Parenting is hard. Parenting while maintaining full-time employment without childcare is extra hard. Parenting while maintaining full-time employment without childcare or sleep is unsustainable. For poor Bertie, this is exactly the predicament he finds himself in. Toiling away all day in the Skyloft Bazaar, mixing large vats of potions with his baby strapped to his back is followed by nights filled with the wails of an inconsolable infant as the restless hours creep toward a morning holding only the promise of another day in the repetitive, agonizing cycle. Bertie certainly deserves a little assistance from a hero and some Father’s Day appreciation.
Bertie is a hardworking father and a supportive husband. At the potion shop in the Bazaar, Bertie enhances the potions concocted by his wife, Luv, upon request from customers who supply him with the required insects and a small fee. While this is useful in itself, Bertie provides another helpful service by informing customers where to find insects they may need to enhance potions. Bertie does all of this while constantly cooing and making silly sounds to soothe his infant daughter, who is perpetually latched to his back (making it truly backbreaking work). If that sounds hard enough, wait until you pay him a nighttime house call.
Upon visiting Bertie’s home at night in the latter part of Skyward Sword, you will find Luv in a deep sleep, but Bertie is in the same hunched position that he assumes at the Bazaar, still trying to calm his baby. Exhaustion saturates his words as he relays how the child has not slept for days. A familiar feeling for us parents. If you’re tired, why not just sleep? You’ll feel so much better. It’s natural. Your body needs rest. Your brain will go haywire if you don’t (not to mention those of people around you). Just sleep please, for the love of Hylia. GO. TO. SLEEP!
I digress. Bertie recounts that his daughter hasn’t slept since losing her precious rattle. His wan smile endures as he informs Link that a bird took the beloved toy some time ago and has prevented his child, and thus Bertie, from getting any sleep since. If his eyes weren’t so narrowed from fatigue, we could probably see Bertie’s will to live slowly withering away inside.
Bertie needs help before it all becomes too much and he reaches his breaking point. Luckily, we can assist him by finding the missing rattle and returning it to its overtired owner, bringing an end to the sleep deprivation that has plagued Bertie and his daughter for an untold number of days or weeks. I find this side mission to be one of the most gratifying to complete in the Zelda series because as a father myself, I empathize with the utter exhaustion of handling unruly children who refuse to sleep against their own self-interests. Bertie’s relief is palpable. There is finally some rest for the weary.
I’ve been reflecting on the past year and a half and the challenges of working at home with children who would have been at school if not for the pandemic. It seemed for a while as though what were already short fuses may have been cut shorter, as we all struggled to adjust to our new realities and extended time together in close proximity. I can think of multiple times where I was not the father, or even person, I wanted to be while buckling under the stress. Bertie keeps coming to mind as a shining example of what a father should be in the face of adversity: diligent, resilient, caring, and patient, even when bone tired and serving as a whipping post for a child’s tantrums. In the times where I find myself lapsing, I think of Bertie and try my best to be a bit more like him.
So, here’s to you, Bertie. Here’s to all the fathers out there experiencing sleepless nights and the joys of working with children constantly on your shoulders. This Father’s Day, I hope you have the luxury of a long, uninterrupted nap.
