What comes to mind when you hear the words “classic love story”? Do you picture a bright, colorful, Disney-esque landscape where heartfelt serenades are accompanied by an explosive orchestral score and cascades of birds soar down to complement the joyful moment? Perhaps you enjoy a little tension and conflict, with two bitter adversaries forced into a situation where they not only learn to work together effectively, but also bond over snarky jokes and wistful nostalgia? Or maybe you have a penchant for tragedy, riding the emotional roller coaster alongside ill-fated lovers who must constantly battle their way through obstacles just to avoid being ripped apart from each other. However you imagine the journey of two souls joining together in romantic bliss, there is likely a wonderful story out there to inspire and mesmerize you.
If you were to step into my vision of a classic tale of love, however, you wouldn’t see anything particularly exhilarating, majestic, heart-wrenching, or even humorous. The characters wouldn’t be rugged adventurers or passionate artists or deeply poetic intellects, and their appearances wouldn’t make you fall to your knees in awe. In fact, they could probably pass you on the street and not inspire anything more than a cursory glance. That’s because they are perfectly ordinary human beings, content to lead peaceful, unremarkable lives just going about their business and relishing the everyday wonders of the world around them. But then one seemingly normal day, these two wandering souls lock eyes, and the earth subtly shifts beneath their feet. For reasons they can’t begin to explain, the fuchsia clouds at sunrise glow more vibrantly than they did before, the water tastes just a tiny bit sweeter, and the little things that used to irritate them don’t seem quite as bothersome anymore. It isn’t “love” yet, but that brief connection planted a seed of yearning in their hearts, a desire to spend time with the ordinary person who made their world suddenly seem so extraordinary.
Where can you watch such a story unfold in the Zelda universe, you ask? Well, just take a journey across the ocean and stroll down the streets of the lively merchant town known as Windfall Island.
As you explore this upbeat, whimsical island for the first time, you may take notice of a spiffy-looking gentleman with slicked-back hair and a confident stride, walking the same route around town day in and day out. If you approach and speak to the man, he observes that you must be a newcomer to Windfall and offers to give you a tour, jovially commenting about how fun it is to simply amble around and take in the sights. Right from the start, this man presents himself as an upbeat, genial, and charmingly old-fashioned individual, dropping phrases like “steady fellow” and “you’re so swell” that make you just want to pinch his cheek and hand him a freshly-baked chocolate chip cookie.
Eventually, we find out that this jaunty chap’s name is Anton, and he has a few surprising hobbies that one wouldn’t expect based on appearances alone. First of all, it seems that taking leisurely strolls through town is only his second favorite physical activity, and the one that ranks above it leans over to the more violent end of the spectrum: kickboxing. That’s quite interesting since I never would have guessed that Windfall Island had its own underground fight club. Perhaps it’s frequented by the same denizens who consistently join Anton in his other unusual activity, which is participating in nighttime auctions. It begs the question: What exactly does Anton do for a living? All we ever see him do during the day is walk around, so where does he get all those rupees to bid on expensive items? Perhaps he’s a lot like us and sneaks out in the middle of the night to go scuba-diving for sunken treasure.
Anyway, enough about Anton for now. Let’s head inland towards the lighthouse and mosey around the sunlit courtyard outside Mrs. Marie’s schoolhouse. If you can ignore the obnoxious Killer Bees constantly hovering around you even for a second, your eyes might land on a lovely young woman standing quietly next to a flight of stairs, offering a delicate smile to all who pass her by. She inquires whether you find her outfit aesthetically pleasing (admittedly, it is a rather appealing ensemble), explaining that it was made by her incredibly talented best friend who lives on another island. As we come to find out later on, her best friend is none other than the jar-touting Sue-Belle, who grew up on Windfall before moving to Outset Island to care for her ailing grandfather. The young lady, whose name turns out to be Linda, is quite proud of both her best friend and the dress she made, wishing that someone would stop to admire how cute it is. To some, this may come across as pompous and shallow, but I like to think of it as a reflection of Linda’s self-confidence and enthusiasm over the small things in life.
Apparently I’m not the only one who finds Linda’s sparkling presence oddly alluring, as one gentle young man’s heart has already been stolen by the time we first meet her. She and the shy stargazer Kamo used to go to school together, and though the flame of love passionately burns inside of him, Linda has absolutely no clue that he feels that way, and Kamo is too much of an awkward introvert to tell her the truth. That just goes to show you that, sadly, some love stories just fall apart before they even get off the ground.
If you’re only interested in completing the main storyline of The Wind Waker with as few sidequest diversions as possible, then the story of Anton and Linda will end right there without fanfare or resolution. However, if you decide to team up with the oddball known as Lenzo to document the Great Sea’s many quirks and eccentricities through Pictography, then he will have other plans for these two. After dissuading the obsessive Garrickson from constantly sending unwanted letters and smacking some sense into the jittery Gossack, Lenzo lays out his final test for you to become his official apprentice: find two people in town who are silently pining for each other and capture the moment they demonstrate their concealed affection for one another. Whether it’s any of his business or not, Lenzo intends to nurture this tiny bud until it has blossomed into a big, beautiful rose of pure love.
So there you are, mindlessly wandering around Windfall with no idea which of these benignly cheerful island folk could be holding back deeper feelings, when Anton rounds the bend of his daily circuit and enters the schoolhouse courtyard. All of a sudden, he stops just a few feet away from Linda, and the two of them exchange a long, meaningful look. Time seems to stand perfectly still in this moment, as so many unspoken emotions flow between their gazes like an electric current. Though their happy facial expressions never falter, you can feel the tension in the air, a longing to understand why sharing physical space with such a normal person feels so inexplicably special. Without a doubt, this is the moment you’ve been waiting to see. And when you successfully capture the scene, the resulting black-and-white still image immediately calls to mind the romantic classics of the 1940s, looking like it could have been pulled straight from Casablanca.
And from this point on, all the pieces seem to fall smoothly into place. Lenzo, now possessing solid proof of the pair’s suspected attraction, invites Linda to his house to “tell her fortune,” telling her that the one she desires will surely fall for her if she sends him a lovely picture of herself. Encouraged by this, Linda takes note of your newly-acquired Deluxe Picto Box and asks if you would be willing to take a full-body, colorized pictograph of her and show it to the young man she has a crush on. If you bring such a picture to Anton, he will stop dead in his tracks, stunned by how the still-image flawlessly captures Linda’s beauty and grace. Unable to suppress his feelings any longer, Anton decides on the spot that he will finally ask her out for coffee, flustered as an adorable schoolboy over whether or not she’ll end up being the nice girl he thinks she is. And the very next day, if you visit them in the local cafe, Linda ecstatically proclaims that she and Anton have decided to become a couple, gifting you with a Piece of Heart as thanks for all that you’ve done to bring them together.
For the remainder of your epic adventures across the Great Sea, the happy pair will while away their days standing together in the schoolhouse courtyard, Anton having given up his daily walking routine just to spend his time with Linda in the beautiful sunshine. The hustle and bustle of life on Windfall Island will continue on unabated, with merchants merrily peddling their goods, ladies gossiping about the townsfolk, and naughty children skipping class to cause mischief. Few, if any, will notice that anything has changed, and if they were to pass by, all they would likely see is two completely average people hanging out together as the world weaves its way around them. Nothing more, nothing less. But to this blissful couple, that is everything.
