The Worst Zelda Theory I Have Ever Heard

Рет қаралды 4,111

Күн бұрын

Today we're talking about the worst Zelda theory that I have ever heard: the idea that Breath of the Wild is an allegory for traditional gender roles in society. Yes, I am one hundred percent serious.
#zelda #zeldatheory #gametheory

Пікірлер: 77

@davismorgan99 27 күн бұрын

Step-Dad Ganon and other terrible Zelda theories: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qpKZk5Sgp8eBrtU

@Flac_the_Wave Ай бұрын

I can't wait for him to hate Echoes of Wisdom because they went woke and made Zelda a woman.

@averagebfdiguy 29 күн бұрын

wait they did that to him??? /j

@KevinVeroneau 25 күн бұрын

I had a feeling Zelda might not have been a woman before Echoes of Wisdom, this comment completely proves my speculations. She was just Shiek in deguise as a Princess all these years.

@goranisacson2502 Ай бұрын

That very much sounds like a man who WISHES the media he likes supports the beliefs he likes, and works very very hard to interpret everything he sees as an argument in support of it. Always a well-spring for barely develop and very telling takes there.

@davismorgan99 Ай бұрын

100% agree. The redditor was a constant poster on pretty right wing subs. Just trying to confirm his worldview any way he can.

@higurashikai09 Ай бұрын

There's so much wrong with this person's take, and as a lady plumber, I just laugh. Zelda's story in BotW and TotK is about duty not feminity. In BotW, Zelda was instructed to pray until the Goddess awarded her and she was told that the reason she is failing to access her powers is because she lacks conviction to dedicate herself to prayer. It is a very common belief in Christian fundamentalist faith healing that people stay sick and injured because they are praying enough or are doubting god. The shame of not being good enough to deserve their god's blessing is very heavy and damaging to people who suffer from chronic problems. Zelda reflects this struggle because she is being blamed for her lack of power and told by her father that she isn't doing enough to achieve it. The fact that her power is a birthright to female members of her lineage is a secondary aspect to this conflict. She pursues scientific options to combat the Calamity because she wants to be able to do something to help despite her inability to unlock her powers; it's not a rejection of her feminity or female "role". If she knew that her powers could be accessed through love and the desire to protect others, she wouldn't have had such a problem because she does have a strong desire to protect everyone. In TotK we see a development of her character where she commits herself to becoming a dragon for the greater good like she held back Ganon in BotW for 100 years but now she believes that she will never see Link or any of her friends again. She pushes her personal feelings aside and tells herself "you must" as she swallows the stone. She sacrifices herself believing that she will never be the same and does so with little hesitation. She understands that she has the power to restore the Matter Sword and she wants to help Link in the future to defeat Ganondorf who threatens everyone in Hyrule. Zelda's story in BotW and TotK is so emotional. She's definitely one of the most sympathetic Zelda's in the series-next to one of my favorites being Spirit Tracks Zelda.

@joypink5599 Ай бұрын

This is an amazing comment, and you are absolutely correct. For Zelda, duty is what defined her arcs in both games. I love her story.

@Sarah_H 29 күн бұрын

Zelda didn't create the Sheikah technology, it was built 10,000 years ago to combat Calamity Ganon, then unearthed 100 years before the events of BotW because of a prophecy that foretold Calamity Ganon's return. Zelda was fascinated by it and studied it extensively, but during this time she was supposed to be unlocking her sealing power, and her father, the King, was shown trying to discourage her from studying the Sheikah tech and instead focus on unlocking her power. He even forbade her from having anything to do with the tech in one of the memories. Her dad was trying to shove her back into her expected role, AND THE GAME TOLD US THAT THIS WAS A BAD THING. IT DID NOT SAY "hey maybe the King has a point and maybe Zelda should be fulfilling her Princess-y duties instead of doing ungirly things like reading"

@ChesuMori Ай бұрын

Japan is VERY MUCH rooted in traditional gender roles... they've been accepting of queerness a lot longer than most of the western world, but most businesses in Japan operate the way US ones did in the sixties. It's largely a cultural thing, with your sex, age, etc. baked into your role in a heirarchical system that encompasses basically every facet of society. They're taking steps towards divorcing the two, but it's going to be a while. ...All that said, modern Nintendo doesn't really let stuff like that impact their world-building, and this is just straight up a bad take.

@davismorgan99 Ай бұрын

Yeah that was something the redditor was trying to argue, but Nintendo seems to be making a concerted effort from breaking away from traditional views. I mean Bayonetta 2 was a Wii U exclusive and there’s nothing traditional about that game haha

@PatPatych Ай бұрын

Hopefully never going to happen because by that time the wokeism is going to get erased form the west.

@x149te Ай бұрын

@@davismorgan99 but LGBTQA+ community were not happy when Bayo got married and make with him child.

@PatPatych 27 күн бұрын

@@HunnysPlaylists ok homophile

@INFERNO95 20 күн бұрын

@@x149teThat there problem.

@VelvetKitsune 26 күн бұрын

A bit hilarious since as you mentioned Zelda's basically soloing a literal force of nature for 100 years while Link's a bit busy being dead. If that in itself doesn't totally destroy this 'theory'... clearly they're blind.

@mememan5466 Ай бұрын

Zelda didn't make the shieka technology, she researched it to let the hylian people have control over it (until they didn't). Her research is what allowed link to be saved from death and to use the shieka slate in the game but she didn't make it

@davismorgan99 Ай бұрын

Good point. I should have specified that she researched and used it but didn’t create it.

@kze24 Ай бұрын

Can't wait for this guys next post claiming that the game is woke for making Zelda a woman rather than a man wearing a green tunic

@rossruss6901 Ай бұрын

I will not lie, I don't think the Zelda series is the right place to be talking about reinforcing gender roles when most games end with Zelda + Link being the ones to beat Ganon/Ganondorf (legit without Zelda in some of these games Link wouldn't even be on his adventures). Not to mention most of the highly smart people in both BotW and Totk are women like Zelda, Mineru, and Purah. Also guy brings up the Gerudo's ruling for their lore but let's not forget the game has a whole race of dumb rock men running around (no shade at either Gs, It's just the usual stereotype for men are dumb if they are strong like the Gorons) While yes Zelda does have traditional things in it right down to things like the hero's journey and Link being used as a stand-in for the player character, I think it's just as important to see that Zelda has done things both in and outside the gender roles line of thinking when it comes to its characters & races.

@davismorgan99 Ай бұрын

Exactly! This is a clear example of someone twisting a story to fit their narrative instead of just enjoying the game for what it is.

@user-dc5dc3qb7z Ай бұрын

Where were the gorons depicted as dumb?

@Julie-ns8vm Ай бұрын

I honestly think Link was pretty much supposed to be non-binary at first. I've seen lots of statements about Link, wanting him to appeal to anyone who might play the game and making him as relatable as possible, as well as deliberate feminine traits to make him more androgynous. I feel like those ideas are best noticeable in games like oracle of seasons and oracle of ages. The reason Link isn't non-binary probably has to do with the idea at the time that gaming is only for boys, and simply binary gender roles.

@justcomments Ай бұрын

@@user-dc5dc3qb7zI thought botw/totk showed gorons in their best light so far! OOT gorons were a bit dumb, but to be fair they just have different priorities in life.

@INFERNO95 20 күн бұрын

@@Julie-ns8vmLink a guy.

@adrianoftheuniverse Ай бұрын

I enjoy being a retired house husband while my spouse works a well-paying job to support us. I love the Legend of Zelda series and my current favorite is Tears of the Kingdom. I like the ending where Link and Zelda work together along with 5 sages (3 males, 2 females) to defeat Ganon. I think the redditor is grasping at straws trying to spin the series narrative to fit his strict binary worldview. Fighting evil has always been a team effort led by the main protagonist who happens to be a guy. No need to overanalyze.

@vlaf9 Ай бұрын

Wait, someone was butthurt on Reddit? no way...

@davismorgan99 Ай бұрын

Impossible to predict but shockingly true

@SarahsSpareCorner Ай бұрын

It might be on just my side but around the 8:30 marker the footage repeats 3 times

@davismorgan99 Ай бұрын

Thanks so much! I’ll fix that up. My editing software glitches out from time to time.

@SarahsSpareCorner Ай бұрын

@@davismorgan99 np

@joypink5599 Ай бұрын

This argument is honestly so stupid that I struggle to even engage with the idea. Also, Zelda is a huge focus of the game, and the character development does go to her, but the entire game is literally about Link discovering his past and coming to terms with losing the people he cared about, finding the conviction to save the one person he has left. In the Japanese version of the game, the Sheikah Slate quest entries are actually in first person - it’s literally notes written by Link about his exploits and they are packed full with personality and character. When he finally recovers all 13 memories, the quest reads “I finished visiting all 13 locations in the old pictures. I remembered everything I’ve been through together with Princess Zelda. In those memories of mine, Princess Zelda always strived to complete the task burdened onto her… Even if it’s just a moment sooner, I want to save her as quickly as possible. I want to see her smile again, with these eyes of my own.” Bruh. This game is about Link AND Zelda, and the duties they faced. Don’t even get me started on the music theory of the memories.

@zackchaozmaster 13 күн бұрын

a bad theory I can make is that the Zelda, and Link of oot are twins, and the poe Mag is the mom of those too.

@itsJoshW 28 күн бұрын

It doesn't surprise me that the subreddit went to that idea. I remember when Tears of the Kingdom was first releasing, many of the people believed that anything before Skyward Sword was "bad" and "horrible" or "lacked story", while many believed that Zelda (like, herself) was an unfound deity that could 'wipe the entire planet with her glare', others had this stylistic take that Zelda was simply 'hot' and it's why they wanted to play as her (it was creepy feeling). That being said, each of the Zelda subreddits are filled with people that are a bit off in their mind, from people that "are self taught Japanese speakers, thus they can translate Japanese fluently, way better than Google", all the way to people that think this. It's truly wild to think that Nintendo would even look at these and say "this is the fan collective I wish to have with our games". I think the only reason Nintendo even is aware of the subreddits are primarily due to the game leaking early, if anything lol.

@tionodese8110 2 күн бұрын

They said every 100 years they give birth to a man, they never said that man was ganondorf every single time. That was actually a rare thing that maybe happened anywhere from 1 to 4 times total.

@RenegadeGamer89 9 күн бұрын

I was having a conversation with a coworker about Zelda and another of our coworkers jumped in the conversation. They (non binary) were insulting the franchise because, and I quote, "The princess is just a damsel in distress. She isn't given any personality or interests or spotlight. It's just another the strong man saves the weak woman story. Why is the Link never a girl?" After hearing this I explained that within the lore of the franchise it began with Demise's curse, the 3 of them will be reincarnated and fight each other for eternity. Then I told them what Zelda's role in Ocarina Of Time was, that she was alongside you the whole game and that she was your companion in Spirit Tracks. When they argued that she doesn't do anything that significant I explained her roles in BOTW and TOTK, granted not to the extent you did. They then said, "Yeah well they'd never make a game where you play as Zelda instead of Link." At this point the other co worker and I laughed and showed them the trailer for Echoes Of Wisdom.

@jamesvan2201 24 күн бұрын

Some people can see gold in a turd. Others look and just see shit.

@wademurphy2817 28 күн бұрын

Excavation not creation

@kit76149 Ай бұрын

1:32 While I agree that there are some progressive depictions of women in Zelda, the Gerudo aren't that great, and are in fact in some ways very regressive. Minors in sexualized outfits like heels and basically bikinis (which leads to some male gamers talking about essentially "conquering" characters like Riju, who we meet as a 12 year old and is at max a teen) and an extremely orientalist depiction of swana inspired people. It plays into a very gross objectifying idea of brown women. Not exactly progressive. I have even read comments from south asian and arab teen girls (who Nintendo very much also want to play these games as they market it towards children 10+) talking about how deeply uncomfortable things like the adultification of Riju and other gerudo children made them, being essentially a stereotypical depiction of themselves.

@javiervasquez625 Ай бұрын

The Gerudo become even more objectified when you acknowledge their law that every single male born within the tribe must be crowned their _king_ regardless of wether they're worthy of the title. One man is automatically placed above the women for no other reason other than his gender making one wonder wether the Gerudo are willingly self-objectifying themselves.

@JacobNintendoNerd99 Ай бұрын

@@javiervasquez625To the series credit, you have to remember across all 3 of their depictions this is only ever true in OoT and somewhat debatably the distant ancient past of TotK. In Four Swords Adventures the lone male wasnt a King but instead expected to guard the sacred Pyramid while they had a traditional elder, and in BotW/TotK every single male born to the Gerudo is not exalted but is outright banished upon being born, ostensibly because of their past 3 experiences with Ganondorfs being born, and men as a whole are banned from the Gerudo city as well; Link is granted a very special and specific exception in TotK due to his actions in BotW warranting special consideration there

@javiervasquez625 Ай бұрын

@@JacobNintendoNerd99 From what source did you learn that all Gerudo males post TotK Ganondorf's sealing are banished from birth? As far as i recall nothing in either game in the Wild duology either suggests or implies that to be the case with key dialogues from Gerudo NPCs mentioning the lack of any males for many thousands of years old as if implying no Gerudo males have been born since TotK Ganondorf's birth. I would argue that this is solid evidence to deduce that for some "magical reason" only a single Gerudo male is allowed to exist _at all times_ without any chance for more males to be born. Since TotK Ganondorf was technically still alive while sealed underneath Rauru's hand, that serves as a strong argument for the lack of any males ever since the latest incarnation of Ganondorf was born.

@higurashikai09 Ай бұрын

@@javiervasquez625 I assume they are referring to the ban on men in the town, and suggest that means that any Gerudo boy would not be allowed into the town either

@mirzafigueiredo2749 Ай бұрын

Funny, everything you said is not the game's fault, but rather this kind of fan who sexualizes everything that moves. Believe me, even if the Gerudo dressed like Europeans they would still be very sexualized, even if Riju dressed like a nun, she would still be sexualized. The Gerudo live in a desert and wear clothes that help them deal with the heat, the clothes are only based on Arab clothes, nothing more, they are not going to faithfully represent it, it is just an inspiration, I don't know what you want them to do. They probably removed Link's Gerudo outfit because of "complaints" like these, and I saw the overwhelming majority of players complain about the lack of the outfit. About Riju being "adultified", the game doesn't, she acts according to her age, if someone is sexualizing her along with the typical Gerudo clothes then that is the players' problem, not Nintendo's. And another thing, I hope you don't come across the fanarts that put Link and Zelda in clothes from Latin, African, Asian cultures, etc., you run the risk of finding it "stereotypical" 🙄. Just one more point, my maternal side is Arab (more specifically Syrian) and both my cousins and I love the Gerudo, this is just to say that, unfortunately, someone will always feel offended no matter how well you try to reference a culture.

@nowonmetube 11 күн бұрын

Also these people must have forgotten, that Zelda will have her game pretty soon in a few weeks /days.

@Veylon 6 күн бұрын

And everyone forgot - or tried to forget - that she's already starred in two previous games.

@nowonmetube 11 күн бұрын

I haven't seen someone putting a sock on his microphone and record himself 😆

@davismorgan99 6 күн бұрын

It’s cheaper than a pop filter lol

@Mr.Scar_Real 18 күн бұрын

Bro has amazing music taste

@Okapi540 Ай бұрын

Yes lmao, I was there on the subreddit when it was posted. Absolutely bonkers!

@jamesvan2201 24 күн бұрын

Don't take this guy as the typical for conservatives. I'm mostly conservative leaning and I completely disagree with this redditor. I do believe that there are roles that men and women should be exclusive to, however, there's nothing wrong with them working together etc. Women can do their parts to help where men might lack or need help and vice versa. I hate when people say "women belong in the kitchen, because as a man, I love to cook, myself. When my wife was alive, we shared the responsibilities of cooking and dishes and laundry etc. Yes, men are supposed to be the breadwinners and whatnot, but that doesn't mean his responsibilities end when he gets home from work. Nothing wrong with helping out around the house. There's nothing "progressive" or "liberal" about it. It's just, as a man, you're not very manly if you clock out the moment you get home. I'm not saying it's a problem if a man and his wife have a routine like that, if they both are OK with that. But I've seen my sister struggle many times with her 4 kids at home, when her husband would get home from work and kicks back on the chair while she's still cooking, cleaning/dishes, and cleaning up after THEIR children. A father needs to set a good example for his children, for the boy/s to see how a man should treat his wife, and for the girls to see how a man should take care of his wife.

@TKnightcrawler Ай бұрын

1) Traditional gender roles are not a product of western society. It's far broader than that. There are several different types of family structures around the world, but 98%+ of the time, "traditional gender roles" are similar regardless if we are talking about Austria, Chad, or Laos. 2) Amazonian women are not a modern concept. The name comes from the mythical Amazon tribe, at least 2,500 years ago. I feel like you should have known this just by knowing the term. 3) The Gerudo man every 100 years is not pure evil. I don't know where you got this from. It is just Ganondorf who was evil, and he was born once, arguably twice. All the other Gerudo men who were born were NOT "pure evil," and if you've played The Wind Waker, you'd know Ganondorf is arguably not *pure* evil, either. 4) It's completely possible to defeat Ganon without using any ancient Shiekah technology. I'd say the destruction of an entire kingdom and the death of presumably tens of thousands of people is kind of a bigger negative than the positive that Link may choose to have a slightly easier boss battle against Ganon. Just a few corrections I wanted to throw in real quick. Hopefully, that doesn't come across too negatively. I agree that he's trying to push a social message where it doesn't belong. However... it could definitely be said that what doomed Hyrule was Zelda's wilfulness. Yes, she was very intelligent, but her constant intellectualizing is why she couldn't connect to the power of her ancestors. That ended when all that intellectualizing was stripped away and she acted on instinct, out of love (even if I'd say she wasn't doing this romantically, but because she had finally come to value Link as a person). Previously, she had considered duty as merely something forced upon the her, not as something she genuinely wanted to accept; I think that's a lesson for both sexes. But I think it's arguably possible that her inability to use her divine power is in part due to a rejection of some of her feminine traits, out of fear for losing her individuality.

@davismorgan99 Ай бұрын

I feel like the existence of Amazonian women doesn’t completely negate the fact that they could be considered non-traditional. Gay people have existed for centuries but I wouldn’t call them “traditional”. The point of this video isn’t to say that the game is an ode to feminism or bucking tradition, but to address that trying to use The Legend of Zelda as a pillar of a political ideology is looking in the wrong place. There are plenty of stories that discuss traditional gender roles, Breath of the Wild isn’t one of them.

@higurashikai09 Ай бұрын

I hope you don't take this too negatively, but seeing love and instinct referred to as "feminine traits" and saying that Zelda is rejecting her feminine traits in that way is very odd. The game doesn't indicate rejection of femininity but a rejection of religious tradition in the form of prayer. If Zelda knew that her powers could be accessed through love and the instinct to protect, she wouldn't have had such an issue. The fact that she was told all her life to pray and pray and pray until the goddess spoke to her is why she was so disheartened and sought another way to contribute to the preparation against the Calamity.

@TKnightcrawler Ай бұрын

@@higurashikai09 Most people, whether they are left or right, think of love as a more feminine trait. Perhaps you are assuming I mean that females only have feminine traits and males only have masculine traits, but that's not what I was saying. I disagree that she would have been able to "figure it out" if she had been told the answer. That's kind of missing the point. That's not the sort of thing that you can be explained into. I mean, what would this look like in practice? Put a child after child in front of out-of-control carriages and have Zelda there waiting there until she manages to rescue one for being so selfless? She wasn't granted powers because of her position relative to Link and the guardian, she connected with herself because she was willing to give up her life, from being inspired by Link's actions up to that point. This is not the sort of thing you can rationalize.

@TheRealNintendoKid 14 күн бұрын

I hope she sees this, bro

@DillonMaynard 10 күн бұрын

Found the redditor

@EmL-kg5gn Ай бұрын

The reactions to Zelda being the playable character in echoes of wisdom are absolutely wild. Apparently the series is being “targeted by wokeness” even though nintendo has considered the possibility of Zelda as a playable character since long before these people even heard of the word woke and drastically changed its meaning for their own purposes… My favourite thing to explain to them is exactly how they’re overreacting and that even if nintendo does start catering to female players (the horror) it’s just good business 😌 Can’t imagine the shock they’d experience if they went outside and saw that around half the planet are actually women and girls

@ElliotKeaton Ай бұрын

I like the part where you ignored that the fanbase has wanted a playable Zelda for literal decades. Which three Twitter accounts did you have to dig up complaints from?

@EmL-kg5gn Ай бұрын

@@ElliotKeaton Yes exactly!! That’s my point, like where the heck do these people get their ideas from?? I heard that bs under a reaction video to the trailer