelda franchise, then I don't see why not.