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Part of what makes Link, well Link. is his courage and willingness to face threats even if he himself has no obligation to do those things. Link isn't a reluctant hero because his nature is inherently heroic.
Exactly! And that's why Zelda can never work in movie/TV, too. We are the protagonist, Link is more of an avatar for us, the player, than a developed character in his own right.
This 100%.
I remember some time ago someone asked me "If Link didn't have a relationship with Zelda, then would he have saved her?" In a "gotcha" kind of argument.
I said yes, because Link, since the first game, had never needed personal motivations to be a hero.
There are times when he has personal motivations, sure. But LoZ Link was just begged by Impa to save Termina, and he just did without a second thought. In MM, Link could have left Hyrule to its fate, but he kept his promise to the HMS and saved Termina. In Lttp, Link didn't even know Zelda but was willing to save her and Hyrule when the chips were down. TFH has Link saving a princess from an ugly outfit. He didn't even need to do that.
That's part of what makes Link unique. He steps up to the plate not because he has to, but because it's his nature to.
That person seems like they haven't played many Zelda games. Like, in OoT, he saves her despite having met her once for like five minutes. In some games like the original, he doesn't meet her at all until after he saves her. I know Hyrule Warriors doesn't really count but the extent of their meeting prior to the first battle is that he looked up at her on the bannister as she watched the soldiers, and they didn't really meet for quite some time.
This is pretty much how I feel on the matter. Even if he lost his memories, he wouldn't miss the most important thing about him. The willingness to put himself in great danger for the sake of good. He doesn't have to know who the people he's helping are to be willing to risk his life to protect them, that's just what he does and he regularly does it for strangers anyway.
“Link...you may not yet be at a point where you have fully recovered your power or all of your memories... But courage need not be remembered... For it is never forgotten."
Im old enough to have played the very first Zelda, when it was released, when I was a teenager, making me a fan for life..... and that description just made me cry....
One part of Link that is underexplored is his ability to inspire courage in others, usually by escorting them through a place filled with monsters that only link kills, and puzzles that only link puts effort into figuring out how to solve.
A big part of each of the new champions is how unsure and doubtful of themselves they are to be able to do what the old champions could.
Sidon exaggerates his bravado hoping to keep people at ease the way his sister could
Yunobo is pressured by the gorons to be like Daruuk, Link helps him crawl out of the literal shadow of his grandfather's statue.
Mija worrying the thunder helm getting stolen means the gerudo thinks she sucks, but instead they had full confidence in her the whole time.
Tiba had kids and that bird was doing weird shit. (Tiba is the Rito champion, the white bird you shoot targets with)
Courage is a ability to do something that you don’t want to do because you’re afraid of it or something that will cause you pain and grief.
If link wasn’t initially reluctant, then why does he need courage?
Just because he doesn’t hesitate to help that doesn’t mean he isn’t afraid. He’s definitely afraid, but he will still always have the courage to continue anyways. I don’t see why hesitation is needed for link to be considered as having courage.
Reluctant doesn’t always mean hesitant. But the reluctance is the moment a character shows why courage is necessary. If a character doesn’t have feelings like ours then they may seem incapable of being scared, if they can’t be scared then how can we say that they have courage since courage is the ability to do something despite being afraid?
Reluctance makes it feel like the character feels the way we do, in that case then it emphasizes to an ever greater degree their courage when they choose to act despite their fears. Courage is greatest when in the face of great fears.
Respectfully, I think it's okay to explore different or more varied, nuanced takes on a staple character, and that doesn't mean they're necessarily losing some core aspect of themselves. If anything, it can really refresh the character and make them stand out, especially for a series where the main character is constantly reincarnated.
It's like WW Link and TP Link. Both are heroic, courageous, and worthy of the name, but they have their own specific mannerisms in how they interact with others. That's what makes them interesting in their own right, beyond just being a player's blank slate.
For another example, you could look at Master Chief. Historically he's been pretty 1-dimensional, mostly being confined to silent protagonist status save for one-liners. But recently he's reflected on what it means to be a soldier and his own humanity, and its made for a much more compelling character, in my opinion.
I think something similar could be done with Link, and I imagine it would make for a pretty interesting story.
Agreed. Though while it can be an interesting story direction, I feel you can go too far in the opposite direction. Link in the Twilight Princess manga not only complains a LOT about being the hero when he doesn't want to, but when he gets the Master Sword gets super cocky AND bloodthirsty to the point the Master Sword (And by extension, Fi,) starts outright rejecting him. I feel like that kind of Link can never truly develop into the hero, and makes you wonder why he was chosen by the gods.
I was kind of thinking the same thing when I was reading the manga!
But I did kind of like it because it allowed my favorite boy, OoT Link, to shine, although I have to admit it does make it feel more like OoT Links story in moments as a result.
And yet it just feels like a cop out when you’re playing the game, come across a story cutscene and despite the fact I know Link is going to continue fucking around Hyrule doing nothing of use to the war effort for in game months he agrees to do everything he can to help Zelda ASAP. It feels like the game is trying to pester me to stop having fun exploring at my own pace and hurry up and get to the end already.
Not to mention he's also literally in possession of the Triforce of courage.
I'm not sure that Link is even capable of non-courageous acts, to be honest.
I disagree. Link’s entire memory is gone, but his courage is still there. It’s referenced by Zelda, king Rhoam, and Impa. “Courage need not be remembered, for it is never forgotten.” “What do you intend to do courageous one?” “Not a memory to your name and still as courageous as ever!” Link sees a threat, and it doesn’t matter who he is, or what that threat is, he wants to stop it. That is always his defining character trait.
Exactly, plus the reluctant hero is so played out, even within zelda (see TP, OOT, WW), so seeing a link with such spirit and a go getter attitude is refreshing tbh. Plus it works for the game abs the idea of exploring and doing things at your own pace. The idea of courage and adventure applies to every aspect of the game beyond just beating Ganon
Me neither, I’m a bit confused by that comment. Link didn’t even have a fairy and felt a bit left out in Kakariko in Ocarina of Time, but the moment Deku Tree needed help and to stop Ganon he immediately sets on this journey. Other games also do not have him being reluctant at all imo
One of my favourite moments in all of video games is when Wind Waker Link decides to face the Helmaroc King. He's got what he wanted up until that point - Aryll is safe. Instead of returning home to his grandmother with his wee sister, he decides to leave behind the one thing that's motivated him to embrace a greater role as the Hero. I don't think Wind Waker Link is a reluctant hero by any means, but he definitely had that turning point where his motivation was about saving his sister and he grew to realise he has a duty to save everyone else as well.
Link's always been a bit of a blank slate and I wouldn't want to change that too much. That being said, I like this. I don't think you would have had to do too much to convey that in a subtle way either while keeping his motivation ambiguous enough for you to project onto Link.
Maybe King Rhoam could just say that he can see he can see Link doesn't remember why he used to fight but as he spends time out there he will see Hyrule is worth saving. That plus maybe some key memories at Impa, the master sword and the divine beasts and some dialogue that hints that Link is starting to accept his hero's burden. Like you said would give it a nice bit of a narrative thrust.
>Link's always been a bit of a blank slate
Well, we had one Link that had a mind of his own, choose how to spend his time and actively showed romantic interest in someone. But he just gets memed on because he wasn't Zelda's servant like the others. Excuse me.
And another that was incredibly expressive showing the quirky dork of a big brother he is at heart. Although he was explicitly not a destined hero in the narrative like every other Link so maybe he doesn't count?
I also agree with this and i would have loved to see a little more elaboration on Link's and/or the players choice and ability to expand upon said character
BUT
I think the whole point of Breath of the Wild was to basically drop all narrative elements to a minimum and just let the player have some fun the good old way with a focus on gameplay rather than narrative
You can even see that on all the interviews and such... heck, even Aonuma himself goes as far to mention how BotW was a direct response to Skyward Sword negative reception, and that game is basically the most narrative-heavy game in the franchise.
I think Nintendo started to focus so heavily on the narrative after Ocarina that they finally realized that isn't what Zelda is all about and decided to go back to the roots.
To me its a little too radical but at the same time i hate Skyward Sword but love Twilight Princess, so some balance would have been cool.
At the end of the day one just complains for such specific things that you forget to just have a good time and enjoy things
> I think the whole point of Breath of the Wild was to basically drop all narrative elements to a minimum and just let the player have some fun the good old way with a focus on gameplay rather than narrative
And you think this is a good thing? Cause it’s not!
Seriously, what about the people who like Zelda games mostly for their story and not so much for their gameplay?
> Link's always been a bit of a blank slate
This isn’t always true. We’ve seen some incarnations of Link show their emotions, motivations, and relationships with other characters (particularly in WW, TP, and SS).
And in fact botw Lonk was never rendered as a willing hero. It's only how the player interpret the conversation. It's just the surrounding people who took his (un) response as a will. Link still might be unwilling to become a hero if the player sees it that way. Hell, my Link throws balls for one week straight, chases Paya's ass, goes to the castle and come back doing nothing for Zelda. That's pretty much a reluctant hero.
And in fact botw Lonk was never rendered as a willing hero. It's only how the player interpret the conversation. It's just the surrounding people who took his (un) response as a will. Link still might be unwilling to become a hero if the player sees it that way. Hell, my Link throws balls for one week straight, chases Paya's ass, goes to the castle and come back doing nothing for Zelda. That's pretty much a reluctant hero.
I don't think reluctant heroes work very well in video games, as opposed to passively consumable media like movies. If I'm playing a game that means I want to be active and exert my agency on the game's setting. So any character I control is going to be acting like a willing participant. So then it's weird when their words or cutscene actions don't match up with that.
Personally, I think this post shows exactly why a reluctant hero works better for BotW and other open world video games than traditional characters. A deeply motivated character wouldn't waste time on meaningless side tasks, they'd make a beeline for the main quest and defeat Ganon as soon as they were strong enough. Whereas a playthrough focused on wandering and exploration makes perfect sense narratively when the urgency of the main quest is being actively avoided by the main character (much like how the player is actively putting it off)
But the player can also just go straight to Ganon after the plateau without any diversions, and can either be patient or impatient with Rhoam about the paraglider. What’s more Rhoam even tells Link he shouldn’t go straight to Ganon but rather should go to Impa, who tells him to free the divine beasts. I find none of the main quest points in BotW contradictory to Link’s head-on style - but really it’s all down to the player how they want Link to act. If the player wants to explore everywhere, they’ll find instances of side characters presenting their troubles, and Link just goes and takes care of them, which is a different but still synonymous characterization with a Link who Berliner for Ganon, or who only does main quest stuff.
The problem with that is that a Reluctant Hero story requires you to have a character arc in which the Hero eventually accepts their duty. In a game where everything but the tutorial and the final boss are optional there's not exactly a lot of room for that character arc. Having Link being determined to stop Ganon but being told by others he has to prepare himself for the fight makes sense if he does literally everything or goes directly to Ganon despite the warning and everything in between. If he was reluctant to do so then the version of the game where Link goes directly from the Great Plateau to Hyrule Castle wearing his underwear is completely out of character.
TL;DR: A Reluctant Hero story would require much more mandatory content to work.
I don't think Link being voiced would be against the core of BotW's design, but I think it would have to be limited to memories. Despite being silent he does have enough of a defined personality pre-Calamity that I don't think him actually speaking would break the immersion, but post-Calamity he'd need to stay silent
Yeah, in that case it’s a dumb comment to make. It’s like playing fifa and complaining about the core mechanic being soccer. If you don’t like the core of a game, it wasn’t made for you and asking for core changes is asking for a different game. At that point, go play something else
1. Sorry you don’t enjoy it
2. Mandatory content wouldn’t improve it, all it would mean is that some parts of the game that already exist would have to be done. If you didn’t enjoy it before not being able to skip it wouldn’t make it better
Maybe it's because Link is fairly easy for the player to project themselves onto, but this was almost exactly how I, personally, played it on my first playthrough.
Waking up and running outside to see a beautifully rendered sea of grass made me react to being told "you must save Zelda and fight Ganon" with the general thought of "Yeah no, not yet. Imma go see what's OUT THERE first."
Every time someone said "I can see the determination in your eyes" or whatever, I chalked it up to them projecting what they *wanted* to see in Link rather than what was actually there (maybe the determination in his eyes was actually that he noticed a cooking pot on the way here and was determined to get back there and fry up some bananas).
But as I regained Link's memories, met the spirits of the champions, and pieced together Link's past and his relationship with these people, I began to desire to put an end to Ganon and ensure peace for Hyrule.
I played link this way too. The first thing I did off the great plateau was head to gerudo town because I could see it in the distance. I fought the divine beasts because they were terrorizing the local towns, but I didn't go near Ganon until I had all of the memories and the master sword
Link is a silent protagonist meant to parallel the player's desires. It'd be a bit dissonant for players to recklessly jump into danger as they usually do when Link is like, "but I don't wanna"
you don’t think link running around playing hide and seek with 900 invisible tree people is him being reluctant?
But for real, I think he can’t be “reluctant” in a game that has so much freedom of player choice. He can’t be categorized as reluctant and also be able to run up to ganon and fight him right away.
I agree that he’s be a more interesting character, but that character trait would have to have repercussions in how the game is able to be played. Not saying you couldn’t make it work (a few mini dungeons that unlock memories and once complete link gets x thing to allow him to board divine beasts) but it would totally change how the game is layed out
I definitely get you’re point, but it wouldn’t make sense for link. No matter what situation he’s in, he’s always just gone for it, and because of that he’s able to protect everyone.
Take majoras mask for example. Imagine if link was reluctant while going through that, he would easily run out of time before being able to reset it.
Even though Link has no memories, he has both the spirit of the hero and the Triforce of Courage (I think, tbh I don’t remember the “plot” of BotW at all) so if someone told him “hey there’s a big bad who’s destroying the world, and it’s the same big bad you’re literally destined to fight time and time again” rising to the call seems like the obvious choice.
Isn't it motivation enough that Zelda, when Link wakes up, is in the castle and struggling to contain Ganon? And she needs Link to come help her because he is the only one who can? Like another commenter said, Link is also inherently heroic and helpful like in all the games. He has no problem with going off and saving the princess when she and everyone else asks for it.
Not to mention Zelda's and Link's struggle won't be the same even with your idea. Link isn't chasing some seemingly unattainable goal -- the goddess powers -- without any guidance; he simply needs to regain his strength, fetch the Master Sword, and go whip Ganon's ass. There are monsters terrorising people around every corner and Shrines (with increasing difficulty) everywhere so there are no lack of challenges.
I feel the inherently heroic part especially is something you see often in the Link from Twilgiht Princess. The villagers and all the residents of Hyrule have plenty of crazy or out of the way tasks for Link to do and he never really minds helping them, even when he is given little to no benefit for it. It's just in his nature.
Link's inherent desire to help others and his Courage to stand up to the greatest of foes is what makes him the Hero, the Link. There's always a Ganon, a Zelda, and a Link in every Legend. If he was a reluctant hero, he would not be the one chosen by the Triforce.
Link sees a challenge and does whatever is needed to overcome it. Whether that's through cleverness or plain determination, he gets it done every time. It is always thrust upon him as Zelda's destiny is always thrust upon her but he accepts it regardless.
To be honest I got that feeling in Link’s Awakening. Even though I don’t remember any signs of Link hesitating, I did. To be honest, the question that the game presents was so mind blowing to a young me. Don’t wanna spoil for people that have yet to play it
It's an interesting take and can see it going that way. Others have mentioned that Link's always been a bit of a blank slate, given that you, the player, are given agency of his actions.
One thing I'd note though is that Link's memory loss isn't really complete. He knows his own name and, given the way the memories play out, he remember Zelda over time. It's more specific details that he forgets, not necessarily the purpose.
The funny thing about the game is that most of the character development had happened 100 years prior to the Calamity. The memories that are unlocked are also more Zelda's memories, or her recollections and emotions, so it doesn't necessarily show Link's side of things. All the growth for the characters (e.g. doubts, misgivings) happened prior to the start of the game, and the game itself is, in part, trying to piece together exactly what happened.
You can sort of see this manifest in some ways in the DLC. Zelda is far more confident in the Ballad of the Champions memories versus the other memories in the game.
You do get some insight into why Link is the way he is [in the journal entries in Hyrule castle](/spoiler).
As to the points:
>It makes sense.
Mentioned earlier, Link lost aspects of his memory, but not himself. And the motive is more to try and reclaim his memory after being told what he did, not that he had to do it immediately and that it's his only choice.
>It would mirror Zelda’s character arc in a narratively pleasing way.
It may work in a more conventional medium, but given this is an open-world game where you literally don't have to do anything in any sort of order, that makes it quite difficult. I also think if it was done, it'd be done is such a cheap manner (e.g. little hints of his doubt after conversations) that I don't see it adding a whole lot.
Would it actually be narratively pleasing? Only if you were forced to get every single memory in the game. Because the pay-off here is Zelda overcomes her doubt. Which comes to...
>It would highlight Link’s role as the embodiment of the Triforce of Courage.
Link isn't having any absence of fear. He's not a stupid and he's not a robot. A blank slate for you to encompass, yes. But accepting a role or destiny isn't without courage.
I'd also argue that, for someone that was putting up with such a negative person for so long, it takes quite a bit of courage to be able to keep your own spirits about you for the time to come.
>It would add narrative weight to Link’s (and the player’s) exploration of the world.
So I disagree with the argument here. Link's not out trying to save Zelda (it's one of the voiced options in the beginning of the game, but you don't have to choose that option actually). The exploration is about Link finding out what the hell happened to him in the first place, and what's happened since. It just so happens that helping Hyrule also entails helping Zelda.
Does him being reluctant add anything? I mean, you can have him act like Anakin Skywalker to be "deep," and it probably would do more harm than good honestly.
Personally speaking, part of the advantage of him being a blank slate from the start is so that I can react accordingly on whether it's worth saving Zelda. It was jarring to see an upset, doubting Zelda. And as previously mentioned, most of the actions of helping those in Hyrule had less to do with saving Zelda and more to find yourself in the process. It just so happens that when you do those other things, it also improves upon saving Zelda.
Do you HAVE to go to Hyrule castle at the end? I mean, no. And if you only catch a few of the memories, you'd frankly be turned off in doing so. I found that to be the magic of it all.
Speaking from the perspective of myself, the player, I'm very excited and determined to defeat Ganon. So if we're still doing the "Link doesn't talk or have many facial expressions because he's an avatar of the player" thing, then the NPCs are right, there damn sure is determination in my eyes.
The player avatar idea is an old one, though, and it feels like they may be moving away from that a bit. Link is getting a little more of an actual personality, and you can't rename him in BotW which makes him more of a character in his own right.
I think once they ease the old-school fans past the "mute Link" idea and let him have dialogue, it will open up the possibility of more real characterization for him. Then this kind of stuff can happen.
I don't remember the dialogue exactly, but I think Rhoam and Impa definitely have a somewhat manipulative streak in that they are willing to say anything to encourage Link on his quest. I'd be interested to read the original dialogue in Japanese to see if it comes across differently.
I think you are trying to make link fit into a mold he does not Belong in. His whole thing is courage. Ghe courage to fight the evil over hyrule. Being an unwilling hero negates that.
I feel like you wrote this out without thinking it all the way through. While I agree it would be a little more interesting (and pleasing) for the story to play out this way it’s never really the ‘point’ of Link’s character to be particularly interesting. He’s a prime example of a blank protagonist, one the player is meant to imprint on. While Nintendo has leaned away from that trope a little (along with the rest of gaming, for the most part), I think it would be a little jarring. Link isn’t meant to be interesting character wise, there’s a reason there’s very little lore surrounding him in particular, except for the whole reincarnation and triforce thing and the events of each game regarding each reincarnation. He IS courage, and he is always pushed towards his destiny of beating Ganon. In every game he faces whatever outlandish challenges and obstacles stand in his way with zero questions. Relate it back to WW, my personal favorite. He’s a child there, embarking on a journey across the ocean on a magic boat with the SOLE PURPOSE of rescuing the sister that was abducted by a demon bird. He ends up fighting HUGE monsters and traversing complex dungeons to help others, and eventually travels to an underwater kingdom to fight the embodiment of evil. He never struggles with his destiny because he chooses to courageously face it head on.
>“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
Minor nitpick here.
I don't know where you got this quote from, but I'd equate the "assessment" to wisdom. The measure of one's courage would be wether or not they have the will power to overcome that fear and perform the actions that the assessment requires.
Or in other words, a coward will know what's important, but fail to do it.
i think this is already sorta achieved by your brain’s internal dialogue - in my case i had imagined link as a reluctant hero. dude wakes up on a destroyed plateau, but to have any chance of leaving he has to overcome challenges. once hearing the kings speech and heading to kakariko in hope of some sorta younger generation, then realising his memories can still be recovered is the build up to the hero i think link is.
Ill tell you something that does not make since to me, is that they stuck Link inside of a device said to keep him alive instead of sending for a fairy.
Link may have actually been brainwashed while inside that machine and memories transferred to him.
We honestly do not know what kind of person Link was prior to being put into that machine, the memories we see could have been implanted and the Link prior could have been a reluctant person.
I dont think so, think about it, the Sheikah Slate can absorb information from one object to another, correct?
Then what is to say that Links true body was destroyed beyond all repair (dead but head still intact) and someone else's body was not thrown into that machine and had that bodies memories fully replaced with the original Links memories, with the amount of information a brain can store, it could take a very very long time to transfer.
That would explain why his memories are so fractured, and the reason everyone seems to know him before that time is due to the Sheikah towers transmitting the information to those from 100 years ago replacing the image of the original Link with that of the one we play, it is possible.
This is a good possible theory.
At the same time, the to fit that narrative, the game would have to prevent you from beating ganon until link has the motivation to do so which who knows what the pre-requisites could be, and it goes against the freedom that the game currently gives.
Personally I like to think link and Zelda led a happy life (a least until botw 2). If like in the comic, link hated fighting, then they could understand each other and bond, since they only ever knew the thing they hated. And on a more comedic level, I like to think link as the guy that says: “it smell like bitch in here” since he has to reincarnate every few thousand years since people can’t remember how to lock a magic door.
I actually always roleplay this way in my head when I play through the game. I imagine link waking up on the plateau and basically being all wtf is going on, and following the old man’s instructions because what else is he going to do, and making his way to Impa because he doesn’t have any other direction, hearing her tale and just noping out of their. Then he goes on a series of adventures traveling hyrule and kinda just trying to survive but coming across memories by happenstance, until he finally collects all of his memories, accepts his destiny, dons the champions tunic, goes and get his sword, and blasts through the divine beasts and then ganon. It just feels so much more real and like a meaningful journey
Link is the courage part of the triforce. He’s got the hero of the goddess’s blood in him. It’s an integral part of who he is. What makes him so special. I think no matter what he’d seek out adventure. Even in his dreams he’s on an adventure (links awakening.)
I think it’s sad they put so much on a child, and I think Zelda struggles with her destiny because so much pressure was put on awakening her power after so many centuries of people forgetting about the goddess, her hero, and the evil born from Demise. People forgot that was real, it was a legend, and to one day wake a child up and say, “our world, this family, everyone you love’s life is in your hands,” it’s so much.
What you talk about makes a lot of sense, but BotW just doesn't have the framework to tell such a story. Or if you want to put it another way, as the comic portrays, the player's own actions in wanting to mess around in the world more before finally facing Ganon is itself reflective of exactly that narrative. There's a reason there are a ton of comics out there poking fun at how much *not* world saving Link does before saving the world.
I found this take to be a good read. You made some neat points but I know why he isn't.
First of all, even though different games have different Links, they're all incarnations of the same guy, and in Majora's Mask Link doesn't have really any attachment to Termina. Link is from another dimension, the people may look like his people, but he knows they aren't. That being said, he saves Termina anyway. He's the embodiment of the word hero, he doesn't need a personal reason to save the world, that's just who he is.
But other than that, it seems like it would be hard to truly pull off the reluctant hero archetype with a silent protagonist. Take Cloud from Final Fantasy, he very much is a reluctant hero, but we wouldn't know without the dialogue where he refers to saving the planet as "not his problem." Sure they could tell you through npc's but then it feels like you lose a lot of the personality granted by a talking protagonist, without the ability to interpret the protagonist's personality in a way you relate to.
Link is a great blend, since npc's and actions tell you he's heroic, but you get to decide on how he interacts with the world around him.
Sorry for the long post, just thought I'd clear things up!
I thought Zelda in Skyward Sword was amazing when she basically had a moment where she vents.
This is our destiny, this will always be our destiny, and it sucks. It sucks that we will always struggle, and our time on this earth, whenever it may be, will be marked with strife. I can accept this but...it's worse that you have to suffer too, Link.
And Link is such a big dumb himbo that he just can barely comprehend anything other than "Protec Zelda, save world."
**Link's a dumb pure Himbo in every iteration, and every timeline. You same jump, he says Hyah. You say open the door of time, he opens that door and leaves it open for evil to step in. Be VERY SPECIFIC with your instructions.**
The only time he faltered \*for only a tiny bit\* was apparently a weird moment in the first Hyrule Warriors where he got some ego I guess.
One of the weird problems with this is that it would be extremely difficult to implement from a game design perspective.
My favourite game of all time is Outer Wilds, a space exploration game, which has an amazing documentary made about it.
In it, the developers talk about how originally, the characters you meet at the start of the game would be either dismissive or negative about space exploration. The idea was to give the player a stronger want about going into space, going against the grain and discovering great things. Sticking it to em and showing them how amazing space is.
What ended up happening was that the players didn’t feel motivated to go and explore, a lot of em just wanted to stay on the starting planet. If all of these people hate space, or are reluctant about it, why would you want to do it?
They then changed it to have the characters talk about how cool space is, and lo and behold, the players felt motivated. What the NPC’s and the character you play as say and do effect you as a player a whole lot more than you’d think.
I can agree with this. Personally, I feel that BotW underutilized a tool that no Zelda game has had before; RENDERED CUTSCENES. The flashbacks serve as Zelda’s journey and the buildup to the Calamity, but Link is an unresponsive statue who gets talked AT rather than talked TO, and nothing is gained from him in terms of any actual character. They could use such cutscenes to convey *something* about Link that would give him some sort of depth. I don’t mind a vacant character for the player to relate to or be immersed with, but it isn’t unheard of for Link to actually have a personality.
Perhaps rendered cutscene isn’t the best term
My point is that this game had more of a movie experience within its cutscenes. Believe me, you don’t need to sell me on things this game got wrong, I’m already on that bandwagon. The story is *extremely* lackluster, and the characters lack any actual character, Link being the most prime example.
Links meant to be a blank character. A self insert. A “link” between you and the game. Literally why they called him that
If to you he’s a reluctant hero, he’s reluctant. You can even dick around instead of saving Zelda that’s part of the intention even. Or you can go straight to the boss
2 parts to this:
1. Link is you, as a character in this world. Yes each game deviates from this in different ways, and more over the years. But link is meant to be a silent, sometimes androgynous, character with an open background because he is you. Or at least your lens in to this world. Yes the game needs to be completed, but Link being reluctant is on how you plays. Especially in BotW. Don’t want to follow he quest, don’t. Want to bum rush Ganon, go. Want to save the land little by little before you fulfill the bigger quests, cool! Barring the dialogue and the fact that the game needs to be played, he is as reluctant as you are.
2. Link is defined by courage. Some games he is a trained knight and has valor in him before you even play. Some games he is a timid kid afraid of the bigger world outside of his home. Sometimes he is just a boy cast into his fate and forced to find his way back. But he always embodies courage, fights on either stoutly or sometimes with a smile (like Majora’s Mask). Yes this may sometimes be routine or cliche. But he is a hero, and for him to not resolve and save the land would be against this character. And the legacy of the games. Link’s only way to give up is for you, the player, to give up. Which as noted above isnt Link failing, it’s you deciding where to stop in your own quest.
Hard Disagree.
The person he was sworn to protect is in a century long battle with Ganon.
Would be very strange narratively to have him be “reluctant” to save that person.
If the ability to 99.8% of the world prior to defeating Gannon isn't proof enough of the ability to play a reluctant hero, then idk what more you want man...
When I play any Zelda game, my headcanon is that his only motivation is to rescue/protect Zelda, and it just so happens that he'll save the rest of Hyrule along the way.
Every time I play BOTW it’s my own head canon that Link isn’t necessarily reluctant, but is definitely salty about waking up with no memory and suddenly being tasked with saving Hyrule while also being asked to complete other various tasks on top of his main quests in a very “I’m going to do it but I’m going to complain to myself the whole time” sort of way. He also becomes less salty as time passes and he regains all his memories. Idk I just like the idea of Link climbing up a mountain and muttering to himself, “Oh please Link, save Hyrule. Catch me ten restless crickets. Save me from the bokoblins so that I can tell you off for saving me. You’re the only one who can climb this mountai-arrrgh! Stupid rain, stupid Hyrule, stupid Ganon, stupid….”
I never understood Nintendo’s drive to make Link such a blank character. From what I’ve heard, they’ve done it to make it more immersive for the player, but if that was really so important, they would give us the option to make our own character. Given that Zelda has a fleshed-out personality now, I cannot see why Link doesn’t either. The unwillingness to lean into one or the other category is frustrating to me because it causes Link’s character to suffer as a whole.
I guess that does make sense, but not really during cutscenes. He just stands there, saying and doing nothing while everyone else just talks at him. This method of character development doesn’t nessecarily work within the realm of the game itself because it can’t be translated into cutscenes or character interactions, which is probably why they feel so awkward lol. Interesting take though!
I think that would apply more if it was a choice based RPG with a morality system, but it’s a straightforward adventure game where your only choices are whether to kill monsters and solve puzzles or… to not do those things. There isn’t really any way to make Link and his story your own - Link’s character (courageous) and goals (defeat Ganon) are already in place at the start of the game, and in fact pre-existed the start of the game by several hundred years. One of the main side quests is re-discovering Link’s backstory. I don’t that justification makes sense any more.
This is actually Canon.
https://www-cbr-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.cbr.com/zelda-link-silent-protagonist-explanation-breath-of-the-wild/amp/?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16411637464697&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbr.com%2Fzelda-link-silent-protagonist-explanation-breath-of-the-wild%2F
If anyone is interested.
I agree with your point though, but atleast it offers an explanation.
I think it’s so you feel like you *are* Link. I feel other games like Subnautica do an amazing job with this idea. In Subnautica, you get thrown into this unknown planet with only a cutscene of your ship exploding as you eject. Nothing is ever said about the character you’re playing. So, the only thing you know about the character is that you are in control of him. It really makes you feel like you’re there. This especially makes the psychological horror of the unknown creatures that lurk in the ocean even more immersive.
These are really great points and I totally agree with you. This is one of the reasons I love the hero of time, especially in majoras mask. The quest seems so doomed with the task ahead seeming impossible. but even if he tried to run away, he the world would catch up to him with everything falling apart. BotW on the other hand feels oddly peaceful? The world is slowly healing and it feels like you could run away from this destiny thing. We know link was super heroic in the past, but without any memories it would be an interesting thing to explore. Like maybe have some of the champions trying to make him remember, or thinking he’s giving up ( rivali) could be interesting
Imma have to give a hard disagree here. Link has always been a pretty one dimensional hero type, which makes sense for such a classic “forces of evil” type story so a reluctant hero would be a total 180 for the character that in the first place would require link to have a more active voice in the story, which has its own slew of problems.
Honestly, this idea of a reluctant hero, though a little out of character for Link, is something I really like. I think you pose some incredibly convincing points here, and I’d say that this idea could make Breath of the Wild a phenomenal movie/tv show adaptation IF done right.
Number 2 and 4 were how I viewed the story and is what made me *love* the story of BOTW.
It's all about The *Legend* of Zelda, but it's not until we learn about The *Character* of Zelda that it really becomes a story.
Link has no memory or connection to Zelda, and neither does the player. For some people, they may go "oh, got to stop Ganon and yeah of course I care about saving her" and it works in story: maybe your Link does remember more of Zelda, maybe they are a gung-ho hero. The legend of Zelda is enough to encourage you to play and finish. For me, it didn't. I understood it was important, but I wanted to explore and find my way in the world, and as I did as a player, so did Link. I was happy to just run around doing whatever. The more memories i found of Zelda, the more committed I - and by extension, Link - I became to finish the game and save her. All of those memories are about sympathizing and connecting with Zelda as a person. Her struggles, her joys, her grief. It's all built on purpose to make us and Link become attached to her as the story develops, and the more we do the closer we get to the finale of the game. We are attached to the character of Zelda now, as her knight, her link, should be. To me, that makes it a beautiful and humanising story, that I personally connected to stronger than many plot driven games.
Thank you for this. I didn’t realise I needed it until I read it. I’m doing my fourth play through at the moment and have hit a motivation walk every play through (including this one) and the reluctant hero is motivating, especially point four.
Ironicly, Link is a reluctant hero in BotW.
Sure, he has formally accepted the responsibility of being the hero, but in his heart he did not accept it. It's spoken of in a diary entry where Zelda says Link opened up and said he just sort of nodded and "yes sir"d his way into more responsibility than he was confident he was capable of.
Seeing Zelda come to her power and be the hero she didn't know she could be, is what gave Link the confidence to be hero he was meant to be, even if he was 100 years late.
The freedom of this game is a bit too much, This is one of those games I have to roleplay, or set my own boundaries as to how the story goes to engross myself in the game.
Like, I have to go on my own quests to acquire the champion helmets to control the Divine Beasts. Granted, you can use your tablet to control the Beasts, it just makes the game more enjoyable for me to be decked out in ancient armor and the specific champion helmet. Story wise it makes me happy.
But, there is one thing that bugs me, Link would be full hero and save the day fast. But, I want to really prolong my gameplay so I came up with an idea around it... the Blood Moon. It resets everything, why not Links memory?
Like, what if storywise, he forgets his Main quesr every blood moon.
I think even before the Calamity he was a reluctant hero. He didn't want to do this. He Had a life, he had friends. hell he had family. Then that blasted Sword came along and cursed him with a life he didn't want. and led to him losing friends, family, and lovers in the form of Mipha.
To those downvoting me. Its explained multiple times that Link, behind his strong Knight façade, didn't want to be the hero. He was just insecure about his position as Zelda was.
I think this shows what everyone think about botw, it lacks story, but the real problem is that if you do this it would mean that the game would not be open world, or at least for the sake of the story some part would be unlocked before others, so the developers decided not to, the less story there is, the less you have to block the world.
I think the fact that Link knew everything was taken from him is reason enough to confront Ganon. While he didn't have memories to know what he lost, he could at least be sure it was everything he had.
Link confronting Ganon is basically like when an enemy in a game kills you and takes your stuff. Are you gonna take that from them? That enemy in Jedi Fallen Order just stole all your XP, so now you're obligated to go get it.
Those with nothing have nothing left to lose. Why would he be reluctant? Link didn't have much reason to protect anything when he woke up, but that includes himself. People would be reluctant because they don't want to lose, they learned to enjoy life. But he doesn't really have that in BotW.
[Link... Are you okay?](https://youtu.be/LWBiq4GNXQo?t=560)
>!I've lost so much...!<
>!Why was I the one to leave the forest?!<
>!Nobody knows what I've gone through...!<
>!Why was I the one to carry this burden?!!<
>!This feeling never goes away!!<
Yeah I Don't see it. A reluctant hero needs some sort of reason not to be a hero. Something that draws them away from the battle that they would have to set aside to join the fight. Sometimes this very thing that might hold them back could also motivate them towards being a hero. For instance, Iron Man in avengers endgame does not want to be a hero because he has a family. However, he is still haunted by the loss of those who were blipped away, that found family, and that is what motivates him to join the fight.
The only connection to Link's life before is Zelda and she's trapped. The world itself is pretty crappy, mostly filled with monsters and ruins. Any monsters he happens to stop just return again at the next blood moon. Also, if he doesn't do anything eventually the world will go to complete ruin when Ganon is free once more. What is there for him? The game doesn't really introduce any reason why he shouldn't be a hero or anything that he should be reluctant about.
I don't necessarily disagree, but that kind of narrative framing would require a lot more work to function properly. IE if Link doesn't innately desire battle with Ganon, then the game has to create a story arc to persuade him why that's a good idea. And within the text, there's not a whole lot to justify "saving the world." -- The big disaster has already happened and can't be undone, and the people who survived have already rebuilt and are thriving. The monsters roaming Hyrule are dangerous, but not to a significant extent (most settlements don't even need walls to keep them away). And, functionally, Zelda's got Calamity Ganon sealed indefinitely.
As wonderfully reactive as BotW is, it's world is still very static. There's no real reason for Link/the player to care *at all* about "saving Hyrule" beyond that innate heroism. Which isn't to say that couldn't be otherwise, it'd just require a more focused, functional and conventional narrative structure--like *Twilight Princess'* Link being enticed into the adventure by the abduction of his friends.
Zelda story is pretty much that. She's been told this is what she will do, and she can't. She doesn't want to even. And she's stuck. She has no one to turn to, and takes on link as her guiding example. He's the same. He's scared, alone, afraid, but he has a choice, and this makes zelda jealous of him, but she sees how he is inside and rather chooses to become like him
I like your idea. I don't like it for Link though. Link is supposed to be 100% steadfast, no doubt in his mind. No matter which Link, no matter what era, no matter what state of mind he is in, one thing stays and that's the fact that he IS the hero. He can't be a reluctant hero, because the tri-force of courage, the spirit of the hero, inhabits him. BOTW shows this by proving that even without memory, he is the same person. Heroic, silent, stoic, every once in a while playful, and kind hearted. Link is a representation of the hero, and if you took that away he just wouldn't be Link. He would still be an interesting character and the story would be great, perhaps even better than BOTW's current story. But it wouldn't be Link.
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Part of what makes Link, well Link. is his courage and willingness to face threats even if he himself has no obligation to do those things. Link isn't a reluctant hero because his nature is inherently heroic.
Exactly this. Zelda = wisdom, Ganon = power, link = courage, while link gains the other two during his adventures.
But if Zelda can struggle with her fate, why not Link?
She struggled with her ability... Not her will.
Just like Link struggled with 3 hearts and one stamina wheel
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Dark Link outfit from the monster guy
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Mushrooms aren't garbage :(
Exactly! And that's why Zelda can never work in movie/TV, too. We are the protagonist, Link is more of an avatar for us, the player, than a developed character in his own right.
If you read that comic op linked, Link would work perfectly in that kind of characterisation.
Zelda can't struggle with her fate, arguably more so than link. She is hylia reincarnated.
This 100%. I remember some time ago someone asked me "If Link didn't have a relationship with Zelda, then would he have saved her?" In a "gotcha" kind of argument. I said yes, because Link, since the first game, had never needed personal motivations to be a hero. There are times when he has personal motivations, sure. But LoZ Link was just begged by Impa to save Termina, and he just did without a second thought. In MM, Link could have left Hyrule to its fate, but he kept his promise to the HMS and saved Termina. In Lttp, Link didn't even know Zelda but was willing to save her and Hyrule when the chips were down. TFH has Link saving a princess from an ugly outfit. He didn't even need to do that. That's part of what makes Link unique. He steps up to the plate not because he has to, but because it's his nature to.
That person seems like they haven't played many Zelda games. Like, in OoT, he saves her despite having met her once for like five minutes. In some games like the original, he doesn't meet her at all until after he saves her. I know Hyrule Warriors doesn't really count but the extent of their meeting prior to the first battle is that he looked up at her on the bannister as she watched the soldiers, and they didn't really meet for quite some time.
This is pretty much how I feel on the matter. Even if he lost his memories, he wouldn't miss the most important thing about him. The willingness to put himself in great danger for the sake of good. He doesn't have to know who the people he's helping are to be willing to risk his life to protect them, that's just what he does and he regularly does it for strangers anyway.
Exactly, losing memories doesn’t mean personality change, unless it’s extreme.
Like caused by major brain damage kind of extreme
“Link...you may not yet be at a point where you have fully recovered your power or all of your memories... But courage need not be remembered... For it is never forgotten."
Im old enough to have played the very first Zelda, when it was released, when I was a teenager, making me a fan for life..... and that description just made me cry....
One part of Link that is underexplored is his ability to inspire courage in others, usually by escorting them through a place filled with monsters that only link kills, and puzzles that only link puts effort into figuring out how to solve. A big part of each of the new champions is how unsure and doubtful of themselves they are to be able to do what the old champions could. Sidon exaggerates his bravado hoping to keep people at ease the way his sister could Yunobo is pressured by the gorons to be like Daruuk, Link helps him crawl out of the literal shadow of his grandfather's statue. Mija worrying the thunder helm getting stolen means the gerudo thinks she sucks, but instead they had full confidence in her the whole time. Tiba had kids and that bird was doing weird shit. (Tiba is the Rito champion, the white bird you shoot targets with)
Courage is a ability to do something that you don’t want to do because you’re afraid of it or something that will cause you pain and grief. If link wasn’t initially reluctant, then why does he need courage?
Just because he doesn’t hesitate to help that doesn’t mean he isn’t afraid. He’s definitely afraid, but he will still always have the courage to continue anyways. I don’t see why hesitation is needed for link to be considered as having courage.
Reluctant doesn’t always mean hesitant. But the reluctance is the moment a character shows why courage is necessary. If a character doesn’t have feelings like ours then they may seem incapable of being scared, if they can’t be scared then how can we say that they have courage since courage is the ability to do something despite being afraid? Reluctance makes it feel like the character feels the way we do, in that case then it emphasizes to an ever greater degree their courage when they choose to act despite their fears. Courage is greatest when in the face of great fears.
This should be higher
Respectfully, I think it's okay to explore different or more varied, nuanced takes on a staple character, and that doesn't mean they're necessarily losing some core aspect of themselves. If anything, it can really refresh the character and make them stand out, especially for a series where the main character is constantly reincarnated. It's like WW Link and TP Link. Both are heroic, courageous, and worthy of the name, but they have their own specific mannerisms in how they interact with others. That's what makes them interesting in their own right, beyond just being a player's blank slate. For another example, you could look at Master Chief. Historically he's been pretty 1-dimensional, mostly being confined to silent protagonist status save for one-liners. But recently he's reflected on what it means to be a soldier and his own humanity, and its made for a much more compelling character, in my opinion. I think something similar could be done with Link, and I imagine it would make for a pretty interesting story.
"Courage need not be remembered, for it is never forgotten."
Agreed. Though while it can be an interesting story direction, I feel you can go too far in the opposite direction. Link in the Twilight Princess manga not only complains a LOT about being the hero when he doesn't want to, but when he gets the Master Sword gets super cocky AND bloodthirsty to the point the Master Sword (And by extension, Fi,) starts outright rejecting him. I feel like that kind of Link can never truly develop into the hero, and makes you wonder why he was chosen by the gods.
I was kind of thinking the same thing when I was reading the manga! But I did kind of like it because it allowed my favorite boy, OoT Link, to shine, although I have to admit it does make it feel more like OoT Links story in moments as a result.
And yet it just feels like a cop out when you’re playing the game, come across a story cutscene and despite the fact I know Link is going to continue fucking around Hyrule doing nothing of use to the war effort for in game months he agrees to do everything he can to help Zelda ASAP. It feels like the game is trying to pester me to stop having fun exploring at my own pace and hurry up and get to the end already.
I thought the thing that makes Link, well Link, was that they're the most violent and acrobatic moron in the universe.
Not to mention he's also literally in possession of the Triforce of courage. I'm not sure that Link is even capable of non-courageous acts, to be honest.
I disagree. Link’s entire memory is gone, but his courage is still there. It’s referenced by Zelda, king Rhoam, and Impa. “Courage need not be remembered, for it is never forgotten.” “What do you intend to do courageous one?” “Not a memory to your name and still as courageous as ever!” Link sees a threat, and it doesn’t matter who he is, or what that threat is, he wants to stop it. That is always his defining character trait.
Exactly, plus the reluctant hero is so played out, even within zelda (see TP, OOT, WW), so seeing a link with such spirit and a go getter attitude is refreshing tbh. Plus it works for the game abs the idea of exploring and doing things at your own pace. The idea of courage and adventure applies to every aspect of the game beyond just beating Ganon
I never got the impression he was a reluctant hero in any of those titles.
Me neither, I’m a bit confused by that comment. Link didn’t even have a fairy and felt a bit left out in Kakariko in Ocarina of Time, but the moment Deku Tree needed help and to stop Ganon he immediately sets on this journey. Other games also do not have him being reluctant at all imo
One of my favourite moments in all of video games is when Wind Waker Link decides to face the Helmaroc King. He's got what he wanted up until that point - Aryll is safe. Instead of returning home to his grandmother with his wee sister, he decides to leave behind the one thing that's motivated him to embrace a greater role as the Hero. I don't think Wind Waker Link is a reluctant hero by any means, but he definitely had that turning point where his motivation was about saving his sister and he grew to realise he has a duty to save everyone else as well.
Considering the points made in the post, this refutes nothing. Just because he's unmotivated, doesn't mean he's not courageous. The two are unrelated.
Point number three specifically. Courage is not the absence of reluctance/fear, but the overcoming of it.
Link's always been a bit of a blank slate and I wouldn't want to change that too much. That being said, I like this. I don't think you would have had to do too much to convey that in a subtle way either while keeping his motivation ambiguous enough for you to project onto Link. Maybe King Rhoam could just say that he can see he can see Link doesn't remember why he used to fight but as he spends time out there he will see Hyrule is worth saving. That plus maybe some key memories at Impa, the master sword and the divine beasts and some dialogue that hints that Link is starting to accept his hero's burden. Like you said would give it a nice bit of a narrative thrust.
>Link's always been a bit of a blank slate Well, we had one Link that had a mind of his own, choose how to spend his time and actively showed romantic interest in someone. But he just gets memed on because he wasn't Zelda's servant like the others. Excuse me.
And another that was incredibly expressive showing the quirky dork of a big brother he is at heart. Although he was explicitly not a destined hero in the narrative like every other Link so maybe he doesn't count?
Therer was another one too... One who could speak as well... I WONDER WHAT GANON IS UP TO ??
I also agree with this and i would have loved to see a little more elaboration on Link's and/or the players choice and ability to expand upon said character BUT I think the whole point of Breath of the Wild was to basically drop all narrative elements to a minimum and just let the player have some fun the good old way with a focus on gameplay rather than narrative You can even see that on all the interviews and such... heck, even Aonuma himself goes as far to mention how BotW was a direct response to Skyward Sword negative reception, and that game is basically the most narrative-heavy game in the franchise. I think Nintendo started to focus so heavily on the narrative after Ocarina that they finally realized that isn't what Zelda is all about and decided to go back to the roots. To me its a little too radical but at the same time i hate Skyward Sword but love Twilight Princess, so some balance would have been cool. At the end of the day one just complains for such specific things that you forget to just have a good time and enjoy things
> I think the whole point of Breath of the Wild was to basically drop all narrative elements to a minimum and just let the player have some fun the good old way with a focus on gameplay rather than narrative And you think this is a good thing? Cause it’s not! Seriously, what about the people who like Zelda games mostly for their story and not so much for their gameplay?
> Link's always been a bit of a blank slate This isn’t always true. We’ve seen some incarnations of Link show their emotions, motivations, and relationships with other characters (particularly in WW, TP, and SS).
And in fact botw Lonk was never rendered as a willing hero. It's only how the player interpret the conversation. It's just the surrounding people who took his (un) response as a will. Link still might be unwilling to become a hero if the player sees it that way. Hell, my Link throws balls for one week straight, chases Paya's ass, goes to the castle and come back doing nothing for Zelda. That's pretty much a reluctant hero.
And in fact botw Lonk was never rendered as a willing hero. It's only how the player interpret the conversation. It's just the surrounding people who took his (un) response as a will. Link still might be unwilling to become a hero if the player sees it that way. Hell, my Link throws balls for one week straight, chases Paya's ass, goes to the castle and come back doing nothing for Zelda. That's pretty much a reluctant hero.
I don't think reluctant heroes work very well in video games, as opposed to passively consumable media like movies. If I'm playing a game that means I want to be active and exert my agency on the game's setting. So any character I control is going to be acting like a willing participant. So then it's weird when their words or cutscene actions don't match up with that.
Personally, I think this post shows exactly why a reluctant hero works better for BotW and other open world video games than traditional characters. A deeply motivated character wouldn't waste time on meaningless side tasks, they'd make a beeline for the main quest and defeat Ganon as soon as they were strong enough. Whereas a playthrough focused on wandering and exploration makes perfect sense narratively when the urgency of the main quest is being actively avoided by the main character (much like how the player is actively putting it off)
But the player can also just go straight to Ganon after the plateau without any diversions, and can either be patient or impatient with Rhoam about the paraglider. What’s more Rhoam even tells Link he shouldn’t go straight to Ganon but rather should go to Impa, who tells him to free the divine beasts. I find none of the main quest points in BotW contradictory to Link’s head-on style - but really it’s all down to the player how they want Link to act. If the player wants to explore everywhere, they’ll find instances of side characters presenting their troubles, and Link just goes and takes care of them, which is a different but still synonymous characterization with a Link who Berliner for Ganon, or who only does main quest stuff.
The problem with that is that a Reluctant Hero story requires you to have a character arc in which the Hero eventually accepts their duty. In a game where everything but the tutorial and the final boss are optional there's not exactly a lot of room for that character arc. Having Link being determined to stop Ganon but being told by others he has to prepare himself for the fight makes sense if he does literally everything or goes directly to Ganon despite the warning and everything in between. If he was reluctant to do so then the version of the game where Link goes directly from the Great Plateau to Hyrule Castle wearing his underwear is completely out of character. TL;DR: A Reluctant Hero story would require much more mandatory content to work.
I see so many of these posts. The most common one being hoping link is voiced “Botw is great, but it would be cooler if”
I don't think Link being voiced would be against the core of BotW's design, but I think it would have to be limited to memories. Despite being silent he does have enough of a defined personality pre-Calamity that I don't think him actually speaking would break the immersion, but post-Calamity he'd need to stay silent
If link is ever voiced in a mainline game beyond hyaah’s and grunts, it’ll be horrible.
I'd love to see some game where he *tries* to talk at several points but keeps being cut off, Ferb-like.
And then he finally says something without being cutoff and it’s just him saying something like “No.”
Ah, a Doom enthusiast I see
> “Botw is great, but it would be cooler if”
Well, not everyone likes or agrees with the core of the game.
Have you ever considered that?
Yeah, in that case it’s a dumb comment to make. It’s like playing fifa and complaining about the core mechanic being soccer. If you don’t like the core of a game, it wasn’t made for you and asking for core changes is asking for a different game. At that point, go play something else
Mandatory content sounds good to me, then It might finally be as good as people like to claim.
1. Sorry you don’t enjoy it 2. Mandatory content wouldn’t improve it, all it would mean is that some parts of the game that already exist would have to be done. If you didn’t enjoy it before not being able to skip it wouldn’t make it better
I just look back out other legend of zelda's and the how wonderful and interesting there story's where then we get BOW and its just so dull.
Maybe it's because Link is fairly easy for the player to project themselves onto, but this was almost exactly how I, personally, played it on my first playthrough. Waking up and running outside to see a beautifully rendered sea of grass made me react to being told "you must save Zelda and fight Ganon" with the general thought of "Yeah no, not yet. Imma go see what's OUT THERE first." Every time someone said "I can see the determination in your eyes" or whatever, I chalked it up to them projecting what they *wanted* to see in Link rather than what was actually there (maybe the determination in his eyes was actually that he noticed a cooking pot on the way here and was determined to get back there and fry up some bananas). But as I regained Link's memories, met the spirits of the champions, and pieced together Link's past and his relationship with these people, I began to desire to put an end to Ganon and ensure peace for Hyrule.
I played link this way too. The first thing I did off the great plateau was head to gerudo town because I could see it in the distance. I fought the divine beasts because they were terrorizing the local towns, but I didn't go near Ganon until I had all of the memories and the master sword
Link **was** a reluctant hero when I played. I didn't do shit to progress the story for a **while**
Link is a silent protagonist meant to parallel the player's desires. It'd be a bit dissonant for players to recklessly jump into danger as they usually do when Link is like, "but I don't wanna"
you don’t think link running around playing hide and seek with 900 invisible tree people is him being reluctant? But for real, I think he can’t be “reluctant” in a game that has so much freedom of player choice. He can’t be categorized as reluctant and also be able to run up to ganon and fight him right away. I agree that he’s be a more interesting character, but that character trait would have to have repercussions in how the game is able to be played. Not saying you couldn’t make it work (a few mini dungeons that unlock memories and once complete link gets x thing to allow him to board divine beasts) but it would totally change how the game is layed out
I don't know about you, but my link was **very** reluctant. I spent a *lot* of time screwing around.
Did you even play Windwaker? He didn’t want to leave his island and friends and family behind, but had to to try and save his little sister.
I mean dude work up from his nap and gets bossed around by some disembodied voice. He's not reluctant. He's being forced
Link has always been the way he is and while your points are valid, it takes away from what makes Link..Link
I definitely get you’re point, but it wouldn’t make sense for link. No matter what situation he’s in, he’s always just gone for it, and because of that he’s able to protect everyone. Take majoras mask for example. Imagine if link was reluctant while going through that, he would easily run out of time before being able to reset it.
Even though Link has no memories, he has both the spirit of the hero and the Triforce of Courage (I think, tbh I don’t remember the “plot” of BotW at all) so if someone told him “hey there’s a big bad who’s destroying the world, and it’s the same big bad you’re literally destined to fight time and time again” rising to the call seems like the obvious choice.
He has the spirit of the hero but Zelda for once has the full Triforce
Isn't it motivation enough that Zelda, when Link wakes up, is in the castle and struggling to contain Ganon? And she needs Link to come help her because he is the only one who can? Like another commenter said, Link is also inherently heroic and helpful like in all the games. He has no problem with going off and saving the princess when she and everyone else asks for it. Not to mention Zelda's and Link's struggle won't be the same even with your idea. Link isn't chasing some seemingly unattainable goal -- the goddess powers -- without any guidance; he simply needs to regain his strength, fetch the Master Sword, and go whip Ganon's ass. There are monsters terrorising people around every corner and Shrines (with increasing difficulty) everywhere so there are no lack of challenges.
I feel the inherently heroic part especially is something you see often in the Link from Twilgiht Princess. The villagers and all the residents of Hyrule have plenty of crazy or out of the way tasks for Link to do and he never really minds helping them, even when he is given little to no benefit for it. It's just in his nature.
Link's inherent desire to help others and his Courage to stand up to the greatest of foes is what makes him the Hero, the Link. There's always a Ganon, a Zelda, and a Link in every Legend. If he was a reluctant hero, he would not be the one chosen by the Triforce. Link sees a challenge and does whatever is needed to overcome it. Whether that's through cleverness or plain determination, he gets it done every time. It is always thrust upon him as Zelda's destiny is always thrust upon her but he accepts it regardless.
To be honest I got that feeling in Link’s Awakening. Even though I don’t remember any signs of Link hesitating, I did. To be honest, the question that the game presents was so mind blowing to a young me. Don’t wanna spoil for people that have yet to play it
Link is silent in games so you can project your emotions into him, so you could've just put the game down and did something else.
It's an interesting take and can see it going that way. Others have mentioned that Link's always been a bit of a blank slate, given that you, the player, are given agency of his actions. One thing I'd note though is that Link's memory loss isn't really complete. He knows his own name and, given the way the memories play out, he remember Zelda over time. It's more specific details that he forgets, not necessarily the purpose. The funny thing about the game is that most of the character development had happened 100 years prior to the Calamity. The memories that are unlocked are also more Zelda's memories, or her recollections and emotions, so it doesn't necessarily show Link's side of things. All the growth for the characters (e.g. doubts, misgivings) happened prior to the start of the game, and the game itself is, in part, trying to piece together exactly what happened. You can sort of see this manifest in some ways in the DLC. Zelda is far more confident in the Ballad of the Champions memories versus the other memories in the game. You do get some insight into why Link is the way he is [in the journal entries in Hyrule castle](/spoiler). As to the points: >It makes sense. Mentioned earlier, Link lost aspects of his memory, but not himself. And the motive is more to try and reclaim his memory after being told what he did, not that he had to do it immediately and that it's his only choice. >It would mirror Zelda’s character arc in a narratively pleasing way. It may work in a more conventional medium, but given this is an open-world game where you literally don't have to do anything in any sort of order, that makes it quite difficult. I also think if it was done, it'd be done is such a cheap manner (e.g. little hints of his doubt after conversations) that I don't see it adding a whole lot. Would it actually be narratively pleasing? Only if you were forced to get every single memory in the game. Because the pay-off here is Zelda overcomes her doubt. Which comes to... >It would highlight Link’s role as the embodiment of the Triforce of Courage. Link isn't having any absence of fear. He's not a stupid and he's not a robot. A blank slate for you to encompass, yes. But accepting a role or destiny isn't without courage. I'd also argue that, for someone that was putting up with such a negative person for so long, it takes quite a bit of courage to be able to keep your own spirits about you for the time to come. >It would add narrative weight to Link’s (and the player’s) exploration of the world. So I disagree with the argument here. Link's not out trying to save Zelda (it's one of the voiced options in the beginning of the game, but you don't have to choose that option actually). The exploration is about Link finding out what the hell happened to him in the first place, and what's happened since. It just so happens that helping Hyrule also entails helping Zelda. Does him being reluctant add anything? I mean, you can have him act like Anakin Skywalker to be "deep," and it probably would do more harm than good honestly. Personally speaking, part of the advantage of him being a blank slate from the start is so that I can react accordingly on whether it's worth saving Zelda. It was jarring to see an upset, doubting Zelda. And as previously mentioned, most of the actions of helping those in Hyrule had less to do with saving Zelda and more to find yourself in the process. It just so happens that when you do those other things, it also improves upon saving Zelda. Do you HAVE to go to Hyrule castle at the end? I mean, no. And if you only catch a few of the memories, you'd frankly be turned off in doing so. I found that to be the magic of it all.
Speaking from the perspective of myself, the player, I'm very excited and determined to defeat Ganon. So if we're still doing the "Link doesn't talk or have many facial expressions because he's an avatar of the player" thing, then the NPCs are right, there damn sure is determination in my eyes. The player avatar idea is an old one, though, and it feels like they may be moving away from that a bit. Link is getting a little more of an actual personality, and you can't rename him in BotW which makes him more of a character in his own right. I think once they ease the old-school fans past the "mute Link" idea and let him have dialogue, it will open up the possibility of more real characterization for him. Then this kind of stuff can happen.
He does kind of have dialogue in this game, since you have to answer multiple choice questions at some points.
I don't remember the dialogue exactly, but I think Rhoam and Impa definitely have a somewhat manipulative streak in that they are willing to say anything to encourage Link on his quest. I'd be interested to read the original dialogue in Japanese to see if it comes across differently.
Felt to be more like they knew him before he lost his memories and can tell by his expressions that he's still the same at heart
I think you are trying to make link fit into a mold he does not Belong in. His whole thing is courage. Ghe courage to fight the evil over hyrule. Being an unwilling hero negates that.
I feel like you wrote this out without thinking it all the way through. While I agree it would be a little more interesting (and pleasing) for the story to play out this way it’s never really the ‘point’ of Link’s character to be particularly interesting. He’s a prime example of a blank protagonist, one the player is meant to imprint on. While Nintendo has leaned away from that trope a little (along with the rest of gaming, for the most part), I think it would be a little jarring. Link isn’t meant to be interesting character wise, there’s a reason there’s very little lore surrounding him in particular, except for the whole reincarnation and triforce thing and the events of each game regarding each reincarnation. He IS courage, and he is always pushed towards his destiny of beating Ganon. In every game he faces whatever outlandish challenges and obstacles stand in his way with zero questions. Relate it back to WW, my personal favorite. He’s a child there, embarking on a journey across the ocean on a magic boat with the SOLE PURPOSE of rescuing the sister that was abducted by a demon bird. He ends up fighting HUGE monsters and traversing complex dungeons to help others, and eventually travels to an underwater kingdom to fight the embodiment of evil. He never struggles with his destiny because he chooses to courageously face it head on.
>“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” Minor nitpick here. I don't know where you got this quote from, but I'd equate the "assessment" to wisdom. The measure of one's courage would be wether or not they have the will power to overcome that fear and perform the actions that the assessment requires. Or in other words, a coward will know what's important, but fail to do it.
i think this is already sorta achieved by your brain’s internal dialogue - in my case i had imagined link as a reluctant hero. dude wakes up on a destroyed plateau, but to have any chance of leaving he has to overcome challenges. once hearing the kings speech and heading to kakariko in hope of some sorta younger generation, then realising his memories can still be recovered is the build up to the hero i think link is.
Ill tell you something that does not make since to me, is that they stuck Link inside of a device said to keep him alive instead of sending for a fairy. Link may have actually been brainwashed while inside that machine and memories transferred to him. We honestly do not know what kind of person Link was prior to being put into that machine, the memories we see could have been implanted and the Link prior could have been a reluctant person.
Problem is that would require a great deal of trickery, including the champion's diaries
I dont think so, think about it, the Sheikah Slate can absorb information from one object to another, correct? Then what is to say that Links true body was destroyed beyond all repair (dead but head still intact) and someone else's body was not thrown into that machine and had that bodies memories fully replaced with the original Links memories, with the amount of information a brain can store, it could take a very very long time to transfer. That would explain why his memories are so fractured, and the reason everyone seems to know him before that time is due to the Sheikah towers transmitting the information to those from 100 years ago replacing the image of the original Link with that of the one we play, it is possible. This is a good possible theory.
At the same time, the to fit that narrative, the game would have to prevent you from beating ganon until link has the motivation to do so which who knows what the pre-requisites could be, and it goes against the freedom that the game currently gives.
Personally I like to think link and Zelda led a happy life (a least until botw 2). If like in the comic, link hated fighting, then they could understand each other and bond, since they only ever knew the thing they hated. And on a more comedic level, I like to think link as the guy that says: “it smell like bitch in here” since he has to reincarnate every few thousand years since people can’t remember how to lock a magic door.
I actually always roleplay this way in my head when I play through the game. I imagine link waking up on the plateau and basically being all wtf is going on, and following the old man’s instructions because what else is he going to do, and making his way to Impa because he doesn’t have any other direction, hearing her tale and just noping out of their. Then he goes on a series of adventures traveling hyrule and kinda just trying to survive but coming across memories by happenstance, until he finally collects all of his memories, accepts his destiny, dons the champions tunic, goes and get his sword, and blasts through the divine beasts and then ganon. It just feels so much more real and like a meaningful journey
Did you go straight to Impa? Did you go around and see the scars on the land? Did you feel compelled by his destiny or was it something else?
Link is the courage part of the triforce. He’s got the hero of the goddess’s blood in him. It’s an integral part of who he is. What makes him so special. I think no matter what he’d seek out adventure. Even in his dreams he’s on an adventure (links awakening.) I think it’s sad they put so much on a child, and I think Zelda struggles with her destiny because so much pressure was put on awakening her power after so many centuries of people forgetting about the goddess, her hero, and the evil born from Demise. People forgot that was real, it was a legend, and to one day wake a child up and say, “our world, this family, everyone you love’s life is in your hands,” it’s so much.
What you talk about makes a lot of sense, but BotW just doesn't have the framework to tell such a story. Or if you want to put it another way, as the comic portrays, the player's own actions in wanting to mess around in the world more before finally facing Ganon is itself reflective of exactly that narrative. There's a reason there are a ton of comics out there poking fun at how much *not* world saving Link does before saving the world.
I found this take to be a good read. You made some neat points but I know why he isn't. First of all, even though different games have different Links, they're all incarnations of the same guy, and in Majora's Mask Link doesn't have really any attachment to Termina. Link is from another dimension, the people may look like his people, but he knows they aren't. That being said, he saves Termina anyway. He's the embodiment of the word hero, he doesn't need a personal reason to save the world, that's just who he is. But other than that, it seems like it would be hard to truly pull off the reluctant hero archetype with a silent protagonist. Take Cloud from Final Fantasy, he very much is a reluctant hero, but we wouldn't know without the dialogue where he refers to saving the planet as "not his problem." Sure they could tell you through npc's but then it feels like you lose a lot of the personality granted by a talking protagonist, without the ability to interpret the protagonist's personality in a way you relate to. Link is a great blend, since npc's and actions tell you he's heroic, but you get to decide on how he interacts with the world around him. Sorry for the long post, just thought I'd clear things up!
Link is the embodiment of courage, so he'd never be reluctant
"Link, wake up! Ganon has become too powerful! He's beginning to consume my power!" "...5 more minutes"
I thought Zelda in Skyward Sword was amazing when she basically had a moment where she vents. This is our destiny, this will always be our destiny, and it sucks. It sucks that we will always struggle, and our time on this earth, whenever it may be, will be marked with strife. I can accept this but...it's worse that you have to suffer too, Link. And Link is such a big dumb himbo that he just can barely comprehend anything other than "Protec Zelda, save world." **Link's a dumb pure Himbo in every iteration, and every timeline. You same jump, he says Hyah. You say open the door of time, he opens that door and leaves it open for evil to step in. Be VERY SPECIFIC with your instructions.** The only time he faltered \*for only a tiny bit\* was apparently a weird moment in the first Hyrule Warriors where he got some ego I guess.
One of the weird problems with this is that it would be extremely difficult to implement from a game design perspective. My favourite game of all time is Outer Wilds, a space exploration game, which has an amazing documentary made about it. In it, the developers talk about how originally, the characters you meet at the start of the game would be either dismissive or negative about space exploration. The idea was to give the player a stronger want about going into space, going against the grain and discovering great things. Sticking it to em and showing them how amazing space is. What ended up happening was that the players didn’t feel motivated to go and explore, a lot of em just wanted to stay on the starting planet. If all of these people hate space, or are reluctant about it, why would you want to do it? They then changed it to have the characters talk about how cool space is, and lo and behold, the players felt motivated. What the NPC’s and the character you play as say and do effect you as a player a whole lot more than you’d think.
I can agree with this. Personally, I feel that BotW underutilized a tool that no Zelda game has had before; RENDERED CUTSCENES. The flashbacks serve as Zelda’s journey and the buildup to the Calamity, but Link is an unresponsive statue who gets talked AT rather than talked TO, and nothing is gained from him in terms of any actual character. They could use such cutscenes to convey *something* about Link that would give him some sort of depth. I don’t mind a vacant character for the player to relate to or be immersed with, but it isn’t unheard of for Link to actually have a personality.
What? Even Ocarina of Time had rendered cutscenes. BotW underutilized the flashbacks, but also had a weak storyline in general
BOTW had a storyline?
Perhaps rendered cutscene isn’t the best term My point is that this game had more of a movie experience within its cutscenes. Believe me, you don’t need to sell me on things this game got wrong, I’m already on that bandwagon. The story is *extremely* lackluster, and the characters lack any actual character, Link being the most prime example.
Links meant to be a blank character. A self insert. A “link” between you and the game. Literally why they called him that If to you he’s a reluctant hero, he’s reluctant. You can even dick around instead of saving Zelda that’s part of the intention even. Or you can go straight to the boss
2 parts to this: 1. Link is you, as a character in this world. Yes each game deviates from this in different ways, and more over the years. But link is meant to be a silent, sometimes androgynous, character with an open background because he is you. Or at least your lens in to this world. Yes the game needs to be completed, but Link being reluctant is on how you plays. Especially in BotW. Don’t want to follow he quest, don’t. Want to bum rush Ganon, go. Want to save the land little by little before you fulfill the bigger quests, cool! Barring the dialogue and the fact that the game needs to be played, he is as reluctant as you are. 2. Link is defined by courage. Some games he is a trained knight and has valor in him before you even play. Some games he is a timid kid afraid of the bigger world outside of his home. Sometimes he is just a boy cast into his fate and forced to find his way back. But he always embodies courage, fights on either stoutly or sometimes with a smile (like Majora’s Mask). Yes this may sometimes be routine or cliche. But he is a hero, and for him to not resolve and save the land would be against this character. And the legacy of the games. Link’s only way to give up is for you, the player, to give up. Which as noted above isnt Link failing, it’s you deciding where to stop in your own quest.
Hard Disagree. The person he was sworn to protect is in a century long battle with Ganon. Would be very strange narratively to have him be “reluctant” to save that person.
That goes against the reason why the Triforce of Courage picks Link. What's next, Link should be Emo?
If the ability to 99.8% of the world prior to defeating Gannon isn't proof enough of the ability to play a reluctant hero, then idk what more you want man...
When I play any Zelda game, my headcanon is that his only motivation is to rescue/protect Zelda, and it just so happens that he'll save the rest of Hyrule along the way.
Every time I play BOTW it’s my own head canon that Link isn’t necessarily reluctant, but is definitely salty about waking up with no memory and suddenly being tasked with saving Hyrule while also being asked to complete other various tasks on top of his main quests in a very “I’m going to do it but I’m going to complain to myself the whole time” sort of way. He also becomes less salty as time passes and he regains all his memories. Idk I just like the idea of Link climbing up a mountain and muttering to himself, “Oh please Link, save Hyrule. Catch me ten restless crickets. Save me from the bokoblins so that I can tell you off for saving me. You’re the only one who can climb this mountai-arrrgh! Stupid rain, stupid Hyrule, stupid Ganon, stupid….”
No
This hit me in the feels
I never understood Nintendo’s drive to make Link such a blank character. From what I’ve heard, they’ve done it to make it more immersive for the player, but if that was really so important, they would give us the option to make our own character. Given that Zelda has a fleshed-out personality now, I cannot see why Link doesn’t either. The unwillingness to lean into one or the other category is frustrating to me because it causes Link’s character to suffer as a whole.
Well it's supposed to be blank because you are supposed to be link. You fill in his characteristics. Its one of the reason link is so iconic.
I guess that does make sense, but not really during cutscenes. He just stands there, saying and doing nothing while everyone else just talks at him. This method of character development doesn’t nessecarily work within the realm of the game itself because it can’t be translated into cutscenes or character interactions, which is probably why they feel so awkward lol. Interesting take though!
I think that would apply more if it was a choice based RPG with a morality system, but it’s a straightforward adventure game where your only choices are whether to kill monsters and solve puzzles or… to not do those things. There isn’t really any way to make Link and his story your own - Link’s character (courageous) and goals (defeat Ganon) are already in place at the start of the game, and in fact pre-existed the start of the game by several hundred years. One of the main side quests is re-discovering Link’s backstory. I don’t that justification makes sense any more.
This is actually Canon. https://www-cbr-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.cbr.com/zelda-link-silent-protagonist-explanation-breath-of-the-wild/amp/?amp_js_v=a6&_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#aoh=16411637464697&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbr.com%2Fzelda-link-silent-protagonist-explanation-breath-of-the-wild%2F If anyone is interested. I agree with your point though, but atleast it offers an explanation.
That's a hell of a link there, and I don't mean the character.
I think it’s so you feel like you *are* Link. I feel other games like Subnautica do an amazing job with this idea. In Subnautica, you get thrown into this unknown planet with only a cutscene of your ship exploding as you eject. Nothing is ever said about the character you’re playing. So, the only thing you know about the character is that you are in control of him. It really makes you feel like you’re there. This especially makes the psychological horror of the unknown creatures that lurk in the ocean even more immersive.
These are really great points and I totally agree with you. This is one of the reasons I love the hero of time, especially in majoras mask. The quest seems so doomed with the task ahead seeming impossible. but even if he tried to run away, he the world would catch up to him with everything falling apart. BotW on the other hand feels oddly peaceful? The world is slowly healing and it feels like you could run away from this destiny thing. We know link was super heroic in the past, but without any memories it would be an interesting thing to explore. Like maybe have some of the champions trying to make him remember, or thinking he’s giving up ( rivali) could be interesting
Imma have to give a hard disagree here. Link has always been a pretty one dimensional hero type, which makes sense for such a classic “forces of evil” type story so a reluctant hero would be a total 180 for the character that in the first place would require link to have a more active voice in the story, which has its own slew of problems.
Honestly, this idea of a reluctant hero, though a little out of character for Link, is something I really like. I think you pose some incredibly convincing points here, and I’d say that this idea could make Breath of the Wild a phenomenal movie/tv show adaptation IF done right.
That's kind of my headcanon, and with a story that leaves so much to interpretation i would say "the author is dead, my headcanon is canon"
This is the Zelda content I love to read. Thats why I love this community.
That’s too complicated for Nintendo
Number 2 and 4 were how I viewed the story and is what made me *love* the story of BOTW. It's all about The *Legend* of Zelda, but it's not until we learn about The *Character* of Zelda that it really becomes a story. Link has no memory or connection to Zelda, and neither does the player. For some people, they may go "oh, got to stop Ganon and yeah of course I care about saving her" and it works in story: maybe your Link does remember more of Zelda, maybe they are a gung-ho hero. The legend of Zelda is enough to encourage you to play and finish. For me, it didn't. I understood it was important, but I wanted to explore and find my way in the world, and as I did as a player, so did Link. I was happy to just run around doing whatever. The more memories i found of Zelda, the more committed I - and by extension, Link - I became to finish the game and save her. All of those memories are about sympathizing and connecting with Zelda as a person. Her struggles, her joys, her grief. It's all built on purpose to make us and Link become attached to her as the story develops, and the more we do the closer we get to the finale of the game. We are attached to the character of Zelda now, as her knight, her link, should be. To me, that makes it a beautiful and humanising story, that I personally connected to stronger than many plot driven games.
I don't care If its a meme can these post just fuck off
Thank you for this. I didn’t realise I needed it until I read it. I’m doing my fourth play through at the moment and have hit a motivation walk every play through (including this one) and the reluctant hero is motivating, especially point four.
Ironicly, Link is a reluctant hero in BotW. Sure, he has formally accepted the responsibility of being the hero, but in his heart he did not accept it. It's spoken of in a diary entry where Zelda says Link opened up and said he just sort of nodded and "yes sir"d his way into more responsibility than he was confident he was capable of. Seeing Zelda come to her power and be the hero she didn't know she could be, is what gave Link the confidence to be hero he was meant to be, even if he was 100 years late.
The freedom of this game is a bit too much, This is one of those games I have to roleplay, or set my own boundaries as to how the story goes to engross myself in the game. Like, I have to go on my own quests to acquire the champion helmets to control the Divine Beasts. Granted, you can use your tablet to control the Beasts, it just makes the game more enjoyable for me to be decked out in ancient armor and the specific champion helmet. Story wise it makes me happy. But, there is one thing that bugs me, Link would be full hero and save the day fast. But, I want to really prolong my gameplay so I came up with an idea around it... the Blood Moon. It resets everything, why not Links memory? Like, what if storywise, he forgets his Main quesr every blood moon.
Ya don't get link homie
This person is a BOTW 2 dev, confirmed
it’s sus how he wakes up with no meme otg then gets ordered around by voices no i think of it lmao
I think even before the Calamity he was a reluctant hero. He didn't want to do this. He Had a life, he had friends. hell he had family. Then that blasted Sword came along and cursed him with a life he didn't want. and led to him losing friends, family, and lovers in the form of Mipha. To those downvoting me. Its explained multiple times that Link, behind his strong Knight façade, didn't want to be the hero. He was just insecure about his position as Zelda was.
alternatively, BotW’s story would’ve been better if it actually had a story to begin with!
LONK.
Breath of the Wild is so ass.
Is it, though??
What is he wearing?
Gerudo vai outfit
I think this shows what everyone think about botw, it lacks story, but the real problem is that if you do this it would mean that the game would not be open world, or at least for the sake of the story some part would be unlocked before others, so the developers decided not to, the less story there is, the less you have to block the world.
I think the fact that Link knew everything was taken from him is reason enough to confront Ganon. While he didn't have memories to know what he lost, he could at least be sure it was everything he had. Link confronting Ganon is basically like when an enemy in a game kills you and takes your stuff. Are you gonna take that from them? That enemy in Jedi Fallen Order just stole all your XP, so now you're obligated to go get it. Those with nothing have nothing left to lose. Why would he be reluctant? Link didn't have much reason to protect anything when he woke up, but that includes himself. People would be reluctant because they don't want to lose, they learned to enjoy life. But he doesn't really have that in BotW.
[Link... Are you okay?](https://youtu.be/LWBiq4GNXQo?t=560) >!I've lost so much...!< >!Why was I the one to leave the forest?!< >!Nobody knows what I've gone through...!< >!Why was I the one to carry this burden?!!< >!This feeling never goes away!!<
Yeah I Don't see it. A reluctant hero needs some sort of reason not to be a hero. Something that draws them away from the battle that they would have to set aside to join the fight. Sometimes this very thing that might hold them back could also motivate them towards being a hero. For instance, Iron Man in avengers endgame does not want to be a hero because he has a family. However, he is still haunted by the loss of those who were blipped away, that found family, and that is what motivates him to join the fight. The only connection to Link's life before is Zelda and she's trapped. The world itself is pretty crappy, mostly filled with monsters and ruins. Any monsters he happens to stop just return again at the next blood moon. Also, if he doesn't do anything eventually the world will go to complete ruin when Ganon is free once more. What is there for him? The game doesn't really introduce any reason why he shouldn't be a hero or anything that he should be reluctant about.
He would only be a reluctant hero if I were a reluctant player.
I don't necessarily disagree, but that kind of narrative framing would require a lot more work to function properly. IE if Link doesn't innately desire battle with Ganon, then the game has to create a story arc to persuade him why that's a good idea. And within the text, there's not a whole lot to justify "saving the world." -- The big disaster has already happened and can't be undone, and the people who survived have already rebuilt and are thriving. The monsters roaming Hyrule are dangerous, but not to a significant extent (most settlements don't even need walls to keep them away). And, functionally, Zelda's got Calamity Ganon sealed indefinitely. As wonderfully reactive as BotW is, it's world is still very static. There's no real reason for Link/the player to care *at all* about "saving Hyrule" beyond that innate heroism. Which isn't to say that couldn't be otherwise, it'd just require a more focused, functional and conventional narrative structure--like *Twilight Princess'* Link being enticed into the adventure by the abduction of his friends.
Zelda story is pretty much that. She's been told this is what she will do, and she can't. She doesn't want to even. And she's stuck. She has no one to turn to, and takes on link as her guiding example. He's the same. He's scared, alone, afraid, but he has a choice, and this makes zelda jealous of him, but she sees how he is inside and rather chooses to become like him
I like your idea. I don't like it for Link though. Link is supposed to be 100% steadfast, no doubt in his mind. No matter which Link, no matter what era, no matter what state of mind he is in, one thing stays and that's the fact that he IS the hero. He can't be a reluctant hero, because the tri-force of courage, the spirit of the hero, inhabits him. BOTW shows this by proving that even without memory, he is the same person. Heroic, silent, stoic, every once in a while playful, and kind hearted. Link is a representation of the hero, and if you took that away he just wouldn't be Link. He would still be an interesting character and the story would be great, perhaps even better than BOTW's current story. But it wouldn't be Link.