The Legend of Zelda TV series retrospective: Episode 6, ‘That Sinking Feeling’

Having endured five episodes now of Ganon’s evil schemes, it’s understandable that Princess Zelda might be running out of patience. If I’d been dragged through a swamp, had my friend turned into a frog, and had a fire-breathing dragon placed on my doorstep, I’d be quite miffed at this point too.

This time, Zelda is ready to take the fight to Ganon, and our princess has lots of new tricks in store in “That Sinking Feeling.”

The legerdemain of Zelda

Using the Triforce of Wisdom’s magic, Zelda summons a long staircase in the Underworld.

The story begins with Link leading Zelda to a new place he has discovered deep in Hyrule’s woods. Zelda is skeptical at first and bemoans traveling so far for a picnic, but she is immediately impressed as soon as she arrives. In fact, she is so overwhelmed by the romantic aura that, this time, she’s the one demanding a kiss from Link. Before the duo can get comfortable though, they are interrupted by — you guessed it — another of Ganon’s Underworld entrances, which unleashes a swarm of Tektites. Link and Zelda pull through as they always do, but Zelda isn’t in a wisecracking mood this time and demands a showdown with Ganon.

As Link and Zelda exit the castle on horseback to pursue Ganon, Zelda brings the Triforce of Wisdom with her in preparation for their fight. This is where we see our first hint at Zelda’s ability to wield magic as the Triforce floats beside her, tethered to her horse by rope. It is revealed in the following episode, “Doppelganger,” that this is an ability unique to Zelda; when Link takes the Triforce with him, he has to carry it manually (much to his chagrin, due to its heavy weight).

As Link and Zelda travel through the Underworld, they discover that their destination is far too high for them to reach. Using the Triforce, Zelda is able to summon a long staircase for them to traverse across. As long as she is holding the sacred relic in one arm, she is able to channel its magical energy with her other hand. With the Triforce being such a crucial component of the Zelda game franchise, it’s great to finally see it contribute something interesting to the TV series beyond speaking in annoying rhymes.

Zelda is by far the most well-rounded fighter in the TV series, and she may very well be stronger than Link.

In the final scene, Link and Zelda find an opportunity to claim the Triforce of Power from Ganon’s lair. Zelda runs toward it, but of course Ganon was never going to let it go that easy and arrives just in time to fire magic blasts at her. Link attempts to distract Ganon, trading his energy blasts with zaps from his Crissword. Angered, Ganon casts a spell that wraps Link in strong chains and readies himself to deliver a final blow. Zelda gives up her pursuit of the Triforce of Power to save him, which is where we see Zelda use her magic offensively. She fires a strong blast of energy at Ganon, stunning him momentarily.

“So, you’re playing with magic, eh, princess? Let me show you how it’s done!”

Ganon, of course, is the most advanced when it comes to using magic and overpowers our princess with a magnetic spell that pulls her and the Triforce toward his grasp. The gap in their magical abilities is also evident by the fact that, unlike Zelda, Ganon does not need to hold the Triforce to cast spells. Having said this, Ganon displays no skills involving physical combat or weaponry throughout the series, seemingly reliant on his magic and his minions alone. Zelda, on the other hand, has shown mastery of bows, boomerangs, crossbows, magic, and she even uses Link’s Crissword in later episodes. With her diverse range of skills, Zelda is by far the most well-rounded fighter in the TV series, and she may very well be stronger than Link.

Ganon brings the house down

Ganon has a plan to pull Link and Zelda down to his level.

In his latest attempt to steal the Triforce of Wisdom, Ganon has acquired the Overworld Magnet, which can pull anything and anyone from the surface down to the Underworld. Having infiltrated and assaulted North Castle multiple times to no avail, this time Ganon decides to pull the structure down directly to his lair, in the hopes of pulling the Triforce of Wisdom down with it.

Luckily, since Zelda decided to take the Triforce of Wisdom for a walk, Ganon is unable to find it in the castle. King Harkinian and Spryte, who were still in the castle as it descended below the ground, are in hiding from the evil wizard, who becomes increasingly enraged as he tears each room apart in his search for the Triforce.

During the final fight scene, Ganon is thrown into the magnet, knocking it from its pedestal and aiming it at North Castle. It activates and the spell reverses, causing Zelda’s home to ascend back to the surface where it belongs. This also causes the magnet to explode in Ganon’s face, leading to his defeat as Link and Zelda escape.

Ganon uses his Overworld Magnet to pull North Castle down to the Underworld.

The Overworld Magnet is clearly something unique to the TV series as there were no similar objects from The Legend of Zelda or Zelda II that could have inspired it. (The item from the games that comes closest in similarity is the Magnetic Glove from Oracle of Seasons and Four Swords, both of which were released far later than the TV series.)

With this in mind, it’s still a fun addition to the episode and fits perfectly in a fantasy world where magic is abundant. Ganon also mentions that it is “one of the greatest spells of the ancient wizards,” which establishes that this version of Hyrule has a long history of magic.

A tough nut to crack

The Tektites mean business this time around, shooting strong webs at Link and Zelda.

This is the second time we’ve seen Tektites appear in the TV series — and this also isn’t the first time we’ve seen them attack in a group — but this time, they display a new attack that matches their spider-like appearance. They can spit webbing at their foes, which appears to be rather strong as they are able to whip Link’s sword right out of his hand. With multiple Tektites coordinating and shooting their webs at the same time, they are also able to wrap Zelda in it completely, causing her to appear mummified before dragging her toward the Underworld entrance from whence they came. Link and Zelda can solo Tektites easily with sword zaps and boomerangs, but in a group, they are definitely a threat.

Next up, we are introduced to a new foe, the Goriya. This appearance doesn’t involve any combat, but it does play a crucial part in Ganon’s sinister plot as it is the Goriya that found the Overworld Magnet deep in the “furthest cave of the Underworld.” It is also the first to use the magnet spell, aiming at Link and Zelda after the Tektite attack but pulling down a nearby Cupid statue instead.

The Darknut tests Link’s swordplay skills.

Ganon zaps his poor Goriya servant for bringing him a statue instead of Link and Zelda.

More excitingly, this episode introduced the Darknut in its one and only appearance in the series. As it stands before our heroes in the Underworld, this marks the first time Link engages in a true sword fight. Until this point, Link has primarily used his Crissword to zap enemies rather than swing at them. In a cartoon aimed at children, it makes sense that Link would primarily use the sword’s magic rather than use it for a more violent means such as slashing or stabbing. Fortunately, the Darknut is comprised completely of armor, so every sword swing meets with a clank rather than a cut and Link is finally able to let loose with his weapon.

There was a healthy mix of new and returning enemies here, each presenting a unique challenge for Link and Zelda. The Darknut thrust a one-on-one duel onto Link in the Underworld, the Tektites surrounded both of our heroes on the surface, and the Goriya was responsible for orchestrating Ganon’s master plan.

Now you’re playing with power

The Magic Bracelet drops to the ground upon the Darknut’s defeat, similarly to how enemies drop hearts and rupees in The Legend of Zelda.

As Link defeats the Darknut, it drops a Magic Bracelet. This is based on the Power Bracelet from the original Legend of Zelda game, which gave the player the ability to move boulders to uncover secrets. The cartoon version has white spheres dotting the outside as opposed to the spikes and the blue band seen in the official artwork of The Legend of Zelda’s manual, but the striking red color still makes it an unmistakable reference. Similarly, the show’s version of the bracelet also gives Link super strength, though it only lasts for precisely one minute. With this in mind, Link saves it for when he needs it most.

As Link and Zelda confront Ganon, the evil wizard gains the upper hand and forces the two heroes at the mercy of his magic. He summons strong chains to wrap tightly around Link’s body, leaving him largely immobile, while Zelda is being magnetically dragged toward Ganon. Just as it starts to look like a victory for the evil wizard, Link is able to move his hand just enough to slip on the Magic Bracelet from his pocket. It grants him the boost in physical strength required to break free from the chains, before using said chain to lasso Ganon and send him flying. The temporary increase in vigor also allows him to perform a ridiculously high leap in the air, landing him and Zelda back within the castle walls as it rises to the surface.

The bracelet grants Link super strength, allowing him to break free from Ganon’s chains.

The Power Bracelet is never used as an offensive weapon in the original Legend of Zelda game, but it makes far more sense for Link to use it as one in the TV series. The one-minute-only limitation is also a welcome detail as it means Link is not overpowered as soon as he picks up the bracelet. I also like the fact that it is dropped by an enemy upon defeat, as this is very akin to the RPG video game genre which The Legend of Zelda games regularly borrow elements from.

I’m really feeling it

“That Sinking Feeling” is a fairly linear story, as the plot simply sees Link and Zelda starting a peaceful day in Hyrule and then descending into the Underworld to challenge Ganon. While the path may be a straightforward one, there are certainly some interesting sights along the way.

Our princess is full of surprises.

Let’s get the rough part out of the way first: The dialogue is noticeably poor at times in this episode. The episode title is obviously a pun based on North Castle sinking into the ground, but the writers weren’t content with stopping there and instead decided to hammer it home to remove any possibility that viewers might not catch on. Before the castle descends, Link says “I’ve got a sinking feeling about this.” It’s unnecessary, but if it was left there, it’d be fine. Zelda, however, follows this with “Speaking of sinking feelings!” while pointing at the castle. Just in case you still didn’t get it, Link then says, “The castle! It’s sinking!” Thanks, guys.

There is another moment where the script proves overly basic, but this time, I can’t deny that it made for a personal highlight of the episode for me. When Ganon is furiously searching for the Triforce of Wisdom in the castle, he is screaming at the top of his lungs in frustration. After a series of exclamations, he finishes with, “I’M VERY UPSET!” It’s so blunt and on the nose that I can’t help but laugh every time I watch this scene. It’s obviously not meant to be funny, but it is, so I’m chalking this up as a win for this episode.

Zelda is not interested in half-measures in her attempt to defeat Ganon once and for all.

The biggest takeaway from this episode was Zelda’s development as a character. We already know, by this point, that this interpretation of our princess is no pushover, but she takes this to the next level in “That Sinking Feeling” by being the one to challenge Ganon. It was a risky move bringing the Triforce of Wisdom down to the Underworld, as one wrong move could have (and almost did) result in it falling directly into Ganon’s grasp. It proved that Zelda is not interested in half-measures in her attempt to defeat him once and for all, and her newly revealed magic powers showed that she is even more competent and intelligent than we initially thought.