Being the choice subject of memes and punchlines for 22 years is long enough.
It’s time that more The Legend of Zelda fans start showing appreciation for the wise and honorable Kaepora Gaebora.
Just take a look at him. Modeled after the great horned owl, he’s as magnificent as the real-life creature. He dwarfs the adolescent Link, and as shown in renders pulled from the game, he even towers over the fully grown Hero of Time. He could be a fearsome bird of prey, but we only see him as the friendly guardian who keeps a close eye on the young Link.
Kaepora Gaebora offers encouragement, advice, information, and on occasion, an escort across Hyrule.
Yet how do most fans seem to remember him?
With memes like this —
Image by chutzell of Memebase
A google search for Kaepora Gaebora will yield as many memes slandering him as it will official artwork, screenshots, or fan art of the friendly, misunderstood owl. Mention him on a social media page and you’ll be sure to see plenty of comments along the lines of — “That [insert some form of vulgarity here] owl!” and other unpleasant verbiage.
It’s unfair, unjust, unreasonable, unacceptable — every “un” in the business!
All because fans couldn’t hold their horses and tried to rush through the conversations with him in Ocarina of Time. That’s right. If you had ever had to “hear what [he] said again” more than you wanted to, you’ve only got yourself to blame. Don’t hate on Kaepora Gaebora because you button mashed to finish his dialogue like a newbie Super Smash Bros. player trying to cling to their last stock. He was just teaching us the value of patience! Especially those of us who were young and playing our first 3D Zelda; or for many, maybe our first Zelda game, period.
But if his mere presence was just so insufferable to you, it’s not as though he was breathing down your neck at every turn of the adventure. A mere six conversations with Kaepora Gaebora are mandatory, the other two possible encounters being entirely your choice. (So if you don’t like talking to him, those two are on you.) That’s far fewer interruptions than what another certain companion in the game hits you with. Navi is prone to stop and point out obvious facts in every location, even inside the dungeons. The beloved Tatl, who no one ever dares to say a bad word about, is guilty of this in Majora’s Mask!
Kaepora Gaebora deserves a kingdom’s worth of love from The Legend of Zelda fans.
Kaepora Gaebora deserves a kingdom’s worth of love from The Legend of Zelda fans, because there are few other characters in the series who have been as willing to lend Link a wing on his adventures.
Link is just a young lad as he sets off on a journey to save the land from certain doom, his only constant companion being the aforementioned Fairy who rudely keeps him from enjoying the simple pleasure of sleeping in. While other friendly faces come and go during the quest, Kaepora Gaebora is there multiple times to let Link know he’s got a buddy in the skies over Hyrule.
The glare of a character who’s been misunderstood for more than two decades.
And boy, is Kaepora Gaebora willing to go everywhere to be a good pal: Hyrule Field, Hyrule Castle, Zora’s River, Lake Hylia, the Lost Woods, right next to the molten rim of Death Mountain Crater, even all the way into the Haunted Wasteland. Do you know how many great horned owls are thriving and enjoying life in arid deserts? Probably not many! It’s a merciless environment ill-suited for most creatures, yet Kaepora Gaebora readily took up a perch on the Desert Colossus. As you dawdle through the child portion of the Spirit Temple, he’s out waiting patiently and sweating his feathers off, all just so he can greet you one last time.
Did you ever stop to think that maybe Kaepora Gaebora’s daily routine included more than alighting on a tree branch or ledge and waiting to talk to Link? He may very well have had an active social life, personal hobbies, or other obligations he had to do as a responsible adult owl, but he still finds the time to stand ready and welcome Link in new places.
No, it’s not creepy. It’s laudable!
Even more laudable is his willingness to literally haul Link across the kingdom. His flight down Death Mountain was a true spectacle back in the day. It was the first time we got such a breathtaking aerial view of an environment in a Zelda game. The flight from Lake Hylia to Castle Town may not have been quite as stunning, but it was a huge shortcut for young Link, who didn’t have access to Epona, and, at least early on, none of the warp songs. The physical feat of it is impressive and deserves admiration — he literally carries Link halfway across Hyrule!
That may not have been enough to win over all fans, but Kaepora Gaebora clearly made an impression on the good people at Nintendo. While he wasn’t the first owl to take a prominent role in a Zelda game (that honor belongs to the owl in Link’s Awakening), Kaepora Gaebora cemented that owls would be a mainstay in Nintendo games for years to come. He would go on to appear in both Majora’s Mask and Four Swords Adventures, and his influence is evident on Gaepora in Skyward Sword and Kaneli in Breath of the Wild. Blathers has been running the museums in Animal Crossing for nearly twenty years, and Hoothoot, Noctowl, Rowlet, Dartrix, and Decidueye all bring terrific owl representation to Pokemon.
It’s never too late to give credit where credit is due. Don’t be ashamed to admit that you misjudged a video game character in your youth. With how selfless he proved to be in Ocarina of Time, Kaepora Gaebora wouldn’t hold it against you. He would welcome even those who have been his harshest critics for all these years.
Did you get all that?
Now show Kaepora Gaebora some respect.
Jeffrey Pawlak
Jeffrey Pawlak is the Features Director for Zelda Universe, and has been a member of the website's community for more than 20 years. He is also a high fantasy author and an aspiring comic book artist.
by Jeffrey Pawlak on August 5, 2020
