Female Link (volume 4)

Its once again been a year since I last posted this topic, and it always gains massive discussion each time so I thought Id bring it back again! As the title suggests, being as Link is a reincarnation of himself in each game, this could lend itself to him assuming a female role. Rarely does Link ACTUALLY take up any romantic relationships during any of the games, if ever, and when he "does" its never outright and usually is just hinted at. Also Zelda isnt even in all of the games either, so the arguement of a lesbian LinkxZelda thing is completely irrelivant.

So what would you want? Would you like a change of pace, however minor, for our hero? Personally, I would enjoy a female Link. This neednt mean that she would be stuck in the sexist mindset that women are inferior to men physically at all, which Ive seen people squabble about in past itterations of this thread. It also neednt mean that she would be some sex symbol as some also have suggested, thats not usually Nintendos shtick, plus in all reality Link as a character never ♥♥♥♥in does anything.

Ah, and what his name would be is also irrelevant, since YOU name him/her. Im sure we've had our share of male Links with female names over the years.

Estrogen, AWAY!!

No definitely not, it wouldn't fit the series, men ARE far stronger physically (ask your physician or a personal trainer, or google it), I wouldn't enjoy playing as one, and giving the player a choice would make no sense storyline-wise.

A year ago i might have considered it, but after SS no dice. The reincarnation process was started to give demise's hatred a link proxy to beat upon, which is why all the links are so similar despite different upbrining and expierences. I like to think that i'm not sexist, but men and women are very different not just in physicality but also in mentality. Having a female link wouldn't work because she wouldn't be some new hero now but a dude's soul in a chick's body. Thats how i see it anyway.

I think female Link is an awesome idea, just the very thought of it, but Nintendo already has their lead fem covered with Samus, but I would deffiantly love a female Link. Oh and MajorasWrath1 your agrgument is invalid, I bet I'm twice as strong as some of the guys around ZU I can bench 75 pounds, (you really wouldn't think it by looking at me) and I am a girl. Plus, have you ever seen a man give birth?

Originally Posted by Princess Deity

I think female Link is an awesome idea, just the very thought of it, but Nintendo already has their lead fem covered with Samus, but I would deffiantly love a female Link. Oh and MajorasWrath1 your agrgument is invalid, I bet I'm twice as strong as some of the guys around ZU I can bench 75 pounds, (you really wouldn't think it by looking at me) and I am a girl. Plus, have you ever seen a man give birth?

Lol, I'm like 20 Newton strong definitly the gender does mean nothing.

But I would like a female link, simply because it is the Link between the game and the player, so it should be right if it reflect the player's gender.

Nah, I think Link is too much of an established character to be getting a female version. It's like... you know, She-Hulk, Spider-girl, whatever... they're just lame because they're cheap copies of the originals. Why does gender matter so much to you that you need to copy/change a character who's already plenty good?

That being said, I could totally see a Zelda game where you don't play as Link, but as another character. Like in TP, you should've been playing as Midna. Link was pretty useless to the story anyway

Originally Posted by Princess Deity

I Oh and MajorasWrath1 your agrgument is invalid, I bet I'm twice as strong as some of the guys around ZU I can bench 75 pounds, (you really wouldn't think it by looking at me) and I am a girl. Plus, have you ever seen a man give birth?

His argument is invalid, not because what you can bech, but because it's a video game, the females are as strong as the creators make them. Also, since when does your native strenth matter in a Zelda game?

I wouldn't mind a female protagonist, but I can't see it happening.

It just doesn't mesh with the stereotypical fairy tale that Zelda is (Male hero rescues princess, all live happily ever after). That and females aren't given all that much respect in Japan.

Originally Posted by Princess Deity

Oh and MajorasWrath1 your agrgument is invalid, I bet I'm twice as strong as some of the guys around ZU I can bench 75 pounds, (you really wouldn't think it by looking at me) and I am a girl. Plus, have you ever seen a man give birth?

It's because you exercise.

Generally speaking men have the potential to be stronger than females, it they take it up or not, it's up to them.

Giving birth doesn't have to do with jack in what we're talking about. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I think it has more to do with pain tolerance than anything else. So that argument is moot.

I don't care one way or the other, but "Totally" was unrepresented. It could be interesting, I think.

And I think this thread is going to bring the bile up from the back of the forum. Actually it already has.

I don't want to see any sexist arguments breaking out in this thread. We're not here to debate which sex is stronger or better or whatever than the other.

This is your only warning guys.

--EL

Can't say I'd be opposed to it.

This isn't sexism on my part, but I've noticed that women in action fiction that are capable fighters often seem to emphasize agility and precision in their fighting style to make up for their percieved lack of physical strength compared to men. I'm not advocating perpetuating this portrayal, but I do acknowledge that Zelda has recently been lacking agility in its combat lately, and I would support a female protagonist in Zelda if only because it seems that the Zelda team DO support this portrayal (Zelda herself has been an archer in two games, and a ninja in one). The series needs more agility and precision in its combat.

Link isn't the silent character that we're meant to project ourselves onto any more, he's been shown to have a substantial enough personality to become his own character. He's well known as a male, and it'd confuse people about it.

I'm not saying I'm opposed to having a female Link, I just don't see any point. As I've said before, what important thing can a female add that can't be added anyway? Most of the things that happen in Zelda games don't focus on gender, and changing it would make no difference. If Zelda had been a female for all of the games, I'd be arguing that it'd be pointless making her male. It would be wasted effort making both a male and female Link, unless she retains the exact same skeleton, which I doubt they'd do.

Basically, I see no point but if they decided to do so then I wouldn't care

---------- Post added at 07:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:31 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Double A

Zelda herself has been an archer in two games, and a ninja in one

She's also been a strong-ass knight capable of lifting both a sword and shield bigger than Link himself and with Link on the shield

A choice would be nice. I can understand where some people are coming from. Link is established as his own person now, maybe back in the day they could have had a choice, much like that game AST, but now it'd be a bit jarring to see Link as anything else, but himself.

Then again didn't WW show that the Hero doesn't have to be a descendant? That someone else can take up the mantel of the Hero? WW!Link wasn't an incarnation, he was a Hero in his own right, so I can see a possibility of another Hero being created in such a way and that Hero could be female. Maybe this time there's a Prince instead of a Princess, or better yet keep the Princess. We're living a world that's becoming more and more open and free.

Absolutely no qualms here.
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V

If Adventure Time can do it, Zelda definitely can.

3Things
1) why would you make link a girl? Just giving him one more Xchromosone whith no other reason then "why not" would not only not make sense because of the established lore, but would also be a poor business move by nintendo. Half of the true zelda fans would be hesitent to buy it or not take it as canon while casual fans (who usauly consist of teenage boys) would write it off as too feminine.
2)@ Winterfell. Tp and Oot arw the ONLY links with any blood conections. ALttP was knight blood from the imprisoning war, St and Mc aren't royalty despite the previous links being implied to end up with zelda, and the original zelda game link was just picked because he saved impa. Yet they all seem very similiar and even look alike a little bit. Reincarnation has nothing to do with someones bloodline in zelda.
3) Link already wheres a skirt, you think temporarily changing his gender would make potential new fans(teenagers) want to play this game?

Originally Posted by NotAllThatEvil

3Things
1) why would you make link a girl? Just giving him one more Xchromosone whith no other reason then "why not" would not only not make sense because of the established lore, but would also be a poor business move by nintendo. Half of the true zelda fans would be hesitent to buy it or not take it as canon while casual fans (who usauly consist of teenage boys) would write it off as too feminine.
2)@ Winterfell. Tp and Oot arw the ONLY links with any blood conections. ALttP was knight blood from the imprisoning war, St and Mc aren't royalty despite the previous links being implied to end up with zelda, and the original zelda game link was just picked because he saved impa. Yet they all seem very similiar and even look alike a little bit. Reincarnation has nothing to do with someones bloodline in zelda.
3) Link already wheres a skirt, you think temporarily changing his gender would make potential new fans(teenagers) want to play this game?

1.) The established Lore never said that the hero had to be male. That is something that is just taken as 'fact' because of the main characters being male. No where does it say the Hero HAS to be male. Secondly men play Metroid/Tomb Raider, both that have a female protagonist, therefore that's a baseless assumption that they wouldn't play a Zelda game that had a female as the lead.

2) What I meant by descendant is the fact that the line of incarnation is broken. The HoT of time was next in line, but he left the AT and is no longer a part of it. The cycle in essence is broken and a NEW Hero is born. He isn't directly connected to the OoT either bloodline wise or incarnation wise.

3) It's a tunic. You're right changing his gender effects nothing so it shouldn't matter if it's done. Whether he's female or male won't change the story which is good. That means both can be used interchangeably. The point is the player is given a choice and choice is only fair.

Since Link is not usually the same person each time i don't see why not.

Why would the cycle be broken? A new link DID show up and he was reincarnated in ST.
Like i said, each link acts like a proxy to SS link. You wouldn't have a girl play george washington in a play so why would you use a girl for a link stand in.

Um...what about Princess Zelda and other characters that Link gets shipped with? Do they all have to become males?

To be honest, I don't know why we're singling out Zelda. Are there people protesting for a female Mario or Sonic? Hahahahahaha.

Honestly, as a gamer girl, I wouldn't even touch a Zelda with a female Link. Link is, and has always been, the valiant, decent man who saves Hyrule. While Hyrule is its own place, there are a lot of tones drawn off of European culture and Medieval culture. The Hylians tend to be very European culture-wise. You don't see any female knights, guards, or soldiers. The ladies are just that- ladies. They help run shops, they assist on farms, they're the healers, the shop keepers, the noble ladies, etc. The lady-warriors seems to be a Gerudo idea. The Gerudo are kind of the Amazons of the world where lady-warriors are strange, mysterious, and nearly unheard of. The general reaction to them isn't a good one through Hyrule and there's a good deal of mistrust towards them, this could be because of the culture of the ruling race of the setting. But then again, you don't see female warriors in the Zora, the Rito don't seem to have any interest in battle so there's no male or female warriors, etc. The Shiekah are essentially ninjas but even Impa doesn't have a lot of warrior tenancies. I think it would be too extreme of a change and a lot of gamers wouldn't like it. It wouldn't make sense to the setting.

Secondly, and this is purely my opinion, I -hate- most female leads in games. They're always cookie-cutters and obnoxious. You have Yuna who's pretty much a sponge-off of Terra in the final fantasy series. I see them and I want to put my head in a blender. Ashe isn't much better. If you don't get the Mary-sue cookie cutters you either get the giggly ditz or the 'dark' goth-attempts. I can't think of a single female lead in a game that I can tolerate well. Chris from Suikoden III was a stretch but I could stomach her because she grew somewhat through the series. Mind, it was from one cookie cutter to the next, but it was growth regardless. A female Link would just be too much of a change from a formula that's worked for 25 years and I think Link should be the constant factor through every timeline, every game, etc.

Originally Posted by NotAllThatEvil

Why would the cycle be broken? A new link DID show up and he was reincarnated in ST.
Like i said, each link acts like a proxy to SS link. You wouldn't have a girl play george washington in a play so why would you use a girl for a link stand in.

No, but it was par for the course for young men to play women in Shakespeare's plays. And we're not talking historical inaccuracy here; it's an f'ing videogame.

@Thalion: Why Strong Female Characters Are Bad for Women | Overthinking It

There. That's how you make a good, strong female character that isn't embarrassing to watch or cookie cutter.