'Why Does Link have to be Female?'

CrazyBlaze

New member
Jul 12, 2011
945
0
0
Why does he have to be male? Why not female? Personally I do think it would be cool but I would wouldn't expect it to happen. Though the excuses they gave are just stupid. Just say you didn't want to do a female Link. Instead of all the garbage they gave us instead.
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
8,687
0
0
Angelblaze said:
Edit: So apparently I'm crazy for thinking that people wanting a female link are people who want a female action lead video game, which we would have if we had another Metroid game. My bad. Deepest apologies.
I'm not going to call you crazy for that position, but I will say that the two are likely completely unrelated.

For starters with the way the community is right now, there's a higher demand for female protagonists for two reasons:
1: In a more general sense, people are getting tired of having Generic White Guy #847 as their protagonist.
2: In a more specific sense, people are wanting more gender diversity in their protagonists.

Now, with regards to the outcry for a female link, this goes back to Hyrule Warriors in which Linkle (FemLink, if you will) was introduced. People saw her as a possible hint that maybe the upcoming Zelda game would have a female link. This would be absolutely ground-breaking and seen as an incredibly progressive move for Nintendo. They'd be taking one of their Big 3 franchises and going with a very substantial change to the established format. Change means new, and people saw this kind of new as being good.

Now I don't have a source to link, but I could have sworn I heard somewhere that Nintendo hinted that they were indeed going to be making Linkle playable in the new Zelda game (this is before anyone had seen the game yet), so people were highly anticipating it. Even if it was simply an option to pick your gender.

Then comes the reveal of the game and Linkle is nowhere to be found. When fans asked "What gives?" Nintendo gave some very lame excuse, basically saying "We've already got a female in the game, so if we made the main character a female, Zelda wouldn't have anything to do."

This excuse was seen as being on par with "Quiet is half naked because she breathes through her skin!" and "We can't put female playable characters into Assassin's Creed: Unity because it would be too hard to animate them!" Which is to say: utter bullshit. All Nintendo had to do was be honest and say "Look, we thought about it and decided with didn't want to shake up the established format. Zelda games have always been stories about Link, Ganon, and Zelda, and so that's why we're keeping it the way it is." While disappointing, to be sure, it's an understandable reason as opposed to a lame excuse.
 

minkus_draconus

New member
Sep 8, 2011
136
0
0
Happyninja42 said:
Mario: Super easy, he eats a mushroom/flower and turns into a woman. He's turned into racoons, fire breathing dude, a tanooki (whatever the fuck that is), and any number of bizarre creatures that we totally accept as valid. Why not have a plant that he chomps down on that changes his plumbing (haha! Plumber reference!)
Tanuki are magical shape-shifting raccoons who have large testicles. See the film Pom Poko for more details.
 

Dreiko_v1legacy

New member
Aug 28, 2008
4,696
0
0
Tanuki are real raccoon style Japanese critters which have been given powers in myth, kinda like how the nine tail fox has. They are quite cute too.


I don't get people who pick playable chars based on gender, I just pick based on who I find the coolest. As proof, in a lot of fighters I use female chars, when there's also male chars.


When you tell me nothing else would change except the gender, and the game would be more fun for you just with that, and it isn't some sort of dating sim or something, I just am befuddled. Like, I don't really think I am Link just because he has balls and a penis too, because despite that similarity, lots of our other traits differ significantly enough to set it to stone that he is a separate entity and I am seeing the world through his experiences.

This all seems to be rooted in idetitarian notions of groups, and I just try to see the individual and ignore the group, as that would be bigotted.
 

Sean Renaud

New member
Apr 12, 2011
120
0
0
AccursedTheory said:
Samechiel said:
Isn't the reason Link is always a boy is because he's the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia's Chosen Hero?
Exactly how the hero mantle is passed on isn't nailed down in the games. Twilight Princess kind of shoots down the reincarnation theory, as you meet a previous Link (The skeleton that teaches you moves), while the descendant theory is shot down by Wind Waker, where direct relation to the previous hero (The Hero of Time) is impossible.

The real reason is, of course, that the Zelda timeline was thought up years after the SNES game, and that the entire thing is is looser then a mother in a mom joke. And even if it was accurate and without more holes then the Bismarck, neither the direct descendant theory, the reincarnation theory, or the 'Goddesses are just being tricksy' theory preclude Link from being female.
Not to mix media but in the anime and Manga Naruto we saw at least two incarnations of the same being in the same place at the same time. Madara Uchia and Sasuke are both reincarnations of the same person as are Naruto and Hashirama. Additionally if we treat Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link as cannon either the Zelda from the first game is essentially a namesake and not ACTUALLY Zelda because the real one had been sleeping for years OR there were two incarnations of Zelda presumably both living, breathing and interacting with each other. (Unless the Zelda from the first game dies sometime prior to the completion of the sequel and we were never told.

I think 'The Goddesses are just being Tricksy' combined with what you accurately point out is the truth. The Zelda cannon was at the earliest solidly conceived with Ocarina and I don't believe they had a plan until Wind Waker and even then took a few more years trying to sort through the mess they had created and stupid shit they had said in interviews.
 

PurplePonyArcade

New member
Apr 9, 2015
418
0
0
I do not care about Link either way. I despise the people asking for female Link and that is sad. Fact is Link is bland nothing and pretty sexless either way so he can be whatever. THAT SAID to me if he HAS to female she'd better be a bland dullard with no personality at all. "B-but that's miss male video game character" yes and that is exactly what you fucking asked for.
 

Rastrelly

%PCName
Mar 19, 2011
602
0
21
TLOZ fanboys being TLOZ fanboys. Barely playable dull LEGEND OF GAMEDEV, so DEEP and eternally RELEVANT, especially this topic.
 

MHR

New member
Apr 3, 2010
939
0
0
People are wanting a female link because they want anything to shake up the LoZ formula, and they saw a picture of a Linkle waifu they wants.

Also because they can't imagine a ninja game with Sheik being fun. For some reason. Too edgy, no cutesy I guess.

It doesn't need to happen. Talk about shoehorning in some bullcrap when you have a perfectly good girl right next to you that you could be noticing, Senpai!
 

Dreiko_v1legacy

New member
Aug 28, 2008
4,696
0
0
I would love a Zelda Gaiden lol, though I am not the biggest zelda fan admittedly, I like games mainly for story or intense/competitive gameplay. Zelda Musou was a good step.


I think people diss the Sheik game because it isn't a "main entry" so in some bizarro world where that imparts more "power" to the game, a spinoff would be of lesser significance, and as this a is clearly about power and not quality games or fun to some, as this whole thing seems to be a way for some to earn more power (hey there Vergil) a Sheik Gaiden would be undesirable lol.
 

Wary Wolf

New member
Sep 10, 2015
1,017
0
0
One aspect about Link has always seemed to be the fact every female in Hyrule wants a piece of his Elf meat. And he generally stands around completely oblivious to it. One aspect of Link that might not go down well if you gender swapped it.

But fine, you can remove that aspect of Link.

Another aspect of Link is... Well let's not beat about the bush. He seems to have severe cognitive dysfunction. He keeps dive rolling into walls, he side jumps everywhere and drinks the milk that has been in that bottle for several days now. Not to mention he lacks basic language skills.

*HNYA!* *HI-YUP!* *RAAARRR!*

It's derpy enough when male Link does it. I think the designers don't want to put a female character through the Derpicator.

Alas, it will be while before we can reach true gender equality.

On a serious note. The next game will probably include a gender option because of this "kerfuffle" and no-one will care.
 

Silketrix

New member
Jul 16, 2016
8
0
0
I don't need a female Link, I don't see why anyone would. Link is a boy and I loved playing him when I was little despite of it. I loved Linkle too, but that's Linkle. Linkle's a girl, Link's a boy.
 

Joccaren

Elite Member
Mar 29, 2011
2,601
3
43
Phasmal said:
(I'd be more interested in a playable Zelda, but I'll take what I can fucking get)
On a small plus side, Nintendo is with you there. They're not for the gender bending, and would rather create a game with Zelda as the lead. They just can't figure out what to have Link do were Zelda the main character given the game's standard story and lore. Personally hoping that's mostly from the fact they want to play it safe with some aspects of a new Zelda that really should have been the Wii-U's system seller that just didn't come out early enough, and some variant non-traditional Zelda game like Majoras Mask will come out with Zelda as the lead and no Link at some point in the nearish future, but who knows.
 

GrumbleGrump

New member
Oct 14, 2014
387
0
0
They want a female Link because they are sociopaths who cannot sympathize with someone who doesn't look like them.
 

Erttheking

Member
Legacy
Oct 5, 2011
10,845
1
3
Country
United States
GrumbleGrump said:
They want a female Link because they are sociopaths who cannot sympathize with someone who doesn't look like them.
*Rolls eyes* I seriously hope you don't believe this, it's so blown out of proportion I don't even know where to start.
 

GrumbleGrump

New member
Oct 14, 2014
387
0
0
erttheking said:
GrumbleGrump said:
They want a female Link because they are sociopaths who cannot sympathize with someone who doesn't look like them.
*Rolls eyes* I seriously hope you don't believe this, it's so blown out of proportion I don't even know where to start.
I seriously don't see any other reason. Why would you want to have a female Link to begin with? It's not like he's a character or anything. I don't see the problem in playing with PC's that aren't your own race, sex or whatever's trendy to complain about now. Guess it's one of those things you need to be playing a new game every week to even start caring about.
 

Erttheking

Member
Legacy
Oct 5, 2011
10,845
1
3
Country
United States
GrumbleGrump said:
erttheking said:
GrumbleGrump said:
They want a female Link because they are sociopaths who cannot sympathize with someone who doesn't look like them.
*Rolls eyes* I seriously hope you don't believe this, it's so blown out of proportion I don't even know where to start.
I seriously don't see any other reason. Why would you want to have a female Link to begin with? It's not like he's a character or anything. I don't see the problem in playing with PC's that aren't your own race, sex or whatever's trendy to complain about now. Guess it's one of those things you need to be playing a new game every week to even start caring about.
I don't think you were looking very hard then. And Link is very much a character and gets plenty of little character moments, especially in games like Wind Waker. Well no one said that, so your point doesn't have much to do with what's being discussed. Link is series of incarnations, each one is a different character. The Link in Twilight Princess actually meets the one from Ocarina of Time. So why can't one of the incarnations be female? Well Nintendo answered that question...and the answer was basically that the Triforce of Courage was sexist. In other words it was a bullshit answer.

So yeah. People asked for Zelda as a playable character, didn't get it because bullshit, asked for Link as playable character, and didn't get it because bullshit. This is why people aren't happy.
 

GrumbleGrump

New member
Oct 14, 2014
387
0
0
erttheking said:
I don't think you were looking very hard then. And Link is very much a character and gets plenty of little character moments, especially in games like Wind Waker.
Going by what Smash Bros. says, that's Toon Link, not Link. It's a different character. If that's a little pedantic for you then how come he's the only Link that really stands out in a succession of suppousedly different people? This shit ain't no Avatar. At least those wore different clothes.

erttheking said:
Well no one said that, so your point doesn't have much to do with what's being discussed.
Oh I'm sorry. I have this stupid notion that people want worthwhile characters that are also female, not some bland idealized chatterbox with a female form. My bad.

erttheking said:
Link is series of incarnations, each one is a different character. The Link in Twilight Princess actually meets the one from Ocarina of Time. So why can't one of the incarnations be female? Well Nintendo answered that question...and the answer was basically that the Triforce of Courage was sexist. In other words it was a bullshit answer.
Then Link is either a collective character (which would be weird considering he's meeting himself) or a collection of characters who all just happen to be blander than plain bread.

erttheking said:
So yeah. People asked for Zelda as a playable character, didn't get it because bullshit, asked for Link as playable character, and didn't get it because bullshit. This is why people aren't happy.
These people need friends or a constructive hobby, like painting.
 

TheMysteriousGX

Elite Member
Legacy
Sep 16, 2014
8,300
6,798
118
Country
United States
GrumbleGrump said:
Oh I'm sorry. I have this stupid notion that people want worthwhile characters that are also female, not some bland idealized chatterbox with a female form. My bad.
What, just because I'm a dude means I don't want worthwhile characters that are also male? How come we get stuck with all the blank-slate insert-a-characters while women get all the developed personalities? What do you have against men?
erttheking said:
So yeah. People asked for Zelda as a playable character, didn't get it because bullshit, asked for Link as playable character, and didn't get it because bullshit. This is why people aren't happy.
These people need friends or a constructive hobby, like painting.
Yeah, video games suck, right? Leave male Link for us friendless losers who care so much that Link's a dude.
 

Erttheking

Member
Legacy
Oct 5, 2011
10,845
1
3
Country
United States
GrumbleGrump said:
Yeah well Smash Bros is a non-canon spin off, therefore what it says doesn't mean diddly squat when it contradicts the established canon. That really stands out? He only stands out in that he has a different art style. Skyward Sword had a Link that was extremely different, in addition to making LinkxZelda all but canon.

Well here's the difference between you and the people who want a female Link. They respect Link as a character. You don't. Key difference. And you can actually have a silent character have personality. The Prime Trilogy did this beautifully with Samus.

It's called reincarnation. Hell, Skyward Sword is basically about how the cycle of Gannondorf/Link/Zelda keeps happening. Basically a demon called Demise was killed by the first Link, and with his dying breath he cursed the blood of the Goddess and the spirit of the Hero to always be hounded by his reincarnation.

A constructive hobby? So gaming isn't a constructive hobby and is for losers. Gotcha.