In real life, princesses are usually assigned with lesser important tasks than a ruling monarch, but that seems to have never been the case for the royal princesses of Hyrule. While little is known of what kind of responsibilities might be expected of a Hylian king or queen, we know that every Princess Zelda has been blessed with wisdom by the goddess Nayru and has often worked with their respective heroes in one way or another. The legends of these princesses and heroes are told for generations in Hyrule, and everyone knows there will be a courageous hero and wise princess to save the day once evil spreads over the realm like a dark veil again.
However, there is one young Princess Zelda where things didn’t go as smoothly as for her ancestors. For Princess Zelda in Breath of the Wild, it went so badly that her entire kingdom nearly got wiped out and with almost no one left to share her story.
Similarly to a certain princess at the beginning of A Link to the Past, the very first sign that Princess Zelda exists is when she begs Link to wake from his deep slumber and to open his eyes. For quite some time, that is the only sign she’s still alive somewhere. She remains mysterious for a majority of the game, obviously willing to help and guide Link as he navigates through a world he no longer remembers, but she doesn’t tell much more than the most basic information, providing him with enough advice to exactly understand what to do or what to look out for. I’d say that’s very typical of a researcher.
It’s not too surprising because, before Link wakes up, a hundred years prior to be exact, that was how Zelda spent her days: researching. Years ago (not quite a century ago, although it sometimes feels like it), that was what I was doing as well, so I know that a good scientific report explains exactly what is needed for an experiment and doesn’t bring up anything irrelevant. That is precisely what Zelda does during the first minutes Link steps outside the tub he lied in inside the Shrine of Resurrection; she tells him to take the Sheikah Slate, hold it over the pedestal, then leave. She was, and has always been, a researcher at heart.
Unlike me, who used to sit next to fume hoods in laboratories with a pipette in my gloved hands, Zelda thrives outside the thick castle walls and is eager to know more about flora, fauna and tech. Especially ancient Sheikah technology, much to her father’s dismay. While King Rhoam understands his daughter’s fascination for shrines, slates and Guardians, and their potential, he eventually grows tired of waiting for her to fulfill her destiny and strongly disapproves of her research. I know very well how hard it can be like to try to live up to a parent’s expectations but for Zelda, it’s much worse.
Princess Zelda is hyper aware of what it is she needs to do. She’s reminded daily that she’s yet to awaken her divine powers, not only from her father, but also from her court who gossip and whisper behind her back, from her entire kingdom, and even from Link although he doesn’t speak. He doesn’t need to because the burden of not being able to do the one thing she really needs to do has become so heavy that she does it for him. It’s exhausting, and I’m not sure how she has managed to put up with it all without breaking. I can understand why the only time she’s truly happy is when she can put her focus on her research. It might have become an escape from reality for her, but it also serves as something more. She knows what fates awaits her if she’s to fail sealing Ganon away. She refuses to simply become a damsel in distress and tries everything in her power as a princess to find other solutions in Sheikah technology.
This is what I love about her. She’s desperate to do everything and anything to save her people, dedicating hours on prayers to awaken her powers for years, even if she has to do it in icy waters that would make me run away as soon as my fingers make contact. When that isn’t enough, she uses her title as a Princess to become the leader of selected Champions to instruct them how to maneuver giant Divine Beasts that can greatly weaken Calamity Ganon. This Princess is wise and knowledgeable about many things, and it’s sad that few seem to notice that about her. When one thing isn’t working, she looks for other options in the meantime, and I personally think that’s a smart move. Why wait and repeat the same prayers for years when you can help in other ways too? It’s just unfortunate that the pressure that’s put onto her shoulders is extremely heavy and that time isn’t on her side for much longer.
All this pressure has created cracks in her self-esteem, and I find Princess Zelda to be the most relatable princess so far in the Zelda series. With no female relatives alive to guide her, she’s left alone to figure out how to awaken her powers simply through trial and error. After so many years of fruitless attempts, it’s no wonder she’s started to question herself. Why could Link wield the Master Sword after just one try of pulling it out of its pedestal while the Goddesses have ignored her prayers since childhood? What if she’s not meant to fulfill her destiny, despite what everyone tells her? Why is Link so effortlessly perfect when she’s suffering every day? In her eyes, it’s not fair, and she has no one to vent to since her relationship with her father is growing worse with each day. She’s jealous of Link and takes out her frustrations on him, which turns into a bad loop of feeling even worse than she already does and she regrets how she acted toward him.
I know some fans have said they find Princess Zelda to be less likeable than other incarnations because of her jealousy, but she’s the best of them in my opinion. It might sound silly to some, but I looked up to her while I was desperately struggling with my own grades because, despite everything, she never gives up. Just like her, I was doing research while dealing with a lowered self-esteem, and I thought we seemed alike and saw a piece of myself in her. But fate unfortunately had different plans for both of us. I think Zelda got the shorter stick.
Princess Zelda’s seventeenth birthday is sure to be the top contender for the worst birthday in Hylian history, because absolutely everything that could go wrong went so miserably wrong. She watches her Champions and dear friends step into their respective Divine Beasts and becomes a witness to their deaths as the machines turn against them. Perhaps even worse, she doesn’t get to see her father before Calamity Ganon awakens and takes his life away too, and has to live for the rest of her life with the fact that the last time they spoke was when he scolded her. All of this turns out to become too much for her to handle, and she breaks down to cry against Link’s shoulder.
Although my early academic failures (thankfully!) didn’t lead to anyone’s death, I know how devastating it feels when doing your best for a long time isn’t good enough. How much energy is takes to build up the courage to give it a try and then another, just to recieve the same result over and over. That, on top of other personal things, is how I, too, ended up crying one morning when I felt like absolutely nothing was going well. I won’t go into detail why but if you’ve never had a gut-wrenching cry in your life before, I can tell you that it’s the kind of cry that makes your whole body shake. You don’t know if you need to cry or breathe first, you don’t care if anyone sees or hears you, and you can’t do anything to stop it. It’s ugly, and it hurts. But it’s necessary. I was alone that morning, but Princess Zelda still had Link by her side. Thank the Goddesses for that.
Something inside Zelda snaps when she and a badly hurt Link are facing a malicous Guardian with its aim on her appointed knight, and she manages to channel that divine power she no longer thought she’d ever find. She doesn’t get a moment to analyze how it happened, but she does save Link’s life and I think Zelda the Researcher had to be satisfied with that result. Filled with wisdom that had never left her, she knows what to do next and in what order to do them: take Link to the Shrine of Resurrection, bring the Master Sword to its pedestal, and seal Ganon. And what a sealing power she has!
Princess Zelda managed to be alright in the end and I told myself that I would be too. I hung onto that thought for a long time although I knew that real life is different from a video game fairytale, and it helped for a while. And I did manage to be alright, too, but it took me a while to get there. Not a hundred years though. That’s how long Princess Zelda kept Calamity Ganon sealed within Hyrule Castle. It’s also how long she had to live with the uncertainty of not knowing when Link will awaken, with her memories of a past life, and a reminder of the disaster that happened when she looks over her kingdom. It must’ve been tough.
What makes this Princess special is her refusal to give up, and that’s really admirable in my eyes. We all go through hardships in life, some more than others, and I think we can learn from Princess Zelda that it’s okay to not be okay sometimes, and it’s fine to acknowledge those feelings as long as we remember there will be brighter moments too. We might question ourselves along the way, fear expectations from others or ourselves, or worry about what the future might bring, but that is part of life. Just as life is also about our passions and interests, friends and family, and the memories we make with people. So don’t give up even when you might not believe in yourself because, who knows, a miracle might just happen one day. It might just be a video game, but a miracle happened for Princess Zelda when she needed it the most. Who says that can’t happen for you too?
To celebrate the upcoming launch of Tears of the Kingdom, we are dedicating two weeks of columns articles to its groundbreaking predecessor, Breath of the Wild! Check out our Countdown to TOTK page.
