There are a handful of ways to describe the adventures of Link and Princess Zelda over the course of their myriad adventures in Hyrule and lands further abroad over the course of The Legend of Zelda series.
High fantasy. Sword and sorcery. Epic quest. Swashbuckling adventure. Time-bending caper. And, perhaps my niece’s favorite way to experience the ongoing experiences of Link, Zelda, and friends, domestic family drama.
Wait, what?
Yes, Kara, now six, was introduced to The Legend of Zelda early in life, thanks to the treasure horde of memorabilia I own from the franchise: posters, books (oh, how she loved to look in my copy of Art and Artifacts for every picture of elegantly gowned princesses she could find), comics, and yes, lots of toys.
She was especially taken with my small army of amiibo figures, of which I owned by far the most from assorted Zelda games: Link, Zelda, Sheik, and Ganondorf from Ocarina of Time; Toon Link and Toon Zelda from The Wind Waker; Wolf Link and Midna from Twilight Princess; Zelda and Link from Breath of the Wild; and a few others from the vast swath of games in the series.
There was just one problem: Kara hadn’t actually played a single Zelda game when she discovered the series at about the age of two and she wasn’t exactly versed in the nuances of the fantasy adventure genre. Nor was it the swordplay and monster slaying of the series that had attracted her attention to my line of stoic adventurers.
She was in it for the princesses.
After all, she may not have played a Zelda game, but she had already started her march through the library of Disney media, particularly films such as Frozen and its sequel. Princesses were big in her imagination’s mindscape, even bigger than unicorns. And Zelda, to her great delight, was a princess.
So she insisted on playing with the amiibo and, furthermore, insisted I play with her. My reputation as the cool uncle depended on it, I was sure, so away we went on adventures that didn’t really resemble the games I’d played.
Zelda stayed a princess, of course. And Link was her childhood friend, always ready to fight off any monsters that might interrupt their daily affairs. (That latter part was my job, of course, as the boy in the game).
But we had more than one of each character and Kara wasn’t particularly interested in the Nintendo-approved Zelda timeline. Instead, one Zelda would be the mother of another (Toon Zelda was the youngster, given her shorter stature), and sometimes there were additional siblings, cousins, and long-lost companions added into the mix. And not just the Zelda characters. Disappointed with the lack of wider female representation in my Zelda amiibo lineup, she would raid my other amiibo franchises for girls to join in the fun: Zero Suit Samus from Metroid, Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy, an Inkling from Splatoon, and so on.
They didn’t go on quests. They went on picnics and playdates or walks in the woods. It was essentially playing House with Nintendo characters, except for when the fight scenes started. Ganondorf would eventually show up with help from assorted other amiibo such as Bowser, Ridley, and Meta Knight to wreck the party. Link inevitably would get captured (at which point, bound in ropes, he was replaced by the Sheik figure, which Kara refused to accept as another Zelda, probably due to the lack of a dress), and then the various Zeldas of numerous ages and generations would unite en masse to blast the bad guys with a wave of magic and save the day.
And then they’d go home and eat cake.
As Kara has gotten older and found her own interests, she’s drifted away from Zelda a bit, though she has her own plush Link and Zelda dolls at home to join in her various princess adventures. But there’s time yet to introduce her, and her younger siblings, to the actual adventures of Link and her beloved Princess Zelda.
I just hope she doesn’t mind that there are far fewer picnics in Hyrule than she once imagined.
