Hey Link, you got trapped in a dream world without Zelda this time, so they’ll finally name the adventure after you!
Legend of Zelda
^Link’s Awakening^
I mean, I guess if you haven’t played a Zelda game since the 80s. But for the last 30 years, Zelda has been a fucking badass that don’t need no man to save her. She’s usually part of a secret ninja-like warrior group. Or captaining a pirate ship with a whole crew of people twice her size that look up to and respect her leadership. Or holding off Ganon for 100 years (and apparently not aging one day!) while Link sleeps in a cave, then later cooks meals in his underwear.
Zelda is a fucking badass. She just has a different role to play than the courageous hero. Neither of them could save Hyrule without each other.
And the most recent one, Tears of the Kingdom. I won’t drop spoilers, but the role she played was far more legendary (and self-sacrificing) than Link’s, I’d say.
and apparently not aging one day
I have a theory for this: Canon facts are, that she was “devoured” by Ganon (which is why she pops out of the giant malice boar at the end) and Ganon in turn was hiding in that cocoon in the Sanctum.
Since the cocoon thing has some interesting design parallels to the Shrine of Resurrection, I’m fairly sure that it is his homemade DIY version of a resurrection chamber with which he tried to build himself a new body. Link didn’t age in the “original” SoR, so it would make sense that Zelda (inside of Ganon inside the knockoff SoR) didn’t age either.
Best part, first panel is Majora’s Mask in which Zelda plays absolutely no part and only appears in a 20 second memory scene.
Everything in the first panel also appeared in the original gold-cart Zelda.
My headcanon says that Miyamoto was fixated on the name Zelda long before realizing it was a woman’s name. Then he said “fuck it” and threw a princess in there.
I know that he actually took the name from Zelda Fitzgerald, but this is funnier.
Is this not the plight of Samwise the Brave?