What Makes The Zelda Games So Good?

    An Essay by Midgetboysk8
E-mail: Midgetboysk8@hotmail.com
Feel free to e-mail me and tell me what you think

Every now and then, a story is created that simply pulls people in, and
makes them forget the world around them. What makes these works special is
that they are not only fun, but believable. The person is simply pulled into
the work, and in that instant it becomes real, and the person knows it. The
creator of the work does not simply create a story, but creates another
world, another universe. The creation is as real as the world we live in
now. The fact that these worlds don’t actually exist is completely
irrelevant, because the only way our world exists to us is in the mind, and
the mind can make fictional worlds equally real.

One such work is the game series known as The Legend of Zelda. One thing
that makes the fantasy world of Hyrule so easy and appealing to believe is
that it is basically a perfect world; the land of Hyrule is not today’s
world controlled by money and business, but a paradise controlled by magic
and nature, friendship and love, honor and justice. Hyrule is not only a
world that one can believe; it is a world that one wants to believe. This
world does not seem like a pseudo-world created for a video game; it is
realistic and easy to believe, and is real in the mind of the gamer.

This series also creates wonderful dynamic characters with depth in
personality, with virtues and flaws, with goals and fears. The side
characters are not sources of hints or items, but realistic characters,
whose existence is not simply a tool to help the gamer. Each and every
character is a believable person, who could very well exist in our world.
One example is the chicken keeper’s family in Ocarina of Time. The chicken
keeper loves chickens, but has allergic reactions to them, so she must ask
for assistance when they escape, as she cannot chase after them herself. Her
father is the leader of a group of carpenters, and he relentlessly works the
carpenters to exhaustion. He is ashamed of his son, who is not the hard
worker he could be. This son is equally ashamed of his father, and this
makes him very melancholy and withdrawn. He does, however, deeply love his
sister, and the two are attached to each other in a way that they are not to
their father. When the gamer meets these characters, their acts are governed
by these situations and personalities. This mini-story adds nothing to the
gameplay, but adds a lot to the believability of the world it creates. These
characters have depth, and are in believable situations and react in
believable ways. Each character has his or her own opinions, beliefs,
hobbies, likes, dislikes, etc. and acts accordingly.

In video games, the general theory seems to be that a world pops into
existence for a game to be played in it, and conveniently ceases to exist
when the gamer finishes the game. The Legend of Zelda, however, creates the
idea that things are happening in Hyrule, whether or not the gamer is there
to see it. Hyrule has its own history, and even its own creation myth. Here
is a grossly simplified version of the history of the land of Hyrule, most
of which comes from two of the nine games in the series:

The land of Hyrule was created by three goddesses. Din, the goddess of
power, created Hyrule, and sculpted it with her flaming hands. Nayru, the
goddess of love, created life and made it flourish throughout the land of
Hyrule. She created the rock eating Gorons on death mountain, the fish-like
Zora at Zora Fountain, the cunning Gerudos in Gerudo valley, the
forever-young Kokori in Kokori Forest, and the Hylians, who lived throughout
the land of Hyrule. Farore, the goddess of wisdom, gave this life knowledge
and intelligence. When the gods left the land of Hyrule, they left behind a
symbol of their power known as the Triforce. The Triforce was an incredible
source of power, and was hidden in a golden realm to prevent its misuse.

Eventually, a war broke out, and the only ones to stay out of it were the
Kokori. A Hylian woman was mortally wounded while trying to save her baby,
and managed to get him to the safety of the Kokori forest before she died.

One day, a new king claimed the Hylian throne, and this king brought peace
to the land. He discovered a way to enter the golden realm, but realized
that nobody must ever go there. He took several items, all of which had to
be used by a single person to enter the golden realm, and distributed them
among the other species, to ensure that no single person would ever have
them all, and in doing so he created helpful alliances with these species,
ensuring future peace. All was well once again, until a Gerudo prince named
Mandrag Ganondorf Dragmire [Ganondorf Dragmire of the enchanted thieves]
decided to search for the power of the Triforce.

He searched for the things he needed to enter the golden realm, but those
who had them refused to give them up. He eventually decided to bide his
time, and got a job working for the Hylian king, so that he might have
easier access to the necessary tools to enter the golden realm when the time
came.

This is where the game Ocarina of Time picks up. The main character is the
baby that was left in Kokori forest. His name is Link. He is raised as a
Kokori, until he receives the call to adventure and leaves the forest.
Ganondorf eventually obtains the Triforce, but Link defeats Ganondorf and
traps him in the golden realm, where he cannot continue to wreak havoc, but
he also cannot die or lose his power. The golden realm was changed into a
wasteland which reflected all of the most horrible nightmares of the
Hyrulian people. This golden realm eventually came to be known as the Dark
World.

The story of the Imprisoning War, as it was later named, was passed down
through generations. But the story eventually faded from knowledge. It
became a myth, and nobody truly believed it until Ganondorf returned.

At this point, the game A Link to the Past starts. One of Link’s
descendants, who by some odd coincidence has the same name, is contacted
telepathically by Princess Zelda, whom Ganondorf has imprisoned. Link jr.
eventually follows Ganondorf into the Dark World to defeat him.
This continuous plotline makes the Zelda series the best story in any video
game, and gives the sense that the story continues, whether or not the gamer
is there to see it. The two games are linked in a way that few other game in
a series are. This is one of the many things that makes the fantasy world of
Hyrule so spectacular: it has a continuous history.

Link fits the classic hero archetype known as the Hero With a Thousand
Faces. This is a type of story that appears again and again in spectacular
books, movies, etc. including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings,
Firebringer, and many others. Here is an abbreviated summary of this format.
There are more elements than these, but these are the main ones.

1)The main character is an orphan, or is in some other way set apart from
his parents. He is destined for greatness, but he is raised by people who
are not. The story starts out by showing the life that the character is used
to (such as Kokori Forest, Tatooine, the muggle world, The Shire, the home
herd). This part is used to introduce the audience to the characters (by
audience, I mean gamer, reader, watcher, or whichever applies to the story).

2)There is a noticeable difference between the world that the character is
used to and the world where the adventure takes place. There is almost
always a definite threshold that the character crosses when he leaves his
world to answer the call to adventure (such as Luke escaping from Tatooine,
Harry boarding the Hogwarts Express and arriving at Hogwarts, Frodo leaving
the Shire, Ronnoch leaving the home herd). In Ocarina of time, there are two
of these: leaving Kokori Forest and taking the Master Sword.

3)The character has a guide or mentor, who offers him advice and guidance
(such as Princess Zelda, Obi Wan Kenobi, Gandalf, Dumbledore, Brheac). This
mentor does not have to be the same person throughout the story; an example
of a changing mentor is in Star Wars, where Obi Wan is Luke’s mentor at
first, but later Yoda becomes the mentor.

4)The character has a special weapon, that few or no other people have (such
as the Master Sword, a light saber, the ring of power, a magic wand, the
ability to talk to animals).

5)There is often (but not always) a sidekick or two. These sidekicks often
play a major role in the story, though they are still definitely not main
characters (such as Navi, Han Solo, Sam, Ron, Tain).

These aspects, combined with some of the best music ever written and the
best gameplay of any game, come together in The Legend of Zelda to make it
the perfect game series.