As you may or may not be aware, the past week has been host to that greatest of hype machines, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). Among the hot flames of the floundering Microsoft garbage fire and the self-gratifying sessions that are the Sony panels, one particular announcement caught my eye – an entirely new and proper entry to the Legend of Zelda franchise. However blown away I was by the trailer, which again, is admittedly awe-inspiring, there’s a nagging criticism that begs discussion, "Why is Link not a woman yet?"
Many Legend of Zelda fans, myself included, have been calling for either the Princess to take on a more active role (as she did in Hyrule Warriors, where Zelda wielded a rapier with ferocity and grace), and/or for there to be a gender-bent Link, seeing as our hero is one of the more androgynous characters in the public eye of the video game industry, and thus, perfectly suited to make this step. Enter “Breath of the Wild,” the Jack London-esque titled game that shows an even more feminine Link as opposed to former versions that were, while boyish, undoubtedly indicative of a cis man. With this incarnation, it would seem a net gain for progressive gender representation in fantasy and video games for Link to be a woman this time, and it is likely that Nintendo could capitalize on the opportunity by picking up more young female gamers outside of their usual marketing ploys. Unfortunately, the conservative Japanese patriarchal mindset reared its ugly head again as a representative of Nintendo responded to criticism with the following statement:
“We thought about it and decided that if we’re going to have a female protagonist, then it’s simpler to have Princess Zelda as the main character. If we have Princess Zelda as the main character who fights, then what is Link going to do? Taking into account that, and also the idea of the balance of the Triforce, we thought it best to come back to this [original] makeup.” – Eiji Aonuma, to GameSpot
What the heck? How wrong-headed and regressive is this statement? The Kotaku link refers to the “balance” of the Triforce as being messed up by anything other than the cis roles of Ganon, Link and Zelda, which is idiotic for more than a few reasons. If you were part of a corporation whose main job is to produce creative content based on first-party intellectual properties, then wouldn’t you want to appeal to as many markets as possible? That’s the direction Disney is heading in with all its bags of money from the Marvel and Star Wars franchises, so why wouldn’t Nintendo completely dominate its industry in the same manner? The video game pundit Jimquisition, a person I respect very much, makes a good point in this discourse – most fans of Nintendo products hold the company to a high standard for continuing to remain faithful to fan feedback and not buck to every trend that the industry chases. This being the case, why are Aonuma and friends making this response if they have anything but contempt for the intelligence of their gaming audience? It’s transparent that they simply don’t want to make Link a woman and that’s fine as long as they’re honest about it and it doesn’t affect the core mechanics in “Breath of the Wild.” But instead of treating the audience with the same dignity we afford to them as creators, they try to dodge social responsibility like Ubisoft did with its own gender problems, damaging their image in the process.
As consumers, we should be aware of the old socialist adage, “There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.” This means that ultimately, exploitation and regression are inherent within the capitalist mode of production. But that being said, this is a magnificently huge missed opportunity for Nintendo, and although nothing has been lost (because a female Link was apparently never a part of the big picture in the Legend of Zelda), gamers are without a doubt not better off with Link continuing to embody stereotypical gender representation.