Many of us appreciate that the Zelda series features tough female characters who can easily beat Link in a head-to-head duel. Anyone who remembers the Pirates’ Fortress from Majora’s Mask won’t easily forget Link’s battle against those three ferocious pirates who guarded Lulu’s precious Zora Eggs. I have to admit, that place was pretty eerie, and navigating it still makes me nervous. But the pirates were probably the most unnerving aspect of that particular dungeon, and I was just trying to sneak past them all unscathed.
I think it takes a special kind of woman to be a female pirate, not to mention one who effortlessly lords over a group of burly men twice her age with an air of indifference. Tetra’s story is almost like an offbeat retelling of Snow White, where the plucky young orphan is protected by her loyal band of male companions while an evil force seeks to destroy her. OK, that might be reaching a bit, but anyone who knows me will tell you that I love drawing parallels.
From what we gather, Tetra is parentless and has been so for quite a while. We get a glimpse of her mother from a pictograph hung in Tetra’s room, and it appears that many of the pirate gang, including Nudge, remember her fondly as a great pirate leader. It seems Tetra didn’t fall far from the proverbial tree.
When Link first meets Tetra, it’s in a manner that she would prefer not to be seen: sprawled flat on her back after tumbling out of a tree in the Forest of Fairies. I wouldn’t exactly call it a “meet-cute,” but the moment is fortuitous as both these characters come to rely on each other heavily throughout the story. As we quickly learn, Tetra’s personality is assertive-abrasive; she is not shy about expressing her opinions and certainly won’t make it easy for you to earn her trust. In fact, she prefers putting Link through the wringer in his initiation into the pirate gang (which, as Niko tells us, could be a heck of a lot worse).
If Tetra were a fruit, she would be a coconut — hard on the outside, soft on the inside. We see that even though she is hesitant to let Link on board her ship, it doesn’t take much for our sympathetic friend Quill to appeal to her compassionate side (and possibly her guilt in leading the Helmaroc King toward little Aryll). Upon arriving at the Forsaken Fortress, Tetra promptly catapults Link into a wall, which is definitely my personal favorite Wind Waker moment, and one that (sort of, kind of?) was an accident on Tetra’s part. She keeps her promise, but she certainly does not make it easy for Link to gain entrance to the Fortress on his quest to rescue Aryll.
Tetra prefers to give Link a hand every now and then, leaving him to do most of the heavy lifting on his own. I think most players will find that Tetra’s unnecessarily adversarial attitude actually helps motivate them in their quest. In this way, Link and Tetra can be seen as friendly competitors, not unlike the Trainer-Rival dynamic that Pokémon heavily relies on. One great thing about Tetra is that although she remains critical and disparaging at times, we know she is really rooting for Link’s success and ultimately strives to help him rescue Aryll.
The need for strong, unapologetic female characters who assume substantial roles in a story cannot be overstated; this is especially true in gaming, where male characters have historically been the focal point. It’s characters like Tetra who walked so others could run. When I look back at the Zelda titles that followed The Wind Waker, it isn’t difficult to see how Tetra’s influence is reflected in other memorable characters such as Midna from Twilight Princess and, more recently, Riju from Breath of the Wild.
And let’s not forget that The Wind Waker gave us one of the greatest plot twists in Zelda history: the reveal that Tetra’s true identity is really that of Princess Zelda. Tetra’s necklace, which is really a piece of the Triforce entrusted to her by her mother, allows her to assume another form on the surface to shield her from Ganondorf’s evil. So not only is she a fearless pirate, but she is also the Princess Zelda, guardian of the precious Triforce of Wisdom, the ultimate treasure. Tetra is one of my favorite Zelda characters of all time — a mighty, strong, independent leader who will defend her friends to the death. She’ll leap headlong into Ganon’s lair for you, but you definitely do not want to mess with her. Just ask Bomb Shop Owner Cannon if you don’t believe me!
