Error. What can more can be said about this character? He is Error.
This blacksmith from Zelda II: The Adventures of Link can be found in the small town of Ruto, standing in his home, just ready to introduce himself. “I am Error,” he says as you enter his home, and either hilarity or confusion ensues.
When I first saw this statement in my brief playthrough of Zelda II, I was puzzled by it. I thought that this was, in fact, an error. I thought I had uncovered some funny glitch or that there was some sort of translation mistake resulting in some questionable grammar, but I did not realize that he was simply stating his name. So in the end, it was I who was “error.”
As I later learned, this was a little joke, having two characters name Error and Bagu — the latter of which is translated to “bug” from the original romaji. Bug and Error; they must be best friends.
Though I do understand the joke now, I still use the term when referring to my own mistakes. Many times here on Zelda Universe I’ve done quite an array of goof-ups and the only way I know how to respond is, “I am Error”. In fact, I’m not the only one. The quote from this seemingly insignificant NPC has become so popular, it’s made its way into other Nintendo games such as Super Paper Mario.
In the end, though he simply started as a simple joke, he became so much more. Because of him, it’s a little easier to admit when we make a mistake. No one is perfect, so maybe we are all Error.
