Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
What do you make of the Legend of Zelda series’ increasing roster of strong women? Starting with Ocarina of Time in the 1990s, there have been 19 Zelda games so far, with many memorable female characters and their roles increasing over time. We have insisted on waiting to see the Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel until there is a female or non-binary Link, and the germinal inspiration for that demand was the Zelda games with female protagonists.
The tear-jerking, heartwarming Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom featured some fantastic examples of strong, capable women supporting the story. Riju, the shrewd Gerudo Chief, skillfully demonstrates her strength and her unbreakable familial bond before summoning lightning to be her weapon. Just before her climactic showdown against Zaltana, an exasperated Korok begs the elderly Gerudo not to “mess this upâ€, even suggesting that Riju is more powerful than she lets on. Mineru, another sage and owner of the Lens of Truth, is literally a force to be reckoned with, making a noticeable impact on the story.
Female Characters in the Series’ Back Catalogue
Against this backdrop of action and intrigue in Hyrule, there are also plenty of female characters in the series’ back catalogue. Impa has appeared in multiple games, serving the royal family as a bodyguard or attendant to Zelda. Midna, despite her appearance in only Twilight Princess, is a beloved and powerful character, being a princess and a defender of the realm. Urbosa, the Gerudo Champion in Breath of the Wild, manipulates lightning with the skill of a surgeon, leaving not just a massive impact on the storyline but a massive crater where Calamity Ganon once stood.
And then there’s Zelda. We could fill a book with the sheer strength of her will, raw magical power, and discerning mind. From the moment you first see her bandaged figure in the castle basement, she commands your attention. Her unbreakable determination saved Hyrule twice, once at the end of a whirlwind advent in her own game, and then again in Breath of the Wild, a full century after the events of Skyward Sword.
Not only that, but she is intrinsically a big part of the development of many of these characters. At a critical juncture in the storyline, she sees something more in Link, sending him on a path to meet Riju and befriend Nabooru. It is thanks to her that Impa has such a prominent role in the series, that Midna has a connection to Navi, and that Urbosa has a Champion’s title.
Representation in the Legend of Zelda
While the Zelda series is something of a bedrock of the games industry, not everything has been perfect. Hilda, the ruler of Lorule, is a gifted sorceress who must make some difficult decisions in an attempt to save her kingdom, but she makes these choices unilaterally, with little time devoted to reflecting on the morality of her choices. In a New Yorker interview, series producer Eiji Aonuma explained, “We decided that [Hilda] was going to act in a way that would maybe be seen as morally questionable by today’s standards, but that was just the character we wanted to create.â€
Yet, it has still managed to create strong, influential women going back to the NES and SNES era, including a band of pirates captained by a young woman, a Zora princess and chosen Champion who uses her healing abilities and control over water to fight against the monstrosity that is Calamity Ganon, and a Rito so wonderfully mature that she accompanies Link through two dungeons, becoming the new Earth Sage.
To be sure, there’s still a long way to go on representation across games as a whole, but The Legend of Zelda is, admirably, often not shy to break with tradition and create something exciting – even if we have to wait a long time to see it.
