[Article] Legend

[MDK]

Well, I saw it at last - Ridley Scott's Legend, the 1985 movie that supposedly inspired Miyamoto in part to create The Legend of Zelda.

As a film... ugh. The story was rather incoherent, the acting was shallow and altogether rather cheesy, and I just couldn't take the Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry) seriously after having just watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show (also starring Tim Curry) immediately beforehand. The only reason I decided to watch it was to see exactly how many elements of the Zelda series I could find. Labelling each similarity with the respective game, this is what I found.

Link - Jack

An ordinary forest-dwelling boy (OOT) garbed in green (LOZ) named Jack (Tom Cruise) is the hero of the story. He too is rather naive and peace-loving, and has literally no training or experience with weapons of any kind (LOZ, OOT). He is led to his sword (as well as a shield and armour) by a fairy deep in the woods (ALTTP, OOT)


Jack (Tom Cruise)

Though he is significantly older than LOZ's Link, Jack is very likely the inspiration for Link's character design - green clothing, long brown hair, and a high pitched voice that sounds humourously similar to OOT's Link. He possesses impressive strength and agility, on occasion displaying front and backflips that Link has become so fond of in recent years. He also displays cunning and innovation, using his mirror-polished shield (sound familiar?) to prey on the vanity of a swamp creature. And of course, he is the very embodiment of courage, as is our favourite hero.

Princess Zelda - Princess Lily

Mia Sara portrays the incredibly naive but well-meaning princess (OOT) named Lily. Though she is a princess, we do not see her kingdom once throughout the entire film (LOZ). They seem to have a long-founded friendship dating back to their childhood (OOT, TMC). Lily, by touching the sacred unicorn, sets in motion events that cause the world to become enveloped in darkness (OOT).


Lily (Mia Sara) reaching out to a unicorn, a forbidden act that spells certain catastrophe

Though there are next to no similarities similarities, Lily possesses the tomboyish nature that Zelda has often revealed, though she is rather more carefree. After having inadvertantly wrought the destruction of all that is good and pure, she shows the resolve and the bravery to put it right, promising to marry Darkness in an effort to get close enough to free the last unicorn from his clutches.


The Lord of Darkness (Tim Curry)

It's mainly the fantasy setting and the above two characters that have any similarity whatsover with the setting of LOZ. The villain, Darkness, is your generic dark tyrant, who bears absolutely no similarities to Ganon in any respect (for instance, he falls in love with the princess), and the rest of the characters tend towards generic fairy creatures that provide comic relief and an altogether abysmal Irish accent. The most notable difference that I can find is that Jack and Lily end up together, presumably to live happily ever after, whereas Link and Zelda's implied romantic interests are forever forbidden. Having said that, I'm glad it has remained that way, as seeing the happy ending in the film hit a royal bum note. But, after all, the film is supposed to have inspired the game in part. What truly sparked off the 1986 epic was Miyamoto's desire to recreate the child's sense of wonder in exploration that he so fondly remembers from his own childhood. Ridley Scott's film may simply have given him some design tips.

[Master of ALttP]

I also watched this movie to see how it could relate to Zelda, and although there are a few interesting connections (the mirror-like shields, for example) I feel that the movie didn't inspire The Legend of Zelda. First off, the movie and the game were made too close together for the LoZ to be based on Legend. If I remember correctly, LoZ was released in Japan only months after the movie was released in America. There's no way that Miyamoto could have seen the movie in America, gone back to Japan, and convinced Nintendo to allow him to come up with a team to make a game based upon the movie. A game back then just couldn't be made in a matter of months. Well, it could, but for a game of LoZ's quality would take nearly a year to make, I'm sure. I'm fairly certain that the reason people think Legend inspired The Legend of Zelda is because of the names both containing the word 'legend' and the times of their American releases.

[MDK]

I agree. I personally don't have a clue as to how this conclusion was drawn. All I know is that the film is said to have inspired the game, so I took a look. Given that the film's release in Japan and the Japanese game release was just a couple of months, it is unlikely that it could have had any major influence. As for similarities to later games, who knows. In any case, similarities between the film and the original game are likely just coincidence. Even so, I thought it would make for an interesting topic.

[Uncle Meat]

I recall seeing this film as a kid and thinking to myself: wow, it's almost like a Zelda movie, yet not. It never crossed my mind that the series could actually be based on this movie. Having read and watched enough Miyamoto interviews I can guarantee that concept of The Legend of Zelda (1986) was based on his childhood memories. If I recall correctly he lived near a forest where he would often times go exploring when he was a kid. He also discovered a huge lake inside the forest which has been portrayed in many Zelda games as Lake Hylia.

He has often revealed his sources for inspiration in interviews and hasn't once mentioned the movie Legend.