Topic: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

I like Zelda's character personally, I think the narrative does a good job dealing with the Eastern view of fate...which is something that isn't subverted. The three of them are trapped in this eternal cycle (...why Hylia CHOSE this for herself is beyond me...I don't count the manga as canon and it isn't like Link and Zelda pair up each lifetime) and while Ganon and Link mostly seem to just go with their fate in general (Link has his moments but it seems to me that he focuses on his immediate goal and then once it spirals into save the world territory he is of the mentality "Well I've come this far so...") while Zelda suffers in some fashion for it. Her family is usually murdered and based on BotW she and her predecessors live their lives training to be Hylia's vessels only for each to shackle her own daughter with the same if Ganon doesn't show up in her lifetime. That is a horrible burden and one that means that in many ways your own talents and identity gets swallowed by a decision made by your past incarnation that you have no input on now. I adored that they touched on that somewhat in this game. Obviously Zelda didn't try to run away but she realized that as of the past that BotW references wasting time praying for Hylia to awaken in her wasn't as useful as putting her own wisdom to work with trying to make the ancient tech work. Yet everyone around her (except Urbosa it seems) is pretty much telling her your current attempts are useless, stop playing around and become the goddess/sage already. I did think it was cool that Link himself showed that he stifled himself to become the Hero of Courage everyone is expecting him to be. Nice way to hand wave his lack of speaking as well. As I've stated previously in this thread I don't like the voice acting but it is what it is at this point. I'm fighting a losing battle.

I get some of the reaction to Link as failure that he is, he is still a living legend. Unlike the other games where he just happens to be the nobody that solves a few temples because no one knows his tie to the Trinity ....(second Trinity? I mean the Golden Goddesses and Hylia form the Triforce with Hylia as the empty space in the middle but the current reincarnated trio each have an aspect of the Golden Goddesses with seemingly Link and Zelda being tied to Hylia whom in my opinion is the Goddess of Time--- as she staged for them both to be eternally reborn and created a living sword that lasts into eternity for Her champion...yep Goddess of Time but I digress) Yet in BotW the temples were made for Link. To prepare him no matter what happens since they were made 10,000 years ago. That tie to the land and history of Hyrule commands a bit of awe...plus he is the last member of the Hyrule Sentai...I mean Champions of Hyrule. They might have lost but they were still the sources of hope for each of their peoples. As far as Link's physique he seems to be a standard young healthy Hylian male and I don't remember ever seeing any art or characters where other male Hylians are some muscle bulging guys. You get some stocky types like the carpenters, but they don't look like warriors either. Plus the Hylians/Shiekah aren't the most robust of races unlike say the Gerudo or the Gorons. Now if he had reincarnated normally and would likely be 10 then yeah I could see how people fawning over him would be very, very weird. Paya's reaction isn't so bad if you think that she likely heard tales of Link from her grandmother, and if Impa's position is hereditary she was groomed to assist him and since it doesn't seem like she inherited Impa's badarse gene (based upon her commentary) and she is stuck in a podunk town with a race of people that are in service to Hylia, The Royal Family and the Hero (seemingly in that order) I'm sure she fluffed him up in her mind a bit and now she is his teen heart throb or some such. Also attraction makes some women blush and stammer (raises hand) I'm 31 and I still turn into a blushing idiot around a woman I'm attracted to. (Thank Hylia I'm funny) So that isn't too hard to understand. That is even before you get to the Japanese Yamato Nadeshiko stereotype.

As for the Gerudo I'm beyond disturbed about the obsession with finding a husband, given that since their inception the Gerudo have been shown to be an independent (save one lone dude every generation) resourceful tribe of artisans, engineers, warriors and merchants. Being thirsty for a guy doesn't get that sort of civilization built. I understand continuing on the species and all that but hearing the kids talk about it just made me really sad. Little girls want to be more than a wife when they grow up (I know that wasn't my main interest at all--and I didn't find out half the world has an issue with a girl wanting to be a wife to another girl until I hit my early teens.) Also it feels like Paradise Lost to me, but that is because the idea of living in a culture that is female centric shouldn't be so obsessed with guys beyond breeding. However I'm also a homosexual (lesbian keeps getting co-opted by non lesbians so I don't use it in text so I'm not mistaken for a tumblr idiot) and I don't understand heterosexual attraction anyway, so I chalk my reaction up to that and leave it alone. But yeah the thirst going on in this game has been very disturbing for me. I am surprised someone else here felt similar, even if not for the same reasons.